We are Lucia, Paola, and Carla—three support teachers who have worked together for years in a middle school in the province of Parma. As we reflect on our experience, we do not hide the fact that in our daily work we often confront our own limits, along with a sense of helplessness that sometimes overwhelms us and prompts us to reconsider, to question, to talk among ourselves and with our colleagues. We admit that integrating handicapped students into mandatory schooling was initially very difficult, that it has improved over the years, and that it has been an opportunity for growth for the students we have met and worked with.
True, we sometimes feel wounded by the superficiality with which certain problems are handled. On the other hand, we have noticed that teachers' competence has improved, as has the sensitivity and attention many of them show toward struggling students.
For our part:
- we believe in the students entrusted to us;
- we are convinced they always possess hidden potential that can be released over time;
- we see that our journey together over 3 or 4 years changes both us and them;
- we are certain that their presence in school is a stimulus—or rather, a real challenge—to more human relationships, to reflection, and to the search for new strategies that ultimately benefit everyone.
We now present some of the students in our school.
Around nine in the morning, along the somewhat austere and quiet corridors, you hear Lucilla's bright voice. Cheerful and enterprising, she arrives accompanied by Roberta and Ivan, eager to tell everyone the joy of being there and starting a new day of work.
Through words, the gestures of her whole body, and the particular expressiveness of her face, she conveys her desire to live, to connect with others, to joke around—despite everything.
Now at last she is proud to show everyone the fruit of her "hard" effort. Through methodical and steady work, started when she entered middle school about two and a half years ago, Lucilla has made real progress:
- it is now less difficult for her to respect the main rules of living together;
- she can better control the need to always be the center of attention;
- she stays quiet when she should; and when asked, she responds more appropriately;
- she structures sentences better and her vocabulary has grown.
Lucilla is engaging and likable. She remembers everyone's names, knows how to connect with people, and as someone skilled at relationships, manages to build a good network around herself.
The integration of handicapped students into mandatory schooling has improved over the years and has been an opportunity for growth.
Over time she has learned to recognize letters of the alphabet, to sound out syllables, to write simple sentences, to count. She asks for a task every day and is well motivated to learn new things.The integration of handicapped students into mandatory schooling has improved over the years and has been an opportunity for growth.
This year, based on the progress she has shown, she is able to stay longer in class with her classmates, especially during Art, Technical Drawing, and Music lessons.
Thanks to a pilot program that provides a second Physical Education teacher in classes with handicapped students, Lucilla can attend swimming classes scheduled for her class this term. This experience fills her with joy.
Her opportunities to meet with her classmates have grown. They welcome her willingly, according to arrangements made together out of respect for her pace and the class's needs.
Simona is a Down student who is preparing to take her graduation exam so she can attend a vocational hotel management school.
She is a serene, cordial student, a friend to everyone. Very supported and encouraged by her family, she has achieved good independence and healthy self-esteem. During her three years here, we developed an individualized curriculum that has allowed her to:
- bring out her potential and grow more aware of her possibilities;
- learn to organize her schoolwork;
- develop gradually and harmoniously.
In the past two years we have revisited demanding topics covered in class together—colonization, the Global North and South, problems of hunger and development, war, peace, and nonviolence, and some current issues on which Simona can express her own thoughts.
Like everyone else, she is happy to avoid a task if she can, but she knows that Carla and I keep watch and that she cannot make excuses beyond a certain point.
Her sensitivity is entirely special. What gratifies her most is being able to help a classmate in trouble.
The other day she told me: "You know, Monica confided that she wasn't feeling well. It was a secret between us. The fact that she spoke to me that way means she trusts me. I'm happy about that." And her eyes shone.
There are still so many things we do not know about her or him that we would like to understand. It takes time and patience.
Like the others, she alternates some hours of work in class with time in a properly equipped workshop room.There are still so many things we do not know about her or him that we would like to understand. It takes time and patience.
In this space there is everything—and everyone comes looking for something, perhaps certain they will find it.
There is room for needles, measuring tapes, cutting boards, a small oven, a computer, a keyboard, a photocopier, paper of every kind. The room is filled with educational games, worksheets, and texts that we use regularly.
Since integration began, we have worked to acquire and recover appropriate materials, also thanks to contributions requested from and offered by the municipality.
This space, where we live out the time not scheduled in class, allows us to tailor activities to students' needs, to have moments of ease, and to offer more precise attention and care to the students we work with.
On some occasions we invite a former student to join us or celebrate a special occasion, discuss the work we are doing, or share insights about problems that arise.
Elisabetta, placed in a second-year class, lives with her mother and grandparents in a severely disadvantaged home environment and is affected by serious intellectual disability.
For a few months now, she has begun to speak in a barely audible voice, to say a few timid things about herself, to smile. She needs a great deal of welcome and constant reassurance. Her crying spells have lessened compared to last year, but there are still many things we do not know about her that we would like to understand. It will take time and patience.
Their presence in school is a stimulus—or rather, a challenge to more human relationships, to reflection, to the search for new ways forward.
Their presence in school is a stimulus—or rather, a challenge to more human relationships, to reflection, to the search for new ways forward.Elisabetta found herself in a class that seemed least equipped to help her and help her overcome her difficulties. After evaluating the overall situation with the school council, we decided to propose to the class a program of movement and body expression led by a specialist to help students know themselves, gain a more precise understanding of themselves, and manage aggression and fear. This was an experience in which Elisabetta could participate and which she badly needed—to become looser and less rigid, to connect with classmates in the group's way, to discover her own abilities, and to begin to share her lived experience.
With the same goal of understanding the difficult relational dynamics we observed in the class, we invited a psychologist from the local health authority to work with students on themes of responsibility, participation, respect for others, and diversity.
The work is ongoing, and we sense it is genuinely helping everyone.
We therefore believe it necessary to deepen the experience of "networking"—that is, collaboration and dialogue with other organizations and agencies in our area: the health authority, parishes, Caritas, community centers, volunteers, and social solidarity cooperatives.
In fact, the presence in our school of two Caritas volunteers and a municipal assistant who work with us daily allow us to provide targeted help to more than one student in a class through study groups, group projects, and so on.
We believe the problem of the most severely disabled students remains open. We know that at the national level, there is ongoing reflection about the path we have taken and what solutions might be possible in the future.
Individualized curriculum allows students' potential to emerge and gives them greater awareness of their possibilities.
Individualized curriculum allows students' potential to emerge and gives them greater awareness of their possibilities.— Three Teachers, 1997