r/specialed

I see many people in this field who seem burned out or regretful. I know many will leave teaching for different roles entirely.

I really feel that I want to work with individuals with autism in some capacity, and being a SpEd teacher is something I am considering. What are some other jobs that I might want to consider beyond teaching?

About me: I’ve worked in special education classrooms before as a para. I have a loved one with level 3 autism. I spent some time in Gen Ed as well as a substitute teacher. I worked in tech for a long time and was drawn to jobs where I made tech accessible to people with disabilities such as language processing disorders and vision impairment.

We have decided to withdraw our 6-year-old son from school to pursue full-time ABA therapy and homeschooling.

Regarding the service plan the school has proposed, we would like to decline this at this time as we are covering all services privately through insurance or out-of-pocket. They are forcing for a service plan. How can I decline it? Should I just ignore them?.

Our school hosted a version of Field Day in which students of all abilities were together (the only separation was grades k-2 on one day, 3-5 on the other). The lower grades had 5th graders helping out.

The self contained kids often seemed overwhelmed, overstimulated, and left behind in nearly all activities. I heard several parents say they were going to skip the day because it was “just too much” for their kids.

I’d like to suggest, and lead if necessary, a separate field day area. Ideally, we would be able to borrow a handful of 5th graders to help facilitate, cheer the kids on, and provide peer modeling.

Curious if your schools have special accommodations for the students with disabilities and if you’d be willing to share examples of activities that went over well. I can tell our school admin has intentions to be more inclusive, but I often feel like they just don’t quite get it…

Hey there!

I’m hoping that one or some of you might have some suggestions for me regarding a student of mine and sand.

I have a student who loves the sand box. During outside time, it is very difficult to keep them out of the sand. The student is very low and doesn’t understand our redirection techniques (we’re still learning this student and what works for them).
When in the sand, they throw it up in the air, lay in it, dump it on their head.

So, my question is, how do keep sand out of your students hair and clothing? Mostly the hair. The student is not allowed to be dirty so anything that we can do to stop the sand/dirt from going on them we’d like to try.
They do wear a baseball cap, which helps some. But the hat does not cover the entire hair and it flies off in the wind.

Thanks!

ETA: Yes- this is the parent stating the child can not get dirty. They have requested no messy activities; no markers, paint, food, dirt at school. Part of the problem i believe is in the past the child has pulled his hair out when it was dirty.

I am currently working as an Instructional Assistant in an autistic support classroom. I have a bachelors in psychology but this is where I started my career after college. My lead teacher is leaving the classroom next month and my admin and staff want me to get emergency certified and become a teacher and run the classroom myself. I pride myself on the job that I currently do as an IA and the teachers tell me I already do so much that I would be a great teacher. However, one thing stopping me is that I have no idea how to write an IEP. I have a ton of support here but do not want to fail. Is it as hard as it seems or am I overthinking it? Any tips or books or things to do that’ll help me?

Hi all. I'm finishing my first year as a SPED teacher. I've realized that one of my weaknesses is progress monitoring. My mentor teacher and the rest of the teachers in my department do not have good systems, so I don't feel like I've been exposed to what progress monitoring should look like. I am currently at a very disorganized charter school and am actively looking to transition to a district school with a union. Going into a new position, this is something I'd like to improve. For my SPED teachers out there (especially those who do resource/co-teaching), how often do you progress monitor your students, and what are some of your systems for doing so?

Hi! I am looking for some advice/support regarding a new(ish) student of mine and some combative behaviors.

This student started a few weeks ago and is extremely unregulated in the morning. Completely normal, he is new and this is expected. He comes off the bus happy, but everyday as soon as he enters the classroom he begins to throw toys, books, anything he can get his hands on. He also is targeting adults in the classroom. Scratching our faces, pulling chunks of hair out, kicking, and hitting. I am working very hard to build a relationship with this student because I know that will solve some of this problem. I do feel like I am making progress in gaining his trust but we still have a long way to go.

However, he is endangering other students in the class and other staff members. I know restraints are absolute last resort, and I never EVER want to restrain a child. But at what point is it necessary? We always use every regulation technique we have. I am told by admin he is allowed to throw toys and hit us because he’s small it “doesn’t hurt”. We also are not allowed to block hits or kicks because we could hurt the child.

I am trained with handle with care training and this is not how i remember the training being explained. I am just looking for support and possible legality of this all? Any advice is appreciated!

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How can kids continue learning in summer vacation instead of being in their phones or electronics all day. How can they stay engaged and learn new stuff. Are there specific websites where they improve skills for reading and writing and stuff like math and learning adulting skills. I heard library sometimes offers free programs and activities.

Hello!

Who is the local education agency representative for your IEP meetings? In your district, is it common for case managers to be the local educational agency(LEA) their own meetings? My district cut some roles in our special education department and are telling case managers(special education teachers, speech-language pathologists, and school psychologists) we are to be the local education agency for our own meetings unless lawyers are involved. Is this common practice in your own district?

