Teaching teachers that All Kids Can
by Beth
This time each year I start getting requests from professors who want me to speak to one of their college classes. Sometimes they want me to talk to animal sciences classes about service dogs. Other times they’ll ask me to speak to their writing classes about memoirs. Sometimes, they just want me to talk about what it’s like to be blind.
One class I’ll be speaking to this fall is full of undergraduates studying to be general education teachers. As part of their curriculum they are required to take one, just one, course in special education.
Considering 47 percent of students who have disabilities spend 80 percent or more of their day in general education classroom settings, can one special education course for future teachers be enough?
This is where All Kids Can helps. Created by the CVS/pharmacy Charitable Trust, All Kids Can is a five-year, $25 million commitment to making life easier for children with disabilities.
Through this signature program, CVS and the Trust help non-profit organizations like Easter Seals raise awareness in schools and in local communities about the importance of inclusion. I know that the general education students I’ll be speaking to will benefit from hearing how inclusion played a major role in the life of my son, who has severe disabilities. But I’m only one woman. I can’t do it alone. That’s why I’m grateful to CVS for funding programs to promote the awareness of inclusion and its importance to children with disabilities. Trust me, I’ll be sharing the All Kids Can link with those education students when I meet them!