New preschool includes all

By: TIM MAYER - Staff Writer | Saturday, January 8, 2005 9:32 PM PST ∞

CARLSBAD ---- Carlsbad Unified School District officials and teachers say they've taken another step to make sure children with special needs are fully and completely included in the classroom and learning.

For example, take last Wednesday afternoon's "circle time" in Classroom 27 at Buena Vista Elementary School, where a group of happy, laughing children gathered around teacher Peggi Baker to dance and sing and take turns helping Baker tell stories about firefighters.

Next, the children worked on red-painted, half-pint milk cartons, turning them into tiny firetrucks with a little glue, cut-out wheels and ladders.

It's what you'd expect to see at many preschools for 3- to 5-year-old kids, but there's a difference with the program at Buena Vista, now in its second year.

More than half the children at play and learning are designated as special education, or kids who have special needs because of learning problems or conditions such as autism. The others are typically developing youngsters, those who would naturally fit into any classroom.

Together, they are just children holding hands, sometimes hugging, eager for snack time.

"Often, people come in and say, 'Which kids have a disability?' " said Baker, a special education teacher for 15 years. "That's kind of nice."

Joanne Caudill, district special education coordinator, said early exposure of regular education kids to the inclusive classroom and their role as models for the children with special needs is a crucial step as both prepare to move on to regular kindergarten classes.

"One of the issues for special education is to offer the least restricted environment with the most integration with their general education peers as possible," said Caudill.

Both the special education and the general education children benefit, Caudill said.

The regular education children become role models in behavior, language and other skills for their special education peers. The regular education children learn not only their lessons, but an understanding and love for others who may be a little bit different.

Said Baker: "When children begin at preschool learning to accept differences, then they grow up in an inclusive world. Children learn to love, accept the differences, be a buddy to a child who might have a disability."

Parents praise the program

Parents of children with special needs and regular education kids have had nothing but praise for the preschool program.

Susie and Marvin Brown said their 4-year-old daughter, Riley ---- who is a typically developing child ---- is in her second year in the program.

"I think it's wonderful," said Susie Brown. "She gets a lot out of being with the special needs kids."

"She calls them the babies, and takes care of them," said Marvin Brown.

Deja Powell said her 5-year-old daughter Madison loves going to school. Also a general education youngster, Powell said her daughter has "learned to be compassionate, to learn children have different needs."

Nora George said that before the district referred her to the Buena Vista preschool a few weeks ago, she had not found a place for her 4-year-old son, Mitchell. He has Asperger's disorder, a type of high-functioning autism.

While her son and others with the disorder are extremely intelligent, "they are socially awkward" and in a regular preschool "there's no place for these guys," she said.

George said she's been impressed with everything she's found at Buena Vista.

"As far as special needs go, this is the way it should be going," she said. "You can't really tell who is who because they are so well integrated."

Inside the classroom last week, Mitchell helped count the turns as Madison slipped into a big, blue bag suspended from the ceiling to be swung back and forth by Baker. The swing is used to provide sensory stimulation for children with autism, but all kids get their turn.

Madison pulled the bag around her like a cocoon and began to swing.

"The cocoon is moving!" said Mitchell.

Parent Vicky Golden said she can't say enough about the program and what it has meant for her son, Kevin, 3, who has learning disabilities, and her daughter Allison, 4, who attends as a regular education student.

"It has been wonderful because everything is being addressed, and I see progress (with Kevin) in such a short time," said Golden, who started her children at the school in September.

As for Allison, "she's doing great," she said.

"I think having an inclusion-type program has helped her be more aware of kids who have different needs, who speak differently," Golden said. "The kids are involved in the same activities. They can help each other. They can learn from each other."

A work in progress

Caudill said the program is still "a work in progress" as Baker and her partner, regular preschool teacher Annette Conrad, continue to find ways to modify and improve the preschool.

For instance, Conrad said, last school year when the program began, the children spent only a part of the day ---- about 45 minutes ---- together and separated for some activities.

"We were still seeing that when the kids would go to the playground, the kids in my (regular ed) class would only play with each other, and the kids in Peggi's class would only play with each other," Conrad said.

"So even though it was inclusive, it wasn't enough time for the kids to feel that it was all one big classroom. They separated themselves."

Starting this year all children were integrated into a single group taught by both Baker and Conrad for the morning and afternoon classes, each lasting 2.5 hours.

"Within the first couple of weeks, we saw big changes," Conrad said. "They are playing together. Eating snacks together, which they were not doing before unless it was teacher directed."

Conrad and Baker also team up with teacher Andrea Morey, whose preschool for more severely disabled children is next door, to combine the classes for part of each day.

"It's very beneficial," Morey said. "It's beneficial from both sides. You're teaching empathy and understanding of others' differences, which hopefully will carry into their adult lives.

"As severely (disabled) as some of our kids can be, they are learning. It may be small steps, but they are very valuable individuals," she said.

Contact staff writer Tim Mayer at (760) 901-4043 or tmayer@nctimes.com.

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