inclution

[Kathy Barry]

i am sorry but i think inlution is a bad idea. i have a student who is giving me problems and i dont konw what to do.

[merrynl]

One of the first people to ask for help and advice is the student's Special Education Teacher of Record. If you don't know who that is, go talk to the office or the head of your special education department.

[maridee]

Kathy--

HOW is the student "giving you problems"? Is it the child's behavior? Attitude? Or just general lack of progress within the classroom? I am assuming that this student has an IEP (Individualized Education Program), but you don't say. If the student DOES NOT have an IEP, you may need to recommend the student be tested for possible educational problems.

Sometimes the student's behavior is also a symptom of his/her disability: attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity; behavior disorder [not the same thing as above]; oppositional defiance disorder [when the students does the exact opposite of whatever it is you've told him/her to do].

Other times the student's behavior is medically based: schizophrenia; severe anxiety; reactive detachment disorder. These are all very technical medical terms that can relate to a student's behavior; these must have a doctor's diagnosis.

Your BEST bet would be to definitely consult your school's Special Education teacher, as Merrynl recommended. This person has special training and educational background to help you. Consider this person your 'go-to' consultant. Don't be afraid to ask this person questions--that's what they're there for. And if THIS person doesn't know, then he/she can often consult another Special Education specialist who may have experience with whatever problems you have with the student in question.

Good luck! Don't give up. Hard as it is, this student really needs your help.

Let me know if I can help you. I'm SpEd certified--you can always ask me.

Maridee

[mopar]

Inclusion is a great idea. However, it is not practical for all students. There are many students that need more structure or support than they can receive in a class of 30 with one teacher.
I must admit that many of my students that are included have made amazing gains. They learn from their peers and are often making greater gains by being included instead of learning in a separate program.
Talk about the problems you are seeing. It is hard to be the special educator who has students included. You have to keep track of them and work with many different teachers styles and requests. But we do what is best for our students!

[FlwrPwer]

In a true inclusion-based program, there should be a special educator in the classroom with the general education teacher. In my school, we have inclusion programs on all grade levels. Two rooms in each grade. There is a general ed. teacher, as well as a special ed teacher. Both full time. If there isn't a special ed. teacher, there should at least be a teaching assistant.

Figure out what the students problem is and then try interventions to best solve that problem. If it's behavior, try behavior modification plans. The first one you try might not work. Don't just decide on a plan and do it. If you see it's not working after a few weeks, abandon it and try a new one.

I taught in a special education school. Many of my behavior plans did not work and many did. I had to keep trying until I found the one that was best suited for my children. In addition, this student could be craving one-on-one attention. Talk to the student. Depending on the age, if the student is having a hard time with something, he'll probably vocalize it. I know my special education students vocalize, loud and clear, when they don't understand something. Make sure the environment you have created is open enough that they can feel comfortable doing that. Many special ed. students in an inclusion program don't want to vocalize problems because they feel that they're "dumb." They see the students around them "getting it" and they don't want to be the one that isnt.

If this is a special ed. student, look at the student's IEP. This will give you great insight as to where the student's difficulties are. Chances are, if the student has been classified long enough, the difficulties are well documented. Figure out where he is acting out. Chart when the behavior is the worst. If it's during math and you check his IEP and his deficit is in math, you know that the problems are stemming from his disability.

Don't give up on this student. Special education students have so much going on in their lives and often feel like the world is leaving them behind. Make sure you're there for him and that he knows you're not leaving him in the dust.

[wig]

You have received excellent advise. Your post was very vague, however. I have non SPED children who give me problems.

What exactly IS the difficulty you are having. Behavioral? Academics?

Do you have any support?

I assume the student is under an IEP. What are the suggestions on the plan?

[Chef Dave]

Your post was very vague, however. I have non SPED children who give me problems.

What exactly IS the difficulty you are having. Behavioral? Academics? Do you have any support? I assume the student is under an IEP. What are the suggestions on the plan?

I would also ask what grade level you teach.

The more information you provide, the more specific our advice can be.

[mopar]

It is great to have a special education teacher or assistant in every classroom. However it is not always possible due to finances to have two teachers in every room with students with special needs.
Even if we put two teachers in every class, we still need to make sure that all students are getting the interventions that they need.

[Chef Dave]

There are some students who do not belong in a regular ed classroom.

When I was an elementary teacher, I once had a student who was legally blind. He was unable to read regular print and needed everything enlarged. I found that I was spending at least 1 1/2 extra hours a day just prepping materials for this student.

The student had a bar magnifying glass that he persistently misplaced. I paid out of pocket for hand held magnifying glasses that he smashed. The district gave me a photocopier for the exclusive use of this student. The only problem was that the photocopier didn't work.

