​Jonah Needs a Specialized Program: Who Belongs? 

Prologue: Quiet isn't included.

Jonah's day runs smoothly because adults make it run smoothly. He moves from class to class with Ms. Rene, an educational assistant who helps him transition, find his seat, manage materials, keep track of his AAC device, and get to the bus. In most classes, Jonah sits near the back with a basic skills binder that follows him from room to room. When he finishes what has been assigned, he is allowed free time. He uses that time to search YouTube for vacuum videos, watching and rewatching with intense focus. Ms Rene notices Jonah's persistence, memory, and joy. 

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Everyone cares. The problem is that care keeps getting expressed as containment. Jonah seems calm, quiet, and safe. Jonah's family keeps asking for more than presence. They want peer connection, growth toward independence, meaningful reading and writing, and real communication. The team keeps circling the same fear: we do not know how to program for him in a regular classroom, especially during a busy Grade 7 English Language Arts period with many kinds of learners. 

Some teachers, like Mr. Morrison, believe a specialized program would be more appropriate, more predictable, and more practical. Others worry that specialized programming can become a life sentence of reduced curriculum, separate spaces, and the same binder with a different cover. Mr. Morrison feels stuck between what he believes and what he can picture doing in ELA on Tuesday at 10:10.

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By October, the question shifts. It is not whether Jonah can learn. The question is whether the adults will continue managing Jonah's presence or redesign the day so that Jonah can become a reader, writer, and communicator with his peers.

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Chapter 1: Jonah: The Back Row

The first team meeting in the fall starts like most do: polite, careful, and full of problem-solving language. Then someone finally says what everyone has been thinking: “We don’t know what to do with him in regular class.” What they do know is that Jonah is compliant, calm, safe, and very prompt dependent outside his preferred interests. Then the team names the uncomfortable gap. Jonah is present, but not a member. The team chooses one non-negotiable: literacy will not be optional for Jonah.

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Mr. Morrison leaves that meeting with two competing feelings. Relief, because a clear commitment is easier than vague guilt. Dread, because he still cannot picture what it looks like at desk level when the class is reading, discussing, and writing and Jonah has a binder, an adult, and no voice.

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That afternoon, Mr. Morrison opens his ELA plans and realizes something. The question is not “What is Jonah’s program?” The real question is “What is the class doing that Jonah could actually be part of?” He underlines “shared text” on his planning sheet and circles it as the place to start.

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Chapter 2: Jonah: What Counts?

The next week, the change starts small, not with a new program, but with a new way of noticing. Before class begins, Jonah is on YouTube. Mr. Morrison notices Jonah smiling before the vacuum roars. Mr Morrison begins to reimagine what counts as emergent literacy evidence when typical output isn’t available: anticipation, preference, sustained attention, pattern recognition, symbolic interest, participation and communication through gestures, affect and action. The team names the myth operating underneath the program debate: “If he can’t show what he knows in typical ways, he must not know.” They are curious and agree to look for patterns rather than proof.

Ms. Rene feels the shift, too. She is used to being evaluated by how smooth the transitions are and how quiet the day stays. Now the team is asking a different question: what is Jonah telling us, and are we designing the day so he has reasons to tell us more? 

By the end of the week, they have something they did not have before. They have evidence that Jonah is paying attention to meaning, not just noise. That changes the next question. If Jonah is already noticing patterns, how do they give him a way to respond to them with language that other people can understand?

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Chapter 3: AAC

On Monday, Jonah’s talker is present, but it’s mostly used to direct (quiet, work, go, sit) rather than connect. Ms. Rene & Mr Morrison know that because Jonah doesn’t have reliable speech, AAC is not optional, and “show me on your talker” is not teaching, it’s testing. They notice their own habits around prompting, which has become the main instructional move. Prompting keeps the day moving, but it also keeps Jonah dependent. and realizes they’ve been asking Jonah to perform without providing aided language input (modelling) or wait time. Mr Morrison and Ms Rene choose one routine and commit to: having the talker out, on & available, and adults & peers modelling language to connect, not direct. Jonah starts moving from quiet compliance toward real communication opportunities. 

This is also where Ms. Rene makes a choice that matters. She has spent years being praised for keeping things calm. Now she is agreeing to let things be slower, a bit messier, and more human, because that is what teaching looks like when someone is learning language.

