I See Your Ability

Summary

The video "I See Your Ability" by Listen 2 Kids focuses on the importance and impact of inclusion within educational environments. It conveys heartfelt stories and interactions between children with and without special needs, highlighting the mutual benefits and learning experiences gained from inclusive settings. The video emphasizes that inclusion fosters a sense of community, teaches acceptance and patience, and enables all children to showcase their abilities and contribute uniquely to the classroom dynamism.

Highlights

• A student reflects on initial interactions with disabled peers, learning about kindness and help. 😊
• The joy of inclusive play and shared recess time, leading to deeper friendships among kids. 🎈
• Letters to parents pleading for joint activities showcase the desire for genuine friendships. 💌
• Teachers observe remarkable academic and social progress in students within inclusive classrooms. 🏫
• Kids express their understanding that everyone possesses unique abilities and can exceed expectations. 🌟
• Inclusion is praised for teaching patience, acceptance, and building true community spirit. 🤲

Key Takeaways

• Inclusion brings everyone together, bridging gaps and promoting unity in schools. 🌍
• Children with and without special needs benefit and learn from each other in significant ways. 🤝
• Inclusive education isn't just about sharing classroom spaces but creating true belonging and opportunities. 💪
• Stories of friendship and acceptance among students show the profound impact of inclusive environments. 💗
• Adults play a crucial role in facilitating real inclusion by supporting and stepping back to let kids interact naturally. 👩‍🏫
• Inclusion helps develop essential life skills among all students, enriching their educational journey. 🎒

Overview

At the heart of the video "I See Your Ability" is an uplifting message about inclusion in schools. The children featured, both those with special needs and those without, candidly share their personal experiences and friendships. From recess joys to academic partnerships, the video shows inclusion not just as a policy but as a lived experience enriching everyone involved.

Inclusion is portrayed as a philosophy where everyone, regardless of their abilities, is invited to the table. This spirit is captured in the genuine interactions seen in classrooms and playgrounds. Viewers witness heartwarming stories of kids learning from differences, enjoying new friendships, and celebrating individual strengths rather than focusing on limitations.

Through these stories, we see that inclusion isn't just beneficial; it's transformative. Children speak about how their peers teach them valuable life lessons in patience and acceptance, expanding their understanding of friendships, empathy, and support. This shared journey not only prepares them for future challenges but also cultivates a nurturing, inclusive community.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Inclusion The chapter "Introduction to Inclusion" begins with an initial expression or word ('so') that potentially indicates a preparatory segment for the subsequent content. The rest of the chapter is not yet detailed, but it promises to lay the groundwork for understanding inclusion.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Understanding Differences The chapter titled 'Understanding Differences' explores the importance of inclusion, emphasizing that it brings people together regardless of their differences. The narrative stresses that whether someone is a 'regular' kid or has special needs, they should be involved in all activities equally. It underscores that at the core, everyone is the same, and these differences should not separate us, but rather unite us as a community, whether it's through activities like movies or being helpers.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Personal Experiences with Inclusion The chapter titled 'Personal Experiences with Inclusion' explores a personal account of a student who encounters peers with disabilities for the first time. Initially unsure and cautious about how to interact, the student learns through experience. They share an instance of helping a peer who struggles with zipping a coat, illustrating the importance of kindness and inclusion. The chapter underscores the journey of understanding and supportive actions in embracing diversity and inclusion in everyday school life.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Building a Community The chapter titled 'Building a Community' explores social dynamics and interpersonal relationships. It discusses how people often get frustrated and react negatively, sometimes beyond their control. It touches on a desire for tranquility amid the chaos brought by excitement and loud behavior, indicating the complexities of managing group interactions and the challenges faced when communication is hindered by noisy environments.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Strengths and Abilities The chapter 'Strengths and Abilities' emphasizes an inclusive environment where children, regardless of their communication or hearing abilities, are part of a single community. It highlights the importance of unity and the absence of segregation, promoting the idea that all children belong to the whole community, creating a sense of 'ours' rather than 'yours' and 'mine'.
• 02:30 - 03:00: The Importance of Being Included This chapter discusses the value of inclusion in educational environments. The author reflects on their elementary school experience, highlighting the inclusivity of having blind students in the classroom. This experience taught the importance of acknowledging and appreciating the diverse abilities that each individual, including those with special needs, brings to the community.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Teaching and Learning Together The chapter focuses on the themes of communication and understanding in teaching and learning. It begins with a metaphorical invitation to "listen to the sound of my voice" and "feel the beat of my heart," indicating the importance of empathy and emotional connection in education. The rhetorical repetition of 'listen' emphasizes the role of active listening in fostering meaningful educational interactions and highlights the significance of mutual respect and engagement between teachers and students.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Overcoming Challenges In the chapter titled 'Overcoming Challenges', the focus is on the philosophy of inclusion and acceptance within a community. It emphasizes the idea that everyone should be accepted and that we are all responsible for one another. Inclusion is highlighted as an approach to integrate people with special abilities into schools and the broader community, ensuring they are not isolated but actively included. The chapter advocates for the belief that by embracing diversity and inclusion, communities are strengthened and can overcome challenges together.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Inclusion Benefits Everyone The chapter discusses the importance and benefits of inclusion for children, particularly in educational settings. It emphasizes allowing children with special abilities to interact with their peers by including them in regular activities such as classes and recess. The narrative highlights negative practices where these children are segregated during playtime, stressing how much they miss out on opportunities to play and socialize. The chapter advocates for inclusive practices that allow all kids, regardless of their abilities, to play and engage together.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Conclusion and Reflections The chapter on 'Conclusion and Reflections' emphasizes the importance of inclusion within educational settings. It discusses how an inclusive school environment means more than just placing students with significant needs into regular classrooms; it's about fostering a sense of belonging and ensuring these students are active participants in classroom activities. The narrative reflects on past observations where inclusion was merely physical presence, without true integration or participation, highlighting the need for more meaningful inclusion.

