Ready To Go Back? June 29, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Teachers.comments closed
A few of my fellow teachers have just recently completed their school year and began their summers just a little over a week ago. I think the biggest feeling I have after the end of the year every year is exhaustion. It takes so much to make that final kick to make it to the end. For a week after post-planning, I don’t want to do a single thing except veg out. Of course my wife, Jane, has her own plans for our summer.
Our seniors graduated the Saturday before Memorial Day and we were finished with post-planning the following week. The price for being finished so early is a very early start. An unbelievably early start. While I was working on a summary report for my ESY student, I quickly realized that I only had two more weeks of ESY left! Holy Crap! I’m going to have to reorganize my time schedule in order to get my 10 data points in before the end.
And then us teachers will be heading back on the 21st with students coming back on the 28th…of July! Some of you might find this depressing, to see schools starting back so soon. Many people complain about the short summer, but I am not one of them. I am SO ready to get back. I am a person of habit and routine, and I get totally screwed up when I am off-schedule. ESY adds just a bit of structure to my days and time, but I am ready to get back to my classroom and my kids and my staff. I really enjoy having a week or two off, but more than two weeks at a time carries its own fatigue factor. I work in the garden, do yard work, shop with Jane and the kids, and do a few other activities, but I am still ready to get back to work. The break has been nice, but I never accomplish half of what I say I will in the first place. I might as well be doing something productive.
dick
A Few comments on Day Care June 21, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Day-to-day school drama, Teachers.comments closed
I got the word, and I officially retain my status of teacher. The lady who got the job of behavior intervention specialist has been doing it for us and several counties for the past several years. She is second to none and I'm glad someone got it who was so totally qualified. Big Boss said that several good things were said about me by the interview committee. That was nice to hear. Truth be known, I'm actually relieved that I didn't get this. It is going to be a huge job and I fear bigger than what could be done by one person.
And it also means that I will be able to continue with the story of my SID/PID class and the people involved for another year! It would be a bit tough having a teacher blog without actually being a teacher.
ESY is going okay. Darius does well at his preschool. He initiates social interactions with his friends, follows directions and follows the routine of his class. He does use a number of words, but he is a quiet talker so is not often heard.
So let's talk a bit about day care settings. There is the good, the bad and the ugly.
Darius attends a day care facility that is state-of-the-art, with a computer lab, theater and a gym. The classrooms are large with lots of chairs, tables and activity centers. The facility houses classrooms for infants through kids up to the age of 12 and the cost is around $100/week, give or take $20 depending on the age of the child.
Darius is in a class with about 20 other 4 year-olds. And the kids are active! It has been a long time since I was in a classroom of so many typical young kids. In fact, I don't remember ever being in a group like that.
Unlike a regular preschool, this is a day care that happens to be run a lot like a preschool. Parents are dropping kids off and picking them up throughout the day, beginning as early as 6 a.m. and they can stay as late as 6 p.m. The children are typical, but it is easy to spot several who have varying degrees of exceptionalities. There's one who is probably mildly MR, and then there is one boy who is going to be referred to an EBD class in the future. And then the girl who is all over the place and someone will say is ADHD. These things just sort of shake out over time among so many kids. It's easy to see who is average and then there is one girl who is clearly above the rest of her peers.
20 four year-olds is a lot of kids. The lead teacher is Ms. Margie who has been teaching for over 25 years. And her experience shows. She can command attention from all of the kids and engage them all with amazing skill. It really is a pleasure to watch her at work when she is at her best. The kids get unruly or loud and she is right there and redirects them back on to the task. That's not to say she's perfect. She was doing calendar during circle time the other day, and had the kids reciting how it was the 20th of January.
Ms. Margie's assistant is Ms. Sue, who is a lot less experienced and a lot less skilled. She often has problems controlling the kids and keeping them on task. Her method of discipline is yelling and threatening the kids, which is not very effective. By the time it is time for me to leave (@ 11) Ms. Su is already physically exhausted.
Unfortunately, the class is divided between the two women. Ms. Margie takes a larger group, but Ms. Sue seems to draw the toughest kids, which happens to be most of the boys. So with the class divided into smaller groups, Ms. Sue has limited opportunity to collaborate with her lead teacher. They really have no chance to plan together so have to take it on the fly. The result is a lot of downtime and confusion despite have a relatively structured schedule. And the result of that is some pretty bad behaviors.
