IEP Service Options April 27, 2007
Posted by Daniel Dage in IEPs, NCLB, Services, Special Education, Teachers.comments closed
Erin recently posted a question about placement and placement decisions. Namely:
What are the IDEA classifications that allow a student to be placed in a resource setting? What is the boundary between a CBI/EBD and just a resource class?
Placement/services is the trickiest question most IEP committees deal with and it is often the most contentious. The fact that Thomas’ first grade teacher is recommending CBI is a case in point. Just because her child is in CBI doesn’t mean it is appropriate for someone else. And is adaptive PE a reasonable option?
In my IEP series, I wrote an article that dealt with the service option question, but didn’t go into detail as to exactly how such a decision is made. We consider the present level of performance, special factors, accommodations and modifications, goals and the transition plan and all of these should point to a possible group of services. This is why, if you are a parent, you can best shape the placement by contributing to these earlier sections of the IEP. I’ve seen many parents sit tight lipped through almost the whole meeting, enduring all of the earlier spiel only to open up and let loose when we discuss placement options. But by then, it is too late.
The law is pretty plain in that the least restrictive environment (LRE) is the main aim of placement and service options while delivering appropriate services. As a parent, teacher or LEA, I find myself being pretty aggressive in this regard. Many other committee members will take a very cautious and conservative approach with the idea that they don’t want the kid to fail. However, a more restrictive environment also means less chance of meaningful success. Of course Thomas can succeed in adaptive PE! He has very few physical limitations! Is it meaningful for him to succeed in some sort of Special Olympic competition against those who do have significant physical limitations? So I’m more likely to go ahead and test a student and offer the less restrictive as an option if needed. More conservative committee members want to offer a more restrictive service or setting and offer the less restrictive option contingent on success in the lower setting. But the bind is that they will later claim the more restrictive setting is working, so why change it?
The most restrictive setting is a self-contained setting. In the elementary grades, several disabilities may be in the same classroom together with the same teacher and para almost the entire day. The class will be smaller and hopefully more structured. However the abilities of students can vary widely which makes this a very difficult setting in which to teach. The EBD student may be doing some advanced material while the MID student is doing material that is very basic and way below grade level. You can guess a major downside of this; the MID student will be learning some new behaviors from his EBD friends that his parents might rather he not. Also, the EBD student has few positive behavioral models with whom to practice his social skills. The LD student typically needs both academic and behavioral assistance. One of the few positive results of No Child Left Behind is that the self-contained setting is limited to those with the most severe disabilities, while the milder disabilities are spending more time in the mainstream environment. Even those with severe disabilities are getting more regular education time.
Things have to be fairly bad for me to recommend a self-contained setting for a child. And even then, I’m going to push for some classes in the regular setting. The intention of the law is to compel school systems to consider as many accommodations as possible before modifying the curriculum. So a student should have failed in the regular setting repeatedly and even with lots of accommodations before I go to the self-contained route. And sometimes, even with failure, I’ll try to go a bit further. As Erin points out in another post, the collaborative teachers are sometimes a fry or two short of a happy meal and aren’t giving much help. This is one reason I’m looking at getting into that side of the business.
Resource is the service model that seems to be the most common. It is relatively cheap, easy to implement and does not impact LRE nearly as much as a self-contained placement. It can also have dubious value as it depends heavily on the skill of the teacher. This might be the way we go with Thomas, but I’m a bit reluctant to go from full-inclusion to the resource model. The resource setting serves many functions and purposes. It is sometimes used as a study hall, so students can get their work done. It also functions as an enrichment setting, where supplementary instruction is delivered on organization, test taking, studying and social skills. It’s the latter that they are pushing for Thomas, but I’m thinking just giving Thomas a break from the regular setting might be beneficial for him, his regular teacher and his para. So much of what I end up hearing is the result of emotional fatigue caused by having a student that is so disruptive and demands so much attention.
