"Song of Our Children" -- Online Resource Guide
a documentary video on educational inclusion of kids with special needs
RESOURCE GUIDE
Filmmakers’ note:
Inclusion is not just about kids with special needs. It’s about all kids. The documentary film Song of Our Children is mainly about kids with special needs because historically they have been denied access to inclusion and educational opportunities other kids receive as a matter of course. This resource guide is a work-in-progress based on input from various parents and educators. Please feel free to email additions, comments and corrections to this resource guide and your ideas about how to effectively distribute this film to info@landlockedfilms.com. We are parents of a child with special needs and we care deeply about the civil and human rights of children. Thank you for your interest in the film and in educational inclusion.
--Beret E. Strong, Ph.D. and John Tweedy, M.A., J.D., Producers of Song of Our Children
Definitions of inclusive schooling:
“Everyone belongs, is accepted, supports, and is supported
by his or her peers and other members of the school community in the course of
having his or her educational needs met.” Stainback, W. and Stainback, S.
(1990.) Support networks for inclusive schooling: interdependent integrated
education. Baltimore: Brookes.
-Webster’s New Unabridged Universal Dictionary:
Inclusion means “to contain, embrace, or comprise, as a
whole does parts.”
-Oberti v. Borough of Clementon School District, 1993: “Inclusion is a
right, not a privilege for a select few.”
“[A]ll students, regardless of their abilities, must be
given the opportunity to become involved with and progress in the general
education curriculum. Every student must have access to what is being taught….
Teachers must ensure that students are actively engaged in learning; that is,
the subject matter is cognitively challenging them, regardless of their
developmental level.”
– Raymond Orkwis, ERIC/OSEP Digest #E586.
The National Institute for Urban School Improvement defines inclusive schools as those that:
From: Parents Supporting I.D.E.A., at http://members.aol.com/PSIDEA/inclusion/1.htm
The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) has been revised and renewed:
IDEA was revised and reauthorized by Congress in
November 2004 and signed into law by President Bush in December 2004. It is
known as HR 1350 and it is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act of 2004. For details, see www.Wrightslaw.com
or
www.taalliance.org/urgent.htm or the Disability Rights Education
and Defense Fund at
www.dredf.org/
Post-screening discussion questions:
Questions for adults:
Segregation and inclusion, then and now:
1. What was the situation for kids with special needs when you were in your K-12 years? Were the kids with special needs segregated or included? What were your experiences around this issue? What messages did you receive about difference?
2. Are there kids with special needs in your child’s or children’s classes? How is that working out for all concerned? What messages do you want to impart to today’s children and families? How might you do that?
Inclusion as national policy:
3. What does inclusion mean to you? Should it be a national goal? If so, how can we work toward that goal?
4. Why is there such a gap between the mandates of federal education law, especially in the last thirty years, and the performance of states and school districts? What can be done to close the gap?
Making inclusion a reality:
5. What are the challenges to educational inclusion? How might they be effectively addressed? Explore in detail possible strategies for successfully addressing those challenges. Brainstorm creative strategies and solutions. Choose one of the following categories to start a dialogue: training, staffing, curriculum, and financing. If you decide on an action plan, considering using the following template to monitor your process:
a. Dialogue about strategies
b. Plan of execution
c. Next steps
d. Individual and group responsibilities
e. Timeline for checking on progress
6. What are the benefits of inclusion for the kids with and without identified special needs?
How we feel, think, and act in regard to disability/special needs:
7. Do you believe we all have some kind of special needs?
8. How do you feel about disability and difference? Do you believe that such people are fully included in your community? Are kids fully included in your community’s schools? Is there a way to encourage more social inclusion of kids by kids? How do you include people with differences? How would you wish you included them?
9. How do we define “disability” in our national educational system and in our own minds? What does it mean politically, socially, and economically?
Questions for kids and youth:
Being included or excluded:
1. Have you had experiences where you felt or were excluded? How did you feel when you were excluded in some way?
2. Do you know kids with special needs? How do you and the other kids relate to them? How do they relate to you? Do you feel they are fully included at school or in your neighborhood?
3. What would it look like if all kids were truly included? What would the school day look like for all kids? What happens at recess and lunch time for kids at your school? Is anyone excluded?
