Schools abandoned effective programs

Re: “Special classes are needed,” letter, June 12.

Until the late 1990s, School District 61 had separate programs for students with special needs. These included programs for severely learning-disabled students, such as those with dyslexia; programs for those with intellectual disabilities that focused on life skills, as well as maximizing learning potential; and programs for children with behaviour challenges.

No one was forced into these programs, but many desperate parents had their children on wait lists, hoping to get a spot. These programs were staffed with specially trained teachers and assistants who enjoyed being with these students. These programs worked well. There were fewer special-needs students in the regular classrooms, allowing those teachers to get on with teaching the mainstream students.

It was “utopian educational philosophy” that encouraged inclusion in the regular classroom. It sounded good on paper, but many of us at that time watched with great sadness as these segregated programs were closed. Many of the parents speaking up to retain these programs were shamed for not embracing the “new way of inclusion” and were guaranteed that support/funding would be there. Predictably, this did not happen.

Unfortunately, it has taken 20 years for the realization that the inclusive model is not the answer for all students. Some special-needs students do well in the regular classroom, but many do not and show up each day only to warm the seat. These students can thrive only when they receive what they need. For them, “inclusion” is a separate classroom. Barbara Allison Saanich