Frustrating day...

[driveby]

Correct I.E.P's was probably what he meant.

Agree with this 100%. If the teacher writing the I.E.P is a true professional then the document has extremely important value in regard to the specififc child's education for which it was written for. I.E.P.'s are meant to be tailor-made for what each individual child needs. They shouldn't be umbrella documents that are generic, pointless and make people feel as they they are just jumping through legal hoops in order to cya. Assessment pieces, along with classroom performance and subjective observation (common sense) need to be used to in order to identify all the areas of deficiency for each child. What some know as a P.L.E.P (present levels of educational performance) and we now call write-ups for the Areas of Academic Achievement should be completed using the results of all the items mentioned above and used as a blueprint towards what strengths and weaknesses each child has, what needs to be addressed, techniques that work best when educating the child, etc. Any special ed. teacher should be able to pick up and I.E.P of a student and from that document be able to organize a gameplan as to how they intend on addressing the individual child's needs so as to give them the greatest chance to learn the required material and exhibit their mastery of taught skills regardless of their short-comings/disability.

 

I.E.P.'s are not a joke, they are instrumental in regard to delivery of appropriate services. However, what is a joke, are some of the teachers who call themselves professionals, who write them.

Irish you sound like a cross between a guy pushing a special services seminar and a young, gung-ho idealist. Good for you.

 

I'm a cynical realist and don't buy into the psuedo-psychological educational mumbo-jumbo anymore.

 

Regular ed teachers with 35 students in a class don't have the time or energy to deal with 10 or 15 different "instruments in regard to delivery of appropriate services" and still teach the rest of the class to a high level of Blooms.

 

A classroom in a zero sum environment. All the time needed to review, document, and implement the mostly silly modifications takes away from the development of outstanding lessons and teaching. We are striving for mediocracy and achieving it.

 

When there were core content resource classes, taught by special ed teachers and a teachers aide, following IEP's wasn't an issue. When we expect a "reg ed" teacher (in the name of inclusion or mainstreaming) to assume those responsibilites, in addition to teaching a classroom full of "reg" kids, well, it just doesn't work unless you're Conrack or Mr. Tibbs.

 

Keep up the good work, you sound like a dedicated teacher.

[Perchoutofwater]

When there were core content resource classes, taught by special ed teachers and a teachers aide, following IEP's wasn't an issue.

 

My wife's school still has this, unfortunately it is abused as the reg ed teachers try to send everyone down there that is falling the least bit behind.

[MikesVikes]

I'm not saying that teaching Sped kids in the regular class room is easy. I'm sure it isn't.

 

But my son that just graduated last year had a NLD (non-verbal learning disorder) and missed about 2-3 days a week with migraine headaches. NLD kids don't appear to have special needs so most teachers don't expect less from them. I am sure that I was told during IEP meetings or parent teacher conferences that he needs to work harder in each year that he was in school since the 1st grade. He received no modifications when he should have had them.

 

My wife wouldn't have switched to Sped without this experience, imo.

Edited February 14, 2008 by MikesVikes

[rajncajn]

Big props to you and others in your profession Irish. I don't think I could ever have the patience or a positive enough outlook to handle a job like yours. My Aunt is a Sped teacher as well & one of the best people I know. It takes a special kind of person to really care for these kids and your frustration shows that you do.

[Perchoutofwater]

Some of the best cookies I've ever had were made by the life skills classes at the high school I attended. The made three batches a day, one at mid morning, one at lunch and one at mid afternoon. You could get one for a quarter between classes. You just couldn't beat a warm fresh out of the oven sped cookie.

Edited February 14, 2008 by Perchoutofwater

[irish]

Some of the best cookies I've ever had were made by the life skills classes at the high school I attended. The made three batches a day, one at mid morning, one at lunch and one at mid afternoon. You could get one for a quarter between classes. You just couldn't beat a warm fresh out of the oven sped cookie.

 

Hey talent's talent. Some kids can add, subtract, multiply and divide, some can spell practically any word you give them, some can write, some love science, some are skilled in art, music and phys. ed. and then there are also those who can flat-out bake. Nothing wrong with that.