Reply to Discussion Board Post
Reply to the student’s post should be at least at minimum of 7 sentences, about one paragraph in length. At least one in-text citation must be included in the reply from any source relevant to the topic posted.
Student’s Post:
“After reading and watching the videos, I realized just how confusing it can be for parents when determining what is best for their child, both on a medical perspective and an academic perspective. According to the Special Education Parent Workshop, there are fourteen eligibility categories for students to be considered for special education. During these eligibility meetings, there need to be certain members of the family and school staff who can vouch for the students’ understanding and learning both outside of and inside the classroom. We know that parents only want the best for their child, but it can be quite confusing for them to understand what truly is the best when there are a variety of parameters and eligibility options for students within special education. Parents have information from teachers, specialists within the school, doctors, specialists outside of the school, and their own opinion to take into consideration when determining the best possible route of action for their child.
On another note, parents are receiving advice from both doctors and teachers on what they believe is best. Doctors have one perspective, while teachers have the full understanding of what a particular child’s best learning strategies are. Teachers spend most of their day with these students and are able to differentiate lessons based on student needs. Doctors only see part of that during a visit. Parents may be confused on how to approach a particular aspect of their child’s learning or behavior based off of what they are hearing from doctors versus teachers. How can we make this more beneficial and less confusing for both parents and child? In my opinion, I believe a medical diagnosis doesn’t always need to be established in order for students to receive the education they may need. As I stated previously, teachers spend the most time with these students as opposed to doctors, so they can understand what the strengths and weaknesses are on a 1:1 level within the classroom. I wouldn’t say having a medical diagnosis holds “too much” weight, but it definitely shouldn’t hold any more weight than it typically does.
I have only been a teacher for about two years now. I have referred three students to become eligible for special education. The process is tedious and can be grueling. There were many times when our referral packets were sent back to us because it was stated that there “wasn’t enough information to refer them”. My colleagues and I included a variety of student work, notes on that student work, where the student stood academically within the class, our personal experiences with the student both academically and behaviorally, and much more. It still was not enough for our students to be given even just an opportunity to be evaluated and considered for special education. The process can also come down to the parents’ understanding. There is stigma surrounding special education and a lot of the times, our students were classified and given certain parameters to be met in order for them to receive the best possible education, but the parents were not on board with that extra support for their students. I have heard way too many times that parents want their children to be in the “normal” classrooms with “normal” kids. It is a sad and sometimes heartbreaking process. “
Because I have only really been involved in the referral process and classification process in one school district, I don’t have a truly deep understanding of “how it should be” or a comparison factor, but I can say that in my particular school district, there definitely could have been MUCH more support. I worked in a low-income school district where our school was departmentalized. I only taught 2nd grade science and social studies. I had about 60 students every day, 20 students per class; these students were extremely below grade level on everything: math, reading, writing. We could barely get enough support for the few students with behavioral concerns because we were told to handle it in addition to the multitude of students who needed academic support. We weren’t allowed to do groupwork or centers due to covid, I was unable to do small group work with any students because of the behavioral issues within the classroom, and I was unable to really do any independent work because my students were unable to do things by themselves. We did not have the necessary support that would have even enabled us to classify students into special education. From my perspective, I can definitely say more support is needed everywhere.