Frequently, there is the little boy or girl who wants their mommy and is crying. While distressing, this is not so bad. Then we have one kid who pushes another, and then gets smacked in retaliation. That can get serious. So at anytime, there might be 3-4 kids crying. Then there are some that may be yelling. And then there is the defiance that 4 year-olds are prone to do. And then Darius gets sick of it and has a meltdown.
It is a loud, busy place, this day care. I see good interactions but also some not so good that would give me cause for pause in putting my own kids in daycare. Day care teachers and their assistants are the lowest trained and lowest paid people in the country. Supposedly, kids are our most valuable resource but if you look at the folks charged with their care on a daily basis, you would hardly know it. They do not have union benefits or representation. There is some state regulations on day care centers, but not much in the way of protecting and caring for their workers.
The one Darius attends is probably one of the better ones. But it is still a tough place for the kids and a tough place to work. But it has been an educational experience to observe and participate in over the summer.
dick
Interview June 17, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Behavior Analysis, Behavior disorders, Day-to-day school drama.comments closed
I had my interview, and it was quite the experience. I had no idea what to expect. All of my interviews thus far have been with principals, the head of departments or personnel directors. I might talk to several people but only one at a time.
This one started off with me writing an essay consisting of two questions. The first asked what I would do the first month on the job, and the second question asked how I would support EBD teachers. I'm not going to retype my answers here, except to say that my 2 prior entries did figure into it. And thank goodness they did allow me to type my entries, because my handwriting is atrocious!
I arrived a bit early (as recommended in all interview literature) and discovered that Big Boss was running the interview process. She then had me fill out the written portion of the test as described above. After writing up my essay, I gave it to the secretary and then waited another few minutes. I met what appeared to be another candidate for the job. The young lady had been teaching for 5 or so years with this last year self-contained EBD. It sounded to me like she might be looking to get herself promoted out of that position!
I was next ushered into the conference room, and sat before Big Boss and 4 other people for a panel interview. Since Big Boss was at the top of my reference list, I felt comfortable enough interviewing in front of her. The panel consisted of 3 assistant principals (2 middle schools and one elementary school) and one EBD teacher. They had before them a multiple-page questionnaire and each took turns asking questions. I have no idea how long this lasted, but there were at least 20 questions. This interview bore a striking resemblance to what I would envision an oral exam to be like. They asked me what an FBA was, what a BIP was and what a rough outline of a training session for paras, bus drivers or teachers might look like in behavior management. The panel took turns asking questions and I answered them all. Fortunately, I had spent some time thinking about most of these issues. I think I did pretty well, but I'll know in a week how well I did. When asked what questions I had, I asked Big Boss what the size and scope she saw for this position.
"Big." She said, "It's going to be huge. It's exciting because it is new, but the first thing will be to find a process of defining this thing down in manageable terms."
That reflected a lot of my thinking. Or worrying, more like. I really do have a rising tide of emotion about all of this. Of course, if I don't get the position that solves that. I can stay being a teacher and continue with my already-full-plate of behavior issues. And there is a considerable amount of appeal in that outcome as I'm already comfortable with it and find it enjoyable much of the time. I worry that this new position might be too much for one person. Or just too much for me. And giving up my whole identity as a teacher. A fairly odd teacher of extremely exceptional students, but I was still a teacher. Giving that up is no easy thing. I have enjoyed being a teacher blogger and being read by other teacher bloggers. Will I continue to have time to blog? And if not about the daily drama, what will I write about?
I'll continue to flesh all this out as things develop.
Two other updates:
- I attended N's funeral last weekend, and the small church was PACKED! This was my first real experience at an old-fashioned southern black funeral. Corretta Scott King had nothing on this little girl. It was loud and proud all the way, and I'm sure you could hear the singing miles down the road. The community really and truly helped support this family through a very difficult time. It will take me some time to get used to not going out there and working with her 3x a week.
- My ESY student, Darius, is doing very well in his daycare setting. In fact, he does better than most of his peers, behaviorally. So I go 2x a week, do stuff with him and the rest of the 4 year-olds and basically have fun. I don't really have much to work with as far as data collection. I suppose I could do something on number of words spoken during 5 minute intervals. But basically he seems to be social and interacts with his peers and seems to be generally well-liked by them. Keeping him there was definitely the right move, but the ESY is of questionable value compared to what he is already getting.
D.