I See Your Ability Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 so
• 00:30 - 01:00 the best part of inclusion is you know the word itself it it brings us together as a community we don't care if you're a regular kid or a special needs kid you would still be included in everything nobody's different we're pretty much all the same whether it's a movie something like being a helper or just
• 01:00 - 01:30 being your regular self thank you good job all right like when i came here in third grade i was like the new kid like i've never like seen anybody with disabilities so i was like i didn't know if i should talk to him like i didn't want to be mean well she can't zip her coat so sometimes i do for her and i try to teach her not to close the door on
• 01:30 - 02:00 people usually he gets really mad at you and tries to hurt you but i don't really think that's in his control not as much as i know he'd like it to be sometimes i like it quiet the only thing that's hard kind of is when they get really excited and they start yelling a lot and stuff and you can't really hear the challenges might be like the like
• 02:00 - 02:30 burst like burst out laughing or like like talk different and some of them can't really like can't communicate or like hear that well it's not their classroom in our classroom or their kids and our kids it's all of our kids it's our community and then there's no segregation of yours and mine they're ours i actually had the opportunity to grow up with inclusion in
• 02:30 - 03:00 my classroom when i was in elementary school and i had two blind students that were in my class so i guess that didn't even strike me as being something that was new every kid here is as smart as they need to be including the ones with special needs to value and recognize that everyone brings to the table abilities
• 03:00 - 03:30 listen to the sound of my voice can you feel the beat of my heart listen to the questions i have listen to me
• 03:30 - 04:00 i think inclusion's a philosophy and it's about acceptance and it's about accepting everybody in your community and that we're better together and that we're responsible we're all responsible for one another within our community inclusion i think is when you bring special ability people into the school and you don't lock them up in some room and you you let them be included and you bring
• 04:00 - 04:30 them to classes you let them play with the other kids you don't make them separate you let them talk to other kids you let them play tag and all that stuff because i've heard about that in schools that don't include um all the special ability kids are locked up in a room and when we're out for recess they can't go outside and when we go back in it's their recess and we never see them and i just i can see how much they love playing
• 04:30 - 05:00 with us and when we're not there they're always like sad just very sad an inclusion an inclusion school means that they include everybody inclusion is not just about getting kids into regular education classrooms it's about creating belonging for students in regular education classrooms and so many times in the past i would walk into a regular education classroom and see that student with significant needs in the room but not a part of things
• 05:00 - 05:30 sort of on the outside looking in with the adults as barriers between that student and the rest of the kids and inclusion is really about the adults getting out of the way and creating the learning opportunities for that student to be a part of the classroom my other school did not have another inclusion inclusion program i don't think inclusion is bad at all i
• 05:30 - 06:00 think it's wonderful because i mean other schools like just have them in one classroom and if you switch that around and we were just in the classroom all day and then walk into the halls like how would you feel inclusion is giving the kids not only access academically to the general education curriculum but it's also giving them social inclusion to all that happens within the course of a day without being isolated or separated from
• 06:00 - 06:30 general education peers in my school i get to hang out with my friend tanner well ever since we were in kindergartener kindergarteners i asked him who his name was and his aide said this is tanner and then i said my name is cash and then one day we went out to recess and we played with each other and we
• 06:30 - 07:00 started to be best friends well i've been with him since kindergarten and he's always been a great friend and i think he's awesome and every day we go out to recess we get to play football and i always bring mine and heat and he always plays with it at recess do you want to play football
