My children attended/attend a school system that was taken over by our state and is now in the process of being back under local control. There was a community school board meeting where the new goals and guardrails were discussed and this one stood out for me.

"G.1.2 The Superintendent will increase the percentage of students with IEPs enrolled in advanced academics from 3.5% in June 2025 to 10% by June 2030."

As background, I have a child with autism/ADHF and a 504, who went through the advanced academics program in middle school. I have another child with autism/ADHD/anxiety who has an IEP for behavioral but is testing off the charts academically.

I thought that you have to be behind in school to qualify for an IEP (which my second child does because he doesn't attend a regular school and is in a out of district placement.). Even though my youngest is brilliant, we would never expect him to keep up with the advanced academics rigor and it's not fair to the other kids.

On the flip side, I saw how horrible having behavioral kids in the advanced academics was. The poor teachers couldn't push the kids like they wanted to. A kid was stabbed by another kid in my son's class. More and more people are pulling their kids out and using charter or private schools, including us. We sent our oldest to a private school for high school.

Am I crazy that this seems to be the complete opposite of what you would want for a goal?

Personally, I would prefer a goal of increasing the number of dedicated behavioral schools run by the school district instead of them being out of district. And maybe within those schools, have contained advanced academic programs.

Thank you for your thoughts!

My daughter is in special education and has an IEP. Last week the admin at her school called me to come pick her up because she was having a shutdown episode. During her shutdowns, she will literally just sit there with her arms crossed, thats all, shes not a danger to herself or others. they called me out of work 15 minutes before school was out to come pick her up, gave me no explanation just that she couldnt ride the bus or go to daycare. I get there and they said that she was shut down for 10 minutes before they called me.. they keep trying to tell me that this wasn't a removal because she was supposedly in the hallway when it happened. But theyre all contradicting each other and no one has the same story. I asked for documentation and I asked what happened leading up and what measures were taken before calling me and I keep getting met with hostility and lies. What can I do.

My TKer started about 3 weeks ago.
I was wondering, is it OK to ask for an IEP meeting to know how things are going? Or should I just ask his teacher for a general update?
My TKer can’t tell me much if anything of what they do in school (although I’m sure this is like most TK students).
He currently receives SpEd for 60 mins/week and speech 45 mins/week

twice now, i’ve dropped a disabled student off at the big bus and been asked by bus drivers why students with IEPs are allowed on the big buses without a 1:1. today the conversation went something like this:

“That’s not my decision. Why, are they causing issues?”

“Well, no, but…”

“But?”

“I have all these other kids to watch, why don’t they have a para with them?”

I had to leave at that point, but I know that typically only medically fragile kids get bus 1:1s. This is a problem I’ve run into repeatedly, especially as we integrate more kiddos into gen ed - for one reason or another, a staff member doesn’t want to “have to” be in charge of a disabled child because they perceive the child as special ed’s/a paraeducator’s responsibility. I understand the anxiety, but at the same time - and i say this as a disabled person - it feels like a kind of ableist attitude?

does anyone have ideas for a polite way to explain to these bus drivers that driving disabled students is part of their job description, and that unless the student is causing serious issues they just need to suck it up?

also, anyone else regularly encountering this “that kid shouldn’t be my problem” attitude? wtf is up with it? how do we, as schools and as individuals, go about mitigating it?

I spend 4 hours “coteaching. In 4 different classrooms. As in I walk around the room and assist the students. I have no desk. The teachers give me zero input, and when I try and “coteach” I am literally talked over by the Gen Ed teachers.
(They aren’t even rude I think they just have no idea how to handle another adult being in the room… plus no common plan time)

My small group classes are in a room in the basement. I have 14 students, in the smallest room in the school. I have no para but that is probably because a para physically wouldn’t fit. I have no shelf space for supplies, my white board is literally peeling from the wall, there are hot pipes I was told not to let the students touch etc.

The rest of the classrooms are extremely nice, the teachers have closets, desks, work areas, libraries for the students etc.

I teach ELA and don’t have room for a book shelf. I also teach math and have zero room to work with students. The fire code on the door says max capacity is 21, so I know it’s “legal” but it’s so non credible to learning. There are tiny windows and peeling paint, broken outlets, no phone, a utility closet in the room etc. The other classrooms have flags. We have a tiny little banner.

Yes I’m just bitching. But also, I cannot believe it is considered okay to put the students in this environment?! We have open house tonight and I cannot WAIT for parents reactions to the conditions their students are learning in.

Why are the IAs in our integrated services rooms trying to have my room and the other room against each other? It’s so fucking stupid. Just grow up and do your job. Our job is to support these students so let’s just focus on that

(For context, integrated services is for the kiddos who have moderate/severe disabilities that makes it impossible for them to access the general curriculum)

Also our EXED coordinator came in during one of my blocks today and I had only 2 kids. My other two were out so I didn’t want to do too much since half my class wasn’t here. She sat down like she was getting ready to observe me. This was like…more than halfway through class like ma’am our students just finished doing their work. I also don’t have a mentor and she’s in charge of getting me a mentor. Like don’t fucking sit there and observe me on week fucking 2 expecting me to be good when I have no mentor for any guidance

Update: the principal came in to observe during my last block today as well

Hey everyone! pre-K special ed teacher here trying to incorporate our smartboard more into our circle time. We finally got one but our school gave us an off-brand one off Amazon. it works very well but uses an Android operating system. Is there an app I can use on my iPad that I can also be signed in on the Android board and use for my students, something where I can allow them to select their name and picture from among several choices, where they can choose their name picture that shows the weather, etc? And then also make small group lessons I can conduct using the smartboard?

