MCPS is executing significant changes to special education that directly affect autistic students and their families.

[Anonymous]

A lot of this is getting beyond the Autism Unit losing support. But, I think it all gets to the heart of the issue. Shifting resources from one part of special ed to another is just exacerbating the overarching problem- special education doesn't have enough resources to go around. The Autism Programs were actually running fairly well and I wonder if it's some misguided attempt to help other areas thinking that these programs will continue to run smoothly without the central office support. That's a HUGE mistake.

RTSEs in elementary schools are great but only solve one problem- lightening the paperwork load for sped teachers. A few behavior specialists on the CFTs is not going to fix the huge behavior problems schools are dealing with and as many have said the special ed specialists (not specific to Autism or other discrete programs) they had bad experiences with were just shifted to those CFTs. Clearly they aren't helping much. But that is the model Taylor thinks is going to handle all the sped support schools need now. Autism specialists still have jobs for now but with no supervisor and no real autism unit, how will they be used?? These questions are not being answered. Gatekeeping happens because there aren't enough seats in a lot of discrete programs, so why not give resources to open more up? There are ways to work toward fixing the system but Taylor is not interested in actually pursuing them.

[Anonymous]

So what can we do as parents to stop the cuts? How can we use our voices to prevent the loss of services?
Practical suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what can we do as parents to stop the cuts? How can we use our voices to prevent the loss of services?
Practical suggestions?

Email and testify before the Board of Ed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a specials teacher at a high-needs elementary. You would be shocked at what happens when — multiple times per year — an international student arrives who is nonverbal, evidently has autism, cannot communicate with us or understand instructions, and remains in the general ed classroom all year and for the rest of their elementary years. I have never seen a student placed elsewhere. The best outcome has been when they are given a one-on-one.

I'm a middle-school teacher who teaches ELD 1 (1st year English learners) at a tier 1 Title 1 school. For international students with significant special ed needs, it takes 18 months to get an IEP and then, the students get no further placement. They spend up to three years in gen ed classes that are inappropriate for their needs. If people wonder why outcomes are poor for Title 1 schools, here is one of the reasons: students needing one-on-one special education support are not provided it in gen ed classes, and teachers have to do the best they can with it all. Instruction for the whole class suffers.

Seriously? Why does it take so long? That sounds terrible for everyone involved.

It takes so long because international families often don't know how to advocate through the thicket of special education. They have no idea that their students may be entitled to something different than what is offered in a mainstream classroom. They don't have the funds to hire an attorney and they would be afraid to cause a stir. These are the students that are very easy for MCPS to ignore. MCPS just directs the mainstream classroom teacher will differentiate. It's obscene for students with needs, exhausting for teachers, and unfair to classmates who deserve an education.

But don't the classroom teachers notice and flag that the kids don't belong in a mainstream classroom and get the process started? Why would that take years rather than months?

School based teams are also charged with determining if the challenges are language fluency based or due to a lack of (or inconsistent) schooling, before evaluating for a disability. All the data collected from school based assessments is in English and it’s expected that students not fluent in English will struggle with material/ have academic deficits. I believe the 18 months quoted above aligns with when language learners move from conversational language to academic managed. For better or worse, the intent is to prevent over identification of English Language Learners as special needs students. In practice it’s super frustrating when the whole team knows something big is going on and it can’t be addressed in a timely fashion.

You must be from central office with your gaslighting lies. The staff that screens international students in central office doesn't even check for home language literacy, which is an indicator of interrupted education, and will greatly challenge language-learning of a second language. Instead, MCPS staff take a scared parent's word for it that their child has been continually in school until arriving in the US. That is the extent of screening. It takes just a few minutes on the first day in class that a student to determine that, in secondary school, they can't read or respond to "My name is____________," in their home language because they do not possess literacy skills.

It is obvious on day one that some students have significant special education needs. These students with obvious needs, eg, profound intellectual disability, wait 18 months to receive an IEP and then, they are still not placed in the appropriate setting, because they are international students and their parents do not have the social or financial capital to demand better. So these students remain in mainstream classrooms. I remember one father, who could not speak English, had a neighbor write a tortured letter in English to the school begging for his child to get better help, because didn't we realize that she is disabled?

Mcps should be using translators.

