IEP Process: Functional Behavior Assessments August 22, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Behavior Analysis, Behavior disorders, IEPs, Special Education.comments closed
I’m coming back to this series because of something I saw related to the FBA today that bugged me in a major way.
We stopped in during our community time to see Bella, who you might remember from last year. Bella has a different teacher at the psychoed center this year. She apparently had a hard summer, and I noticed she had some new fresh scratches on her face. She is not riding the bus because of behaviors there. Last year she put her head through the window. She also has issues related to aggression, cursing, compliance and staying in the classroom.
Her old teacher from last year is actually functioning as the psyhoed behavior specialist, which is amazing. She is fairly competent in managing her own students, but had no idea what a FBA was. I asked to see Bella’s FBA and it was a 7 line abomination that did not include any of the behaviors listed above including the self-injurious behaviors. The behavior intervention plan was not much better. In addition, none of the behavioral goals included any of the above targets, except for the cursing. I was hoping to find something useful to jog my memory from last year. The Present Level of Performance included the list of behaviors that Bella had exhibited while at the psychoed last year.
So, let’s talk about this FBA and ex/tend from my previous treatment when discussing the BIP.
IDEA 1997 says that if the student has behaviors that impede his/her ability to learn or the learning of others. As far as I know, IDEA 2004 does not change, alter or clarify that in any way. Clarification would be helpful as there are no guidelines for exactly how to do it. So I’ll tell how *I* do it.
The first step is to identify the target behaviors and to define them such that there would be no confusion as to what an observer is looking at when they see them. For instance, self-injurious behavior would be defined as striking, scratching, pinching or poking self with sufficient force as to cause bruising, bleeding or injury.
The next step is to assess duration, severity and frequency of the behavior as well as to assess context and consequences of a target. One way to do that is to use a checklist assessment or two, such as the FAST or the MAST, which are screening tools that can help identify the function of a behavior. Along with this, tracking the target behaviors with some sort of data collection system is essential for identifying the intent of the behaviors. Interviews with parents and other teachers are also essential features of a thorough and meaningful assessment. Reading past records, IEP’s and psychologicals can also produce some meaningful data. This also must include any and all medical data which can yield critical information.
Once all of this data is gathered, it is possible to begin writing the FBA. A proper FBA will include a description of the student and the reason why they have a BIP and an FBA. The Behaviors are listed and defined and then relevant background is presented. I’ll usually included medical information in this introduction.
Then I briefly describe the methods used for assessments. This includes what instruments are used, procedures for observations, what other materials were gathered and who was interviewed. The background and method lay the groundwork when it comes time to do a new FBA. A person can follow a similar method and merely add to the background as needed. The method also provides sufficient credibility to the process which would be crucial if courts have to get involved.
Next, I write about the results of the evaluation, going into sufficient detail as to present the data and information in a manner that would guide a reader to a logical conclusion as to the function. I’ll include a sample data sheet, scores from assessments, and any graphs and charts here. I’m also going to reveal the apparent function of the behavior here and do it so explicitly that no one can miss it in underlined, bold type e.g.
When Bella wishes to gain access to attention she will engage in self-injurious behavior such as scratching her face until she bleeds.
Finally, I write a discussion section which includes any recommendations for intervention and any concerns about the FBA. For instance, many behaviors may be multiply controlled and require different handling depending on the context or function. If there was any key information I was unable to include, I would state that here.
Basically, I’m following a format that is not altogether unlike a research article. Using this background/intro-method-results-discussion format gives me enough structure without being overly stifling. Again, this is me the writer talking. But as a parent, it would be much easier and much more interesting reading a thorough treatment of my child’s behavior than some stupid form with blanks filled in. My FBA’s become useful tools for teachers, parents and anyone who deals with a student who has behavior challenges. Neurologists and doctors have looked at and used my FBAs to make recommendations. It is very much like a sort of psychological, but more useful for looking at day-to-day behavior challenges.
A bad FBA is not worth the paper it is printed on and is a complete waste of time and space. I’m amazed more of these have not been challenged by court systems. But again, while the law says schools have to do them, they gave no guidance HOW to do it.
