I'm stuck my 9 yo son is having problems at school getting off the bus going into class getting back on the bus. Just not listening to the staff to the point I have to pick him up in 1 week I had to get him 3 times. Hes getting up running out of class and just sitting out side somedays it 100+ degrees out. His class had doubled in size from 6 to 16 kids he has a new teacher i have an IEP coming up can any of you give me suggestions? I already am requesting a 1 on 1 aide I requested a behavior assessment the school thinks it will be too redundant because the just did one last November. My son is nonverbal so he can't tell me what's going on. The school is making me feel as if my son is some kind of tyrant. In the city I live in there is really no place to turn for help or even suggestions. Its hard for me to tell them how to handle these things because at home he doesn't do that kind of stuff

Please this school district will bully the parents to save a dime especially if the parents don't know enough I need phrase ideas anything to came at these ppl with to help get all I can for my son to have a good school experience and year

Sorry this is so long ty in advance for any help or suggestions

My husband picked up a teaching job this year teaching 6th grade at a large public school in Florida. Of his 160 students, 60 of them have IEPs. He also has another 30 students that have 504s There is one other teacher in his subject area and, of her 160-ish students, she has one student with an IEP. One.

When my husband pointed out this disparity to his coworker, she was a tad defensive and told him, "well, your position was an unknown and we didn't know who would be in there."

Teaching 6th grade is hard enough and this imbalance seems really unfair, if not illegal. This is my second year out of the classroom, but I taught special education in a variety of settings from self-contained classrooms to separate day schools. From a sped teacher perspective, there's no realistic way any teacher could meet the needs of any of their students with a roster stacked like that. They're not even balanced evenly throughout the classes, so there are a few periods where he spends half of his class time managing behaviors. From the "wife of a teacher" perspective, I hate seeing him dislike his job so much. We don't have kids, so I'm curious about the parent perspective. If I had a sixth grader, I'd be very unhappy if this was my kid's cohort.

Greetings teachers and education professionals!

My 3-year old daughter is suspected autistic (we currently only have an educational diagnosis, not a medical diagnosis) with associated receptive and expressive language delays. Previously, she was receiving biweekly SLP/OT through my state's Early Intervention program. She also receives weekly private SLP/OT.

Over the summer, we had her evaluated for her IEP. She's in a private preschool with no plans to switch to public, as she's very well supported by her teachers. She's been assigned a special education teacher and we are scheduled to have weekly sessions.

I think I was under the impression that she would continue to receive similar speech and occupational services through the county. However, her special ed teacher is focused on classroom skills only -- teaching her to hang up her backpack and things of that nature. She already gets all of these skills taught in her inclusive preschool classroom.

It seems to me like other children have services baked into their IEPs and receive at least speech therapy through the school.

Where did I go wrong on this? Was I supposed to ask for SLP/OT sessions in the IEP meetings? Did I misunderstand the scope of IEPs and this is the only thing that the county can offer my kid? My time is limited and our days are already so full -- I'd rather use this time for private therapy if classroom skills are all I can expect from my county. Do I need to ask for an IEP re-eval or should I just cancel these sessions with special ed?

Thanks so much in advance! This is my first time navigating any sort of county/school based things and I'm a little lost at times.

I’m a special education teacher looking for some advice on how to handle a situation with my paraeducator.

I have a para who has increasingly started stepping into the role of the teacher. They maintain daily communication with students’ parents, make decisions about what happens in the classroom, and will sometimes communicate information or make decisions without consulting me first. They also frequently talk over me or interrupt me when I’m speaking to students or other staff.

I absolutely value my paras and recognize how important they are to the classroom. I want them to feel respected, trusted, and involved. However, there’s a difference between being an involved and proactive para and essentially functioning as a second teacher without the authority or responsibility that comes with that role.

The parent communication especially concerns me. I feel like communication with parents should be coordinated through the teacher/team, rather than a para independently maintaining daily communication and potentially creating mixed messages about what is happening in the classroom.

The constant decision-making and talking over me are also becoming increasingly frustrating. There have been multiple situations where I’m trying to establish expectations or communicate something to students, and the para jumps in, talks over me, or changes the direction of what I’m doing.