4. How might you react if one of the film’s characters was in your class at school? Would it be fair to exclude certain kids from your school? What kids might be excluded and why?
On being different and alike:
5. What are some ways in which people are alike and different? In your opinion, are we more alike or more different?
On how adults and kids can help include kids:
6. How could your school successfully include all kids? If it does already, are there extra efforts made to support kids with extra challenges in their learning, friendships, or the way their bodies work? How can kids help other kids who might be struggling or working hard to cope with challenges other kids don’t have?
Activities:
Letter-writing activity: Think of a person with some sort of a difference, try to step into their shoes, and write a letter about what they need, want, and struggle with, and what they wish everyone knew. Be aware of respecting the privacy of others when you do this. Share your letter with your school community, if appropriate.
Teacher-parent pairing: Choose an interpersonal situation that’s currently difficult for you and that involves inclusion or the implementation of inclusion. Describe the problem or conflict. Look at it from the other person’s point of view – what is the other person thinking and feeling? Identify the other person’s feelings and the thoughts that might be driving those feelings. Is your perspective changed by trying to walk in the other person’s shoes? How are you feeling about the situation? What thoughts are driving your feelings? Is this a truly useful perspective? How might you change your perspective so that it’s more productive and useful for all involved? What can you do tomorrow to inject compassion for yourself and the other person involved in the conflict?
Parent-teacher conversation: Parents, what do you wish teachers knew about your job? Teachers, what do you wish parents knew about your job? What are your hopes and dreams and fears for a certain child’s life? What’s the common ground between you about this child? How can you work together to further your hopes and dreams for this child?
Reframing difficult thoughts and emotions: If you are struggling with your own thoughts and feelings around your child’s situation or your school or, if you’re a teacher, a family or your parent community, consider exploring these feelings and looking at new ways of relating to your situation. See www.shiftingview.com if you are interested in consultation, workshops, or coaching around these issues, or call Linda Roan-Yager, M.A. or Nancy Whiteman, M.S., founders of Shifting View, Inc. They are two parents of children with special needs who provide assistance to parents and teachers on these issues. They can be reached at 720-565-9225.
Exercise for children: Have kids experiment with having sensory differences. To model having challenges with fine motor control, try doing things with socks over your hands. To model what it might be like to have cerebral palsy, try tying bandanas around a child’s leg, tie a rope to the bandana, and then randomly pull on the rope. To model impaired vision, try following your normal routine while blindfolded or with a layer of cloth over your eyes. To imagine what it might be like to be on the autistic spectrum, try amplifying various kinds of sounds and then trying to concentrate on a difficult book.
Exercise for adults: Consider joining a listserve that educates you about the concerns of parents with kids with special needs. What do you learn in a matter of days about what this path is like? How can people in the community support of all kids and families?
Useful websites:
To find resources in different states, as well as information on federal organizations and law, see: The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities, at www.nichcy.org. It is a national information center with a focus on children and youth, from birth to age 22.
PTI means “Parent Training and Information”. Each region of the United States has a PTI-related organization and many states have their own parent-service organizations as well. See http://www.taalliance.org/centers/ to find out how to reach the one in your state or region. See http://www.taalliance.org/research/index.htm for a broad variety of research-related links, including a very interesting array of scientifically-based research. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the organization offering all this information is the Technical Assistance Alliance for Parent Centers. 8161 Normandale Blvd., Minneapolis, MN 55437. Tel: 952-838-9000 or 1-888-248-0622. alliance@taalliance.org
National Institute for Urban School Improvement. See www.inclusiveschools.org. See, for example, “Improving education: The promise of inclusive schooling.”
Dr. Paula Kluth, featured in Song of Our Children, is a national inclusion expert and a consultant on a range of issues. She has an excellent website at www.paulakluth.com. She can be reached at pkluth@earthlink.net
Restructuring for Inclusive School Environments (RISE), has an excellent list of links to inclusion-related resources at http://www.people.memphis.edu/~coe_rise/Links.html#Incl
Circle of Inclusion, a website with resource about effective inclusion practices for children birth through eight. http://circleofinclusion.org/
TASH, at www.tash.org, is an international association of people with disabilities, and their families, advocates, teachers and professionals working toward inclusion in all areas of life. They have a wonderful annual conference in the U.S., usually in autumn.
