Hosting Foreign Students with Disabilities

“It’s exciting that our little school has an impact throughout Eurasia," says Rob Hair, the principal of the South Carolina School for the Blind, which has hosted several blind students through the Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX).

Whether a family or school is considering hosting an international student with a disability – the experience is the same: Once they arrive, the rewards will exceed expectations and overshadow any concerns. Hosting international students is a great opportunity to learn about another culture. “We would like to host another Deaf person who is high school age because my family learned a lot,” says Cheryl Johnston, who is Deaf and hosted a girl from Malaysia. “There also was a lot of change in [our exchange daughter] when she learned about how Deaf people have rights in America. I told her it was okay to fight for what you want.” The student's  parents in Malaysia had mainstreamed her into a regular school, but after her experience in the United States she decided that she wanted to go to a Deaf school. When the student returned home, she advocated to go to a Deaf school and succeeded.

“It’s valuable that the international students go back home as advocates for themselves and spread different values about cane skills [for independent mobility], for example, so the disabled students in their home countries can benefit too” says Rob Hair, the principal of the South Carolina School for the Blind, which has hosted several blind students through the Future Leaders Exchange Program. “It’s exciting that our little school has had an impact throughout Eurasia.”  He adds that the American students also benefit because of the multicultural, global aspect the foreign exchange students bring to the classroom, which fosters broader perspectives. 

^{Photo Caption: Exchange students can be encouraged to share about their country's language, food and other traditions at cultural festivals or language clubs after school.}

Lana Hittle, a paraprofessional who does Braille transcription in the U.S. school district, says, “The most rewarding part of having this incredibly smart blind student from Russia in our [mainstream] school is that she pushed teachers to stop and think about how they teach, because we are a very visual society. A couple have mentioned it made them better teachers."

New Experiences

Even if one's family or school doesn’t have anyone with a disability, the home or school can still be a positive placement for an exchange student with a disability.

“We had no experience hosting students with vision impairments, but it was exciting to give it a try. You don’t really have to have a great deal of special training,” says Carolyn Clendaniel, a host mother who lives in Alaska. “If you can get a few people that can help you find a few resources, then you’re ready to go. Our blind Malaysian student was wonderfully adaptive at leaping over dogs, cats and things that didn’t always get put away in the same place. He was a great deal of fun to have in our house, and he developed a great sense of humor.”

The placement organization for this Malaysian student had also planned to enroll him at a U.S. charter school near the host father’s work, which would be easier to navigate than the larger public schools in the area. The school, however, had never had an international student or a student with a disability, and thus decided against hosting. “Most of the things people worry about never happen or are never a problem,” says Linda Oakland, who works with the youth exchange organization. “Most of the time our exchange students [with disabilities] all functioned without any formal accommodations, without any red tape – we simply asked for little extra considerations, such as to be allowed access to the elevator or to be placed at the front of the classroom. Requests that anybody could do.”

^{Photo Caption: The National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange staff (Cerise Roth-Vinson, NCDE Manager, pictured here) provides free technical assistance and referrals to assist exchange staff or host famlies and schools with questions they may have about an exchange student with a disability.}

Linda Reiff, a teacher at a Wisconsin school, hosted an exchange student with a physical disability who also attended the school where she taught. She was able to meet his access needs by using “courtesy, common sense and communication," and basic arrangements, such as getting extra copies of his heavy textbooks so he didn’t have to carry them home. "He has to go upstairs to use the shower but that’s just once a day. It’s probably not the ideal situation, but very few things are. He’s a good sport, and it's working out."

While no high school or school district can be forced to host foreign exchange students, once the decision to participate as a host school has been made, the high school or district cannot use discriminatory criteria or operate the program in a discriminatory manner (i.e., accept some students, but reject others).

Except for getting used to the sight of his exchange student's prosthetic leg standing by itself plugged into the wall at night, Richard Capp, a Rotarian, says his hosting story "is not special or eventful." The only consideration they made was to move his own son into the guest room so that their Swiss exchange student only needed to hop across the hall to use the bathroom at night instead of climbing stairs.

For a student from Germany with a prosthetic arm, “The only thing we’ve discovered she can’t do is put a ponytail in her hair and she needs help putting on a necklace – things you really need fine dexterity for,” says Diane Holth, her U.S. host mother with no prior disability experience. Since her arm is also electronic, the family helped her to get adaptors for her battery charger. The student had also brought extra silicon skins to cover her arm, and needed assistance replacing it every three months.