So I may be spending some time at the psychoed educating them. But first I’m going to see if I can speak with our new county behavior intervention specialist. Afterall, that is part of what she was hired for!
dick
Emergency Fire and Tornado Plans for SID/PID students August 22, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Special Education.comments closed
Last week, Jane was searching for stuff about autism and a certain combination of words (two, to be exact) and my blog popped up as the #1 result! That was a bit surprising and startling to her. It was news to me, too.
However, while doing another search, this blog came up again as the #1 response. So I figured since people were looking here, I might as well provide something useful. My search involved emergency procedures for children with severe disabilities. I was looking for something specific because I had to write some sort of evacuation plan for our class and include it in a folder used for substitutes. We sort of knew what to do, but we were seriously winging it. My own search did show up one promising link but I apologize for not being able to find it again! So I’ll give you what I have.
Basically, a fire or tornado drill is not the same for my students as it is for the rest of the school. It demands more effort and diligence on the part of the teachers and paras, but a substitute should be able to follow it since all my paras are experienced and I think all will go well if I’m not there. I HOPE that’s the case!
The following is an example of an Individual Emergency Plan which has the initials IEP, ironically enough. But I’ll just refer to it as the plan to avoid confusion. For some students, an individual plan may be very necessary depending on certain behavioral or medical issues. In the case of students in wheelchairs, lifting and pushing are important. In the event of a fire drill or evacuation, wheelchairs generally follow after all other students are evacuated, simply because they can slow things down for everyone. Since my classroom has its own door to the outside, that isn’t a major issue for us.
So without further delay, what follows in a sample Individual emergency Plan that I put in my substitute folder. Hopefully, it will never need to be used in an actual emergency!
—————-
Individual Emergency Evacuation Plan
Name: Generic “The Student” Dalton
Age: 16
Disability: Cerbral Palsy, Profound intellectual disability
Equipment: Wheelchair
Fire Drill Procedure
- A teacher or paraeducator will move assist moving the student out of the room, exiting out the back door after other ambulatory (walking) children have already exited.
- Special precautions should be taken when going down a curb. BACK the wheelchair slowly down the curb.
- Pay attention to grass or cracks which may catch the front wheels and stop the wheelchair abruptly.
4. If student is on the floor or out of his chair when the alarm sounds, two people should assist him back into his chair.
Severe Weather Procedure
- The student will be pushed to the designated safe area.
- If the student is on the floor or out of his chair when the alarm sounds, two people should assist him back into his chair to be moved to the safe area.
- Once in the safe area, two people should lift the student out of his chair and position him along the wall.
- The wheelchair will need to be moved out of the flow of traffic by teacher or paraeducator.
- A teacher or paraeducator shall stay next to the student or shelter his body in the event of an actual emergency.
- Two people should assist the student back into his chair to be moved back into the classroom.
Lockdown Procedure:
1. The Student will remain in the classroom and follow the classroom procedures.
Supporting Thomas August 18, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Autism/Asperger's, Behavior Analysis, Day-to-day drama: home, IEPs, Paraeducators, Special Education.comments closed
The last couple of posts have been a bit on the depressing side, and that is where I’ve been with this mess. However, I’ve managed to process things and become a bit more proactive. Actually, I’m more inclined to wait things out, but his teacher, his para and Jane are all beside themselves to figure out what to do. And it is my area of interest, afterall.
So I dialed into the county IEP data base and looked at his IEP from last year. We did not develop a behavior intervention plan, because he appeared to be doing well enough last year. However, last year was not easy the whole time and it dawned on me that we should still do a BIP for a couple more years beyond whatever his improvement, just to be safe. While there was no BIP last year, the one from the previous year was still available. I printed this out and looked it over. The targets of getting out of his seat and being off task were there and defined and then there was a very large list of interventions listed from a positive support model to antecedent and response prompting to consequences. I should know, because I’m the one that wrote it. I wrote it because there are so few other behaviorists in the county, and none that I know of at his school.
This is not to say there are not competent teachers at this school, because there are some very good ones. In fact most of them are excellent. But none are behaviorally oriented and since a BIP is by definition a behaviorally oriented document, it stands to reason that a behaviorist would be better off writing it. But I will say something else about about competence, which I covered in Parking it in Special Ed. In that post, I was a bit unfair to a fellow blogger, but my son’s present case manager is a case in point. She has done Title I reading but otherwise hasn’t taught special education in her entire life. Last year she had a special needs student in her class and demonstrated nothing short of incompetence with her. So I am not counting on this person for any constructive help. The only reason she wanted this job, is because she wanted a consultative-type job where she didn’t have her own class. It was a good deal for the administration, because they figured she’ll do less damage here. Plus, this teacher is on her last year before retirement. Get the picture?