Part 2: A Profession That Eats Its Young? June 12, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Backstory, Behavior disorders, Uncategorized.comments closed
Part one was a longish tale of my experience as an EBD self-contained classroom teacher. This was followed by a very good experience as a para in a psychoed. As that year closed, I was wrapping up my Master's Program at GSU. Some irksome policy by either the state or the university prevented me from being able to do my student teaching while being a para. My supervising teacher did hers while teaching, why couldn't I do mine? It's an insane rule. Fortunately, I was able to do my practicum during the summer which was a shorter session made even shorter by the summer Olympics. Yes, it was 1996.
My summer practicum was being done at a psychoed that was running a summer school. I happened to draw the higher functioning SEBD kids who were actually pretty street smart but they were also not keen to do the sort of work that I was assigned to assign them. The supervising teacher wasn't keen to do much either. Once again, I felt like I was being thrown to the wolves as I was trying to teach and there was little to zero support from the teachers or the school as no one wanted to do any academic work. And the predictably acted out. But my supervising professor rescued me, and found another placement at a private residential hospital for kids with SEBD. This worked out really well as they were actually running more of a real school instead of some sort of summer camp. And it also really worked out well as my next job would be at a residential hospital for students with SEBD in waay south Georgia.
The hospital job was a good one, even though it was year-round. I still got all the other school breaks, just not the summer one. But I did get 2 weeks extra vacation. In addition, my budget was thousands of dollars. I could buy whatever I needed and more, mainly because the FTE money went straight to instruction instead of filtering through endless amounts of administration. The hospital budget was entirely separate from mine. It was a locked unit, and if kids acted up too much, they were sent to the nurse who gave them a shot which knocked them out. I could teach whatever I wanted and so I increased and expanded my teaching. I actually did teach some reading and literature type things.
But the hospital was suffering, budget-wise. The state was cutting back and the Child and Adolescent unit was on the chopping block. There were two of us teachers there, and we were told we might want to look for other jobs. So we did.
I was picked up by the local psychoed, whose director happened to be from my hometown in Iowa (pop. 1500), can you believe THAT? Anyway, I was not in the main center, but in an outpost 15 miles away in another town. And then I was sent to an outpost of that outpost. I was waaay out. Me and one other teacher were out there with the high schoolers. I should have known.
Before starting the school year, all of the new teachers and paras were given training in the Boys Town system. It is a very structured management system, that does have a decent track record of success. I had the freshman, and actually knew some of the kids from the hospital job as they had visited our facility a time or two.
There were some difficulties. I had no materials. I had gone from having anything I wanted to nothing, and a budget of $150 to spend. Then there was my para. I was still not savvy what to do with them, but had learned a thing or two from working both sides. Unfortunately, my para was also a bus monitor, so she arrived with the kids and left with them. We had absolutely no time to talk. And there was no planning period. And I had to teach a regular and full curriculum. Every subject a freshman would take in high school, I had to prepare for and teach. Plus follow the Boys Town stuff.
Add to this some racial tension.
My class and the older high school students did their PE together in the gym. Or at least that's how it started out. But eventually, there was a huge brawl which shut that down. PE was easy up to that point, because they just played basketball or hung out. Now that we couldn't be in the gym, I had to prepare for PE, too. And I was on my own because my para refused to go outside on the ball field. So we had a few incidents there.
The real deal breaker came when one of the juniors, who had skipped school returned while I was having PE. We were playing dodge ball, which was actually fun. My version consisted of me hurling a large rubber ball at the kids as hard as I could. At their heads. They actually sort of liked it.
Anyway, Junior came strolling up the street and started talking to a couple of my kids through the chain link fence. Then some words were exchanged. Then he jumped the fence.
Junior had a gun.
He pointed it straight at one of my kids, right at his head. My kid never even flinched and actually dared Junior to pull the trigger. Meanwhile, I am trying to get the rest of the kids in the building, which was like herding cats. They all wanted to see someone get killed.
Did I mention all of these kids were Seriously Emotionally Behaviorally Disturbed? Just in case you forgot, I thought that might be good to throw out there.
None of them were too terribly bright, either. I have a bunch of kids who will not get out of the line of fire. Another who has a gun to his head, taunting the kid with his finger on the trigger. I have no idea where my para ran off to. Or the other teacher and her para. Or the administrator who was supposed to be out there with us. Good thing I wasn't the only fool. Junior didn't have the gun loaded, so he and my freshman just got into and old fashioned fist fight. And then Junior jumped the fence and was gone before an administrator finally arrived.
Jane, who was pregnant with our first child, was none too happy about the prospect of me getting shot. Neither was I. But I had all this prep work to do, so I was often there until dark.