PEAK Parent Center, http://www.peakparent.org/, puts on a wonderful and well-attended annual national conference on inclusive education. The center is located in Colorado Springs, CO, and is a Parent Training and Information Center for the Rocky Mountain region. Tel: 719-531-9400 or 1-800-284-0251; e-mail: info@peakparent.org.
Inclusion Network, at www.inclusion.com, is a Toronto-based organization that provides resources, workshops, and products on inclusion for educators and families. Their view is that inclusion means change. The site includes a thought-provoking article on the “What is inclusion?” page entitled “The Ethics of inclusion: Three common delusions.”
The United Kingdom’s Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education offers a helpful on-line essay called “Index for inclusion: developing learning and participation in schools.” It helps schools reflect on their own practices, decide on priorities to promote change, and integrate inclusion into existing policies and practices. Its list of “Definitions of inclusion” is worth a look. See http://inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csie/indexlaunch.htm
The Council for Exceptional Children, http://www.cec.sped.org/ or (tel) 1-800-CEC-READ.
Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center, www.usu.edu/mprrc. Affiliated with Utah State University and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, this resource center has links to an on-line library, federal agencies, parent centers, and national databases and special education websites. It even has a national job finder.
Educational Resource Information Center (ERIC), at http://www.eric.ed.gov, is a national information database funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, at www.dredf.org/, is a national policy and law center advocating for the civil rights of people with disabilities.
National Down Syndrome Society, at http://www.ndss.org/, has excellent information on inclusion. Go to its “Information & Resources” section, and then choose “Education & Schooling” and click on inclusion-related links in its left-column menu.
The HEATH Resource Center, at http://www.heath.gwu.edu/index.html, is a clearinghouse on post-secondary education for adults with disabilities.
The National Early Childhood Transition Research and Training Center (NECTC), at http://www.ihdi.uky.edu/nectc/, is an organization that works to promote successful transitions between preschool/early childhood programs and public school for kids with special needs.
Special Kids Today, the community for parents of exceptional children. http://specialkidsstoday.com
The Exceptional Family Resource Center, a San Diego-based organization, has an on-line database of resources that are relevant to families around the country. There’s also information on international news about disability. See www.efrconline.org, click on “online news” (currently in a center of screen menu), then “click here”, then “by keyword” to reach an index of news and other articles to choose from.
Invisible Child, Inc., is an organization about brain differences and other sometimes “invisible” challenges of children, from mental health issues to various disabilities. They put on an excellent annual conference. See www.invisiblechild.org.
Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered, www.sabeusa.org/, is a resource for how people with disabilities can become advocates for themselves.
Resources for Colorado Parents and Teachers:
The Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council (CDDC) offers scholarships to parents to go to conferences. They also have mini-grants. Marcia Tewell is the director.
PEAK Parent Center, http://www.peakparent.org/, located in Colorado Springs, CO, is a Parent Training and Information Center for the Rocky Mountain region. Tel: 719-531-9400 or 1-800-284-0251; e-mail: info@peakparent.org. They run an excellent parent listserve called P2P-CO@yahoogroups.com and a project called Person Centered Planning Initiative. PEAK also offers information and conferences for educators.
The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, an organization run by and for people with disabilities. It is a good resource on independence, self-reliance and advocacy. http://www.ccdconline.org/
Good Sources of Books and Videos:
Brookes, at www.brookespublishing.com, is perhaps the largest publisher of books on special needs and related issues in the U.S.
Woodbine House, www.woodbinehouse.com, has an excellent “special needs collection” that includes books on inclusion. (Tel: 1-800-843-7323.) Woodbine House published a book by Eliza Woloson who, along with her daughter Isabelle, appears in Song of Our Children. The book is called My Friend Isabelle and is a wonderful way to help open a dialogue with young children about common ground and differences among friends.
Fanlight Productions, www.fanlight.com, has a wonderful collection of videos for sale on disabilities, educational issues, medical issues, and social issues.
National Professional Resources, Inc., at www.NPRinc.com, has a large collection of video and print resources including items on inclusion, topics in special education, differentiated instruction, and social/emotional issues, and various special needs. Tel: 1-800-453-7461.
