Sad State of Affairs, Personal, Local and Otherwise

Wow.  What a weekend.  Unmedicated Movie Man was quite the trip as he tried to get his biography done.  His wonderful teacher allowed him to put it in movie format, but unmedicated he got so distracted by every single flashy phase in and out, spinning words and photos, sound effects that after three hours he still had only one frame done.  GRRRR!
Anyway, it was done by 9 PM Sunday evening.... and this is after sitting with him one-on-one, lots of yelling, bribery, snacks and breaks.... Anyone else living like this?  How do you do it??


I am so distracted by what is going on in public education this morning that I cannot think straight.  So pardon my babbling.


I simply do not understand how our federal government can continue to spend billions on bailing out car makers, bankers, insurance companies and also pay for a war that will net no outcome worth the billions (not to forget the lives!) spent, and NOT throw some well deserved money at struggling school districts.  I just don't get it.  I thought this administration understood the importance of education?  I voted for this administration.  I want a call from the White House.  I want to talk to Arnie and then to the President.  I will spare you what I would say as you all would say the very same things.


I have been filling my hours in immobilizing angst.  Although I signed my contract to go back next year, I am not sure I can do it.


Here is the latest report from my old room.


Two of the most damaged kiddos rebelled horrifically to the points and levels.  One is now starting fires at home and suspensions for the year have exceeded 20 days ( this is a 5th grader, people!).  One is out until midnight every night and cannot function at school... has done ZERO school work all year. this is not an exaggeration.  Nothing.


OK, so are the adults rethinking how they are treating the kids?  Are the adults at school rethinking their methodologies?
Oh, they are!  The district hired another educational assistant to be one-on-one with one of the boys to keep the two apart! Can you stand it?


They did not adjust any other variable.  They did not get rid of the points or levels.  They did not suspend the academics and provide activities that help kids like them get re-regulated.  They did not try to build relationships.  They did not rearrange the daily schedule to ensure those two kids got what they needed so they could then even entertain the idea that school might be an OK place to  be for 7 hours a day.


Nope, what they did was put 100% onus on the children to be different and to conform.  The kids pushed back and won.  Another year lost.  Now they both face alternative placements in self contained programs made of much of the same.


Another kiddo who lived in an incredibly abusive home... I  mean horrific.... was removed over the summer and is doing really well!  He is happy, productive.


But guess what?  Social Services is putting him back with his mother!!!  This woman is mentally ill, mean, evil, and there is no way she is ready to have her kids back.  She gets a large chunk of cash when the kids live with her, so she is motivated to play the game with those fat SSI checks dangled in front of her.


One of my girls is growing a mustache.... yep.... she always said she wanted to be a boy.  I have had concerns about her all along as she lives in a bazaar world and knows not fantasy from reality.  Her mother is as nuts and I wonder now if this poor girl's gender identity issues are at the root of it all.  There is no way her mother will ever have an open discussion about her daughter.  With anyone.


But the worst of it all is that poor Aunt Sally sits unused in the corner of the room.  For a whole year.  A wonderful, proven useful and therapeutic tool sits unused for a whole year... while kids are screaming for alternative methodologies, there Aunt Sally sits.  Powerless to help.


As am I.

And Now We See How That's Working For You

I am fuming, sad, frustrated, heartbroken, almost speechless.  

I met a handful of delightful and intimate friends for dinner last night.  Included were a wonderfully gifted 5th grade teacher who does wonders with EBD kiddos, my favorite art teacher and co-writer of Aunt Sally, my favorite 1st grade teacher who is forced to use an inordinate amount of energy warding off her negative 1st grade teammates, and my soul sister educational assistant of 4 years.

We first had a cocktail and chatted about my new status as grandmother.  We ordered dinner, caught up and then it started.

The EBD student by student review.  I remind you here that my students are on their second EBD teacher this year and the principal decided that the new teacher needed to continue to follow the point and level system put in place by the first replacement teacher this year.  You all know how I feel about that.  

So I find out that one of my dearest-to-me-students has been hospitalized, has dragged a teacher by her hair to the floor, has done no school work for over three months, ran from school more than once, is living with a mother with so many problems she can't find her way out of a paper bag let alone raise a troubled son, and had to have a manifestation IEP due to 13 days of suspension thus far this year.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  He is in 5th grade!!  

So, how's that point and level system working for him?

I then find out that another student is in the exact same boat and escalating daily.  

So, how is that point and level system working for him?

We move on to another kiddo who is quite interesting and endearing.  Difficult family situation and clearly on the spectrum, but nobody has taken the time to make sure that gets medically or educationally diagnosed so he can access all sorts of resources.  Anyway he is flapping, not working as well as he used to and becoming 'belligerent'.  I ask how does 'belligerent' look.  I get a description that I interpret as a kid on the spectrum trying to communicate a need.  I ask about the flapping.  They say it is happening in all environments now and throughout the day.  I then ask if anyone is addressing this stuff.  Here is what I was told.

"The social worker and a few others say he is not on the spectrum because flapping doesn't start this late in age for kids on the spectrum."