So I wrote a brief note, attaching the BIP and asked for more information as far as the types of behavior, whether or not we needed more targets and interventions they have tried as well as some from the list they might want to try. I also asked if there were any interventions for which they needed more training or support. It was a very brief 7 point sheet, but Jane made me soften it up a bit and make it less formal. She’s a bit better with the emotional/social stuff than I am and since these are all women with limited behavioral background (and less background with me) they needed more indirect handling than I’m prone to. I come off as being abrupt sometimes because I don’t see a lot of value in small talk. I’m like a guided missile when I’m striving for a solution to a problem and hate being bothered by various niceties that society seems to need and demand. Could we just get to the POINT?!?
So, yeah, Thomas comes by his social ills honestly!LOL!
I’m thinking that once the teachers and para look at the BIP list, they may get some ideas and be able to take things from there. At the same time, I’m still going to look for a specific list of target behaviors so that we can take a stab at some data collection. Again, I may have to train his para since she has been at this only since last year, but it seems like she might actually be more competent than her (soon-to-retire) supervisor. And training paras is one of my other areas of interest! I just need to find the time to do it.
Phantom Menace August 16, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Autism/Asperger's, Behavior Analysis, Day-to-day drama: home.comments closed
One of the things I promised when I started this blog was that it would be gritty, and contain the real life drama of being a teacher in a severe and profound classroom (in more ways than one) as well as being a parent. I’ve been very light on the parent bit. Too light.
So time for some gritty heaviness.
Yesterday, I introduced you to the idea of PANDAS and some of Thomas’ difficulties. For once, Jane is actually just as skeptical as me about this business. None of these conditions (PANDAS, autism, PDD-NOS, ADHD) have any sort of test a body can give. Every one is identified by some sort of shopping list of symptoms and behavioral characteristics. We are infinitely frustrated by this. It’s not like spina bifida or Down syndrome, where there is this definite physical marker or genetic thing. Autism and everything about it is like some sort of phantom whose outline you can just barely make out in the mist. You know its there. Or do you? We don’t know where it comes from, where it is or where it will be in the future. Something is there…or is it? What is it? Is it just bad behavior? Is my son just being a stubborn and obstinate shit that needs to be disciplined into submission?
His teacher called yesterday. Thomas is in regular 1st grade with support from a para. His teacher is actually pretty competent if not extremely empathetic. Her son, who is in 3rd grade, is identical in a lot of ways to Thomas, with the autism/PDD-NOS diagnosis. Her husband teacher MoID kids down the hall from me, so I there is a bit more of a connection than simply casual. Thomas is exhibiting a lot of wildness, immaturity, and generally disruptive behavior. Like at home, he requires constant, diligent supervision at all times. He’ll wander out of the room, get in the faces of other kids, hug the littlest ones around the neck, yell loudly, exhibit defiance…pretty much a uniform constellation of behavior problems.
Jane was the one who talked to the teacher, so she laid it all on me when I got home. And then she asked, “What should we do? Any suggestions?” I’m a behaviorist. This is supposed to be my thing. My area of expertise. However, before I can think like a behaviorist, I have to process as a father. And that is an energy and time consuming thing. We’re constantly having to adjust to new behaviors and new demands. I think any parent has to do this to some extent. There’s always some new thing on the horizon, some new developmental/emotional/behavioral issue. But it usually isn’t quite so bizarre and different. Like now Thomas want to smash and smush things. glue sticks, toothpaste, chapstick, crayons, bar soap…all smashed and crumbled. His impulsive behaviors are becoming more compulsive and not doing them can lead to tantrums and meltdowns.
It is a lot to take in and deal with.
One of the difficulties I’m having is wrapping my mind around the concept of compulsions. I get what a compulsive behavior is, but how to handle it as a behaviorist becomes tricky. From a cognitive perspective, compulsions are driven by a false or irrational belief that something bad may happen if a person does not engage in a certain behavior or set of behaviors. But this is unsatisfactory from a behavioral perspective. I can’t just assume anything regarding motivation. I’m going to have to noodle this out some more in order to determine function although it is looking a lot like automatic reinforcement. Thomas has a lot of marbles but he is very concrete in his thinking, so a cognitive approach will be challenging.
