School Plan for Disabled Makes Gains : Full inclusion: County is now embracing a program that places children with special needs in regular classes.

Following a nationwide movement to end segregation of disabled children, nearly 100 Ventura County students with severe disabilities have left special education programs to enter mainstream classrooms.

Although the concept of placing disabled children in regular classes--an educational trend called “full inclusion”--is not new, Ventura County schools initially were slow to embrace the idea.

But during the past few years, county school districts have taken up the concept of full inclusion with fervor, and now the number of disabled students entering mainstream classrooms is growing.

For the most part, the full-inclusion experiment is working in Ventura County, educators say. Disabled children are learning social skills, and non-disabled children are learning tolerance and acceptance of others.

But problems have arisen. Some disabled students have displayed disruptive--even violent--behavior in their new classrooms, pulling children’s hair or choking classmates.

At least 25 parents of non-disabled children have complained to county officials, saying their children’s education is being compromised by the demands of a handful of special-needs students.

“We’ve certainly been struggling with the issue for the past two or three years,” said Fran Arner-Costello, the county’s special education coordinator. “The bottom line is, we believe (full inclusion) is a program option that should be considered, but it is not an answer for all children.”

Of the approximately 13,000 special education students in Ventura County, only about 1% are enrolled in general education classes at this time, Arner-Costello said.

But the number is growing. Simi Valley schools, for example, had only one or two severely disabled children enrolled in mainstream classes five years ago. Now, there are more than a dozen.

Conejo Valley Unified created a task force last spring to study full inclusion. The district has six severely disabled children attending mainstream classes.

In 1990, the Oxnard elementary school district had no disabled children enrolled full time in mainstream classes. But by last year, Oxnard schools had 17 children in full-inclusion programs, school officials said.

Overall, about 72 disabled children from kindergarten to eighth grade spent the entire school day in mainstream classes last year, according to the most recent survey conducted by county school officials in May, 1994.

*

County officials expect that number to surge to about 100 students for the current school year--an increase that has caught some teachers by surprise.

“I talk to regular classroom teachers and they are very frustrated,” said Gaye Kubat, who heads up Oxnard’s special education programs. “This movement is surging ahead faster than they have had time to be trained to deal with it.”

The movement of disabled children into mainstream schooling began gradually in 1975, when federal law mandated that schools educate disabled students in the “least restrictive environment” possible.

As a result, districts closed segregated “centers” for disabled children and placed them in special education programs on mainstream campuses.

But in recent years, a growing number of students moved out of special education programs and into regular classrooms for a portion--if not all--of the school day.

Today, more than 1.6 million children with disabilities spend the entire school day in regular classes and the number continues to grow, Department of Education officials said.

“The trend now is to say, ‘Why should we have special classes at all?’ ” Arner-Costello said.

But many educators believe the trend for inclusion is just that--a trend. They note that 15 years ago, many parents of disabled students were clamoring to have their children receive the individual attention and small groups that are the hallmark of special education classrooms.

“I think we need to say, ‘Yes, it’s an option,’ ” said Ricardo Nargie, director of special education at Ventura Unified. “But it’s just an option. I wouldn’t want to get caught up in an educational fad.”

Ventura County’s special education division--which includes the Las Virgenes School District in Los Angeles County--suggests three placement options for severely disabled children:

* Inclusion: Disabled students participate full time in general education classes.

* Mainstreaming: Disabled students spend a portion of the school day in regular classes.

* Integration: Disabled students participate in some mainstream programs, such as physical education, but spend the majority of the school day in special education classes.

Special education coordinators across the county said they regard inclusion as just one option, and warn that only a select few of severely disabled children can successfully make the transition to a mainstream classroom.

“We need to ask, ‘Are we really meeting this youngster’s needs, or are we being premature?’ ” Nargie said.

*

Connie Farkas, elementary special education coordinator for Conejo Valley Unified, agreed.

“You have to look at each child individually,” she said. “If they need full inclusion, I would say it’s right for them. If they do not need it, I would say that is a (negative).”

Generally, educators say, the match works best if the student’s parents support the idea and accept that the primary benefits of inclusion are not academic, but social.

“The advantage for the handicapped child would have to be in the areas of socialization,” said Ray Drever, assistant director of student support services in Simi Valley. “The advantage to the non-handicapped population is they learn to get along with people who are significantly different: Instead of objects, they become people.”

Historically, the push for inclusion has come from educators, parents and disabled-rights activists who cite studies showing that handicapped students fare better socially in mainstream classes.