By Friday, nothing looks dramatic from the hallway. There is no big breakthrough moment. But something is different in the room. Jonah’s device is no longer a management tool. It is part of the conversation space, and now they need a routine where conversation is expected.​

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Chatper 4: 

Jonah: Reading

In ELA, Mr Morrison already runs a workshop rhythm most days, so this isn’t really a new initiative. A short text to anchor the lesson, a few minutes of talk, then students read or write with support. Instead of introducing shared reading as something new, he folds Jonah into what is already there. He chooses a tight mentor text set the whole class can use: a short article on how everyday machines are designed, a review that compares features and bias, and a short student friendly explainer on why people collect things. Vacuum videos are not the lesson. They are a doorway. The class reads and discusses focus, routines, and what it feels like when something pulls your attention in fully.

Mr Morrison plans two communication moments per paragraph. One is a predictable pause where everyone chooses a word that matches the paragraph, like loud, quiet, fast, stuck, smooth. The other is a quick opinion move: agree, not agree, or tell me more. Jonah’s talker stays on his desk, and Ms Rene models the words on his screen the same way Mr Alvarez models on the board. A peer sits beside Jonah as his book club partner, not his helper, and their job is simple: read the same thing and make one shared comment, using Jonah’s talker.

Jonah’s role becomes public and age respectful. He chooses, comments, and reads in the ways he can: through AAC, choices, and responses. Ms. Rene has to unlearn a reflex here. When Jonah is in the spotlight, her body wants to step in and make it tidy. Instead, she practises stepping back and letting peer supports and routines hold the moment.

The first week is awkward in the way all real change is awkward. The room is louder because more students are talking. The pace is slower because Mr. Morrison is waiting. Jonah is not suddenly “better,” but he is more present in the learning, as are some other students, a pleasant surprise, and that creates the next problem they actually want. If Jonah can join reading, then writing cannot stay trapped in a binder either.

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chapter 5 

Jonah: Real Writing

Mr Morrison already uses quickwrites. Five minutes, pens moving, low stakes, then a few students share. It is the kind of routine that builds writers because it happens often, and nobody is graded for being brilliant at 10:05 a.m. Jonah has never participated in a quickwrite. It is redesigned so Jonah can be an author as well.The class responds to the same prompt, but everyone has a choice in how they express it: a sentence, a list, a sketch with labels, or an AAC message built with a partner.

Mr. Morrison shifts one task using the predictable chart writing routine in a way that fits junior high tone and dignity. The sentence starters for everyone are “I notice” and “I think.” The team makes one agreement that changes everything. Jonah has daily access to the full alphabet in a way that matches his motor needs. Not tracing. Not copying. A full alphabet, available every day, so writing can become authorship. When the class rereads the chart, they track words, notice spaces, and play with one sound in a real sentence for 2 minutes, no worksheets. The point is that Jonah is learning that print holds meaning and that he can make meaning with print.

When someone suggests tracing vacuum words, “so he is at least writing,” the team recognizes an old trap. A neat product is not the same as authorship. They set a clear boundary, no copying or tracing. Something Jonah has to unlearn.

They also introduce predictable chart writing in a way that fits junior high tone. It is structured. It supports participation. It feeds into independent writing choices for everyone, including students who struggle with spelling, stamina, or confidence.
The writing routine is still a bit messy and much slower than copying or tracing, something that Jonah is starting to unlearn. He is learning that writing is a physical message shared between people over distance and time, and that what I think can be written down and understood by others. The adults are learning that if they want Jonah to be a writer, they have to provide many opportunities and accept without correcting. Completed worksheets no longer dominate. The team resists the urge to abandon this new process because discomfort isn’t a reason to quit.

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Chapter 6

Jonah: Better Evidence

Once instruction shifts, assessment has to shift too. Maybe the evidence lies, at least partially, in participation, engagement, and response patterns within real routines, not in extracted performance tasks. Mr Morriosn & Ms Rene shift to observational assessment and start tracking evidence within real routines, asking: what increases Jonah’s access and autonomy, and what helps him stay engaged? Where do communication attempts show up? Which supports reduce dependence?

IPP goals get rewritten to match the new environment. They remove the hidden prerequisites that keep Jonah stuck, and they describe participation that matters in real ELA routines. During shared reading, Jonah will make a comment using his AAC with peer support. During workshop writing, Jonah will contribute an idea and revise one word choice with increasing independence. During literature circles, Jonah will choose a connection response with a partner.

