Reply to Is it typical for elementary to group all IEP kids together in the same class

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We have a 3 yo with what appear to be mild special needs and are zoned for Oakland Terrace ES in MCPS. I have seen some posts on DCUM complaining that IEP kids at this school were segregated from other children into.the same class. We do not have an IEP yet (have requested Child Find screening) but am paranoid if she gets one, this model will not work for her for a few reasons. I thought kids with IEPs should be integrated, not segregated. [/quote] They shouldn’t only be in certain classes. It is not Least Restrictive Environment. It is also not fair to the teachers.  They are basically treating them as something akin to team taught classes. It is not inclusion.  [/quote]

OP, it's unclear what you want. Are you asking for your child to be the only one in the classroom with an IEP?  Because that's not going to happen. There are going to be a bunch of kids with IEPs in the gen-ed classroom and, hopefully, additional staff to meet their needs. It's not possible for one teacher to teach gen-ed and also meet all IEPs, so the other adults have to be present. If that's "team taught", okay, but what's so bad about it?[/quote]

OP here. The above poster is not me. What I was wondering about is whether it is typical for elementary schools to have all the IEP students in one class rather than spreading them out across the different classes for the grade. It sounds like a lot of schools do this, which is helpful to know. I have concerns about how this model will impact my child, but understand this is not something I would have a choice about.[/quote]

Well, you might have a choice, it depends on the school and the content of your daughter's IEP.  But some schools don't give anyone a choice of classroom for any reason.

Try to understand, the school is trying to meet the students' needs staffing-wise and that's what drives this.  So if there's a class with a special ed co-teacher or a certain type of paraprofessional or whatever, it's not necessarily the case that all the students with IEPs are in that class. It's all the students with a certain *type* of IEP, like all the students who get speech therapy, or all the students with ASD, or whatever it happens to be, so that the staffing can be done to provide them services and the classroom is designed with their needs in the forefront.  This can be a really good thing. It's not like everyone with an IEP for any reason gets put in the same class automatically.

I'm not sure what you're concerned about specifically, but try to give up on the idea that your child will not be in class with other children with IEPs. Your child is definitely, definitely going to be around other children with IEPs regardless of the school's policy on classroom assignments and regardless of whether your child has an IEP. Because even in schools with a co-teaching inclusion program for chlidren with certain types of IEPs, there are plenty of children with other types of IEPs in the other classrooms. You might not be aware of it, but they are there. Yes, it can feel stigmatizing or be complex to be in an inclusion classroom, and yes there can be behavior problems or kids getting upset or kids who are below grade level, or whatever. But your child could be assigned to that classroom with no IEP at all, and you're going to have those kinds of problems no matter what type classroom you're in.[/quote]

I'm not against my child being in a class with other children with IEOs. You are confusing me with someone else. My concern is around concentrating the highest needs students in one classroom and how that will affect my child. I get why the school does it. I really just wanted to know if this is a typical practice in elementary schools, and it sounds like it is. My child is not in school yet so this isn't about what I am personally perceiving.[/quote]

Well, it just depends on the school. Some have lots of high nerds children in every class. Some offer special programming for certain types of needs. Others have special classrooms for certain children with high needs, and moderate and mild needs are mainstreamed. You'd have to ask your school.

It sounds like what you want is for your child not to be around children with higher needs. And try to be sensitive how you talk about that on this board. Many of us are the parents of children with higher needs, you know.

Remember, you could be assigned to the inclusion class without an IEP. And if there were not an inclusion class, you would likely be in a class with some of the children with higher needs and less support for them. Would that be better? I don't know. It really just depends.[/quote]

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