kids take me for granted

Sounds to me like you need to find another job, like maybe the grocery store.

Dear matt,
I don’t think you need to work at a grocery store, but you do need to take control. Who’s the boss anyway? You or them! If you demand respect you’ll get it. It is never too late…take charge NOW!!
Patty

Pat, do you need to use sarcasm? Everyones questions, problems, and concerns should be given respect. She is seeking help not sarcasm.

Do you have proctor’s at your school? I have been working in high school LD classes and if kids give me any mouth I call the proctor and they go to CSI so fast it makes their head spin. They have learned that I mean what I say and I have their respect. They actually like me because not only am I tough, but they know that I care about them and they want to learn. I give the rabble rouser who instigates an uprising.. a warning and if they keep pushing it the proctor comes and escorts them out are out, while the rest of the class gets to learn and do something fun. If you get rid of the most severe rabble rousers when they first start instigating trouble, the rest of the kids will respect you and want to learn.

The other thing I learned is to get the kids hooked into my read alouds…Yes, you heard me correctly, I read out loud to high school students and they LOVE it and if one gets out of hand the other’s will tell them to shut up so they can hear the story. In some smaller classes of about 10 to 12 students we have some great discussions when I move the desks and chairs into a circle. Get some of Janet Allen’s books on teaching the hardened teens like you have. They are chock full of ideas to help you. It’s Never to Late is a good one by Janet Allen…

One good story to read aloud for this age group is Stargirl. I love teaching in an SDC in High School, but some days are murder…I can empathize with you but call in the proctors so you don’t get burned out…that is what they are there for.. Hang in there you are changing lives one day at a time…

Well said Val.

I do not think that there would be many of us who have not at some time experienced some doubt and periods of uncertainty. I always think that being able to acknowlwdge that there are some issues which are concerning you is a healthy sign.

I have seen teachers over the years really burn out because they continued on because they did not ask for help or did not recognise the signals that all was not right until it was too late.

Have you tries finding some supportive peers to talk to? Perhaps visiting some other classes to observe what techniques others are using? I have also seen a teacher invite some helpful peers into her classroom to make observations of her teaching. Follow up discussions revealed some “triggers” that the teacher was using that was causing some of the negative behaviours. You would need to have trust in the peers you selected to do this.

good luck and forget the grocery store

helen

As adults we come to the conclusions of adults. When we see children behaving in this way, we think it says something about their relationship with us. The truth is though when children behave this way they are behaving like children. That’s what they are. And yours have been defined as “special ed” children which I suppose to mean these are children with learning differences.

Among your class of children who “don’t pay attention, goof around and such’, as you say, are quite probably children with ADD/ADHD. Children with these issues cannot ‘pay attention’ in the same way as others.

That your students are comfortable around you is wonderful and it’s a good step toward creating the community you want in your classroom. A good second step might be to read through some of the information on this site - I think you might be a first-timer to it. There is some wonderful information here that might help you to gain an understanding of the challenges your students deal with and so help you to deal with them too.

Good luck.

Thanks, Patty, Val, Helen, Pattim, and Sara.

Doesn’t anyone realize that I am trying to be the best teacher I can be? No my school doesn’t have a proctor. That’s the problem, there is absolutely no support. I guess I try to take too much on to myself. The teachers around me are new teachers like myself, have the same problems as me, or I don’t feel are very good teachers. I hate the thought of just sending kids out of the room, but I guess I will have to. The kids really do respect me, but sometimes I just need to talk to knowledgeable people like the people on this forum since I can’t find that at my school. I just want to do my best. Thanks for the advice. I wish I could have one of you watch me in action and give me some helpers.

And Pat, I hope you are not a teacher, cause you’re a jerk and the kids all probably know it.

Do I take it correctly that you teach in high school? And the kids you have are behavioral disordered and not MR or other cognitive problems?

I think that one of the main challenges you are facing is not a question of them respecting you. If these are kids with strong ADD issues, moderate autism, etc, what you are facing is the result of 8 prior years of failed remediation.

Many states allow “social promotion” in the lower grades because esteem has been placed at a higher priority than achievement. When this is the case, it becomes very hard to ensure that successful remediation is taking place, as te children advance regardless.