Collaborative classes can be used along with the resource model of service delivery. In our district, the special education teachers doing collaborative teaching are universally the most inexperienced and least trained of the lot. How the collaboration and regular teachers are paired up depends on the school. But consider the fact that it seems like the newest teachers always get the majority of mainstreamed special education students because the experienced ones have seniority. Pair them with the most inexperienced special education teachers and you can end up with the blind leading the blind. In theory, both teachers are supposed to be adding something to the environment and make it a better one for all students. In reality, it’s a bit different. I spoke with one young biology teacher who said she didn’t really want a collaborative teacher in her room because they didn’t seem to know what they were doing. And having a para was almost like having an extra student. So she handled the 10 IEP students in her class of 30 by herself. It’s teachers like her that I worry about because she’s obviously dedicated but she’s also on a fast track to burnout.
Collaborative classes can be beneficial if the two teachers can get into a real teaching groove together. It takes some work and some effort but the payoff can be significant because it can allow some students to succeed in a regular setting where they might fail otherwise. Plus, in the land of NCLB testing, this addresses those students in the “golden band” who are just failing. Science remains the hardest part of the high school graduation test and yet this is where there are the fewest HQ collaborative teachers.
Despite what I’ve said above, I’m a big fan of the collaborative model with or without resource. I think there is a lot of potential to give more access to the general curriculum for more students with this model. But it depends on the individual teachers involved. It would make more sense to me to pair a novice in one discipline with a veteran of the other just so one can learn from another.
The consultative model is basically a transition out of special education or barely staying in with accommodations only. A student being served here should have shown mastery of the grade level content in the regular classes. My youngest will probably end up here next year because he needs very little support. He might still qualify for OT services and that’s about it. Academically, he is right where he needs to be. He’s not the brilliant super-fast learner his older brother is, but he also doesn’t have all the silly interfering behaviors, either.
Most students in special education served under IDEA should be in the resource/ collaborative services. The whole concept of an alternative curriculum for students with mild disabilities is rapidly on its way out. Our school is still doing it, but I see things changing even though many teachers don’t like it. I think parents and teachers need to be fairly aggressive in moving students along to less and less restrictive environments if at all possible. In fact, I wish we had an elective or two that MY kids could participate in, even if it was just a few days a week. But the shortage of space and teachers has put us in a bit of a squeeze that way.
I don’t know if I’ve clarified anything here, but at least I’ve cleared some of my own mental back-log!
Dick
IEP Issues April 25, 2007
Posted by Daniel Dage in IEPs, Parent Support, Parents and parenting, Special Education.comments closed
I was not even planning to go to Thomas’s IEP meeting this year. I thought that we had it out last fall and all of those issues just sort of disappeared once I required data and he got a new para. Last month, the new para wrote a note how perfect he was and said there was nothing to report so she was wondering why he needed the data sheet. So I said it was okay to not take the data as long as we were kept informed of any problems.
So now this teacher is raising issues again and she told Jane that she was going to request that he attend some sort of community-based resource 1x a week in addition to special Olympics. There’s some concern as to him being able to function in a regular PE class as these are large classes and PE tends to be on the loud, wild side anyway. So they want to look at adaptive PE. The thing is, adaptive PE, special Olympics and the community-based program would effectively decrease his hours in regular education by about a third.
The regular setting is where he has the majority of his problems. He would go to a special setting and he would probably succeed with flying colors because he is so high functioning. But it is the regular setting where he has to learn.
The other major concern is that they are pretty much dragging people off the street to fill special education positions. There is a mass of incompetence and/or inexperience that makes up the special education programs around the county. I think that bothers me more than anything, as qualified regular elementary teachers are easier to come by.
ACK! I’m busily following my own advice on the whole IEP process, trying to get a parent input statement squared away. I still don’t really want to go and it would be nice if these things could be kind of ironed out in advance. I’m glad I wrote that IEP series so now I have a guide to work from!
On a related note, we got Percy’s notice on Monday for his IEP on May 1st. HELLO!?!? What happened to getting notice? Fortunately his biggest issue will be to either continue resource or do a consultative service. He’s really pretty much “normal” aside from some oddness he got mostly from his brother. He has a best friend his age that acts pretty much like Thomas. I think its because they both ride the special bus. I need to remind Jane that he needs to take the regular bus next year as the special bus schedule has been erratic and crazy this past year. Since regular routes stay the same regardless of who is added to the system, they run pretty reliably. Plus he’s ridden it before and did okay and he actually has a couple of friends in our neighborhood to look out for him. That’s one that Jane can easily handle.