^{Photo Caption: Parents may find it helpful to talk with the host parents, so they feel more comfortable and confident in their son or daughter being well cared for abroad.}

Arranging Accommodations

When weighing the advantages and disadvantages of hosting, the school's paraprofessionals who work day in and day out with students with disabilities and parents of youth with disabilities may initially have more understanding of the accessibility-related details that go into daily living, and may offer a different outlook than those with less disability experience who decide to host. Paraprofessionals and parents are often familiar with procedures and advocacy required to provide ideal access situations under their country's law, and this awareness may initially cause some hesitancy to jump right into the hosting situation.

“We had hosted other students, but never a student with a disability before. My job deals with working with students with disabilities, so in a way, I would be bringing my job home with me,” says Lana Hittle, who after consideration decided to host an international blind student. “You can’t just say, ‘Walk over to the refrigerator and take out the eggs.’ You have to think, ‘OK where did I put the eggs?’ and say ‘Walk over to the fridge the eggs are on the top shelf on the right.’ I became really good at right, left, north, south. We gave her orientation to the house, and she had it down pat in about an hour, knowing where all three bathrooms and all four bedrooms are located. It ended up working out okay.”

Parents of children with disabilities are often the needed link in making a placement of a foreign exchange student successful. Their previous efforts to negotiate accommodations for their own children in the local school district can be beneficial for an incoming exchange student with similar access needs. In one case, the school district didn’t pay for transportation for an exchange student since she had been transferred to a new school for better wheelchair access, says Carol Radomski, who works with a high school exchange organization. However, since the host family had a daughter that used a wheelchair, the school already had a bus with a lift that would pick her up in the morning so they took the exchange student, too.

^{Photo Caption: Since sign language is different in each country, host families that know sign language can be helpful to a Deaf exchange participant in quickly learning the new sign language.}

U.S. school districts need to be aware of U.S. federal discrimination laws that help ensure the educational rights of international students with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) policy advises that a school cannot outright refuse to provide special education services to a foreign exchange student that has been accepted into the program. Equally important, and before that point is even reached, no school can simply state that foreign students with disabilities are ineligible for placement at the school, says Silvia Yee and Larisa Cummings of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. She adds that while no high school or school district can be forced to take part in a foreign exchange program, once the decision to participate has been made, the high school or district cannot use discriminatory criteria or operate the program in a discriminatory manner.

“We have several students in the district already that require Braille, so the school really hasn’t incurred that much in costs,” says Lana Hittle, who works at a school in the United States. A school cannot outright refuse to provide special education services to a foreign exchange student that has been accepted into the program.

Related to costs, an exchange organization placing international students found a U.S. rural school on the east coast that refused to take a student because “they read too much into his accommodation needs.” When the part-time teacher of visually impaired students in the school district calculated how much it would cost the district to accommodate him, they figured that her schedule would no longer be half time, and they would need to pay her benefits. “I don’t think she wanted to work full time either,” says Heidi Burmeister, who works with the exchange organization. This issue was not pressed with the east coast U.S. school, and the exchange organization found another school for him in a different state. As it turned out, when the student arrived they discovered he could read large print, and Braille services weren't needed as had been assumed.

As a general rule, if a student does need Braille, districts that are already set up to provide these services may be the most receptive. “We have several students in the district already that require Braille, so the school really hasn’t incurred that much in costs,” says Hittle. “Although, we didn’t realize how much extra time it was going to be typing all her lessons since her new books aren’t available yet in Braille. We also ended up with two textbooks that we had to put on audiotape, and she accessed those fairly well. She types her own lessons on the computer; she is very self sufficient and a go-getter.”

^{Photo Caption: To better assess the student's abilities and accommodation needs in advance of arrival, schools and families can ask the home country exchange staff to fill out disability accommodation assessment forms.}

Host families, not just schools, who know more about youth with disabilities may also end up overestimating costs associated with hosting. According to Greta James-Maxfield, who was looking for a host family in which to place a blind student in her community, the response from occupational therapists to local blind commission staff focused on the intensive mobility training, assistive equipment and other needs that can both take time and money to provide. “I didn’t even know how to respond to that because with other students I had placed, I never [discussed] the expenses of their education,” says James-Maxfield.

In James-Maxfield's case, the student was on a federally funded exchange program, which provided the student with a stipend as part of her scholarship and would have offered some funding support for disability-related accommodations if needed, such as for a laptop computer and adaptive software on loan or home adaptations. The expenses for the host family she eventually found did not end up costing any more than for those hosting other students. In addition, there seemed to be an outpouring of donations from local community members, who were interested in assisting international students from less developed countries to acquire additional technology and equipment.