• 07:00 - 07:30 yeah oh cool when i get the football i hand it to him and then and then when he scores a touchdown he puts a death grip on me like a hug this is the letter i wrote to tanner's parents to go trick-or-treating then this is what i wrote hi my name is cash i go to school with tanner we have been in the same class since kindergarten
• 07:30 - 08:00 he is one of my best friends i wanted to know if we can go trick-or-treating together please call my mom amy if we can make plans thank you p.s it would be a lot it would be a lot of fun i dressed up like um a basketball player in a way and tanner dressed up like a fireman and we went to house to house and every time well i'm allergic to peanut butter so
• 08:00 - 08:30 every time we went to house i usually got peanut butter and i gave it to tanner and he said thank you and then every time we went to the door he i let him say trick or treat and everybody smiled i was watching tv one day and i saw this thing why would you like to go to the super bowl and then i thought to myself
• 08:30 - 09:00 if i could write a story about tanner and i turn it in he can go to the super bowl i have a friend tanner he has down syndrome he's one of my best friends i have been lucky enough to go to school with tanner for four years i think he deserves to go to the super bowl because he would have a great time and he would smile the whole time everyone should have a chance to see my friend tanner's
• 09:00 - 09:30 smiles so that they know that he is more than just a boy with a disability they should be able to be in the classrooms because they can still learn he's really good at reading and he's really smart at like what he's learning like it's he's really really good at it i think the most challenging part is the accommodation of the curriculum
• 09:30 - 10:00 making the curriculum accessible to the students at their level and you can do like almost almost all the stuff that other kids can do like math writing and reading i'm hoping that we're building a community where they're supportive of each other that all the kids are supportive of each other but i don't see that the needs of the
• 10:00 - 10:30 like the gifted talented kids or the really higher end learners or whatever are being compromised our teachers really don't just care about one person in our class they care about all of us because the teacher pays attention on everybody and if you mess up they let you re-retry it i think they may be a challenge sometimes because they can cause problems they can make
• 10:30 - 11:00 obnoxious noises in the middle of class like it does disrupt the class and everybody likes to turn and watch it doesn't really interfere with my learning but i kind of just ignore it because if you pay attention to it he'll just keep doing it sometimes i be her math partner in math sometimes we have partners and sometimes if our partner
• 11:00 - 11:30 doesn't know the game sometimes they teach it to them kids with special needs in the school are getting a good education of stuff that's their level i see a student that might be non-verbal who in the beginning of the year sitting in the desk for two minutes was a celebration now will sit through 20 minutes of an entire focus lesson
• 11:30 - 12:00 of fifth grade material i try to help them out as much as i can we try our best to make like tanner to be like us and we try to teach him like we do and we try to make him learn the best he can to see what we need
• 12:00 - 12:30 give us hope my voice is calling can you see look in my eyes when i grow up and i decide to have a family and i have a kid with disabilities i would treat them the same way i would treat any other kid
• 12:30 - 13:00 i do think that i would be different because like kids like ammon have taught me more patience than i would usually have and more acceptance it's not just the children with special needs that benefit the lives of all the children are touched in special ways i think that the special needs kids actually we teach them and they teach us different things
• 13:00 - 13:30 it is amazing the contributions they make to the classroom academically what they're coming away with i'm always amazed at what they pick up but also how they can help other students is extremely impactful in the classroom she's in my class and one time she she was really sad at dayton came over
• 13:30 - 14:00 to her like walked over to her and gave her a hug and a high five that just it just turned her friend upside down he loves giving hugs and high fives and he's really sweet i think it's good for our kids with significant needs and it's good for typical peers and i think that's the part that gets overlooked sometimes is that it really does benefit typical peers