By the time these children get to you, they have a lifetime of conditioning that they do not have to listen or try, on top of the built in problems with attention, compliance and cognition which behavioral disorders bring. This becomes extremely hard to break, and it is not hard to see why unremediated children end up in homes, on the street or in prison so frequently.

You don’t need to find work at Walmart as a greeter. You need to move down into the elementary school where you can get these kids before the negative behaviors become set. If positive remediation gains can be made in EI and elementary school, by the time they get to high school they have a fighting chance.

Just my opinion…

I think that moving down sounds like logical advice, but hearing this professional rant as she did, I would certainly not want her around my young disabled child. This is my first time visiting this BB (teaching LD children) but HOLY MOLY!
This woman’s response to this children really upsets me. Does she realize that parents live with this everyday and get the brunt end of their frustration when they get home from a challenging day of school DUE TO THEIR DISABILITIES. Hopefully this teacher is an exception to the rule of LD teachers. I’d like to think that my child is treated with much more compassion and respect by his PROFESSIONAL educators.

lisa, I guess you didn’t read my post. I think you have taken everything I have said as wrong. Obviously you must not have days where you feel discouraged and are trying to find some answers to small problems. For your information, my students love me as a teacher, I think I do a fine job. I come to this board to find support, and if you can’t give me support and fully read my posts just should go somewhere else. I have some days where the kids are hyper and in case you didn’t read, I am trying to be the best teacher I can be. Instead of being negative with my students I discuss my thoughts and feelings with (hopefully) professional adults. 90% of are. lisa, Pat, I wish you would have taken my post seriously and seen that I need someone to guide me in the right direction, not treated me like sh@t. I hope that you lisa aren’t a teacher because you make quick judgements and think that you are perfect. If you could see me at work you would understand I work very hard and respect my students. I do realize that parents live with this everyday and I have good relationships with many of the parents. I am sure when parents are having a hard time with their children (at least caring parents) They will “RANT” to other parents as a way to keep from burning out and to find out new ideas. That was my intention in the first place. Then I have two people lash out at me. Maybe I sounded “whiney” or “tired”, but all I wanted was someone to give me advice. 90% of the time I love my job (probably didn’t sound like in the first post) and my kids know that. If I can’t blow off steam once in awhile with “professionals” well then please tell what I should do? Take it out on my boyfriend, the other teachers, myself, the students? And I am sure parents see their kids as, off the wall, annoying sometimes too. I did not mean to offend anyone, that was just how I felt at the time. I don’t want to feel that way, that is why I come her to get strategies on how to become a better teacher, but I guess some of you already think you are and don’t need to share that with others but need to criticize others…………….Thanks to the lovely people who did take the time to see that I was having a bad day and needed a new perspecitive on things. I am only human.

Dear feel like a mat,

I believe that I did understand your intial post and read it thoroughly. You are lashing out a people and swearing on top of it. I make quick judgements? You told me that I think I’m perfect. How did you get that out of my post? It was one paragraph long. I did not question your teaching ability but I do question your emotional stability. I hope for your students sake that you do not act like this in the classroom. I would be interested to see how your students’ parents would react to your feelings about your experiences with their children by reading your post. Have you told them how you feel or advice on how to deal with their kids? I realize that teachers are only human, but you are professionally trained to deal with these children, right? You chose this field of expertise? You are paid for this, you get to get away from it at 3:00 every afternoon and weekends? Not parents. I think there is a more professional and mature way to handle your frustrations. As a parent of a disabled child I am outraged at your comments and I am free to post my reactions when you post them on a public outlet. Maybe you should read your initial post again and GET A GRIP or get some help.

I am a parent of an LD child. I also teach college (which is very different from high school). I think you are being too hard on her. There is nothing in her original post to suggest anything but she felt like the class was out of control and she wasn’t accomplishing what she wanted to accomplish. Yes, she was whining but teachers whine to each other. That doesn’t mean that they are doing a decent job and are dedicated. It is a way of trying to get support and new ideas. One doesn’t expect to be attacked. I have whined many many times to my colleagues and they to me and sometimes we are even able to solve the cause of our whining.
I have also won teaching awards (chosen by students not other faculty) so there is nothing inconsistent with whining and being effective in the classroom.

