I was quite disturbed by a posting on another thread (Inclusion Survey) in which the words “stupid” and “lazy” were used by a school staff member.
This brought up for me an old issue which is lack of sensitivity of some school staff.
What is being done to educate non-special education staff in relation to students with special needs? Without specific help in understanding the students, the same prejudices, fears, etc. found in the general population will arise in classrooms. And we all know that children can be cruel. Unless teachers can overcome their own prejudices, fears, etc, how can they help their non-disabled students to interact in ways that will not leave the disabled students excluded, teased, or in other ways made miserable?
When I was a social work student, I did a class presentation in which I asked my fellow students to imagine going to meet a new client and finding out that the client was blind. I asked for reactions. Most students were uncomfortable and uncertain as to how to proceed. I would imagine that the regular class teacher dealing with a child with a problem such as cerebral palsy would be, in most cases, uncomfortable and uncertain as to how to interact. The special education teacher would be, hopefully, a source of support, but what other help would the regular teacher be given? Are there any support groups to help teachers who are dealing with disabled students? And how much education and support are special education teachers providing to their regular education peers?
Re: Staff Attitudes
I’m not sure what the deal is. A “friend” who is a special ed teacher x 15 years, and is now going to school for her masters told someone recently re: dyslexia: “Well, those kids really never learn how to read”. Amazing, but much more scary than amazing.
Re: Staff Attitudes
In Georgia all pre-service teachers are required to only take one college level course in exceptional children. That’s it. It is no wonder that so many of these teachers (I am a special education teacher) act towards children with special needs as they do. Many of them will tell you that they are supportive of these students, otherwise why would they refer for them to be tested for services. I even called one teacher on his lack of modifying the work for my kids and he glared at me and said that all familiar phrase “I have too many students than to modify the work for a few”. In order to make sure that the work was being modified I picked up the work myself and modified myself.
When I went for my certification in teaching I had to take numerous classes that I felt were related to teaching a general education class. Why is it then that general education teachers can’t take more than one class in working with children with special needs??
Laurie
Off topic post
Even good teachers don’t always understand….maybe it is just easier to see the disablility rather than the whole child….sign..
I feel my 4th graders’ teachers have been pretty good, exceptionally good in some respects.
BUT
At our last IEP meeting someone made a great suggestion. I exclaimed that as a dysgraphic I would have found that helpful. You could literally hear the in-take of breathe as I disclosed I was also dysgraphic. After a pause of at least 5 - 10 seconds as I was trying to figure out what was going on, one of the teachers said but, but, you’ve graduated from college, you’ve got a good job. It was at that point that I realized I was the only one in the room with dreams for David.
It was very sad.
[%sig%]
Re: Off topic post
Hi Barb,
It is very sad, but what is good is that you were there to teach the teachers. Hopefully, you helped them to stop and think. Obviously they see you as competent. When they learned of your disability, it sounds like they had difficulty putting the reality of your disability and the reality of your accomplishments together. It rocked their world! Good! It needed to be rocked! They need to be able to see deficits, skills, and potential. Then they can have more hope for their students!
Fortunately, your son has a parent who will advocate for him and who can encourage him to have hopes and dreams.
Re: Off topic post
I agree with everything that has been said about the need to be sensitive, understanding and inspirational.
OTOH, after 29 years of working with individuals with every imaginable disability and combinations of disabilities, I’ll tell you this…they’re like any other group you’d care to name…some of them are lazy and some aren’t. That’s life and we work to help them find their motivation to move ahead.
John
Re: Off topic post
I think some people just have the certain qualities that allow them to see the whole child. Training doesn’t even seem to be a major factor.
My son’s current teacher is an open minded, kind individual who just loves children and thinks they are all great.
You can lead a horse to water ( get it written in the IEP) but it is awful hard to make him drink (get that IEP implemented if the teacher doesn’t buy in).
staff attitudes
Barb - Keep those dreams for David! You probably ARE the only one that has them, but look at all those Charles Schwabs, etc., whose parents were their motivitating force. As I recently told my daughter’s teacher, I’m NOT telling my daughter she can’t be a veterinarian, and NO ONE ELSE had better tell her that either.”
Our tutor always told her “the hardest thing you’ll ever do is school.”
BTW, did you know in Florida the new law is/will be that the LD kids do NOT have to pass the state assessment in order to get a regular diploma?
I think the answer to your questions would vary from school to school. It is very obvious that some schools do not provide this training at all. For example when my oldest son was going to school in ND here are some of the “endearing” terms used about him including from staff members: lazy, baby, rugrat, unmotiviated, learned helpness, just to name a few. At one of the parent teacher conferences there his teacher told his dad and I that we needed to get this child serious counseling and put him on meds. In his new district here in Illinois here are some of the terms I heard associated with him: hard working, motiviated, caring, quiet, kind, considerate. In ND not much was expected of him and he lived up to their expectation. Here expectations were high. He went from self contained LD classes 50 % his first two years here to fully mainstreamed this coming school year (10th grade). This unmotiviated, lazy student is taking summer school of his own free will to work on reading skills he realizes are not up to par. This lazy stupid student passed all his freshman requirements—yet still realizes there is room for improvement. He has a plan to get into college and doing his best to prep for it. Was the child lazy, stupid, in need of counseling, medicating or did he need a well educated teacher who cared and TRAINED to work with his learning differences?