There is an unusual situation in Flint, Michigan. Most of us heard about the water crisis in Flint, but one side effect of this huge environmental issue is that children who drank the water that was tainted with lead are now in need of special education services. Symptoms of lead poisoning are: Behavior problems, low IQ, poor grades, problems with hearing, short- and long-term learning difficulties and growth delays. ( www.healthline.com/health/lead-poisoning#causes ) Many of the children are now entering school and parents are demanding help for their children. This has become such a major issue in town that the school district has received a four million dollar court settlement to provide health screenings for children in Flint. These health screenings are not mere eye and vision, but include a full-time pediatric neuropsychologist among other professionals. Instead of having a few students in a class with mild learning disabilities and and maybe one or two children with more severe needs, it's possible nearly half or more than half of each class in Flint's elementary schools are struggling with students poisoned by lead. Flint has a great need for special educators and probably will for some time. www.detroitnews.com/story/news/education/2019/01/21/universal-health-screenings-flint-children-underway/2368022002/ Below is a good article from an education perspective about Flint. You would need access from a database or a subscription to view it. It goes more in depth about the educational issues of lead poisoning. Bravender, M., & Walling, C. (2017). Man-Made Disaster Undermines Impoverished School District: The Flint Water Crisis. EJEP: EJournal of Education Policy.
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A parent I have known for many years has a son that is heading into the transition years (16+) in special education. She is running into issues she was not prepared for. I asked her some questions about what she is going through and she responded via email. To give perspective, her son has a moderate intellectual disability and is characterized as having a disposition of a 4-5 year old.
How old is your son and what grade is he in? He is 15 years old and will be in 9th grade next year. I understand that you are having issues with the high school he should be attending next year. Can you share what your expectations were and what you found out after you went to visit the school? I just found all this out right before our winter break so please forgive me. I am very raw and I am very, very upset for my son. When I hear that my son will be in a life skills class, I fully expect him to get some kind of life skills. I visited his high school hopeful that the needs that he has would be met. I was told that they had a kitchen, washer and dryer, etc. to help equip my son with the skills that he needs in life as well as meeting his academic needs. After all, isn’t that what comes to mind when they say life skills... that he would get skills needed for life? Otherwise, just refer to the program as academic accommodation or something similar. I was so disappointed with what I found. As of four years ago, they don’t use the facilities they have. Outside of two academic classes (math and language arts) he’s fully integrated. They tell me this as though it’s a good thing for my child. And he only gets an aid for the classes that are dangerous, such as biology, otherwise he gets a peer helper to escort him to class. This gives your child so much confidence to be with a peer, they tell me. I’m sorry but how on earth does having a peer escort give my child life skills? Maybe they stay in that class to help him. I’m not clear on this and probably won’t be until after school resumes again and I can face talking to the future team more. They tell me they have many integrated classes that would give him some possible life skills. Maybe he would get something out of their food and nutrition class. Maybe. But really? Will the teacher of a full classroom truly be able to meet him where he is at? Will he have an aid that will facilitate? Or will he just sit there and/or will a peer do all the work for him because it’s so much easier to just do the work for him rather than guide him into doing it for himself? This has been our past experience on some of these hands-on type classes. I feel that this “promised land” of integration is empty of factual or practical application to real life. It feels to me like it’s a cover for some other kind of lack. As a result, my son no longer has an IEP for him but instead his supposed individualized plan is based on some ideology that may be great for a child who is higher functioning than him. And everyone acts like they have everything set up so wonderful for my child. But I’m thinking, “Redeem the time rather than have it be wasted in a class he doesn’t truly understand. Stop pretending with us and take out the life skills title because that isn’t really what’s going on here. At least from this side looking in.” I understand many things. I understand that funding is always an issue. I understand that the resources needed for this kind of program are high. But I’m not the one who said that each child should get an appropriate education. That was a promise made to me by someone else. I can’t help but think that it would be nice to have that promise met – especially when it used to exist and no longer does. I remember meeting a mom at a local business when my child was young and she told me how much she loved the life skills program and how amazing it was for her child. I guess my son was born about seven years too late to experience something that could have been so wonderful for him. I understand some of the general philosophy of integration, that yes, it’s great to have a child be able to socially handle and be exposed to different peers. But that could be done in one or two periods since kids mostly just sit in class and listen anyway. Four or five periods of it aren’t needed. With overflowing classes, my son will probably be lost. Someone will have to do his work for him because he doesn’t have the fine motor skills or attention to do it himself if he even has someone to help him at all since the teacher will be busy with the full class he/she already has. I’m guessing most of his time will be spent