In celebration of April Global Autism Acceptance Month, hear from a spectrum of caregivers and autistic individuals each imparting their lived experiences and perspectives. 

By Kami-Leigh Agard

In the following Q&A, meet longtime special education educators, Valerie Page and Ariel Randall. After witnessing how special needs students, alongside teachers and parents are struggling, they determinedly banded to found Inclusive Instruction Essentials LLC, an innovative startup focused on revolutionizing the approach to student learning by empowering and equipping education professionals and families with the tools needed to help special needs students succeed. Page is a NYC Department of Education (DOE) Administrator for the Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) and Randall is a District 75 special education teacher at a Brooklyn middle school. From the cookie-cutter approach to not just special, but general education; strained resources due to the influx of over 30,000 migrant students in NYC’s education system; teacher qualification, retention and burnout; student and parent mental health challenges and more—these ladies are on fire to make a difference.

RT: With long days and busy schedules working in the field of special education, what inspired you to come together to go this extra step to form this partnership?

AR: It started with a conversation between Valerie and me about what we were seeing, and how we can provide a service to address the struggles in the classroom, especially with special needs students. And now with an influx of kids coming into 3K and 4K in elementary schools, in addition to the migrants coming in with special needs, teachers are not getting the experience and training needed to deal with these students.

VP: A lot of it came from my own frustration as a classroom teacher, dean and at the CPSE, where I was first a liaison with NYC charter schools, and then transitioning to an administrator. I became frustrated with hearing about teachers not having the resources and supports they need. I’m meeting with parents and suggesting to teachers, things they should have already known to do in the classroom. I was blown away because what I felt was common knowledge or they should have learned, teachers were not even aware. And then they’re working with special needs children. So, that was very alarming to me. And with parents, there’s a lot of misconceptions because of lack of information. So, Ariel and I got together to make a change. Something has to happen because this can’t go on.

RT: How is the influx of migrant students in special needs classrooms placing a further toll?

VP: On the preschool end, in terms of placement, I feel that with a lot of evaluation results, many of these children coming here are receiving special education support in one capacity or another. Note the child is not just tested in English, they are also tested in their most proficient language as indicated by the parent. However, oftentimes with the younger ones, what I’m seeing is a lack of exposure to foundational learning skills.

AR: A lot of the kids coming from other countries have to pay for school in their home country, especially pre-K, which they probably don’t have there. So instead of going to school, they were probably helping their families on farms or even going to work with mom and dad because school was not an option. So, I think as the story goes, a lot of our black and brown kids, or even non-white kids are looked at as having special needs, but they’re just behind academically.

RT: How would you advise a parent who’s concerned that their child is not receiving services like speech, occupational therapy, etc. in the classroom?

VP: I would say that’s a pandemic that we’re experiencing. I would advise parents to reach out to their local state assembly person, get together and push congress because the budget comes from the state. It’s not the federal government. Your child isn’t receiving services because the providers don’t want to provide. It’s because we don’t have the needed number of providers.

Inclusive Instruction Essentials LLC (IIE) will be speaking about the services they will be providing to schools, teachers, administrators and parents at Rockaway Beach Autism Families monthly support group meeting happening on Thursday, April 24, 7 p.m. at Knights of Columbus. For more info, visit Rockaway Beach Autism Families on Facebook/Instagram or www.rockawaybeachautismfamilies.org. For more info about IIE, visit: www.inclusiveinstructionessentials.net/ email: inclusiveiellc@gmail.com