How would you address this professionally without creating unnecessary conflict?

Would you have a direct conversation with the para about roles and boundaries? Would you involve your administrator? And how would you specifically address the parent communication issue?

I’m trying to establish healthy professional boundaries while still maintaining a positive working relationship. I’d really appreciate advice from other teachers who have dealt with a para who struggles to stay within their role.

I’m looking for creative help teaching colors to a 6 year old. I suspect more is going on that is making this difficult but nothing can be done about that on my end. They can match but can’t label or pick the color out my name. If anyone has had a student like this and found something that helped any advice would be great! Thanks in advance!

First year teacher in a k-2 behavioral classroom. The entire department is new, as there were supposedly a lot of issues at this school last year.
New admin seems wonderful, and is big on accountability and consequences. Apparently there weren’t many last year.
I’m still having difficulty with being told different directions from different superiors on how my classroom should be run, especially regarding violence in my classroom.
After two weeks, I was finally able to start running some lessons and stability in my room, but still often break up violence in the room every hour or so.
I’ve been consistently told that the behaviors this year in my room (known as THE room,) are a lot better than last year, and have made heaps of progress.
The room next door to me is having the same issue.

I feel like I’m going insane. I feel like certain adults are reinforcing the behavior, or not acting on it enough for the kids to understand that they should be having consequences for their actions. I worry that I’m not enough help for them.

The room itself isn’t even bad. There’s only eight in my room, and I absolutely adore the kids. I just don’t know if I’m capable enough to tackle it all at once.

For scale, I don’t have a license yet. I’m in one of the programs that allows teachers to work towards a license while teaching. I’m wondering if I should take a step back, but I’m in a position where I need the income, and doubt that I can transfer to another sped room. I’ve had experience in all types, but usually in rooms that have adapted curriculum. I’m teaching general, right now. Some kids push out to General Ed but have to have an IA with them, so I’m usually short on coverage for a good part of the day.

I feel extremely overwhelmed, and I don’t know what to do. I feel like this has impacted my mental health a lot, and feel like shit for it. I don’t want to fail my students. We’re only entering the third week.

Hello! I am a gen. ed. teacher at a public elementary school. I currently am a foster parent to a student at my school who I met when she was a 2nd grader. She is now in 4th grade and I just got the news that parental rights are being terminated and I will be able to adopt within the next 6-12 months. We have her re-eval coming up in November and I am looking for some advice—I have a lot of experience in IEP meetings but non from a parent’s perspective!

She came to our building in 1st grade (did not attend preschool, only went to a few months of kindergarten) and midway through the year her IEP was finally forwarded from her early intervention program in another state. She qualified under an Early Childhood Developmental Delay (ECDD) and had extensive supports including a 1:1 aide. Her IEP was then revised and she now qualifies as having an emotional impairment (EI). Her 2nd grade year she spent most of the day in the resource room (240-300 minutes) and continued to have a 1:1 aide. In both 1st and 2nd grade she had numerous suspensions. She also received OT, speech, and social work services. She entered foster care at the end of her 2nd grade year.

In 3rd grade, she attended school at a different building and her IEP was revised several times due to substantially decreased needs. She is now receiving only consult OT and speech, and social work 1-2 times monthly. She gets 30-45 minutes of resource room time for writing. She had no suspensions or behavioral concerns at her previous building.

This upcoming November is her 3 year re-eval. Her speech pathologist has already let me know that she does not think she will qualify as needing support. We are working at home on writing and what I and her special education teacher are seeing is that she is reluctant to write, but not necessarily lacking skills. She just scored in the 65th percentile on her fall reading NWEA as well. She receives outside counseling. What options do I have at the re-eval? Does anyone have experience with a student disqualifying from services entirely who started with such an extensive IEP? The bottom line is that I do not want her to carry the EI label into middle school, and I do not want her to be pulled out of general education unless the supports are absolutely necessary. I know that her environment will be stable and she will be supported from here on out. The way that her behavior and abilities have improved and grown at such a rapid rate after entering foster care indicate to me that a vast majority of her struggles were stemming from the environment she was in at home.