An instance of this is when his teacher was talking to another student. “I know you can do this! All you need to do is push yourself harder, and you can do a lot better!”
Thomas overheard this, and promptly went up behind the poor boy and gave him a hard push.
He was just trying to help!
At least I’m not contending with a lot of head banging and self-injurious behaviors. At least we have had an opportunity to mainstream, which I’m not sure is going to be able to be maintained. Right now he is fully included, with OT and speech therapy. We’re trying to hold on to as much of a regular environment as possible for him, but as he gets older and bigger (he already weighs over 70 pounds!) it will be more difficult especially if we see more aggression.
dick
PANDAS: Muddying the Waters of Autism August 15, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Autism/Asperger's, Day-to-day drama: home.comments closed
I don’t cover a lot of things as a parent because, because it is harder for me to spot drama there. That’s not to say we don’t have episodes, because we do. All the time.
Thomas and Percy are typical siblings in many ways. They do fuss, argue, fight and tease each other as 7 and 4 year-olds might be prone to do. Percy might be described as the more “typical” of the two, because he is relatively trouble-free and compliant. I think he’ll be dropped from special education within a year or so.
Thomas is a different sort altogether. He requires constant diligence. I’m talking ALL. THE. TIME. He needs to be watched almost every single moment of his waking hours. And that is not small thing when he gets up at 5:30 most mornings. He mostly gets into things. He has always had a thing for getting into the refrigerator. He likes to look over the pantry when it isn’t locked. But by far, his biggest thing is water. Water, water everywhere! He’ll spend gobs of time in the bathroom playing in the sink, washing his wooden trains. Wood and water don’t go so well together. In any case, he’ll also get into the soap, toothpaste, shampoo or whatever he gets his hands on and makes a huge, gigantic mess. Stuff is everywhere!
The other day during Sunday school, he snuck out and into the bathroom, getting the front of his shirt all wet. In church, i was about ready to take him outside, which I have had to do the last couple of Sundays. In fact, it has been intense with Thomas all summer long.
He has tested positive for strep throat several times this summer. Jane has begun correlating his more difficult behaviors with possible infection and she has been right several times. The maddening thing about this, is that he has no other apparent symptoms! Jane started taking him in to the doctor last year when his behavior was getting too bad and the strep screen was positive almost every time. He would undergo a 10 day course of antibiotics and be okay for a bit, but a few weeks later it was all back again. It was absolutely crazy, because he didn’t complain of a sore throat, he had no fever and only occasionally had swollen adenoids. I was beginning to suspect that maybe the screening was all fouled up. They did some cultures, and these showed up normal.
I also admit to wondering if Jane and the pediatrician were both going loony. I have never heard of asymptomatic strep whose only marker was increased behavior difficulty. This is not the sort of antecedent most behaviorists look for when doing a proper analysis. But there appeared to be some correlation, nonetheless. Jane took Thomas to an ENT to discuss the possibility of having Thomas’ tonsils removed. The ENT did not recommend this and is the one who gave Jane the name to pin on this anomaly: PANDAS. I had never heard of it, either. Apparently there is something to it and the NIMH is looking into this apparent OCD/autism/strep connection. I’m still skeptical, but not as much as if I hadn’t witnessed this sort of thing with my own eyes. Thomas has been diagnosed and treated for strep at least 3 times in the last 9 weeks. Percy had it once, Jane had it once and I probably had it once back in June. Back when I did my bus physical in July, I had them do a screen on me and it turned out negative. The ENT seems to think Thomas is some sort of carrier but isn’t certain exactly what to make of it. Thomas tested all normal yesterday, so at least we have a NORMAL result on something!
As if autism didn’t have enough baggage attached, with digestive disorders, neurological disorders, immunity disorders, allergies…there seems to be some sort of other mystery illness to tack on to the list. Like all the others it seems to defy explanation and reason. Like the other things, it is difficult to see and identify. Like the other things, there are correlations and links that are not clear. Like the other things, there is no simple treatment or preventative. I’ve just learned about the existence of PANDAS and am already sick of it!