A few weeks later, I testified at Junior's trial and he was promptly locked away in juvenile for a couple of years.
It was the middle of October when the head of the outpost called me into her office. She noticed that I didn't seem too happy. She then said my old job was still open. Would I like to go back? I thought for a minute or two and said I just might.
She dialed the number to the hospital, and I talked with the acting director. Would they mind if I came back? Would they be okay with that?
"OMG, YES! Please come back! We would love to have you back! We need you back! When can you start?" It turns out that the hospital didn't close after all and were stocked to the gills with children and adolescents in need of therapeutic educational programming.
At least I was wanted somewhere. I had to finish the quarter, which was just a week. I stopped by the hospital, got my old keys back and promptly pulled stuff off of shelves to prepare for my next and last week at the psychoed. I could not believe how easy it was to just have so much stuff. So I went back to the hospital, where I was wanted, needed and loved.
As it turned out, the hospital did end up closing the next year, which is when I got my present job in Magnolia County. Which is why I was the way I was with that principal who was peddling a self-contained job. That psychoed thing was still fairly fresh in my mind, and I was not interested in a repeat performance. Again.
I've stuck in this business despite some very bad experiences. Hopefully I'm not scaring too many prospective prospects off! But these are not the sort of things you will hear from college professors or the administrators trying to lure hire you into their EBD positions. And any teachers who might have been through these sorts of trials are probably long gone; long since fled to somehwere that paid more for less stress, like the military.
Told you things would get kind of gritty around here.
The fact is, I was shoveled off, abandoned, left on my own and generally taken advantage of, not just by administrators but by other teachers.
That first job, I was assigned a mentor who was the department head. She never once darkened my doorway. She called me to her room more than once, but never observed and gave feedback. No one did, except the administrator who evaluated me and promptly hung me out to dry.
Student teaching, I was never given feedback by the teacher at that psychoed center. I never saw her actually teach anything either.
And the deal with the gun; Where was everyone then? Junior belonged to the other teacher who was stationed out in deep space with me. Where was She?
There are many wonderful colleagues out there, who have supported and inspired me along the way. But there are quite a few who would just as likely shoot your back as leave it uncovered. You look around your fox hole and discover there's no one else there!
This is a tough business I've chosen…or rather a tough business that chose me.
dick
A Profession That Eats Its Young? June 9, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Backstory, Behavior disorders.comments closed
I Have an Interview
I finally got that phone call I've been waiting for, scheduling me for an interview on the 15th for the Behavior Intervention Specialist position. Seems a bit late for a July 1 start date, but I'll let the folks at the county office do their jobs.
As far as the position is concerned, I know I have a couple of key components in my background that not many others have. One is my background in developmental disabilities and the other is my background with EBD. Not too many people are around with both of those plus the behavior analysis stuff. One key component of the job is supporting EBD teachers, and for some reason I'm feeling a bit shaky there.
Not that any of them (EBD teachers) would know, simply because we have so few veteran EBD teachers in the county. I'd wager that there are precious few in the entire country. The burn-out rate among EBD teachers is higher than in any other segment of eduction, regular or special. In fact, if I wasn't so stubborn, I would have become just another statistic.
Back in the early '90's I was teaching science at a private school and began looking at going for my Master's degree in order to get Georgia certification. I talked to a professor at GSU (Harry Dangel, if you must know) and he laid it out that I wouldn't have to quit working to go back to school. So I began the arduous task of taking my GRE and taking a class or two. I initially decided that I would get certified in Learning Disabilities, since I had good success with those kids in the past. But my second GSU class happened to be in behavior mod. which was really Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers. The class was taught off campus by Dr. Powell who still might be managing the psychoed center in Marrietta. In any case, I found the class very reinforcing and it really did change the way I taught. At one point, Dr. Powell put the bug in my ear, "You know, you seem like you could do what we do, Ever consider behavior disorders?"
I hadn't, but did soon after. And so I ended up entering the EBD program. One reason was that I saw so many job openings; it looked like there was some real job security there. I was soon to realize why that was.
I quit my private school job and applied to be a para in Dr, Powell's county, hoping I might get a job at his center. But personnel took a look at my application, and had other ideas.
I had an Iowa certificate in Agriculture Education, and some experience teaching. The personnel director called me in, and said, "You know, paras don't make very much money. Why don't you try for some teaching positions? You can do that while you complete your schooling and get fully certified. We might even be able to get some grant money to help out with that."
