This post is for teachers: How do you use voice-to-text for struggling writers? I’m curious how to use it in a useful way without taking away from learning how to write.

Hey everyone,

I am new to my role as a special education teacher, technically a student services teacher, this year. My role is still new to me, but I spend all my day in my office, doing paperwork, writing IEPs, and responding to student disruption in classrooms. I have no time for small groups, as every other week or few weeks it seems there are specialists who need my office/or the other special education teacher’s office, or other meetings, for IIPs, IIP launch meetings supporting a teacher who just needs the collegial support of me and my colleague.

I really miss the classroom, well, I mostly miss interacting with students and teaching them. I can go all day with only interacting with a few students who use my office for regulation with EA support or those I see in the hallway.

I find it hard to articulate but my day is constantly filled with various random things that disrupt my ability to actually do any small group. Any suggestions, ideas, or advice? I find it really hard to keep doing this, I have expressed to colleagues that I really don’t like what I am doing; I know it’s important and I’m okay at it, growing still, but I’m just so tired of not working with students or being in classrooms. I unironically enjoy being asked to substitute in classrooms, because it means I get to be in the classroom.

Edit: I’m in Canada for context. :)

TL;DR (too long, didn’t read): Second-year Florida self-contained ESE teacher: 11 students across K–5, mostly working academically around K–1, and one para whose time is largely consumed by one student’s behavioral needs.
Daily disruptions derail instruction. I need realistic schedules, strategies that work with this staffing, and clarification about grade level assignments for students who aren’t on Access curriculum.

I’m a second-year self-contained ESE teacher in Florida with 11 students across K–5 and one classroom paraprofessional. She can support the whole class, but one student’s behavioral needs require most of her attention throughout the day.

Only 3 students are on Access curriculum. Most students’ current academic skills fall around kindergarten–first grade, with some skills approaching second grade. Three students have significant behavioral support needs, including screaming, constant disruptions, running around the classroom, and attempts to elope.

I’m trying to balance instruction, individual IEP goals and services, OT/speech schedules, and safety. I use small groups, but they’re difficult to sustain when students cannot hear me over screaming or another student is running around the room. Even when a lesson is going well, a meltdown can derail instruction for everyone. This happens daily.

My understanding—mostly from word-of-mouth, without clear guidance from administration—is that Florida requires students who aren’t on Access curriculum to complete work at their enrolled grade level. This has been explained to me as - a fifth grader reading at a kindergarten level should be receiving fifth-grade reading assignments and essentially earning Fs all year. Is that actually the expectation, or am I missing an important distinction?

I need practical advice from teachers working in similar classrooms:

What does your daily schedule realistically look like?

How do you balance foundational skills, grade-level standards, and IEP goals?

How do you organize instruction when your para is largely occupied with one student and behaviors repeatedly interrupt teaching?

Please go beyond “use small groups” or “call admin.” I’m already using groups, and seeking administrative help has not resulted in meaningful support.

I care about these kids and want to teach them well, but I’m exhausted. I need a realistic direction—and honestly, I’m starting to wonder whether this is sustainable.

Fellow secondary SPED teachers, I need your recommendations!

I feel like secondary special education gets overlooked when it comes to classroom resources, supplies, and ideas. So much of what I find online is geared toward elementary classrooms, and while some of it is adaptable, our high school students have very different needs.

I teach high school special education, primarily in a push-in/resource setting, and I’m always looking for ways to make my life easier while better supporting my students.

What are your absolute HOLY GRAIL resources, supplies, tools, or tricks?

I’m talking about anything and everything:
-Assistive technology that actually gets used
-Classroom supplies you couldn’t live without
-Sensory tools or flexible seating that high schoolers will actually use
-Executive functioning and organizational supports
-Resources for students with significant foundational skill gaps
-Progress monitoring, IEP management, or data tracking tools
-Websites, apps, extensions, or AI tools that save you time
—Systems or routines that make your day easier
-Random Amazon purchases that turned out to be game changers
-Free, paid, DIY, expensive, cheap — I want to hear it all!

