From Disability Scoop:
“School Becomes Model For How
Peer Groups Can Help Students In Special Ed”
In one corner of Edina’s South
View Middle School, each day starts with a lesson in friendship. There are no
specific directions or assignments. But there are board games, time for
conversation, and most important, an opportunity for kids who would once have
lived very separate lives at school to get to know each other. South View’s
Peer Insights program pairs students in special education with their
general-education peers, opening lines of connection that extend throughout the
school day — and beyond. The middle schoolers sit side by side in the classroom
and the lunch table, come together for special events like a dance marathon or
the homecoming parade, and hang out on the weekend. Little by little, the
program is transforming the culture of the school — and the way individual
students think about themselves, their peers and the bigger world outside of
South View. It’s become one of the most in-demand activities for students
across the school, and has captured the attention of other school districts and
recognition from Special Olympics Minnesota. And more than a few students are
now imagining careers as special education teachers or classroom
paraprofessionals. Eighth-grader Luke Hoekstra said the time he spends each
morning in an “advisory” period with students in Aspire, the school’s special
education program, has helped spark real connections and become a highlight of
his day. “When I joined it, I felt it was an opportunity to help other kids,
but now it doesn’t feel like I’m helping — it just feels like I’m coming to
advisory with my friends,” he said. Aspire student Filsan Sharif, also an
eighth-grader, feels much the same way. She beamed as she talked about
befriending the Peer Insights students who show up each day in her classroom. “I
always see them at lunch and sit with them,” she said. The program started
nearly a decade ago, with an idea from special education teacher Jessica Cherne
and a handful of middle schoolers interested in spending time in special
education classrooms. It didn’t take long for Peer Insights to become a
full-fledged leadership program at South View, attracting dozens of eager
participants who must fill out applications and sit for an interview to land a
spot. This year, about 80 general-education students were picked as Peer
Insights student leaders. They work with two dozen students in special
education. Before starting with Peer Insights, all the selected students
receive training to broaden their understanding of people with disabilities and
to learn more about different communication styles — including those of students
who must use high-tech communication devices, often mounted to a wheelchair.
Once they’re ready to go, many of the general-education students spend the
first 20 minutes of their day with Aspire students in the school’s special
education center. They return in smaller groups throughout the day when they
have free periods to help any students who need additional assistance keeping
focused or with reading or writing lessons.
Cheering section
On a recent morning, a half-dozen
Peer Insights leaders helped run a morning meeting in a special education
classroom, cheering on Aspire student Jeanette Torres-Alpizar, who was wary
about stepping up to the whiteboard for a lesson about marking the days and
months on a calendar. With some encouragement from her peers, she tentatively
stepped forward. “You’re doing great!” shouted one of the students. When
Torres-Alpizar landed a date on the right spot on the calendar, the room burst
into applause. At a nearby table, another Peer Insights participant,
eighth-grader Muna Mohamud-Karie, spoke quietly with an Aspire student who was
struggling to focus on the morning’s lessons, and growing increasingly
agitated. Mohamud-Karie quickly came up with a solution: would the girl like to
step out for a few minutes to swing in a nearby “motor room,” filled with equipment
for students with sensory disorders? The girl nodded, uncurled herself from her
chair, and followed Mohamud-Karie out of the room. Emily Heckmann, a
paraprofessional who works with students in special education, said she’s often
amazed at how quickly the Peer Insights students can pick up on cues and become
a helpful presence in the classroom. “They learn really fast,” she said. “Some
of these kids, you’d never expect that they’d be so great and patient and
understanding and willing to jump in and help with anything.” Mohamud-Karie,
just a few weeks into her first year as a Peer Insights participant, said she’s
quickly found much to enjoy in her time working with and befriending Aspire
students. She’s realized that something as simple as a walk around the school
grounds can be a much-needed reset for everyone involved — including herself. “Just
being around these kids makes me want to interact with people with disabilities
more, either to help or have a fun time and get to know them better,” she said.
