Aunt Sally and her effects are alive and well.
My favorite art teacher pal and I have two presentation gigs!
Yep. TWO!
One is in a few weeks to a local woman's group of 70. 70!
The other is to a special education conference on inclusion at a nearby university.
We are thrilled and just know that through these two engagements we will be able to score more gigs. Well, we are so very engaging and irresistible. Our wit is contagious. Our message is profound.
This gives me hope. I have been in a free fall. No direction, no clue where to even start figuring it out.
I just heard from my dear friend yearbook picture taking mom that some really stupid (STUPID!) things are going on in our neighborhood early childhood room. She could only stand to be in there 5 minutes before she ran out of there pulling large clumps of hair from her head. Really. The teacher (and I use that term very loosely) was trying to get the wee ones in various stages of delayed development and sensory issues to sit still. OMFG. And this is how she was doing it...."If you sit still, then you get a marshmallow". Dear GOD. The choking possibilities! The fact that this is the stupidest way to get wee ones to sit still...and hey, why do they even have to sit still? Really. Don't they have bigger issues that we should be tending to?
I don't even know where to start. Do the teachers not stay current with best practice and research? Don't universities stay current in what they teach to young teachers in training? Don't the special education administrators stay current, observe and guide?
Well, the answer to all the above is NO. Who is current? Most of the parents of special needs kids. Although some are chasing ridiculous promises of cures that are proven time and again to not work, we are an informed group. We are a desperate group, so I forgive us. But I do not forgive stupid people in schools messing with our kids. And while I am ever grateful for Public Law 94-142 and IDEA, if we have no checks and balances by qualified, current and smart people of what quality is it? In so many cases special ed services are glorified baby sitting. I will stop now. My blood pressure is going up.
And I know all special ed teachers are not subpar. I, for example, am suburb!
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I thoroughly enjoy your blog and i thought I'd stop lurking because you have touched on a topic very close to home for me. I am currently teaching in a private day school working with all the kids districts can't place and a number of students no one else will take. We are small only 4 classrooms, divided by age. I have a coworker who has expressed to me in the past that she is here because it is easier than regular ed. WTF! What she means is she has ALL 1:1 staff (yeah it's another bizarre thing about this place) so she can sit at her desk all day and DO NOTHING. There are students in HER classroom that she pretty much refuses to work with and leaves her staff to deal with everything. Another teacher has a TBI and CAN NOT function as a teacher. Sweet kind woman, but the attention of a goldfish. Her staff are floundering because it is 2 weeks into January and they have received NONE of the curriculum materials for the students. She also runs a hour+ morning meeting with highly active, kids with BD, autism and just the normal NEED TO MOVE! It is killing my SLP and I to woatch these kids in the other rooms get such a sub par experience from these two idiots. And our administrator has not enough backbone and not enough support from his higher ups to do ANYTHING. PLus our 3rd and really very good teacher is out big chunks of the remainder of the year undergoing treatment for cancer. So I REALLY appreciate your viewpoints and similar frustrations. I also LOVE to hear about your boys and your parental views as well. THANKS!
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