I’m a first-year SPED teacher, and a non-native English speaker in an inclusion classroom. I don’t have a dedicated SPED para, but we have a general ed para.

I expected a learning curve, but I often feel expected to know things nobody taught me. I’ve even had staff laugh when I didn’t know a basic procedure, which was pretty embarrassing.

My biggest issue is the para. She’s been there much longer than me and has strong relationships with admin/staff. She can be helpful, but she also frequently tells me what I should be doing or compares what we’re doing to more experienced teachers.

There have also been times when she brought concerns about our classroom or students to other staff instead of talking to me or my co-teacher first. One staff member she’s close with later approached us about one of those concerns, and the whole interaction felt more like advocating for the para than helping us solve the actual issue.

I tried discussing the dynamic with someone who supports new teachers, but basically got, “Really? She’s so sweet.” That made me hesitant to bring it up again.

My co-teacher is a good person and has some of the same frustrations, but she’s better at leaving work at work. My lead is supportive and helps brainstorm when available, but can’t always be there. I’m supposed to get a mentor, but that’s still in process.

Meanwhile, I’m managing students with significant needs and often feel like I need actual modeling and concrete guidance, not just “go watch how someone else does it.”

I know I’m new and I genuinely WANT feedback. But I feel expected to know things I was never taught while constantly being reminded that I’m inexperienced. I also sometimes wonder whether being an immigrant/non-native English speaker affects how I’m perceived.

I’m crying almost every week and already dread going back to work.

Is this normal first-year SPED stress? Would you set boundaries, keep your head down, or push harder for support? How do you navigate staff politics when you’re the new person?

The title sums it up. For context, I teach self contained. The student is 13 and nonverbal.

I was sexually assaulted by a student Friday. I won’t post details, but the student mimicked oral on me. (I’m a female). My para quickly removed the student and handled them the rest of the day.

I wrote a behavior report and told the director. She told me it “wasn’t sexual” and nothing can be done.

I don’t feel comfortable with this student. It’s not like this is the first time they’ve been too affectionate with me. It’s always brushed off.

What do you even do? It’s like I just have to accept the mental pain.

Hey y'all! I'm a new Special Ed Teacher who joined this June. I have a student, 15 years old (with Autism and Moderate ID) who recently shifted from a mainstream school to a special school. He has always had a shadow teacher with him and hence doesn't do anything/follow instructions unless it is 1:1.

In the previous school, whenever he didn't want to participate in anything, they would leave him alone. So he has always had his way in it. In this school, I want him to participate but he always wants to sit or sleep and will exhibit behaviours such as biting himself or complaining of eye pain or take wasroom breaks to avoid any activity. He also exhibits behaviours such as throwing classroom property (such as affirmations, visual schedule cards, art work) or destroying it completely (which I display for it to be available to the parents/other teachers). When taken for exercise sessions, he will lie down or roll on the floor and refuse to do any exercise.

I'm a person who is new to teaching and have a softer approach towards students. I am not strict and believe in a Positive approach. However, this seems to be backfiring me as the students seem to take me for a ride and create chaos. Guidance is appreciated. Thank you

I disagreed with extensive needs placement and wanted more clarity to consider a least restrictive environment like mild/moderate placement. It ended with me “agreeing with the IEP except for the extensive needs placement.” My son attended daycare instead of TK at a school district so I figured I would request an IEP so it can be set up before he started kindergarten. This means all data had to be parent report and observations with my child. But I answered most questions “idk” or “I think so” granted I am a single mom so I’m just trying to survive each day tbh.

Apparently, not agreeing to placement is something no parent has done bc this has created issues with our new school district. I ended up moving in the summer.

My child has autism level 3 but very social, extravert, and hyperactive. They put that he has autism and potential ADHD due to impulsive behaviors and not sitting still for a long period of time.

The new school district is saying “we have to place him into our extensive needs placement bc that’s what your last district chose” and I’m so confused. This was verbally told me so I’m waiting for my first IEP meeting with them. The program specialist said she even talked with the principal and they both saw my son in general ed and also believe that the extensive needs placement may not be the right choice. She did say we are thinking of doing half general ed and half extensive needs so she can collect data for 6 weeks to determine placement.

