Maybe they’re a throwback to Dorothy clicking her red heels three times and magically returning to Kansas, but I love my red shoes. I wore them as my husband and I walked my son down the aisle to marry his bride. However, I’d never consider wearing them in a school hallway in my role as an Inclusion Facilitator. There have been many times that I’ve said, “Lose the heels,” to student teachers and veteran educators, whom I’ve coached in my career, along with fellow presenters at conferences. In the long run, they’re not appropriate!
Why? Because, even though I love these red shoes, if I’d wear them daily, the result would be foot and back pain, poor posture, and heightened probability of sliding on a freshly waxed classroom floor to fall or break an appendage. According to ChatGPT, Gen Z largely avoids wearing high heels because they prioritize comfort, reject traditional pain-for-fashion norms, and favor casual streetwear like sneakers, even for evening wear.
As a teen I worked in Stride Rite in a store in Brooklyn on Kings Highway, where I learned that kids have different foot sizes, needs, and requirements. The same pair of shoes, although stylish and a preferred choice, is not appropriate for each. As the sayings go:
a. If the shoe fits wear it!
b. One size does not fit all!
Aha, perhaps we can now better define the word appropriate!
5 Scenarios
- Is it appropriate for a student with autism to attend his high school prom?
- Can a kindergartner with attention issues who can’t sit still, sit alongside his peers to learn his ABCs?
- Will a student with Down syndrome learn alongside her 3rd grade peers, when her math level is K-1?
- Can a middle school student with dyslexia read and answer a document-based question about the Bill of Rights?
- Will a student with anxiety pass a Drivers’s Ed class and travel on the road, even when there’s traffic?
Simple response to all of the above five questions is YES. As an inclusion facilitator, I have helped students in these scenarios. They’re not hypothetical ones, but life happens in real time. Students can and will succeed in inclusive settings, when we collaboratively provide appropriate student-based supports that value planning, preparation, monitoring, and ongoing tweaking based on real time data!
More details about the 5 Scenarios
- With consultation and input from the HS Guidance counselor, a social story is provided a week before the prom night to explain the unusual sensory elements to expect to avoid dysregulation, such as a noisy auditorium where they wait to board buses to the venue, what the sensory strobe lighting looks like, the sounds to expect from the loud music, and the different food choices.
- The student is offered a weighed lap cushion, wobbly chair, and headphones, along with a visual check list to self-monitor behavior. Emotional checkins are provided to all students within a classroom that values positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS). Since the student loves baseball, he does a baseball word search to increase his attention to identify the alphabet letters since that’s his preferred interest.
- Although the student has a lower math level, she still makes progress, based on WIN program (What I Need). Other students are peer tutors, and manipulatives such as Unifix cubes and other multi sensory math programs assist with skip counting as the students learn multiplication. She first tackles the skills for repeated addition and then progresses to her next level, as determined by data. The student receives a combination of services within small teacher and peer-led groups, whole class instruction, and 1:1 with appropriate supports.
- As per his IEP, read directions aloud, provide extra time, text-to-speech, graphic organizers, speech-to-text for writing, reduced reading, memory tips for each amendment that highlights key words, such as 1st amendment-RAPS– religion, assembly, press/petition, speech. He can listen to short video clips and then write a one-sentence summary or create a visual of the main idea of each amendment if art, not reading is his strength.
- Anxiety does not determine success. Enlist the help of and coordinate with mental health professionals, related service providers and student mentors who offer role models, encouragement, and strategies. Share what-if scenarios. Extend the timeline for driving mastery and comfortability. Begin with gradual progression, such as practicing in an empty parking lot or a quieter neighborhood, and on streets with light traffic before building up to busier roads as student confidence and skills improve. Offer repeated practice to make it more manageable, along with calm affirmations, relaxation techniques, and safe choices.
I invite you to review these 18 Inclusion Principles https://inclusionworkshops.com/inclusion-principles/to determine how you will appropriately provide supports to your students. Oh, and sometimes, you may need to click those red heels, as appropriate!
Smiles, Toby J. Karten
