Yesterday, my colleagues Barry Barbarasch, John Lestino and I had the honor of presenting at the annual New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education Conference.

The focus was presenting approaches to inclusive education for special needs students, alongside their peers. It was a great experience and we had a lot of fun.

Our workshop focused on how to do inclusion.

We presented the prosocial matrix point of view.

From my perspective, inclusion is for everyone.

For inclusion to be prosocial, everyone is invited to have a seat  at the table. This includes teachers, students, parents and especially, those who disagree or who are “different” from you. Everyone has a voice and everyone is a stakeholder.

Once we can sit down at the table, we can connect by asking important questions with respect.

Ask about who and what is important for each of us.

Ask about why we are here and what role each of us plays.

Ask about what shows up inside of each of us that gets in the way.

Ask about the things we do to move away from what is uncomfortable and

And collaborate about what we want to do to move toward acting inclusively.

We see and we are seen.

We hear and are heard.

And then we can sit down at the same table as often as we need to, and know that

We have a safe place to return to.

To agree and to diagree. To feel the same about some things

And different about other things.

Building a culture by acting inclusively. No quick fix.

One moment at a time.