We may or may not be seeking a solution for a student, but in general, I'm curious: If an IEP states a student has extended time (let's say time and a half) to turn in an assignment, how does that work if the measured time and a half runs past the end of the school year? What does the IEP say about a hard deadline? Would it require to keep the grade book open and have someone from the district/pay the teacher extra to grade during the summer? Would there need to be an emergency amendment to find another solution for the student?

My school is moving to Standards Based Grading and I'm not sure what standards people use for SBG for Special Education. We're in Washington State and I'm planning on using CTE Leadership Standards: https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2023-08/washingtoncteleadershipskills.pdf

Using 8 and 10 especially for the following standards:

Manage Goals and Time

Be Self Directed Learners

Productivity and Accountability

Hello! I’m looking for advice on a couple of things.

Background: I work with early middle schoolers, mostly level 3 ASD with significant cognitive disabilities, mostly non speaking students, life skills classes.

I’m a school social worker. I’d love to start something like a kindness club. I’m thinking to start small because, as you can imagine, my day is largely behavioral and crisis intervention so I want to be able to guarantee the time to this. As of now, I’d like to start with using a cart with a couple of rotating students giving out things to other students and staff to spread kindness. Our budget is…..minimal. Any thoughts on WHAT to give out? For staff, maybe some messages of positivity, stickers for students. It can’t be anything too small that may be swallowed. I’ll see if my principal will donate coupons for the school store but I’m not confident.

My second question….the cart would be the kindness club cart. Does anyone else’s mind go somewhere or am I reaching with that? I’m new to this school and soooo overthinking things.

Hello. We have been going through the process of getting our child(5) evaluated and hopefully set up to attend kindergarten for the ‘26-‘27 school year since the very end of last year. We have our first ARD meeting (admission, refusal, and dismissal meeting) coming up. My son has qualified under both Autism and OHI (other health impairment).

I requested a copy of the evaluation results and the proposed IEP to prepare, and have read through it today. My concern is that while they appear to have thoroughly considered his Autism, there is nothing specifically geared towards his OHI, which is honestly my biggest concern, and I have said that clearly in both the initial meeting, the evaluation, and honestly in the very beginning of the process. His safety is number 1.

My son has Rasmussen’s Encephalitis which causes Refractory Focal Seizures. My son has near daily seizures. He falls off toilets, chairs, he has seizures while eating, he’s had one washing his hands, and so forth. Increased physical activity can be a trigger sometimes. He has few known triggers as he is always having seizures no matter what we do. He needs constant supervision. Sometimes he will lose control of his bladder during a seizure. He has an emergency rescue medication that might be needed at times, though luckily it has been awhile. There is so much that needs to be considered when it comes to his seizures and safety.

My only guess is that we will discuss it all in the meeting itself, but I feel a bit concerned it isn’t at all in the proposed IEP. Is that normal? As I overthinking it? I’m not trying to be rude. And I know SPED staff are busy with a million other kids and functions, but I do not want my son to be accidentally forgotten. His safety is paramount.

Currently it appears to me from the IEP that he will be in a special education classroom for children with Autism. I do not know how many teachers or paras will be in this room, or the amount of students, or the severity other students needs(which I understand I am not privileged to that specific information). What I mean is, I do not know how much focus can or will be given to monitoring my son.

Separately and on a side note, I do worry about him academically. He is so smart, and I don’t want him to fall through the educational cracks because of his chronic illness. As I said, his safety is number one. I just worry for him. He is so excited to go to school and learn. He has been begging for a long time, but we didn’t think he’d be able to attend due to his condition. We kept hoping it would get better, but improvements are up and down.

Any advice how to approach the topic of his seizure safety(and other stuff possibly) respectfully with the ARD committee while advocating appropriately would be appreciated.

What are the options available after High School for Autistic Non-Verbal

Hi everyone.

I'm a 27-year-old female living in the state of Washington and I'm currently trying to get my IEP documents so I can try to get any sort of accommodations for my college alongside some other assistance that I may need. I have tried emailing my school district to retrieve these documents, but they said that they destroy the documents after 6 years and I don't know any other way to receive the documents in question. I was wondering if there is any other way to get these documents since I can't get them from the school district that I attended.

Hello! I am a tk-6th RSP teacher coming to end of her first year in a district that was almost take over by state (California). I work at a title one school and was never even given proper training on what RTI is supposed to look like or be in my district. I have no curriculum and there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which students are referred to RTI. I have asked multiple times what exactly we need to see to progress a student to RTI but it seems like it just depends on how pushy the child’s teacher is. I have pointed out that there must be sufficient data (dibels, iready, sipps, etc) that shows a lack of progress but I feel like I get ignored and many behavior students are placed in my RTI cycles. On top of this we have a chronic absentee issue and I keep getting students for RTI who are absent for weeks on end! To be clear I do not teach social skills and my room is not used for behavior intervention. I work strictly on math, reading, and writing intervention.