I have no IEPs scheduled for the rest of the week. Can you believe it? Next week I have a bunch of middle school IEPs to attend. Those are always interesting.
I also have my remaining 3 scheduled in 3 weeks: Jim, Spaz and Taz. I’m having them all the same day. Call me insane or crazy, but it was the only way I could be sure I would have all of my principle members present. At least I am finally seeing the end of all this.
So to all of you parents who are going through this: I HATE IT TOO!
And to all of you teachers writing these things: I DON’T LIKE IT EITHER!
Hey! We’re coming up on only having 4 more weeks of school! WOOHOO!
Dick
Tension April 20, 2007
Posted by Daniel Dage in Day-to-day school drama, Paraeducators, Teachers.comments closed
Emails from the principal today:
I want to tell you all that I truly appreciate your professionalism, today. I know that the kids are excited and fearful. I ask that you do what you can maintain a calm environment in your room. Do the best you can to teach as usual and keep the students as busy as you can given the circumstances. We currently have 13 deputies on campus. Let them and/or an administrator know if you hear or know of anything unusual.
And later on:
Teachers,
Regardless of what your students may be saying, we have had no incidents whatsoever, today. Just continue on with business as usual.
There were all sorts of rumors starting Tuesday and they progressively became more and more involved and threatening as the week wore on. By today (Friday) the entire school was gripped by some sort of hysterical fear. My paras were no exception, so we loaded the kids on the bus and spent the morning off campus. But lunch time scared them the most. But I decided that we needed to keep the schedule as we were directed to do. And the place was crawling with police officers, making their presence known. But students still streamed out during the day and went home. Some parents picked up their kids.
For my part, I was not terribly scared or worried and I feel like I was in the minority. I had several teachers come up to me and express their fears and I just told them that I thought there was just a lot of foolishness going on. We are always a potential target and we always will be. I’m thinking of that school in Russia, where the terrorists kept the teachers and kids hostage with bombs strapped to them. Or the Amish school that was attacked. Your odds of being killed in a car are still greater than being killed in a school. But I don’t see the use of cars declining or people calling for tougher car laws. All of my paras are going to get in their cars and go home, despite the risk.
What happened in Virginia was tragic and I mourn with those who have lost loved ones. But I refuse to live in fear. I’m going to live my life as fully as ever. There’s enough things to fret and fuss at every day without importing new issues. While my students have little real knowledge or understanding of what is going on, they certainly do get keyed into the tension of the adults. And I’m sure if I was all keyed up that would simply add to the anxiety of my paras. Our principal and other administrators have made it a point to be out and visible in order to instill some confidence. I’m not sure if the emails helped or not, but keeping things running in such circumstances has to be difficult. I’m sure every principal in every school is feeling a considerable amount of heat this day.
Dick
Other LEA Thoughts April 19, 2007
Posted by Daniel Dage in IEPs, Parent Support, Special Education, Teachers.comments closed
IEPs will probably dominate this blog for awhile because that is what is dominating my life. Sort of like what the GAA was doing a few months ago.
It occurred to me that I quite like doing this. No one likes IEP meetings, but in a twisted sort of way I sort of do.
Am I going nuts?!?!
I like seeing how different teachers do these things. I see a lot of mistakes and try to help correct them, but it’s also nice to see how a teacher deals with their students and the parents for good or ill. I also get a chance to see the students in a unique setting. Some are definitely in the hot seat, as they might be failing or have been goofing off. Sometimes it gets embarrassing when a parent blesses the kid out in front of the rest of the committee. Or when a student and a regular ed. teacher start battling back and forth at each other. I’m trying to think of a time when two teachers went at it…I don’t think I’ve seen that although I’ve probably had some get annoyed with me. In fact I know I did last year when I took the parent’s side at Bella’s IEP. And they get annoyed when I insist on doing things properly, thus dragging the meeting on longer. And other teachers HATE it when I start asking about data or get up into their objectives.
Oh well.
