203. Your student with Down Syndrome belongs in a mainstream Physics Class
From Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners by Vaish Sarathy
March 11, 2026 · 45 min · Episode 201
About this episode
This episode discusses the inclusion of students with Down syndrome in mainstream physics classes and challenges traditional special education practices.
Most special education systems operate on this premise: Students with disabilities must master small foundational skills before they are allowed access to academic content. In practice, this often means students spend years repeating the same goals - decoding, counting, basic worksheets - while their peers move forward into real subjects like science, history, and mathematics. But what happens when a student with significant disabilities is simply included in a high school physics class? In this episode of Non Linear Learning, I speak with Sruthi Muralidharan, a high school physics teacher who is testing that question in a public school classroom. Sruthi teaches general education physics where students with significant cognitive disabilities - including students with Down syndrome - participate alongside their peers in labs, engineering activities, and scientific investigations. Her work challenges several assumptions that dominate special education today. Sruthi did not begin her career in education. She holds an MS in Physics and a PhD in Electrical Engineering and spent more than ten years working in the semiconductor industry. In This Episode We discuss: • Why mastery-based…
People in this episode
Host: Vaish Sarathy
Guest: Sruthi Muralidharan
Topics covered
- special education
- inclusion
- Down syndrome
- mainstream education
- physics class
- cognitive disabilities
Keywords
- Down syndrome
- special education
- mainstream physics
- cognitive disabilities
- inclusion
- IEP goals
- education
- science classes
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: public school, semiconductor industry
Books & works: Non Linear Learning
Places: high school
More episodes of Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners
- 206. What the IEP Is Not Telling You - A Special Ed Insider Breaks It Down (with Dr. Diana Fannon) · May 19, 2026 · 41 min
- 205. Why the Smartest Brains Are Also the Most Dysregulated | Dr. Andrew Hill · April 30, 2026 · 58 min
- 204. Do Support Groups Actually Work? The Hard Truth About Finding Your People - with Sara Intonato · April 2, 2026 · 43 min
- 202. Inflammation, Energy, and Learning: A Functional Medicine Lens with Dr. Kendall Stewart · February 2, 2026 · 41 min
- 201. dIs School Costing Your Child Too Much? A Homeschooling Conversation · January 20, 2026 · 35 min
- 200. Five "Helpful" Parenting Tips That Limit Autistic Learning · January 1, 2026 · 13 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners podcast page.