How long is too long?

[leafy seadragon]

I teach an Autism support class and in my school my class is the only Special Ed class. The other classes are mainstreamed. So I am called an isolated class. I can have students in my class for up to 6 years before they go to high school. I think this is bad for me and the students as I find that the realtionship changes over the years and the students become too familiar, so do the families. I also worry, about them going on to high school and having numerous teachers daily after having only me for six years. Does anyone else have the same students long term? How do you find it?

Leanne

[mopar]

I had looped with a few of my students for a second year. The students were extremely comfortable and new where my line was. When my principal wanted me to loop for a third year, I asked her to move my grade level. I think that the third year would have been too long. You really should push for another classroom. Like you keep the primary and they take the junior high or something like that.
Also, if the high school mainstreams your students, then you need to have your students mainstreamed. I mean, you must prepare them before high school. Yes, it will be hard on the teachers but hopefully, the students will arise to the challenge.

[Boxcar]

I'd try a phasing into high school.

I'd start with asking a co-worker to come in and teach a subject for an extended period of time, such as a semester or a couple of months. Next I'd have that student go to that teacher's clasroom. When the student was comfortable with that, I'd add another classroom to the mix. This way, you can slowly expand the student's enviroment.

You could also try having the student go to the high school for one class. THen go two class. Then go half a day. Finally, the student will leave your room forever.

[mopar]

And definitely try to mainstream younger if possible. What is the goal of your room? And why are students placed with you instead of the other mainstream teachers? Also, is there really only mainstream in high school?
I taught a more restrictive placement, but then we offered the same restrictiveness in high school. This helped the students to adjust. Maybe you would want to start the high school program!! J/K

[Boxcar]

Do your students leave your room for lunch or recess? If not, I would recommend taking them outside or to the cafeteria when the other students are there. This will help them learn to socialize with their peers. You may want to get them lunch or recess buddies who are in regular classes. These buddies might also be a good idea in the high school.

By the way, does your high school offer aides for students? I know some do. These aides stay with the students in the beginning to help them adjust, and then they slowly pull away.

[mopar]

Yes lunch and recess are great times to include but also try PE, art, music, library if possible. I also know a lot of teachers willing to have you come in and team teach during math and reading to have another set of hands. So they can form a higher/lower group and your students can be included. Hard to do with so many but worth it for some students.

[leafy seadragon]

The students go off site for high school. My argument has been that the system knows they are coming so places should be available for them. We tend to keep them nice and safe in their support class in primary, then send them off. the lower functioning students do have units to go to but those students who can access mainstream curriculum academically can end up in mainstream high school. High school placements are smaller and many students end up lost. High school is such a confusing time for all kids; harder even for ASD kids. My class is the only special ed class in my school. Some students go to mainstream classes for some lessons. I am the only teacher appointed to my class and do not have the option of moving to another class in mainstream.. It is not an ideal setup and I don't think it would happen again. I find though that the parents often feel quite safe with me and are reluctant to send their children to another setting and if they want them to stay, they can. The reality is that to have a different teacher the student needs to leave my school and go to another school. I know of a couple of other classes that are the same and network with those teachers so we do not feel so isolated. Like me they have had some students for 6 years. I was really wondering if anyone else had experienced this and if they found it a good experience. Mainstream teachers are reluctant to come into my classroom, but some will have some of my students in their classroom with my teacher's aide with them. I am gradually building up the number of children who can go out into the larger school environment. Some students find it quite difficult but we have made a great deal of progress. I would like some advice on how to stop the kids and yourself becoming too familiar with each other over a period of time.

[mopar]

I had to change my rules to keep my kids on their feet for only two years. I think it was positive as the students knew mostly what to expect and I knew how to accommodate for them. However, I enjoy passing the students on to the next teacher so that they don't get too comfortable.
I know many resource teachers that have kept their students for 6 years. It seems to have been a positive experience. My friend changes her aides that work with certain students to keep the students a little less comfortable.
But they also get comfortable with themselves too, which is great but can also be a draw back.

