Shane's Inspiration Teams Up With LAUSD to Support Their Inclusion Initiative Which Joins Special Education and General Education Students

SHERMAN OAKS, CA, February 10, 2013

Shane's Inspiration, a 501C(3) non-profit, is working with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on an historic integration initiative launched by the school district, according to Tiffany Harris, co-founder and CEO of Shane's Inspiration. The LAUSD program will take down fences, both literally and figuratively, between special education and general education campuses that share the same property, which is part of a multi-year strategic plan.

"This is an unprecedented effort that LAUSD is undertaking," said Harris. "It's the biggest integration initiative of its kind in the school district. And Shane's Inspiration is both thrilled and honored to partner with LAUSD to provide support and awareness training."

Shane's Inspiration will be providing support in several ways. They will be providing staff ability awareness workshops for teachers; K-5 student ability awareness training in the elementary schools; 9-12th grade student ability awareness training for the high schools; parent ability awareness workshops; and continued support for facilitation for inclusive and interactive play on school campuses and at their playgrounds.

While LAUSD promotes inclusion, this initiative targets 8 schools for the 2012-2013 school year. These schools will be four sets of campuses where a special education learning center is adjacent to a general education campus. It will be the focus of feature article in the upcoming issue of Inspiring Play Magazine (www.inspiringplay.com), the world's only publication dedicated to inclusive play.

"This level of ability awareness, from the top down and bottom up, is truly beneficial not only for the students with disabilities, but especially for the general education students," says Marnie Norris, Director of Programs for Shane's Inspiration. "Inclusive efforts such as this can become incredible learning experiences for everyone involved. The children develop a great sense of compassion and knowledge that they take with them for the rest of their lives."

The mission of Shane's Inspiration is to create inclusive playgrounds and programs that unite children of all abilities. Shane's currently serves more than 4000 children a year with learning and inclusive play programs. The organization has helped raise millions of dollars to build, design and program more than 70 inclusive and universally accessible playgrounds around the world.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PHOTOS, OR INTERVIEWS CONTACT: Marnie Norris, Director of Programs, 818.988.5676, http://www.shanesinspiration.org