warming up a seat. At least in his middle school years, he had an aid to help him and so he got something out of it. But doesn’t sound like that will be the case in high school. That would have been the beauty of the high school life skills program before they gutted it. He would have had a high aid/ student ratio who would have the time to facilitate my child to learn the true skills of his life. Under the banner of integration, my son has lost so much. He learned that if he sat down and didn’t make a stir, he’d be okay. I even asked a teacher one time if he thought my son was lost or paying attention and he honestly said, “I don’t know. He sits so quietly that I don’t really notice.” or something to that effect. So much time wasted because I’m just the dumb parent and they had to try it their way. Finally, in my son’s 5th grade year, he got his needs met. I originally met with this new team in 3rd grade. So ... much ... time ... wasted. What would be an ideal situation for him? I think that he should be in classes that are academically where he is at. This is a plus of the program at the high school. First and second period will be modified math and language arts in the life skills classroom. In his junior and senior years, he will have a job training kind of class. I’m not sure of everything that this class entails, but what I was told sounded good. I don’t even mind if he is in choir or a class that is similar that has peers in the mainstream classes to allow him typical interaction with all kinds of students. But the other periods that he has, and especially until he gets those job classes, should give my son the life skills that the program boasts. I would like him taught things that are practical as well have him in a modified academic curriculum. What alternative routes are you looking into? We are praying about what we should do. We don’t have all the answers and are only starting out researching other possibilities since we just found out about this right before the holidays. I searched private schools in our area, but couldn’t find one that seemed to be the right fit at this point. We could find something out of state but we’re, as of yet, unwilling to uproot our whole family to seek out those programs – not to mention a lot of the private programs can be very expensive. I will probably look into having him go to the school for his first two modified academic periods or having him do those classes online as well as any other academic classes that he may need online and then hiring a student from our local university to focus on giving him true life skills. We have to look into the cost and feasibility of such a plan. My perspective: While working as a para years ago in a science class there was a table of two students with intellectual disabilities behind me with a para. They never spoke in class and they were put in the back of the classroom. The teacher attempted to modify assignments for them and they were tested on materials, but the para was doing more of the work than they were. The class was 90% lecture. Were they integrated into a general education class? Yes. Were they participating? No. Did they understand even 50% of the class, I'm pretty sure not. Just like the parent above, her son learned to be quiet in class even though he wasn't learning. Is that the skill we want students to learn, to be quiet? Integration should not be the end goal, it should be a means to help a child do his best and succeed to his highest potential. Because I can only handle watching so many versions of Santa Clause with Tim Allen, I thought I would sneak in a post and hopefully my kids won't notice! Most of us go into special education for personal reasons. Rarely have I met a special education teacher or student majoring in SPED that has not been personally affected by a disability. A cousin, a brother, a child, an uncle has cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or they themselves have ADHD. This personal experience drives us to care and advocate. The downside to special education is that there are so many disabilities that it is impossible to truly know each one. Learning disabilities can be especially difficult to understand because students with such disabilities can be very high functioning, socially gifted, and generally fit in with their peers but fail to start, fail to finish, or quit because the directions are beyond them. A common command, by the general education teacher, I heard in the school I worked in was, "Are you gonna start?!" as the student stared at the paper. Students with learning disabilities generally will not require a paraprofessional next to them but without compassion and understanding from the general education teacher the student will not be able to organize their thoughts to write what the teacher wants, will not recall the formula to solve the problem. So I am offering a great link to experience what it feels like to have a learning disability. I hope if you have gotten this far that you actually try it out. The simulations that are offered to really make you feel what a student with such a disability include: reading Issues, writing issues, attention issues, math issues, and organization issues. You can choose which grade and which issue. I will put up visuals about how to reach the site but if you would like the quick way: www.understood.org then Parent Toolkit, then Through Your Child's Eyes, then scroll down to Simulations There will be a short testimonial of a real child. The next part is experiencing the disability. If you would like to feel some real anxiety try "organizational issues". They have you start out playing a simple game which gets harder and then completely ridiculous. So when you give a child with ADHD multiple directions, verbally, at one time, it may give you an understand why that's not a good idea. Let me know if you felt it changed your perspective! While writing papers for classes we are told to use peer-reviewed articles but it was never clearly explained in class why this was so important. Currently, I am fortunate enough to be involved in two research studies as a research assistant. The process of conducting a study has been enlightening. I read articles differently now, some with more appreciation for the difficulty of the study and sometimes more skepticism.