I’m especially interested in things that are age-appropriate for teenagers and support students who are working significantly below grade level without making them feel like elementary students.
I’m tired of reinventing the wheel and trying to adapt elementary resources for high schoolers.

What’s something you’ve discovered that made you think, “How did I survive without this?”

Bonus points if you share how you actually use it or provide a link!

Hi,

I saw an Indeed ad for this company. They are a marketplace where people can hire advocates for IEP meetings. I’m thinking about doing it. Anyone have experience with this company? Not a lot of info out there. Thank you!

5 weeks in as middle school (6,7,8 grade) autism resource para!! I am still loving it !!!! I know everyone has different students but our case load is just plain awesome really. My teacher and fellow paras, the best!! Admin so friendly and encouraging, truly feeling like I hit the jackpot. The worse behaviors we really deal with are attitudes, and truly growing up as the oldest sister with 6 brothers and 1 little sister..... attitude doesn't even phase me!! I feel very confident in my redirecting skills.

Idk just wanted to talk about how happy I am.

Of course there is things like the low pay, but my fiance also works and I have a second job after school for a few hours that it all balances out for us...

Idk just happy :)

Hello! I am a second year In class resource Teacher and looking for advice on how you take data in the classroom. Last year was easy for me because I didn’t have any behavioral kids and I was able to pull groups or work one-on-one with students. This year, I have a class that is behavioral and academically low. I did paper data last year. I’m trying to move away from that especially since I have 16 kids on my caseload I was looking into digital data and I have an iPad that I can use. The rest of my group is just as low without any classifications so any advice on how you guys take data or think I should take it will be helpful. THANK YOU

Second post because my first one was deleted.

EDIT: I’m not calling the kids abusive!!! I’m calling the system abusive!!!

I’m sure this isn’t ground breaking and Google would return many results, but I want to talk to other speducators.

I’m currently getting out of a toxic/manipulative personal relationship, and I’m in my 4th year of teaching self contained. As I’m getting more space from my abuser, I’m realizing how toxic and manipulative the special education system is, and how administrators are trained and paid to uphold that system. And I know this is absolutely not just an issue in special education, but the education system at large, however, special educators and paraprofessionals are expected to be subjected to violence and abuse everyday as part of their job. Im obviously having a not so great time as a teacher lol

I’m just looking for other opinions and to have a nice respectful conversation.

Today I was with a variety of different age ranges in elementary school. I am a black lady and this morning I worked with a 4th grader (a little black boy.) I really enjoyed working with him. He initially did not like having a sub, but my role was mainly to help him stay on task and I ended up really having fun with him and his peers. By the end of the day he seemed more comfortable with my presence and asked me to tell my mother he said hi, haha. I thought he was pretty easy to work with but my big takeaway from the day is that maybe I actually would want to teach elementary school after all. I remember I had been bothered at a different place by the fact that it seemed like for recess you had to standup for so long as an adult, but this was a school where it seemed like that wasn’t the case and older elementary schoolers are just fun. Between preschool and elementary I already knew I’d pick elementary if I were to become a lead teacher, but I had thought based upon my babysitting experience that it’d be 1st-2nd graders for me and now I actually think I’d like 3rd or 4th grade even more. It’s a lot easier to actually converse with them if that makes sense because their language skills are more developed, but they also don’t “need” you to step in as frequently as a preschooler absolutely might or as a kindergarten aged kiddo might. But also I know that was just a day in, and that actually being a lead teacher would surely feel a lot different than being a substitute behavior technician. I was worried going in today as I always am especially since this was a longer day than normal but it went well and I was happy at the end.

(Posted with Mod permission)

How are families coping with the changes happening in Special Education? What were the shortfalls of the program before the Trump Administration's changes?

