elitefts™ Sunday edition
The Monster Within Special Education
Here is another article sent to me from the Special Education Meathead – Dave Tate
Note from the Editor: This is a guest “Under The Bar” post by The Special Education Meathead. This person remains to stay anonymous due to special education policies, parents, administrators and other teachers. This person intends to tell things they way they are so parents are better informed of what their real choices are.
Boring Ass Training
Since the start of the school year, I was required to sit through seven mandatory, boring ass trainings. If these trainings were actually related to working with special needs kids, I would be somewhat ok with it. They weren’t. The topics were somewhat varied, but all related to documentation and legal requirements related to federal law. As I sat there listening to the mind numbing drool, I wanted to kill someone as I thought what a waste of time this dog and pony show was for everyone. I just want to work with kids, shove the legal and documentation requirements.
I did the math while sitting there. For each training I was required to attend, there were a minimum of 10 professionals sitting there being subjected to the same torture as I was. These trainings were happening all across the district, so it’s a conservative estimate to say at least 75 professions were required to attend these things. That’s just one district across a very populated and large state. At each of these required life-sucking meetings, I came to some conclusions.
Special education is an unfunded federal mandate. Contrary to popular belief, it is not funded by the feds at 100 percent.
Not even close.
Not even close to a third.
So, that means local school districts are left footing the bill. Cutbacks and downsizing are hitting education hard. That means it’s directly impacting student delivery in the classroom. Like it or not, it’s true. Special education caseloads are increasing all the time and having one teacher managing 40 or more students is common.
Doing The Math
As I did the math in the meeting, there were 10 professionals sitting there hour after hour, going through the motions of pretending to give a shit about the legal requirements of special education law. For each hour of training, students are missing 10 hours of professionals in the classroom. On a grand scale, that shit adds up.
An outrageous amount of time and money is being spent to prevent legal issues (money out the door via lawyer fees and lawsuits) and compliance with federal law. Special education has a gruesome history and significant and appropriate gains have been made for service delivery to students with disabilities.
But, let’s get real…
Over the years, some total assholes decided they didn’t like something they were told, had a grudge match with the school district and couldn’t problem-solve like grown-ups. So instead, they decide to take the issue to a state hearing or litigation. These morons ruined it for everyone. The way I see it, the main priority in school districts is to prevent litigation. Service delivery is probably a close second. Sure, there are times a very real issue was brought forward. Most of the time, it’s just nonsense and a waste of everyone’s time and money. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a parent or student threaten to sue me, I could retire today.
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The Biggest Pile of Crap
Special education teachers really don’t give a shit about the details and requirements. Talk to any ‘special ed’ teacher out there and they will report that the biggest pile of crap of their job is the legal requirements and documentation. When we write IEP’s, the majority of our time is spent figuring out how we will document and detail all of the legal requirements, assessments and content, while extending the least amount of work possible. In our eyes, it’s a road map to working with students, so it does have some direct value. But, the IEP is mostly just a tool for the district to document their compliance with special education law. Verbage has to be just right and every detail is scrutinized.
Each IEP requires about an hour to write. Re-evaluations, assessments and progress monitoring are other responsibilities for each student on an IEP. So now, let’s deduct a minimum of four hours per student just on paperwork and documentation per school year. Again, on a grand scale that shit adds up.
Think About This
Think about this…while I am away doing paperwork, trainings or documenting every time I took a breath with your child, the odds are probable that one of my aids is in the classroom covering for me. That’s well within their job description and scope of responsibilities, but let’s get real. Who do you want working with your kid all day? I am betting it’s actually the teacher.
Now stop and think about the money and resources from the federal, state and district level devoted solely to compliance with federal law and training professionals on implementation. Are you getting the picture yet? Your child should be the first and most important priority. Somehow through this huge system, the priorities are all messed up. Your child is always my first priority. The paperwork and requirements are secondary. Most teachers will tell you the same thing. But, the day-to-day practice and requirements of this monstrous system indicate otherwise. Tens of millions of dollars are being spent throughout this country each year just covering our asses from the feds and litigious parents. Is that what you want for your kid? I don’t.
- The Special Education Meathead
If you live or work with special needs we would love to hear your stories and thoughts. Please post below. If you have ideas of would like to submit a “They Are Not Angry Birds!” post, please e-mail your ideas, or post to our articles submissions page. If you work within the system, we will keep your name and information private, as we have with the Special Education Meathead. –Dave Tate
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Dave Tate is the founder and CEO of elitefts.com, staffed by experienced professionals dedicated to providing strength coaches, athletes and trainers with the highest-quality equipment, personalized service and extensive knowledge needed to advance their training programs.