But generally I’ve been having a decent time meeting new students and new teachers. Our faculty is looking younger and younger to me! Or maybe it’s just the youngest ones that get the special ed kids. Or I’m just getting very old. In any case, I’m meeting teachers that I would not ever have any interaction with, otherwise. I’m feeling some sympathy for the young teachers who are teaching for the first time and having a rough go with students who are masters of manipulation. They care so much and are sooo deeply involved and committed! But someone also needs to tell these regular education teachers that they need to stop feeling sorry for the kids with disabilities. For others, they need to be mindful of how the disability effects their behavior and performance and make the necessary accommodations. In both cases, these young teachers get a bit emotionally enmeshed and get sucked into conflicts and confrontations and frustration follows. It’s really hard to do anything meaningful or well when a body is frustrated. A certain amount of compassionate aloofness can result in better judgment and better results.
Each student is like a new puzzle that needs figuring out. Each committee member has a different vantage point and sometimes when everyone is brought together, you can just feel the synergy. Things start fitting together and a more complete picture becomes visible.
I’ll be attending 2-3 meetings per day, every day for the next 4 weeks or so. This isn’t terribly beneficial for my own students but I feel pretty good about where my paras are. They are capable of managing and teaching at this point, and require a minimum of management themselves.
I’m able to impact a different population with all of these meetings. For many of these parents, this is their second go ‘round with me as LEA and they do remember me. In my aging feeble-mindedness, I don’t always recognize them tho. But once we get going, what we did last year usually starts coming back. Being a parent has helped me identify and relate better with most parents. I have only really made it an issue one time. Last year, an irate parent flew into me and said I had no idea what life was like for her raising a child with a disability. I said I couldn’t say what her position was exactly, but I did know something about raising a child with autism. And that totally changed her outlook and we were able to move on and be productive. She felt like she was being heard, which was sort of new experience for her at an IEP. I’m a bit of a collector of stories, so I do enjoy hearing about the experiences of parents. With my own child working his way up the system, I am particularly attentive to these parents of high schoolers. These are the trail blazers for me, and it makes me a much more attentive and invested audience. They are facing issues that I will eventually have to deal with.
Having said all of this, I will be exceedingly glad when IEP season is over with. I’m not even planning on attending my own sons’ IEPs as my presence isn’t always the most helpful of things. It seems like I escalate the tension in the room, and then everyone is nervous and then they get overly meticulous to the point of being ridiculous and the meeting drags on for hours! Jane is more than capable of handling things and she’s really the one they should be watching out for as far as being satisfied or not. When I go to a meeting to register some complaint or level of dissatisfaction I’m most often speaking on Jane’s behalf who tends to be a bit more shy than me. She’s the one who is more likely to get upset and angry with a sort of Mama Bear intensity. Everyone thinks I’m the one who they have to please and perform for, when I’m actually just a front man!
Dick
IEP LEAs April 17, 2007
Posted by Daniel Dage in IEPs, Parent Support, Special Education, Teachers.comments closed
Note to self: if you want lots of traffic, be sure to use Oprah’s name somewhere in the title.
We’re down to the last 6 weeks of the year and it will streak by quickly, except for the last week which is longest of the year. IEP season is in full swing and my dance card is rapidly filling up as teachers are looking for someone to LEA. LEA = Local Education Agent who represents the local educational agency (also sometimes referred to as an LEA). I don’t know how well I represent our district as much as I try to do best by the kids while balancing against local resources. But most of the time my best move is to be quiet while parent and teachers work it out.
With the decreasing supply of trained special educators, more demand is placed on those of us who are trained. Functioning as the local agent is one of those increased responsibilities.
Teachers introduce me as the LEA and I’m not sure what parents think. Administrators probably do most of the LEA duties around the country, and yet I’m not one of those nor am I their child’s teacher. It’s not until we are well into the meeting that my role sometimes shapes up and becomes clearer.
My primary goal is to make sure that every parent leaves feeling satisfied. The route to doing that involves different paths for different parents.
One way I do that is by trying to make sure the teacher is at ease. It’s important to be a bit nervous without being a wreck. Being confident is the best way to instill confidence in a parent. If you’re new to special education and IEPs, make sure there are some other competent teachers at the meeting to support you. Having that sort of support can be crucial to being at ease and keeping people at ease. As a parent, I’m every bit as nervous as I am as a teacher which might contribute to tension in the room. A decent LEA should be able to keep tensions low.
Another way is through competence. While I have not met most of the students I’m doing meetings for, I do know enough about disabilities and have been around the block enough to know what I’m hearing when a teacher or parent begins to describe difficulties they are having with a student. I can tell when I’m hearing about learned helplessness or problems with self-regulation which are common amongst those with milder disabilities. Sometimes I can spot a problem that hasn’t been addressed before.
