Our school district in the past has used the resource room approach but with new administration coming in they want to change to a totally inclusionary model. We use the resource room to supplement classroom instruction, teach specilaized reading, writing and math programs and to help kids that are overwhelmed with the classroom work keep up with the curriculum,though its modified a bit. The parents in our district have never had any complaints about the IEPs, serivces, testing accommodations. etc. The new administration wants to discontinue all pull out services and have the sped teachers co-teach in the class. They are having IEP’s changed. This would mean a classroom with 7-12 kids on IEPs and 2 teachers, reg ed and sped. The kids will miss out on sooo much individulaized instruction and won’t make the great gains they have in the past. The parents are not in agreement at all about this. They don’t know how to go about fighting this. The new administration seems to think they can break Fed laws and have told parents that we are doing their kids an injustice by pulling them out into the resource room.( most kids only come into the res room 1 or 2 periods a day, they are their reg ed classrooms the rest of the day)
Any ideas or information I can pass onto the parents would be helpful. It seems as a teacher I have been told that it is ok if I don’t like the new model, I don’t have to stay. I have invested too much time in our Resource program and have had GREAT success to bail out now!!Thank you for any thoughts.
Re: Advice and thoughts needed
Basically, tell those parents NOT to sign the IEP that has the inclusion, unless they are sure it is appropriate. To be utterly cynical about it, If enough parents tie them up for enough hours in enough meetings the school will realize it’s not in their interest to insist on this.
It would help to have a handle on why the new admins want to go full inclusion — a rah-rah sales pitch on how it’s the best thing for everybody, or that eye on the bottom line and essentially no expectations for those sped kids taking space and using up salaried personnel resources.
Parents can also be their own support — if a parent brings along two buddies as advocates, it may be easier to keep from being overwhelmed by the smiling “inclusion is good for you” admins.
Re: Advice and thoughts needed
I just attended a wonderful workshop a week ago that was sponsored by the Bureau of Education and Research. It was called Making Inclusion Work: Practical Classroom Strategies. The presenter was Anne Beninghof. She is an actual SPED teacher and has tried all of her ideas in a room and know that they work. She has published alot of information about this topic and I bet any of her books would help you and the parents feel more comforatable with the transition. I am an pull-out teacher now, but like the idea of inclusion for some, but not all of my students. There is also a web site that may also prove benficial. I believe it is
www.poweroftwo.org.
If that is wrong I will let you know. It is about co-teaching and has a lot of strategies to assist you. Good Luck!!
Re: oh no!
I am a parent and am curious. Our district presented co-teaching as what will happen next year for my son. Does that mean that they may be trying to discontinue resource room? We have the same situation you have right now, but I did not even think to ask if they had intended on closing resource room. Now I’m scared. Do parents have any recourse to put an end to this before it begins?
Re: reacted to quick
Read Sue’s posting after reacting and responding. Great advice, the light bulb has now gone on as to what is really happening. Thanks.
Re: reacted to quick
As a returning LD teacher, I think the pendulum is swinging to far again. The purpose of an IEP is individualization, not to treat all students the same way. When students are so far behind that they cannot possibly keep up in the regular classroom, they’re not getting the help they need to develope prerequisite skills. Although some students will do well in a regular classroom with minimal support, to place others there is unfair to all (students and teachers) involved. I thought as educators we want to help students reach their potential, not keep their heads up drowning in a regular classroom. And that’s not to mention the extraordinary expense that is wasted by full-time shadowing of sped students in the regular classroom. No wonder are taxes are so high!
Re: Advice and thoughts needed
We are required to provide a full-continuum of services. Parents can refuse to sign IEPS that don’t permit resource room pull-out.
Re: Advice and thoughts needed
Our school district does not have resource rooms; so a parent could not request a resource room placement on an IEP for an LD student. They do place low-functioning, multiply impaired students in out-of-district resource rooms. If a district eliminates resource rooms, I would think it very hard to get such a placement for the student with average IQ and LD.
Re: Advice and thoughts needed
I have co-taught with a general ed teacher and I have done resource room classes. I was amazed at how much my LD kids (10 out of 28 kids in the class) benefitted from staying in the general ed. class, both academically and socially/emotionally. We had three who needed some pull-out for math, but not in every chapter. I would work with reading groups that included both LD and general ed. kids. I think it is best to use a combination of the two formats because one size fits all doesn’t! It is imperative that the administration provides enough support in the general ed. room to ensure success.
Good Luck with the inclusionary model. Our district tried it, and it is successful with some Resource Room students. You will need to find their strengths and assist the student and the child in learning through that strength. You will also need to have time in the classroom, or an excellent assistant, to continue to watch and help the student succeed.
You will notice in my first line that our district “tried” it. We continue to use inclusion when it is possible, successful, manageable, and beneficial for ALL. This past year, I never left the RR, but my assistant helps in three classrooms, where I have LD students, or BD student. I mainly do pull-out services, as the 4th-6th graders that I have on my case load need small group instruction to develop skills which are one to three years below grade level. Also, they need “special” education methods to succeed at completing instruction and developing skills.
Our district also found that the inclusionary model is expensive!!! And with the new testing and accountability talk, small group to assist skill development is looking even better to the district. We have even returned to Extended Resource Rooms where students are out of the regular classroom more than three hours a day.
I wish you luck with Inclusion. It is good when it works, but it takes $$, time for collaboration, time for training, and people.
lynne