Why are there so many children with IEPs nowadays?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mass-produced school is anti-human, so when school becomes normalized, humans become "abnormal".

This. I think public school needs to be one model and there needs to be at least one or two other models.
The one size fits all model is broken beyond repair and public school spend more time and money on fighting parents than it does helping children.

Public school does work for everyone and that’s why homeschooling is also an option…as well as private and virtual school.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps we should look at the world we’ve created where so many kids need IEPs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mass-produced school is anti-human, so when school becomes normalized, humans become "abnormal".

This. I think public school needs to be one model and there needs to be at least one or two other models.
The one size fits all model is broken beyond repair and public school spend more time and money on fighting parents than it does helping children.

Teacher here. I also think the school day structure doesn’t help. We are asking kids to do 2 hours of LA and 60-80 mins of math daily. Imagine if each subject was 45 mins. We could have longer time for recess, daily science, and kids wouldn’t be forced to sit and attend to the same thing for so long. I grew up in the 90’s and never had 2 hours of Language Arts or a full hour for math.

I agree with this. Block scheduling is a disgrace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has ADHD and dyslexia. You blaming me for that is pretty disgusting.

I’m not sure who you’re talking to — maybe the PP who said poor parenting? I’m curious what you mean by “blaming”. Would you consider it blaming if it turns out you and your spouse have gene variants that combined to increase the risk for one or both of these diagnoses? They do go hand in hand fairly often.

There are so many genes that influence brain development, cognition, and behavior. And they interact with the environment which can include parenting. I think if we knew more about all of this, and if we had more widespread genetic testing, we would all have a better understanding of why we and/or our kids have various diagnoses. And there would be a lot less blame and guilt along with more resources to help parents learn how they can influence their children’s outcomes positively.

Obviously I’m talking to the person who blamed poor parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mass-produced school is anti-human, so when school becomes normalized, humans become "abnormal".

This. I think public school needs to be one model and there needs to be at least one or two other models.
The one size fits all model is broken beyond repair and public school spend more time and money on fighting parents than it does helping children.

Teacher here. I also think the school day structure doesn’t help. We are asking kids to do 2 hours of LA and 60-80 mins of math daily. Imagine if each subject was 45 mins. We could have longer time for recess, daily science, and kids wouldn’t be forced to sit and attend to the same thing for so long. I grew up in the 90’s and never had 2 hours of Language Arts or a full hour for math.

I agree with this. Block scheduling is a disgrace.

This is a factor for sure. There is so little opportunity in the school day for movement and hands-on project-based learning.

It’s also really hard to help from home. My brother had undiagnosed learning differences as a child and my mom got him through school by reteaching him and helping extensively with homework every night. She could do that because he had textbooks and she could recover the material. My kids HAVE IEPs and I cannot track down what they are learning at school each day/week. It is extremely difficult to compensate for learning differences from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reduced stigma leading to more people seeking a diagnosis, especially at young ages. In previous generations, those kids would have just been labeled as “disruptive.”

Higher expectations in high school and kids who were able to mask it well before then start floundering when faced with tough classes, multiple deadlines, possibly also a job, and after school activities. In earlier generations, some high schoolers didn’t even go to school for a full day. Or they dropped out and started working in a factory or what have you.

Agree with a lot of this. Kids didn't get help in earlier decades, they were just labeled disruptive, or shy, or "smart but won't put in effort," or immature, or whatever.
My DH very obviously has ADHD and my MIL is in total denial, she will laugh about his quirks as a kid but not see that it's a condition that could have been treated. He dropped out of college due to executive functioning issues. I myself spent all of 4th grade chewing my sleeves and shirt collars to shreds in the classroom, and nobody said "Maybe get that kid evaluated for anxiety." Zero teachers said anything at all, and my loving and medically trained parents said "Hey, stop ruining your shirts."

I also think the executive functioning we expect of kids now is overwhelming. We ask them to sit still too long, absorb and carry a lot of information, and do too much after school. Kids need more sleep and more physical activity, even NT kids who are doing fine in school. I personally don't think the answer is more free time to be on screens, so much as different kinds of organized activities - outdoor activity, music, art, community service, work with younger kids, shelve books at the library, etc. Ways to use all the parts of their brains and bodies.

[Anonymous]

It makes me sad that now people equate free time with screens. People don’t want to patent their kids and take the screens away so they sign their kids up for so many activities that the kids are anxious and over scheduled. Why can’t kids just come home and play or read? I’m glad I didn’t have the money to buy a phone or tablet for my kid. Most days he drew or read after he did his homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reduced stigma leading to more people seeking a diagnosis, especially at young ages. In previous generations, those kids would have just been labeled as “disruptive.”