I run an autism classroom and have a student with mild autism who has ODD. He should be in a behavioral class but my school doesn’t have one. We started our second week of school and multiple times a day he throws/kicks furniture, hits/kicks/bites me and the paras, punched and dragged classmates on the playground, and made a gun signal with his hand and pretended to shoot me.

This is my first year teaching and was an autism para prior. I’m not used to behavior kids like this. The parents know, but they don’t care. His older brother in Gen-Ed acts the same way. Admin is involved and they told me I can determine if he needs a different placement.

What do I do with a student like this?

I recently got hired with an elementary public school that is close to me so it's very convenient travel wise. Many of the staff and teachers there seem great. It's Professional Development week and I looked at the papers they gave us and I found out I'm going to be in a self-contained classroom... I am really nervous as I do have a physical disability myself (Mild cerebral palsy). I did work as a per-diem paraprofessional and substitute teacher before and at a daycare as an assistant teacher. Can anyone give me advice please? I also want to become a teacher one day too.

I’m in my first year of special ed (autistic support). I have all 3rd grade and no real behaviors. Most are in gen ed at least 25% of the day. They are great. I am STRUGGLING learning all of these programs, assessing, tracking behaviors, having kids on 80 different levels, and managing schedules. It is SO much. I have great classroom management and my kids are amazing, but this paperwork and differentiation is killing me. Will it get better? Will it get better this year? 😢

Hi everyone! Uh, this is my first time posting here. I didn't really know who else to reach out to and youtube wasn't giving me any clear cut advice. My school is taking a group of around 15 students to an NGO for a couple of hours to interact with children with intellectual/developmental disabilities. I would like to say I'm fairly good with kids, but I've never interacted or met one with special needs. So, with that being said, I've never done this before. What should I keep in mind? What are good ways to communicate, and what should I avoid doing? How do i interact with them? Are there any games I should plan from beforehand from my end(besides the one that's already been organized by my school)?

I would really appreciate any advice to build relationships and trust with the kids and create a safe space for both of us, but especially them.

I’m a vet teacher but new to special education (high school). I’m not certified in special education and previously taught MLLs (multilingual learners) for a decade, but many of those jobs have been cut or destaffed. I needed to work and like all students, so I decided to try special education.

I still like the students, but the stress is unreal because of the paperwork and pressure. I feel
Largely unqualified to do this job because I don’t know the paperwork or even the general cycle or timeline of the year and what is supposed to happen when. Some of this paperwork I never even heard of before. Further, the district is having me take a special ed class they’ll pay for to build towards the cert, which requires about 20 pages of forms to apply for the class and program and was obviously due weeks ago but was busy drowning, I have to earn my special ed cert.

I’m not sure I even want this special ed cert when I’m bad at the job. I prefer teaching MLLs because I’m confident and know what I’m doing. I’m seeing how problematic it is to take a job outside your licensure area. “Learning by doing” is a brutal way to learn and honestly embarrassing by how incompetent I feel in this job.

I dislike coteaching because I’m treated like an aide by a co. She refers to it as “her class.” This co and I have very different classroom management styles and she always spends money on candy or things for students, and I feel she doesn’t like how I don’t “contribute”. I work for a wealthy school and district, they should be paying for things for students. I’m exhausted because she has no classroom management and is so concerned about being liked by the students, meanwhile she sees me as an aide as I drown in legally binding paperwork. I’m aware I come across as “serious” and “not fun” because I am serious and not fun. In prior teaching years, I was a fun teacher, but this is not it when I’m tripping over my own incompetence.

I feel pressure from my bio family because of the performance pressure. They like telling people their daughter teachers special ed. Ok but I’m not good at this job, I feel really unqualified for it, and I’m drowning. My goal is to make it to Christmas.

I have no joy in my life and spend all my free time working. I’m also a cancer survivor and I’m nervous how this all is impacting my health.

I honestly wish I had more options for employment. It was either this or retail as there were zero MLL jobs. I hope I didn’t make a mistake taking this job because it feels impossible. I try to remind myself I’m in a hard to full job most people wouldn’t want, teaching two different subjects pulled between two departments so a blend of that and also some self-contained.

Please give me any support or guidance. Thank you.

I started a new position as a sped teacher k-5. Its a smaller school and there are only 2 sped teachers. Is it normal for one teacher to be the one to write all the ieps AND provide ALL the pull out services for k-5- while the other teacher helps with progress reports and pushes into the classroom?? I was told, "I haven't written an IEP in years" so the sped coordinator is writing them for them. I have never seen this before. Im not going to lie- it does not feel fair. Any Advice? Or does anyone have a 2 person sped team and found a way that works well?

Some background: I’m a first year high school special education teacher, with a caseload of 30~ students across 9th and 10th grades - I came from five years working as a SPED paraprofessional working with middle schoolers in the same school network and was eager to work with an older demographic when the position opened.

Three weeks in, and I’m this close to throwing in the towel. It seems like most of my caseload can’t stand me, largely because I’m the only adult holding them accountable for their intense behaviors (verbal abuse, eloping, fighting).

That means a lot of SAI minutes get logged as “refusal of services.” Obviously I can’t force them to accept services, but it’s hard not to feel like an utter failure of an educator when it happens, or when a student chews me out because I asked them once to return to their seat.

The staff and admin have been kind and in my corner on a lot of issues, but a significant staff shortage means there is very little support when I need it. I’m not sure what to do, I feel like the paperwork and meetings I’ve been managing fine, but everything else is draining me!