Language of the Heart| Heartaches and Heartsongs

photo credit: qthomasbower In the post: Caring Community| People First Language we talked about the power of labels, negative stereotypes and the paradigm shift of looking at all people as PEOPLE First! Today, on Valentine’s Day, I am asking you to think about...

The Animal School| Inclusion and Universal Design

  Many people have a hard time understanding the concepts of independence vs. interdependence, inclusion, multiple intelligences and cooperative learning. I thought a revision of The Animal School by George Reavis might explain it all.* THE ANIMAL SCHOOL Once...

Better than Church

Playing for Change “Lean on Me” from Playing for Change. What I love about this video is musicians from all over the world are playing the same song. Giving the same message. Gritty to sophisticated, washboards to violins–it’s the same song and...

Olympics and Disabilities| Lessons in Inclusion

Olympics, Disabilities and Inclusion There are many legends around the origins of the Olympics. But the main idea was countries and individuals would meet every 4 years and set aside conflicts–and this shared experience would lead toward greater understanding...

Aaron’s Olympic Moment

Is summer different for kids with and without disabilities? As parents of children with disabilities, it is difficult to know “What is realistic?” “What goals do I want?”. I have always found it helpful to measure “normalization” by...

When Schools Say “NO” to Inclusion

When Schools say “NO” to Inclusion The Inclusive Class Podcast presented a panel with Tom Mihail, Paula Kluth, Torrie Dunlap, Lisa Jo Rudy, Frances Stetson, Kathleen McClaskey and myself. The Title was: “When Schools say ‘NO’ to Inclusion”...