Another rant from the classroom

[azfiddle]

So... I work in a district with a terrific inclusion program. The district, my school, the staff and even the students are supportive and I have had students with a broad range of mental and physical disabilities in classroom over the years.

We received a new student this year, and the week before school started, the mom requested a meeting with us. Okay, we had time for that. This student has had severe seizures and as I understand it, only one half of his brain is really functional. He took some time to even feel comfortable coming in to the classes.

We have never been given a clear assessment of what he knows/doesn't know. He can follow requests to put up a chair, clean off a blackboard, get out his agenda to put a sticker in it. I try to include him- having him use some beakers and cylinders to pour liquids but he couldn't grasp anything to do with measurement. I have had him hold a meter stick during a lab while other kids dropped water from various heights, and he helped the first time but refused once we the students got going in earnest.

He has rudimentary spoken language. Yes, no, thank you, time, etc. He has had a "talker" (device that with him, but at least in my class, he has only used it when the para-professional who accompanies him prompts him.

Mom and her entourage of advocates have scheduled 3 additional meetings so far, two of which started at 3:15 and continued well past 4 pm (our contracted day ends at 3:30). The teachers have left at 4 or 4:15 but the meetings continued until 5 or late and the mom is resentful that we are aren't making time for her son. Oh, and two days ago, the mom popped in to the school without asking us if it was okay for her to observe in our classes all day and she took more notes than we get during a formal evaluation. She was not happy that we were leaving before she could ask us all of her questions today.

Mom and her team want us to be teaching him the same things as our reg ed kids. So- here I am teaching the metric system, measurement, scientific practices and processes, and trying get my classes to distinguish between forming a hypothesis, predicting and inferring. Or comparing, classifying and organizing data.

Okay, so maybe he can do some comparing and classifying if he can't do any of the more complex, abstract processes like inferring. I suggested we try an activity for him to compare objects by shape. He could sort rectangular vs. round no problem but not more complicated shapes. He understands "more" but not less. He doesn't understand that one, two, three are not names for individual items but words that mean how many items there are. The math teacher is teaching solving two step equations. And the mom and her advocate got upset when we suggested that the resource department case manager should be developing these materials, not the classroom teachers.

In addition, we had one whole plan time and parts of two other meetings discussing his seizures, and what to do. Yes, that's that's really important. But if he gets a seizure that lasts over 3 minutes, he has to receive a medication that is inserted rectally and the mom wanted all of the classroom teachers as well as the para-pros, nurse etc. to be trained in how to do this. I'm not squeamish but I would have 24-30 other students to handle as well, and my job is to get them away from the situation and let someone else handle the medication issue.

When it was pointed out that teachers were being asked to work outside of their contract hours to attend the meetings that lasted for two hours, the mom said today "I take time even though I'm busy because A_____ is important to me". Well of course he is- he's her son. But we have 115 other kids to worry about and what if we had to spend 8 hours a quarter in meetings with every parent?????

And then the advocate starts asking me in the middle of the meeting- "what are you teaching next week?" And I said we're reviewing abstract concepts for the benchmark. Next quarter we'll do astronomy, that's more concrete. And she starts emailing me resources that still would need adaptation for the kid.

Ok- end of rant. Otherwise, this is probably my best teaching year ever.

I have to say, our team is really not happy about the whole situation. It's not the kid- it's the mom's whole entourage and control issues.

[salsabike]

Can you get help from a smart, supportive admin? I think you may need that....we had a few parents like that in our district and our admins ended up dealing with them quite a lot. I'm thinking your special ed dept. admins.

[Veronica]

Wow! That's not an easy situation. The mom's expectations of what her child can do are just not realistic. If he doesn't understand one to one correspondence, how can he be expected to do higher level thinking? It's sad and I always feel for the "regular" kids who frankly sometimes get lost in these situations and lose out because the teacher is trying to make so many accommodations for a special needs student. Yes, the regular kids learn compassion and patience, but sometimes I think too much is asked of them. They are kids too.

Does he have a full time aid who can be in charge of that medication? That would make me VERY uncomfortable.

Veronica

[azfiddle]

The administration is involved- principal was there for two of the meetings, and supported the teachers in limiting their roles. The 2nd in command from the district special ed dept has been there for the same two meetings. And the parapros are trained to administer the meds- teachers will not be expected to do it.

But it would be a lot easier if the mom were less demanding and adversarial.

[Veronica]

Is the child new to the district? Maybe mom had some bad experiences elsewhere. I've never understood the whole us vs them mentality. Cooperation is just better.

Veronica

[azfiddle]

Yes mom is new to the district and I think she actually sued another district- but I'm not sure.....

Maybe the boy really does understand more than he can show, but it would be nice to get some clarification.
When I gave him some plastic beakers and graduated cylinders, he enjoyed pouring water but when I tried to ask him which one was full and which one was empty, he didn't really respond in any way.

He does like earning free time to play games on his iPad though....