HUH?    HUH?   What?  And these incompetents get the last say on the matter?  

I remind the group that this kiddo flapped minimally in stressful situations since third grade.  That we were able to predict when he might flap and we actively did all we could to help him through stressful situations, thus almost eliminating the flapping.  Which means we were teaching him to manage his stress AND we were manipulating the environment to ensure he was stress free thus keeping his mind relaxed so he could be an effective learner.

So then my soul sister teacher assistant (SS) and I get into a debate that was very productive and scary all at the same time.  When I find out from best ever art teacher that one of the above mentioned kiddos can draw amazing pictures on an etch-a-sketch!  I ask if the EBD room is using that as a therapeutic component.  She says to me (and this is what makes me so, so, so, sad because she knows better and this is not her natural style), "When would we have him do that?  There is no time.  He does no work.  We can't reward him for that.  He has to be held accountable."  

And then she drops the bomb.

The plan is to fail/retain 2 of the above mentioned boys.   Give me a minute here.  I need to step away from my desk.

What I really want to do is to storm into my school this afternoon and lock the principal in her office and have it out with her.  Why is she allowing this to happen?

Now, dear readers, feel free to stop reading at this point and going on to some other more pleasant activity.

1.  Level systems and point systems do not work unless they are in place to help extinguish very specific behaviors AND base line data has been collected AND a thorough FBA has been done AND it is deemed to be the only and most effective way to extinguish the behavior AND is short term.

2.  The two most significantly challenged boys are responding to the level and point system by pushing back as hard as they can.  And they are winning.  Turning the screws of the level and point system tighter is causing them to push back harder.  Hello?!  Anybody paying attention here?  Level system tightens, boys act out even more.  Tighten more to make those damn boys accountable, and the boys act out even more.  Make school life even more intolerable for the boys just to show them who is boss, and they become violent and even more resistant to learning.

3.  Shouldn't we allow for some joy in their lives?  There is none in either homes.  Joy begets joy.  Respect and understanding promotes self awareness and a sense of well-being which then allows for learning.  Those brains are so shut down now, I fear a whole year has been wasted.  Worse, though, is this year has actually caused serious damage and I don't know if we can recover.

4.  If kids are not learning, are so angry all they can do is act out, then it is our job to alter the environment to keep them calm, comfortable and able to learn.  And just maybe academic learning isn't going to happen for a few months.  So what?! Mental health issues are serious contenders and call for prioritized attention.

5.  Retaining kids in 5th grade, especially minority boys, increases the likelihood of dropping out of school exponentially.  Yeah, we'll show them!  They won't take charge of their lives and make responsible choices... let's retain them!  What about society and schools making responsible choices on their behalf?  How about the adults overcoming their mental health and personal issues without medication and basic care?  Just try it!

6.  Get that flapping kiddo a descent diagnosis by someone who understands it.  Isms (flapping, scripting, other repetitive movements, seemingly meaningless rituals) can surface in a person on the spectrum at any age, at any time and MUST BE ATTENDED TO!  They are blatant communication that something is not right.  

7.  The administrators in charge are idiots, clueless and have dropped the ball.  No one is paying attention.  Why?  Perhaps if I had stayed in my administrative program I would have the answer to that by now.  

I doubt it.

My plan?  Continue to rant, of course.  To buy a few etch-a-sketches and help them find their way into my old room.  To meet with the principal with my concerns and discuss my conditions for coming back in the fall.  (EEEEWWW!  Did I just say that?  I guess I did as I am sweating and my heart is racing and I must excuse myself to the bathroom.)  No way they can meet my demands.

I have so much more to rant about.  I must get on with my day which includes an afternoon in the art room dyeing sheets for Aunt Sally.  I am sure to find peace in that.  Maybe I could invite above mentioned kids to help out.  

Oh, I forgot.  They don't deserve any breaks.  They haven't done their worksheets for the day!

Changing of the Guard

Today is  ST/RT's  last day in my room.  She took a job within the district in another area of specialty.  Ironically, this position will be cut at the end of the year and she knew that when she took it.   ???

In the last few days I have heard more horror stories about her practice and the mess I will return to next fall.  I cannot understand why the principal let all this unfold as it has.  There are just so many things I don't get about being a member of the Dark Side.  Kids have been hurt significantly.

So I have been pondering, as I am want to do, and I decided not to paint anyone in a completely negative light. So I emailed RT with congrats on the new job and wished her well, thanked her for working with the kids.  I get back the following.

"Thanks.  I am glad things have worked out for you."  HUH???

But here is what galls me most about the whole ordeal.  The district interviewed teachers to finish off the year in my room.  They choose one, she accepts, and then she calls Sped Director to decline.  OK.  That stuff happens.  But the Sped Director NEVER told anyone else!!!  So RT and principal are waiting for new hire to show up yesterday to go over details and to pass the baton.  No show.  They call.  She says she notified Sped Director days ago that she was not going to take the position.

HUH????

Are you kidding me?????

