Thursday, March 20, 2008 | Thank you for writing an interesting and insightful article about special education changes in SD Unified.
We moved to the San Diego area when my daughter Bridget, who has Down Syndrome, was in pre-school. She is now 15 and has attended six different schools to meet her needs. We were in the La Mesa-Spring Valley district, which generally was excellent, but our neighborhood schools did not have programs best suited for her.
Now she is a freshman at Steele Canyon High School, a charter school in East County that adopted full inclusion at its inception. She has a homeroom where she hangs out between classes and connects with a peer tutor (another student) or an aide and goes to regular classes. It’s a nice blend of support and mainstreaming. One of the advantages of attending a more local school is that she is often greeted by fellow students at the grocery store or Starbucks, thus making her feel a part of the community.