It was a lonnnnngggggggggg year ...

[mopar]

But that is why special education teachers exist. They can enlarge materials or find methods to keep the magnifying glass somewhere to be found.
Students deserve the opportunity to have an education with their peers. The students that need more should have aides to help with this or a special education teacher.
However, there are some students who do not belong in a regular education setting. More specifically: those that are a danger to self or others.

[Chef Dave]

But that is why special education teachers exist. They can enlarge materials or find methods to keep the magnifying glass somewhere to be found.

That would have been nice if this had actually happened but no, the kid got dumped in my room and the special ed teacher only touched bases with the child about once a month (if even that) to see how things were going.

(grumble)

Having this kid in my class was a colossal pain in the you know what.

I'm sorry the kid was legally blind but I wasn't a special ed teacher ... and I received no help from anyone. Nobody gave me any money to buy bar magnifying glasses. Nobody fixed the photocopier. Nobody helped me enlarge copies.

The kid's special needs took up more and more of my time and his inclusion in my class made for an extremely difficult and challenging year.

[mopar]

Could you have spoken up to the administration. Teachers need to know what they need and ask for it. If you don't ask or make the administration aware, the problem will never get better.

I began the year by offering a lot of assistance. The teachers didn't want it so I stopped offering. I began offering again near the quarter change and found that they needed a lot more assistance. But they never asked and if I didn't ask, they wouldn't have gotten the help they needed.

[Chef Dave]

Could you have spoken up to the administration. Teachers need to know what they need and ask for it. If you don't ask or make the administration aware, the problem will never get better.


The administrator literally told me to stop whining and to go do my job. I never made the mistake of "bothering" this person again.

[mopar]

I don't think that I could have worked for an administrator like that for too long. I try to talk with the staff about the administration before taking any job and work on helping to hire new administration. I need to know that I will have some support in my job. It's hard enough to teach, I don't need anyone making it harder for me.

[Chef Dave]

I don't think that I could have worked for an administrator like that for too long.

This is precisely why I left at year's end.

I expect a certain degree of support from the school administration. Hurtful and sarcastic comments made by a building administrator do nothing to instill loyalty in the faculty. If anything, it divides the faculty into factions and disrupts any sense of team unity.

[mopar]

I agree. You made the right decision for you.

[Chef Dave]

I agree. You made the right decision for you.

The ironic thing is that the building administrator made the decision to also leave at year's end. I wouldn't have resigned if I had known this person was leaving ... :(

[mopar]

That seems to happen all too often. I was looking at leaving my job at one point until I heard that the administrator was leaving!

[Chef Dave]

In a funny way, the building administrator did me a favor.

I went to another school and found myself working with a she-devil who was a horrible micro-manipulating tyrant. After 2 successive bad experiences, I threw in the towel and changed careers.

I pursued a degree in the culinary arts, spent a few years working in the food service and hospitality management industry ... and as a result of this experience am now qualified to work as a chef instructor in a culinary arts program.

Today, while core academic teachers had to grade and record upwards of 150 examinations, I got to kick back and help keep faculty morale up by baking dozens of chocolate chip cookies. (I also had to administer my own examinations ... but insofar as I only have 20 culinary arts students, it didn't take long to score and record my tests).

Life is pretty darn good as a chef instructor ... and since I'm not a core academic instructor, I don't even have to worry about end of the year standardized testing. :)

[Spectre]

I have had nothing but bad experiences with special education and inclusion in particular. The special ed department and I have banged heads regularly and they, actually, are one of the single biggest reasons I changed school system two years ago. I had been with that school district for 12 years and simply had had my fill of horrible leadership and general incompetence.

So I might not be the best person to respond to this thread. Just be aware of that.

Still, in order to help, we do need to know what the particularly problem is that you are having, the grade level or subject area and the amount of support you get from the special ed department in your school

[mopar]

I've seen a lot of students who have succeeded and benefited from inclusion. It is important to give it a try but also to speak up when it isn't working. Sometimes inclusion isn't the right fit for the student.

[Chef Dave]

However, there are some students who do not belong in a regular education setting. More specifically: those that are a danger to self or others.

I agree.

Unfortunately, given the national shortage of special education teachers, there have been times in some districts when kids have literally been assigned to a classroom with little or no special ed. support.

The concept of inclusion has in some cases, been used as a cost cutting justification to mainstream special ed kids regardless of the extent of their respective needs and abilities.

Not only has this been unfair to the regular ed classroom teacher but it has ultimately been unfair to the special ed student(s) in question.

[mopar]

It most definitely is unfair. I just feel so good that my students get everything that they need and more on a daily basis.
I can't believe that there are schools out there that don't have enough special education teachers. Any person to provide extra support would be a great help even if they don't have all the specialized instruction needed.

