Every day I check the education news and am appalled to see more stories about children being denied special education services. Where is the federal government? Where’s the state? And how does the local school district get away with this without being sued?
It is as if students with differences of any kind are being told “go away–you are not welcome here.”
Often, these despicable stories make headlines. Then they fade away leaving parents and the community to struggle finding services.
Children flounder in schools where they once were supposed to be protected by special education law.
I know parents who resort to home schooling because they lost hope in their school district a long time ago. They understand that their children will never get back lost years.
But homeschooling a student with disabilities is not always easy for parents–especially working parents.
As public schools continue to be privatized, we see an increasing disregard for special education regulation.
In 2015, I wrote a post describing cuts to special education in states around the country.
Here is an update. Feel free to contact me about loss of special education services in your state and or community and I will add to this list. Solutions are always welcome too!
Michigan
When poisoning water doesn’t get leaders in much trouble, denying children special education services must be a piece of cake. So goes Michigan.
In Flint, the ACLU is alleging that students in special education are systematically denied special education services. The state fails to allocate sufficient funds.
Since Michigan decided to take the school privatization route years ago, we have all watched an erosion of public schooling there in general.
The students with special needs bear the brunt of it.
The election isn’t even over, but who is talking about this? I found this article in the The Guardian.
Illinois
Cheer all you want for the Chicago Cubs, there’s nothing to cheer about when it comes to special education services in Chicago and throughout the state.
Special education is always in trouble there. For starters, one can blame programs like Response to Intervention (RTI) and Social Impact Bonds (Pay for Success).
Chicago special education teachers and paraprofessionals are always on pins and needles wondering if they will lose their jobs as schools are turned over to charters.
Texas
One of the most egregious denials of services is out of Texas. The state decided they had too many students with special needs, so they weeded kids out of programs. It didn’t matter if your child had autism, or speech problems, or any other disability. Suddenly, parents learned from administrators that their child’s problems were corrected. Texas—the state of phony miracles.
New York
Last March The New York Times reported that as many as 40 percent of New York City’s students with special needs were being denied services. The problem seemed to be the $130 million computer system. The Special Education Information Systems had a problem with data and the lack of ability to track the students who needed services. Public Advocate Letitia James sued the New York City Education Department. Mayor Bill de Blasio took issue with the fiasco. What happened to the children?
Vermont
In 2015, Vermont began relying on paraprofessionals to work with students who have learning disabilities. Good luck getting a real teacher to work with your child, especially when they are plunked into the general education classroom.
I must of missed this in last year’s post. Vermont used to have some of the best public schools in the country, so who would have thought they would not do what’s right for their students needing special education services?
Vermont also has a partnership with SWIFT, an outside group funded by a USDOE grant. This group subscribes to Universal Design for Learning which in the end means online instruction.
Alaska
Alaska, like many states, has a special education teacher shortage. They bring in general education teachers to do the job thus far, but my guess it is just a matter of time before alternative teacher groups will set up shop there.
Hawaii
Staffing shortages abound in Hawaii, where they are plenty concerned that students are being denied special education services. But who wants to teach special education when you are treated unprofessionally? Well, other than Teach for America types who only work for two years at it. I bet it is nice working in Hawaii. They don’t seem to be so keen on Alaska yet. Probably a little too chilly there.
Oregon
Shifting students with special needs into general classes doesn’t happen without serious teacher planning. This doesn’t always work and results in substandard or lacking services for students.
Portland, Oregon also has a nonprofit project called REACH 2020. It is supposed to be a miracle–like all nonprofits. But it doesn’t seem to be working well. As one director states, ““Special education is supposed to be a service, not a place.”
Look for more of these miracle promising groups. They are good at bilking tax dollars from real public schools and special education services.