Another thing I do is push without being pushy. I am definitely an advocate for a lesser restrictive environment if at all possible. Most of the time, parents also seem to want to move their students ahead while a teacher may take a more conservative approach. If I get the feeling the student has a chance of handling more time in regular education, I’ll see about making it so. I’ve noticed that new teachers are more prone to wanting to keep the status quo, because that’s their comfort zone. But with a bit of encouragement the committee can take a chance in favor of the student.
One of the most common experiences I hear from frustrated parents is that they feel they are not being heard by the school system. A big part of my job as the system’s representative is to listen and make sure they know I’m hearing. There are certain points where a parent needs and wants to speak, and it is important to give them the opportunity. The present level is a big one, but since it comes at the beginning, parents are not warmed up yet. I can often hit some present level concerns later during the discussion about transition since this takes place later.
It’s during the transition discussion that parents and students often hit their stride in the discussion. At the high school level, this is a hugely important discussion that is too often rushed over. I’ll do another post about it in the next couple of weeks, but this does impact goals and service options most heavily. It’s also where every parent’s anxiety lives.
I’ve been to meetings where the LEA was an absolute pinhead. They knew nothing about special education and treated parents as idiots. At other times, when tensions were abnormally high, they got stuck in an adversarial posture nearly dooming themselves to a future court appearance. At some point, these administrators would do well to turn down the administrative intimidation and think like human beings.
If you’re a parent who is stuck with one of these jokers and paired with a new or incompetent teacher, look to the specialized service provider for some competence and sanity. The SLPs, PTs and OTs have likely been around the block enough times to know the business. And since their stake isn’t as intense as the caseload teacher, school system or parent, they might be more objective. They still have to tow the company line but they usually see dozens and scores of meetings per year. Ms. Cleo has a caseload of 50-60 this year which is not far out of line for PTs and OTs.
Last week I did a meeting with a teacher who has a history of difficulties and she had a parent who she described as difficult. It turns out the parent was a former special education teacher who knew a thing or two about the business. Her son was doing well enough and had actually made a stellar transition to high school. So listening to parent and student talk, we actually moved the young man from resource to a consultative model. What we ended up with was a meeting where the parent was thrilled and so was the teacher. And that’s really the beauty of cooperation. If the parent is thrilled, everyone else on the committee will be too. If the parent is not happy, neither will anyone else feel good about the meeting. This is why committee members and especially the LEAs need to have some background and knowledge in order to deliver something everyone can feel good about.
D.
Student Volunteers April 9, 2007
Posted by Daniel Dage in Blogging, Future Teachers, Paraeducators, Special Education, Teachers.comments closed
I should note here, when I speak of student volunteers, much of what I write will apply to any sort of volunteer, whether it is a high school or college student volunteer or someone else from the community.
I’ll preface my discussion by giving a bit of a back story on myself. One of my first experiences in special education was as volunteer while in college. I was actually going for an additional year after graduating and working, and was picking up science courses in order to get a science endorsement on my certificate. I also needed some time to figure out what I really wanted to do with my life. I knew it would be teaching, but there was that what question that we see Erin dealing with over on her blog. I’ll get to a question or two of hers in a bit. But my experience as a volunteer was somewhat accidental.
It was the second semester and this was it for me at Iowa State. I knew this was my last year there ever. I was ready to move on and was running out of money. I was taking a sign language class and the instructor passed around a flyer from the local special needs preschool. A teacher of hearing impaired children wanted a volunteer to come ‘round, and she was especially keen to have a male volunteer since almost all her students were boys and she wanted some sort of male influence. So I signed up and I fell in love. I mean I seriously loved going over there and was terribly disappointed when they went on fieldtrips or said they didn’t need me. I liked working with those little kids, and would have considered a career change on the spot if I had any more money to spend. But it would be almost another 15 years before I came close to that sort of experience again, and I still wonder about going back to the preschool level.
One of the reasons why I liked volunteering so much is that the teacher and her para gave me a lot of trust and latitude working with the kids. I was able to play with them and it also helped me use my sign language which was at about the preschool level, handily enough. But I learned a lot more than sign language. The boys just loved having a big kid to climb all over and chase them around. I actually teased some verbal language from a couple of them, almost accidentally.