Bibliography:
Resources on Teaching Inclusively:
Beninghof, A.M., and Singer, A.L. (1995). Ideas for inclusion: The school administrator's guide. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
Burrello, L.; Burrello, J.; and Winninger, J. (1993). Facing inclusion together through collaboration and co-teaching. Bloomington, IN: Council for Administrators of Special Education.
Farlow, L. (February 1996). “A quartet of success stories: How to make inclusion work.” Educational Leadership 53(5), 51-55.
Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy; and Sax, Karen. (1999). Inclusive elementary schools: Recipes for success. Colorado Springs, CO: PEAK Parent Center.
Fisher, Douglas; Sax, C.; Pumpian, I, eds. (1999). Inclusive high schools: Learning from contemporary classrooms. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
Forest, M., and Pearpoint, J. (1997) Inclusion! The bigger picture. See http://www.inclusion.com.tools.html
Katz, L.; Sax, C.; and Fisher, D. (1998). Activities for a diverse classroom: Connecting students. Colorado Springs: PEAK Parent Center.
Lieber, J. et al. (2002). Widening the circle, including children with disabilities in preschool programs. New York: Teachers College Press.
Lipsky, D.K., and Gartner, A. (1997). Inclusion and school reform: Transforming America’s classrooms. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
“Mainstreaming vs. inclusion.” http://faculty.knox.edu/jvanderg/201Stuff/Inclusion.html
McGregor, G., and Vogelsberg, R. T. (1998). Inclusive schooling practices: Pedagogical and research foundations. University of Montana.
McLeskey, James. (2000). Inclusive schools in action: Making differences ordinary. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). (1995). Winning ways: Creating inclusive schools, classrooms and communities. Alexandria, VA.
“Planning for inclusion.” NICHCY 5(1), June 1995, 1-32. A useful copyright-free article with annotated bibliography dating to the 1990s. NICHCY is the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities, tel: 800-695-0285.
Shapiro, Joseph P. No Pity: People with disabilities forging a new civil rights movement. (1993). New York: Three Rivers Press.
Smith, Tom E. C.; Polloway, Edward; Patton, James R.; and Dowdy, Carol A. (2004). Teaching students with special needs in inclusive settings. 4th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Tilton, Linda. Inclusion: A fresh look. Shorewood, MN: Covington Cove Publications. This book’s subtitle is “Practical strategies to help all students succeed.” See also www.LindaTilton.com
Tilton, Linda. (2003). The Teacher’s toolbox for differentiating instruction. Shorewood, MN: Covington Cove Publications. For K-12 teachers. See www.LindaTilton.com
Waldron, Nancy L.; McLeskey, James; and Pacchiano, Debra. (1999). “Giving teachers a voice: Teachers’ perspectives regarding elementary inclusive school programs (ISP).” Teacher Education and Special Education, 22(3), 141-153.
Benefits of Inclusion:
“On inclusion and the other kids: Here’s what research shows so far about inclusion’s effect on nondisabled students.” National Institute for Urban School Improvement (NIUSI). From September/October 1996 issue of Learning. For NIUSI, see (email) niusi@edc.org or www.edc.org/urban
Ferguson, Dianne L.; Kozleski, Elizabeth B.; Smith, Anne. (2001). “On transformed, inclusive schools: A framework to guide fundamental change in urban schools.” National Institute for Urban School Improvement (NIUSI).
Hines, Rebecca A. “Inclusion in middle schools.” EDO-PS-01-13, December 2001. A publication of ERIC/EECE. ERIC is the Educational Resources Information Center and EECE is the Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. An excellent and uplifting research-based look at how the benefits of inclusion far outweigh the challenges. It also analyzes the barriers to inclusion as of 2000. In this article, these barriers fall into three categories: organizational, attitudinal, and knowledge or training. See http://ericeece.org/pubs/digests/2001/hines01.html
“Long-term effects of inclusion.” (November 2003). This is an annotation of research on the topic published by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education (ERIC EC), a project of The Council for Exceptional Children. Includes links to a lot of other resources from the ERIC database. http://ericec.org/faq/i-long.html
Ritter, C.L.; Michel, C.S.; and Irby, B. (1999). “Concerning inclusion: Perceptions of middle school students, their parents, and teachers.” Rural Special Education Quarterly, 18(2), 10-17. EJ 607 015.