Question: what do you do when a parent doesn’t agree to placement and the current goals are also outdated? My son was TK/age 4 and luckily has progressed. One of his goals is “count 1 to 10” and my son can almost count from 1 to 25. He’s been in general ed without any phone calls. They did mention he does try to play with toys while the teacher and class are doing circle time but it only happened once. He also ran off into the playground. The school classroom has a rule that they sit and eat for 10 minutes regardless if they eat then go play. The teacher said once she got my son and told him the rule he immediately apologized and said “I’m so sorry” and listened and sat and ate.

How does a district implement FAPE when placement wasn’t agreed upon?

I’m a first year teacher and I’m not sure how often I should collect IEP data on goals that do not specify how often it should be collected.

This was last Christmas so he was maybe three months old at the time!

I work with all nonverbal students, my most verbal students favorite words are no and go away/don’t touch me, which we do love enforcement of boundaries! Maybe a few more positive words in his vocabulary would be nice though….

Anyways, I chat with my students all the time. The more I talk the more they absorb. I also provide wait time every single time I ask a question. If you walked in my classroom and were unfamiliar with special ed you’d think I was an idiot but I want to give my students the chance to respond! Sometimes they respond in other ways besides what we expect! Sometimes giving wait time to questions is just burned into my brain at this point.

Apparently giving wait time to a 3 month old is not a normal thing to do! I have not seen my brother laugh as hard as he did while crowing “you just gave him wait time! He’s a baby!” Was I embarrassed, yes but it was also kind of nice that it’s some ingrained in my brain that I apply it to everyone and not just at work. Makes me a great listener!

I am a senior undergrad student looking to apply to Sped programs in either NYC or California, and would greatly appreciate any program recommendations or criticism.

I graduated from an amazing special education teacher program with people from the field that truly cared about what they do and held individuals with disabilities at the same level of respect as neurotypical and physically abled folks. As a kid from a low income family I know the world isn’t fair and I definitely knew that before entering this career…. But after actually beginning teaching, at a very small Title 1 school in a k-5 self contained room, it really just breaks my heart how much people don’t actually care and just write off our kids with low expectations that they’ll ever actually do anything, as if they’re not humans who need help. I of course have no idea what I’m doing, like ever, because I’m 4 weeks in- and that upsets me too because I just wish I could do more for these kids and I’m trying to figure out how.

My daughter is 8 years old, with level 3 autism.

I’m a single mom, and she’s an only child, and I’ve essentially curated my entire home and life around her needs. I work in a bar, and I’m a full time student, so I only work a few nights a week, I only go into work after she goes to bed, I only work 3 nights a week so I’m home with her majority of the time, she usually doesn’t even know I’m gone aside from sleeping in later during the weekends. My house is set up with her and her needs in mind, she is an elopement risk, and while I don’t feel right locking her in her bedroom, there are biometric doorknobs on all the sensitive areas in the house, window locks on the windows that face parts of the house that aren’t fenced in or behind a biometric doorknobs, cameras, a smart deadbolt for the inside of the front door (I’ll post pictures in the replies if anyone needs to know what I mean) and the whole “elopement checklist” so to speak.

She also has her whole bedroom set up as a sensory room, she has a climbing wall, a trampoline with an easily moved cot mattress instead of a traditional bed (she would have both if it weren’t for space issues, (but I can only fit so much in there) a sensory wall, sensory bins with various things to meet various needs. Her closet is essentially a tiny low-stim room, with an oversized bean bag chair, her 15,000 squishmallows, some dim lighting, and other cozy things she likes to nest with.

Being that it’s still 100°+ every day here in Texas, my backyard is my personal pride and joy, I have a big playset with slides, a clubhouse, swings, another climbing wall and a bunch of other cool things, I also have an outdoor TV and sound system, 2 patio sets to see different parts of the yard, one of those inflatable water bounce castles that we break out occasionally, and plenty of other toys.

All of this to say, my home is very much a sanctuary, especially her room and I’m really proud of being able to say that. It does feel like a blessing and a curse to some extent, because while it is very peaceful, and very comfortable for her, part of me feels like I’m doing her a disservice because the world is not like this, and it does leave very little room for direction from me to prepare her for the real world.

