THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 8, 1996 TAG: 9610080037
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 180 lines
THERE ARE A LOT of differences between 3-year-old Will O'Connell and his four classmates.
Will, for instance, likes the Play-Doh. Julie, the markers. Will likes the baby doll, and Patrick the blocks. Will likes to color in blue, and Jenna in green.
But the one difference that used to separate children like Will from the others - the fact that he has Down syndrome - wasn't even noticed by the children at All Saints' Day School in Virginia Beach last week.
``Would you like to read a story?'' 3-year-old Julia Owens asked Will, who plopped down next to her to look at a book about a big red dog.
Virginia Beach and Suffolk schools have each begun new programs this year that puts preschool children from the schools' special education programs in child-care centers within the communities.
The school systems, in turn, send physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and special education teachers to those centers to give the children instruction specific to their disability.
Traditionally, school districts have provided preschool classes to special education children aged 2 to 5 years within the school system. Those classes have been made up mostly of children who are developmentally delayed, according to Maureen Hollowell, education services director for the Endependence Center, an agency that advocates for people with disabilities.
That type of setting didn't sit well with parents like Susan O'Connell, Will's mother.
``I wanted my child to be with non-disabled children because I felt he could benefit from them as role models,'' O'Connell said. ``Children learn better from their peers than from adults.''
O'Connell and other parents began meeting with Virginia Beach school officials two years ago to see if they could create a preschool program that special education children could attend with their non-disabled peers.
``We sat down and said `This is what we want, how can we get it?' '' O'Connell said.
The result is a program that parents feel better measures up to the ``least restrictive, most inclusive'' requirements of the law.
In the Virginia Beach program, the school district allows parents of children with disabilities to choose which preschool or day care center their child will attend, then sends the therapists to that site. The parent must pay the tuition of the center.
In Suffolk, the district has gone one step further by contracting with two child-care centers - Children's Center and Children's Harbor - and paying a portion of the child's tuition there.
``It's fascinating how these two cities have come to realize the importance of this type of setting to children and their families without a big battle,'' Hollowell said. ``They've done an outstanding job of balancing the children's rights to education and the school system's caution in approving a new type of service delivery.''
Including children with disabilities in preschool settings is not a new idea. Head Start has been doing it for decades, and other preschools and day-care centers also have enrolled children with various disabilities. In fact, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that centers make ``reasonable accommodations'' for children with disabilities.
``There's a growing number of parents who feel their children should be in regular schools, with their siblings, in their own neighborhoods,'' Hollowell said.
But the two school districts' move to better integrate their special education preschool classes gives children both the opportunity to attend school with peers and still get the specialized care that their parents want for them.
``It's a widespread trend, both in terms of school districts operating such programs, and in other community-based programs operating the same types of preschools,'' said Barbara Willer, spokesperson for the National Association for the Education of Young Children. ``Teaching children in the least restrictive environment has been a major goal in special education, but figuring out what that means in the preschool setting has been the challenge.''
Will O'Connell sat with his four classmates during circle time last week, then sat down next to classmate Patrick Lien at the Play-Doh center. As soon as Will and Patrick dug their hands in the pink Play-Doh, speech therapist Aleta Johnson sat down between them. While her focus was to help Will develop speech skills, she also included Patrick in her conversation.
``OK, what are we going to do with the Play-Doh?'' Johnson says. As Will plunged a cookie cutter into the Play-Doh, Johnson continued her conversation with him: `Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Mash, mash, mash. Are we going to make stars? How many? Let's count,''
``One,'' says Will, pounding out a star, ``Twooooo.''
``What's next, Will,'' Johnson says, holding up three fingers.
``Three!'' croons Will.
Rather than separate Will from the rest of the class, the therapist works with him wherever he happens to wander, and with whatever child happens to be around him.
``What do you think the baby wants to drink?'' Johnson asks Will, who has picked up a baby doll.
``Bottle?'' Will says.
``How about some coffee?'' asks Christopher Nashi, who brings over a play pot off the plastic stove.