She showed me the two pay scales and that was that. My application went from the para pile to the teacher pile. And I got some phone calls. The first place I interviewed was a large school in a fairly affluent part of Newt Gingrich's old congressional district. I spoke with the principal who introduced me to the department head and the other EBD teacher, who really was a bona fide veteran of 6 years or so. They also showed me the classroom.
Why didn't the dented file cabinets and skid marks on the wall clue me in? Lesson #1 – pay attention to the environment. It might be trying to warn you of something.
The other school was newer, and further out, so there were no skid marks or dents that I could see.
I remember I was offered both jobs the same day. I took the first one. Lesson #2 – Never take the first offer. At least not right away.
I had taken exactly 2 classes in my program, one of which was that behavior analysis class. I thought I could do anything with that. I was SO naive!
First off, I had never done an IEP in my life and had only a vague notion of what they were. The middle school teacher had neglected to do some the year before so we had several to do right at the beginning of the year. Fortunately she was a returning teacher so the county director made her come to the high school and do them. But I was still clueless. The paperwork was incredible, as the county office generated huge numbers of forms. I had one kid going through re-eligibility so I had all of THAT paperwork piled on. And during my brief 12 week tenure, I was part of 2 manifestation hearings.
The kids were, well…they were high school EBD kids. I was cussed at pretty much on a daily basis. I was preparing to teach math, English, geography and social skills, none of which I had any experience teaching. And I was teaching the English/literature across all 4 grades, 3 of which were taught in the same room at the same time. I was SO clueless!
I do admire English teachers because they have to make something most students take for granted, and make it come alive and be interesting. I didn't like English much when I was in high school. Teaching it was even worse.
I only had one parent who went after my scalp, who brought her son's psychoanalyst to the meeting. My behaviorism clashed with her Freudian psycho babble. That one parent (and her psycho-analytico guru was enough.
I had 2 different paras who were as new as me who rotated through my room. I had no idea what to do with them. One was an ex-music teacher who had a bit of a clue, so I was able to send a few of my (relatively) best students with her to work in the library while I remained alone within my den of inequity..
In October, it was looking bad. I really was unhappy with almost everything about this job. My first evaluation was terrible. Even though the kids behaved marvelously while I was being observed, I was gigged on every single one of the GTEP points. NOTHING was marked satisfactory. I needed improvement all the way down. I was so screwed. But I was still too naive to really know it.
The principal finally called me in mid October and said that they were making a switch. They put me in the permanent long-term sub position, and moved that guy into my position. My pay would stay the same for the rest of my contract, which ended at the end of the semester in January.
Things improved almost immediately for me. I had a chance to work in collaborative settings and see other teachers teach. I spent time with the MR kids and fell in love. I spent several weeks at a middle school EBD classroom and had a great experience.
But I was screwed. I would have gladly stayed in that position, but the principal said they were terminating that spot. Which was a lie. I then said that I was interested in the middle school job after that principal asked me if I'd be willing to take it. I never heard any more about it. I also said I was still interested in being a para – remember that is what I had originally applied for! I never heard a word. Ever.
I was chewed up, and spit out by that system. They wanted nothing more to do with me. I was dumb to take the job. They were bigger idiots to offer it to me. They didn't want anyone qualified, they wanted a warm body!
Teaching has been called the profession that eats its own young, and that is how I felt after going through that ordeal. They had me teach subjects I had no business teaching and put paras with me who were equally clueless. The 6 year veteran kept her veteran para and taught the science classes I had been teaching previous to this job. I was set up to fail.
So why didn't I leave teaching? Why didn't I leave special ed? Why didn't I at least leave EBD?
By the time I was kicked out of that teaching spot, I was further into the program. I remember writing my advisor, asking him what else I could do with a Master's in EBD besides teaching. The short answer was; not a lot. Maybe go on for my PhD?
But that experience, sad as it was, provided an important backdrop for the rest of my academic studies. I realized I had a LOT more to learn. I soaked up every single bit of knowledge that I could and made the most of every silly exercise, test and project.
After 7 months working fast food, I finally landed that para job at the psychoed right here in Magnolia County. And it was a wonderful experience.
I got my M.Ed. in EBD, and taught it for several years, but not in a self-contained setting. I remember interviewing for an EBD self-contained position at the other high school the same day I interviewed for the position I occupy today. That principal said that was his only opening. I said I wasn't too interested in being shoved into a corner room in the back of the building with the worst students in the school. That was the end of that interview. It lasted all of 5 minutes. The principal had absolutely nothing more to say to me. Needless to say, I was never offered the job.