• 14:00 - 14:30 they are learning social skills and work skills that are going to last a lifetime we are the future hope my voice is falling can you see look in my eyes
• 14:30 - 15:00 let's say when one day i was in football practice and let's say i couldn't throw the football 20 yards that's a disability but that doesn't matter all we care about is the abilities
• 15:00 - 15:30 well she's littler than me and she wears glasses sometimes she plays with me this kid named dayton he um likes the ipad he pretty cool kid number four he usually runs fast i help ammon read and then
• 15:30 - 16:00 just today i play football with dayton they go outside dayton plays football with us and chandler plays with the girls well taner he's really good at basketball and football because he's a really good he can dribble good and throw a football good and he's a really good friend i was playing football so i just look at what he can do good we all have abilities and
• 16:00 - 16:30 we're all the same i think what i'm seeing in the classroom with inclusion is just absolutely miraculous and that whether it's the children so-called with disabilities or all the other kids you're seeing the strengths come out stronger than we've ever seen before whether it be a student that's non-verbal is modeling and following a student next to them by raising their hand and we're figuring out ways that they can answer
• 16:30 - 17:00 questions on content that previously nobody thought that they understood but they do and then on the flip side you see kids that you know know the content or don't have um maybe the security of an iep have been afraid to take part and they're taking part they're they're saying well if he can do it i can do it and i also think the best thing about a conclusion is not only the building of community but it makes us better teachers
• 17:00 - 17:30 i could spell great and i could run a head of chandler in a race and i eat beans they make you strong yes she must have special needs because i do well right food to eat because i have a lot of allergies
• 17:30 - 18:00 i have trouble with my r's so no one makes fun about about me about my r's because i think they actually actually like it some people think that i have an accent i do get a lot of help with speech i have a little disability because i can't really think of my brain like like other kids are like geniuses as math i'm not really i have to count on my fingers still
• 18:00 - 18:30 i can't just get it like that well i'm really good at math salt and problem solving in reading i i get so into my book that i i don't i don't even like heal anybody next to me i can read chapter books i read a whole entire one just last night because i'm in an intervention i'm in writing and like say
• 18:30 - 19:00 you can't punctuate you forget and that's what i have trouble with is punctuating with the other slaves on the planet you can't have specific kids okay or else that would go back to the time with martin luther king jr he was trying to end segregation from whites and blacks and if you're a principal and you want normal kids no special
• 19:00 - 19:30 needs kids then you are no better than the people who wanted to segregate blacks from light what if we didn't get any help tell me what you see
• 19:30 - 20:00 give us hope my voice is calling can't you see look in my eyes can you feel my hand is reaching give us
• 20:00 - 20:30 i think it's just really really basic you know all of us have something to offer and all of us have strengths and weaknesses i think inclusion is just a philosophy to to say no we we include everybody they give the they give me friendship so they give me friendship and that's all that matters i guess i
• 20:30 - 21:00 would want people to know that kids are always going to exceed our expectations we just have to be open to it we limit them when we say they can't do it when we come to the table with predetermined ideas about a given child's limitations and kids are always going to
• 21:00 - 21:30 exceed our expectations we just have to be open to it and allow them the space to do that they're really no different than everybody else everyone's special in their own way the ultimate goal is understanding that all people should be included all students are people
• 21:30 - 22:00 listen to the sound of my voice can you feel the beat of my heart listen to the questions i have listen to me it's all very simple
• 22:00 - 22:30 to see what we need give us hope my voice is calling can you see look in my eyes