Thornton Academy teacher Alaina Galvin places a block of wood in Sami Woodcock’s bridge to test its weight load during an introduction to engineering class on Dec. 1. The class is designed to be accessible to students both with and without disabilities. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
SACO — Head high and shoulders back, Sami Woodcock stood confidently behind the popsicle-stick bridge she had built for an introductory engineering class, admiring her work.
She was testing it to see how much weight it could bear, and it was going well. The goal was to build a bridge that could withstand 25 pounds, and Woodcock was holding strong at 28.
At 31 pounds, it splintered and crashed to the ground. A huge smile spread across her face.
“Sami! You did it!” her teacher Courtney Tuttle said, beaming and giving her a high five. Woodcock’s grin grew wider.
Woodcock is a 16-year-old with Down syndrome, a genetic disability that causes intellectual and developmental delays.
The introductory engineering class she’s in, everyday engineering, is one of three inclusive classes Saco’s Thornton Academy launched this year where students with disabilities learn alongside their nondisabled peers.
When done well, inclusive education can benefit all students, said La Toya Camille Kamiska Caton, a Columbia University Teacher’s College instructor who specializes in special education.
For generations, public schools have separated these disabled and nondisabled students. Advocates, parents, and experts have long pushed for that to change.
At the start of the 1970s, only one in five children with disabilities was educated in the public school system. By 1977, the federal government had required public schools to teach students with disabilities, and in classes with their nondisabled peers, whenever possible.
That was 46 years ago, and while significant progress has been made, there is still a long way to go to fully incorporate students with special needs into public education.
Functional Lifeskills teacher Courtney Tuttle looks over a bridge designed and built by Thornton Academy senior Mathieu Guillerault during his everyday engineering class. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
In 2020, 45% of Maine students with disabilities – and 37% of students with disabilities nationally – were in general education classrooms less than 80% of the day, according to the United States Department of Education’s 2022 annual report to Congress. Students with severe disabilities were in general education classrooms far less: 92% of Maine students and 82% nationally.
Experts say schools are falling short because there aren’t enough resources or motivation, and the ambiguity of the law makes enforcement very limited.
REFLECT THE REAL WORLD
On a Thursday afternoon in December, Dasia Berube, 18, helped Mathiew Guillerault, 19, with his art project.
“Put the pencil on the paper right where the ruler is and move it this way,” said Berube, motioning from left to right with one hand and holding a translucent ruler steady with the other.
Mathieu Giullerault and Dasia Berube work together to draw a border on his piece of paper during a unified arts class at Thornton Academy on Dec. 7. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
Pencil in hand, Guillerault, drew a straight line against the ruler and looked up at Berube.
“Nice,” she said casually as she repositioned the ruler, helping him draw a border on the edge of a piece of white paper.
Art is another of Thornton’s inclusive classes the school is piloting this year. The third is gym. While everyday engineering was created for students with disabilities to join general education classes, the art and gym classes, called unified classes, are designed for students with special needs. Nondisabled students like Berube can opt into them.
Berube saw the art class on the list of course options last spring and signed up without a second thought. “I just thought it would be really fun and cool, and it is,” she said, her face lighting up.
“I just love working with them,” she said, motioning at her fellow students. “They’re so funny and always in such good moods, it puts me in a good mood.”
Berube and Guillerault sat across from each other at a small rectangular table. They joked around easily. When Guillerault got distracted, Berube redirected him. When he worked independently, she did the same.
Dasia Berube and Mathieu Giullerault work together during a unified art class at Thornton Academy. It’s a class designed for students with disabilities, which allows non-disabled students to opt in. Berube said she signed up for the class because she thought it would be fun. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
But though they were sitting at the same desk, in the same room, working together, it was almost as if they were in different classes, Berube in one about empathy, mentorship, and acceptance, and Guillerault simply in an art class.
Inclusion, said Caton, should mean all students have equitable opportunities to learn, grow, socialize, and be in classrooms.
“It’s going to look different for every student,” said Caton, the instructor from Columbia.
For students with disabilities, being educated alongside their nondisabled peers creates opportunities to expand social skills and progress academically, she said.
Thornton Academy junior Charlie Allen weighs his bridge before testing its weight load in his everyday engineering class. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
It also provides a sense of belonging, boosts self-esteem, and prepares students for integration into adult life, she said.
“We exist in a world where people of all different abilities work together,” Caton said, and inclusive education “reflects the real world.”
CONNECTED TO THE LARGER SCHOOL
The programming launched this year was spearheaded by Thornton’s Director of Special Education Heidi Butler and Woodcock’s teacher, Courtney Tuttle, who runs the school’s Functional Life Skills class for students with intellectual and physical disabilities.
Butler taught special education for 20 years before becoming the program director. She said she made the transition so she could provide students with disabilities, particularly students with more significant disabilities, access to general education.
“I want all kids to be engaged in programs that meet their individual needs and allow them to be included and feel connected to the school at large,” Butler said.
She said she hopes to continue growing Thornton’s inclusive programming in the years to come and dreams of developing a four-year sequence of inclusive classes for students with severe disabilities.
Thornton Academy sophomore Sami Woodcock high-fives teacher Courtney Tuttle after seeing the bridge she designed and built hold a 25-pound weight during an Introduction to Engineering class. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
In the engineering class, after Woodcock’s popsicle stick bridge collapsed, she picked up her work and walked back to her seat. She pulled out her iPad and, with direction from Tuttle, began to examine a list of questions about her structure, including how she would build it differently if given another chance.
When she had trouble finding some of the information she was looking for and got frustrated, Tuttle immediately came over to help. She was soon back on track.
Tuttle has been working with students with disabilities for more than 20 years and wants them to feel like the sky is the limit.
“All of their goals may not be achieved,” she said. “But if they have a dream, we can and will try to make it happen.”
Woodcock said that when she grows up she wants to be able to do things for herself.
One of her near-term goals is to make microwave macaroni and cheese without help. Long-term, she’d like to go to college and learn to drive.
“Taking care of yourself is hard because it’s hard to be an adult,” she said. “But you have to do it.”
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