ICI Co-hosts Summit on Inclusion and Response to Intervention in India

Over 250 education leaders from seven nations attended the first International Summit on Inclusion and Response to Intervention on June 8-10, a milestone gathering organized by the Institute on Community Integration and Avinashilingam University for Women in Coimbatore, India. Funded by the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative and held at Avinashilingam, the summit brought together international presenters to discuss engaging all children, including those with disabilities, within schools and communities. The organizers (pictured here with key presenters from India) -- ICI’s Dr. Brian Abery and Dr. Renata Ticha, and Avinashilingam University’s Dr. Premavathy Vijayan and Dr. G. Victoria Naomi -- have collaborated for the past three years on a project between India and the U.S. fostering use of the Response to Intervention (RtI) education framework. A culmination of that project, the summit presented multiple perspectives on inclusion and RtI. “Participants will take back to their organizations a wealth of information about these approaches to education,” says Abery. “We hope these discussions will stimulate lasting systemic change in how children with disabilities are educated.” Presentations will be available for viewing on the summit website next week.