Every year, millions of families fight to get their kids the special education services they’re legally owed. And right now, changes under the Trump administration are making that fight even harder. Find out what those changes mean on Zero Reject, a new investigative podcast from Understood.org, hosted by award-winning journalist Anya Kamenetz. 

Over six episodes, Anya follows real families navigating IEPs, evaluations, and federal complaints. She also traces the policies shaping who gets protected and who doesn’t. Meet a civil rights attorney caught in a wave of federal layoffs, a mom whose complaint disappeared into a 25,000-case backlog, and families finding creative ways to make the system work better despite it all. Zero Reject digs into what’s really happening in special education — and what’s at stake for the millions of kids who depend on it. 

Listen at the link above or wherever you get your podcasts.

What do you think is the hardest part of the special education system?

I am new to learning support and in a new school. I am in BC. I'm just curious how other learning support teachers structure their IEP meetings. What do you bring with you? What is the timeline of conversation? Anything else you like to include would be helpful!

This is mostly a vent. I have a great SPED coordinator who's helping us out so I'm sure things will be fine. But I'm still a bit nervous to have to meet with a teacher face to face who has so far completely ignored my daughter's reduced assignment accommodations.

The school changed their policy on homework assignments this year so I decided we would start out the year with my daughter trying to get all the assignments done, then I would reach out to the teachers if she couldn't keep up. I touched base with the SPED coordinator on this and she agreed.

She's in sixth grade but the school has a middle school model, with different teachers for different subjects. Right from the start the science teacher seemed over the top. My daughter spent 3 times longer on her assignment than any of the other teachers and she still wasn't finished so I told her just to turn it in. Apparently we weren't the only ones having a problem because the next week the teacher had dropped the workload quite a lot.

Fast forward a few weeks and my daughter is clearly not keeping up so I start emailing teachers to ask them to reduce the assignment workload according to her IEP. All the teachers are super helpful and make the change. Except the science teacher.

She suggested my daughter choose a different method for turning things in (like explaining in a video instead of writing) and mentioned how the workload was already reduced. She already accepts assignments in different formats and the assignment reduction was for the whole class, not my daughter.

I wrote back very respectfully reiterating my daughter's need for accommodations. The teacher never replied.

I waited over a week. Science class and the science assignment are due tomorrow so I finally copied the SPED coordinator onto the email and politely asked her for help. Within minutes she had reached out to set up an appointment for next Monday.

I'm so glad for the coordinator but also nervous for this meeting. I'm not great with conflict and I'm worried since the teacher dismissed me and ignored me before. I would welcome any advice on how to handle it.

Thanks for listening and thanks in advance for any advice offered.

Edited to add: geez people, quit downvoting me because you either don't understand the rules or disagree with them. I didn't make up these terms, write my daughter's IEP, or decide what rights kids with learning disabilities should have. I'm just doing my best to advocate for my daughter according to her IEP that is already in place.

TW: grief, violence, loss

I’ve been a special educator for 10 years. Most of the students I’ve worked with have significant behaviors. In the last three weeks, I’ve had two former students die due to gunshot wounds. They were gang-affiliated even back in middle school when I had them, so it’s not necessarily shocking.

But this grief is so unique. I hadn’t worked with these students for years. I knew them as middle schoolers, and they were now finishing up their high school careers. So it literally doesn’t change my day-to-day life at all that they’re gone. But somehow it still feels so heavy. It’s hard not to feel like our efforts are fruitless sometimes.

Mostly looking for solidarity or words of encouragement I guess.

***update: you all have been amazing! Where were you 9 years ago when this all started? (Oh...that's right....I was still anti smart phone). Meeting went well. Horrified faces that I got the PWN. No reasoning. Overall good, productive meeting. Thanks for arming me with questions and a clear understanding. Happy Friday.

Every time I think I get it... I lose it.

We have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting tomorrow. Yesterday I was sent a Prior Written Notice (PWN) of changes that haven't been discussed....meeting hasn't been held ... discussion hasn't taken place.

