I have an 8th grade student with a diagnosis of Intellectually Disabled who is not able to do anything presented to them. This led me to looking deeper into his file and finding the ID diagnosis. Accommodations are very limited. He can copy words and to some degree write what you tell him to write, but does not seem able to actually think through and do assignments on his own. A 12 question test isn't finished after 2 class periods. He can't, for example look at a star chart and dimescribe a star, with everything labeled, but was able to copy the words off of the board onto the notes page. I keep pushing that he needs more help and needs to be on modified curriculum. He has not passed a test (state, district or local given on the platform that keeps data) in at least the last 3 years of data that we have. 3 YEARS! I am still being told they can't move him to modified until they try more Accommodations and he still fails. However, we are 10 weeks into the school year and a meeting has not been held yet to add accommodations. This sweet baby is getting 30 minutes of in class support twice a week. He has yet to be able to finish a single assignment. He shuts down if you try to stay with him to help keep him on task, but stops working the second you walk away. He does not speak. He can, he just doesn't. I don't know what to do to help him, but I know he needs a great deal more help than what he is getting. I have told the SPED department, administration and his mom, but nothing is changing. Yes, I am documenting everything I just don't know what to do to help. I have never had a student labeled as ID in a regular education class with so little support. He needs a coteacher and different material entirely. He is not capable of working on grade level that I have seen so far. I would say he's more on a 2 nd or 3 rd grade level, if that. Suggestions?

I sometimes cover special ed when I’m not in a gen ed class teaching. I got paired with a student today that was exhibiting sexual behaviors (grabbing and pulling at his genitals and constantly needing breaks to sit by himself in a quiet room.) the student needs hand over hand help when using his assistive devices and; while helping him, he pulled my hand towards his crotch twice. I said no, pulled away and redirected twice and reported the behavior. No one seems to be taking my concerns seriously. I asked how to redirect the behaviors, what do they recommend and they said “this was the first they heard of this”. But several paras in the room were aware of the behaviors as well. I’m assigned to that same student again tomorrow and I’m scared. My concerns aren’t taken seriously and I don’t know what to do. Refuse to support the room? Walk out of it happens again? Because I’m not interested I finding out if it will happen again. I’m incredibly upset. I reported safety concerns multiple times today and the sexual behaviors multiple times. I don’t know what else to do.

I know this will vary quite a bit based on state and county, but just wanting an idea of caseload numbers that other Ex Ed teachers have. I’m in TN and have a caseload of 28 (only 11th and 12th). I like the school I’m at, been there for a while, but the grass is looking greener around me. I’m not sure if I just have the Fall Funk or should really consider perusing other schools next year.

Hi everyone! I'm in week 9 of my student teaching. It is really teaching me a lot about myself. I'm learning that I might not be suited for being a special education teacher. I'm interning in special education inclusion/resource and my enthusiasm has been going down. I'm finding it very draining. If it weren't for the fact that I need this internship to get my master's I'd be out the door.

I really wanted to make a difference for neurodivergent children since I myself am neurodivergent. But this really kicking my butt. Doing pull outs is way too fast paced and there are so many moving parts I'm struggling to keep up with. I keep having to ask my mentor teacher for clarification for things most interns know by now. I'm worried I'm going to screw up because my first formal observation was completely botched because of me.

I'm also realizing that being a teacher requires main character energy. I've seen all the general and special education teachers at my site. They have major main character energy. I've always been a supporting character (figuratively and literally, went to great lengths to only do supporting characters in school plays).

I still want to make a positive difference for children with differing needs, but student teaching is teaching me that being a special education teacher is not for me.

