STUDENTS TESTIFY TO SYSTEMS CHANGE

Among the 2,000 students on the UMF campus, Sean Allaire is probably the University's foremost authority on concepts of universal design and ways to use assistive technology in the classroom. Not only does he serve as Student Director for the Assistive Technology Resource Center, he also works summers in Portland at a center that promotes using computers to make life more accessible for people with disabilities. Allaire majors in Special Education (K-12) with an emphasis on mental retardation.

"You might be right -- just among students -- but I certainly don't know more than professors like Loraine Spenciner," said the junior seated among what looked like a bunch of kids' toys in the Resource Center. "I'm more exposed to assistive technology than most. But it's not as if UMF students don't know about accessible curriculum. It's part of what everyone learns here."

Allaire said he appreciates opportunities provided to him by the University System, and UMF in particular.

"Here, the professors have given me -- and other students -- the basic concepts of planning curriculum for all learners and the reasons behind it. We are encouraged to explore and discuss options for AT. And it's not just the Special Ed professors who model and promote this sort of thinking." He said UMF includes an introduction to assistive technology in entry-level courses. "All students either come to the Center or we go to their classes and show them the materials -- and then they usually stop by to see the whole collection. Lots of interest is generated through the demonstrations. Lots of questions. We have fun."

Maine CITE recently sponsored four UMF students' attendance at the "Closing the Gap" conference in Minneapolis and regularly sends students to the annual assistive technology expo in Manchester, NH. Allaire said the conferences and his summer job help him realize how well Maine is doing on a national level.

UMF has developed a student internship program with ALLTech, hosted on the University of Southern Maine campus. It is a nationally-recognized center that provides training, consultation, and technical assistance in areas of assistive technology, specialized software, Web accessibility, and universal design in education. Allaire's work there during the past three summers puts him in contact with teachers and school administrators across the United States.

"They're always asking: 'How does Maine do it?'" Allaire said. "In my opinion, our greatest asset is our understanding that universal design is the right way to go. It's the right way to go in education. And it's the right way to go for access to information in general. We can't afford to leave anyone out."

Jennifer Merrill also works at the Resource Center and echoed the director's advocacy for all learners. She stressed that every student needs an equal opportunity to learn and to be educated, whether in a regular classroom or in a special-needs situation.

"Maine citizens, as a whole -- not just students -- have a right to equal access to the information they need," said the sophomore, majoring in Early Childhood Special Education. "We all need to be independent and productive in order to keep the state's economy alive. This is not an easy state to work in. Its sheer size and distances between population centers are persistent barriers to providing equal opportunities."

Merrill said there is growing appreciation of equal learning opportunities on a level beyond academic achievement. "The most important thing is that we 'get it' here in Maine. Inclusive classrooms give us a chance to recognize and deal with our biases. Everyone is entitled to the benefits of a healthy learning environment. Everyone deserves an education," she said. "We've come a long ways and are headed in the right direction -- with the passage of legislation, the Learning Results and all. We've made some good advances."

Both of these future teachers, Sean Allaire and Jen Merrill, saw a need for increased public funding for teacher training and bigger budgets for more classroom equipment and assistive technology devices. They each said their outlook toward the teaching profession had changed "greatly" during their time at the University of Maine at Farmington, that they had learned how to "increase the spectrum of learning" through AT devices and other accommodations to make inclusive classrooms possible.

"Education should be fresh and full of learning opportunities," Merrill declared. "You give kids an opportunity, they'll seize it -- because that's what a child does. With assistive technology and people trained enough to be comfortable using it, you'd have smooth inclusion and be unstoppable in the classroom!"