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School's student blending project shows signs of success

Inverness Middle staffers notice the interaction between mainstream and exceptional students, a result of the Social Inclusion Project .

By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE
Published December 14, 2006

INVERNESS - Robbie Garvin, Inverness Middle School's exceptional student education staffing specialist, is noticing little things.

Some of the mainstream students at the school are saying, "Hi," to some of the exceptional students. Some of them are eating lunch together. A few even get together after school.

Garvin suspects that these bits of progress are the result of the Social Inclusion Project that she and exceptional education teachers implemented at Inverness Middle. Funded by a grant from the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, the project is in its second year.

"It's putting kids with developmental disabilities with mainstream kids doing things to just have fun, interacting," Garvin said. "We picked kids that had loving and giving personalities" to partner with exceptional students.

Activities have included a trip to the bowling alley and a pizza party. A school beautification outing is planned Friday.

Exceptional education teacher Carron Fights was a little surprised by the number of students who turned in permission slips for the outing. She said she didn't think they would be all that interested in a cleanup, "but they all turned in their slips the next day."

Garvin, Fights and exceptional education teacher Samantha Cannon are assisted off campus by speech and language therapist Mark Algeo, guidance secretary Tracie Stokes, student services secretary Liz Lemberger and principal's secretary Yvonne Perkins.

When an event is at school, assistant principals Joe Susi, Lee Mulder and Jason Koon pitch in. And principal Bill Farrell, Garvin said, is "a true supporter of the program."

The grant covers all kinds of expenses: admissions, snacks, even transportation. The money could be used to pay the teachers, but they opted to put the money back into the program.

Fights said her students are delighted with the chance to do special things with mainstream students.

"They love, absolutely love, it," she said, "and can't wait until the next one."

All of the time and planning is an effort for the teachers, Fights said, but "we're doing this because we want our ESE students to develop sustained relationships outside of the classroom. It builds social skills."

The program will hopefully be ongoing, even when the grant dries up. Garvin hopes to find funding from other sources, if necessary. She recognizes how good the interaction is.

"They're talking here at school. They're laughing and smiling more," she said. "It's a little bit here and a little bit there."

[Last modified December 14, 2006, 06:22:22]