[Boxcar]

The idea of rotating aides sounds like a good one. The students get to stay in their comfortable routines, but they still have to learn to meet new people.

[EricDNA]

Is what you are doing in line with the NCLB act? You might want to check it.

[mopar]

Is what inline with the NCLB act? I am not sure what you are referring to.

[Boxcar]

Hmm... That is a good question. I don't know what NCLB says about special needs programs.

[SLP]

Have you heard of reverse inclusion?

This is where a few reg ed children come into the Sp. Ed. class for part of the day. Most parents will not allow their (reg. ed) children to participate in reverse inclusion...but we have found that if a (reg. ed) child volunteers to help out, the child may be willing to give up some recess time (or free periods) to be a peer model in the spec. ed class. This is usually agreeable to parents who are willing for their child to forgo recess to help others.

Give it a try with a few children & see how it goes! Be sure to get principal & parental permission (of the reg. ed child) first!

[leafy seadragon]

great idea! It will at least also give me some more contact with the mainstream kids. I'm not sure what this NCLB act is, but I'm from Australia so it probably is a US act? I'm going to run the reverse integration idea by my Principal. Thanks for the input. My aide is also appointed to my class, so no movement there. We are all in this together for the long term.

[mopar]

NCLB is No Child Left Behind. It is a US act that involves making sure all children are proficient in reading, mathematics and writing. Some states test science and social studies as well. It has some great ideas behind it but the practices are not so practical. It mostly comes down to having all students in their grade level classes-whether they can read or not and testing them to see what they know and don't know. So the classroom turns into testing city.

[bella mundi]

I teach in a special education school where there is no mainstreaming, and no regular ed classes. I teach high school, which by law can go until the student is 21. So basically, I could easily get a student at 15 until they graduate at age 21.

I think that this isn't to bad. I mostly have kids with ASD (on the lower end of the spectrum) or severe developmental disabilities.

I do develop a great relationship with the parents, and feel that it is great to get on the same page.

My students (being autistic) hate change, and it really benefits them to stay with the same classroom. However, we do try to teach them to deal with change, in many different ways. The staff changes, of course, (I have 2 paras). If they are moving a room for whatever reason, we have them spend time in the other classroom for short periods and increase the time as the year ends.

We have in the past done reverse inclusion, and brought other kids into the classroom. We also deliberately mess with the system and change things up to keep them from getting too comfortable. We also spend a lot of time out in the community and get them used to totally new situations and force them to interact with community workers (ordering food, handing money to cashiers, etc).

I think that if you have kids for more than a few years, you need to really make an effort to keep them from getting too dependent on the routine and changing things up. Good luck!

~Bella

[avid reader]

I teach a self-contianed high school class and I also have my students for 6-7 years depending on what age they decide to graduate. I like that I don't spend the first half of the year finding out what triggers them or learning to recognize the symptoms of a meltdown approaching.

Do you have any new kids who move up every year? That helps me because I usually have one or two that graduate and a couple new ones move up from the middle school.

I also try to rearrange my room every year, and change the curriculum and schedule some. I can't change the math and reading too much, but I change the science and social studies from year to year, the same as regular high school students.

For my students I can't imagine them being mainstreamed, because they are so low. It sounds like your school needs to help these students get ready to be mainstreamed at the high school or add another room similar to what you have.

[avid reader]

I teach a self-contained high school class and I also have my students for 6-7 years depending on what age they decide to graduate. I like that I don't spend the first half of the year finding out what triggers them or learning to recognize the symptoms of a meltdown approaching.

Do you have any new kids who move up every year? That helps me because I usually have one or two that graduate and a couple new ones move up from the middle school.

I also try to rearrange my room every year, and change the curriculum and schedule some. I can't change the math and reading too much, but I change the science and social studies from year to year, the same as regular high school students.

For my students I can't imagine them being mainstreamed, because they are so low. It sounds like your school needs to help these students get ready to be mainstreamed at the high school or add another room similar to what you have.

