Inclusive Education Resources: Podcasts, Books, and More
Blogs
Diana Pastora Carson: As a sibling advocate, elementary school teacher, and disability studies teacher, Diana Pastora Carson shares resources about equity and empowerment in the disability community. Also check out her podcast “Beyond Awareness” below!
Empowered School Solutions: Dr. Jenna Rufo and her team of educators and school administrators provide resources for helping schools incorporate inclusive practices.
Inclusion Rules: Get free printables and other hands-on ideas for parents and teachers. The Inclusion Rules blog is run by Dr. Paula Kluth, an author, former special education teacher, and advocate.
The Inclusive Class: Nicole Eredics is an inclusion classroom teacher who blogs about curriculum modifications and other resources to help teachers educate all students.
Podcasts
Think Inclusive: What does inclusion look like in the real world? Listen to Tim Villegas interview authors, researchers, and advocates who share their stories.
Beyond Awareness: Diana Pastora Carson interviews authors and experts about how to talk about disabilities “from a progressive, dignifying, social justice, and diversity appreciation perspective.”
The Inclusion Think Tank: Hosted by the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education, this podcast “serves as a resource for educators, school administrators, and families who are seeking additional knowledge about topics related to inclusive education.”
Inclusive Education Project Podcast: Two special education and civil rights attorneys host conversations about educational reform and equal opportunities for students with disabilities.
The Inclusion Podcast: Dr. Julie Causton interviews teachers, school administrators, lawyers, and other experts about inclusive education.
The Five Moore Minutes' Podcast: This podcast dives deeper into topics covered by Dr. Shelly Moore on the inclusion-focused YouTube channel Five Moore Minutes.
Websites and organizations that can help
- Include CA: is run by parents and siblings of students with disabilities to advocate for change in the California education system.
- TASH: focuses on increasing opportunities for “those with the most significant support needs, in the areas of education, employment and community living.” Cal-TASH is the California chapter.
- TIES Center: is run by the University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration to provide inclusion resources for teachers
- SWIFT Schools: provides resources to help schools implement “Equity-based Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)”
- National Down Syndrome Congress: focuses on outreach and education “dedicated to an improved world for individuals with Down syndrome.”
- National Catholic Board On Full Inclusion: aims to be “a place on the web where families and educators and administrators and faith-filled people could go to find resources and proof that full inclusion in Catholic school is possible.”
- Think College: provides post-secondary education resources, especially for students with intellectual disabilities
- New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education: “partners with neighborhood schools to create inclusive learning communities where students with disabilities and learning differences are welcomed as classmates, valued as learners, and empowered to succeed.”
- Think Inclusive: The Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education provides research and other expert resources to support schools.
- Inclusive Schools Network: supports schools by “sharing tools and strategies to increase opportunities for students with disabilities and build knowledge of inclusive education.”
- Empowered School Solutions: provides consulting and professional development services for schools to “transform a vision of inclusion and equity into reality.”
- Ollibean: provides resources to encourage connection and belonging in the disability community.
- Inclusionary Practices Technical Assistance Network: works to address inequities in inclusive education in Washington state.
Books
Reimagining Special Education: Using Inclusion as a Framework to Build Equity and Support All Students: Inclusion experts look at how the COVID-19 pandemic affected education and how schools can use those lessons to rethink equitable practices in their classrooms.
The Way to Inclusion: This book is full of research and practical advice for educators to implement the best practices of inclusive education.
Behavior to Belonging: “Details how teachers can shift from a behavior management mindset (that punishes students for bad behavior or rewards students for good or compliant behavior) to an approach that supports all students — even the most challenging ones — with kindness, creativity, acceptance, and love.”
Who's the Slow Learner? A Chronicle of Inclusion and Exclusion: This book is written by the mother of a child with Down syndrome about her son’s education from preschool to high school, “not a ‘how to’ book but the chronicle of ‘how they did it’ as inclusion pioneers forging the way.”
Raising Owen: Another memoir from a parent raising a child with Down syndrome, this book covers a mother’s emotional journey and experience advocating for full inclusion for her son throughout school.
Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning: This book is a “reader-friendly, step-by-step planning guide” to help middle and high school educators facilitate inclusion and peer support.
Don’t We Already Do Inclusion?: Educators, advocates, and parents will find “100 ways to improve inclusive schools” with activities “designed to help participants refine their vision and their skills when it comes to inclusion.”
“How to” resources for more inclusive classrooms
- Creating Communities of Belonging for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities from the TIES Center
- Inclusive Education Roadmap from the TIES Center
- Universal Design for Learning, “a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn”
- Embedded Instruction from the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies and the Embedded Instruction California Project
- Science of Math, with “resources related to effective math instruction” for inclusive math lessons
Speakers and training for educators
- Common Ground Society: provides three different presentations for elementary, middle & high, and college & community
- Nicole Eredics: offers presentations, workshops, training, and mentoring from an inclusion teacher
- Erik W. Carter: researcher and Director of the Baylor Center on Developmental Disabilities
- Diana Pastora Carson: teaches Beyond Awareness courses for educators
- Supporting Inclusive Practices: offers webinars and other technical assistance to improve inclusion in education
- Changing Perspectives: offers professional development and other support to foster equitable practices
- Dr. Shelley Moore: provides “a variety of opportunities for classroom, school, district, and systems-level learning.”
- California Alliance for Inclusive Schooling: offers webinars from Chapman University’s Thompson Policy Institute on Disability
- Inclusive Schooling: professional development from Dr. Julie Causton and Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak
- Empowered School Solutions: professional development training from Jenna Rufo
- Lead Inclusion: offers workshops, self-paced courses, school partnerships, and a leadership program
- Inclusionary Practices Toolkit: a free course from AWSP Learning Lab
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