IEU Diversity, Empowerment, Acceptance.

Established in 2011 and aligning with the college vision of MAC, the mission of Inclusive Education Unit is to maximise students’ potential to reach the best possible outcome. Respecting students’ diverse needs, the IEU utilizes a wide variety of strategies to support students’ development and foster an inclusive culture within a mainstream environment. Together, school, teachers and parents, form a core team in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) to encourage success.

We believe that Inclusion is the best answer for SEN students and regular students, and that all systems (school, family, professionals) involved should be active participants.

In the Inclusive Education Unit, we believe we should also promote the individual success of the students and help them develop as a whole person to fully integrate and be a productive member of society. Inclusive students can learn to be autonomous and acquire skills to compensate and/or overcome their difficulties and develop their strengths.

Working with Special Educational Needs students can be a challenge, but it can also be a rewarding experience when we see student’s thriving by getting the help that they need. It is essential to always work in collaboration with class teachers and other professionals in order to assure that every student gets what he or she needs.

Acceptance, Diversity and Empowerment seems weightless, yet it changes our views and practices in education.

These are the basic principles of Inclusive education in MAC.

– Vivian Wong, Inclusive Education Coordinator

In Class Support

The case manager will collaborate and work with the class teacher inside the classroom in order to better meet the needs of students. This is the first line of support and should be the main focus of the case manager before any other supports are provided. Other supports should be provided if in class support is deemed not to be sufficient.

Pull-out Support

Pull-out support consists in removing the student from the regular classroom in order to provide other types of support, such as speech therapy, occupational therapy or extra support in the subject being taught.

Accommodations

All Inclusive students should be provided with accommodations in the classroom as well as for tests and exams.

Some of the most common accommodations* are as follows:

Preferential Seating: Student should sit in the front so as to better follow along in class and be easily monitored by the teacher. They can also sit in separate rooms to better focus while completing exams.
Extra time: Student should be allowed extra time to copy from the board and to complete tasks. They should also be given more time to finish tests and exams should it deem appropriate and necessary.
Printed Notes: Students who cannot copy from the board or that have difficulty taking notes should be provided written notes by the teacher
Reduced Workload / Extended Deadlines: Students that cannot cope with the regular class and homework should have a reduced workload and a longer deadline to complete tasks

*Any accommodations to be provided need to be justified by an updated and valid psychological assessment with the agreement of the IEP team

Modified curriculums

Some students with borderline cognitive functioning or moderate to severe learning disabilities that do not allow them to follow along with the regular classroom may need a modified curriculum*.

Modified curriculums should only be considered after:

Providing all types of accommodations, such as differentiated instruction, reduced workload, extra time to finish task, test and exam papers with appropriate accommodations;
Pulling the student out of the regular classroom to use modified instruction to teach the same curriculum, allowing the student to participate in the classroom activities as much as possible;
Providing after school remedial teaching to provide the student the opportunity to catch up on the subject.

*Issuing of certificates at each level is dependent upon DSEDJ and school criteria. IEU teacher is responsible for attaching a document that indicates all accommodations/modifications the inclusive student has benefited from.

The IEP is meant to address each child’s unique learning issues and include specific educational goals.

An IEP includes:

An information page with socio-demographic information about the student
A page with the assessment results and doctor’s diagnosis
A page with an overview of the student in the previous and current academic year
An overview of modifications and accommodations for each subject
Special education supports and services that the school will provide

The Plan of Educational Activities (PEA) is a document that is written twice a year (first and second term) with the student’s goals for that term. It should take into consideration what is contained in the IEP.

A PEA includes:

A statement of the student’s current level of performance
Modifications and Accommodations that will be provided for each subject
Long Term and Short term goals for each term (when there is a modified curriculum)

Teacher Responsibility	Inclusive Education Teacher Responsibility
▪️Plan and supervise students instruction	▪️ Support the inclusive student to participate in instruction;
▪️Keep the same frequency of interaction with the student who has special needs as with his/her typical classmates	▪️Maintain proximity to the student with special needs only as much as needed in the classroom
▪️Supervise and ensure that accommodations recommended by the student’s case manager are provided	▪️Ensure that the best possible accommodations are recommended to suit those students and that they are provided and carried out. Make a record in the appropriate documentation (IEP, PEA, report comment forms, yearly evaluation, student profile) of the accommodations recommended/provided
▪️Comment regularly to the case manager about the progress of the student with special needs	▪️Be responsive to the suggestions of the teacher and others involved with the student about the progress of the student
▪️Report on student progress in terms of academics, behavior, daily living and socialization	▪️Report on student progress and keep a log in terms of academics, behavior, daily living and socialization and answer questions about student progress
▪️Develop a relationship with parents, external service providers, and case manager that is consistent with relationships that are developed with parents/caregivers of all students in the classroom	▪️Develop a relationship with parents, teachers and external service providers, and answer questions about the student or refer to other professional services, should that be needed

It is important for teachers and case managers to gradually fade prompts in order to avoid making students “prompt dependent” by continuously offering information and help without allowing the student the opportunity to engage in activities on their own.