Beth

… to get back to positive suggestions instead of judging posts. Even negative suggestions — what *not* to do. Threads can go on forever about “you were too judgemental when you said…” — and FLAM is probably going back into that classroom, regardless, so it might as well be with ideas about Teaching, good or bad, not about how to post on a bb.
I have taught HS kids who had years of non-remediation and who knows what else. They believed correctly that nobody expected anything of them; their parole officers had told them “don’t assault a teacher and you can stay out of jail.”
Fortunately I had already made the mistake (for me, anyway - Your Mileage May Vary) of letting the kids feel “comfortable” in other settings and learned from it. Frankly, they only interpreted that one way: teachers who tried to be “cool” were…. mats. So my approach was that we were going to do work… they didn’t have to if they didn’t want to (and yes, I even told ‘em that I’d collect my paycheck whether or not they did the work)… and I worked at making it appropriate for them. THere were a few kiddos in there who were willing to do the stuff, some for the right reasons and others becaues it was the path of least resistance. I ignored a lot of pretty disruptive behaviors because there wasn’t exactly anything I could do about it — I enforced the few rules the admin would actually back me up on. Hey, every seventh or eighth time a student went completely out of control, they’d get suspended for a few days (and duh, we wonder why these kids that need consistency so desperately don’t respond positively?) I was as consistent as I could be… I documented everything, made referrals for behaviors X, Y and Z and just didn’t get emotional about them, just documented, documented, documented. I wanted enough on paper so that if things ended up in court because of a tragedy I’d be covered — and I did my best to be a non-escalator and learned some really handy skills in keeping things cool when I really had no authority. HOpefully you’ve got a little better backup than I did. So if the kiddo came back in my face saying “they didn’t do nothin’ ” I just nodded and said, “okay, but if you do it again I will refer you again, becaues I expect better of you. even if they don’t.”
Academic stuff — I had *lots* of very short assignments that were all graded. A warmpup activity that was really easydrill. (In math, you can do cool things like “write equations that have the answer 14. Each plus sign is worth 1, minus 2, multiplication 3, and division 4. ” Obviously you can make it harder or easier and if they figure out stupid tricks, either let ‘em do it ‘til they get bored, or out law them.
Then everything was as interactive as possible and graded. Basically grades were my leverage. And these kids for the most part didn’t want to fail. Most of ‘em didn’t.
So my adivce if you’ve read this far :) is to take the emotion out of it and just be Academci, Academic, Academic. If you’re not careful, they might even learn some skills.

I’m sorry Beth but I disagree. You would not be upset if she were talking about your child? That your child was causing her such distress? I understand the human factor and possibly the advice she was seeking. But I have to question how she expresses herself as a professional and how she responded to the posts that did not share sense of frustration. Just like taking your child to the doctor, you count on the fact that they are professional, will not loose it and can act appropriately. On this website you can guarantee that parents and other professionals are going to read through these posts for open diaglogue. Parents look at the teacher sites to get a sense of how teachers feel about and react with their children. Her responses have done nothing positive for either and I question how she can be such a wonderful teacher with the children but attack a parent that questions her reactions. If I overreacted I apologize, but I think this teacher who identifies herself as “feel like a mat!!” entered into this with a chip on her shoulder. I truly hope she finds the answers she needs.

… there’s rather a difference between a public bulletin board and the faculty lounge — and now that you mention it, calling anybody who takes issue with your rant names laced with language is no longer ranting in the faculty lounge, even.
Sigh… I’m breaking my rule about talking about hte posts, not about teaching.

