Guidelines for special Ed kids in gen Ed

[Anonymous]

My daughter is in a second-grade class of 27 students, and at least 9 have IEPs. The current mix of needs seems to be creating significant challenges in the classroom. My child frequently complains about the noise level and disruptive behaviors, and she’s having trouble concentrating. She’s also started showing signs of anxiety related to school.

I’m aware of the number of students receiving services because my daughter is 1 of 4 students with dyslexia who receive OG tutoring together (parents have confirmed this), and there are 5 students with autism who attend social-emotional classes together (4 parents have shared their diagnoses directly with me).

I fully support inclusion, but it doesn’t feel like this setup is serving any of the students well without additional support. The classroom teacher is clearly stretched thin. I also spoke with the principal, who said there isn’t funding for an aide. The special education teacher is shared with another grade, so they’re only in the classroom about 50% of the time.

Does anyone know what the FCPS guidelines are for elementary classrooms regarding class size and the number or percentage of students with IEPs in a single classroom?

[Anonymous]

My child was in the "IEP" classroom for the grade where they stuck all the students who had IEP's and 504 plans. The classroom was exactly as you describe it.

My child who had an IEP for a learning disability in reading and writing was learning absolutely nothing because the general education teacher seemed to act as if students with IEP's were the responsibility of the special education teacher. However, the special education teacher had to deal with so many behavior issues that my child who was supposed to be getting help in reading, never really was getting that help.

We ended up pulling him out of school and sending him to intensive reading tutoring (Lindamoodbell) for three months. It was ridiculously expensive but we kept rationalizing it was cheaper than a SN private school. He made two years worth of reading progress in those three months. Then we enrolled him in a private Catholic School for the structure and paid for weekly reading tutoring.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know how elementary works, but in HS it’s been common for me to have a lot more than 9/27 in a class have a 504 or IEP if it’s a team taught class. And you haven’t even mentioned how many need ELL support.

9/27 doesn’t sound like an issue at all. But I don’t teach in an elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how elementary works, but in HS it’s been common for me to have a lot more than 9/27 in a class have a 504 or IEP if it’s a team taught class. And you haven’t even mentioned how many need ELL support.

9/27 doesn’t sound like an issue at all. But I don’t teach in an elementary school.

+1. Middle and high school have team taught classes of 30 where 17 of the students have IEPs. It's a mess but it saves money. OP, I would start looking for outside support for your child. She's not going to get the amount of services she requires in the type of classroom you've described.

[Anonymous]

This is the new thing and being pushed way more. I am the inclusion teacher and it’s been more challenging this year and I’ve had the SPED kids for the last several years.

[Anonymous]

This is your principal's fault. Not all elementary schools put all of the IEP kids in one classroom. We've been in two FCPS elementaries. The first one spread all of the special ed children throughout multiple classrooms (and had a separate autism program) and the second one put them all together (presumably to make it easier on the special ed teacher). As a parent of NT children, I much preferred having them spread out throughout multiple classrooms, but I am sure parents of special ed children prefer to have one classroom so the teacher is with their child all day. I don't think there is a winning situation here.

[Anonymous]

I hope that you are not relying on just in school tutoring to help your child's dyslexia. Make sure you get a private tutor ASAP - 2nd grade is when we were able to get my dyslexic child on track. It helps that FCPS has a better phonics-based approach than they used to, but it's still not Wilson, so you need an outside tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is your principal's fault. Not all elementary schools put all of the IEP kids in one classroom. We've been in two FCPS elementaries. The first one spread all of the special ed children throughout multiple classrooms (and had a separate autism program) and the second one put them all together (presumably to make it easier on the special ed teacher). As a parent of NT children, I much preferred having them spread out throughout multiple classrooms, but I am sure parents of special ed children prefer to have one classroom so the teacher is with their child all day. I don't think there is a winning situation here.

It’s staffing. If there is 1 SPED teacher supporting 5 kids they need to be in the same classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is your principal's fault. Not all elementary schools put all of the IEP kids in one classroom. We've been in two FCPS elementaries. The first one spread all of the special ed children throughout multiple classrooms (and had a separate autism program) and the second one put them all together (presumably to make it easier on the special ed teacher). As a parent of NT children, I much preferred having them spread out throughout multiple classrooms, but I am sure parents of special ed children prefer to have one classroom so the teacher is with their child all day. I don't think there is a winning situation here.

It’s staffing. If there is 1 SPED teacher supporting 5 kids they need to be in the same classroom.

+1
FCPS is being required to do fewer “pull outs”, so the teacher has to go into the classroom to provide services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in a second-grade class of 27 students, and at least 9 have IEPs. The current mix of needs seems to be creating significant challenges in the classroom. My child frequently complains about the noise level and disruptive behaviors, and she’s having trouble concentrating. She’s also started showing signs of anxiety related to school.

I’m aware of the number of students receiving services because my daughter is 1 of 4 students with dyslexia who receive OG tutoring together (parents have confirmed this), and there are 5 students with autism who attend social-emotional classes together (4 parents have shared their diagnoses directly with me).