On the other hand, American students with disabilities going abroad often assume that they will experience less access abroad so don't advocate for what they need.  “Now that I know more about England, I actually think I didn’t get as many services as I could have gotten,” says Angela Winfield who is visually impaired and did a law academy trip to the United Kingdom in high school. “At the time, I had more sight, so I didn’t have as many accommodations provided. I did have materials read to me when needed by someone on the program.”

The laws in the host countries may be similar to what students find in the United States. For example, the Costa Rican Equal Opportunities Law For Persons With Disabilities—Law 7600, enacted in 1996 prohibits all forms of discrimination against people with disabilities. In all education programs, the law requires that no student with a disability be excluded from any activities, that evaluations be conducted and that adapted education curriculum be provided, if needed. It also requires accessibility and necessary support services. If a student encounters a disability-related problem in a secondary education program that cannot be resolved informally, say Mary Lou Breslin and Silvia Yee from the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, contact Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Education, which is in charge of enforcing the law in the area of education. Through advocacy and negotiation most problems can be resolved.

^{Photo Caption: Some exchange organizations have programs designed for students with specific disabilities, while the majority of programs seek to mainstream youth with disabilities alongside their non-disabled peers.}

For U.S. students going abroad with U.S.-sponsored groups or programs, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 may be useful. Whether the ADA or Section 504 laws apply to high school exchange programs, or whether programs must provide disability-related services to U.S. participants when abroad, are questions that have not been clearly resolved. This leaves room to make a case for equal access on any program, although it would require research and advocacy to achieve. The ADA and Section 504 are clear that a U.S. based program cannot deny participation based on disability, so parents shouldn't downplay their son or daughter's access needs to facilitate acceptance into the program.

“Most of the time, I asked a person to repeat [information] for me, but it was a lot to ask for a high schooler,” says Rachel Berkston, who is also deaf and found her FM hearing system temporarily broken during a summer high school arts program in Israel. “I never thought it would be possible [for a cued speech transliterator to come along]. I may have asked but never pushed for it.”

The Gift of Time

As with many worthwhile things in life, it may be necessary for hosts to provide extra time and attention to exchange students as they adjust to their new school system, routines and language. Kristin Faudree, a U.S. student with a learning disability, attended a high school in Spain and found that a helpful, patient host brother saved the day, in the absence of any prearranged disability-related services or accommodations. “When I first got there I was so bad at Spanish that my host brother thought ‘I better help this girl’ and he talked very slowly. I guess you could look at his help as a form of tutoring. Once I was there long enough and feeling comfortable, I told my host family I had a learning disability. They were understanding and even more helpful than before. They had heard of learning disabilities but had never dealt with it directly.”

“Our host daughter knew just a little bit of American Sign Language (ASL) so that she couldn’t follow English class. I spent a couple hours everyday after school helping her with homework. At the time, I wasn’t working full-time, so I could do it,” says Cheryl Johnston, about the Deaf student she hosted in her home. They realized upon arrival that the student used a form of Malay cued speech, and had to go through a language learning curve the same as other exchange students with limited language skills of the host country. The student sought out Deaf peers and sign language interpreters to assist her in learning the language in addition to her host family.

^{Photo Caption: Some Deaf students, especially those from Eurasia, are taught in the oral method so may initially need real-time captioning, audio loops, seats near the front of the classroom and /or tutoring in the classroom instead of a sign language interpreter.}

“[The exchange student] liked her first placement in a public high school because she had the support of a full-time sign language interpreter,” says Betsy Nortrup, the exchange staff who placed this student. “She could quickly address any signing questions or issues because there was an interpreter sitting right there. Her lack of [ASL] showed up more later in the Deaf school than when she was mainstreamed in high school.”

Since students accepted into exchange programs tend to have high academic marks, they are likely to work hard to quickly learn the new skills needed.

It is important not to generalize about students and their type of disability, as Carolyn Clendaniel discovered when hosting a second student with a visual impairment, which turned out to be a very different experience from the first. Some students will need less support and time from host families and paraprofessionals at school. “What was categorized in Belarus as a major disability would not have been nearly as much of a disability here,” says Clendaniel. “[Our exchange student] needed very little assistance of any kind unless he was going to do any sort of prolonged reading. He had some magnifying equipment, but his eyes would just get tired. He was very independent and still had a lot of vision. If we read for him, it would be maybe a half hour a week.”

