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Until you have actually worked in a special needs classroom or with special children, this "snapshot" is just that, just a "snapshot". I admire and respect those who dedicate their lives to helping those who need additional care and attention. WCS needs to do a lot more to "instruct" and "educate" special needs students. Hopefully the "review team" coming in will identify what needs to be done in Wilson and across the state to make improvements and bring the programs into compliance. We can hope.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 9:54 AM
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Tuesday, February 10, 2009 10:31 AM Tour shows challenges of teaching exceptional children By Stephanie Creech | Times Senior Writer A "snapshot." That's how Wilson County Board of Education member Gary Farmer describes the tour board members were given Monday of exceptional children's classes at three of the district's schools. Farmer said the exceptional children's classroom environment is not always as "placid" as what the board saw. Farmer, who has taught exceptional children, said he's been on the "other side" and is aware of what needs to be done. He said these are things that "can't be seen in a 10 or 15-minute tour." School board members will over the next few months tour exceptional children's classes at schools across the district. The tours are part of a review of the district's exceptional children's program. Board members participating in Monday's tour in addition to Farmer were Henry Mercer and Christine Fitch. In December, Wilson County Schools Superintendent Larry Price outlined plans for a review of the district's program. The district has hired Lawrence Gloeckler, executive director of the Special Education Institute at the International Center for Leadership in Education in Rexford, N.Y., to lead a team in evaluating the program. Gloeckler will be here later this month. Plans also call for reviewing whether the district is meeting the spirit and letter of the law pertaining to special education, training sessions for teachers and administrators and these visits by the school board's Instructional Services Committee. Parent input is also supposed to be part of the review process. Patti Sanders-Smith, assistant superintendent for instructional services, said the primary purpose of the tours is to show board members the exceptional children's program and to give them a chance to see what teachers are doing and what techniques are used in their rooms. Wells Elementary School Principal Jim Davis showed the board a video of students in the severely emotionally disabled class. The class has eight students representing every grade level except first grade at this time. Wells has the only class in the school district for SED students. The video captured students at some of their worst points last week. One child lay flat on the floor under a desk. Another child sat in the desk in the time-out corner of the room and pulled on the wooden partition. Another sat in the time-out chair and just screamed repeatedly. During the video, Renee Brown, who teaches the class, could be heard talking to the students about why they had been placed in time-out and about behavior she expected in the class. At times, Brown could also be heard on the video carrying on with instruction. When board members visited Brown's class, the students were calm and sitting in their desks while Brown talked with them about slavery, the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Video cameras are located in each exceptional children's classroom. Brown also has a portable video camera she can use. Video is often used in parent conferences. "Most (parents) are aware because they see the same behavior at home," Davis said. Davis said Brown has been teaching exceptional children for about 13 years, which is rare because the work is physically and emotionally draining. In addition to trying to cover the state's Standard Course of Study, Davis said Brown also teaches behavior and emotional skills. Students in Brown's class take state-mandated tests like other students with the exception that some accommodations are made. Examples of accommodations range from how long students have to take the tests, the environment where the students are tested, taking the tests in multiple sessions, and even not having to fill in "bubbles" on answer sheets. Davis said they mainstream the children into regular classrooms when possible. He said they have had success with the students and at least one child left Wells and returned to his regular school. Davis praised his faculty for being receptive to mainstreaming the students whenever possible. At Forest Hills, the group spent time in a class for students who are behaviorally and emotionally disturbed and in a class for students who are trainable mentally disabled. Erin Graham, who teaches the TMD class, was focusing on teaching her students words that start with the letter "w." Among the words her students called out were Wednesday, Wal-Mart, whale, water, Wilson, wasp, winter and window. While identifying words that start with "w" might seem quite basic, the exercise proved difficult at times for some of the students due to their limited vocabulary. It's an exercise one would logically expect to see in a class in elementary school. Graham's students are sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders but function academically at lower grade levels. Joanne Butts, who teaches exceptional children at Fike High School, knows quite a bit about dealing with students who function at the elementary school level. She has 11 students in her class, two of whom can't write and two who are non-verbal. But Butts also has a student who writes in cursive and whose range of function is high and another student who can't read but can do math. Some of Butts' students spend part of their afternoons working at Diversified Opportunities, a sheltered workshop. Butts, who had a noticeable note of frustration in her voice, said she needs more help in her class because some of her students won't do anything unless someone sits and works with them one-on-one. Brian Hines is one such student. Butts is trying to teach Brian how to write. On Monday, Brian was following a dotted outline of the letter "a" on a worksheet. But he would stop working if Butts moved away from him. Butts also said her students "need more things to do." She had part of the class working on a Valentine's Day craft. The students were stuffing red, heart-shaped pillows. Fellow exceptional children's teacher Susan Everette echoed Butts' comments about the need for extra help. Everette has 13 students in her class along with four, sometimes five, adults. That means at any given point, Everette has up to five students working while the others are sitting and waiting for assistance. creech@wilsontimes.com | 265-7822 ============================================================ A FIRSTHAND LOOK Here is a list of the planned tours of exceptional children's classes within Wilson County Schools March: Darden Middle Barnes Elementary Beddingfield High April: Lee Woodard Elementary Lucama Elementary Daniels Learning Center May: Toisnot Middle Elm City Middle |
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Fran Alt said...
