As a parent I am trying to understand how things work and when I ask these questions of my own school I feel as if they are taking them personally so I was wondering if I could ask all of the teachers here on the b.b. a few questions: 1)how much training does a general education teacher receive for dealing with the vast array of disabilities the children in your classroom may have? 2) Are any of you are offered continuing education (for disabilities) through your districts? 3) How many children (on average) with an IEP are in your classroom each year and is this a managable number? 4) Do you read your disabled child’s records (especially the comprehensive evaluation that explains all of his identified strengths and weaknesses)?
Thanks for your input.
Re: calling all gen. ed. teachers
Hi Lisa, I am relatively new to teaching, but I can tell what is required of general eduation teachers academically (in the area of Special Education) for an undergraduate degree in middle grades (Georgia). I was required to take a general course in Special Education (field study 40+ hours) and a class on Problems in Reading, period. I have an interest in Learning Disabilities, so I chose classes in the field of Learning Disabilities for all of my electives (both undergraduate and graduate), and chose to write my Masters Thesis on Learning Disabilities. However, I believe as rule, most general education teachers have a limited number of classes and field study (which is crucial) in special education. I hope this helps.
Re: calling all gen. ed. teachers
1. I’m not exactly sure how many classes are required of a reg. ed. teacher. I have a SpEd degree with an elementary endorsement. I would guess maybe 2(?).
2. Once every 3 years or so there have been SpEd classes offered to all teachers. I have attended some. As far as helping deal with the students with troubles in the room, that is questionable.
3. I have taught in the regular classroom now for 17 years. I have had from 1-5 out of 16-24 kids on IEPS.
4. I look at the kids’ files that have IEPS; I do not look at all the kids’ files from my class. I do read through the IEP and the psychologist’s and any other testing reports and see their strengths and weaknesses. To be honest, as far as remembering details later, that is tough. I like to actually see the student for awhile and see how he works. A lot of times I have different ideas of what can be done than are stated on the IEP. If they work, we add them on.
Re: calling all gen. ed. teachers
I am a general ed science teacher in high school. I received very little education on the varied disabilities that come my way. I had to do a few practicums that involved visiting spec. ed calssrooms. No, we are never offered any extra classes unless we pay for them ourselves. I have had any where from 1 to 10 spec ed. in a class. I also have some that are just not labeled, but have all the symptoms. I have read some in the past, but they are putting less and less ld students in my class. If they can not be in reg. ed english they are starting to not put them in science either. Hope this answers all your questions.
I think the answer to these questions would vary from state to state. Each state sets its own certification process for teachers. In my state, there is no standardized certification process. Each university is free to establish their own course requirements for certification.
Simply said, most teachers really aren’t given training in the area of learning differences. Being offered continuing education and doing it are two different things and then actually learning anything from the continuing ed. is yet another. I haven’t been impressed with teacher’s workshops.
I can’t answer how many of my students are on average identified but it’s fairly high. I try to read all the files of all my students but the psychological reports can be very, very long and lots of jargon. I try extra hard to read the sum up pages in those reports but too often find them ‘mass-produced’.
I have an LD son of my own and once one of his teachers approached me and hinted around that perhaps he should be tested for learning differences. His file was thick was documentation of his learning differences - had she looked at it.
There needs to be a better way.