There’s an excellent article entitled “Misperceptions about inclusive schools,” by The National Institute for Urban School Improvement. See www.inclusiveschools.org The article explores ten prevalent myths on why inclusion can’t or won’t work. Myths include:
The InclusiveSchools web site also includes the debunking of some of these myths.
Salend, S. J. and Duhaney, L.G. (1999). “The Impact of inclusion on students with and without disabilities and their educators.” Remedial and Special Education 20(2), 114-127. EJ 585 702.
Staub, D. (1998). Delicate threads: Friendships between children with and without special needs in inclusive settings. Brookline, MA: Woodbine House.
Staub, D. and Peck, C.A. (1995). “What are the outcomes for nondisabled students?” Educational Leadership, 52(4), 36-40. EJ 496 166.
Waldron, Nancy L., and McLeskey, James. (1998). “The effects of an inclusive school program on students with mild and severe learning disabilities.” Exceptional Children 64(3), 395-405. This study reveals how students with learning disabilities have made more progress in math and reading in inclusive settings as compared with their progress in resource rooms.
“What is the impact of inclusion on students and staff in the middle school setting?” National Middle School Association Research Summary #14. http://www.nmsa.org/research/ressum14.htm
To contact the National Middle School Association: (tel) 800-528-NMSA, (email) info@NMSA.org
Resources on Specific Disabilities/Special Needs:
Kluth, Paula, Ph.D. (2003). You’re going to love this kid: Teaching students with autism in the inclusive classroom. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing. This book has great suggestions for how to work effectively and make comfortable in the classroom kids with a range of sensory issues and sensitivities.
National Down Syndrome Society, at http://www.ndss.org/, has excellent information on inclusion. Go to its “Information & Resources” section, and then choose “Education & Schooling” and click on inclusion-related links in its left-column menu.
“LD at a glance”, Fact Sheet from the National Center for Learning Disabilities, on terminology and types of learning disabilities. See http://www.ld.org, and link to LD InfoZone.
Grandin, Temple. (1995). Thinking in pictures. New York: Vintage Books. A personal memoir of the CSU Animal Sciences professor’s experience with autism and her unique visual and other gifts.
Atwood, Tony. Asperger’s syndrome. (1998.) Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley.
Legal issues relevant to special education, history of IDEA, and compliance
with IDEA:
www.Wrightslaw.com provides information about special education law and related advocacy to parents, educators, attorneys and others working on behalf of children with disabilities.
McLeskey, James, and Henry, Daniel. “Inclusion: What progress is being made across states?” Teaching Exceptional Children, May/June 1999, 56-62. A state-by-state analysis of inclusion based on a number of measures, including the Cumulative Placement Rate (CPR) of children with disabilities in general education classes, resource rooms, separate classes and separate schools. States with a high degree of inclusion, as of several years ago, include: Vermont, North Dakota, Oregon, Colorado, and Idaho. States with a low degree of inclusion, as of several years ago, include: District of Columbia, West Virginia, Illinois, New Mexico, and New York.
“President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education Research Agenda Task Force.” Testimony submitted by Wayne Sailor, Ph.D., April 18, 2002. http://www.ideacompliance.org/presidents-commission.html This is a 27-page report that summarizes relevant research to date and makes recommendations on what additional research is needed to further the goals of IDEA and No Child Left Behind. A detailed but useful way to find out what researchers have concluded about academic and other successes of inclusion. Contains encouraging information, such as research results in the areas of curriculum modification, collaborative teaching, inclusive programs being less expensive than non-inclusive models, etc. Includes an extensive bibliography.
“Back to School on Civil Rights: Advancing the Federal Commitment to Leave No Child Behind.” National Council on Disability. January 25, 2000. See: http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/backtoschool_1.html This is an incisive report on “more than two decades of federal monitoring and enforcement of compliance on Part B of IDEA.” The National Council on Disability found that all 50 states were somewhat out of compliance with federal education law, and makes extensive recommendations on how to change this situation for the better.