Sue Sullivan, whose son, Dermot, is in the special education program, said
she’s seen the benefits of the program from both sides; her older son was a
Peer Insights mentor before Dermot was paired with general-education students. Even
though her younger son is nonverbal and uses a wheelchair, he’s built up a
group of friends and fans among his schoolmates, including many who run up and
greet him when the family is out in the community. “The program teaches them
(that his disability) is not something to be afraid of,” Sullivan said. “It’s
not weird. Everybody’s got differences.”
Unifying schools
Special education teacher Jennie
Schaefer, who has helped oversee Peer Insights for the last six years, said all
those small connections between students add up. Since the program started, she
said there’s been a sea change in how just about everybody at South View thinks
about how special education programs and students can — and should — fit in the
school. Gone are the days when students in special education spent the majority
of their day tucked away in specific classrooms, passing other students in the
hallway without either group knowing much about the other. Schaefer said both
students and teachers take note when they see Peer Insights and Aspire students
sitting together at lunch, hanging out at special events or making plans
outside of the school day. Before, Schaefer said, “(special education) students
didn’t go out. Now it’s normal for my students to go to choir and P.E. and
art,” she said. “So it’s also shifted the mindset of general ed teachers, too,
because they see the benefit of that social connection.” The movement to
integrate students in special education into more of the school day — and into
after-school activities — has been growing in recent years. At South View, and
elsewhere, school leaders have been working with Special Olympics Minnesota to
set up events, athletic groups and schoolwide programs that aim to bring
students together and remove barriers. At South View, Peer Insights students
have taken a leading role in organizing a dance marathon and awareness
campaigns that help students think about how they talk to — and about — people
with disabilities. Nick Cedergren, schools and leadership manager for Special
Olympics Minnesota, said his organization works with about 200 schools
statewide, including about 125 that Special Olympics has named “Unified
Champion Schools.” Of those schools, he said South View stands out; in 2015 it
became the first middle school in the state to earn that distinction, and has
since picked up several other awards. The school has become a model for others
in the state and across the country, attracting other school leaders who want
to visit and see for themselves how Peer Insights is creating real change. “I
think the best part about this is that it’s kind of a ripple effect,” Cedergren
said. “What South View Middle School is doing is spreading.”
^ I went to 10 different schools
in different US States and Countries and in every single school I went to you
would see the Special Education students (in the hallway, in the cafeteria, etc.,
but you didn’t have any interaction with them.) I still think it is a shame
that I didn’t both get the opportunity from the schools themselves and I didn’t
take the opportunity myself to become involved and get to know them when I had
the chance. There was one experience when I was a Junior in High School that I
remember well. I had surgery on my hand and so was excused from Gym Class (I
was always trying to get out of Gym, but had an actual excuse this time) until
my hand healed. I would sit on the bleachers and work on other subjects while
class was going on. My hand healed quickly and I could have gone back to Gym,
but I wanted to “milk” out my real excuse for as long as I could. After 1 ½ months
my Gym teacher told me (in front of the whole class) that unless I got a Doctor’s
note saying I could start participating in class I would have to go into
Adaptive Gym. Of course the whole class started teasing me and making fun of
the students in Adaptive Gym and the next time I had Gym I had that Doctor’s note
just so I wouldn’t be associated with the students in Adaptive Gym or in
Special Education. The feeling of being
ashamed to be associated with the students in Adaptive Gym/Special Ed. stuck with
me so much that during my Senior Year I randomly saw a notice at school to work
at an overnight Summer Camp for the mentally and physically disabled. I thought
it would be a way to actually meet and get to know disabled people (whom I had
only ever seen from a distance up to that point.) I applied and got the job and
worked for the Camp every Summer for 4 years. While it was a lot of hard work
and long hours it is still one of the best jobs I have ever had. I am curious as
to how things could have been much different if any of the schools I went to
had a program like this one – where a typical student is paired-up with a
student in Special Education. I think it would have changed things for the
better since you would actually interact with the students instead of just always
seeing them from a distance. ^
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