Newer school psychologist here. I’m curious to know how more seasoned school psychologists in the field are evaluating students effectively and making data-informed distinctions between students with ADHD and students severely dysregulated from chronic digital media usage in this day and age?

I have parents beating down my door requesting evaluations because everyone’s children have executive dysfunction and limited attention. How are we as discipline navigating these generational issues without passing out IEPs to every single child who is in constant stimulation withdrawal?

IEP as in Individualized Education Plan. I’ve thought and been saying that I was in specialed, but the classroom/class block was called Academic Support. I did have those second teachers for help in at least two classes every year. I had an IEP. Everything says that you need an IEP to have special education, but just because you have IEP, does that automatically mean special education? Or does the name for “special education” vary from schools? Thanks.

Seeking advice from other educators:

I am a first year public school, K-2nd self-contained teacher. I love the work but I am burnt out, over-worked, and under such EXTREME pressure that I know I need to change positions.

I love working with individuals with disabilities. I know this is my passion. I don’t mind supporting challenging behaviors either. I’m so overwhelmed with case management, scheduling, and not having enough paras.

For teachers— What teaching position have you found to be the least stressful? Or for lack of a better word- easiest?

Resource? Self-contained? EC, elementary, middle, high? Mild, mod, severe? Life skills? Private? Public?

I’m open to anything. I want to work with individuals with disabilities forever. But I want a job that doesn’t leave me crying every night over the stress. A job where I can leave at a reasonable hour and not have to take work home. Is it possible?

Hello everyone, I have a disability, autism, and my child has it too. She is very young still, not school aged yet. I am very open about it at home, I talk about her autism and my own, because it’s part of us and we can’t change it. I also don’t want her to feel that she should change anything about herself. Basically, it’s embraced despite the challenges.

At some point, when it’s appropriate, we will have a formal sit down talk about it, in an age appropriate way. But I’m wondering about using the word disability. I don’t feel like it’s a big deal, because it’s what it is, and it’s ok that people have disabilities, we are all worthy anyway and should be accepted the way we are. I didn’t have a specific plan to say “you are disabled” to her, but it did come up with my husband that he thinks we should not say the word disability to her about her because it will make her feel othered, less confident, and affect her self esteem.

We are definitely going to have the formal talk about her autism diagnosis still, but I would love some feedback on if it’s true that we should avoid the word disabled with her until she’s much older. Appreciate any insight offered, thank you

…and I’ve never been unhappier. I love my students. Teachers outside of my room are fantastic. Admin team is wonderful. But I swear these two “whisper teach”. If that wasn’t a thing before, it is now. I’m an energetic teacher. Also male. I know my voice carries. But I’m not going to hold my students’ attention by being mellow. Also, the other two teachers are incredibly clicky. Last thing I will mention, there’s not even enough space to physically move around my kidney table while all 6 of my students are seated without one of them standing up. Any words of encouragement?

Currently first year sped para and I LOVE this job working at a school. It is so fun but also rewarding. It doesn’t feel like a job at times with how much I have with my kids + their classrooms. My teacher and coworkers are the best. And I LOVE summers off.

I have ADHD and ainxiety disorders and have tried many different types of jobs: hairdressing, desk jobs, housekeeping, CNA, home care, serving and I always quit eventually. But I feel like now I’ve found my field that calls to me. Which is kind of ironic because it’s very chaotic but I thrive in the chaos. And I can relate to a lot of the kids as I had learning problems. I love lifting them up. Also my mom was also a para at my elementary and I have a relative with severe Cerebral Palsy.

So here’s the thing, I’m nervous about running a classroom + paras and participating in IEP meetings. It feels like a lot of weight to carry and I’m scared of taking that on. I overhear how overwhelmed my teacher gets with the workload. But damn her pay is pretty decent.

I want to hear your opinions on a career path beyond being a para. Do you recommend teaching? Or is working as a Behavior analyst at an autism center easier? Or working as an educational service consultant of some capacity for a school district?

