March 11, 2026

203. Your student with Down Syndrome belongs in a mainstream Physics Class

45 minutes

Most special education systems operate on this premise: Students with disabilities must master small foundational skills before they are allowed access to academic content. In practice, this often means students spend years repeating the same goals - decoding, counting, basic worksheets - while their peers move forward into real subjects like science, history, and mathematics. But what happens when a student with significant disabilities is simply included in a high school physics class? In this episode of Non Linear Learning, I speak with Sruthi Muralidharan, a high school physics teacher who is testing that question in a public school classroom. Sruthi teaches general education physics where students with significant cognitive disabilities - including students with Down syndrome - participate alongside their peers in labs, engineering activities, and scientific investigations. Her work challenges several assumptions that dominate special education today. Sruthi did not begin her career in education. She holds an MS in Physics and a PhD in Electrical Engineering and spent more than ten years working in the semiconductor industry. In This Episode We discuss: • Why mastery-based IEP goals often keep students repeating the same material year after year • The limitations of self-contained special education classrooms • What happens when students with significant disabilities join general education science classes • Why educators often confuse communication challenges with cognitive limitations • How inclusive classrooms can actually improve regulation and engagement • Why the burden of proving intelligence should never fall on the child About Our Guest Sruthi Muralidharan is a high school physics teacher and advocate for inclusive education. She previously worked for more than a decade in the semiconductor industry and holds an MS in Physics and a PhD in Electrical Engineering. Links & Resources