Now, 20 years later, I’m just starting to figure out what to do when I have volunteers of my own. The second year I was teaching my current positions I had 3 student volunteers. Fortunately they came during PE time as I didn’t know what to do with them otherewise. And then there was the one and only time I took one on a fieldtrip to downtown Atlanta and the bus ended up leaving us stranded at the MARTA station. She didn’t sign up to come the next year. None of those girls were interested in going into special education. A couple years later, I did have one who seemed very interested, but I still couldn’t figure out what to do with her.
This year, I’m just figuring out what I can do. I have one who just started today, who I’ll call Ellen. I had her come in and work on stretching Larry for awhile but she actually seemed to prefer working with Ravi. I had Ravi on the prone wedge and was letting him use a switch to run a tape player playing The Temptations Greatest Hits. This involved trying to teach him to use the switch which involved some risky physical prompting, as Ravi will bite if you get between him and his hand. But Ellen managed to dodge his snapping successfully and he showed some progress in independently manipulating the switch during the hour she was in class. So that’s one good thing. I have no idea how often she’ll be visiting as her class is right next door. But basically I plan on running her through the same sort of training I go through with my paras. I don’t know if we’ll get to any lifting, but that is an important thing to learn.
Ellen said she’d like to go into special education but wasn’t sure what grade or what disability area. She’s in 11th grade so this is a good time for her to get some exposure in order to decide what she wants to do. Better to learn if/that she hates it before investing a lot of time and money. But I’ll do whatever I can to encourage her.
Now back to Erin and a few things she was wondering about on her blog:
She wondered about special education teachers with disabilities and their job outlook. Do you have a pulse? You’re outlook looks bright!
Actually, long term job satisfaction figures the most as to if a person stays or not. And this seems to correlate with the amount of training a person has. People with more and higher levels of training last longer in special education as competence goes a long way towards buffering against burnout. I did have a colleague who was wheelchair bound the past couple of years and he seemed to do very well. But he was doing mostly consultative-collaborative teaching in the regular education setting. So he had none of the physical demands that go with teaching students with severe disabilities. But it is possible to do well with orthopedic disabilities. I have heard of people with vision and hearing impairments working in the field, but this is quite rare, especially with in the more severe end of the spectrum.
Erin wondered if she should just let the aides do all the toileting. The answer is, if at all possible, NO. There are several issues that come into play, not the least of which is equity and fairness. I believe in leading from the front, and I can change a diaper better and faster than any of my staff. And I do it often, without reluctance, because griping and complaining is totally bad for morale. I don’t complain and I don’t allow them to complain around the kids, either. Lifting always is done in teams of two, so weight is not a huge issue, although it can be with heavier kids.
The other issue is actually training the paras. Now it might seem rather silly to have to train paras to change a diaper especially those that parented their own kids. But it is definitely different with older kids with sensory issues and disabilities. I do have to train the paras not to complain about the smell in front of the kids and to do the job well. And the best way to do that, is by example and talking them through it. I also train them how to lift, again by example and then talking them through it. Often just being there and showing them can help build confidence. And often, confidence is the deciding factor in whether a para is successful or just drawing a paycheck.
It also shows interest in the kids. Changing diapers and toileting is decidedly unglamorous, but not much of what I do with this population is very exciting. However, to a kid who is nonverbal except for moans of discomfort, that extra time seems to mean something to them. Finally, if you are a parent, who would you rather change your child?
Oh, and there is also the issue of toilet training, but that’s not the issue raised here.
Something I had to learn the hard way is to NOT run after a kid that bolts away. I did that when I was younger and screwed my knee up badly enough that it still bothers me to this day. I don’t run after anyone nowadays and neither should any of you. I suppose there’s some sort of noble illusion of throwing myself in front of the bus to save a student, but what of all the other students that I leave behind who had sense enough not to run in front of the bus? I’ll walk gingerly after a kid who thinks it is funny running away, but I refuse to play chase. A body just learns how to anticipate things like eloping, with some experience.