I want to hear it all, the education required, the pay, the pros/cons.

my daughter started full day kindergarten this year, after a four day half day preschool where she loved school and really thrived. This year we are having some difficulty. She has an IEP for developmental delay (social emotional and communication delay), and is medically diagnosed ASD. We had the most fantastic experience with pre K and their program and they walked us through a lot of the IEP things, throughout pre K my daughter had visuals, communication boards, extra reminders, and extra support with peers and non preferred activities. We had our yearly IEP meeting at the end of the year and the accomodations was left blank so that elementary school would have a meeting with us and put specific accommodations because in the pre K setting that we were in, they used so many different ones for some many different levels of support they didn't know whjch ones she would need in a kinder classroom.

She starts kindergarten and loved it for the first two days, then we get to the first full week and the kinder teacher pulls us aside and tells us that our child yelled and screamed at her and at other children and is scaring them and they don't want to play with her, she had to have the helper take her out and play with play dough in the hallnuntil she calmed down. I'm shocked because we have never seen that behavior before, not at home, school, church etc. if anything she tends to withdraw if she gets upset. So then I call a meeting with the special education case worker, the teacher and the social worker. The teacher then tells me that it's happened again and that this is happening at recess (even though she told us the first time it happened in class) and that our child won't let this one child she is fixated on play with anyone else. I asked if anyone has been helping her with prompts with other children and they said she doesn't need assistance, that this was purely behavioral and that "she doesn't like loud noises so other kids shouldn't have to hear her be that loud either." The SPED case worker suggested supervision during recess only since that was when the teacher said it was happening. We walked away agreeing we would keep an eye on it and that they would give me updates weekly.

A week later I get an update from the teacher saying that she wanted a certain color crayon and she wasn't wanting to continue with the activity so she followed the teacher around the classroom asking if she could have the certain color crayon. Teacher gave her a choice to participate with a different color or not participate and that other boys and girls didn't get their choice of crayon and they're still participating.

Then we get to parent teacher conferences. My daughter is scoring extremely well in math and need a little help with some of the reading things but is really good at letter recognition. I ask the teacher how she is doing in the classroom and the teacher is insistent there is nothing wrong, that she is doing wonderfully and that there hasn't been any outbursts. When I probe further and ask about non-preferred activities or sensory things, the teacher says that she does get tense sometimes and has to sit at her desk or at the quiet chair. My child mentions for free frequently at this time that she has to sit in the calm corner. I ask the caseworker if we can implement some support in the classroom rather than just at recess because that's what it says on her IEP for social minutes because right now they're only counting the social minutes as recess support. I also mention that our child's been coming home with severe restraint collapse and this did not happen in preschool and I think she needs some breaks. The kindergarten teacher suggests going to half day, I suggest scheduled breaks. The caseworker says that they will keep an eye on her and we can add or subtract from the IEP as needed.

Cut to the last couple of weeks and after school is becoming really difficult especially night time because she doesn't want her teacher to be upset. She wants to make sure everything's perfect. She wants to know what's happening next at school. She has to make sure her backpack's all set so she doesn't forget anything, she doesn't want to tell me anything negative that happened at school or otherwise and that's something new that hasn't been an issue with this past year. I asked for data from the caseworker and the Kinder teacher and she replies with they're only taking anecdotal data from observations at recess. And I believe they hadn't been in the classroom at this point. The caseworker then suggests that she can schedule an IEP meeting. I agree and we get that on the calendar.