MCPS has people who speak multiple languages. That isn't the issue. The issue is that MCPS doesn't help international students with special needs. MCPS knows there is little chance of repercussions if they fail to help these students. And everyone in the mainstream classrooms with students who don't receive the appropriate services, pays the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a specials teacher at a high-needs elementary. You would be shocked at what happens when — multiple times per year — an international student arrives who is nonverbal, evidently has autism, cannot communicate with us or understand instructions, and remains in the general ed classroom all year and for the rest of their elementary years. I have never seen a student placed elsewhere. The best outcome has been when they are given a one-on-one.

I'm a middle-school teacher who teaches ELD 1 (1st year English learners) at a tier 1 Title 1 school. For international students with significant special ed needs, it takes 18 months to get an IEP and then, the students get no further placement. They spend up to three years in gen ed classes that are inappropriate for their needs. If people wonder why outcomes are poor for Title 1 schools, here is one of the reasons: students needing one-on-one special education support are not provided it in gen ed classes, and teachers have to do the best they can with it all. Instruction for the whole class suffers.

Seriously? Why does it take so long? That sounds terrible for everyone involved.

It takes so long because international families often don't know how to advocate through the thicket of special education. They have no idea that their students may be entitled to something different than what is offered in a mainstream classroom. They don't have the funds to hire an attorney and they would be afraid to cause a stir. These are the students that are very easy for MCPS to ignore. MCPS just directs the mainstream classroom teacher will differentiate. It's obscene for students with needs, exhausting for teachers, and unfair to classmates who deserve an education.

But don't the classroom teachers notice and flag that the kids don't belong in a mainstream classroom and get the process started? Why would that take years rather than months?

School based teams are also charged with determining if the challenges are language fluency based or due to a lack of (or inconsistent) schooling, before evaluating for a disability. All the data collected from school based assessments is in English and it’s expected that students not fluent in English will struggle with material/ have academic deficits. I believe the 18 months quoted above aligns with when language learners move from conversational language to academic managed. For better or worse, the intent is to prevent over identification of English Language Learners as special needs students. In practice it’s super frustrating when the whole team knows something big is going on and it can’t be addressed in a timely fashion.

You must be from central office with your gaslighting lies. The staff that screens international students in central office doesn't even check for home language literacy, which is an indicator of interrupted education, and will greatly challenge language-learning of a second language. Instead, MCPS staff take a scared parent's word for it that their child has been continually in school until arriving in the US. That is the extent of screening. It takes just a few minutes on the first day in class that a student to determine that, in secondary school, they can't read or respond to "My name is____________," in their home language because they do not possess literacy skills.

It is obvious on day one that some students have significant special education needs. These students with obvious needs, eg, profound intellectual disability, wait 18 months to receive an IEP and then, they are still not placed in the appropriate setting, because they are international students and their parents do not have the social or financial capital to demand better. So these students remain in mainstream classrooms. I remember one father, who could not speak English, had a neighbor write a tortured letter in English to the school begging for his child to get better help, because didn't we realize that she is disabled?

Mcps should be using translators.

MCPS has people who speak multiple languages. That isn't the issue. The issue is that MCPS doesn't help international students with special needs. MCPS knows there is little chance of repercussions if they fail to help these students. And everyone in the mainstream classrooms with students who don't receive the appropriate services, pays the price.

Mcps doesn’t help many kids, it just international.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what can we do as parents to stop the cuts? How can we use our voices to prevent the loss of services?
Practical suggestions?

Email and testify before the Board of Ed.

Not only that, copy the county council and county executive on your advocacy emails. County exec and Council have budget authority, which is the only power that Taylor recognizes. The county executive just shoved a hard no at Taylor's controversial CIP plan. The council doesn't have direct authority over how MCPS spends the money, but if the council doesn't like what it sees, they have ways to indicate displeasure that will curb Taylor's worst decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of this is getting beyond the Autism Unit losing support. But, I think it all gets to the heart of the issue. Shifting resources from one part of special ed to another is just exacerbating the overarching problem- special education doesn't have enough resources to go around. The Autism Programs were actually running fairly well and I wonder if it's some misguided attempt to help other areas thinking that these programs will continue to run smoothly without the central office support. That's a HUGE mistake.

