My son Conor, and his autism disorder disability,  have been well accommodated in schools here in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.  He has benefited both from the assistance of education aides and resource teachers trained in the UNB-CEL Autism program and by placement, at our request, outside the regular classroom for his ABA based instruction.

 His placement is not segregation in the sense of the racial segregation which once prevailed in the American south.  His placement reflects the fact that Conor's autism based sensory sensitivities and need for predictable routine, coupled with his individualized learning style and instruction methods require a quieter learning environment. 

In the regular classroom, early in Conor's education,  he bit his hands every single day until he was removed to a quieter location where the self injurious biting ceased. Now in high school his individualized instruction continues but he has many, many opportunities for socialization at the Leo Hayes High School Resource Centre with other students with special needs, in common areas and activities like school outings, visits to the cafeteria and ... Conor's favorite by far ... in weekly visits to the Nashwaaksis Middle School swimming pool. 

Conor loves his flexible, evidence based schooling so much that the summer, with no school, is a difficult time for him.  We do our best to help him during this period and Conor does his best to help himself.  One of the activities that helps him get through the summer break is the "Countdown".  Each day, every day, at 6 am Conor gets up and changes the number on his board under the question "How Many Days Until School?"  He can see the number getting smaller each day, he can take steps each day to make the number smaller reducing his anxiety and frustration.

Conor's self injurious biting while placed in the regular classroom was a vote against the extreme, non evidence based "regular classroom for all students" philosophy. Now, during the school year Conor packs his lunch bag every night and puts it in front of the side door to the driveway and Dad's car. During the summer Conor does his "How many days until School" countdown.  Both activities are strong compelling statements from Conor in support of the flexible, evidence based, inclusive education he has received at school since being removed from the regular classroom.

CBC's Terry Seguin conducted two very good interviews with outgoing NBTA President Heather Smith and EECD Minister Jody Carr over the last two days.  However, neither of Terry's guests gave a clear definition of what they meant by "inclusion".  The only clear definition of inclusion offered by the current administration is one provided by the Alward administration's inclusion mentor Gordon Porter. It is a definition of inclusion which Minister Carr has not disavowed and one which is at odds with the New Brunswick government's policy statement which defines inclusion as evidence based and based on a student's best interests. 

The source of much of the uproar over inclusion in NB is Mr. Porter's obsessive insistence that ALL students be educated in the regular classroom as he stated last year in a session on inclusive education in Newfoundland:

The New Brunswick Teachers Association has spoken up ... sort of ... about New Brunswick's extreme inclusion philosophy.  The NBTA to its credit  acknowledges, finally, that inclusion is a philosophy not an educational plan as stated by outgoing NBTA President Heather Smith at a meeting of delegates from around the province.  Smith also acknowledged that the education focus during the past year has been  on the Porter Aucoin Report with all "professional development" focused on inclusive education.  Smith, in a recent Daily Gleaner article by Tara Chislett,  also talks about the need for more resources without identifying any of those resources.  Many autism students who require autism trained education aides do not have them.

Outgoing NBTA President Smith also fails to acknowledge that some students with severe autism and other severe difficulties require accommodation of their disabilities by learning outside the regular classroom. Unfortunately the inclusion extremists have targeted such human rights accommodations as constituting segregation and  are trying to eliminate them. What Smith did not say is that in New Brunswick inclusion is a ridiculously simplistic "everybody benefits from education in the regular classroom" belief.

Although Ms. Smith did not go far enough in her critique of the education philosophy that has ruled the minds of New Brunswick educators and civil servants it is a solid beginning.  At last one voice, other than the Autism Society New Brunswick in its submissions to the MacKay and Ministerial inclusive education reviews, and me personally, has spoken out against the decades old mindset that has provide obstacles to the accommodation of students with severe disability challenges.

Nothing wrong with bribery if it helps us get Conor to sit still for a shave and haircut! 

That's what happened this long weekend when I bribed Conor to accept a shave and haircut by indicating first shave and haircut then back to school, the school he loves so much. A school where he receives what the extreme, everybody in the mainstream classroom, ill informed inclusion ideologues deride as a segregated school. Conor accepted the shave and haircut. I handled the shave. Mom handled the haircut.

Conor loves his so called "segregated" school experience.  Every day, as I have pictured on this blog many times, Conor packs his back pack and lunch for school and parks them in front of the door  to get ready for school the next day.  