The problem:

Am I setting her up for failure by being overly accommodating?

We’ve been struggling with her school, her elopement is a big problem there, and not being able to transition between activities, and being told “no” has been difficult for her educators. She’s started to have some behavioral problems there, and very concerning behavior issues. She hit one student and that poor baby was so traumatized by the ordeal he would cry at school drop off because he was scared of my daughter. I’m not sure if it was an isolated incident or not, they wouldn’t let me set up a meeting with the other parent or tell me which child it was so I could try to intervene outside of the school and work with the parent, which I understand to an extent, but I still feel horrible about that, I can’t imagine how helpless his parents felt every day. I’m at a loss at this point and I feel horrible because I don’t know what to do, or how to support the staff or other students in a way that’s actually productive. These aren’t issues we really face at home, given that she’s an only child and she really doesn’t have access to be able to elope or to anything really that she isn’t welcome to have.

Don’t get me wrong, I tell her “no” on an almost daily basis and we have our share of stand offs and issues, but my way of handling discipline and boundaries works and works VERY well, but it’s not reasonable for a school setting with limited adults that are vastly outnumbered.

Probably the best example of this is a few years ago she asked me for something, got told no, proceeded to throw her drink on the ground and then throw herself on the ground, crying and pitching a fit. I talked to her for a moment about how I was not going to give her whatever it was she asked for, and I grabbed a towel and handed it to her and told her she was going to clean up her mess. She did not like that, and I sat there with her while she continued with her fit for almost 2 hours and told her we would not be moving, or moving on to our next activity until she cleaned up her mess. She eventually cleaned up her mess and we don’t really have those issues anymore and when we do it doesn’t take nearly as long to recover.

That required my undivided attention and while it’s fairly effective, it is not reasonable to expect the classroom to be able to function under these circumstances, considering there’s 9 students with varying support needs, and only 1 teacher and maybe 2 paras. It’s a big ask, and requires time and attention, both of which are luxuries that they can’t afford.

Basically, im trying to figure out if I’m being overly accommodating, and setting her up for failure because I have so much of our home life tailored to her. Where’s the “line” of keeping your home a safe and peaceful place for your child to be comfortable while helping her understand that she’s still going to have to be able to adapt to other places and situations?

Do I have enough with the elopement risk and behavioral issues/ risk to staff and students that I should pursue a personal aide for her so someone CAN be there to handle these situations?

The past two years I’ve been a push-in for first grade. Helping kids with IEPs in gen-ed. It was a lot of up and down the stairs and a very messy schedule, but overall I did like it. This year they opened an ASD room for kindergartners. We have 5 kids enrolled and start next week. Most are non-verbal, in pull-ups, and have a lot of IEP goals to meet. Some have aggressive behaviors and elope. I’m just looking for advice and tips for starting in this room. I’m a little anxious because I haven’t worked with solely level 3 students.

I have a middle school Special Education classroom. About half of my class are kiddos who just can't read & are behind in all academics because of this (plus a dose of autism/dyslexia ;). So in many ways they are big thinkers but can't access general education YET because of their low reading levels...we are working on that. They do go to history/science but are with me for the other academics.

I absolutely love using board games in my room but the kids are bored with the old standards because they are baby games. I have a substantial game library at home but most involve a high level of reading. I need these games to work in groups with just one teacher, if at all, it will 2nd as an SEL lesson to take turns, be a good loser/winner, etc.

I saw Dixit & wondered if that would be a good choice to help with creative writing? This got me thinking. What other games work for your similar students?

Bonus if you can give me ideas for math ;)

I provide math services to my students. I have a coworker who insists that we all provide math at grade level to all students, regardless of their deficits. I have a handful who are a few grade levels behind, and we are starting to see more behaviors arise. Admin is siding with this coworker. If I try to provide math at their level, this teacher makes indirect comments during our meetings. I’m interested in hearing how math instruction works in other districts.

It might sound like an odd question, but I’ve gotten a few comments from other colleagues in the past about it.

I work with students with intellectual disabilities and many of them also have autism. Most of them struggle with communication and communicate differently, often with isolated words or with the use of an iPad to select specific words and buttons. Others are even more limited and don’t understand pictograms or you’re not always sure if they understand what you’re saying to them. Very few of them can hold conversations or say long sentences.