I need some major help with a student of mine’s behavior. This is my second year teaching this student (sped pre-k) and I feel like it’s important to note that they had behaviors such as climbing and eloping but never harmed anyone. About a month and a half ago, they started pulling hair. At first it was a specific students hair and after a week or so it moved to literally anyone. And I’m not talking just tugs on students hair, they grab handfuls of it and pulls students to the ground. When they can’t pull hair they kick the other students instead. I’ve had our behavior specialist and our sped specialist come and observe which was really not helpful. I have tried social stories, a token board for when they’re having safe hands, and fidgets. There is an adult with them at all times and I’ve had to remove their access to the other kids. They sit at their own table for breakfast, morning meeting, read aloud, and small group and plays in a center by themselves with an aide during center time. At recess it takes two people to prevent the behavior. All of this is not preventing the behavior, we’re still having them pull students hair at least during centers and recess, and more attempts than that that we were able to intervene in time. Their IEP meeting is in two weeks and the behavior specialist and sped specialist don’t want to conduct a functional behavior assessment. The sped specialist wants to move the student from my room (integrated setting) to self contained. I’ve been taking data for about four weeks and I genuinely can’t figure out the antecedent. The student will stop whatever they’re doing and run across a room or the playground to pull someone’s hair. When the student comes in the morning and is in the hallway unpacking they will run at people to pull their hair. During center time they will jump a shelf out of their center, pull someone’s hair, and then go back to their original center. I have no idea what to do.

Particularly if you’re a mild/moderate support needs teacher but open to everyone in the sped world! My bargaining team is trying to advocate for more sped language because we. are. drowning!!!

Thirteen years in and I've never had a student refuse to even ATTEMPT a subtest in the Woodcock Johnson. My students refused to do any math subtests after 2 days of testing. My coordinator says to note it in my report, but won't give me any guidance as to what to write. Does anyone have the proper language? This is what I have so far...

(Student) completed the administered WJ IV Tests of Achievement subtests with the exception of the mathematics subtests, which he declined to complete despite opportunities to participate over two testing days. Consequently, mathematics achievement scores could not be obtained. Results from the completed subtests are considered a valid reflection of his performance in the areas assessed. His mathematics achievement cannot be determined from the WJ IV Test of Achievement due to the incomplete administration of the mathematics subtests.

What are the odds? Has anyone gotten hired simply with a Bachelor’s in Sped as an actual teacher with teacher pay ?

Let me know!

Hi! I am in my second year of teaching, and I work as a teacher in a classroom for students with severe and profound disabilities. I love my job, and it’s really hard. It feels so isolating to be such a specific kind of teacher that can’t relate much to all the other teachers I meet. I sincerely love working with the kids, but there isn’t even a curriculum available to me, let alone proper supports for student behaviors or appropriate staffing. Anyone work with a similar population? If so, how do you do this forever and still be a normal, happy, functioning person outside of work?

PS: I’ll be your best friend if you have a curriculum recommendation :)

Hello everyone,
Im a student going for my special education certification, i’m currently taking a class in positive behavior support for students with disabilities and i need to do a teacher interview for a class assignment.
If you have a few minutes, I would really appreciate if you could answer any or all of these questions in the comments

1.      What types of students do you work with (ages, abilities, content area)? How long have you been teaching this group? How long have you been teaching in total?
2.         Why did you choose to work with this type of classroom/students?
3.        Did you receive special training in classroom management in order to work with this group of students? If so, what kind? If you received no special training prior to working with this group of students, what type of training do you think would have been useful?
4.        What are some of the BEST evidence-based practices you have used in your classroom throughout the year(s)?
5.         What is some of the advice you would give someone entering the field now on classroom management?
6.        Do you use any PBIS strategies in your classroom? If so, which ones do you use?
If not, which ones would you like to use?
7.        Of all you studied in school, which classroom management practices do you use and remember today in the classroom?
8.        What kinds of resources would you recommend to beginning teachers to help them with their classroom management?
Thank you so much for your time and help!

Hi so first of all, I’m not a teacher, just a math tutor with a psychology degree. I teach kids pre-K through 12 and many of my students are autistic and/or have learning disabilities. I’ve had a couple Gestalt language learners over the years and currently I’m working with a first grader with a speech delay and autism. I know she sees a speech therapist and I will be asking mom if she has any advice on what’s been working in therapy. I’ve done a little research on Gestalt language acquisition and it was brought up in a couple of my classes over the years- from what I can tell, there aren’t really any studies or common advice for how to support GLLs in learning math. I’ve been trying to apply the general advice the best I can (not asking as many questions, modeling sentences, using pictures and objects to model) but math necessarily requires breaking things down into steps and I’m not sure how to approach that with a student who processes things in chunks.

Right now we’re working on patterns (no problems here), comparing quantities, left vs right, shapes (again, no problems), and basic addition and subtraction (mostly good). I’m sure she won’t be the last GLL I work with so any general advice is also welcome!