RTSEs in elementary schools are great but only solve one problem- lightening the paperwork load for sped teachers. A few behavior specialists on the CFTs is not going to fix the huge behavior problems schools are dealing with and as many have said the special ed specialists (not specific to Autism or other discrete programs) they had bad experiences with were just shifted to those CFTs. Clearly they aren't helping much. But that is the model Taylor thinks is going to handle all the sped support schools need now. Autism specialists still have jobs for now but with no supervisor and no real autism unit, how will they be used?? These questions are not being answered. Gatekeeping happens because there aren't enough seats in a lot of discrete programs, so why not give resources to open more up? There are ways to work toward fixing the system but Taylor is not interested in actually pursuing them.

Taylor is implementing the same model he conceived in Stafford County VA at his last school district. Not working great there, won't work well here. This is not a guy that looks back to reflect on whether his decisions worked well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a specials teacher at a high-needs elementary. You would be shocked at what happens when — multiple times per year — an international student arrives who is nonverbal, evidently has autism, cannot communicate with us or understand instructions, and remains in the general ed classroom all year and for the rest of their elementary years. I have never seen a student placed elsewhere. The best outcome has been when they are given a one-on-one.

I'm a middle-school teacher who teaches ELD 1 (1st year English learners) at a tier 1 Title 1 school. For international students with significant special ed needs, it takes 18 months to get an IEP and then, the students get no further placement. They spend up to three years in gen ed classes that are inappropriate for their needs. If people wonder why outcomes are poor for Title 1 schools, here is one of the reasons: students needing one-on-one special education support are not provided it in gen ed classes, and teachers have to do the best they can with it all. Instruction for the whole class suffers.

Seriously? Why does it take so long? That sounds terrible for everyone involved.

It takes so long because international families often don't know how to advocate through the thicket of special education. They have no idea that their students may be entitled to something different than what is offered in a mainstream classroom. They don't have the funds to hire an attorney and they would be afraid to cause a stir. These are the students that are very easy for MCPS to ignore. MCPS just directs the mainstream classroom teacher will differentiate. It's obscene for students with needs, exhausting for teachers, and unfair to classmates who deserve an education.

But don't the classroom teachers notice and flag that the kids don't belong in a mainstream classroom and get the process started? Why would that take years rather than months?

DP here…You can’t just flag a student, you have to have supporting documentation and data to support your concerns, then tried several different ways to intervene within the classroom and collect data on those interventions, then get the parents on board (which there’s still the stigma of special education for many, then once you have consent you schedule a meeting and the FST team determines if official testing can be done. Once that is scheduled and completed, the team reconvenes to determine special education eligibility and course of action.If the student is ELD, they need to determine whether English being a second language is impeding their success in the classroom. The goal is to avoid incorrectly identifying students as special ed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a specials teacher at a high-needs elementary. You would be shocked at what happens when — multiple times per year — an international student arrives who is nonverbal, evidently has autism, cannot communicate with us or understand instructions, and remains in the general ed classroom all year and for the rest of their elementary years. I have never seen a student placed elsewhere. The best outcome has been when they are given a one-on-one.

I'm a middle-school teacher who teaches ELD 1 (1st year English learners) at a tier 1 Title 1 school. For international students with significant special ed needs, it takes 18 months to get an IEP and then, the students get no further placement. They spend up to three years in gen ed classes that are inappropriate for their needs. If people wonder why outcomes are poor for Title 1 schools, here is one of the reasons: students needing one-on-one special education support are not provided it in gen ed classes, and teachers have to do the best they can with it all. Instruction for the whole class suffers.

Seriously? Why does it take so long? That sounds terrible for everyone involved.

It takes so long because international families often don't know how to advocate through the thicket of special education. They have no idea that their students may be entitled to something different than what is offered in a mainstream classroom. They don't have the funds to hire an attorney and they would be afraid to cause a stir. These are the students that are very easy for MCPS to ignore. MCPS just directs the mainstream classroom teacher will differentiate. It's obscene for students with needs, exhausting for teachers, and unfair to classmates who deserve an education.

But don't the classroom teachers notice and flag that the kids don't belong in a mainstream classroom and get the process started? Why would that take years rather than months?

