In the second part of the two-part series on the Inclusive Education Roadmap (IER) by the TIES center, Dr. Debbie Taub delves deeper into the “how” of the IER.
Dr. Deborah Taub, Ph.D., is the owner of OTL Education Solutions, LLC. She provides research and professional development assistance to states, territories, and other entities working to develop and sustain best practices for students with disabilities. She has assisted states in building and evaluating systemic programs, especially around issues of inclusive practice for students with complex instructional needs. Her work is informed by her experiences as a classroom teacher, educational researcher, systems-change expert, and parent to three neurodiverse children. She has experience building curricula that are universally designed and accessible for all. She has helped schools and districts meet state and federal requirements through teacher and student-centered reform and supporting educators as they make grade-level content accessible for students with complex needs. She has contributed journal articles, book chapters, and numerous professional development trainings to the field of educating children with complex needs and has presented internationally.
Some Key Takeaways
Core tenets of what makes a system truly inclusive. Five assumptions: (1) “All Means All” Students means “All students,” which includes students with significant cognitive disabilities (explicitly thinking about them) (2) Placement means placement in the same grade level general education classroom and other inclusive settings in neighborhood schools (3) Student-centered, strengths-based approaches to inclusive education (4) Specially designed instruction occurs within general education setting (5) Barriers to inclusive education exist within systems and environments and not within students.
For sustainable systems change, a team of people who have the power to make those changes need to be working together.
Formative Assessments are important to make sure we aren’t presuming a lack of competence in our students.
We want to push away from labeling our students, and yet to avail services, our systems require our kids to have a disability. If we are all on this neurodiverse spectrum, what does it mean in terms of availing those supports? Discussion on definitions of students with Extensive Support Needs.
Two main indicators of successful transition to adulthood for students with disabilities- Prior job experience and inclusion.
School-based occupational therapists’ expertise in adapting anything can used to enable inclusive education. Need for more collaboration between related service providers and educators.
Using the Initiative Inventory, start contemplating what needs to be changed based on what is already in place. ( will be uploaded in this soon)
When this wonderful leader leaves, how do we still keep this going?
Dr. Taub’s personal dreams of how we would have changed in 10 years.
The TIES Center's Inclusive Education Roadmap- https://publications.ici.umn.edu/ties/ties-ier-rise/introduction
Contact Dr. Deborah Taub at [email protected]
Check out our website- www.inclusiveoccupations.com
Helpful Resources Shared by Dr. Taub:
Initiative Inventory Process
Initiative Inventory
Article- Implementation Science and Practice in the Education Sector
Podcast transcript with audio available at Otter. ai (https://otter.ai/u/t94IJO3QcxsxiLzKRCO8jqv_G2A?utm_source=copy_url)