Notes from my autism blog Skyler is an academically gifted autistic five-year-old. He can read and write and his math knowledge is much better than average for his age. His teachers are unhappy with his behavior. On moving Skyler to the autistic class Skyler already knows how to act autistic, we want to change these behaviors not increase them. Skyler is a mimic – that is part of how he learns. Think about that. Put our little mimic with normal children and he begins to act in a normal manner. On his behavior problems Skyler has odd behaviors and does not always comply with his teachers’ wishes. Since he learns so readily, we feel he can improve. We have started behavior counseling and with this help, he can make strides. Moving him out of his current classes is best for the teachers because they have so many other children to tend. We agree, controlling and redirecting Skyler often requires one-on-one attention, creating a stressful situation for his already overburdened teachers. However, we want a plan that is best for Skyler. Does Wilson County even have the small classes his teachers tell us he needs? Are there other academically gifted children with problem behaviors? Are there classes for them? Can Wilson County Schools honestly show us a better fit for Skyler, than the placement he now has? On being told at the very last minute that the February 12, 2009 IEP was called off This was emotionally draining and extremely stressful. We understand things happen that are beyond normal control. We understand that people get sick. That does not change the exasperation my husband and I felt about this cancellation. We had arranged for someone else to take Skyler to his allergy shots, his speech therapy and his tae kwon do lessons. Finding people who are available to do this is difficult! We received very short notice about the IEP meeting. Our initial invitation showed the meeting was planned for April 12, 2009! (A typo?) The second notice showed February 12, 2009 and I did not notice the date change. I also did not sign and return either of these because my Case Manager told me to get a facilitator. The next day, February 10, 2009, I received a third notice! This time I noticed the date change. The day was Tuesday and the meeting was on Thursday! My husband and I made the difficult decision not to tell our case manager or anyone else about this meeting. We wanted to hear what the teachers had to say and we felt we needed to filter out any other input. Now, sadly, we face a 12-day wait! We wish the teachers could meet with us informally and tell us what the problems are. Or, meet with each other and send us a note about their ideal next step for Skyler – then, with everyone "fully informed", have an IEP meeting to make necessary changes. Instead, we are left wondering - what do they want? Ideally, the teachers need more help – someone who could redirect Skyler or even take him from the room when he acts inappropriately. Everyone knows what we want. We want Skyler to stay at Wells. Academically and socially, Wells offers the least restrictive environment for Skyler. Because of Skyler’s high academic skills, his is an unusual situation that likely requires unusual classroom placement or one-on-one assistance in the classroom.
Friday, February 13, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Kay Hannaford said...Notes from my autism blog Skyler is an academically gifted autistic five-year-old. He can read and write and his math knowledge is much better than average for his age. His teachers are unhappy with his behavior. On moving Skyler to the autistic class Skyler already knows how to act autistic, we want to change these behaviors not increase them. Skyler is a mimic – that is part of how he learns. Think about that. Put our little mimic with normal children and he begins to act in a normal manner. On his behavior problems Skyler has odd behaviors and does not always comply with his teachers’ wishes. Since he learns so readily, we feel he can improve. We have started behavior counseling and with this help, he can make strides. Moving him out of his current classes is best for the teachers because they have so many other children to tend. We agree, controlling and redirecting Skyler often requires one-on-one attention, creating a stressful situation for his already overburdened teachers. However, we want a plan that is best for Skyler. Does Wilson County even have the small classes his teachers tell us he needs? Are there other academically gifted children with problem behaviors? Are there classes for them? Can Wilson County Schools honestly show us a better fit for Skyler, than the placement he now has? On being told at the very last minute that the February 12, 2009 IEP was called off This was emotionally draining and extremely stressful. We understand things happen that are beyond normal control. We understand that people get sick. That does not change the exasperation my husband and I felt about this cancellation. We had arranged for someone else to take Skyler to his allergy shots, his speech therapy and his tae kwon do lessons. Finding people who are available to do this is difficult! We received very short notice about the IEP meeting. Our initial invitation showed the meeting was planned for April 12, 2009! (A typo?) The second notice showed February 12, 2009 and I did not notice the date change. I also did not sign and return either of these because my Case Manager told me to get a facilitator. The next day, February 10, 2009, I received a third notice! This time I noticed the date change. The day was Tuesday and the meeting was on Thursday! My husband and I made the difficult decision not to tell our case manager or anyone else about this meeting. We wanted to hear what the teachers had to say and we felt we needed to filter out any other input. Now, sadly, we face a 12-day wait! We wish the teachers could meet with us informally and tell us what the problems are. Or, meet with each other and send us a note about their ideal next step for Skyler – then, with everyone "fully informed", have an IEP meeting to make necessary changes. Instead, we are left wondering - what do they want? Ideally, the teachers need more help – someone who could redirect Skyler or even take him from the room when he acts inappropriately. Everyone knows what we want. We want Skyler to stay at Wells. Academically and socially, Wells offers the least restrictive environment for Skyler. Because of Skyler’s high academic skills, his is an unusual situation that likely requires unusual classroom placement or one-on-one assistance in the classroom.
Friday, February 13, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Until you have actually worked in a special needs classroom or with special children, this "snapshot" is just that, just a "snapshot". I admire and respect those who dedicate their lives to helping those who need additional care and attention. WCS needs to do a lot more to "instruct" and "educate" special needs students. Hopefully the "review team" coming in will identify what needs to be done in Wilson and across the state to make improvements and bring the programs into compliance. We can hope.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 9:54 AM
