Clustering of special Ed kids in gen Ed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At our ES, one SN child was asking that my son be in his class. A compliment I know, but that meant my son was with her son and the other SN students year after year. It wasn't random. The SN's parents were allowed "a say". I was not and didn't know this was happening until years later.


Parents like you are horrible for sns parents to deal with. Assuming that the class with a sns kid is somehow undesirable is vile.

I'm in favor of inclusion but should it affect my son's placement EVERY year? The other Mother determines his placement every year? Without me knowing about it

You need to request that your child not be placed with this other child, at least for a couple of years. The reality is that most principals do honor parent requests when they can (even if they say they don't) because it makes their lives so much easier -- parents complain less if they get what they asked for. You are the only one who is going to advocate for your kids.

- signed parent of two kids who receive special ed services and had to request certain Gen Ed kids not be in class with my kid(s).

If you are gened and ask to be with another student, they almost always split up the kids.

I have a friend whose friend with SN also always requested him. Her child is switching to an AAP center next year.

[Anonymous]

Clustering, whether anyone likes it or not, is about the logistics of physically managing a SPED teacher's time while following SPED laws and minimizing transitions.

If you think it's negatively impacting your child's education, then you need to address it with the principal. But until society starts investing more in education, this is the model that works with scarce resources.

Don't ever blame the SPED kids for ruining your own child's experience. That's just lazy. Get in there and advocate for your GEN ED child. If you don't know where to start, ask a SPED parent. We are absolute pros at advocating for our kids and navigating the bureaucracy to get what they need.

And just stop with the SPED=Bad Behavior=Poor Academics nonsense. It's a classroom management and administrative problem, not a trait of SPED kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clustering, whether anyone likes it or not, is about the logistics of physically managing a SPED teacher's time while following SPED laws and minimizing transitions.

If you think it's negatively impacting your child's education, then you need to address it with the principal. But until society starts investing more in education, this is the model that works with scarce resources.

Don't ever blame the SPED kids for ruining your own child's experience. That's just lazy. Get in there and advocate for your GEN ED child. If you don't know where to start, ask a SPED parent. We are absolute pros at advocating for our kids and navigating the bureaucracy to get what they need.

And just stop with the SPED=Bad Behavior=Poor Academics nonsense. It's a classroom management and administrative problem, not a trait of SPED kids.

This model does NOT work for all sped kids. I posted previously how it did not work for my child with dyslexia. He was ignored because there were sped AND non sped kids who both had behavior issues. Just because my kid qualified under learning disability doesn’t mean he should be grouped with students with adhd, autism, and emotionally disturbed students every year. They are all in sped but gave vastly different needs. And once my kid became a general Ed student to get out if the cluster class I gave up plenty of rights. Gen Ed students do NOT have the same rights. I can no longer call an IEP and have a teacher and principal be forced to meet with me.

[Anonymous]

There should be sped schools, the way they have AAP centers.

[Anonymous]

They should do real "team taught" classes at the elementary level. Instead you have an overworked Special Ed teacher trying to handle push in/ pull out across various grade levels and different IAs cycling in and out throughout the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be sped schools, the way they have AAP centers.

You realize their a federal law against that, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean "the same form?"

Every year (towards the end) in the News You Choose emails you get from your school, there is a form where you can request teacher traits and that kids are separated/kept together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should do real "team taught" classes at the elementary level. Instead you have an overworked Special Ed teacher trying to handle push in/ pull out across various grade levels and different IAs cycling in and out throughout the day.

Please advocate for more SPED teachers so this can happen. It’s impossible to do right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be sped schools, the way they have AAP centers.

So kids in SPED classes can be ignored? Because SPED only classes tended to turn into warehouses for kids for many different reasons. And kids who are capable and can excel are left behind because they don't receive the resources and help that they need. The comments in this thread point to why that happens.

There are lots of SPED kids who do well in school with some help and are very successful in college. There are lots of SPED kids who do well in school and choose a Vo Tech field. There is a small percentage of SPED kids who are disruptive.

