This is for BD teachers, I have a opinion question?

Question

HI,

I went out to dinner today with my best friend, she is a first year Special ED teacher...self contained middle school. I was talking to her about school, and asked her if she thought that, if situations at home were more stable and structured if she thought that she would still have the students she has. She thought that 3 out of her 4 students wouldn't be in her class. She also said that the students are capable of learning the stuff in mainstream, but because of an IEP, that she has to pull kids becak because they do not complete their work. So my question is, do you think that Special Ed and/or IEP's enable parents to not parent as because of IEP's, Special Ed teachers can not just allow a child to fail?

Answer 1

While it is true that most BD children have terrible home lives, I would say that these parents would still not parent, even if their child was not on an IEP.

When you say enable, it leads me to think that BD classes are allowing parents to continue with bad parenting. This isn't the case. These parents usually have huge emotional, drug or alcohol problems and could give a flying rip whether their kids are in special classes or not. Ask you friend how many of her parent's come for open house.

I see BD classes as a raft in the middle of a lake of fire. Really they are sometimes the only safe place a child can be in all day. Unfortunately most BD classes forget their purpose which is to teach social and behavioral skills so that their students can go into the mainstream and survive. They concentrate on academics, which is not helping. Sure academics are important, but unless social skills are being taught on a regular basis, then the BD classes fail in their purpose.

Finally, I hate to tell you this, but because of NCLB, BD students can and do fail. Some repeat third grade as many times as the law will allow. That is due to the fact that NCLB demands that special education students who plan to get a regular diploma, must be taught on grade level, regardless of their reading levels and IEP goals. This is totally ridiculous of course, but this is what happens when people in Congress think they are educators.

Answer 2

I was there for all my children, but the school system kept putting an IEP tag on everyone of them, just because one child in the family needs the help does not mean that all are the same.  I refused help for my second child and his fourth grade teacher gave him phonics.  And wouldn't you know it WOW he can read great now.  The system was failing him  just like I was telling the Teachers at every IEP meeting they drug me into.  My son Learned to have a personal Secretary (Them) read for him. Why should he try to learn to read.

His fourth grade teacher told me once she was the teacher. She was supposed to teach him how to read, write and do math.  

My job she said was already done when I taught him how to Respect and listen to his teacher in order for her to teach him

I have five children, I am not lazy, in fact I took two part time jobs so that I could send them to a private school who will work with me and teach my kids in the manner that they need.

Public schools want us to do all the work.  That I can't do.

I tried teaching them at home.  I am not a teacher.  It takes a special person to be a teacher.

The Fourth Grade teacher who taught my  son how to read would not go along with the principal and other teachers and put him in a special classroom.   Instead she did her job.

The first time I met her at a parent teacher conference and I hung my head and said I Know you want to put my son in a special class.  She just laughed and said what the H_ _ _ for

your son is just lazy and wants to do as little as possible

Didn't you notice how much better he reads.  I told her yes, but thought the other kids must be so much further ahead.

She informed me that No   He was at his own grade level already.       This took her only four months to do.

My son had a upper first to almost second grade reading level when he joined her class.   In Four months she had him caught up.   How and why??? you might say.   One she believed in the phonics, like I did.   Two she really enjoyed and actually did her job.  

I believe that a parent has a duty towards their child, and they should help the school.  

BUT it is the teachers JOB to educate, more so than the parent.  

They have the child six hours a day, now seven. where my kids go to school.

And yet with my five kids I was supposed to Feed them, do homework, get baths and then still do the teachers job all in four hours before they went to bed to start another day of school.  

Yes I sent my kids to school not knowing much,  Maybe spell their names and sing the ABC .   But I come from a generation where that was what a mother was supposed to do.\

The teacher who helped my son and later my daughter was forced out of her job, by a system who only saw politics and cared about proficieny tests.  

They lost sight of the child.   My son's fourth grade teacher would not leave one behind, even once they made her take the phonics out of her classroom.   She found a way to teach and did it good.    She deserves a metal.  

Once she was forced out and died a short two years late, I no longer needed a school that would and could not work with me for the good of my children.

So a found a Christian School that believes in the child not the numbers.   They are doing quite well.  

And can you believe it,  Our school tests highest on OGT tests that they have out there.    We have a small classrooms

My daughter only has four in her's.   But who cares, it works

Good Luck to everyone else out there.   I will never go back to a public School    I will get four jobs first.

Answer 3

I'm sure that IEPs are taken advantage of just like most systems set out to help ppl are also taken advantage of.

Some ppl need those IEP's tho (my son has autism). He has been 'mainstreamed' now and without the IEP he would probably not make it. His is not as lenient as some. I know he can do the work so when I was asked if we should add all these extras to pad the job for him I said no. Don't get me wrong there are places that he needs help and I want that help available to him but he doesn't need to ride the IEP ride either.

Some things probably do allow parents not to parent but, do you think the parents would step up to the plate if the IEP were taken away? I doubt they would so where would these kids be? Drop outs I'm sure. If the extra help can keep the kid in school then I'm for giving extra where it might not be necessary.

Answer 4

Honestly, IEP equals social security benefits because the child in now labeled with a "disability"...I would say 75% of the LS students in my building have no disability at all.  Sadly, the parents brainwash their kids so that when that SSI hearing comes up, the kids can say, "Yeah, I got a learning problem...I don't read so good."

It is a real disservice to the kids who do need the help.

Answer 5

One of the most profound issues that sticks in my mind concerning ED students is meeting the parents and realizing that the only reason their child is in ED education is because they were totally inept at parenting skills.  Many parents actually made me think  "people like that shouldn't even be allowed to have kids."  Fortunately I was able to turn some lives around for the better despite the inadequacies of the parents.

To address the other issue it is a well known fact that government funding greatly affects decisions in the educational forum and stands tantamount to that of actual educational standard.  Whatever works best for the annual income of the higher echelon of education leaders gets the choice award.

Answer 6

yes I think it does

Answer 7

Public education is political. It is a system designed for certain subgroups to fail, esp in the southern areas. Principals do not want you to retain anybody even when the kids can't read or stare into space and complete nothing all day long and IEPs allow students to remain in school as they terrorize teachers and other students with behavior and/or servere academic deficiencies. It is a c**p system. Parents of today are young and uneducated, they send their kids off to school not even knowing how to spell their own names. It makes teachers jobs even harder because teachers are expected to do it all yet get paid out of a pigs a**.

Answer 8

I was a BD Special Education teacher for 10 years in my last year of teaching ( I haven't been in a classroom for 4 years) only 1 of my students lived with their biological mother.  All others were living in foster homes or with relatives.  The year prior to that all but one of my students lived with only their mothers and the remaining student lived in foster care.  I would say that had these students had both parents and a structured family life that they would have been fine!!!  I believe that single mothers can and do raise fine children who become wonderful adults but these children in particular needed two parents and a village to give them structure and support to watch over them and help them make the right decisions.  All of them identified to me verbally or in their writing assignments that the lose of their fathers was traumatic and marked their lives significantly.

Answer 9

just because kids are in special ed does not mean that they can not pass with the rest of there class . maybe they are just lazy and not stuped just to lazy to to there work there teacher moved them down . special ed teachers should not fail a child if the child is trying hard and getting all there work done .