[Crankin]

I have mixed feelings about this. I have been on both ends of similar situations now, as in being the classroom teacher, the sped teacher and being one of the "outside" team. However, the students I work with now don't have that level of physical issues, rather severe mental health issues. Most likely, mom has been treated horribly somewhere else. And Veronica is correct, cooperation will work a lot better!
I think your principal or sped administrator should make it clear that classroom teachers are not the ones who do the modifications, and be emphatic about it. I mean, I did them on the fly when I taught English, but it seemed "normal" to me, coming from a special ed background, and it's also a hell of a lot easier to do for a writing or reading project than science.
However, I have to say, the world outside of education will not understand when you are upset about "having to stay beyond contracted hours." They see you as professionals who stay until the job is done. Again, your administrator needs to be the one to set the parameters about this. And, I would demand (nicely) some type of report/eval that would specifically tell you what exactly is going on with this kid.
Many years ago, when I taught in AZ, I had to spend a couple of prep periods "subbing" for the teacher of severely mentally/physically handicapped students when she went to a meeting (this was something we all had to do). The students were so impaired I was nauseated by some of the physical aspects. Then, I felt guilty for feeling this way. These kids would not be in a public school setting in Massachusetts, but we served everyone in public school programs, which is much more cost effective than having towns pay for kids to go to private schools. I remember some parents who were encouaged to give their kids up to the state, so they could get residential schooling or go to a therapeutic school. That doesn't happen here, but all of these severe cases are really tough to deal with.
I know that when I go to meetings at the school of the one younger client I have (the one who almost destroyed my office in a tantrum last week), I make it clear that I am "one of them," and aware of the constraints the school has, but also I make sure they understand what issues the kid has. Of course, I am not there as an advocate. Those people are often brutal.

[azfiddle]

Thank you for your perspectives.

I have had inclusion students in my room for years, and I think one thing that sets this case apart is the mom's demands and bulldog attitude about how we should be educating her son. Secondly, how difficult it is to know what he can do and how I can include him. I have modified, suggested adaptations or helped create materials, working with the case managers and para-professinals in the resource department in the past. But I don't have time to create a parallel curriculum an

Oh, and after I left the meeting, the advocate who questioned me during the meeting about what I was teaching started emailing me resources that would be appropriate for a third or fourth grader, about the life cycle of a star, the solar system etc. while the meeting was still in progress! I composed a somewhat snarky email, which of course I didn't send, that pointed out I have master's degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, have been selected for the Developing Leaders program with Arizona Science Teachers Association (doing an in depth study of the Framework for K-12 Science Education), have been teaching science for almost 25 years, and have access to a wealth of resources. And I stated that I hoped she would respect my knowledge and experience in science education. It felt good to write and I'm sure it would have unnecessarily stirred the pot. But still.....

I sure appreciate having a forum like this that allows me speak my mind a little more anonymously than facebook or some other place.

[Crankin]

Like I said, sped advocates are often brutal. I remember being in one meeting (I was the resource teacher) where my principal threw one out and ended the meeting, because she was questioning the qualifications of one of the most professional speech and language therapists I have worked with. Exremely demeaning. Eh, I might have sent that email!

[malkin]

...

He has rudimentary spoken language. Yes, no, thank you, time, etc. He has had a "talker" (device that with him, but at least in my class, he has only used it when the para-professional who accompanies him prompts him.

This is not unusual. There have been studies of users of augmentative communication that show that most of the most elaborate systems are used only with professionals. As one of these professionals, this makes me crazy because we should be promoting communication that users will actually use!

... And the mom and her advocate got upset when we suggested that the resource department case manager should be developing these materials, not the classroom teachers.

I don't understand why the mom team would react to this--because it isn't your job, it isn't your training, and it IS the sped job and the sped has specialized training. I see your role as providing your lesson plans to the team and then they can develop specialized instruction which will be based on your lesson and include the student's present level and an objective for him and an activity that will lead to the skill. If he can only partially sort then his activity will be working on sorting items related to the lesson and then possibly patterning or something.

It is important to lay it out so that it is obvious that this student's activity is related to the classroom theme (e.g. he is making an ABABAB pattern from pictures of different kinds of stars) because that is the right level for him rather than doing the activity that the others are doing because that would be impossibly difficult and inappropriate for him.

I have found that some of the most intense and needy parents can be calmed by a very simple daily note home. "Note" sounds like you had to write something, but we have set them up so teachers just circle a comment that describes some aspect of a behavior of interest.

The sad thing to me is that a ton of energy will be spent on documentation that will cover your behind in case mom files a due process complaint and that energy could otherwise have been spent on teaching.

[Dogmama]

I teach dogs but I have to work with people. So can I chime in?

There are those who feel entitled and it sounds like mom is one of those. If her child is unable to keep up, she is not doing him any favors by pushing him. She needs to get special help for him. He is the one who is suffering along with you and your other 25+ students (who - incidentally - are entitled to an education.)

And the medication thing is over the top.