School based teams are also charged with determining if the challenges are language fluency based or due to a lack of (or inconsistent) schooling, before evaluating for a disability. All the data collected from school based assessments is in English and it’s expected that students not fluent in English will struggle with material/ have academic deficits. I believe the 18 months quoted above aligns with when language learners move from conversational language to academic managed. For better or worse, the intent is to prevent over identification of English Language Learners as special needs students. In practice it’s super frustrating when the whole team knows something big is going on and it can’t be addressed in a timely fashion.

You must be from central office with your gaslighting lies. The staff that screens international students in central office doesn't even check for home language literacy, which is an indicator of interrupted education, and will greatly challenge language-learning of a second language. Instead, MCPS staff take a scared parent's word for it that their child has been continually in school until arriving in the US. That is the extent of screening. It takes just a few minutes on the first day in class that a student to determine that, in secondary school, they can't read or respond to "My name is____________," in their home language because they do not possess literacy skills.

It is obvious on day one that some students have significant special education needs. These students with obvious needs, eg, profound intellectual disability, wait 18 months to receive an IEP and then, they are still not placed in the appropriate setting, because they are international students and their parents do not have the social or financial capital to demand better. So these students remain in mainstream classrooms. I remember one father, who could not speak English, had a neighbor write a tortured letter in English to the school begging for his child to get better help, because didn't we realize that she is disabled?

Mcps should be using translators.

MCPS has people who speak multiple languages. That isn't the issue. The issue is that MCPS doesn't help international students with special needs. MCPS knows there is little chance of repercussions if they fail to help these students. And everyone in the mainstream classrooms with students who don't receive the appropriate services, pays the price.

Parents are entitled to a translator but most don't know that's an option and school staff either don't share that information or know that information.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a big fan of providing special ed services, above and beyond what would be normal at a state/federal level. Unfortunately, that just attracts more special ed families to the area. I know this area is especially attractive in that regard.

I especially dislike the way our county agglomerates services not only at the elite but at the special ed side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a big fan of providing special ed services, above and beyond what would be normal at a state/federal level. Unfortunately, that just attracts more special ed families to the area. I know this area is especially attractive in that regard.

I especially dislike the way our county agglomerates services not only at the elite but at the special ed side.

Clearly you don’t have a child who needs help and every dollar you have available goes to their therapies. Many of us are getting no services, happy? We spend thousands a month on therapies and tutors. No vacations, no new cars, no eating out, not much of anything.

[Anonymous]

I haven't seen any discussion here on changes to the ESY program. One parent I know said her child was going from 25 hours of support per week to 12 hours which is a huge drop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a big fan of providing special ed services, above and beyond what would be normal at a state/federal level. Unfortunately, that just attracts more special ed families to the area. I know this area is especially attractive in that regard.

I especially dislike the way our county agglomerates services not only at the elite but at the special ed side.

Clearly you don’t have a child who needs help and every dollar you have available goes to their therapies. Many of us are getting no services, happy? We spend thousands a month on therapies and tutors. No vacations, no new cars, no eating out, not much of anything.

So, you want me to fund your eating out and vacations?

I don't eat out or take vacations myself, welcome to the life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a big fan of providing special ed services, above and beyond what would be normal at a state/federal level. Unfortunately, that just attracts more special ed families to the area. I know this area is especially attractive in that regard.

I especially dislike the way our county agglomerates services not only at the elite but at the special ed side.

Clearly you don’t have a child who needs help and every dollar you have available goes to their therapies. Many of us are getting no services, happy? We spend thousands a month on therapies and tutors. No vacations, no new cars, no eating out, not much of anything.

So, you want me to fund your eating out and vacations?

I don't eat out or take vacations myself, welcome to the life.

No, I want the school to provide my child services and supports as well as any other child who needs it during their time at school. Or stop complaining every time I pull my kid out because school staff refuse to do their jobs. Try spending thousands a month, more than your mortgage and let me know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a big fan of providing special ed services, above and beyond what would be normal at a state/federal level. Unfortunately, that just attracts more special ed families to the area. I know this area is especially attractive in that regard.

I especially dislike the way our county agglomerates services not only at the elite but at the special ed side.

What do you think is above and beyond normal that MCPS offers?

Also when regular classroom teachers have to spend tons of time and energy focusing on kids who aren't a good fit for the regular classroom, and especially when those kids are disruptive and at times violent, I don't see how having more rather than less of those kids in gen ed classrooms helps anyone...