September. A month that has always (at least so far, almost worldwide realty) been associated with beautiful golden autumn, mushroom picking, and most notably with the beginning of the school year. School backpacks packing time! Let’s hope that we will be still packing school bags, and not booting up the computer daily for multiple hours of virtual lessons this fall!

There is one crucial topic that seems urgent to talk about in my opinion. The matter was an extraordinarily challenging problem for me to solve a few years ago. Very same difficulty as for many families with kids on the spectrum or with other developmental disabilities. In many aspects, this complicated and full of explicit details relationship and synergy is undoubtedly the most important and ‘marking’.
There is a close relationship created between the availability of didactic resources, methods, as well as opportunities and perspectives, forming a vision of expectations for the future. Individualizing and choosing a school is as crucial for regularly developing kids as for children with various disabilities and special educational needs. Especially for those with disabilities, I would say. We are forced to go deep and analyze every single point and choose without underestimating an individual’s capabilities what may be the widespread mistake. Why? We are often influenced by people who are the last ones to give us an opinion or judge or guide our family life.
It’s the parent’s job to know better and choose wisely for our children by analyzing the offered and broadly understood level of the world of ‘school’.

It is the world of educational institutions that undertakes the civic duty and privilege of education. It makes the little – great people become part of the school community first, and after a time, the community and society with which they identify and in which they live.

It is undoubtedly the result of a long journey: the social integration and school inclusion of people with disabilities is not neglected but is the result of a slow, complex, partly cultural path. This path reflects the evolving society’s thinking regarding this topic. It professes values attributed to the same person as an individual.

The school integration and inclusion of children with atypical needs is a wealth that should be emphasized. Which, with its diversity in form and intensity, testifies to the complexity of our times.

The topic of choosing the right educational institution, whether it’s just a kindergarten or a school is a highly inflammable and never-easy thread for me. It runs on anxiety, seeking answers to thousands of questions, uncertainty, and suspense.

Joy and pride of every little success, satisfaction in receiving appropriate help, and recognition of the irreplaceable contribution of professionals to the educational process.

My son, currently nine years old, is a child with an invisible disability, who is following his “individualized” path. He’s developing his talents accordingly to his own “timing”, struggling with difficulties, and using his rich resources and skills that are specific and typical for him.

The number of students with disabilities attending European mainstream educational institutions – public and non-public, is increasing. This rise would result from greater recognition of certain diseases and access to examinations, tests, speed, and accuracy of diagnoses and certifications.

However, the availability of schools for students with motor disabilities is still lacking, and the availability of assistance for students with sensory disabilities is particularly critical. Still, the number of school buildings that undergone a metamorphosis along with works aimed at breaking architectural barriers is dramatically low.

Why do I think that as much as possible and as much as we are able to push to access regular education for our disabled children ruthlessly, we should be inflexible and ‘incorruptible’ in our pursuit of the goal – inclusive education? Because I believe that a special school is not the only option and the final answer to the questions:
“Which path should I choose for my child, guaranteeing maximum efficiency, and a chance for a good start in the proverbial ‘tomorrow’?
“How to simultaneously ensure the most satisfactory and harmonious functioning in personal life and the appropriate preparation of each child to the expectations and impeccable existence according to social principles and rules?”
A school is a place of confrontation—a place of learning and exchange, growth, and exploration. Discover and learn to cope with failure. Sometimes a battlefield, sometimes a field to show off. Embrace diversity and work on accepting yourself and others.
It is through the children who attend school and who bring their lifestyle to it, often radically different. It is this exact institution’s duty to strive for integration and inclusion – students themselves, as well as teachers with their different didactic and educational paths.
In my profound conviction, it is up to us, parents, to support our children not only by bringing them to tutoring sessions and punctually participating in rehabilitation exercises. It is our responsibility always to have an ambitious plan.
The plan – positive and setting the bar higher by us than by those who, not knowing us, try to put it in a standard-addressed envelope – special needs comprehensive school. Certificates, diagnoses, and records of any disability are not a sentence, the execution of which is procedurally determined in advance.

It is not just pointing the finger at the direction in which we should go. It helps receive benefits that are due to us.

What about school?

Unfortunately, the situation in 2020 is still poor in terms of preparing and adapting educational institutions to admissions and ensuring appropriate substantive facilities and technical resources for disabled and special educational needs students.

Whether it’s a child with ADHD, ASD, or a wheelchair, a school should be flexible. For everyone. With no exception. By sending a child on an autism spectrum with problems related to social and sensory integration to a special school, we will almost certainly plunge them into an avalanche of so-called ‘unwanted behaviors to duplicate’. And that’s just one example in a long list of dire consequences.

The characteristics and quality of the school offer are also of great importance in the process of integration and inclusion: the availability of space, the presence, and usefulness of appropriate technologies, the support of suitably trained and competent personal play a fundamental role in encouraging the participation of students in inclusive education.

From the point of view of a parent of a child with a disability – let’s not give up. Energy against challenges is the energy well spent. Therapists nowadays work closely with school facilities. Compensatory, supportive, and therapeutic activities are organized and held on the school grounds during the regular school day. The comprehensive school does not have a monopoly on this. Let us not be deceived. We must fight for the unlimited availability and improvement of the quality of the educational process of mainstream schools. Let’s be stubborn co-authors of an ambitious plan, for our children and for maximizing the ‘extraction’ and use of their resources and skills. To ensure them an enjoyable life in an individualized and maximized way, following the socially acceptable flow!