[leafy seadragon]

Thanks, they really do need to do more for the kids that are coming through to high school. I'm finding that some of my kids are too attached; even to the point that I had a student refuse to go with his parents when he saw me in the shopping centre. In the end I drove him home as his parents could not get him in his car. I like to keep a professional relationship but find it hard with the kids and the parents that you've had long term. How do you go with that?

[mopar]

I think that keeping a professional relationship after so many years is very hard. The difficulty multiples when you live in the town or near the town that you work. First, don't give parents any of your personal information! Not even the classroom moms. Second, if you do see a parent, greet them but don't stay long. Also start the conversation with, I just thought I'd stop by for a moment, can't stay too long because I've got to get my daughter to ballet. Or whatever. That way you have some kind of out. Third, as much as possible, try not to take students home. It is hard with students with special needs not to want to help, but try to help the parent stay in control.
Also, if you know that you are going to have the students for a long time, refrain from using first names with the parent. Have the parents address you as Mrs. or Mr. or Ms. and use those with the parents as well. It might help to keep the conversations more professional.

[Chef Dave]

Although I applaud the idea of accountability, I detest the way it's being handled by NCLB. The way special education students are treated is especially stupid.

Under No Child Left Behind, nearly all special education students have to take the same tests as their peers. By 2013-14, they will be expected to score on par with their peers. Only 1% are allowed to take alternative tests.

Advocates claim that the majority of the 6.5 million special education students are capable of passing an achievement test.

Source: Tennessean.com: Special Education Dilemma
http://tennessean.com/education/special/nclb/archives/03/10/41541677.shtml

[mopar]

Well, special education students should be able to pass the achievement tests given the necessary modifications. But for some kids that means reading the reading test to them. Will that be allowed?
Many of our students can pass the math test with the use of a calculator and the test read outloud. Most of my students do well on the science test. But when you have a student who cannot read, you cannot ask them to pass the reading tests.

[leafy seadragon]

We do a similar thing called the Basic Skills Test and my students (spec ed) manage quite well. They can have special provisions such as extra time, a reader, a scribe, the test on a computer, test in braille, separate supervision so they do not disrupt others or find it hard to be in a large group. Some students can have an exemption but I encourage students to give it a try, they like to be included and with the special provisions the results have been quite good.

[Bananas]

I teach one to two content areas, so our resource students have other teachers. Our students also vary in the number of resource classes they have, depending on their individual needs. I have students for up to six years for my subject area, so they know me and my expectations. I do different things in a school year to keep things fresh and teach the curriculum. It is great to have the students over the years and see how they mature and change. A few are difficult to instruct for that length, but that is a part of my job and I work hard with them.

[maridee]

In the state where I live, Special Ed students are also required to take state standardized testing.

They can have extra time, use calculators, math tables, have the test read to them, etc.

BUT what they can't have: They can't have a reading test read to them!

If they can't read, and they struggle with that particular facet of SpED, how on earth can any one reasonably expect those students to do well on any kind of reading test?!!

NCLB has set ridiculous standards guaranteed to set students up for failure.

And aren't those of us who are SpEd teachers trying to get our students to SUCCEED, not fail?!

Maridee

[leafy seadragon]

Well, the original question no longer applies to me. I have been given a transfer to a new school. So I will be starting up a new Autism class in a Special Education Unit that has 3 other classes. I will not have the same class each year and I will have colleagues that work in Spec. Ed. It will be very, very nice. The unit is attached to a mainstream school, so I will have plenty of opportunities to integrate my students, apart from the hassle of moving my classroom (where did all that stuff come from?) I am very excited. It will be a great 2008 and I hope you all have a lovely New Year as well.

[FrazzleDazzle]

Well, special education students should be able to pass the achievement tests given the necessary modifications.
My pet peeve is that students like mine, who have moderate to severe MR can't possibly pass the test because they can't do the work at grade level but they have to be tested anyway. Yes, they can take the alternate assessment-- but that means a portfolio of work needs to be put together by me throughout the year which is tons of extra work-- and did I mention that they can't pass anyway?