Connecticut
Judge Thomas Moukawsher says, “The call is not about whether certain profoundly disabled children are entitled to a ‘free appropriate public education.’ It is about whether schools can decide in an education plan for a covered child that the child has a minimal or no chance for education, and therefore the school should not make expensive, extensive, and ultimately pro-forma efforts.” That makes a lot of Connecticut parents and teachers queasy in that state and rightly so.
California
In the San Francisco Bay Area they are apparently not providing services for students with special needs. It is sad how NBC frames this as “schools vs. students.”
I always thought schools were supposed to be for the students!
Middle Tennessee, Wilson County, cut my son’s IEP because they didn’t feel he needed it or qualified for their services anymore! He has a 504 plan now, but it only offers him little protection and help. He has aspergers and sensory integration disorder and sensory issues when it comes to food.
Thanks for sharing, Heather. I think that’s lousy. Any parents with similar issues you can get together with and make some noise at the school board meeting?
In Colorado, the “reformers'” goal has been to cut out as much Special Needs funding as possible by pushing kids into regular classes as “mainstreamed” students. I once was called into a meeting where an Integrated Needs teacher was told that, all of a sudden, her 13-kid special needs class was going to be collapsed into my 19-student regular English class — and she would now sit in my room as an “aide.” It was true insanity, especially in the middle of a semester. (Nevermind that the woman had years of education and experience, and in fact made 20K more than I did.) Though we both sat in that meeting with openmouthed wonder, it was this teacher’s direct threat to administration of quitting her job instantaneously which stopped the “reformers” in charge from going through with this plan.
I’m surprised they wanted to keep her with the extra salary!
I’ve always believed inclusion and IDEA to be about getting rid of sped services. We used to have a reasonable system in place to assist students in general classes through mainstreaming. Some thought went into it. Resource classes and many self-contained classes were decent as well.
To say students are being discriminated against by special ed. was deceptive and immoral.
Thanks, Ciedie!
UDL means online learning? Did I miss something?
Ultimately yes! It involves CAST http://castprofessionallearning.org/online-courses/
I know CAST. I am still working from the multiple means of….I will review CAST.
Okay Checked briefly. Those are PD offerings not student coursework.
I am not against assistive technology for students with disabilities, but UDL is a cover for online personalized instruction. Or competency-based instruction (CBE) which is all about online.
I think the confusing way the UDL enthusiasts write it up is meant to confuse, or maybe they are just wordy writers.
If you want to disagree that’s find. However, check back in a year and give me the satisfaction of telling me I was right O.K?
Check out page 9 for starters….
http://www.inacol.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/iNACOL-Access-and-Equity-for-All-Learners-in-Blended-and-Online-Education-Oct2014.pdf
I am a paraprofessional working with students with special education needs. Although I did a diploma to work in the field, I have a substantial profession where facility with figures and communication skills are of paramount importance. I am always peeved when people dump on paraprofessionals, as though a teacher working with a student with Special Education Needs (SENs) will create a whole lot of difference. The truth is most teachers do not understand the needs of students with learning differences. They teach a topic or a technique, and they feel that the students ought to understand immediately. However, that is not the case. It may take many attempts to get these students to grasp a concept. As an Education Assistant, I know my students; they speak their problems to me-a major one is bad memory. Another problem of students with learning differences is language impairment-although they can express themselves to you, they may find it difficult to understand your response. They may have problems with written expression, and even the smart writer may not help. Because the real problem is one of idea generation.
Students with learning differences need intense instructions which are not normally provided in the general education classroom. I read somewhere, that the founder of Special Education Samuel Kirk meant it to be intense with ample repetition to cement things in the students’ minds. There is no time for this when students with special education needs are placed in the general education classroom where there is a race happening to cover so many topics, many of which are beyond their developmental level of even that of the general education students. In my view when I see what is being foisted on students with special education needs, I see a failure of inclusion.
If there were robust programs aimed at making up for the cognitive deficits associated with students with SENs, then I as an Education Assistant would be able to help them.overcome their deficits.. In real life they are dominated by the requirements of the general education students; hence, they do not get the assistance they require.