Bring "Include ME!" to Your School
About the "Include ME!" Challenge:
The "Include ME!" Challenge offers a way for school districts, municipalities, or other organizations to purchase a full year training package from Pathways or purchase each section in incremental training pieces. The end goal of "Include ME!" is to enable you to build and independently run a successful inclusion program that models Pathways for Exceptional Children. Unlike other programs Pathways offers, this program goes beyond the surface of sensitivity training to achieving an engrained and permanent cultural change that can be sustained over time. A report released December 16, 2011 by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention recommended these anti-bullying strategies for schools: a) Offer mentoring programs, b) Provide students with opportunities for community service, c) address the difficult transition between elementary and middle school, and d) start prevention early*. Pathways has found the same through our experience which is why "Include ME!" exists. In addition, we have found it is imperative to ensure these programs and opportunities are administered consistently throughout a child's school career and that students progressively learn to lead and take more genuine ownership of these programs under the facilitation of trained adult leaders.
1) Why is "Include ME!" so successful?
"Include ME!" is a universal language that every child relates to, understands, and desires to obtain. The issue of inclusion is not just a problem that exists for children with disabilities, many children do not feel included, valued, or that their voices are heard or matter. "Include ME!" is designed and led by students. They take ownership of the program and the process of creating their own inclusive culture.
2) What makes "Include ME!" different?
Many anti-bullying programs are built on instilling consequences and seek to comply with state laws and mandates. Many try to regulate behavior not to teach children to aspire to be more from the inside-out. They tend to place emphasis on those who bully but do not provide a plan for those who do not or those that want to be a part finding a better solution. "Include ME!" was not made to regulate behavior but to impart a vision to build a more inclusive culture. It is not a magic pill and is not a program for those who are not willing to put in the daily work to cultivate that seeds they plant. The program also never ends but continuously pushes the status quo and all who participate to a greater vision by asking, "What more can I do to add value to myself and others?"
3) How do we start an "Include ME!" program?
School districts or communities must select a few individuals to lead the project. These individuals can be parents and/or professionals who have a passion to build a more inclusive culture in their schools and community. These individuals will attend an "Include ME!" training that begins to prepare them with the leadership skills and philosophy needed to build a successful program. Great programs come from strong leadership and developing that leadership is the core to ensuring the program's success.
4) How much and what kind of training do we need?
The training begins with a two day initial training followed by 2 hour follow-up meetings at least once a month. The trainings are designed to help designated leaders of the program to begin to effectively lead independently without Pathways.
5) Do we have to be a school to start an "Include ME!" program?
"Include ME!" can be modified to fit any scenario. What makes it so powerful are its basic philosophies which remain the same. The key is to find a small group of core adults and/or children that are passionate about inclusion, devoted to cultivating their own leadership abilities, motivated to mentor others in leadership, and ultimately committed to building a team to keep the vision of "Include ME!" growing and expanding.
6) Can we get what Pathways has now?
Pathways built "Include ME!" over ten years and is always in the process of improving it. Do not get overwhelmed when you look at what Pathways has done or what we have accomplished. Pathways started with the very basics and slowly built programs step-by-step on a daily basis. Cultural change takes time, tenacity, and commitment. It can and does happen when people become committed to getting into the trenches to lead it.
7) How do we begin to recruit mentors or students for the program?
Pathways typically begins with an "Include ME!" school assembly. The “Include ME!" Assembly is designed to inspire children toward the process of inclusion and to cultivate the core values needed to build strong social change leadership that can make a difference. The assembly is the introduction to the program and is used to help schools recruit the initial 25 students that are interested and have a passion to help lead the "Include ME!" program. As time goes on, the children in the "Include ME!" program will develop their own "Include ME!" student assemblies each year in their schools. Recreation programs skip the assembly and begin with the mentor trainings. Mentors can be recruited via schools, newspapers, emails, word of mouth, or other avenues. The assembly can then be done later as a workshop once about 50-75 mentors are trained. The assembly is important because it gives the mentors the overall vision of "Include ME!" and pulls the complete program together so they gain a full understanding of where they will be leading it.
