In the quest to provide every student with an education, traditional classrooms and instruction can leave many behind.
“I’ve found it really uncomfortable that we characterize kids as ‘special needs,’” says Tyana Velazquez-Smith. “There’s nothing special or unique or there shouldn’t be anything special or unique about getting what you need to be a successful, comfortable person.
“When you say something is ‘special,’ it’s out of the ordinary, it’s almost inconceivable to the public,” she adds. “But if we can begin to say ‘tailored learning’ or ‘neurodiverse affirming,’ we can put some of the actual humanity behind the students that we’re serving, rather than saying we have a group of special kids that get ‘special services.’”
Velazquez-Smith’s business, Sensational Inclusion, is built around that belief, aiming to give equity to those who need it most. That can come in many forms. For Sensational Inclusion, it includes services such as curriculum development and auditing, and educational consulting, where Velazquez-Smith imparts her expertise to professionals, especially in the fields of curriculum, instruction, and literacy.
“I always say to people, reading and literacy is one of the messiest, uncomfortable things you will do with a child,” she says.
The enthusiasm in her voice, however, suggests the most significant part of Sensational Inclusion is the work it does with children. For example, the 10-week tutoring program is designed to be a “neurodiverse-affirming” environment, a term Velazquez-Smith prefers over “special education.”
Sensational Inclusion’s office has comfortable seating, soft light, gentle colors, and lacks windows, which can be a large contributor in overstimulation for neurodiverse children. Velazquez-Smith says this is all done to give autonomy back to the student, who is able to adjust their environment in tutoring based on their needs.
These arel elements that Velazquez-Smith found lacking from her time as a classroom teacher. Classrooms and instruction inflexible in traditional schools across districts, indicative of larger systemic failure of the public school system to provide adequate care.
Those struggles and encouragement from her husband were what prompted Velazquez-Smith to start Sensational Inclusion to begin with.
“Children have zero power in schools. They don’t get to pick curriculum, they don’t get to follow their interests. Their own bodily autonomy is infringed upon sometimes, especially in 12-1-1 classrooms,” she says, referring to classrooms with 12 students, one teacher and one paraprofessional. “Sometimes a teacher might use physical touch to restrain a child and it might be a child who struggles with physical touch or sensory overload. So, you’re sending that child into a fight or fawn or freeze response.
“In my classroom, if the lights are too bright, I can dim them. If a certain sensory or tactile feeling doesn’t feel good, I can change it out. It’s not about the child having to adapt, but the environment accommodating them.”
The one-on-one tutoring sessions focus on literacy and begin with an informal play session called the “Sensational Start.” This approach finds an interest the child has and wants to learn more about. That interest is used as an access point for more learning.
Dinosaurs, for example, are a very common subject to concentrate on, Velazquez-Smith notes. Looking at favorite dinosaurs and how they are spelled can help increase phonemic awareness or vowel pairing, for example.
“It is the most effective way in getting a child from starting with having some skills, but not the skills needed on grade level, to at the end of the 10 weeks, there is reading comprehension,” she says. “They’re reading books about dinosaurs, I’m asking them, ‘What do you think the world would be like if we still had dinosaurs?’ We’re engaging with our imaginations.”
That approach extends to other child-centered services Sensational Inclusion offers, such as playdates specifically for Black girls or “sensationally inclusive” play sessions. These sessions are not about exclusion, Velazquez-Smith says, but instead about equity. Both groups are not always allowed to play in ways that accept who they are without outside bias.
“Their experiences were very different than their peers,” she says, referring to her academic research. “And there really was no way for them to articulate when they realized they were being differently treated. The question was, how are they using literacy to communicate and express themselves.
“So (Black girl playdates are) working against the research that says that Black girls in spaces often don’t have the same right to play as their counterparts. They’re often looked at differently by the education system or their teachers for being aggressive or any of the tropes in the literature that say this is how Black girls are,” she explains.
The classroom environment and inclusive approach to learning is something Velazquez-Smith feels she would have benefitted from herself. As a neurodiverse individual who went through a traditional school setting, she found they often it was not a well-suited fit.
Inclusive instruction is a key need nationwide with Monroe County being no exception. In 2012, school-age students countywide classified with disabilities totaled 13,400, or 13 percent of all students. By 2023, it had grown to 14,200 (14 percent).
Numbers in the city of Rochester have fluctuated since 2005, reaching a record high of 6,700 students in 2009, but mostly have been on a downward trend. Last year had a record low with 5,500 students in that category. However, since the overall RCSD student population is in decline, the proportion of students with an individualized education program has seen relatively steady growth. In 2005, 15 percent of students fell into that classification. In 2023, the number was 17.8 percent.
That proportional growth explains the district’s focus on special education teacher recruitment and the need for greater emphasis on exceptional learning strategies.
Sensational Inclusion currently tutors around 18 students with about 20 more across its summer and afterschool instructive programs. Velazquez-Smith hopes this effort can grow into the future, expanding the approach to an entire school.
“My future is to have a school. A school that is exactly this, but can be a full-day program with everything I’ve ever dreamed about,” she says. “Mental health support, cozy calm places, teachers that are slow and mindful and patient. This is just the start.”
Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist. The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. Submissions to the Letters page should be sent to [email protected].