I will share the process that I have gone through, so far. Every study will be different based on funding, depth of study, and human involvement. The university I attend is very active in research for special education. There are numerous clinics on campus for various disabilities , early childhood interventions, and adult inclusion projects. Many of these essential community services began with a single grant. The professor I am working for is no exception to the energy on campus for pursuing research. Early on in my studies I expressed interest about paraprofessionals and their lack of training. This put me on my professor's radar for becoming her research assistant for this particular study. I was notified at the end of last spring semester that she may ask me to be involved in the study. At the beginning of the current semester a real offer was given to be a research assistant. The grant was going to be small, under $2000. My pay would over half the grant. The remainder of the grant would be used for compensation/incentives for the paraprofessionals participation in the study. I thought I would keep track of my hours and turn in a log. I am sharing all these details because not everyone will be a research assistant (although I do hope you'll take the offer if it is extended to you!) and there is a deeper appreciation for studies by understanding the details that go into a study. A contract was written up for the full amount of what I would be paid, regardless of how long the project took, I would be paid in weekly installments over the course of two months. I was told some weeks I may not have any work at all and other weeks I may put in 20 hours. The next aspect was becoming certified for the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to participate in research studies involving humans. The training was online and took nearly 5 hours to complete. This process actually gave me a huge appreciation for rules of conducting a good study. Anyone can say they have conducted a study but are the results biased? Was the data skewed to fit the theory? Was prior research credit given to others in the paper? After taking this training you are promising to hold yourself to standards set out by the board. This is why it is better to look for studies that were conducted by those that follow these same standards, which might preclude including studies from certain foreign countries who do not use IRB standards. Once the study, and those conducting the research, is approved by the IRB, the research can begin! We are currently at the point of formulating the survey to send out to paraprofessionals. Next semester the exciting part will begin when we will have direct contact and provide training to paraprofessionals. Special education students in my area have the opportunity when they are transitioning into adulthood and life after high school to attend a community based training. They are trained by a mentor to clean or organize businesses around town. Many of them work within the university cleaning for 3 to 8 hours a day.