I was offered and accepted this job in April. But my application was still out there and on the GDOE website. By late July, my phone was ringing off the hook with administrators from all over the metro area wanting to talk to me. They were all a day late and a dollar short.
The average tenure for EBD teachers is less than 3 years. My initial outing was less than 3 months.
Maybe that experience was just a fluke. Or maybe it wasn't. I found myself repeating almost the same thing just 4 years later. But that's for Part 2 of this story.
dick
ESY for Social Skills Training June 5, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Autism/Asperger's, Behavior Analysis, Day-to-day school drama, Parents and parenting, Services.comments closed
One of the core deficits of autism is a deficit in relating to others socially. The inability to maintain successful interpersonal relationships also happens to be a core deficit of those with EBD.
Today, Jane showed me a flyer distributed by a Ms. Deering, who is trying to put together a social skills group for the summer for younger elementary aged students. She is offer 2 hour sessions over 5 weeks this summer. That would be a total of 10 hours of training, if a child committed to the full 5 weeks. She is also offering the same deal for older elementary aged kids. She plans on using social stories, role play, snack time and other teaching methods to help teach the hidden curriculum of social skills at a neighborhood church. The cost is $50 per session or $250 for all 5 sessions. This is becoming a bit of a side business for her.
Ms. Deering was Thomas' teacher when he was in preschool, and when it comes to working with kids with autism, she is second to none. Energetic, ambitious, driven, intelligent…I can't say enough good things about this gifted and talented teacher who also helps Thomas and the other kids at his Saturday karate class. She taught one of my first autism in-services, and I learned a lot from her. I still do when I get the chance.
There's a "but" coming, but let us bask in Ms. Deering's competent glow for a minute while I relate another, related, tale.
I spent an hour or so talking Mrs. Montel on the phone yesterday about her son, Darius. Darius is 4 years and being served under the autism eligibility and will be getting ESY services from yours truly. Big Boss called me the evening before to confirm the hours so she could arrange for a bus to pick him up from his daycare to take him to Middlepoint elementary school where I would deliver instruction in social skills and communication. I've never met young Darius, Middlepoint is not his regular school. Westpoint is. So, I'm scheduled to deliver services to a little boy with autism I've never met, in a school neither of us is familiar with using whatever expertise I can happen to dream up. The reality of ESY is so far removed from the ideal, it is ridiculous. The boy is destined to spend 2 hours a day, for 2 days a week crying, unless we can make it meaningful to him. Which means I may need to change the plan, haphazard as it is.
Mrs. Montel told me that ESY mysteriously materialized as an option at the end of the IEP meeting. She didn't even know what it was, when the preschool coordinator handed her a transportation request and sort of foisted it on her. Far be it from her to turn down a service when offered.
The problem with the current ESY arrangement and Mrs. Deering's social skills class are the same. Basically, taking a group of autistic kids and placing them in an unfamiliar environment which they will probably never see again, and then trying to teach social skills in isolation for very short periods of time and then releasing them back into their regular environment is not terribly productive.
One other core deficit of individuals with autism is the inability to generalize from one setting to another. And so, teaching outside of natural settings and routines is a hit or miss proposition at best. So I've been thinking about how to make the instruction I'm being paid to deliver functional and relevant. Mrs. Montel works full-time, hence Darius spending his summer in daycare. So it seems to me, that this daycare is the most relevent setting to deliver his services, with a component of it involving training the staff there and listening to their concerns. At 7 a.m., when Mrs. Montel drops her son off, I plan on meeting her and Darius and the daycare staff in order to see if we can work out something and the go to Big Boss to see if she can agree to it. Fact is, this ESY was not even supported by the data included in the request, which only consisted of his new IEP and old IEP mastery. He mastered 5 of 6 communication goals and 4 of 5 of his social goals! That's not to say he couldn't benefit from some additional attention and instruction– what kid wouldn't? But he stands a better chance at benefiting within the daycare or his home, which I would do if that were possible. And I might have to work some odd hours to make that so.
Ms. Deering's social skills idea is a fine one, and I don't doubt her skills. But if she were really going to benefit the kids more than her pocketbook, she would include a parent training component with this. Afterall, parents will be with them far more than her, and could deliver such instruction for many more hours across many more contexts than Ms. Deering could. All I'm saying is that Ms. Deering could deliver more valuable instruction by including the parents.