I fully support inclusion, but it doesn’t feel like this setup is serving any of the students well without additional support. The classroom teacher is clearly stretched thin. I also spoke with the principal, who said there isn’t funding for an aide. The special education teacher is shared with another grade, so they’re only in the classroom about 50% of the time.

Does anyone know what the FCPS guidelines are for elementary classrooms regarding class size and the number or percentage of students with IEPs in a single classroom?

Yes, this is an issue. In many schools, all students with IEPs in a grade are grouped into a single classroom for staffing purposes. For example, if there are ten students with IEPs in a grade, they are often placed together in one classroom with a single special education teacher or instructional assistant. Schools are not hiring enough special education staff to appropriately support students across multiple classrooms, so this grouping becomes a staffing solution rather than an educational one.

Many of these students have IEPs related to behavior and social-emotional needs, often associated with autism, ADHD, or emotional disabilities. With only one special education teacher supporting a large group, these students are not receiving the individualized support their IEPs require. Services such as push-in support for reading or science may amount to only about an hour total, shared among ten students, which is clearly insufficient.

This model is not effective for students with special education needs, and it also disrupts learning for other students in the classroom. My child, who does not have a disability, is placed in this classroom and does not receive the attention or instructional focus they need due to the level of behavioral disruption. This is one of the reasons our family is considering private school or homeschooling.

Unfortunately, this situation does not improve in middle or high school. While I support inclusion, I do not support full inclusion for all students in all settings. Some students with significant behavioral needs require additional staffing or alternative placements to ensure they—and their peers—can learn effectively.

A major part of the problem is funding. Federal law requires schools to comply with IDEA, but federal funding does not adequately support the mandates of the law. At the same time, advocacy for full inclusion has become highly political in this area, and full inclusion is more prevalent here than in other parts of the country. In many other regions, students with significant behavioral needs are placed in separate classrooms or alternative settings that better meet their needs.

Without increased staffing and more flexible placement options, neither students with IEPs nor their peers are being well served.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how elementary works, but in HS it’s been common for me to have a lot more than 9/27 in a class have a 504 or IEP if it’s a team taught class. And you haven’t even mentioned how many need ELL support.

9/27 doesn’t sound like an issue at all. But I don’t teach in an elementary school.

+1. Middle and high school have team taught classes of 30 where 17 of the students have IEPs. It's a mess but it saves money. OP, I would start looking for outside support for your child. She's not going to get the amount of services she requires in the type of classroom you've described.

Those numbers are horrible and not acceptable, but certainly not the same as a teacher trying to support 9 significant IEP’s by herself. Over 50% of the day is with no support at all. Picture trying to give any assignment when 5 kids need scribe/read to and the other 20 also need you and you are alone. The system at all levels is broken.

[Anonymous]

When my DD was in second grade she was in a class like this. It was "team taught" and she loved both teachers--even though the special ed teacher was not her teacher.
As I recall, there were two kids who were extremely needy and others were probably fine in gened.

I will say that the teachers were wonderful and kind and worked well together.

Another mom called me and wanted me to help her step in and stop the program because she thought it was affecting her child in a negative way. Her child was a behavior problem (I had seen him in action at the swimming pool) and I suspect she was looking to blame others.
I told her that my DD loved the class.

However, my DS in high school was in a team taught class as a gened student. The next year he decided to take honors because the class was so out of control--and my DS was no "goody twoshoes."

[Anonymous]

My child was always in the inclusion class in elementary because she was a high achiever at a young age and was very independent. She did not make it into AAP and was stuck. It was awful. She was ignored basically for the last 2-3 years and the expectations for her were so low that now her own drive and motivation for school is low. We placed her in all honors classes in middle school so thankfully she isn’t with those kids anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my DD was in second grade she was in a class like this. It was "team taught" and she loved both teachers--even though the special ed teacher was not her teacher.
As I recall, there were two kids who were extremely needy and others were probably fine in gened.

I will say that the teachers were wonderful and kind and worked well together.

Another mom called me and wanted me to help her step in and stop the program because she thought it was affecting her child in a negative way. Her child was a behavior problem (I had seen him in action at the swimming pool) and I suspect she was looking to blame others.
I told her that my DD loved the class.

However, my DS in high school was in a team taught class as a gened student. The next year he decided to take honors because the class was so out of control--and my DS was no "goody twoshoes."

Sorry that your DS got a bad team taught class. My HS'er who has Special Ed support for core classes found their non-team taught Gen Ed classes to be the worst behaved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was always in the inclusion class in elementary because she was a high achiever at a young age and was very independent. She did not make it into AAP and was stuck. It was awful. She was ignored basically for the last 2-3 years and the expectations for her were so low that now her own drive and motivation for school is low. We placed her in all honors classes in middle school so thankfully she isn’t with those kids anymore.

This is a trope at this point. Stop blaming SPED kids for your child’s lack of attention and motivation. “Those kids” are my kids and I think ALL kids deserve attention. It’s the adults with lack of funding that caused your kid to be ignored and become jaded. Just stop.