An ETSU professor has traveled internationally to present research to the Australian Association of Special Education.
Dr. Pamela Mims, a professor of special education and associate dean of research and grants at Clemmer College, visited the land down under this past September. It was her third trip to Australia to present her work on education of students with severe disabilities.
Her latest presentation described the why and how of equal access to general curriculum for students with severe disabilities; the reason was to promote access to this curriculum and how to go about doing so, which included several evidence-based practices for teachers.
“In Australia, they don’t have a lot of infrastructure [for funded research] in special education,” Mims said.
She shares that the Australian audience was very responsive to her research, possibly due to reliance on the U.S. for studies surrounding students with more severe disabilities.
Attending the two-day conference was just the beginning of Mims’ work while in Australia. She also recorded three modules of evidence-based practices for students with disabilities for the Catholic Schools of New South Wales and visited an Australian school to observe a class that was utilizing her curriculum, two experiences that were surreal for her.
Mims hopes that the work she’s been doing for over a decade will help to make an impact for the Australian school systems and their students.
“[My goal is that] the teachers out there realize the potential and can provide programming [for students with severe disabilities] that will help them move into a much more inclusive society,” Mims said.
A lot of Mims’ motivation to continue making strides in the field of special education comes from combating the preconceived notions traditionally held of students with disabilities.
“Unfortunately, there’s a very dangerous assumption… People look at kids with severe disabilities and assume incompetence; they assume they can’t,” Mims said. “That’s what it’s been for so long, and we’re saying this is no longer acceptable.”
This is a principle Mims’ reinforces with the Access ETSU program, which is a program for students with intellectual disabilities, with 20 students currently enrolled.
“We are giving students [with an intellectual disability] in our region the opportunity to go to college just like their peers… and go deeper into an area of study that they want to learn more about,” Mims said.
For all students with disabilities, the goal is the same: to have high expectations for their potential and to help them realize that they have opportunities contrary to what they have been traditionally told. They can have high aspirations and be achieving, contributing members of society.
“This population can do so much more,” Mims said. “We’re still learning; the sky is the limit.”