And that's a thought that has been burning in my mind lately. ESY has been set up in a very haphazard way, and efforts at delivering social skills training have been equally disjointed. One of the interventions for students with EBD that has been empirically validated has been parent training. I can see Pivotal Response Treatments (PRT) for individuals with autism eventually working its way up to empirical status by virtue of having parent involvement as its core features. And it is going to be one of main tools for working with young Darius if I can get permission to work with him, his parents and his preschool teachers in more natural settings.
I would also like to see these summer social skills groups offered in conjunction with teacher and para in-services, where the groups provide opportunities to practice in vivo, with actual kids, rather than just presenting material in a typical workshop environment. By offering practice and feedback, teachers and paras can actually use, practice and improve their instruction on-the-spot, while offering valuable instruction for the students, even if it is occurring in a setting that is not as naturalistic as a home or home school, making it more analogous to a summer camp. In fact, this is how Robert Koegel described how he provided training for paras in his latest book which I had him autograph at the autism conference.
I'm going to say one more thing about Ms. Deering's groups. It goes right back to my Fleecing article, in that the $50 per session price tag is going to exclude a number of kids. This is true of any variety of opportunities, like summer camps, karate, clubs and other activities. And I'm also go ahead and say, despite my admiration of Ms. Deering's considerable skills, that her service is providing not a lot of value compared to if she was training parents. The value is dubious by virtue of it being of such limited duration, conducted in isolation and over scattered and limited intervals throughout the summer. She is going to have the kids take social stories home and snack activities home with them after each session, so at least there is that much follow-up. But to put it another way, I will have to work 10 out of my 20 hours of ESY just to pay for one of my boys to take her social skills classes!
dick
Graduation Day Pt. 2 June 3, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Parent Support, Parents and parenting, Services, Special Ed..comments closed
If you haven’t read Part 1 go do it now and then follow the link back here.
You read about the extraordinary response to our severe kids going across the stage at graduation. As with other students, many tears were shed by parents. However, the tears shed differed from the parents of my kids, compared to the parents of more typical students.
Remember; graduation is not an end but a beginning. But the beginning of what? For typical kids, the beginning of college, technical schooling, military careers and jobs. But what about the kids with severe disabilities? I get this all the time; What happens to your kids after they graduate?
The post-school transition for students graduating from special education programs, in general, is hideous. EBD, LD and MR students seem to suffer great impoverishment when it comes to post-school life. They are the last to get hired, and only for the most menial of jobs. And those are the lucky ones. Some of them will spend many of their post-school years in the judicial system, in and out of jail.
For the severe kids, none of the above apply. They are not going to be able to get and hold cempetetive employment. Most need extensive support just to live a normal life with feeding and toileting.
For the past 22, a graduate has been taken care of at public expense and with the protection and provision of the various educational laws. First through the early intervention program and then through the public schools. Parents spend the better part of 15 years battling and fighting and begging and negotiating and advocating for their child’s educational needs. Sometimes they get a bit and sometimes don’t get what they want. But the struggle and fight seems to never end. Many bring in their advocates and lawyers, persuading the schools to follow the law and provide needed services. Winning such a battle brings some satisfaction for a parent. But the day quickly approaches until it is right there; Graduation Day.
Graduation is the end of the line for the educational system. That’s it. No more teachers, administrators or special education buses. No advocates. No special education law. No IEPs. No IDEA. Finished.
If that was it, those tears from our parents might be tears of relief for not having to fight the system anymore. But they are not. What is waiting for my kids outside of school is a dark abyss. Cold, uncaring and bottomless. The laws protecting and guaranteeing the rights of these kids end. There are no laws that state that anyone has to takes these young adults in. Well, that’s not quite true. Someone has to take them in. If not family members, than the state can take custody in a group home. But the burden falls on the people who have been doing this for the past 22 years which is usually the parents. Only now, there is no school system to either cooperate with or fight.
There are some services out there. The moderates graduates have a shot at maybe getting some vocational rehab services. But voc rehab favors the higher level kids. The severe kids MIGHT be able to get into a sheltered workshop…after being on the waiting list for several years.
For Niles, whose story was in Part 1, post-school transition meant staying at home with his father. And sitting around. All. Day. Long. For 3 long years, Niles sat at home until the sheltered workshop either had an opening or got some additional funding. Niles was fairly lucky because Queen kept tabs on him and kept feeding Niles’ father what information she could get to him. But his father, while sometimes loud was not particularly contentious. He was able to get close to some folks who could hang with him beyond school time.
