Conor's Evidence Based Inclusion - Outside The Regular Classroom

Conor, with severe autism and profound intellectual disability,  has loved his time in school and this year faces his last year before he turns 21. He has not always loved school though.  Like all NB students he started school in the regular classroom but was not comfortable in that location. As grade 2  got underway the challenges of he regular classroom overwhelmed him and he came home each day with self inflicted bite marks on his hands and wrists as shown in this picture:

I had visited the school regularly to pick him up after school and had seen him uncomfortable with the noise as the day ended but did not realize that he had been having difficulty with the sensory and other challenges of the regular classroo until the biting started in grade 2. It was so persistent that we asked him to be moved to a location outside the regular classroom where he could work with an aide. The staff on the scene at the school could see the self harm.  Once he was moved the biting and self harm STOPPED.  

Conor has received his primary instruction outside the regular classroom ever since.  He interacts or has the opportunity to interact with other students in activities including his favorite activity swimming at the Nashwaaksis Middle School swimming pool.  He has been very happy in school with these evidence based arrangements and every summer misses school. To help with his anxiety as he waits for school to resume each year he changes the number on the white board above reducing it by one day as soon as he gets up.

Everyone, including me, likes the concept of inclusion.  What's not to like about it? As a simple statement of principle there is nothing wrong with it.  In New Brunswick though the concept of inclusion has been replaced by an ideological devotion to placement of all students in the regular classroom.  That simplistic, non evidence based belief has dominated the education of NB students. Some "community" activists have fought hard to force all students in to the regular classroom and they have had great influence in doing so. The result is that some children, including SOME children with autism, who can not function in the regular classroom can actually be harmed by ignoring the reality that the LOCATION in which they are placed can be overwhelming for them.

Gordon Porter is the iconic leader of NB's extreme inclusion movement.  He has been given many awards for pushing his non evidence based approach to inclusive education an approach he summarized, "as simple, so simple" in a previous presentation in Newfoundland:

CORNER BROOK — Gordon Porter believes inclusion is the most natural thing in the world. The educator and director of Inclusive Education Initiatives presented a session on inclusive education at the Greenwood Inn and Suites on Thursday. Porter, who is also the editor of the Inclusive Education Canada website inclusiveeducation.ca, spoke to parents, educators and agency professionals who deal with children with special needs at the pre-conference for the Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living Conference taking place in the city today and Saturday. The session was sponsored by the Community Inclusion Initiative. 

 Porter’s session revolved around the theme of parents and teachers working together to make inclusion work.“It means kids go to their neighbourhood schools with kids their own age in regular classes,” said Porter.“If you’re seven years, old you go to the school just down the street. You go in a class with other seven-year-olds, and you’re supported if you have extra needs. “It’s so simple, it’s that simple,” said Porter."   
                                                                                 

- Inclusion in the classroom ‘simple,’ says educator, Western Star, Diane Crocker, April 12,  2012

The only reason inclusion is simple, so simple, for Gordon Porter and his devoted followers, is that they ignore evidence to the contrary.  Some challenged children can prosper in the regular classroom, some can not, for some it is harmful. It is necessary to look at the evidence of what is best for particular students. My son's evidence, his biting of his hands in the regular classroom, the cessation of the biting AS SOON as he was removed to a quieter location outside the regular classroom, his love for school, including activity with other students outside the regular classroom,  is simply ignored.  

Thankfully, as his parents, with knowledge of his behaviors and his autism disorder, and with the help of education staff who could see the harm the  simple inclusion philosophy caused our son, we were able to accommodate our son's education needs outside of the regular classroom.  

A big THANK YOU to the education staff at Nashwaaksis Memorial school who could see the evidence that the harm of the regular classroom caused  our son and helped us  despite the near cult like grip that the Gordon Porter, non evidence based philosophy has on NB students.