So now a last minute sub will have to be called in to the mess.

Oh yeah.  That's great for kids.

Kids First!

Speaking Gigs and Ramblings

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!

Affirmation Comes in Ugly Packages

Oh my. How quickly things change in my school district. The lovely newish teacher described in my last entry got bumped by a senior teacher. Cripes. Here's the low down. Senior teacher got cut .5 last spring so has been looking for a .5 all summer. Couldn't find anything to her liking. Angst set in and probably ruined her summer. My posting came and went. Senior teacher is certified to teach EBD, but still did not jump on it. Newish teacher (who had yet to be assigned a position for this school year) gets assigned my position as nobody else in the district wanted my job. Go figure. Meanwhile senior teacher gets assigned a .5 in a discipline she is not interested in and that now makes her a traveling teacher. 48 hours later, senior teacher in angst decides to use her contractual right as senior traveling teacher and bumps newish least senior non-traveling teacher. God knows where the poor newish teacher ended up. I hear she may have been assigned positions at least 2 more times before it got settled. Now, really, is this any way to treat an enthusiastic, well intentioned, promising newish teacher? It's no small miracle she didn't change career paths immediately! I digress....

So, now we have senior teacher in my old position. Elementary EBD teacher with a very challenging caseload.

OK readers, here is where you will begin to see what I am all about. I expect a few hits from you all. Senior Teacher and I have VERY different styles. I use a psycho educational approach and it serves me very well. I have absolutely NO USE for level systems, token economies, point systems...ineffective old school methodologies. I have made some noteworthy gains with my students, turned three principals into believers of my way, and converted many classroom teachers into coming along for the ride without points and tokens.

Senior Teacher (ST) is all about points, levels, token economies and earning your way out of EBD. My kids will be in shock. My parapros are trying their hardest to adjust and embrace it. The first hours in EBDland during staff prep days were hard for them. It did not help that ST walked through the room with one of them and item by item asked for purpose of everything in there. It did not help that she announced she was changing everything. It did not help that she has a 3-4 page document that she is handing out that describes in great detail her points, levels and token economy policy. Good luck with that. Half my parents are illiterate. The other half are ODD and like hell will this sit well with them!

ST has made it clear that she has no use for large tables, she prefers desks in rows. Forget that I had been using large tables for 4 years (with success, mind you) to teach them how to share space with others so when they do cooperative groups in their general ed classes and work at large tables in art with others they can do so in peace. She has no use for all the sensory integration stuff (large bounding balls, large balls on legs for sitting, weighted lap pads) and had all the balls deflated stating that in her experience those sorts of things are only used for hitting one another with. (Gee, how is that point system working for you if you cannot even use great sensory stuff without it becoming a source of behavioral inappropriateness?) She has no use for puzzles or toys. "There won't be any time in here for playing." Gee, isn't play therapy a good thing? Isn't allowing supervised free time to play with others a great way to teach cooperation so when they have recess they know how to do it? Doesn't that help kids develop a sense of what to do with free and unstructured time? She did not approve of the popcorn maker or the case of instant oatmeal in the cupboards. Let's see, we have several on meds that require food when taken, several who don't eat because there is NO FOOD at home, and quite frankly, what sort of EBD program doesn't have food as a major component?

Here is the bottom line of how I am reacting emotionally. I feel devalued, negated, and discounted by ST. She has no use for my program (which is highly respected and observed frequently by other teachers in other schools). She wanted to know little to nothing about what I did, how the kids responded, what worked, what did not. She moved in, shoved me out. Holly crap did I tailspin into outrage, grief, self loathing, indignation and explosive diarrhea. Sorry, but you need to know the truth. I spent the next day in the sort of grief I imagine takes hold when someone you totally cannot live without dies. I have no doubt I have embarrassed myself to colleagues on whose shoulders I cried, ranted, raved, and snotted.

I had to get a grip, so I did what any reasonable person would do. I ate lots of chocolate cake and a whole basket of deep fried onion strings. (My relationship with food can be explored another time.) I then went to my good friend Wayne Dyer and found my way. He's good. Really good. I am in a good spot right now. I intend to stay here.

Here's the deal. I need to leave direct service. I need to make the shift from service provider to expert/consultant/program developer (thank you youngest sis) because what I know to be right and best practice, is right and best practice and too many EBD teachers are still allowed to practice what is not in the best interest of kids because principals don't know what is best in EBDland. They just need a warm body in those programs that keeps a good part of the bad news from the rest of the building. They have high stakes testing and all the logistical nightmares required to run a school much higher on the list of priorities. Districts (more importantly, students) need people like me to develop, manage and support effective EBD programs, to provide a vision and some consistency within the special ed departments, to support EBD teachers on the brink of their own mental and physical health issues due to job stress.

It was damn hard to let go and depersonalize what ST is doing. It was hard to reframe and not take her changes personally, as a professional assault. ST is a gift in the form of affirmation that I am doing what I am meant to do.

FYI....I had chocolate cake and coffee for breakfast as I blogged today.