During and throughout our inclusive education course we explored different exceptionalities that can be found within students and how to best support them. During this course, we also had the opportunity to do a deep dive into a specific student case. So, for this post, I am sharing my summary of the case study that I explored with the help of my partner, Samantha Morey.

Gabrielle Case Study

            This case study is focused on Gabrielle (“Gabby”), her educational journey, and how it has been shaped by her diagnoses and life with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy. At the time of this case study, Gabrielle was 18 years old, an aspiring writer and looking forward to graduating with her peers. Gabby has lived in a small rural town all her life and as described by her mother, had a very inclusive educational experience because “there was no other way” (Stegemann and Aucoin 2018). Due to Gabby’s Athetoid Cerebral Palsy, she relies on a powered wheelchair for her mobility and an augmentative and alternative communication device to speak and write with. Gabby’s educational experience has been shaped by three main things; her physical place of living in a small rural town in Canada, the people and the schools that she has worked with and the technology she has been able to use in connection to both of the former circumstances. The effect of Gabby’s place is highlighted because in her own words “I will always be thankful that I was born in Canada. Canada has strongly supported me my whole life.” (Stegemann and Aucoin 2018). Since Gabby lives in such a place the options for Gabby to partake in specialized programs were limited and therefore was included in everything school-wise from the start of her K-12 education. Her family, however, has gone the extra mile to support her educational development and has taken her to specialised outreach services outside of town throughout her life to support and monitor her (Stegemann and Aucoin 2018). Given that Gabby is highly dependant on technology to communicate and for mobility, the fact that her family has been able to be given the funding for such technologies is another big influence on Gabby’s life. For Gabby, the use and early introduction of such technology is a huge factor in her day-to-day life as she is able to use tech such as her speech-generating device to speak with those around her.

 Her mother recounts her educational journey as being a very positive experience until about grade nine, where social factors started to influence Gabby. Having said that though, Gabby has remained resilient and the introduction of modern internet to her community and her partaking in a women’s writers’ group has really made a difference in her mood and development as she and her mother have been able to access a lot more tools through the internet and work together at home (Stegemann and Aucoin 2018).  Gabby’s story really takes on the idea of “it takes a village to raise a child”.  Gabby has had the privilege of working with an educational team of two E.A’s, one of which has worked with her since she was three years old, as well as the Student Support Facilitator. The work of these individuals also connects back to Gabby’s technology-filled world as individuals who work with her consistently have been trained to understand and use the technology that Gabby uses every day. Gabby has also felt support from her various Principals and peers. A large part of Gabby’s success is that she has benefited from the support from those mentioned above whether it be a peer advocating for her by saying she needs her time to communicate or a principal going out of their way to give Gabby the opportunity to go to a leadership conference (Stegemann and Aucoin 2018).  One of the biggest modifications of Gabby’s educational journey is that instead of following a normal graduation path she has instead been taking a “K & E” program. This program differs from traditional graduation paths because it has localized life skill-based courses, instead of the normally required courses for that province. Gabby also was in the process of having a transition plan created for her by her family, members of school staff and, Alberta Health Services workers that focus on her transitioning from high school student to adult life. The main focus of this transition plan was to discuss how Gabby will be able to access the needed supports to allow her to live independently as one of her goals is to move to Edmonton and attend college (Stegemann and Aucoin 2018).

Overall, Gabby has been a success story. She has benefitted from the support from her family, community and technology she uses. Gabby is looking forward to adult life and hopes to pursue her goals of going to college and becoming a writer, both of which call for a lot of independence. A large part of Gabby’s success is due to the fact that she lives in Canada in her small community because this enabled her to not only gather the funding needed for her support technology but allowed to partake in a very inclusive educational experience. Gabby will need support from others and technology for the rest of her life but this is not something she sees as a barrier but something that makes her unique and that she has adapted to.

References

Stegemann. K, Aucoin. A, & Howery, K. (2018). Chapter 5: Gabrielle Case Study. In Inclusive Education: Stories of Success and Hope in a Canadian Context (pp. 52–71). essay, Pearson Canada.