Substitute

Make an appointment with the sub teacher, sit down and gently
tell her what you expect her to do.
Tell her what works for your son and what doesn’t work.
Go over his IEP with her. She will probably appreciate the help.

If she doesn’t appreciate the help then call for an IEP meeting and
request the principal attend and the counselor if your school has one.

Anne

I am assuming you have an iep with your son in resource. His iep should state something about who administers the iep, like the LI teacher or resource teacher or something like that. It appears to me to be noncompliance to have an unlicensed substitute teacher who is not an ld teacher administering the iep. At least that is how I would interpret this. Perhaps someone more experienced than I can tell you if that is so and how to remedy the situation.

Absolutely go to the sub in the interim and discuss the iep and the accommodations that are to be made. Best wishes.

I would also consider pulling him out of resource room for the rest of the year. Depending on his skill level and your personal situation, I would either 1) put him in regular class or partially homeschool him. I did the later last year when we could get past an incompetent teacher and a bureaucracy that wasn’t addressing my son’s needs. The district did not “allow” it but noone stopped me either. I would set up a meeting with the principal and suggest this as an alternative. The district may not be able to find someone qualified but that doesn’t mean you have to subject your child to them.

This way your child may be able to keep up and not have to miss the program he likes in the summer.

Beth

Off the top of my head I’d say take him out of the resource room. It’s supposed to be helping him but it’s not. You could try to ‘work’ with this new resource room teacher but as a teacher, I haven’t found my colleagues in the profession to be very flexible. When approached with questions or concerns, many teachers just get their backs up.

Clearly the work she’s giving him is all wrong. I agree with you. You have the right to end his resource room and have him back in his regular class. If a new teacher would come to take over the resource room, you could reevaluate the situation.

I’m also not a fan of ‘basic skills courses’ offered over the summer. Teachers often teach those classes without enthusiasm as no one, students and teacher alike, wants to be there in the summer. I’d put him in the rec. program he enjoys and either find a tutor to work with him once or twice a week or work with him yourself. The best ‘at home’ approach to dyslexia is to read out loud to your son daily and to have him read 20-30 minutes a day in books that are very comfortable for him to read.

Good luck.

I didn’t realize a “sub” would be responsible to meet with me. I will try that approach and see where that gets me. Thanks, Darlene

We went through a similar situation when my son’s resource room teacher had a baby, promised to come back from maternity leave, and then decided to stay home at the last minute.

My son hated the substitute, who like your substitute, was not a qualified special ed teacher. (my husband when he met her said she was a “prune” and said he always knew our son was a good judge of people!)

The substitute made no effort to follow the IEP, she simply listened to my son read (wow what services!-I do that at home at night).

I called the principal and complained but was told to hang in there until the regular special ed teacher came back from maternity leave. ( I should have put it in writing, but I didn’t know that then!)

When I went to a party and found out through the “grapevine” that the teacher wasn’t returning, I went ballastic and called all the other moms I knew who received special services in my son’s grade and we all bombarded the principal with phone calls, pointing out that the district had plenty of special ed teachers and they should search around to find one who would work with our kids until a permanent replacement was found. By the time the third Mom called with the same message, he knew he couldn’t ignore us.

It is amazing what can happen when parents band together and low and behold, a qualified (and good) special ed teacher was found to help our kids and a new (and quite good) teacher was hired in February.

So don’t just take the situation. Your child is entitled to receive his IEP from a qualified (and hopefully good) special ed teacher and the district must have some somewhere (maybe working part-time who’d like to add a few more hours). Politely express your concern and ask for alternatives.

You can make a difference.

Good luck!

I actually thought of homeschooling him part time but I dont know if that would work, I have two little ones at home, so I am afraid it would not be productive. But if things continue to decline, I will consider it further. I’m glad to hear that they didn’t approve, but didn’t stop you either, it gives me more guts to push the issue if things come down to it. Thanks for everything. Darlene

Thanks for the suggestion about putting him back in the regular ed. classroom, I like his regular teacher very much, but I am afraid because the kids are so far ahead of him that it might make things worse. If a new teacher is not found very soon, I may consider a trial, back in the regular classroom and see how it works out. Thanks for cementing my decision, not to send him to basic skills class. I was planning on having him tutored, but I may ask about extended school year( they do private tutoring) although my request had been turned down because he didn’t qualify. Do you know if this would qualify him? Thanks for all your help. Darlene

Hi Debbie,
Thanks for the insight, I only know one other child in his resource room, and have found the parent offensive, so I don’t know if that stratergy would work, but if I become desperate enough I may try it. I am also encouraged by how your persistence has paid off. Sometimes it helps to know that others are strong advocates and that I am not just being a pain in the butt. Thanks for the information, I am off to call the principal, and get what my child needs.. Darlene

I would try talking to the sub, she just might not know what to do, you might get lucky and she’ll be one of the easy ones to get along with. I don’t know about putting him back in the regular classoom sitting, depends on your son. Mine would sink if I put him in regular classroom. I would regardless of what certification a teacher has she would have to follow an IEP.

Dear Darlene,
As a special education teacher I would recommend that you pull out your IEP, turn to the accommodations page and note all of them that are not being followed. Then, let the principal know that you are concerned that your sons needs are not being met. Either have her inform the substitute of the accommodations that need to be met or even better, call a meeting of the IEP team. While a school can hire a substitute that does not have all of the qualifications of the sp. ed. teacher, they still need to hire someone that is willing to follow all of the legal guidelines that come along with the position.
I do not suggest you pull your son just yet. The substitute may not realize the needs of all of the students.
Hang in there.

Hi
I will do exactly that, for a start. I can’t understand how they provide my child with someone without even a teacher’s certificate, and believe they have the abilities to educate him for half the school year. Thanks for your input. Darlene

>> I can’t understand how they provide my child with someone without even a teacher’s certificate<<

All depends on what state you are in.

In my state you have to be a certified teacher to substitute but, in situations
where there are just not enough subs, you can substitute if you have a
college degree.

And the practice seems to be spreading as I know there are rumors of
it in my school district.

Anne

Actually, in some states all you need is a HS diploma and 2 years of college—in any program. It’s scary to think who could be teaching the children.