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Even after cutting through the hyperbole in the above, I have a mixed reaction to what you say. And I say this both as a person who has a child with special needs as well as a professional accessibility consultant.
First, you’re absolutely right: You (and your district) should be spending more of your time, money, and energy helping the kids. Second, your having to sit through that training is a risk mitigation measure because we live in a litigious society.
Laws and regulations like IDEA, ADA, and the Rehabilitation Act exist because the rights of American citizens were disregarded enough that our legislators needed to create legislation specifying requirements for ensuring our civil rights were upheld. Complaints are filed and people are sued as a means of enforcing compliance.
To put this into plain language: If we’re in a bar and I punch you, you’re going to punch me back. That’s your natural (and rightful, IMO) reaction to my violating your right not to get punched by strangers. So what should I do to avoid getting punched? Not punch other people (especially those who don’t deserve it).
Unfortunately, you had to go through training because while you may believe you have a clear understanding of the law and of the right ways to help students, you (or at least some portion of your colleagues) may not actually understand all of the requirements. In my daywork as an accessibility consultant, I’ve found that 77% of the people I work with will believe they have a better understanding of the law, of disabilities, and of the technical requirements for ensuring accessibility but will actually have no better understanding of it than their peers who admit their ignorance. In other words, most people don’t know what they don’t know. You might be an exception. In my personal life as a father of a child with special needs, I’ve seen this first hand. You might be well informed. You might be a superstar of special education but others, unfortunately, are not.
The IEP process exists to help clearly outline the needs and the approaches to meet those needs and is developed specifically for each student’s unique challenge(s). It isn’t perfect by any means and you’re right that a lot of time goes into making sure all of the right words are used. But guess what? If that’s what it takes to get funding, mitigate risk, keep your job or (as I prefer to refer to it) get the proper plan in place for the student: So be it. Suck it up and do it. As Zig Ziglar used to say: “Failure to plan is planning to fail”.
I think of an IEP a lot like I think of a workout plan. Do you just go to the gym, slap some weights on a bar and lift it a few times? Is that what gets you strong? Is that what the guys at Westside and EliteFTS do? No, they plan. And dammit, as a father of a kid with special needs, you’d better come up with a specific plan to help my kid because you’re the expert.
Hello,
I am a PE teacher Head football coach, basketball coach as well as the schools S&C coordinator. I also have my own private training facility in Sydenham, Ontario, Canada. I run a S&C program for students with developmental as well as intellectual disabilities. I also run a behavioural program at the school for the troubled students. All I can say is that it has become a major focus on behaviour as well as integration. Topic- ” What did you do to Luke in Power Fit Class Today? He sat through the entire English class! Blow out the Body and open the mind!
I am a special education teacher in NC and I couldnt help but nod my head to every point in this article! Right on “special education meathead” you couldnt be more right! Thank you!
I am a Special Ed teacher / administrator and I agree with every point of this article. One of the students that I taught threatened to sue me! Also, to the post above, its a very different experience running a consulting company and having 11 IEP students. Last year it took me 4 hours to write each IEP, not including the progress monitoring throughout the year. The paperwork is insane!
I am a special ed. teacher in nyc. The article is all too correct and even worse is the curriculum in nyc. They are more concerned with test scores and paperwork. Why are some of the children learning about volcanos and division when they have trouble reading and writing. The basic fundamentals are not being taught enough. Most of the children I work with need basic life skills. This is whats needed.
What is even worse is having to learn all of these legal rights and discovering programs that would be a perfect fit for the child but being told “off the record” by administration to not bring this up at the meeting or write in IEP because it’s too expensive.
I am saddened by this article. I don’t like reading that sn teachers resent being trained for any aspect of their job in providing servis for my sn child. Nor do I appreciate complaints about IEP meetings when the two most important groups putting the plan together are the parents and the teachers. Who else is even capable of doing the job? Teaching special ed is more than the time in class; it’s also in the planning and preparation. Suck it up, man – it’s all part of the job.
As a Physical Education teacher and seeing everything you talked about 1st hand, I can say parents and their crazy issues with trying to sue over anything and everything has become the downfall of the education system.