To Feel like a mat

I am the mom of a 10yr old ADHD and LD child that I homeschool. I know exactly how you feel! Some days I am so worn out I feel like crying(and sometimes do). Then I remember that my child has no control over these things and some days he just cannot concentrate. On those days, I find that giving him a physical activity to do while we are doing school helps. Why?I don’t know but it does. Maybe you are too hard on your students when you get frustrated. They canDefinitely tell when they are getting on your nerves!! Maybe at these times you should count to ten and take a deep breath .Do something like turning out the lights to get their attention and tell them what you expect of them. I am a nurse so I was teaching pts. every day in many ways. I always found that you have to get the persons attention before you begin to teach them. You probably already do that but it was just a thought. Good luck, Jan feel like a mat!! wrote:
>
> I would love to be able to teach a LA to my spec. ed.
> students, but now they are fully included because of awful
> behavior problems. Now I teach only math. Has the behavior
> improved. No!!! They constantly interrupt me, don’t pay
> attention, goof around and such. And it is not only me they
> are doing this to. The other spec. ed. teacher in the high
> school is experiencing the same problems. How can I teach
> when I have all these problems. Yes I know the kids are more
> comfortable with me. I am tired of this. How can I make
> the kids understand that I am here to help them and they are
> taking me for granted. I swear I want to quit teaching if I
> have to deal with this anymore. How can I make them
> understand I want them to work with me and to not take me for
> granted.

Would I be upset? Not necessarily in the way you think. I would be upset because it is clearly a situation out of control and that she needs to have more support/skills at dealing with it. I also would not be impressed if my child was behaving poorly. Part of my child’s job in school is to respect the teachers who teach him. (Now they haven’t always taught him but that is another story.)

On the other hand, I do agree that swearing when you don’t agree with someone is pretty indefensible.

Beth

is that people (students, parents, teachers, etc.) should use respectful behavior toward others. That does not mean that you respect them, because under some circumstances you can’t. What this means is that everyone deserves respectful behavior towards them from others. I try to raise my kids with this concept.

I wish I never would have written the post. Most of the time I am not frustrated with my kids, but that day I was having an awful day and wanted some positive inspiration. Most of you have been wonderful. I am young and new to teaching, so yes, I do get emotional at times. But many times when I am emotional it is in a positive manner. I didn’t mean to be rude or swear. I apologize for that!! Stupid me. I didn’t want to start a riot and flaming posts. I feel for the parents and especially for the kids. I am their advocate, and you can bet I do my best to make sure they are treated well. That is why I wrote the post. I work very, very hard making sure my kids are taken care of in all their classes. I modify assignments, read textbooks, read tests in classes I do not teach. My kids were yelling at each other, misbehaving (which I know is natural for teens!) and I became frustrated. When I get frustrated with my students, like I did that day, I walk away and have them work without me. No emotional instability there. The students are my number one priority, not my frustration; I just feel that I can better meet their needs when I am not stressed out, burned out, and frustrated. Many of you gave me great ideas I will copy and read everyday. Especially the ones from the parents. When I meet parents I say many positive things about their child. I just had a bout of frustration. I need to deal with it on my own. No more posts….. thanks

Hi!

I’m curious about why you aren’t being allowed to teach Language Arts, only Math! Do you have skills in Language Arts that could help them? If so, I would fight to be able to do that. Is it being assumed that they are better off in regular ed. language arts classes? If so, that may be part of the reason they are frustrated, and taking it out on you at least when they are in your class. Maybe you should pay a visit to their regular ed. language arts classes and find out what’s going on there!

I’m working in a school (elementary) which went into Open Court school-wide last year, and was told that I wouldn’t be allowed to pull out students anymore; they wanted me just to do consultation during the 30 minute “independent work time” that Open Court allows for. I went to battle over this, because I use a very effective language arts intervention that really works for the kids who aren’t “getting it” from Open Court. Of course, if I didn’t have my pre- and post-test scores from last year, and the support of my principal, I think I’d be up the creek here, but I would have left the job (seriously!) if they hadn’t let me do it my way, not because I’m stubborn or opinionated, but because I know what I’m doing works, and I’m not going to back down because of some administrator’s pet project or philosophy! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! I also believe that there are plenty of school’s out there who are ready and willing to hire a fully-credentialed special ed. teacher who can offer what I can, and I’m not afraid to test that theory. As far as I’m concerned, if they don’t appreciate me, I’ll go somewhere where they do.