I currently accept 2 RTI students every 6-10 weeks. If they do progress we move on to testing. Is this system incorrect? I thought it was up to my discretion the amount of RTI students I can handle. My school only has tier 2 interventions for K-2nd and a newcomer interventionist who comes in twice a week. My caseload is currently at 23 (and I have 5 intials pending) and I am the only RSP. I handle all paper work, scheduling, WJ testing, etc. I am extremely overwhelmed and I am wondering if this RTI process is normal!

I am making this post because my principal has made it apparent that she feels I can handle taking on 5-6 students for RTI for 10-12 week cycles starting next year. Coincidentally we are losing all of our tier 2 interventions for next year except for the newcomer teacher because of extreme budget cuts. She is trying to hire an uncertified memeber of the community to provide “reading intervention” to supplement the k-2 literacy intervention loss. My principal has stated that the teacher 4 years ago used to take on 6 students for RTI (but she also failed to mention that this teacher had 8 years of experience and second RSP teacher). I guess my question is can I refuse? I know that either way I have to take RTI students but is the amount I take on up to me. Taking on 2 RTI students already takes away so much from my students with IEPs. I can’t imagine the affect of taking on 5.

I can tell that my principal feels overwhelmed by the changes for next year but I can’t help but feel this is problem she is putting on me. I believe that if we had a strong process for deciding which students get RTI this would be less of an issue. I also want to mentions that at least half of students in every classroom are 2 grades levels or more below… so again I don’t understand why we aren’t being more specific about who should get RTI because at least half the schools shows the need for RTI.

I don’t really want to hear how I should leave to a new school district because I’m already locked in for next year. But what can I do to improve this situation and what are the legalities about the amount of RTI students I can take. Any advice and thoughts appreciated.

My daughter is in an out-of-district placement through our public school district due to behavioral/disability-related issues. Recently I found out that a bus aide had been secretly recording my daughter on her personal phone because she felt my daughter was “antagonizing” her and she wanted to “take matters into her own hands.”

The aide is an adult and my daughter is a minor child with behavioral needs. From what I understand, the district took it seriously and the aide lost her job.

Part of what makes this worse to me is that there were times my 75-year-old mother literally had to get on the bus herself and help get my daughter out of the harness because the aide refused to help her. So to find out that instead of professionally handling things, an aide was secretly recording my child on a personal phone is really upsetting.

I am a psych nurse, so I have been spit on, my hair has been pulled, etc., but I have never denied a patient care. I understand her level of training is less than mine. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt with the way she professionally acts for a while now. i don‘t put my daughter on or off the bus for work conflicts so my mom does and she’s very non confrontational.

the district immediately told me when the aide volunteered the information to them, thinking she was being heroic…they filed an incident report and it’s under investigation.

I’m not trying to sue the district or attack the school system because they did act once this came to light. I’m more trying to understand:

- whether this is potentially illegal or mainly a policy violation,

- whether parents should be notified if recordings of their child exist,

- whether I should request confirmation the videos were deleted,

- and whether this is something worth making a police report over.

The recordings were apparently related to documenting behavior on the bus, but they were done on a personal phone without my knowledge or consent.

Located in New Jersey. Just looking for perspective from people familiar with schools, transportation, special ed, or student privacy issues.

Look, I know the title seems really brute, just please try to hear me out guys.

I, 17(M) have been diagnosed with both ADHD and Asperger's/autism for a pretty significant time. I'll skip to the important part, in my highschool, there is a specialized program for autism that I was basically forced into by my elementary school staff and my parents. (I personally don't even believe I truly have autism but again that's not important) Anyways basically the students in this program have their IEP set up differently. Here's why I have an issue:

All students with an IEP: are supposedly given the right to use their accomodations in a quiet resource room HOWEVER... This doesn't apply to students in the autism program. We are not allowed to use accomodations in the same room as our non autistic peers with ieps, instead we have to use them in a resource room just for the autism program. Mind you, this room isn't quiet at all and there's always autistic kids screaming, or saying/doing obscene things very obviously. I am thinking about just flat out cancelling my IEP because this isn't fair to me as someone with an IEP but no autism has access to a much more appropriate resource room.

TLDR: They are forcing me to use me IEP in a loud, chaotic autism room instead of a resource room and I've had enough. I'm considering cancelling my IEP

So yesterday I made an entire rant on how the special ed system doesn't respect my rights. A lot of people said that the accomodations are based on assessed needs but I have something to contradict that.

So, A while ago, me and a neurotypical friend were comparing our wisc assessment scores. (It should be noted that this assessment is basically what my entire IEP is set on, (or so I'm told) it should also be noted that my friend does not have an IEP whereas I have the accomodations allowing me to use a memory aid and have typed notes inst

Anyways, as we were comparing scores. I did significantly better than him on both the memory and processing speed subtests. Out of respect for him, I will not reveal his percentile but it was much lower than mine. However, Im somehow the one that ended up with memory aids and the right to type notes all due to the fact that "I have autism and he doesn't" honestly the special ed team is a joke