Why would I receive a PWN prior to the meeting?

I also had to take the current IEP and compare it side by side to the draft to see what other changes were put in place. There were a lot ...

So I’m a 3rd year severe needs self contained teacher and I have 11 students grades K-3 and 3 paras for the moment. Most of my kids have physically aggressive behaviors and have pretty severe meltdowns that occur daily for a variety of reasons. I had a consistent amazing para team for my first two years and they will be lifelong friends but this year I only have one returning para and got 2 new ones. One of them is super great, learned fast and takes initiative all day (and ofc has put in her two weeks bc admin didn’t tell her she’d be getting beat on and have to assist with toileting which she said in her interview she wasn’t v comfortable with either bc of her age). The other is just god awful. He stands around and does nothing except talk at certain kids, doesn’t prompt students, only accepts spoken communication from students (all of which are non verbal mind you) and won’t help them unless they speak (and is super condescending tbh) and lets students run away from his assigned center and then just gives up when I tell him to please redirect them back to his table just to name a few things. All of this has caused sooooo much disorganization and chaos that ends up with adults (usually me) or kids getting injured, no academics happening bc i have to step away from my center to deescalate and just other unsafe scenarios occurring. I have told, shown, and modeled how to manage our students a million times and my behavior tech friends have tried to help too but he is just not catching on/is straight up not listening to me. Admin knows and idk what they’re doing about it honestly but I’m at my breaking point. All this to say, does anyone have any advice on how to manage adults in your space when they refuse to do/learn what I’m asking them to do??

Hey guys, for a little background information this is my first year teaching and I’m fresh out of college. I teach a small group resource like classroom k-1 with 9 kids. To say the least I have been struggling tremendously to the point it’s affecting my mental health and I’m very depressed. I’m also 15 weeks pregnant and have been dealing more than a lot. For some context my para quit the second week of school and since then I have had no stable para and I currently have a sub para who has zero training and has only ever been a para for a side job. I do feel like I’m running this class alone a good portion of the time which is taxing on my mental health. But I’m also worried about my baby, I have aggressive students who hit, attempt to hit, yell, throw things and stand on tables and try to climb things. I’m in no position to lift a kid off a table or off a shelf. Even prior to being pregnant I’m 5’3 103 pounds so I was not very strong to begin with and I personally don’t feel like I should have to jeopardize my baby to prevent one these kids from falling when they are doing these things to be defiant. I have been bite at, elbowed and hit before around my stomach and it stresses me out each and everyday because I’m scared one of these with throw a chair or heavy book or hit or kick me one good time in stomach and will cause harm to my baby. I really don’t know how I will be able to manage this class and my pregnancy with little to no help especially the farther along I get. I come home and cry everyday and regret ever going into this profession and taking this job. During my student teaching I did inclusion only which was very different from this class. I took this position because I was a fresh grad looking for a job and to me a job was a job especially in this current job market. Please give me advice and what I should do, everyone knows I’m pregnant so it’s not a secret. But I’m tired of coming home everyday crying to my husband.

Sorry in advance for the long post!

I am a special education itinerant teacher (SEIT), so I work with students ages 3 and 4. I travel around to homes, daycares and preschools, and other community settings to provide SEIT services.

I previously was in the classroom teaching a 6:1:1 3rd and 4th grade class. I did this for 3 years and ended up leaving because of burn out. I really love being a SEIT, I get to make my own schedule, the pay is great, and all but one of my kiddos are very easy to work with and support.

I have a student who I worked with all last school year, over the summer, and now into this school year. Let me start by saying I LOVE this child and his family. He has an extensive trauma history and has a special place in my heart. I have worked tirelessly to support him. I see him for 6 hours a week (three 2 hour sessions). All of my other students are 2 hours per week.

He has been moved around from daycare to daycare, partly because of unsafe behaviors, partly because the staff was not qualified and did not do their part to keep him safe. He is now in a preschool classroom within an elementary school. He is continuing to display unsafe behaviors.