I guess what I’m saying is, you need to have a bit higher opinion of your self-worth. Arm yourself with the best tools that you can as a teacher, and don’t let anyone, kids or teachers or administrators, stand in the way of doing your job. I don’t think I’m the world’s best disciplinarian either, but I am passionate about teaching my kids, and they do respect me for that, and the majority of the time will “humor” me and let me teach them something — that’s what I must insist on in order to stay in this job! So hang in there and keep doing what you do best, and don’t let the bad days get you down…

Sharon

And to you, Lisa, I would like to suggest this. The title of this board is “teaching students with LD.” We empathize totally with you as a parent. How about this food for thought, many of us are parents, too. Some of us have handicapped children ourselves. Cool, huh?

Now, we spend our days with students who possess a variety of handicaps, many of whom are not very well suited or mentally wired to thrive in an academic environment. We have pressures upon us and we almost invariably lack any useful support. We burn out at a rate much faster than general ed., some of us choose to become 3rd or 2nd grade teachers to get away from the stress of special ed.

We need a place to cool down, to unload the stress on those really hard days. It is healthy and this should be a safe place for us to do so. We should not really have to then read posts by parents, who have never taught school (yes, I know they parent the handicapped child), roast them for expressing their frustration the comes from trying to do a job under almost impossible circumstances.

Next time you want to vent…e-mail me and I will see what I can do to help you. I have been there done that and I am still learning….I love a challenge and reaching the kids whom everyone else has given up. The sad part is the kids have given up hope but as I say where there is a will there is a way.

Anitya,
Are you ‘feel like a mat’? Because if you are, I’m serious here, when I suggest that you see a Dr. You sound like I did a few years ago. Maybe you’re clinically depressed.

You’re very frustrated and you sound very angry and often not able to control your feelings. At least that’s what it seems like here. You don’t want this to get out of control. I felt like I had perpetual PMS and it was just depression. Now I feel much more in control and I don’t get so defensive.

It does sound like you have your hands full at school and yes, you have a right to vent, but I think the venting should be done privately. If you need help or resources come to the boards. You know that teachers are thought of in many different ways and whining in public doesn’t raise their popularity.

Good luck and think about what I said.
Patty

Nice to read the first sensible response. Mat, you don’t need to beat anybody up over this situation. Take a deep breath, determine what your goals are and go about achieving those goals. I’m not sure I want my students to be “comfortable” with me because for me, I might not be able to reach my goals. I too deal with high school age students and see the desperation in what little time I have to get them ready for the world. Foolishness just isn’t part of the picture. I have rules and a consistent method of instruction. My students know what is expected of them and what the consequences are for not meeting expectations - every time. I don’t loose my temper but do have complete class control and we do learn a great deal. Mostly what I hope these kids learn is that the world expects more from them and they will need to raise the bar to be successful. I never argue and never mini-lecture. Consequences are just that - and they live with it!

Patty, we will agree to disagree. If you are not a teacher and you don’t want to read any venting, you have the freedom to stay away from this board.

I am not stressed at this time. I have been there is past years and understand the feeling of helplessness to help your students when the situation you find yourself in is really not appropriate to the providing of adequate services. It happens and it is very stressful.

Sometimes the sped. teacher is the only sped. teacher in the entire school (I know “mat” mentioned a colleague) and there is little to no time reserved for special ed. teachers to meet their programs and perhaps to assist one another with the frustrations that go with the territory. Why is there no time, well in my district we cannot find a day that is free from IEP meetings, staff meetings, student study team meetings, etc. that the group can gather after school. The reality is that there are so many meetings this is a task to pull off. I have been to one meeting this year with colleagues, otherwise I am the lone sped. teacher in my building.

When a teacher is frustrated that she has been forced into the full-inclusion model and she comes home just ready to pop, maybe we can suggest how we dealt with this when we were there.

Mat, if you are reading, a psych. in my district has collected jr. high data over a period of years, since they went in-class model for services. He has the data to show that test scores have dipped, virtually 100% of the time. So, my district is re-evaluating the resource model at jr. high. But, this model has been in place for over 10 years! Imagine all the students who have been placed in situations that were frustrating them to the point they did not learn and acted out unnecessarily in the general ed. classroom. Makes you sick,doesn’t it.