Since students accepted into exchange programs tend to have high academic marks, they are likely to work hard to quickly learn the new skills needed. Resource teacher Judy Loving, who worked one-on-one with a blind exchange student in Texas for an hour and half every day to teach new skills and technology, confirms this. “I don’t think she had ever been on a computer; she’d never used a Braille typewriter. We had to get her going very quickly on learning contracted, grade two Braille code because that’s what all the high school textbooks were,” said Loving. “It’s just so worthwhile. I’ve worked with visually impaired kids for twenty years and she was one of the top students I’ve ever had. It’s strictly because she was so motivated, so excited and such a hard worker that it made my job so easy. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I anticipate that we’ll stay in touch for a long time.”

^{Photo Caption: Teachers can make a difference in how well the exchange student adjusts to the new school and what he or she is able to access and learn while abroad.}

Making Connections

Families also get to do fun activities with the exchange students to show them to a wide range of experiences. “We had a lot of fun just introducing new activities. His parents had protected him a great deal, and he hadn’t done too many things,” says Carolyn Clendaniel, who hosted a visually impaired student. “The biggest change in him was a confidence to try new things. We took him out to go canoeing and he said, ‘I can’t canoe.’ And I said, ‘Sure you can.’ And off we went canoeing."

“We had a lot of fun just introducing new activities. His parents had protected him a great deal, and he hadn’t done too many things,” says Carolyn Clendaniel, who hosted a visually impaired student.

Eugene Aronsky, who is blind and from the United States, participated in a six-week summer high school program to Finland. "My host mother was a teacher so she was also out of school and would take me around," says Aronsky. "In Finland in the summer they have a lot of fairs, workshops and hands on things I found interesting. I also got to go to a few other excursions organized by AFS and my host family. There were five or six AFS students in Finland and we traveled all over the country.”

The students are also very appreciative of what their host families do for them. Aronsky had never been away from home for more than a week at a time before going to Finland, so he had been afraid of what to expect living with a host family. He found they were "very friendly, very understanding" and he is still friends with his host brother today. Rebekah Elsen, a U.S. student with cerebral palsy that stayed with a family while studying in Germany, reflects, “The best memory was my goodbye party with my second host family – I have a favorite club that I liked to go to and they had it there and signed a book for me. It was very special."

Most exchange programs also encourage each student to get involved in extracurricular school activities. For example, Natalie Nussbaum, a student with a disability from Germany, became involved in a hip-hop dance class and an outdoor challenge course with a youth group. “I usually try to meet the students and invite them to the international student club because it’s like a mini-network of ready-made friends for them to assimilate into our high school,” says Lourdes Crawford, who works as a U.S. school counselor. “I also try to encourage them to share their stories about their home countries, and we set up a class visit for them to talk about their experiences on an informal basis.”

^{Photo Caption: Tasting new foods or doing outdoor sports may be something that some teenagers typically aren't interested in trying, but once abroad they learn to be open to many new activities.}

International students only have the opportunity to get a visa for an academic program if the placement organization is able to find a willing family and school to host them for a few weeks to an academic year. Matthew Clark, a wheelchair user from the United States, wasn't able to participate on a three-week exchange in middle school because a host family couldn't be found. This can be disappointing, and unacceptable in this current time, to have to miss out on valuable overseas experience due to resolvable accessibility barriers.

“Most of the things people worry about never happen or are never a problem,” says Linda Oakland, who works with the youth exchange organization and has placed several exchange students with disabilities in U.S. communities.

If a family or school has an interest in being a host to a foreign high school student, they can:

• Look in the local paper for advertisements by youth international exchange organizations, or review those listed at www.csiet.org in its online Advisory Guide, and contact the organizations directly to express an interest in being contacted.
• Locate local schools and families in their area which have hosted international students in the past, and express that they would like to be put in touch with the program coordinators these schools and families work with because of an interest in hosting an exchange participant.

The experience and rewards of hosting a foreign student will certainly outweigh any time, cost or other factors that may have caused hesitation in the beginning. “It’s always hard each year to say goodbye to them; our last year’s group was so wonderful and we’re all very sad to see them go,” says Crawford. “They were successful in doing so many things. They realize now that’s there a whole world out there that they were fortunate to be part of.” The schools, communities and host families feel fortunate too.

^{Photo Caption: Families of any composition can make welcoming hosts. Children especially benefit from the attention of a high school exchange student who can teach them new songs and games.}