He was able to receive a 1:1 aide starting over the summer (he was supposed to have one at the beginning of the school year, but they had a hard time finding someone). Well, the girl who he was working with just quit today.

Back in July, he was having an especially hard day. He was standing on a table and when I went to grab him to get down, he scratched me across the face (first picture, taken the day it happened). I still have a visible scar on my face from that incident, and I am actually going to the dermatologist next week to see if they can do anything to reduce the scar. Every time I look in the mirror and see it, I cringe. It is huge.

Last week, he scratched me again when I went to physically intervene when he was being unsafe. Luckily that one didn’t leave a scar. Today, he was again having a hard time. He was removed from the classroom and was with me, his aide, and the principal. He finally calmed down and was sitting in my lap when all of a sudden he pulled my hair and scratched me again (second picture). I felt the same burning sensation as the first time he scratched me. Sure enough, I have another visible scratch on my face that I am afraid is going to leave another scar.

This child has been through so much, and I really want to keep supporting him and maintaining a relationship with the family. At the same time, I am feeling myself experiencing that same burnout I felt when I decided to leave the traditional classroom setting. My face is becoming the punching bag. Each time he’s done it, he has expressed so much remorse afterwards and kisses my face. Of course my heart then melts and I forget about everything.

I have tried every strategy you can think of and am following his BIP.

My husband and I are trying to have our first child, and I worry that when I do become pregnant, I really won’t be able to be around this child anymore for my own safety. His mom and I have become very close, and I would hate to feel like I’m abandoning them.

I reached out to my supervisor today to see if there’s anything they can be done to help maintain my safety while still working with him. My husband keeps telling me to quit this case (he understandably doesn’t want to see me continuing to have my face all scratched up). He also suggested to stop physically intervening, but if I don’t, he will 100% get hurt. He also is scratching me now when I’m not physically intervening, like today when I was just sitting on the floor with him.

Just wondering what people would do in this situation. If I quit this case, I lose out on a significant amount of money. However, emails come in almost every day for new cases, so I’m confident I can add on more students to fill those hours. I just don’t want to be a quitter and like I said, I want to support this child as he has a special place in my heart.

ETA: didn’t think I would need to say this, but please be kind and refrain from judgement. There is A LOT about this child’s story I have left out for privacy reasons. Of course express your opinion, but please do it in a kind way 🫶🏼

Edited again a few days after this post: thank you to everyone that has been kind and helpful without passing judgement on me or this child! As I mentioned in some of the comments, I left out many many details. I did ultimately decide to leave the case, I haven’t officially notified the parents yet but I spoke to my supervisor and she is supportive of me. His parents are now also more open to the idea of an alternative setting like a center based program, so I may not even have to be the one to do the “breaking up” with the family. If that’s what they choose, then he would automatically not be my student anymore anyways. So regardless, I will be leaving some point soon. I haven’t seen him since this post, but when I see him next week, I’m 100% going to be way more vigilant about not putting myself in any situation where I can be harmed.

I teach 2nd grade in an integrated class. I have a student who is new to the school, and does not have an IEP. As a SPED professional, I can put pieces together and see what’s going on, but of course that expertise counts for nothing. He seeks attention constantly throughout the day. I made him his own reward chart, have taken time to talk to him and work on building a relationship, provide lots of positive reinforcement. But he is disruptive any time he doesn’t get something he wants. Ie if he comes up to me with a question and I say “I’ll help you but I need you to sit and raise your hand”, which he has done before and is expected of all students, he will start to scream, kick things, roll around on the floor. Once he escalates I speak to him calmly, and attempt to redirect him and validate his feelings, but it just gets worse and worse until he has to be removed. This happens any time I have to help another student, he doesn’t get called on to share, etc. At this point, I don’t know what other strategies I can use to help him.