So far, only a handful of children are participating in the inclusion preschool programs.
In Virginia Beach, three children out of about 450 preschool special ed children attend community child-care centers. In Suffolk, six children out of 77 are in the program. Both school districts also operate preschool programs for at-risk 4-year-olds, with Suffolk serving 192 of those students, and Virginia Beach serving 288, some of whom have disabilities.
``I think a lot of parents who have children with disabilities are very protective of their children and they like the self-contained setting,'' O'Connell said. ``We don't propose this for everyone.''
Cost has also been a factor for some parents in Virginia Beach, who may prefer the free classes at the school, and the free transportation.
But O'Connell thinks that as parents find out more about the idea, they'll be more inclined to enroll their children. She's also hopeful that the school district will one day pay for tuition for the children. In the meantime, fund-raising efforts are under way to help children whose families can't afford the cost.
``The preschool years are formative years, and if you don't get children in good graces socially, it's not going to happen,'' O'Connell said. ``Our children need to be around regular kids in a regular routine.''
Brenda Cox, who coordinates the Suffolk special education program, said different children have different goals at different times of their schooling. While one child might need to work on his or her social skills in a community day-care center, another might need more concentrated instruction in a school-based special education class.
``We have to look at the pros and cons for each individual child,'' Cox said.
In Virginia Beach, three preschool special education children attended community child-care centers last year, but a single home-based teacher was sent to the centers rather than a staff of special education teachers.
Parents and special education teachers then approached the school board for funding to pay for the tuition of special education children in community child-care centers. That request was turned down, but a compromise was worked out where special ed teachers and therapists would go to centers to work with the children in that setting.
The Suffolk school district has gone from offering preschool special education in a centralized location, to sending children to schools in their neighborhoods, to ``reverse mainstreaming,'' in which children without disabilities were brought into special education settings to better integrate the classes.
The move to community child-care centers takes the inclusion idea a step further. Cox said the district pays for whatever portion of the tuition helps the child work on goals set out in an Individualized Education Program, a plan that all special education children have. But if parents want their children to be at the center longer than what the IEP calls for, the parent makes up the difference in cost.
While all special education students would be eligible to apply for the program, a decision to enroll a child in a community child-care center would be made by the child's IEP committee, which is made up of the child's parents and special education teachers.
``This is an attempt to put the child in the least restrictive environment possible,'' Cox said. ``It also gives them good role models to learn skills from.''
Coordinating the work of preschool teachers with special education teachers can be challenging at times, but both sides say the inclusion program has helped children with and without disabilities.
Deirdre Dean, teacher and director of All Saints' Day School, said the special education teachers have given the preschool staff there extra hands and new ideas.
``We've learned from them,'' she said.
And the non-disabled children also have gained from the new routine. They're learning sign language. Running through obstacle courses the physical therapist sets up for the special education children to develop motor skills. And making new friends.
``It teaches the non-disabled kids to value our kids,'' said O'Connell. ``The best thing for me is how the kids have welcomed Will into the classroom. Some of the kids have told their parents, `Will is my best friend,' and that's a wonderful thing for the parent of a disabled child to hear. I know he's accepted for who he is.''
Anna Nashi, whose son, Christopher, is Will's classmate, said she's glad her son is learning at an early age that even though children may have differences, they all have the same opportunity to learn.
``He's also learning sign language, something most kids his age don't get a chance to learn,'' she said.
As snack time approached at All Saints' Day School, Will waited for his name to be called.
``Will, get behind Jenna,'' said preschool teacher Lorrie Parker.
Will sat a minute, got a second prompting, then jumped up behind his classmate. And off he went, down the hallway with the other children, right past a poster that read, ``Friends don't count chromosomes.''
At this school, the message holds true. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot
Suffolk special education teacher Kathy Payne works with Harris
Fisher at the Children's Center in Suffolk.
KEYWORDS: INCLUSION PRESCHOOL PROGRAM HANDICAPPED DISABLED
DAY CARE by CNB