urgent communication with the LD teacher

It might help to know what reason have they given for no longer wanting this communication. How long has this been in place and why do they say they’re stopping something that you believe has been successful?

And how does the LD teacher feel about this? Is the teacher the one who no longer wants the responsibility of this communication or has the teacher been supportive of it?

I know what a help this system can be for our kids. Last year my son had a great teacher that had a notebook for each child that she wrote in daily. Also, her reports were pages long and very specific.

This year he has a teacher that has no interest in communicating with us. It is extremely frustrating to go from one extreme to the other.

In fact this year I got a reading tutor and she he tried to talk to her and the only input she ever gave me was that the tutor wasn’t teaching the same words she was.

I am interested in more input on this subject why are parents a threat to special ed teachers when we are trying our best to help?

I know where you are coming from. When my son was in K there was a notebook that everyone—regular teacher, sp. ed teacher, speech therapist, OT—wrote in. Between the regular teacher and sp ed teacher, I got messages almost everyday. I wrote back observations ect. The school initiated this.

Then we moved. The sp. ed teacher here thinks you should park your child at the door and pick him up in six years. I have tried every thing except putting communication into the IEP. I think I will do that. I think Anitya’s idea of weekly reporting is a good one. I liked the contact with his first school on a daily basis but I don’t think it was educationally necessary.

I don’t know how much is threat and how much is trouble. It sure works better when every one is on the same page.

I think that is a great idea. As a matter of fact I may start that even though school is almost out. Good thinking!

I will speak from my firsthand experience and repeat some of what is on the other board.

Daily communicators MUST be kept very short and simple in most cases. Depending upon the situation, the teacher MUST not have to give up teaching time to write out communications. In cases of SEVERE behavior problems, then a daily communicator that is EASY is appropriate.

You feel the resource teacher is unreasonable, consider her situation. She may have small groups that she teaches and a small few 1:1 or 2:1, throughout the day. She may very well teach all day long, with no time scheduled between groups. She can probably send a weekly communicator that is easy, noting the skill for the week, etc. She can send two copies of the weekly spelling list (my spelling list notes the skill on the top of the page), one copy can be given to the tutor, this does NOT require daily notes, phonecalls or complexity. The tutor can keep these lists so she has a record of skills across the year.

If your child has memory problems and is still reading at first/second grade level, then the resource teacher can periodically assess him/her on high frequency word lists and send typed copies of words he/she needs to learn home, she can send two copies of this list. One goes to the tutor and the parent and the tutor work, systematically, through these words, several per week (perhaps 5). Ditto for SPELLING high frequency words.

There really should be no reason this has to be a daily committment. To cease teaching early to fill in these notes daily will reduce instruction time by perhaps 10 minutes per week. YUCK!

If the teacher has e-mail at school, set up a weekly e-mail communicator. Make her life manageable, yes she is there for you, but she has many responsibilities and if you commandeer a disproportionate amount of her time, then she may harbor some mild resentment (nothing personal, just be considerate of her teaching schedule and her many meetings and other committments).

As a parent trying to reinforce school rules and homework etc, communication with the teacher on a daily basis is essential.
We use a quick checklist, my son receives a quick “+” or “-” sign in 5 categories. There’s room for comments by teacher or parent if more time is available. It works.
I wish the special ed teachers would understand parenting a child like this 24/7 is exhausting and terrifying on a daily basis. We don’t get a break. Please don’t make our life more of a hell by being mean, too.

In some cases daily communication is certainly an integral piece of having things work for the child. No one, including Anitya, or me when I was in the Resource Room would deny that. No one would ever deny that parenting a child with complex needs is exhausting and difficult either. I don’t think that was Anitya’s point.

The issue I think is creating a system (like yours) that works for the teacher as well. If you follow the RR teacher’s on these boards, many of them have upwards of thirty students on their caseload, some of who, demand an enormous commitment of time and resources. (There are no caseload limits in many states that correspond with class size limits- the junior high teacher in my town has forty or so, I had twenty last year) When I was teaching- up until last year, it was not unusual for me to work sixty- seventy hours a week when you factored in teaching, casemanagement, planning, meetings, and teacher and paraeducator training. I also have a family. Most RR teacher’s WANT to support the family. They WANT to have things work for the child. Most of the children they see have complex needs- that is why they have an IEP. However, if we need to include systems such as daily communication, then the systems need to take a minimum of time so that the teacher can do equally well by all the students in their charge. The more efficient the system, the more likely it can be successfully carried out. One reason there is so high a turnover rate in Special Ed and there are so many folks warming chairs under waivers is that it is a very high stress job that requires a huge time and energy commitment. We do it because we love the work- many of us- there are always those who feel differently- but you have to guard your resource allocation very carefully in order to keep doing it.

Robin

Thanks, Robin. I have never had a parent demand as much as the mother who posted initially. To Pam, I am not mean, however, what I posted does work and will work for most students (major behavior problems usually need daily communicators), there is no need for a teacher to deduct valuable teaching time to write out even a brief daily summary of what she taught. My students’ parents can do plenty by:
1. Spending 5-10 minutes per night on the weekly spelling list, reviewing the skill typed at the top of the page.

2. Reading with their child, I am happy to send reading materials home, for 10 minutes per night.

3. Flash cards with their child, these can be sent monthly or weekly. Most parents I work with are quite happy with the typed list.

Most things can be made to work for everyone w/o any one person in the equation making demands on any other person that will adversely impact life or other obligations.

We teachers appreciate your efforts, you make the process work so much better. And, we teachers are also parents, we do understand more than you may realize.