Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 9, 1994 TAG: 9405090022
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dustin, a fifth-grader, has made new friends, improved his social skills and is doing well in his classes. He goes on field trips with his classmates to Monticello and other places.
It wasn't like that before he started going to the Vinton school last year.
For five years, Dustin attended special education classes at Mount Pleasant Elementary School and the former Roanoke County Occupational School for disabled students.
He didn't have the opportunity to make friends and socialize with nondisabled students.
Dustin, 12, has cerebral palsy. It affects his speech and leaves him unable to walk without help.
School officials said he should be in special education classes because of his disability.
When Dustin began school, his family did not object to the special ed classes because they were not aware of the alternatives.
For years, children with mental and physical disabilities had been placed in classes separate from other students - even in a separate school for some students, as in Roanoke County.
Nationally, the prevailing approach was to segregate disabled children from other students. But that educational philosophy has changed in the past decade.
Dustin's mother, Donna Chewning, heard the same admonitions the parents of other disabled children often have heard.
"I was always told that I did not want my child taught with normal children, because they would be cruel," she said.
"School officials never gave us any choice. They never offered to put [Dustin] in regular classes," Chewning said.
She began to question the benefits of separate classes and schools for disabled students when Dustin showed little progress in academic and social skills after several years.
"He was making no progress. He had nothing to look forward to. There had to be change," she said.
Chewning began to investigate special education programs in other localities and learned more about the nationwide movement toward the inclusion of disabled students in classes for regular students. She found that many localities were mixing disabled and nondisabled students.
Donna and her husband, Billy, decided they wanted their son to be in his home school with the children in his neighborhood.
Initially, county school officials were reluctant.
But the Chewnings contacted the Department of Rights for Virginians with Disabilities and gained the agency's backing for moving Dustin to his home school.
She also asked Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, and Vinton Magisterial District Supervisor Harry Nickens for help.
School administrators agreed last year to let Dustin attend Horn.
He had a smooth transition to the new school, and his progress has been phenomenal, Chewning said. His classmates have accepted him.
"The children at Herman L. Horn have been the very best part of Dustin's school life," his mother said.
"There are some things that children can only learn in the context of other children," she said.
"The attitude children have is usually a reflection of the attitude that has been portrayed by the adults they encounter."
Plans are being made to help ensure a successful transition next fall when Dustin moves to William Byrd Middle School.
Dustin recently got a specially trained Labrador retriever to help him walk. The $3,000 dog, which responds to hand signals, accompanies Dustin throughout the day.
Dustin also is learning to use a computer and has adapted well to Horn.
`I couldn't have asked for more. It has worked out beautifully," his mother said.
by CNB