This is probably another reason why I blog infrequently about stuff with the boys. It’s harder to be a half-way objective observer/commenter/participant when it’s your own child. There are feelings attached to everything I do, but with the boys it is sometimes too near to be able to focus. I know other parent bloggers who do it a lot better than I do so I prefer to let them tell that side of the story while I focus on the little universe of those with severe and profound disabilities and those of us caring for them. Being their teacher is sometimes difficult, but being their parent would be infinitely more challenging. So being a teacher allows me some semblance of detachment from the parent life, although neither teacher-life nor parent-life are ever far from me.
8-17-2010 update: Here’s a video of a doctor talking about PANDAS:
IEP Process: Functional Behavior Assessments August 11, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Behavior Analysis, Behavior disorders, IEPs, Special Education.comments closed
I’m coming back to this series because of something I saw related to the FBA today that bugged me in a major way.
We stopped in during our community time to see Bella, who you might remember from last year. Bella has a different teacher at the psychoed center this year. She apparently had a hard summer, and I noticed she had some new fresh scratches on her face. She is not riding the bus because of behaviors there. Last year she put her head through the window. She also has issues related to aggression, cursing, compliance and staying in the classroom.
Her old teacher from last year is actually functioning as the psyhoed behavior specialist, which is amazing. She is fairly competent in managing her own students, but had no idea what a FBA was. I asked to see Bella’s FBA and it was a 7 line abomination that did not include any of the behaviors listed above including the self-injurious behaviors. The behavior intervention plan was not much better. In addition, none of the behavioral goals included any of the above targets, except for the cursing. I was hoping to find something useful to jog my memory from last year. The Present Level of Performance included the list of behaviors that Bella had exhibited while at the psychoed last year.
So, let’s talk about this FBA and ex/tend from my previous treatment when discussing the BIP.
IDEA 1997 says that if the student has behaviors that impede his/her ability to learn or the learning of others. As far as I know, IDEA 2004 does not change, alter or clarify that in any way. Clarification would be helpful as there are no guidelines for exactly how to do it. So I’ll tell how *I* do it.
The first step is to identify the target behaviors and to define them such that there would be no confusion as to what an observer is looking at when they see them. For instance, self-injurious behavior would be defined as striking, scratching, pinching or poking self with sufficient force as to cause bruising, bleeding or injury.
The next step is to assess duration, severity and frequency of the behavior as well as to assess context and consequences of a target. One way to do that is to use a checklist assessment or two, such as the FAST or the MAST, which are screening tools that can help identify the function of a behavior. Along with this, tracking the target behaviors with some sort of data collection system is essential for identifying the intent of the behaviors. Interviews with parents and other teachers are also essential features of a thorough and meaningful assessment. Reading past records, IEP’s and psychologicals can also produce some meaningful data. This also must include any and all medical data which can yield critical information.
Once all of this data is gathered, it is possible to begin writing the FBA. A proper FBA will include a description of the student and the reason why they have a BIP and an FBA. The Behaviors are listed and defined and then relevant background is presented. I’ll usually included medical information in this introduction.
Then I briefly describe the methods used for assessments. This includes what instruments are used, procedures for observations, what other materials were gathered and who was interviewed. The background and method lay the groundwork when it comes time to do a new FBA. A person can follow a similar method and merely add to the background as needed. The method also provides sufficient credibility to the process which would be crucial if courts have to get involved.
Next, I write about the results of the evaluation, going into sufficient detail as to present the data and information in a manner that would guide a reader to a logical conclusion as to the function. I’ll include a sample data sheet, scores from assessments, and any graphs and charts here. I’m also going to reveal the apparent function of the behavior here and do it so explicitly that no one can miss it in underlined, bold type e.g.
When Bella wishes to gain access to attention she will engage in self-injurious behavior such as scratching her face until she bleeds.
Finally, I write a discussion section which includes any recommendations for intervention and any concerns about the FBA. For instance, many behaviors may be multiply controlled and require different handling depending on the context or function. If there was any key information I was unable to include, I would state that here.
Basically, I’m following a format that is not altogether unlike a research article. Using this background/intro-method-results-discussion format gives me enough structure without being overly stifling. Again, this is me the writer talking. But as a parent, it would be much easier and much more interesting reading a thorough treatment of my child’s behavior than some stupid form with blanks filled in. My FBA’s become useful tools for teachers, parents and anyone who deals with a student who has behavior challenges. Neurologists and doctors have looked at and used my FBAs to make recommendations. It is very much like a sort of psychological, but more useful for looking at day-to-day behavior challenges.
