Riverview East Academy
Inclusive Educational Practices
Inclusion is more than just having special-needs students in regular educational classrooms. At Riverview East Academy, inclusion is a mindset. It is our way of approaching special needs students with dignity for the talents they possess and the contributions they make within the educational setting. We believe that inclusion is the very culture of our school and defines how students, teachers, administrators and other stakeholders view the potential of children.
The strategies we use include:
- Eliminate or reduce distractions in the classroom
- Use the child’s strengths to build on the specific areas in need of development
- Identify and monitor the child’s skills and abilities to help determine what accommodations in classroom structure and/or materials are appropriate and feasible
- Be mindful of the appropriate indicators for child development
- Attempt as much as possible to coordinate programs across home, school and community
- Record data constantly to monitor a child’s progress and troubleshoot
- Select work areas that best lend themselves to what is being taught
- Provide structure by setting up the classroom so that students understand where to be, what to do and how to do it, as independently as possible
- Be aware of pacing so that students do not feel overwhelmed or lost
- Ask students to paraphrase occasionally and ask frequent questions to ensure the student’s comprehension of the material
- Use a visual outline (graphic organizer) to draw the attention of the students and to assist them in organizing information
- Give frequent and direct encouragement
- Teach good study skills
- Increase the student’s personal independence
- Set up a buddy system with classmate participation
- Encourage small-group interactions
- Provide study guides
- Provide duplicate sets of information for family use