“All 50 states fail IDEA compliance test.” A condensed news bulletin on “Back to School on Civil Rights,” the National Council for Disability 2000 report on the progress of states in complying with IDEA. http://www.just-solutions.net/compliance/50_states.htm
“History of the IDEA: Twenty-five years of progress in educating children with disabilities through IDEA.” http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/leg/idea/history.html
Off historical interest:
Sklaroff, Sara. “A.F.T. urges halt to ‘full inclusion’ movement.” January 12, 1993. Education Week on the Web. http://www.educationweek.org/ew/1994/16speced.h13 You have to register (it’s free) to use this site, and this article is interesting in terms of the rocky and evolving history of inclusion. In 1993, the American Federation of Teachers (A.F.T.) called for a moratorium on the ‘full inclusion’ movement. The then-president of the A.F.T. told the media, “We have great problems with the movement that says, ‘Start by putting all the kids in the [regular] classrooms.’”
Least Restrictive Environment (a foundation of inclusion dating to Public
Law 94-142, the Education of the Handicapped Act of 1975):
The legal notion of ‘least restrictive environment’ requires that students be placed in educational settings where they can be most successful. Case law and other legal precedent since 1975 show that this usually means an inclusive setting.
“Benefits of LRE” is a research-based and footnoted article published by the Least Restrictive Environment Coalition on the provision in IDEA that students with special needs should be educated in the “least restrictive environment,” which usually means the least segregated and the most inclusive. See http://www.lrecoalition.org/04_benefitsOfLRE/
Disability History and Statistics:
“Highlights in disability history,” a timeline of legal and other milestones in the U.S. from 1817 to 1999. See http://www.catea.org/Day_5.html Published by CATEA, the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access.
“Education and disability statistics: A historical perspective,” National Organization on Disability, 7/25/2001. For this article, which opens with a 1994 U.S. Congressional report on IDEA-related goals and closes with encouraging information about the percentage of adults with disabilities who had attended college in 2000, see http://www.nod.org/content.cfm?id+133 or, for their website in general, see www.nod.org
“Percentage of children ages 3 to 17 reported to have ever been diagnosed by a school or a professional as having a learning disability, 1997-2002”, see http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/tables/65_Table_1.htm
“Children who have difficulty performing everyday activities” and other articles. See http://www.childstats.gov/, which is part of the Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
Wenger, Barbara L.; Kaye, H. Stephen; and LaPlante, Mitchell P. “Disabilities among children.” Disability Statistics Abstract, Number 15, March 1996. Published by U.S. Dept. of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). As of almost a decade ago, 6.1% of children under age 18 were considered by the government to have disabilities. This statistic varies significantly, depending on who’s doing the counting.
“National Disability Statistics.” This short document covers Americans of all ages and cites sources for its statistics. It was published by Governor Rick Perry of Texas. http://www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/disabilities/resources/statistics/national
“The number of people served by IDEA, by age group (US) in 2002”, International Center for Disability Information. Source: Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), 2001-02. The information is broken down by child’s age (3-5, 6-11, 12-17, and 18-21) and by category of disability. The total for kids 3-17 is over 6 million. http://www.icdi.wvu.edu/disability/U.S%20Tables/US1.htm
“By disability type, the percent of students with disabilities who spend time in regular classrooms, by percent of school day spent in regular classrooms (1999).” A revealing looks at which disabilities garner more segregated educational settings than others. This is also an interesting benchmark for IDEA success and failure. OSERS (federal government) information. http://www.icdo.wvu.edu/disability/U.S%20Tables/US9.htm
“Disability Status: 2000 – Census 2000 Brief.” http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/disable/disabstat2k/table1.html
Spending on Education per Pupil in the 50 States:
“Resources: Adequacy”, a list of spending per pupil, adjusted for regional costs differences, in the 50 states, as of 2001. Published by Education Week on the web. There are links to profiles of all fifty states. See http://www.edweek.org/sreports/qc04/reports/recourses-t1.cfm
Universal Design:
“What is universal design?” Here’s a short definition offered on this site: “Universal design is an approach to the design of all products and environments to be usable by everyone, to the greatest extent possible, regardless of age, ability, or situation.” http://www.udeducation.org/learn/index.asp
“Curriculum access and universal design for learning.” ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education. http://ericec.org/digests/e586.html
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