I interviewed one student in the program recently. I asked if she liked being in the transitioning program, which is in conjunction with our public school district. She said, "Hell no". I found that she had a specific interest that she was good at and was still assigned cleaning duties. Why not further her talents, abilities and passion into something she wanted to participate in? I was told that most students in this program are given cleaning duties because those in charge have become complacent in jobs they have to offer students without really asking the students what they want and trying to go out into the community to find a match for them. A professor told me some time ago that if you hated your job would you stay in it? No, then why do we expect people with disabilities to stay in jobs they hate? Another professor told me that decades ago she supervised adults with disabilities pulling tinfoil off objects to recycle....all day long, for pennies. People with disabilities deserve the same interest given to them in search of finding appropriate employment as typical adults. As a young adult of 18 I had already held jobs from the age of 14. At 18 I began working at a nice restaurant as a busser. The main requirement was to pick up all the dirty utensils and take them back to the dishwasher for cleaning. My first day I had on my required pink shirt and took a large load of utensils back to the man behind the dishwasher. As I placed the utensils for him he threw a large pile of dirty dishes into the bath of dirty water so that the whole front of my shirt was splashed, on purpose. By the end of the night I knew two things, being a busser was not my calling in life, and that I didn't need to stay in a job where people threw dirty water at me. People with disabilities may not be able to think through how to approach someone to tell them they don't like the job and why. They might be under the impression that there is no other option or that they would disappoint someone by asking for a different position. Being the best advocate means knowing our students. Cleaning might be a good fit for 25% of the students, but I doubt it's a good fit for 90%. Starting with the assumption that students have interests, we should start with trying to find something that fits with their interests so they can have long term success and satisfaction. I often like to share wisdom from Temple Grandin about students with autism, she states that the best way to help a student with autism gain employment is to turn their fixation into a job. This idea can also be applied to other students with disabilities. Here are a few of her sites that are useful: www.autism.com/advocacy_grandin www.templegrandin.com/faq.html Which means the young student I was tutoring is now in 3rd grade. Her end of summer scores were assessed using a standardized test. Her decoding skills improved greatly from the beginning of the summer but she is still consistently much slower than her peers. I feel she is need of accommodations and or modifications to reading assignments and any timed math tests. The parents have requested a meeting in hopes that the school will actually help her this year and properly assess for her learning disabilities.
The end of summer also means I am back at school. Depending on how technologically savvy you are this may or may not be helpful. I am currently taking a technology in education course which has me entering all my assignments onto a website. I will share this with you here if you'd like to shortcut searching for neat things to use as tools in your class. Some of my favorites are Thinglink for use with students, Screencastify for possible use with parents, and some of the extra tools on Class Dojo. Every example was created by me and from sites that are free. The examples are nothing to rave about, but briefly showcase each tool. sites.google.com/view/ed380fall18rmp/home I will also continue my passion for properly training and encouraging paraprofessionals by assisting a wonderful professor as a research assistant. The parent survey I conducted months ago about parents reporting results of alternative treatments including gluten free / casein free diet and other alternatives are included in this paper. The paper is attached below. There are numerous studies cited within the paper that you can refer to and locate for yourself if this topic is of interest to you. I do hope that children with autism are treated more holistically in their medical care.
This semester I was assigned to a private school to work one-on-one with a student that was previously part- time in the public school system. The private school is attempting to provide for the student's needs but it has not been working out so well. As it is the students first year 100% attending the private school, there are expected kinks to be worked out. Part of me wants to leave this post off the blog because it's very personal to me and I am still in the mix of it, but the other part of me wants to share with any parents out there that may think the public school is failing their child and think the grass is greener on the private school side. So, to compromise, I will not share any information about either the school, or obviously the student.
What I do want to share with parents is that if your district and school are even just decent at caring for your child's needs there is a whole slew of practices, laws, forms, and collaboration that they are using and following that private schools are not used to. A parent might take for granted IEP meetings, the SPED teacher helping the general education teacher serve their child or even a simple thing as which assignments will the child have to fully complete versus only odds. Not every private school may struggle as badly as the one I am at, but until the SPED department (if you're lucky enough to have an actual teacher there) fine tunes the school's program, all these facets will be something you will only wish for again. Public schools may be overworked and the SPED teachers have too many students on their caseload to make as meaningful difference as they would like to, but there is a working chain of command the parents, general ed teachers, and paraprofessionals know and can use. I'd just like to leave this post with: Be grateful for what you have. If you are a parent that is not quite happy with the services your child is receiving, figure out how you can help. |
AuthorSpecial Education major in a university teaching program. Substitute teacher, previous homeschool mom, wife. Archives
September 2019
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