Did I hang with Niles beyond school? No. And I don’t support parents substantially once they leave us because I use every spare moment to support the new kids on my caseload. For the old ones, they are on their own, more or less.
I am, for all practical purposes, the undertaker. I have very little to offer these kids beyond what I’ve already given them in the way of independent skills. I’m working more and harder on the interagency transition council to get some things, but it all comes down to money.
IDEA is a mandate, albeit with limited funding, that does have the threat of due process hearings and expenses to schools. Outside of IDEA and school, there is no legal mandate to supply productive activities. No one has to take our kids if they don’t want them. This is why I’m all over aggressive behaviors, because no sheltered workshop or home will accept a kid who is going to beat on staff and other students.
Those tears shed by Niles’ parents were the tears of someone who was going from bearing a heavy burden alongside the school system to having to carry the entire burden alone. The school is no longer a partner. The bus is not going to pick them up, the school is not going to feed them, change their diapers, wipe their noses or do their catheterizations anymore. Even if the school was an unwilling partner, the world on the outside is far, far more hostile.
In the world of welfare and public assistance, the turnover rate is higher than it is for special education teachers! Chances are pretty slim that a family will have the same case or social worker for more than a year or two. Also, I have seen entire regional boards upended, moved, turned over, reorganized and relocated almost every year. Services are most often scheduled and assigned on a regional or state level which is far less responsive than a local school district. Everytime a shift or change is made, funding is interrupted and services are effected. Service board directors do not answer their phones and even more rarely will they return a call. And you can not sue them. As a parent, the best leverage you have are your local state representatives…politicians. You literally have to throw yourself upon the steps of your state capital and beg for funding.
Those trying to get medicaid waivers for their younger children in Georgia have some idea as to what I’m talking about. It’s why I’m having to take extra summer work to pay for dental care for my oldest son. We’re trying to lobby for some sort of coverage that is reasonable, even with a monthly premium, because our regular insurance will not do it. Fighting congress, even on the state level, is harder than dealing with a teacher, a principal or a local school board. But this is what a parent of a student with severe disabilities faces on graduation day. It is not really a happy occasion at all. The tears shed that day are more like a funeral than a wedding. Which is why I often feel like the undertaker at these things, trying to console a family that faces such an uncertain future. Niles did eventually get into a sheltered workshop, after being on the waiting list almost 3 years. Fortunately his dad isn’t the sort to move, because if he did, he would face these hurdles all over again. So what can families do?
-Preparation starts well before graduation day. In fact, as soon as they enter the public school system, begin thinking about graduation day. 20 years seems like a long way off, but it that day will come.
-When planning educational programs, emphasize daily living skills; potty training, dressing, eating and eventually being able to move around and take care of themselves independently.
- Communication skills also need priority. Using strategies like Pivotal Response Treatment and AAC, purposeful communication can become a reality. This means making the person ask for what they want instead of anticipating their needs.
- Consider what happens to them if you (as a parent) are not there, or become disabled, yourself. This is scary for any parent, but this needs to be driving you a bit as the child moves through the system.
- Look into wills, trusts and guardianship issues. Probably the scariest stuff at all, and all of us parents put it off. Regular parents don’t have wills, and parents of students with disabilities are not any better about this. But at least look into it. Find some parents who have already done it, which leads to…
- Get support from other parents who have gone before. They will be invaluable because once the school system is behind you, don’t expect much help from them. Schools have new students to worry about, and in growing numbers. Hooking up with other parents will give you more accurate information about the system.
- At the same time, be available to other parents following you through the system. It makes your own experiences so much more meaningful if others can benefit from your struggles.
- Keep your faith.
Graduation Day is often a rich mix of all sorts of feelings and emotions. Preparing while the student is in preschool can make it a bit less chaotic. Teachers need to be mindful of Graduation Day, as well. While those teachers in elementary and middle school are able to just shuffle off the kids from one grade to another, those of us at high school are the end of the line. The only time I see any of these teachers at a graduation is when their own kids are getting a diploma and getting ready for college. My students are probably not going to see their 2nd grade teachers ever again after elementary school. Many won’t be able to go up to them and say “Thank you for being my teacher!” But I think it would be very useful for the teachers in earlier grades to attend a graduation every other year or so and watch their kids, meet the families again and show a bit of support. Afterall, graduation represents a collective effort of dozens of people over the years.
dick
