Reply to Should special ed be for students with behavioral issues?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here.  We have worked a lot with DC and there has been much improvement since kinder.  But this is FIRST grade and immaturity should not come as a surprise.  There have been other children recently being pushed into special ed as part of what seems like a wave at the school.  But my intention was to ask a much broader question.  Allow me to rephrase:

Do you think a school should be able to use special education as a tool to segregate the well behaved from the ill behaved if there is no danger of physical harm?  Yes I understand the argument of affecting others. But special education was never intended as a tool to "help others".  Perhaps something else should be in place for that like a BMP? Thanks.[/quote]

I don't believe your claim of there being a wave of other children being pushed into special ed.  I've been teaching more than 20 years.  Special education is enormously expensive for school districts.  There is SOOOO much federal oversight that whenever schools get to a certain percentage of their students having IEP's, a whole set of extra oversight happens.  Districts are told they are over referring.  While "officially" there is no cap on Sped, in reality, in practice, there is.  No school wants a lot of kids in sped.

Special ed is NOT used to segregate the well behaved from the ill behaved.  Special ed does, however, provide an alternative setting for children who cannot succeed in a mainstream classroom, like your son.  The fact that he is nonviolent doesn't really mean anything.  The fact that the school would like an alternate setting for your child indicates that for whatever reason, his behavior is not allowing him to succeed in a general education classroom.  This does not have to do with the other kids, it is about YOUR kid not being able to manage in a gen ed room.

Fwiw, I have a student in my classroom right now that, unless the supports we've put in place are successful, is like your son.  He's super bright, reads one year ahead of level.  While many middle and upper income schools will always have a bunch of kids like that and it isn't such a big deal, in my lower income school this is rare.  But, he's a massive behavior issue.  Yes, he does prevent the other children from learning.  Absolutely.  I'd hate for my own children to be in a class with a child like this.  However, if he ever does qualify for sped, it won't be because he's making my life a living hell and preventing other kids from learning.  It'll be because as bright as he is, he's not learning himself.  Yes, he's ahead of grade level, but a kid with his intelligence could easily be 3-4 years ahead of level.  He's clearly not meeting his potential and he's suffering from terrible issues.  [/quote]

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