Additional context: my tutoring center is really big on comprehension over memorization. We only really drill facts when kids have severe dyscalculia and aren’t responding to our usual methods. We use a lot of Socratic questioning which isn’t very helpful for a kiddo who doesn’t process questions well. Also, I am autistic myself and I find telling stories or roleplaying very difficult but luckily I’m not the only person here working with her so I can pass on advice to others as well. I had some success today shortening instructions and almost entirely cutting out questions. For example instead of asking “Are there more blue triangles or orange triangles?” I just said “More blue triangles” and then “More orange triangles” after a pause; she repeated back the correct answer. I didn’t feel like modeling by doing a question myself and narrating it really worked but I’ll keep trying because that seems to be one of her speech therapist’s strategies. I didn’t get a chance to talk to mom today but I’ll try next time.

Hello,

I have many years of experience as a SPED IA II + III, Resource. I just got called for a sped secretary position. Does anyone have this experience or know someone who did? My district is the largest in my big city. There are over 6,000 SPED students within our district. I’ve been an IA for over 10 years. I always work summer school clerk, so I have that experience too. Im extremely burnt out as an IA, but want to stay in my district. I want to be sure before I leave my decade long job.

Thanks

My son is 5 and autistic. Limited speech but making good progress. He is potty trained and spent 2 years in SPED pre-k. He knows all his letters and numbers, very curious kid but very self directed.

I pushed for an inclusion setting with a 1-on-1 because I felt it would help him with speech and social skills. The IEP team recommended mild k-2 self contained class but when i visited it just didn’t feel right.

He’s a happy kid and loves going to school. He’s not a huge fan of the GenEd kinder curriculum which seems pretty writing/worksheet focused. I’m starting to second guess my decision.

How do you decide on placing a kid in self contained or GenEd with a 1-on-1? Obviously the first is cheaper for the district.

Hey everyone! 👋

(TLDR: sorry for the long post; see the questions in bold if you don’t have the time to read the rest😇)

Since I last posted here, I’ve become increasingly interested in working at the intersection of education and disability. As I explore this potential career path, I’m curious about the different educational settings one can work in and how they compare.

I’ve noticed quite a few posts here about working in elementary and middle schools, particularly regarding overwhelming caseloads, insufficient support, challenging environments, and burnout. I’m also not particularly drawn to these age groups myself, as I previously spent some time working as an assistant in a similar setting and found the energy levels a bit overwhelming. That said, I recognize that experiences vary, so I’m curious: are these concerns fairly representative of these settings, or do they depend more on the individual school or district?

Moreover, I don’t see nearly as many posts about high school or adult education settings. School districts in my state (California) offer special education services in both, so I’m interested in hearing how the work environments, responsibilities, caseloads, and levels of support compare with those in elementary and middle schools. Are these settings generally different, or do they present many of the same challenges?

Furthermore, I’m curious about higher education, such as community colleges and universities. I’ve come across quite a few job postings for disability services and accessibility-related positions at these institutions. From the descriptions, the work seems more calm and to focus on meeting with students, evaluating their individual needs, coordinating reasonable accommodations, advocating for accessibility, and helping students navigate their educational experiences. Has anyone transitioned from K–12 special education to disability services in higher education? If so, how do the two compare? Are there challenges unique to higher education that someone considering this career path should be aware of?

First year SPED teacher in the Gen ed setting. I was given a mentor that I only see once a month. And I really am just figuring stuff on my own. Writing an IEP, IEP Meetings, lesson planning for small groups, pull out, push in, teaching ufli to a student who can’t read.

I was promised I’d get guidance and they’ll show me the way, as long as I had a good heart and cared for the students’ well being, they’d take care of the rest. And really, I am trying to figure it out on my own and I feel like I’m drowning. I try not to bring the thoughts home with me but it gives me anxiety cause I don’t want to mess up but I literally don’t know what I am doing. Are all school districts like this?

Thanks for any advice. Also just venting. I am grateful for the job. I live far away from family and because of all the breaks I am able to visit them. Pay is descent. Schedule is great. I just bought a new car. I really am grateful. And the kids are amazing. As far as being with the kids, I love it. Parents, co teaching, and paperwork is really the part that I am struggling with.

We have a student that has been out of school since the beginning of the school year due to having medical treatments.