How an administrator would feel about hiring someone with their own physical disabilities is an unknown. In the job climate of today, I wouldn’t consider mild CP to be a huge problem. I have worked with paras and teachers who were not at all very mobile because of their age or weight. Lifting is a big thing, though. Being healthy is a big thing. I have a para right now whose back is too fragile to do the type of lifting and positioning we need to do on a daily basis. I need to make sure that everyone can help lift equally well so that none of us are overworked. I still do the lion’s share because I’m leading from the front.
Volunteers can be very helpful or they can be an additional burden. In fact, they almost always represent an additional burden at least in the beginning. Once they get familiar with the students and with the classroom routine, they can fit in and be very helpful. I have issues with using volunteers to fill gaps created by staffing shortages, though. My main goal with these particular student volunteers is to recruit them into the business or at least give them some exposure to decide if they like it.
dick
Oprah’s Autism Special April 6, 2007
Posted by Daniel Dage in Autism/Asperger's, Parents and parenting, Therapy.comments closed
The Queen of the day time talk shows had a special on autism and I had a chance to watch portions of it while doing some other things. Jane was the one who knew about it and was extremely keen to watch it. I was not so keen, but watched a lot of it anyway, since spring break hasn’t given me a lot to blog about.
I did not see any segments of the Autism Speaks video that she might have shown. However, I did see some of the discussion of parents talking about the heartbreak at their “lost” children and the devastation this disorder has caused for these families. It seems almost every media presentation on autism has to cover the devastating impact of the disorder and the emotional, financial and physical hardship. These struggles do make for good press.
But at the very end of the program, the young father tried to articulate how much he has learned and grown from being around and raising his young son. The other parents all seemed to agree with this, and I thought it was the best part of the whole show, but was the shortest segment.
For sure, autism is mysterious and scary and I wouldn’t exactly wish it on anyone. It is a difficult challenge that seems to just go on and on. I’m glad there is an effort to educate the public about it, despite the fact there is such a rich mix of information and disinformation on the subject. The scariest aspect, I think, is the isolation parents feel from other parents who are raising neurotypical children. Raising awareness can help lessen that feeling of being alone. I remember trying to explain autism to our own family members who just didn’t quite get it. From that standpoint, the exposure is definitely a good thing.
The dissention within the autism world is not a good thing. Oprah had an expert who I hadn’t heard of before, who said the vaccine connection had been largely refuted. When she said that, Jane about jumped out of her chair, saying, “No it hasn’t!” Even within our own house, we’re not of one mind on this. After a commercial break, Oprah allowed a parent to speak to the other side saying that she was convinced there was some connection between autism and vaccinations. I think Oprah handled this very well, which goes to show why she is #1 in her business. But it is disconcerting to see parents and experts sniping at each other all the time.
Just for the record, Jane is convinced there is a connection to vaccines and I am not. I’m not outright refuting her beliefs so much as saying that we don’t know and I’m not going to jump on the anti-vaccine bandwagon whole heartedly without more and better evidence. And anyone trying to convince me one way or another will only hurt their case, so they can just shut up. Argue amongst yourselves, and let me know who wins.
Thank goodness Oprah didn’t delve too much into all the different treatments and “cures” that I’ve had to endure. Save that discussion for a more appropriate forum, like The Jerry Springer Show!
Being the parent of a child with autism is difficult, but it is not hopeless. Far from it, I’ve seen a lot of advances in the education for parents and their children in the past 8 years. If I had to point to one group that is doing it right and is somewhat outside of all the controversial treatments, it is the speech language pathologists. I’ve seen some that weren’t so good but a whole lot more that were sharp, on the ball and performing quasi-miracles. For parents of ASD children my best advice is to find a good SLP and learn from them to do what they do with your kids.
We’ll probably see a lot more in the media since April is Autism Awareness Month. For my part I’m suffering from autism fatigue as I have lived and breathed it for the past 6 years or so and there is just so much out there. For the first time in a couple years, I’m not going to the autism conference. I looked at the programs and felt like I had pretty much seen it all. I know that’s not altogether true, and I did see some programs that were added late that I might want to see. But it is the same weekend as our Special Olympic bowling tournament and I felt like I needed to be there for that. But I’ll keep my eyes open for new information and will pass on any new thoughts/ideas as they come along.
dick
Head over to Kristina’s site for an the Oprah show overview.
I also have an updated review of the latest Oprah material.