“Children increase in their acceptance and their dignity,” Arner-Costello said. “They do make friends, we see kids invited to birthday parties more than they were before, and they do make academic progress.”

Most educators agree that the best time to introduce disabled children to mainstream classrooms is at the younger grade levels where the curriculum is not as demanding.

In high school, special education students just can’t keep up, Oxnard’s Kubat said. “How do you include a child who is still unable to read in Algebra II and what is the benefit?” she said.

For Simi Valley kindergarten teacher Teri Smyres, the benefits of full inclusion are illustrated in the progress of Cassie Leas.

“We’ve come a long way,” said Smyres of her 6-year-old student. “In the beginning, transitions were difficult. Now, she just follows along with everyone else. If she walks too slow, which happens, the other kids just lag behind with her.

“It’s not been all sweetness and light. But it’s never perfect with any child.”

Cassie is one of three disabled students being mainstreamed for the first time this school year at Park View Elementary School in Simi Valley. So far, the experience has been positive for both the disabled and non-disabled students, school officials said.

One of the disabled children being mainstreamed is enrolled in the class of Cassie’s mother, Joyce Leas, a first-grade teacher at Park View and strong supporter of full inclusion.

“If we want our children to be accepted and included in society, the best way is to start from the start,” she said. “I think if they grow up and learn as they grow up that we are all different, this is going to be real positive for their futures.”

But some educators said the disadvantages of full inclusion need to be seriously considered, particularly when disabled children act out violently toward their non-disabled classmates.

“Some of the behavior is creating a problem,” said Ron Myren, president of the Simi Educators Assn., referring to disruptive and violent behavior exhibited by some disabled children in full-inclusion programs.

According to a recent report to the Simi Valley school board, one disabled student at Sycamore Elementary School in Simi Valley “engages in inappropriate behaviors such as abusive language, choking, hair pulling, and undressing” unless directly supervised.

The school board authorized hiring an adult aide to “monitor and control” his behavior.

Principal Robert Chall said he has received two calls from concerned parents about the child, but no formal complaints.

Of the four disabled children attending mainstream classes at Sycamore this year, only that one has exhibited disruptive behavior, which Chall attributed to his disability--autism.

“With autistic kids, they can be as quiet as a mouse and the next minute they can be all over the place,” Chall said.

And that is precisely what concerns some educators about ushering disabled children into mainstream classes, particularly in a state where large class size is already a problem. “When you have 29 kids and you get two more kids, your work increases twofold,” Myren said. “So when you add a special education kid, it really becomes a burden.”

County special education coordinator Arner-Costello said class size does have an impact on the success or failure of full inclusion.

“The state of California has one of the most God-awful class sizes and where full inclusion is growing is in states like Vermont where class size is 14,” she said. Ventura County’s average class size is 29.

Although there have been only a few incidents of violence or disruptive behavior reported in Ventura County schools, Arner-Costello said: “I know in the state and nationally there has been lots of that that has happened.”

In the last year, county officials have received dozens of calls from parents of non-disabled students concerned and confused about full inclusion, Arner-Costello said.

In response, county school officials have organized community meetings to discuss the topic. A public forum titled “Building Inclusive Schools” is scheduled for Feb. 6.

Kelly Stephens, Parent-Teacher Assn. president at El Rancho Structured School in Camarillo, said she has heard no complaints from parents about full inclusion at her children’s school.

And although she is not opposed to the concept, she said educators should allow disabled children a grace period to see if they belong in the class.

“There’s definitely a line,” she said. “But you never know if a child’s ready unless you give him a chance.”

Mary McKee, a Camarillo elementary school principal who is writing a doctoral thesis on the issue of inclusion, said she fears it is evolving into a major civil rights issue.

Advocates of the program have brought lawsuits demanding that even the most severely disabled be admitted to classrooms. And some school districts in California have had to defend removing disabled children from classes when they proved too disruptive.

As these warring factions take the issue to the courts or legislatures, she said, judges and politicians may issue broad mandates for inclusion that have little to do with an individual student’s needs and abilities.

“I don’t think you can legislate what is right for every student,” McKee said. “Leave that to the professionals, the educators, to decide on a case-by-case basis.”

FYI

The Ventura County schools special-education division will sponsor a public forum titled “Building Inclusive Schools” from 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 6 at the James F. Cowan Conference Center at the Camarillo Airport. For information, call the county schools office at 383-1900.