The student is profoundly intellectually disabled, non verbal, needs help in all aspects, eating, drinking, bathroom, and the student has recently been diagnosed as canatonic and none of the treatments for their canatonic state has worked. The poor child is just a shell as this point.

The student has been in public education for 13 years and their only IEP goal is to be able to count to 10, which they have still not mastered.

The student is extremely violent and has attacked not only staff but other students as well and the other students are very afraid of them.

When this student returns, I'm at a complete loss on what to do with them, how to help them and most of all as an educator, how to educate them.

I'm kinda feeling like we will be nothing more than respite care at this point and since I have no medical training I don't know how much I can do for this student except try to keep them safe as well as the safety of other staff and students.

I know all about FAPE and that the student has a legal right to an education, but what if the student is unable to be educated, it's like taking the "E" out of FAPE.

How are your services set up? What are the pros and cons of how you deliver services? How does co teaching look? How does MTSS look in your school? I feel crazy because mine does non of these well and want to help fix it.

Hi! I currently teach K-1 self contained mild-moderate. Problem: we are neither mild nor moderate. The majority of the students in my classroom (1:10:2) are diagnosed ASD, I have multiple kids with severe communication deficits/who are nonverbal, 1 with an AAC, and some pretty big behaviors. So at this point, we are pretty severe!

When I started this year the room was equipped for mild-moderate support. My admin, who are fantastic, have suggested that we take steps towards turning my classroom into an ASD support classroom/center based severe classroom rather than following the typical schedule that I was assigned.

Does anyone have any suggestions for sensory bins, sensory spaces, favorite activities and equipment? Routines or resources that you find work best? Or any suggestions on how to run centers with my ratio of staff to kids? I think I would benefit from any and all advice, my classroom is the most severe in the building so I don’t have much to go off of with my coworkers. My principal has already said that I should be approved for anything I need to buy, so anything that you have found that works well I would love to hear about!

Thanks so much!

Sat in an initial referral for a student with high functioning autism who was exited from EC Services the previous year and placed on a 504 plan with accommodations due to no adverse educational impact. Student is amazing does very well in school; has friends, is social, test scores are good, school work is amazing and no social emotional complaints. Parent and advocate argue that student is struggling emotionally at home despite doing well at school and complains of headaches and stomach aches due to cognitive overload because they work so hard all day long. They’ve said she is masking at school and want her to have direct services for speech and reading. All sources of data indicate no issues. 4 evaluations (school psych, educational, speech, and independent evals) are all in line score wise and align with what teachers over past 5 years are saying. Particularly interesting are the IEE and private speech eval. Psych was very similar to school results but private Speech gives the TILLS which indicates very low scores (significantly low in reading fluency, orthographic reading and digit span). These scores are the only outliers with everything and I just don’t know much about the TILLS other than it is not normed on students with disabilities. While I realize it’s only one data point, these meetings have lasted hours and are VERY contentious! The parent is being unbelievably threatening in her email to me and it feels like bullying. The advocate has a reputation for this very thing at other schools. Any help with similar situations, possible solutions or advice would be appreciated.

My son is autistic, ADHD and struggles most with rigidity, limited special interests and social skills in the very low range. He has little interest in socializing with other kids, although he is closely connected to his family, younger sisters and trusted adults. He has low processing speed, low working memory, low ability in activities of daily living. But he is academically very bright and able to do a lot of grade level work.

He’s in sixth grade, 12 years old. His school district has a wide variety of programming and supports but none fit him. Most kids fit more squarely in remedial academics and life skills, or able to function in general ed with typical IEP accommodations. My son is more… profoundly autistic but not at all cognitively disabled or even low IQ. He needs to be in general ed but with significant modifications and accommodations that just don’t seem possible.

People keep saying he’s a cohort of 1, very unique, blah blah blah. Anyone familiar with this profile? What type of educational setting is right to continue to provide him
Academic rigor but also all the executive functioning and other supports he needs to access it and show what he knows.

How do you determine the schedule for pulling groups? How many groups/kids do you see each day versus how many kids are on your caseload?

What does your high school do with kids who are borderline in IQ (70ish)? I see them in a self contained room for major subjects and given the virtual school curriculum to work through with a special ed teacher floating from student to student. Is this normal? My impression is that it puts too much responsibility for learning on the students who we know have difficulty learning. Don’t they need a teacher to actively teach them the content face to face? Or am I missing something?