A bad FBA is not worth the paper it is printed on and is a complete waste of time and space. I’m amazed more of these have not been challenged by court systems. But again, while the law says schools have to do them, they gave no guidance HOW to do it.
So I may be spending some time at the psychoed educating them. But first I’m going to see if I can speak with our new county behavior intervention specialist. Afterall, that is part of what she was hired for!
dick
Email Sent to our Principal last Friday… August 10, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Day-to-day school drama, Regular Ed, Teachers.comments closed
Thanks for the opportunity to teach English, but it was not what I expected. I won’t be coming back. Bye.
Sincerely,
New Teacher
Kinda sad that most of you all haven’t even started teaching the new year and there’s already a teacher who has quit after less than 2 weeks! He was just down the hall from us…hope WE didn’t drive him out! Stranger things have happened.
dick
Related Services: Physical Therapy August 9, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Services, Special Education.comments closed
In case you haven’t guessed, we have been a bit short on the sort of drama that this program has been famous for over the last 7+ years. This is good. Too good. I’m waiting for that other shoe to drop.
So I thought I might do a series on the related services that I work with. I chose to start with PT because this was one of the first services I came into contact with that is not considered direct. When I first came, physical therapists developed their own goals and objectives. However, now they merely support goals and objectives developed by the IEP team, which in practice usually means the teacher.
In Georgia and probably throughout the country, there is a shortage of physical therapists. Magnolia County has only 2 (Loraine and Elaine) that are serving over 100 students. This means that the amount of time a therapist actually spends doing therapy is minimal. And this is something that became a hard lesson for me learn; that PT is more of a consultative job in our system than an actual service. They come by, answer teacher’s questions, teach them how to do various daily exercises and move on.
The first few years of teaching, I was ready to throw almost all of the related service providers out of my room. They came in at odd times, interrupted, expected undivided attention and then left me with a pile of extra work. Basically PT became a part of MY job description as these fly-by-night characters came through my room. Every time the PT would open her mouth it meant at least 2 more hours of work for me. Per child. It has taken me some time and some education to learn to appreciate these folks who stay just long enough to get my kids upset with their turning, twisting, stretching exercises.
I have since learned that by following their programs, the students do better with us. For instance, Larry has an absolutely hideous case of CP, and his limbs are so tight we can barely position him in his wheelchair. But by working him over a bit, he does relax more and moving him is less stressful for him and all of us.
My son, Thomas, did get PT services his first year or two of school. He had some delays negotiating steps and he did have a sort of funny gait, especially when he ran. But he was just getting consultative services, meaning that Loraine talked with his teacher as well as talked with me when she came through my school to work with my students. It does sometimes feel weird talking to these folks about my own children while serving my students. I can’t explain why it feels weird, but it does. Part of it might be that I wonder if I get preferential treatment because of who I am. I know it has happened at times, as I’m not sure Thomas really qualified for PT, and I have some doubts about Percy’s whole eligibility for special ed.
PT in the educational setting is different from PT in the medical or private setting. Basically, PT assists with areas that directly impact a child’s access to education which includes mobility, posture and body movement and orientation. A student may have difficulties walking, but if they can get to class independently they may not necessarily qualify for PT services. Also some benefit must be derived from the services, which is why I have seen non ambulatory students dropped from the PT caseload. However, Loraine and Elaine both will retain a student if the parent insists.
I can not think of one single high school student who has PT who is on anything other than a consultative basis. Because Loraine and Elaine only work for the county 2 days per week (they also have a thriving private practice) we have numbers like “0.025 hours per week” for this service on the IEP. The joke is that we’ll just line the kids up by the road and they can drive by and wave! However they really do put in more hours than indicated because they are both dedicated.
The logic behind having so few hours goes something like this: A student can not possibly obtain meaningful benefit from seeing someone one time for 30 minutes per week. Most exercises can be done by a para or teacher once they are showed how to do them. So the best context for PT is integrated into the daily routine and schedule where the teacher consults with the PT and obtains guidance as needed. Over the years I’ve come around to this point of view more and more. I’m there everyday, I communicate with the parents more and get to know the students better. I can do it on a more regular basis than they can.