This is the way you ultimately deal with bad administrative decisions. However, the casualities along the way can be unconscionable and I understand the need to sometimes just pour this out.

If the parents who venture here at their own risk, so to speak, don’t like it, then I perhaps they live in a fantasyland where they and everyone else are always perfect and never need to cry for help.

Patty, can you provide your clinical psych. license number that authorizes you to diagnose conditions such as “depression.” I’ll need this when I request that depression-related disability leave!!!!! I can tell you where to send the diagnosis, on letterhead, in a later post. Again, thanks so much for your thorough evaluation of my emotional condition. It is a comfort to know we can all come to your for emotional support and diagnoses.

WHOA–––—I thought you were “feels like a mat” and she had some trouble with some responses! I AM a teacher and I still think unless your seeking some advice or resources this is not the place to vent!
I teach Title I and I am the only teacher in my building that teaches this, however I also teach in a building that has a centerbased program with many LD and severly disabled students. I too know how many meeting and how much stupid paper work you and I need to follow through on!

I also agree the stress level is outrageous. I was NOT diagnosing anyone, merely making a suggestion with knowledge from my own experience. AND even if I was not a teacher I have a right to my opinion. If this is a board only for teachers than the credentials better be presented at the door. Who’s the judgemental one here?

I am also a parent of three LD children. So after all day with remedial students I get to come home and do it again!

“Mat” I wish you the best of luck. Anitya, get a grip—noone was attacking you!

… just like you expect your students to do… you use what will work. If somebody takes issue with you, you figure out whehter it’s valid (and especially since nobody’s seen you teach, you’re the only one with the information to do that) and ignore it if it isn’t, and take a lesson if it is.
I know especially this time of year it’s hard not to let stuff get to you - but you asked for free advice — if it was worth what you paid for it, you might want to ask again. If you only want a certain kind of advice, then you’re right, an open forum isn’t the place to go — but who knows what you’re missing if you only go to people who will comfort you?

Patty, No I am not Anitya, although I do post here frequently. That’s funny you brought up depression, because I am depressed and take medication for it. I still have my days, and I wrote the blasted post on one of those days. NOt that that is an excuse, just an explaination. I chose to remain anonymous because I wasn’t sure of how people would react to my venting, and I am glad I did. Oh well, I hope this whole thing will just go away!! I don’t want any hurt feelings anymore.

Oh thanks Steve! this is why I posted in the first place to get a fresh perspective on things. I just want to hear how others fair at other schools. like how to deal with frustration and such. I have only been teaching for a little over a year and a half. I have a lot to learn. that is why I come here.. and sue is right, I need to take in the good and the bad comments. Thanks lisa for also making me realize that parents are dealt with frustrations too. Thanks to everyone for the great ideas, insights, and perspectives……….THANK YOU… P.S I will still post here, but not as “feel like a mat” !!!!!

I’m glad you posted, mat. This has been a very interesting post. I hope when I need help that people are there. We all need a lesson in kindness and understanding. I can’t believe how quick people are judged.

Well, “mat” we’ve travel far in this post!
Good luck at school and don’t forget that the regular ed teachers can help you with “control issues’ too. Stay with your depression therapy…it will help alot and remember…….this too shall pass……….

Good Luck!!
Patty

I just gotta say, who said only parents around here could vent and the teachers couldn’t? We are all in this together, we are all human and we all have our days. I didn’t personally see anything in the original post that was so upsetting, I have many days when I feel like that with my own kids. And their dad would agree that they are running all over me. Doesn’t happen often but mat deserves to be heard and no one needs to be putting her/him down because of a bad day. Nuff said I think.

The shocking part was not necessarily the original post. It was attack launched by “mat” after responses started coming in. It has been my experience that teachers do not hesitate to give their opinion about what’s going wrong at home (parents have lack of control, that’s why their kids are the way they are, etc) I was truly concerned by the language and impulsivity of her responses. Does that surface in the classroom? Probably not, but a red flag. But it is true that parents look at the teaching boards too. Just a thought. Parents struggle with their kids too, but you truly hope that the professional educators (who give parents advice) have been trained to handle these situations and do not get to the point of such distress. If the situation was this bad why hasn’t the administration stepped in? Do they know what’s going on? If the parents knew it was this bad, maybe they would be willing to help resolve the problems too. I certainly would not want my child’s teacher to be to the point of quitting over this.

