Special Education student taped to chair

[flutterbee]

Kathy,

What I think happens is that the way you address this issue tends to turn a lot of people off. I'm not meaning that as a personal attack as I like and respect you and am sure you offer a lot to your students. It just seems that we can't talk about an experience we've had with one bad teacher without being criticized ourselves.

What I find very sad, too, is the number of teachers on this board who have had just as hard of a time getting an IEP or a behavior plan implemented as the rest of us. You would think their employer would be more willing to work with them. You would think with a teacher's inside knowledge of IDEA and how their SD's work, it would be easier for them. It really highlights, I think, the battle we must all go through to get what are children need and are entitled to by law. Congress has recognized a need for this law for a reason.

As far as blaming the school staff for all of my daughter's issues, my daughter would still have her issues with or without school. However, regarding the SCHOOL issues, had intervention been given when I first started asking (in the 2nd grade) it is believed not only by myself, but by the professionals involved with difficult child, that her school issues would most likely not have escalated to the point they did.

I keep going back to the saying, It takes a village to raise a child. It really does.

Having said all that, I really do think that a lot of parents these days don't hold their children accountable. At least not like they used to. Children get away with too much and often the school's hands are tied on what they can do for fear of lawsuits. That's very wrong, too. I can't imagine trying to implement a behavior plan in the classroom only to have parents call and complain every time their little angel gets put on yellow. I also recognize how much harder teaching is these days. The demands they have put on the teachers, as well as the children, is absolutely insane. I've heard many of my children's teachers tell me that teaching just isn't fun anymore. Teachers that have been teaching for 30 years.

Bottom line is we are allowed to recognize that there are bad teachers and bad school districts. Being able to vent about that without being invalidated is important.

What happened to your friend is awful. That the father laughed at the manifestation hearing is disgusting and I guess goes to show that the apple doesn't far very far from the tree. I wonder why he was allowed to return to a regular school and was not instead sent to an Alt Ed school.

 

[Kathy813]

He is at my school because his parents were lawyers and he had an aggressive advocate. He is also a senior and the SD decided it was easier to give in to the parents rather than fight it. They are still taking him to court on assault to staff charges.

Wyntersgrace, how would you feel if your "safe place to land" was a place where people sullied your profession on a daily basis? You mention the teachers on the board that could not get an IEP done. How many are there on this board? I can think of two active teachers besides myself who have been here any length of time.

It is a shame that teachers are run off this board. I have grown so much as a teacher from what I have learned on the board. I am much more conscious of making sure that I follow my Special Education students' IEP's and am much more aware of the importance of making accommodations for my special needs students. My team-teacher mentioned the other day that I was more willing to work with her to meet the needs of the Special Education kids in the inclusion classes than the other regular ed teachers that she works with. I credit the board for that.

I have also learned so much about the disorders and illnesses that my students face and how they affect their ability to learn. Again, I credit the board for that.

So it's a shame that teachers are not made to feel welcome here. The board could do so much good if teachers were not made to feel like pariahs. But if teachers come on the board and see people bragging about reducing a teacher to tears or advocating a "swift kick in the rear" or asserting that it is okay to bully the teacher into submission (and I have seen all of these things said on the board), they certainly don't stick around.

But it is time for me to bid the board adieu. Obviously, what you all want a closed group where everyone agrees about the big bad school system without any dissent. I think the attack on my friend was the final straw. It was sad when I realized that parent that laughed at my friend's injuries could be a proud member of this board. I'm sure that he would tell you that he was a great advocate for his child.

Thankfully, my difficult child has grown up now and she is doing well. I won't change her status to easy child because I don't want to be hit with the board jinx. I thank those (especially my PE buddies) who helped me in my time of need. I don't know what I would have done without them.

I truly wish you all the best. And I hope that someday you all will realize that it is in the best interest of your child to work with your child's teachers and the school rather than seeing everything as an adversarial relationship. That is all I have ever tried to say. Somehow, it is fitting that I say goodbye on the Special Education forum.

~Kathy

 

[flutterbee]

It's interesting that you say 'you all' when talking about working with the school and not making it adversarial. I *never* wanted an adversarial relationship with the school district. I always felt we were both working to help my child. Sadly, that's not what I got until finally the right people got involved.

I certainly don't think that venting about one's experiences with a teacher sullies the profession. There is a distinction between the individual and the profession as a whole. I think most of us are aware of that.

I guess I don't like being pigeonholed because of what a few members do anymore than you like being pigeonholed because of what a few teachers do, so please don't think to include me in your assumptions about what everyone on this board wants.

 

[Sheila]

I hate that you feel so offended. You’re an important contributing member to the board and I think everyone has respect for you.

I couldn’t agree more about parents and educators working together will produce the best outcome.

The title doesn’t say “Teacher goes above and beyond,” but the comments do. http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=704&highlight=success+story


I’ve said a number of times that no one could pay me enough to be a teacher; and I have a long list of family members that have been teachers and principal of schools – even my mom.

I was raised that teachers are pretty near on the same level as God. I think most people were raised with the same values and respect for teachers. As such, we generally tend to hold teachers to a higher standard.

I’ve also said a number of times that my son has never had a bad teacher – that’s still true today and he’s in the 8th grade. I’ve run into a number of them that have limited knowledge of neurological disorders.

Early on, I was pretty naïve about education and difficult children. The regs literally state that educators shall be knowledgeable about each difficult child’s disorder(s). It took a while to dawn on me that that is an unreasonable expectation – there’s too many general practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, etc., that fall below my expectations, so how can a teacher that typically has little training in neurological disorders be expected to achieve such a standard? It’s just not possible.

We as a cyber-community tend to be a bit narrow-sighted in that our world is dealing with-a limited number of disorders and medical issues. It’s why you’ll see that I post http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=452 occasionally. Realistically, it’s just not possible for a teacher to be experts in all these fields.

It’s been my experience that the vast majority of problems I have encountered in school regarding my difficult child can be traced back to Administration. It’s why you may have noticed that I changed my terminology from teachers to educators on this board. I’m actually directing my comments toward administration.

I’ve had some real knock-down drag-outs with-various administrators – from principals to the school board. In every instance I can remember off-hand, it was because of their inablility to say, “Whoops! Messed up! Let us try to make it right.”

Regarding perspective, it’s always the few bad ones in any profession that makes people tend to sterotype. Almost 100% of the people on this board has raised or is raising a challenging child and therefore has to deal with school issues. Unless a parent home schools, there’s not another option. One way or another, most of our difficult child’s are non-conformist in the school environment, which causes conflict, which causes us to have to vent.

As strongly as I believe in inclusion, I also strongly believe that dangerous children should not be in a traditional classroom. A teacher should not be afraid of going to work. The “LRE” being a regular classroom just isn’t appropriate for all students. But again, most of the time, it’s a direct cause of Administration decisions pertinent to “the budget” – without regard to the needs of the student or the safety of students and teachers. So why teachers on IEP Committees agree to this is hard for me to understand.

In that school districts are governmental agencies and have immunity in so many instances, it may be easier for teachers to file with OSHA than any other entity when they get hurt at work by a student that should be in a more restrictive environment.

Hope your friend recovered and without residual emotional trauma.