Laurie Lowd of Hopkinton is a retired special education teacher of 34 years.
After reading “Is special education the answer?” on Tuesday’s Monitor Close-Up page, I can’t help but weigh in. I’m a retired special education teacher and the majority of my career was spent teaching high school students with learning disabilities, ADD, ADHD and primarily emotional issues. Over the years I learned a great deal from parents, colleagues, intensive trainings, and administration but mostly from the students themselves.
There is a legal diagnostic process that must be followed in order to identify a student as requiring special education services. That’s not to say that students who are referred for these services but do not meet the legal criteria may not benefit from some sort of educational assistance or intervention. One could argue that all students could benefit from a little extra attention.
The typical referral process should begin with a meeting consisting of a team including the parents, a special educator certified in the area of academic concern, at least one classroom teacher, a guidance counselor who can represent an overall picture of the student’s performance, a school psychologist, a special education coordinator and, most importantly, the student. That’s a lot of resources being used for just one meeting, but it’s the law.
Not to minimize parental concerns and their frustration over their child’s poor performance, but many times we were able to put a very practical set of guidelines and study skills practices in place for the parent to follow that when followed consistently made a marked improvement in a student’s performance. Weekly communication between the parent and teachers of classes the student may be struggling in can help pinpoint where the specific problems are for the child.
This doesn’t have to be a lengthy time-consuming interaction. Kids need boundaries and consistency that are reinforced in school and at home. This is not special education. It is simply good teaching and parenting. Whatever effective interventions that occur in school must have a component involving the parent at home. Again, this is not special education.
Parenting is the toughest job you’ll ever have. While it’ll provide you the most joy and love imaginable it’s also scary, anxiety-provoking, frustrating, maddening, exhausting and more. It’s a 24-7 job that doesn’t quit even when you are working long hours trying to make ends meet to provide even the basics for your family.
Time spent with your children is sacred and never long enough. Coming home from a long day, anticipating yet another argument with your child about homework, bedtime, attitude, etc. is daunting. Sometimes it’s wise to choose your battles. Small expectation sacrifices are sometimes necessary in order to ease the intensity of helping your child reach what they may perceive as unsurmountable goals. But, those larger expectations need to stay in place and be chipped away at.
Kids need to know that while you may be giving them a little break on occasion, you’re still going to be holding their feet to the fire. Their success is a team effort that actively requires their participation. How the San Diego mother’s middle school-aged daughter quickly went to sleeping all day and being up all night was not a school issue and no special education services are designed to change that.
The pandemic has introduced the world to issues we never could have predicted. Remote learning hasn’t been a very effective substitute for in-class learning, but what other options were there? For students who were motivated independent learners adept at using resources that they actually had at their ready, who possessed strong work ethics and perhaps had a group of like-minded peers to study with, remote learning worked out well.
There are a million reasons why and how it didn’t work out well for others, especially those with attentional, educational, motivational and behavioral issues. Teachers were challenged beyond reason, parents experienced hardships balancing their own jobs with being present at home. Nobody benefited from this.
Many students have fallen behind and now everybody wants a quick fix to make up for the last few years. There will be no quick fix. Jumping to the conclusion that special education would fix things as if it were a magic wand is naive. While there may legitimately be some students who should be referred for these services, there are far more who slipped through the cracks because of the situation.
School systems are being put to task to find ways to help this population catch up. There are possibilities out there to be explored. I’ve been part of setting up programs for those we used to refer to as at-risk students. These programs were designed for students who required smaller group instruction, assistance with organization and study skills, occasional behavioral intervention and emotional support. And, there was parental involvement. Such programs require more staffing and planning time. That requires funding that some other area of curriculum or sports or teacher training is vying for.
The school system has a budget that everybody wants a piece of. While costly, these programs are far less expensive than special education services and can effectively service a larger population of students needing extra help right now. Another prospect would be to offer workshops to well-meaning parents of struggling students to provide them with study skills and organization techniques that they can practice at home with their kids and that would carry over into their focus and participation in the classroom.
Our society claims that we value education and the success of our students. Maybe, but to what degree? Attendance at professional sports games appears healthy, most vehicles on the road are worth far more than my 10-year-old Toyota Corolla and world travel is beginning to pick up again. Yet, everybody cringes when their taxes go up because of an increased school budget.
Before assuming that it’s because teachers are being paid too much, maybe look into what solid education requires financially. Before assuming that the school isn’t doing its part to insure the success of all students, ask what more you can be doing to enhance your student’s educational experience. The schools cannot do it without your active participation.