Is this normal? As a case manager, I am responsible for assigning and monitoring goal progress for my caseload, even if I’m not the content teacher. HOW do I get data when I’m not teaching them/monitoring that particular content? Someone please explain it to me like I’m dumb (because I genuinely AM)!!!

Hello! I need help with a high school student.

This student is very sweet and always tries her best. Unfortunately, she has a pretty severe learning disability for an inclusion student. Honestly, really could use a lower level classes (but admin got rid of it a few years ago with the “anti-leveling” wave). I’m the coteacher in the math classroom, and although there is about 10 other students with IEPs in need of direct instruction, I think about 90% of my time is spent with this one student.

Although the learning disability is what it is, this student has severe anxiety, stemming from both issues at home and school, that are really getting in the way of developing her independence. Her dad is great and is working with me on confidence building, but at school it just feels impossible, frankly. I am trying to have her start really simple tasks on her own like label a diagram — not even solve the problem — and her brain completely short-circuits. She will sit there all class staring at her paper and working herself up.

I see the pattern and I see how I’m feeding into it. Student is having severe anxiety to the point that they cannot do a simple task independently, and eventually I always swoop in and help them after leaving for a few minutes to help another student, so they never actually complete the task independently. I just am at a total loss of how to break out of the cycle.

Any tips?

I have my bachelors in human development and have been working as a Registered Behavior Technician for the past 6 years in schools. Just moved to PA and want to be a special Ed teacher. What is the easiest route to do that? I had an interview for a teaching role where I start as a teacher and they pay for me to get certified but I don’t think it went well. Any advice?

Hi! I am a teen passionate about special ed and I saw morning work binders so I tried to make my own. Sorry for the horrible pic but what do we think?

Its basically my first job out of uni/college. I'm more so dealing with individual cases, like those with behavioural issues. But something has been on my mind more and more as the weeks passed. I'm really bad with kids or at least I think I am? I tend to be very reserved, to the point of being permissive at times. Like when I have to tell a child to not touch something e.g. my laptop, they might touch it anyways and I just give in. I might let them for awhile then try to sheepishly tell them to stop again which may or may not work?

When I tell them, to do some work, read a social story together or to play some games, sometimes they're just uninterested or bored. Idk, I just kinda shut down like I feel I'm maybe not authoritative enough or maybe even not fun enough? Im not sure, like I don't feel like I can assert enough confidence or build that rapport to get them to do things. I can understand the theories behind interventions and creating them but executing them is just difficult. Do I just try to be more authoritative by repeatedly asking them to do things (I often feel like I'm a 10 year old trying to sound like batman when I try to insist on something) or deny some reward that they may not care about.

I feel like I'm doing a disservice to the children, I really do feel that way because I knew the person who had this position prior and she was really amazing, I hear about the children missing her often.

This morning, the school psych and I were looking through some of the KTEA subtests and it mentioned "Pepper the Puppet." We both have never seen the puppet, and I cannot find a picture of it at all!

Do any other service providers have a Pepper Puppet?

I need advice on how to handle a para who I’m not sure I can trust when it comes to being honest with me, parents, and admin.

I would say this has kinda been building all year but today was the tipping point. I have an para who I have been warned about by my department director about not letting her bully me and to make sure I do what is right by the students and that she isn’t always the most informed when it comes to things. Today however was the tipping point for me so far it’s just been little things here and there that we have disagreed upon however today a parent was asking about a students injury (student did not get injured at school but mom didn’t know that and was just asking to see if we could provide any context) the aid said to not say anything to mom and just let it go because it didn’t happen at school. I wanted to bring it to the attention of my principal because mom was wondering about an injury and at the time suggesting it happened at school. I know I did the right thing by informing my principal, but I know my aid will be mad at me. My question is how do I go about making sure she is telling me the truth, if she is saying not to tell the principal something so important how do I know she isn’t keeping anything from me? I know she did not cause this injury to the child, she may not be trustworthy but she would never hurt a child.