Reply to Seeking parents of children with DS/SN who attend Woodrow Wilson High Schoool

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was just told by Wilson that [b]there is no inclusion in science and history classes across the district (only in math and English),[b] so that all students with an IEP must take those subjects in a self-contained classroom. My understanding of LRE is that if a student gains academic benefit from being in a regular class with accommodations (i.e., special ed teacher support), than that is the correct LRE placement. Has anyone dealt with this issue? [/quote]

Hi--call me "Blunt #2"

I'm also a special education, but more familiar with Fairfax County.  My concern is bolded above:  in my interpretation of the law and the basic rules of a good IEP, there should never be a statement made of that nature ("we don't provide inclusion here", etc). If a child is participating in a reasonable amount of the general education curriculum (unless they are significantly below grade level--as in 3-5 years below their peers), and they have the behavioral and task-related skills to be successful in a gen. ed. environment, they should have access to that setting, even if only for part of the lesson or for certain activities and even if they require support to be successful.  I know schools often struggle when they have kids at many different grade levels with very different needs--it becomes a staffing and scheduling challenge, even in public schools with excellent sped teams and great results.  I don't know what sped services typically look like at Wilson--it could be that your daughter might be the only one in her situation, (needing support across settings and subjects), which means the school would have to figure out how they could staff her hours in those different locations.  Ideally they work with their resources to put the support schedule together for the student--they should not be requiring the student to fit into their available support model.

I know, I am preaching to the choir here, and sounding Pollyanna-ish, but wanted to try to give you some additional language if you needed it.  I am a DCPS parent, but have never worked in DCPS so I probably sound very naive as to what "should" be happening.

To speak on the school's behalf and from my own experience as a teacher of kids with a variety of special needs, there are situations where a self-contained setting can be more effective for some kids in some areas, particularly as the content becomes more challenging and complex. Students in self-contained settings get more teacher attention, more opportunities to respond, and often feel more comfortable making mistakes or taking risks.   As long as your daughter has access to social peers and more typical learning environments in other parts of her daily school experience, I don't see that it would inappropriate for her to work on science and soc. studies in a smaller group setting with a special ed. teacher.

I hope it works out for your daughter as she makes this exciting transition to high school![/quote]

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