Higher expectations in high school and kids who were able to mask it well before then start floundering when faced with tough classes, multiple deadlines, possibly also a job, and after school activities. In earlier generations, some high schoolers didn’t even go to school for a full day. Or they dropped out and started working in a factory or what have you.

Agree with a lot of this. Kids didn't get help in earlier decades, they were just labeled disruptive, or shy, or "smart but won't put in effort," or immature, or whatever.
My DH very obviously has ADHD and my MIL is in total denial, she will laugh about his quirks as a kid but not see that it's a condition that could have been treated. He dropped out of college due to executive functioning issues. I myself spent all of 4th grade chewing my sleeves and shirt collars to shreds in the classroom, and nobody said "Maybe get that kid evaluated for anxiety." Zero teachers said anything at all, and my loving and medically trained parents said "Hey, stop ruining your shirts."

I also think the executive functioning we expect of kids now is overwhelming. We ask them to sit still too long, absorb and carry a lot of information, and do too much after school. Kids need more sleep and more physical activity, even NT kids who are doing fine in school. I personally don't think the answer is more free time to be on screens, so much as different kinds of organized activities - outdoor activity, music, art, community service, work with younger kids, shelve books at the library, etc. Ways to use all the parts of their brains and bodies.

Even in the 80s and 90s, the only kids getting IEP’s had OBVIOUS disabilities/ID’s, or just needed it to get half hour a week of school speech. At some point recently the attitude changed and it was no longer seen as shameful or super unusual to seek an IEP for your kid, and now a ton of kids have them.

I bet if you think back to your own early elementary classes, you’d remember 1-2 boys who were violent and disruptive, a girl who couldn’t stay on task, a boy who was pushy/couldnt keep his hands to himself and was “hyper,” and a girl who was advanced but “weird” and didn’t fit in with the other kids in a lot of ways and who also had at least one parent who was very similar. Now those kids have: ADHD and ODD, ADD and low processing speed, ADHD, and HFA.

[Anonymous]

Except now it’s almost half of the class in some areas. So don’t say that it’s the same as it used to be. It isn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mass-produced school is anti-human, so when school becomes normalized, humans become "abnormal".

Agreed. So much time, effort, life wasted trying to bend kids into the dysfunctional mold, blaming them for failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Except now it’s almost half of the class in some areas. So don’t say that it’s the same as it used to be. It isn’t.

Again, greater expectations and reduced stigma. You’ll have a few early elementary kids who need speech and/or OT. A few kids who generally need extra time on assignments or tests. Dyslexia is identified earlier so you get those kids in an earlier grade. Vs. in 3rd/4th when you suddenly have a kid who can barely read. More ESOL kids needing more support too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mass-produced school is anti-human, so when school becomes normalized, humans become "abnormal".

This. I think public school needs to be one model and there needs to be at least one or two other models.
The one size fits all model is broken beyond repair and public school spend more time and money on fighting parents than it does helping children.

Teacher here. I also think the school day structure doesn’t help. We are asking kids to do 2 hours of LA and 60-80 mins of math daily. Imagine if each subject was 45 mins. We could have longer time for recess, daily science, and kids wouldn’t be forced to sit and attend to the same thing for so long. I grew up in the 90’s and never had 2 hours of Language Arts or a full hour for math.

I agree with this. Block scheduling is a disgrace.

But we still had block scheduling in the 80s and 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10% of the population historically has had ADHD. No idea what % has ASD. The diagnostic criteria are clearer now, there is no stigma and the way school is run today makes the learning disability noticeable. I think in the past with smaller classes, lots of recess and PE time and lower sit in your seat bored, kids with mild ADHD were fine until high school.

OP here. Thanks to previous two PPs - both interesting takes. I was also thinking the way we live nowadays - hectic, competitive, always running and busy - both parents and kids, overbooked, etc. is hurting kids. The school days do seem so packed and incredibly structured, yet the time assgined for learning with the teachers seems tiny, sometimes i really wonder how teachers find any time to teach with all the paperwork and tracking they have to do.

The causes are more than likely environmental as we learn more about the chemicals in our water/air etc. People's bodies were not meant to contain so much plastic, herbicides etc. There is more contamination of our air and water every day, but yay we have the Orange man in place to make sure the pollution increases exponentially.

[Anonymous]

You are noticing it more because there is more inclusion. There used to be a lot more center use and now everyone is being pushed into general ed settings.

[Anonymous]

Where are you getting your data that there are more students with IEPs? I wouldn't be surprised if there were but understanding the real increase would help to better understand the causes than anecdotal evidence.