BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Educators across Texas are coming together for hands-on training in making sure best practices are carried for special education curriculums.
“We’re always pushing for continued inclusiveness or inclusion of our students with disabilities in the overall general curriculum or just the overall school structure in general,” Special Education Program Director of the Region One Education Service Center Todd Larson said.
Officials say it’s important for leaders to figure out what staff members can do better in helping students with disabilities and better serve throughout the state.
“We’ve come major strides over the years in accomplishing that, but we always want to go just a little bit further,” Larson said. “Programs, initiatives, practices that they can take forth and go back to their perspective education service centers and spread the word. Making sure that we are consistently addressing good things across the State.”
Anna Walsh-Mondragon, a special education educator, has seen many changes in curriculums for the past 28 years.
“It has been nice to be a part of that transition in watching our inclusion students with disabilities go from separate classrooms and buildings into the mainstream classroom,” Walsh-Mondragon said.
Leaders say this training will give others the chance to learn from each other.
“One of the things I hope from this week as well as other times that we visited is going out in the districts and seeing what they’re doing because there’s something wonderful happening in the districts in Region One we get to observe that learn from it talk to the students, talk to the staff, find out how we can maybe implement some of those ideas back in the districts in our region,” Walsh-Mondragon said.