Anitya,
I’m sorry to be so blunt, but, I am really struggling with this “wet bed” attitude from the school systems. I’m trying to understand why things can not change. If teachers would let parents know what they need to do to have change happen maybe we would be headed in the right direction. Parents have the power to possibly change things. Instead we have burnt out teachers. Why? Why can’t we work together. I see you post in the parents’ bb and you seem critical of the schools as well so you must agree. Parents are frustrated because they are often left out of the loop and then criticized. They are not trying to make teachers miserable, they are looking out for their kids in a difficult maze of red tape and no one on the school side is “free” with information on how to make things better for everyone. It’s a lack of communication coupled with a difficult system for educating disabled children. I honestly do not know how teachers CAN be expected to accomodate so many individual students in one classroom. It just does not make sense. I know that they are pushed to the limit, but lets work together as a team and try to right the wrong instead of just complaining about it. What does that ever accomplish? There is a bigger picture here, fixing these little problems will not solve the main problem that I keep hearing from teachers. Its like continuing to take pain medication for a problem instead of just having the surgery. PLEASE TELL PARENTS WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN TO CHANGE THINGS. You see the frustration on the parents’ bb. Where does most of it stem from? LACK OF INFORMATION. Let’s stop this us against them that we are all guilty of and make it better for our kids.

I went quite a bit overboard on the earlier posts.

yes, you are right. I do believe almost all of us want the best we can provide. There is, at this time, a discrepancy between sometimes how teachers view situations and how parents view situations. Eg. I just read an article this am on educationnews.org that made the statement to the effect that our American concept of equality meant equality under the law and equality of opportunity, today around the country is seems that it is being reinterpreted as equality of result. Interesting. Sometimes we feel very pressured by a small number of parents (I am not pointing a finger at anyone) who seem to be demanding an equal result, something we teachers cannot assure anyone we can deliver, even if we had the very best clinical situation and resources.

But, aside from that observation, the schools have budgets, they plainly don’t want to exceed them in any area. There are situations you never hear about sucking sped. $$$. I refer to youngsters placed in full-time psychiatric facilities at the total expense of the school district. I assure you, we have them in our district, but is is largely hush, hush. Money just flies away. So we are left with what is left. We risk serious repercussions if we speak against our district admainistrator at an IEP meeting. Teachers have been dismissed or drummed out by their districts. It has happened in my district with a resource teacher a few years ago. Most of us do not have the resources to fight.

My other issue is with the legislatures that refuse to further fund sped. They believe, as they have said in my state, that current funding and caseload limits do not adversely affect FAPE. But, of course it does. My suggestion is to learn what you can about what your state provides and perhaps write to your legislators. I have written to mine and plan to do so again, periodically. Also, joining groups like the Council for Exceptional Children is positive in that these groups advocate for handicapped children. WE can all support and work for positive change in several ways.

One suggestion I read in an article on the reauthorization of IDEA pertained to the issue I mentioned of school districts being collared into paying the entire tab for private psychiatric clinics was the fact that other agencies have successfully dumped a host of “burdens” upon public education. We need to look at other ways to finance issues that are beyond what is reasonable for public school districts to fund. There are other social service agencies. Boy do they like to dump on the school when the case of a handicapped child is dropped in their lap. They can be so quick to refer back to the school, it doesn’t really seem right.

Well, thanks for your comments. All I want as a resource teacher is the best situation I can create to teach my students and to provide them with increased educational OPPORTUNITIES.

x

Thank you for the advice. You are right, I had no idea (as a parent) that such drains on the budget existed but that does not excuse the difficult process that parents of those not so profoundly impaired have to go through but are entitled to as well. There are far less hoops to jump through to accomodate the gifted student than the disabled. It is a sad situation.

Yup, there are. And you may also be aware that Congress, as they reauthorize IDEA is wanting to take a look at who and how we are classifying. They think we area classifying too many. Try that one on parents who are fighting the school for a classification. Most parents WANT the classification and the services that accompany the classification. One hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.