At school Conor starts his day in a Resource Centre with other students with challenges.  It is a wonderful environment for him to start the day, for breaks and for certain types of life skills activities.   There are adults with experience and skills for handling the unexpected challenges supervising and managing the Resource Centre.  It is a warm and welcoming environment and ensures security for students like our Conor.  Conor receives his primary ABA based instruction in a cubicle adjacent to other students also receiving such instruction.  His aide, who provides the instruction, was trained at the excellent UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training program and his ABA based instruction is a critically important part of Conor's school day.

Conor does NOT like shaves and haircuts.  Sensory issues are long recognized by health authorities like the American Psychiatric Association as a condition that accompanies autism.  Challenges with sensory issues will now be expressly included as a diagnostic criterion, although not a mandatory criterion, in the DSM5's new Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Challenges with sensory issues, including flashing lights and loud sounds,  are recognized by major theatre chains that put on special autism friendly showings of some movies to accommodate those sensory challenges. Challenges with sensory issues are why we removed Conor from the mainstream classroom where he came home every day with self inflicted bite marks on his hands and wrists.  Challenges with sensory issues are why Conor receives his instruction in a quiet area outside the mainstream classroom.  

I have referred to authorities like the American Psychiatric Association.  The APA recognizes in its new Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnostic criteria (B.4.) that some, but not all, children with autism will have sensory challenges.  So too the Autism Society New Brunswick, during the MacKay Inclusion review informed Professor Wayne MacKay of its position that some autistic students can learn in the mainstream classroom and some can not. It is necessary to look at the evidence in each case and provide the appropriate learning environment based on that evidence. 

In Conor's case no one knows the evidence better than his Mom and Dad. If Education and Early Development Minister Jody Carr or Extreme Inclusion Icon Gordon Porter think differently then I ask them whether they think they could safely provide Conor with a shave and haircut?  I don't think they would try ... and in all fairness ... I wouldn't let them. 

What do New Brunswick teachers really think about the full inclusion model  which has been pushed relentlessly in NB schools by Gordon Porter and the New Brunswick Association for Community Living since the mid-1980's? The truth is many teachers recognize that extreme, everyone in the regular classroom inclusion does not work.  Teachers know this but they are afraid, for good reason, to speak up while they remain employed in New Brunswick schools. Speaking up and openly criticizing  the Inclusion Illusion would be detrimental to their careers and livelihoods and they know it.

Full inclusion, as defined by Gordon Porter, means "everyone in the mainstream classroom" as Mr. Porter preached to a Newfoundland audience a few weeks ago:


"Porter’s session revolved around the theme of parents and teachers working together to make inclusion work.“It means kids go to their neighbourhood schools with kids their own age in regular classes,” said Porter.“If you’re seven years old you go to the school just down the street. You go in a class with other seven-year-olds, and you’re supported if you have extra needs. “It’s so simple, it’s that simple,” said Porter."

My son does not receive what many would consider an inclusive education. Those who subscribe to the philosophy that all children benefit from learning in a mainstream classroom  would be horrified to learn that my son receives his individualized, ABA based instruction outside the classroom in individual environments in the local high school.  He also begins and ends his day and spends time in a resource center with other children with challenges and interacts with other students to the best of his limited abilities in the common areas.

When Conor began school he started in the mainstream classroom and came home each day with bite marks on his hands and wrists.  That self injurious behavior declined substantially and has been almost non existent in the years between then and his first year in high school last year. For Conor the individualized learning area working with an autism trained education assistant and interacting with other students in the resource center and in other common areas of the school represent real, evidence based inclusion.  This is the inclusion that works for my son and the evidence is crystal clear.  

It would be nice if the ideologues who insist that all children must be educated in the mainstream classroom would break free of their ideological chains and look at the evidence. Some children require individualized learning environments for all or part of their day.  When learning is provided based on what works best for the child that is real inclusive education.  

Summer is tough for Conor.  He looks forward to going back to school, to Leo Hayes High School, and talks about school on a frequent basis.  One of the things we do to provide encouragement is to just ask him each day "how many days until school".  Conor provides the answer and in doing so feels better by knowing he will be going back sooner with each passing day.  Today Conor's answer was "40 days until school". I am sure he felt better than yesterday when the answer was 41.  Conor loves school, he loves a real, evidence based learning experience.  

To paraphrase one of autistic children's greatest friends, Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas, Conor is being taught in the way he can learn and part of the proof is in his eagerness to get back to school.  The way Conor learns is in an evidence based inclusive education that accommodates his learning needs and autism based challenges.