Phy Ed and Adapted Phy Ed here….. IEP 1 hour… in our district, more like 3-4 to write.. IEPS.. been in many that lasted over 3 hours due to parents nit picking about everything..,. Honestly- I have a kid with special needs… over 3 hours at the IEP??? There were line therapists lying at the IEP- blantant lies about the student! UNable to accept the profesional documentation about the student’s perfromance… Professionally -when I observe the student as many times and work with them the extent that I do with the experience I have…. should I have to write down every little comment just to protect by backside??? well in this day and age yes… UNFORTUNATELY! I agree with your article…. in this day and age its about the paper work more than the students…. not only in Spec Ed but even in regular ed…
Thanks-
Great article. Chris, I think you are missing the point of the article. He isn’t complaining about the idea of working with parents to create an IEP, he was pointing out that in our increasingly litigous society where education funding is regularly cut, he was spending more and more time away from the students. These are the students who need the most professional support, and they are getting short changed more than their regular education peers when it comes to time spent working with their teachers. People who work with special needs kids chose that profession not because they like paperwork and legal training, but because they want to make a difference in young people’s lives. Those things are important parts of the job, but they should not overshadow the actual working with kids.
I am not a special ed teacher or even a teacher,but I am the father of a child with special needs. I must say that I do agree with the article and also the reponses because as you can see one must jump through many hoops to get help for their child, not to say it is a countinual process. Moerover it seems, and mabe it is just me, that the people who really need to give shit don’t give a shit like the adminstrators who supposably fight for the budget plans. I don’t claim to be an expert by any means, but something somewhere isn’t right. In closing, I should say that I have been a high school coach for many years, and I was blessed with having the opputunity to coach my son through high school. People would always ask me “why do you and your son spend so much time trying to get better”? My answer was ” he stuggles in school he has to have something he can be completely successful at. Make these kids complete. Find something they are really good at then help them to be great.
ATrujillo
I enjoyed your article. I know many Special Ed teachers and they care deeply for their students but are truly buried in paperwork. To add more problems to the current situation No Child Left Behind will demand 100% students perform at grade level by 2014. This will be hard enough for the average student. The Special Ed student who may be a grade level or more behind their peers will all the sudden be at grade level or the school will be held accountable.(I wonder if the Federal Government has a plan to get a 6th grader performing at a 3rd grade level up to his peer’s performance?)
As a special education teacher, I couldn’t agree more. Nor could I have conveyed my thoughts any more clear than the special education meathead. I have 15 students on my case load with labels ranging from specific learning disability to emotional disturbance. The paper work is out of control, especially the specific demands of my district. The IEP’s end up being 40-50 pages. I don’t have an aide, so all my paperwork is done after school and on the weekend. I’m all for having a plan in place for a student to succeed in their school environment, but as was mentioned before, these documents are merely a way for districts to protect against being sued.
i am not a special needs teacher nor do i have a child with special needs but i did grow up with two brothers with diabilities. growing up i didnt quite understand the problems both of my brothers had but as i get older i find myself becoming more and more interested with their specific disabilities and subsequently want to make a difference in not only their lives but the lives of all children with special needs and other disabilities. i firmly believe that if both my brothers would have had some sort of outlet they would be better off. i’m not knocking special needs teachers at all because i put most of the blame on state funding and my parents for not putting forth the much much needed extra effort, but each sibling sat in a class with 15-20 other children with disabilities in which the distractions were too immense and small group lessons werent even an option. i have been a personal trainer for a few years now and i work with all walks of life but what fascinates me most is working with children. Kids work hard, they are competitive and quite frankly i believe the hardest working children are the ones with special needs. A Trujillo made a statement above about people asking him why him and his son spent so much time trying to get better.You my friend hit the nail on the head. If a child doesnt excell in school and shows no interest, find something that will interest him/her. I was terrrible in school and didnt have much interest but when it came to sports and weight training i was and still am hooked. I’m not a college grad and I dont have any special credentials andmaybe i have no business putting my input into this conversation but i have a vision similiar to jimi latimer’s (above). He opened a facility to train youngsters with disabilities and that is something i am trying to accomplish. I live outside of cleveland, ohio and there isnt a facility within 90 miles that accomadates to special needs children and i indend to change that. i believe that all children should have the same opportunity to succeed and grow to be successfull in all that they do. If anyone has any insight or information for me i would really appreciate it. thanks!
Shoot me ur email on q&a. Would luv to help if I can.