And some of those super disruptive kids in your kids Gen Ed classroom might very well not be SPED kids but kids who are acting out for a variety of reasons.

But we do need more specialized programs for the kids who are struggling in the classroom and who are acting out. And we do need a way to speed up moving kids to those environments so that they can get the help that they need. They are expensive and harder to find Teachers for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should do real "team taught" classes at the elementary level. Instead you have an overworked Special Ed teacher trying to handle push in/ pull out across various grade levels and different IAs cycling in and out throughout the day.

They should also have team taught Honors and AP classes in MS and HS, but except for one here and there, they do not. It is all about $$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be sped schools, the way they have AAP centers.

So kids in SPED classes can be ignored? Because SPED only classes tended to turn into warehouses for kids for many different reasons. And kids who are capable and can excel are left behind because they don't receive the resources and help that they need. The comments in this thread point to why that happens.

There are lots of SPED kids who do well in school with some help and are very successful in college. There are lots of SPED kids who do well in school and choose a Vo Tech field. There is a small percentage of SPED kids who are disruptive.

And some of those super disruptive kids in your kids Gen Ed classroom might very well not be SPED kids but kids who are acting out for a variety of reasons.

But we do need more specialized programs for the kids who are struggling in the classroom and who are acting out. And we do need a way to speed up moving kids to those environments so that they can get the help that they need. They are expensive and harder to find Teachers for.

Expelling disruptive students and sending them to alternative schools would solve so many of these problems. There is no reason to sacrifice a year of school for a whole classroom because Larla is a chair thrower or Larlo likes to scream at classmates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be sped schools, the way they have AAP centers.

You realize their a federal law against that, right?

Is there federal funding to pay for all the additional expenses associated with special education? Is there federal support for creating special education teacher programs and pipelines to make sure we have enough teachers to fill these jobs? It’s crazy to me how all of this rests on local school districts (including the large number of lawsuits by special ed parents that systems have to defend).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be sped schools, the way they have AAP centers.

You realize their a federal law against that, right?

Is there federal funding to pay for all the additional expenses associated with special education? Is there federal support for creating special education teacher programs and pipelines to make sure we have enough teachers to fill these jobs? It’s crazy to me how all of this rests on local school districts (including the large number of lawsuits by special ed parents that systems have to defend).

Of course not, but complaining on DCUM does nothing to resolve those problems. Laws to support SPED students WILL NOT change, so we have to work with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be sped schools, the way they have AAP centers.

So kids in SPED classes can be ignored? Because SPED only classes tended to turn into warehouses for kids for many different reasons. And kids who are capable and can excel are left behind because they don't receive the resources and help that they need. The comments in this thread point to why that happens.

There are lots of SPED kids who do well in school with some help and are very successful in college. There are lots of SPED kids who do well in school and choose a Vo Tech field. There is a small percentage of SPED kids who are disruptive.

And some of those super disruptive kids in your kids Gen Ed classroom might very well not be SPED kids but kids who are acting out for a variety of reasons.

But we do need more specialized programs for the kids who are struggling in the classroom and who are acting out. And we do need a way to speed up moving kids to those environments so that they can get the help that they need. They are expensive and harder to find Teachers for.

Expelling disruptive students and sending them to alternative schools would solve so many of these problems. There is no reason to sacrifice a year of school for a whole classroom because Larla is a chair thrower or Larlo likes to scream at classmates

+1 it’s why so many choose private. To get away from those kids.

[Anonymous]

I think this is overblown. SPED does not necessarily mean disruptive. Grouping SPED might simply mean there are 4 kids who have similar IEPs, so rather than hiring multiple aides, the school can hire one if the kids are together. My child was a class with an extra aide one year ... I think having the extra aide benefited all the kids to a degree. My child was also in a class that didn't have that type of cluster another year and dealt with a VERY disruptive child (disruptive to the point of the teacher crying in front of students). I think it's all a crap shoot.