[Chef Dave]

I can't believe that there are schools out there that don't have enough special education teachers.

The shortage of special education teachers in this country is acute. The Center on Personnel Studies in Special Education, estimates that more than 50,000 teachers are needed to fill the shortage. 98 percent of the country's largest school districts report shortages of special education teachers.

In any given year, we lose 22,000 teachers due to retirement or career changes.

The influx of newly graduated teachers is not keeping pace with our national losses.

[Bananas]

It is not simply a matter of the quantity of special ed teachers available. States are sending down figures projecting what the percentages of special ed students should be, with the implication that numbers will be reduced. Then you have the re-authorization of IDEA and states are realigning their procedures. In our state, this has changed the eligibility requirements with fewer students seeing services. RtI comes under the auspices of the general ed teachers.

There seems to be less need for special ed teachers nowadays.

[3rdgradeteach]

We have a child or two in our small school that just can't seem to keep up with the other children academically. Since we are a private christian school....I don't know what they would do with their child if they took them out. Public school is not going to help them anymore than our school so...what is out there to help these children?
We have spent soooo much time on the one kid that the others are getting behind on the whole schedule of things and we just can't keep doing that. Plus, it's way too late in the year to pull them out. hmm...what to do what to do..

[Magnifier]

Wow, I just joined this Teacher Chat line out of curiousity but just realized there was a reason! I am a teacher of the visually impaired, and I can understand Chef Dave's frustration. Visually impaired kids do take a lot of prep time and accommodations (that's how a big portion of my day is spent) but to imply that because a student has a vision problem is a reason to exclude them from inclusion services is misleading and harmful. Most VI kids only have vision problems; cognitive skills are intact but may a bit delayed due to lack exposure to this visually bias world (depending on severity of vision). If you have no TVI (teacher of visually impaired) to assist with students, ask for volunteers to help enlarge materials. Contact the Lion's Club or other service organization to help with vision aids. Some optometrists may be willing to help with advice or services. Contact the Department of Blind and Vision Impaired within your state. Unsure where to find them? Visit the Department of Education site for you state and search! As I said earlier, I feel Chef Dave's frustrations...I share them too because TVIs are few and far between (I'm in VA and have consulted teachers as far away as NY!) but VI kids shouldn't suffer because of it. Yes, it's a challenge to teach a legally blind child but lack of good eyesight shouldn't limit one's exposure to a quality education.

[Bananas]

Magnifier,

Your concerns are justified. The bottom line is what is the best placement for the child. Then you figure out what it takes to make it happen. Unfortunately, it does not always happen like that.

When you talk about bringing in volunteers to help with the prep work, it can become a sticky wicket. Some schools have organized programs to put the use of volunteers in place. Others just have it fall into place. I have heard of some places who will not allow volunteers due to too many problems. Especially in light of the helicopter parents with their children in the school system. When the volunteers do not follow the directions and impede the instruction, the services are not worth the product in their estimation. So unfortunate.

[Bananas]

My previous response concerning to a shortage of special ed teachers was not intended to dispute that statement. Even though there is no shortage in my immediate area, I do not doubt about it in other areas. My intention came from the frustration the possible future of special education.

I worry about numbers being whittled down in receiving services through eligibility and our students losing out in what they need for their education.

[Magnifier]

What is a "helicopter parent"?

[Bananas]

A helicopter parent is one who is so involved that he/she hovers over the child's education to the extent of wanting to be included beyond the reasonable realm. Such parents go to the extent of being preemptive with those in their child's life to avoid mistakes and bad situations. This is not a bad trait perse, but people do learn from their mistakes and grow to be better able to handle what lies ahead of them. A smart parent truly discerns the times in when to protect their child and when they need to learn from their own mistakes. To prevent all possible mistakes is a great injustice to our children when we sell them short and prevent them from whom they could be.

You hear stories about these parents who are interfering with their child's college experience and wanting to be involved in the job process.

[Chef Dave]

A helicopter parent is one who is so involved that he/she hovers over the child's education to the extent of wanting to be included beyond the reasonable realm.

I will add to what Bananas said by giving an example.

I once had a parent who not only brought her child to and from school, but was also present for recess and lunch.

One thing that really disturbed me about this parent was that her child had few opportunities for unstructured play with her classmates. She spent lunch eating with her mother. She also spent recess sitting on a bench talking with her mother. Her mother attended all class parties and went on all field trips.

I sometimes wonder what happened to this child and whether or not she eventually rebelled against such all encompassing attention.

[SpEd guy]

Did anybody notice that Kathy has, apparently, checked out?