Focus on inclusion in our schools. The National Parent Teacher Association, the Department of Education, and educators came together to discuss how we can make inclusion a core part of our classroom culture. Examples were shared from across the country where the entire class benefited by including students with different learning styles.
The next live streaming video focuses on Inclusion in Early Childhood Programs.Watch it hereJanuary 14, 2016 at 3:30pm.
Special Education Toolkit from National Parent Teacher Association for families of newly diagnosed children with special needs explains how to get the best special education, services and resources available to them.
Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit has an array of documents, policies and best practices to get you started on the right path.
Every Child in Focus campaign aims to better support students with special needs.
Unified Theatre's 4 Steps Towards Full Inclusion outlines steps to progress on your journey toward full inclusion for your child.
Unpacking Inclusion offers a working definition of inclusion and ideas on how your child can learn to be inclusive in every day life.
Aysha is the newest member of the VSA Massachusetts COOL Schools team, having joined this summer as Associate Director. However, she is not new to the VSA family. Last fall, Aysha interned as she pursued her Master’s Degree in Arts in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She brings over 10 years of experience as a dancer, educator, teaching artist, arts administrator and social change agent along with a passion for arts-integrated inclusive learning and a determination to see the program thrive and grow. Her can-do attitude and contagious energy have already influenced the COOL Schools staff and teaching artist team to move forward with clear and bold goals. We want to celebrate her strong start by recognizing Aysha as Employee of the Quarter!
This past semester VSA MA partnered with the Duskin Disability Leadership Program at UMass Boston's Institute for Community Inclusion by hosting one of its 2015 trainees. Yui Higashikawa participated in the intensive five-month program for Japanese people with disabilities to develop leadership and self-advocacy skills, which they then take back to Japan.
Yui is a fourth-year student in the English department at Chikushi Jogakuen University in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Born with a physical disability, Yui is an artist and a certified pastel art instructor. She is interested in disability and visual arts, specifically "how art and color affect the mind, body, and brain of people with disabilities and . . . how drawing or reading picture books differently impacts people with various disabilities".
During her time in Boston, Yui assisted and was mentored by Nicole Gsell, a COOL Schools Teaching Artist at the Henderson Inclusion School. For three days a week, Yui shadowed Nicole and even led a lesson on pastels in a K1 classroom. She was able to learn more about arts programs for people with disabilities in the United States, and about how art is used to create more inclusive environments and programs, particularly in schools. The students and staff at the Henderson truly welcomed Yui with open arms and were full of appreciation for her as she departed. At the culminating awards ceremony on December 11, Yui shared how much she would miss her time here in Boston but is so excited about what she learned about herself and her future in arts and inclusive learning environments. Additionally, Yui contributed art to the annual VSA Handmade Holiday Market, helping her discover another outlet for her artistic and career endeavors.