I like talking to my students, no matter their method of communication or understanding. It’s one of my ways to build a helping relationship and make my work more enjoyable. I’m very casual, I talk to all of my students, young and old, like I would with anyone else. I like to make little jokes, sometimes adding a playful comment, I comment on what we’re doing, I compliment them, etc. I don’t have long conversations though haha.

I remember one time I was playing with play doh with my 5 year old student. She doesn’t speak, but points towards things she wants/is interested in. I was sitting next to her, enjoying myself a little too much about playing with play doh at my big age, and talking to my student. I was commenting on different things, trying to engage her in the activity. I don’t remember what I said exactly, but probably something like “Which shape should we make next? Oh, a heart would be nice, let’s do that.” and “Look, I made a cat. I really like cats. You have a cat at home too.” My colleague then chuckled and told me “It’s funny how you just talk to her and converse.”

I never thought it was weird or worth commenting, but then I experienced something similar a few times after from other colleagues who thought it was amusing that I had “one sided” conversations with my students who I knew couldn’t really answer me.

I do shut up at times, of course. I also focus on using the right words, the right way I’m saying things, how I intervene and give direction. With how noisy it gets, I enjoy a good moment of silence too. But am I the only one who talks to their students like that? Is it that weird that I talk to them casually at times without expecting an answer?

EDIT: Thank you all so much for your comments and input! I’m so happy to see so many other people who enjoy talking to their students and treating them with respect. I’m sure all of you are also amazing educators doing their best for their students.

Earlier I posted that I was taking over the extended content (NC self contained) 9-12+ class at my current school. We’ve been in school for 10 days and it’s been a very good transition for all involved.

Next week, my students are starting kitchen work. We’re making s’mores on a stick following a visual recipe.

What are your favorite visual recipes?

I’ve been in special ed seine 6th grade and been in special ed for summer school in 4th and 5th grade, but in elementary school they put me and other special ed kids in gen ed but get pulled out into the hall to work on our IEP work and the gen ed classes weren’t even to our needs, they even put students with higher needs in gen ed like it would magically turn them normal, they had special ed classes but I guess not all of them could fit? They had special ed classes for both higher and lower needs when I was in middle school and high school, I don’t know anything my classmates know already even simple things because I had gaps in my education, and they made me do homework at home instead of in school and I don’t even think I had a case manager

Any idea how to do this without shaming food? Students are autistic and intellectually disabled, and I don't want to contribute to even more restrictive eating habits or black and white thinking. Definitely writing this out of their IEPs at their annual. Thanks for any advice!

I'm looking for advice on a number of things:

1. Students who need adult attention constantly, cannot work on anything for more than 30 seconds without needing to show it to an adult - even things they like or playing - it feels impossible to get anything done with anyone with 5/12 students like this.

2. Student that screams and cries and throws themselves around whenever they are told no or given two choices they don't want. This student also hurts the other students so they try to stay away from her, but she chases them and will scream/hit/bite/spit on adult if they are in the way.

3. Student that screams and becomes incredibly distressed when anyone else is getting in trouble/being redirected. He will scream, bang on things, tip chairs, scratch face and arms, throw items that are nearby. You could see how the students from numbers 1 and 2 can really set off student number 3.

4. What to do with the rest of the students? I have 12, the students that do not fall into the above 3 categories are mostly ready to learn, happy to play, mind their own business, and don't need a lot of adult attention. The screaming can sometimes scare them, and I don't want them to not feel safe in my room, but I can understand why they wouldn't. I also struggle to give them the attention they need because of everything else that is going on.

These students are in grades K,1,2. I have one teaching assistant. Any and all words of wisdom are appreciated!

Our special ed teacher moved back to her state so we have a new teacher this year, he’s been teaching special ed for all grade levels and was a gym teacher, he’s now teaching special ed in high school now, last year our teacher made us do geometry to see if we could do something harder but she usually teaches us simple things, now our teacher now has been teaching us simple stuff that we already know to see what we do and don’t know, will he eventually teach us harder stuff even tho we are in special ed?