School Beat: Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy—A Long Way From OhioAmy Vailebyline‚ Nov. 16‚ 2006When the school administrators in Columbus, Ohio, told us our son was low functioning and that Inclusion would not be the "least restrictive environment" for him, we knew we had to look elsewhere. Jack was bored in his special education classroom, and they took his disinterest to mean that he was functioning at a low cognitive level. If he was to have a chance to show us what he was capable of, we'd have to find a community that believed in him. Jack has Cerebral Palsy and uses a walker to get around. He decided several years ago that he didn't want to use a wheelchair, so he's highly motivated to develop his walking ability. He also uses an augmentative communication device to express himself and to do his schoolwork. Nothing physical is easy for our son, but he seldom complains, and we've never seen evidence of any type of self-pity. He knows we believe in him and he believes in himself. |