Now Jonah’s progress is becoming more visible because the adults know what they are looking for. The adults’ progress becomes more accountable because they are measuring they designed, not Jonah’s compliance or what he can do alone.

By mid-semester,  Mr Morrison and Ms. Rene now have something that makes the specialized program conversation harder to simplify. Jonah is participating in ELA routines, raising a new question. If Jonah can be part of reading, writing, listening and communication with the right design, what needs to change about the day so it does not depend on one adult working miracles?

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chapter 7 

Jonah: Design the Day
 

The team hits a truth they cannot ignore. Jonah’s participation has depended on Ms Rene doing constant micro-management, heroics that tend to collapse when staffing shifts. Mr Morrison & Ms Rene begin to reframe access as something the whole day carries, not something one person holds. Access must exist across domains: physical placement, sensory predictability, cognitive clarity, and opportunities for communication and connection everywhere. 

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They plan when to step back and how peers might step in safely, and class routines that lead Jonah towards greater independence. Mr. Morrison feels the pressure of time, curriculum, and a room full of needs. He also notices that predictable routines help everyone, not just Jonah. Students who are anxious settle faster. Students who struggle with reading have clearer entry points. Students who need movement know what comes next.

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When the design holds, Jonah holds. Not perfectly, not every day, but enough that the team can finally ask a higher quality question. Instead of arguing about where Jonah should be, they start asking what Grade 7 learning can look like for Jonah inside the room, with the same ideas and different ways in.

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chapter 8 Jonah: Same Work
By spring, the specialized program conversation changes tone. It is no longer “Can he handle regular class?” It becomes “What does regular class look like when access is real?”

Mr. Morrison brings a familiar structure into the mix: literature circles. Not as a reward, not as a social project, but as a normal ELA routine where students discuss a shared text, take roles, and build meaning together. Roles are selected that make sense for the room and for Jonah. Jonah’s role stays stable for several weeks, so it becomes real, not a novelty. Sometimes he is the Connector, choosing between two AAC starters, such as “This reminds me of…” and “This is like…” Sometimes he is the Quote Picker, selecting one line a peer reads aloud and responding with “like,” “not like,” “more,” or “again.” His partner’s job is not to rescue. It is to read the same text and make one shared comment.

The team maps outcomes for one routine, the way ELA teachers already do for diverse learners. Same themes, different entry points. Same text, different supports. Same conversation, different ways to contribute.

The most surprising shift is not academic. It is social. When Jonah has a real role in a real routine, peers treat him like part of the group without being coached into kindness. That is when the team stops asking “Is this working right now?” and starts asking ”Will this still work when staff change, when the timetable shifts, when the next teacher takes over?”

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Chapter 9 

Jonah: Future ProofNear the end of the year, Mr. Alvarez and Ms. Rene run a simple test on their own practice. If Jonah changes schools, teachers, or support staff, does any of that stay with him?They also revisit the word “functional,” because it keeps showing up like it means only one thing. They name a different definition out loud. Functional means voice, autonomy and relationships. Functional means being able to read, write, and communicate in ways that expand your life, not shrink it.Mr A & Ms Rene choose a small set of commitments that are realistic in a school year that will always be too busy. AAC modelling stays protected during ELA routines. Shared reading stays part of the workshop rhythm. Jonah keeps a peer role in literature circles. The team writes down what worked and what did not, so next year does not start at zero.It does not feel like a finish line. It feels like a new minimum standard. Jonah still needs support, and the classroom still has hard days, but the story has changed. Jonah is no longer the quiet kid with a binder in the back. He is part of reading, part of writing, and part of the talk that makes a class a community.

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​epilogue Jonah: Membership as a BaselineJonah does not become a typical student. The adults do not become perfectly consistent because it is school, it is human, and it is messy.What changes first is adult practice. AAC is treated as language, not a lever. Literacy routines stay in the day. Peer roles become normal. Jonah’s participation is visible.Then system conditions shift. Schedules get examined with honesty. Team roles get clearer. Assessment practices start to notice learning without punishing access needs.Jonah’s experience changes last, and it sticks. He is still Jonah. He still loves vacuum videos. He still needs support. But he is no longer a quiet kid in the back with a binder of worksheets. He is a reader, writer, and communicator in his school community.And once a team has seen the difference between presence and membership, it becomes much harder to accept quiet as the definition of included.

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