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The following critical question is the first question in a series of questions that will be posed this year. The critical questions are intended to provide guidance and expand your thinking. As you begin or expand activities focused on individuals with ASD, use the critical questions to assure you are using practices focused on equity and inclusivity that value the voices and perspectives of the autistic community. 

In Critical Questions #3 and #4, we examined our use of language as well as our personal beliefs and behaviors. We then generated individual action steps toward creating inclusive and equitable spaces for all students. Critical Question #5 moves us toward examining the existing systemic practices that serve as barriers to inclusive educational communities for students. 

In her article, Special Education is Not a Place, Dr. Paula Kluth speaks to long-standing policies and practices that interfere with increasing inclusive and equitable experiences for students with disabilities. She writes, “Too often students with disabilities are marginalized. This perspective has been perpetuated through the use of the pull-out system. Pull-out services reinforce differences and interrupt the typical experiences necessary for social skill acquisition, life-skill learning, and scholastic success.”

According to psychologist, Dr. Snehal Kumar, learning to notice patterns in our systemic policies and practices is the first step toward change. Then, we can look for opportunities to enact change by  recognizing the systemic practices we have been trained to walk by. We might very well be maintaining the status quo by avoiding behaviors and conversations that make us uncomfortable. Together, we can engage in action to enact purposeful, systemic change that is inclusive of those marginalized.

Additional sub-questions to consider:

• What are the assumptions and values that inform my practice (e.g., why do we pull students with disabilities out of the classroom)?
• Who benefits from this practice? How?
• What other practices should I be considering?
• What is the current research/evidence that informs this practice?
• What immediate action can I take to positively improve my practice to benefit all students?
• How might my decision/behavior privilege some groups of people and disadvantage others?
• How am I showing those I work with that I am committed to equitable outcomes for students on the autism spectrum?

Watch Disability is an Asset (1:57) by Sara Minkara without stopping the video or taking notes. Pause. Consider your immediate reaction to this video and why you may be having the response you are.  

Now, watch the video again and consider which of Sara’s statements was the most powerful to you and why.  

Create some action items related to these questions: 

• Who might you share this video with? 
• How might you use this video to promote discussion and conversation about systemic beliefs about disability?

Read Stranded Starfish: Addressing the Systemic Segregation of Students with Disabilities by Debbie Taub and discuss the following questions:

• How did you feel as you first read this article? Why?
• As Dr. Taub applies the starfish on the beach metaphor to education, she states that she is “pretty much horrified.” Discuss your reaction to this metaphor. In what ways is your response different or similar to the author's?
• We have over 40 years of data and experience that demonstrate that students with disabilities benefit from being included, rather than marginalized, yet we continue to perpetuate a system of segregation. Why do you think this system continues? In what ways might you be supporting the continuation of this system?
• Dr. Taub offers three ways that we can begin advocating for and working toward systems that break down barriers to inclusive classes. Which one might you commit to and why? In what specific ways will you act upon it?

Make a Plan for the 2023-24 School Year. Consider where opportunities for structured conversations as a school exist. You might use the readings, videos, activities, and discussion prompts included in the five Critical Questions on the ASD 365 webpage in staff meetings, small groups, grade level teams, or PLCs based on the. Consider using a tool, such as the Inclusive Education Practices Staff Survey, as an additional way to start conversations. 

Why Are We Still Segregating Students? In this episode of In the Circle with Dr. Julie Causton and Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak, these founders of Inclusive Schooling interview Special Education Attorney Patrick Radel whose passion is inclusive education.

Their discussion addresses what IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) says about inclusion; clarifying that, “IDEA presumes EVERY student with a disability — from students with limited support needs to students with significant cognitive, communicative, or behavioral needs— should be included in general education and can only be moved to a segregated setting if their support needs cannot be met through the use of supplementary aids and services.” Causton, Pretti-Frontczak, and Radel state that, “Decades of educational research and practice have identified effective structures, pedagogy, and strategies to include students with disabilities in general education AND evidenced that these best practices lead to greater academic, social, emotional, behavioral and post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities.” 

The discussion includes clarification of Least Restrictive Environment and reiterates the fact that a student does not need to keep up with the general education curriculum in order to be included. The presumption of the law is inclusion. The following statement by Pat poignantly captures the conversation, “If IDEA’s legal standards were applied with fidelity, no student would be excluded from general education on a long-term basis. Our current understanding of human development and educational best practices combined demonstrate that sustained segregated education is never “appropriate” and cannot ever constitute the “least restrictive environment.” 

The conversation concludes with a final call to action: “Don’t let these rights get dusty and don’t let them be theoretical. Have the courage to band together with other people and make them a reality…it’s not even so much that the law requires it, it’s that the law recognizes the reality that this is what human beings need and are entitled to for their future.”

As a statewide project, we realize how important it is for our work, including our training materials, resources, website, and decision-making, to reflect multiple perspectives. As we reflect on this fifth critical question, which asks, “What policies, structures, biases, and practices do we need to dismantle in order to provide a more equitable experience for students,” we have identified the following key commitments:

• Share resources that guide the intent, content, and process of our materials and tools so that we can be transparent about our practices and open to conversation about potential barriers to equitable experiences for students.
• Take concrete steps toward developing additional structures through which we can gain perspectives from a more diverse group of educators, such as Communities of Practice and focus groups.
• Increase our development and curation of resources and content around inclusive practices and Least Restrictive Environment in order to dismantle systems of exclusion and marginalization.

Summer break is quickly approaching! We know that while an educator's summer break provides time for family and friends, vacations, and completion of projects that went unfinished during the school year, we are always in learning mode! We encourage you to explore some of the many resources listed below to deepen your understanding of the perspectives of autistic individuals and further your learning of inclusion and belonging.

At START, we will be updating the ASD 365 page in anticipation of the new school year. We will also continue to develop and enact the specific steps we have committed to this year to deepen our own learning and to critically review our work to ensure that it reflects meaningful inclusion and values the perspective of the autistic community.

• Critical Question #1
• Critical Question #2
• Critical Question #3
• Critical Question #4
• ► Critical Question #5