I’m saying all of this because many parents of students with severe disabilities wonder why their child gets discharged from a related service when they clearly have not mastered even fundamental skills. How can a student who has two legs but can not walk be discharged from PT? Because there is no evidence of improvement. However Loraine and Elaine have both been good about helping with all students.
Physical Therapists have the big toys/implements of torture (depending on your point of view). I’m looking at an incline prone pad that looks like something from a dungeon or torture chamber Loraine brought today. Larry’s in for it tomorrow!LOL! This equipment is not cheap, as most run in the hundreds and thousands of dollars. That torture rack I’m looking at runs about $3,000. Of course, it seems like anything marketed through a disability catalog costs huge dollars. Bean bag chairs in the disability catalog I was looking at were running $100 or more. I bought 3 at Big Lots for less than $50. Loraine has some influence with the system’s maintenance people so they will often help construct some things for her or make adaptations to equipment. As she tells it, they actually like doing it because it is a pleasant diversion from bookshelves.
Over time I’ve come to respect the expertise and professionalism of our physical therapists. They are welcome additions to an IEP team. Since they travel to every school in the system, they get to see a lot of parents and experience a lot of meetings. When a student transitions from elementary or middle school, the physical therapist is often the only constant. Loraine has been doing this in our county for over 20 years and has known Spaz since he was in preschool! Which means she has also known his mother forever. This is a great source of consistency in addition to information for a new teacher. I’m sure many systems don’t enjoy this level of continuity so we’re lucky to have it.
The science of physical therapy is pretty straight forward. Posture, positioning and movement influences all sorts of things you can’t imagine from attention and behavior to eating issues and continence. With wheelchairs it becomes a huge job keeping up with positioning needs. PT can also help give tips on lifting, which we do a lot in our room. Doing it safely becomes very important as kids get older, bigger and sometimes more frail.
For students with orthopedic impairments and mobility issues, physical therapists are going to be important resources for parents and teachers. Since they are in such short supply, their time is often at a premium so it can be difficult getting much time with them. Make the most of it by paying attention and preparing a list of questions and issues in advance.
D.
Sonny’s Funny Money August 4, 2006
Posted by Daniel Dage in Day-to-day school drama, Ed Policy Discussion.comments closed
Thanks to the initiative by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, every teacher in the state of Georgia has a $100 gift card that they can use to buy school related supplies during the state’s Sales Tax Holiday which starts today and ends Sunday night.
Just how much vote-buying can Georgia politicians pack into one weekend?LOL! The gift card is allegedly a way that the state can help defray the amount of money that teachers dig out of their own pockets for school supplies every year. And it is true that I have done this when I have seen items that we needed and decided it was easier to just pay for it rather than go through the hassle of a request/purchase order/vendor order/special request and waiting days to months to get the actual item. I bought a toaster and a microwave so we could practice making stuff in our kitchen. The adults in my room also use the stuff plenty, which is okay. The point is, I know what I need and having to justify every little thing becomes just one more hassle.
The Feds have also gotten into it, with their $250 teacher tax credit. All of this is lovely, but it still looks like a cheap vote-buying scheme, to me. I don’t think it is any coincidence that Sonny is up for re-election this year. The Tax-Free Holiday for school supplies was the brainchild of his predecessor, Roy Barnes, and it wasn’t enough to save his skin. I’m just sayin’.
We are getting all sorts of promotional stuff from stores trying to get a piece of this money. The gift card MUST be used this weekend, so all of the stores have one shot at all of the teachers in Georgia. In Magnolia County alone, we’re looking at well over a million bucks plus all of the parents buying stuff for their kids. Staples, Big Lots and Office Depot are just a few of the stores offering special promotions just for teachers in the form of sweepstakes, free breakfasts and additional discounts. This weekend is sure to be a madhouse. I’m going to do my best to avoid it.
I did use part of my money at the local Kmart during our community time this morning. Last year, after I had spent my allotment of money, the IT guy got us a new printer so I had nothing to buy ink with. Now I have one extra black and one extra color cartridge to last the year if I can keep the paras from abusing it. And I still have $50 left. I was looking for a beanbag chair for my wheelchair kids, but Kmart didn’t have any. But Big Lots did.
dick