8) Why use a mentor or "children teaching children" model?
There is a wealth of research that supports the positive effects of "peer to peer" or "children teaching children" models. There is no question they work. The key is how to implement them effectively and grow them over time. Pathways has no doubt become known for our leadership in building these types of programs. The 25 students who have been recruited through assemblies or other means will now go through a two hour formalized mentor training. The mentor training begins to teach students to include children with special needs or those whose differences make them most likely to be excluded and/or bullied. The mentor model also provides opportunities for children to build leadership qualities and begin to take ownership of the program.
9) Why use disability to begin the initial mentor program?
Disability provides a tangible training ground to teach empathy and acceptance of diversity. Empathy is the characteristic most often missing in children who bully. Children often need to learn empathy by getting hands on experience which is exactly what the mentor training is designed to do. Disability also crosses into and affects all races, genders, and religions. It provides an effective way to unite children around the core value of inclusion and teaches them how to take small steps toward beginning to implement it. It also teaches mentors that there are children living in their own communities and schools that they can help and begin to include on a daily basis.
10) How do we keep children involved in the "Include ME!" program?
As children learn to include, they realize the positive benefits and become advocates and leaders for inclusion. Pathways has found they also begin to recruit their friends and the positive cycle of inclusion begins and expands beyond disability to a way of life. Many of our programs began by servicing only children with special needs, but have grown to servicing children of all abilities. This has been a learning experience and process of acceptance from both sides of the equation; those with and without disabilities.
11) How do we begin to build inclusive programs after the mentor trainings?
Pathways will bring the program leaders and mentors together. We will brainstorm and begin to uncover talents the mentors have. It is always good to pull from their strengths, creativity, and resources right from the start. We will work together to build and expand these programs. The programs can be designed within the school, as well as after-school programs. The ideas and possibilities are limitless. It is important to always allow the vision for the program to continue to grow and to give the children increasingly more ownership of it.
12) What steps did Pathways take to make your programs so successful?
All of the programs are designed to give both the mentors and program participants the building blocks of the Pathways' pyramid model. No matter what the theme of the program we are always trying to instill the following basic steps : a) sense of belonging and understanding of empathy, b) strong foundation of self confidence, c) basic skills to maximize potential, d) ability to add value to others, e) inner strength to lead change and empower futures. What is amazing about the "Include ME!" program, but not surprising, is that all children equally learn these steps from each other and progress at their own rate.
13) How did Pathways develop their Leadership L.I.V.E program?
Once these programs are underway, momentum takes over. "Include ME!" is designed to evolve quite naturally into a larger vision for developing inclusive leadership programs such as Leadership L.I.V.E. Through experience, Pathways has come to believe that Inclusion is the foundation of growth for all children. It has been the basis of our programs.
14) How do we sustain and fund the program over time?
Pathways provides consulting services to help schools and communities to integrate the mentor program and inclusion into:
a) Classrooms, social skills classes, recess, lunch periods, and district based after-school programs.
b) Provides training for teachers, administrators, coaches, parents, and recreational professionals on inclusion and how to creatively integrate the "children teaching children" concept into every aspect of daily life.
c) Networking with municipal recreation departments to build after-school programs. These programs are designed to reinforce literacy, social, life and employment skills, giving parents affordable ways to get their children quality assistance outside of school. These programs ensure that inclusion is generalized into the community after the bell rings and the school day ends.
d) Find creative ways to explore resources in communities that often go untapped. In today's economy districts and communities must ally to utilize every resource available in order to maximize outcomes and help every child to achieve their fullest potential.
e) How to creatively grant write and fundraise to sustain these programs over time.
f) Trains the adult and youth leaders involved in the "Include ME!" program to independently run all aspects of the program without Pathways.
g) Once the initial mentor phase of the "Include ME!" program is implemented, Pathways can begin to formally train on how to implement the Leadership L.I.V.E program.
If you would like more information about the "Include ME!" program please contact Melinda Jennis, President at mvtpec@aol.com or call (973) 334-9240.