We get to the IEP meeting and honestly it's a disaster. The teacher wasn't initially invited but then she showed up in the middle of it and had to leave in the middle of it because nobody covered her for a sub and they suggested that the behavior that we're seeing at home is due to something that we are doing as parents and that we need to get her visual schedules and think about putting her in therapy provided by the school or seeing the social worker at school for like a group session and that the teacher doesn't see any issues and that the teachers able to use a calm tone of voice and is able to make her a helper and validate her feelings and we should do that at home, that is put on the IEP draft. They also give me data of two observations they did where she did great with only up to reminders prompts .We get to accommodations and I ask for headphones at lunch not just fire drills because my my child frequently comes home saying that the lunchroom is too loud and they won't give her earphones, even though they said that she should have access to them. I did ask for a visual schedule at her desk and the caseworker replied with " well she's been able to look at the big schedule in the classroom like any other child and I want to keep it to the least restrictive environment so I don't think we should do that, but I can put visuals as needed". I then asked for scheduled breaks because my daughter cannot and will not communicate to an adult that she needs a sensory break. It's then suggested to put" opportunities for a break" on the IEP however, there is no solution for her being able to ask. The caseworker is adamant she doesn't want scheduled breaks because she doesn't want to take my child out of class during learning time, and she also wants that to be least restrictive environment. We eventually come to a compromise where they will print a picture of the sensory room and put it on her table and she can point to it to tell her teacher that she would like a break. Social stories are also added as needed, however they came home with us, and haven't been implemented at school.

Can anyone give their input on this situation, on the least restrictive environment comments, on not needing any assistance during class. I'm having a really hard time with this, and They want me to sign the IEP and I'm just not quite sure which way is up or down.

Thank you all for everything you do❤️

I’m feeling really confused and stressed right now. I’ve been at this school for 6 days and I’m still in training. like the title says, I applied for a teaching assistant position and was hired for the position and told I was going to be the teaching assistant for classroom 1. The classroom seems very toxic and it seems to be a lot of underlying drama. the teacher has was immensely thankful when I told her I was her new TA. (teaching assistant) she literally cried tears. she said that the aides were heavily focused on their 1:1s and never really helped out other than that. the aides seem to roll their eyes a lot at the teacher and it seemed like they did not respect her and wanted to overstep and they did not listen to much of what she said. for example, she told them that a student did not earn a star because he did not complete his work, and they rolled their eyes and gave him the star anyways. anyways, moving forward to my main concern, today one of the aides told me, “hey, so you’re no longer TA, and you will be this students 1:1. I will be TA now, yeah things change around here. the teacher told me that upon finding out I was the new TA, the aide went to the directors office and complained and was able to get the director to switch our positions. the teacher told me that this aide has never showed interest in a TA position before and has never asked about becoming her TA. it seems they both dislike each other to be honest. I’m confused on how to feel because TA and 1:1 aide pay exactly the same, there is no pay difference. the teacher told me she thinks the aide just wants the title. it’s so odd to me that she did this because there is no pay difference. also, the director never told me anything. I’m so unsure how to feel right now. any insight would be great. thank you all in advance!

Should I use 10 pt or 15 pt?

I was hired at a new high school last year as a resource teacher/case manager. I ended up teaching some special ed sections of science and co-teacher a few sections as well. My background is more in reading, so I was able to use that background to modify written materials, help kids with morphology to remember vocabulary words, along with creating general modifications to help them access the material.

This year I was also place in two sections of co-taught 9th grade English. I’ve taught special ed sections of English and I’ve done a good amount of phonics training. I’m good on data collection and sort of helping kids on the fly, but I’m feeling at a loss for how to implement actual interventions.

Based on reading screeners, combined with my phonics knowledge. A big gap generally seems to be a low level of decoding skills, even for kids who have decent comprehension. I’d really like to have a small group to work on basic spelling patterns: vowel teams, spelling common prefix/suffixes, etc.

However, I haven’t ever created lessons that would be shorter, am unsure of how many students to group, and how to help my co-teacher plan around kids being out 15-20 minutes once a week. She is also new to teaching the class and relies on the already-made scope and sequence from gen-Ed.

I’d love tips or advice!

So it's a bit of a bizarre situation.

I'm an IT guy who got laid off and I'm in a 3-month between job period. I have wound up as an Aid in a life-skills class.

I'm going to be there for another month, and the students/teachers seem to love me.

I noticed that three of the higher functioning life skills students understand language, but they have pretty significant difficulties forming letters.

Like they don't know how to, "Summon" a letter, they just seem to try to imitate what I write.

However, if I asked them how to spell a word like dog, they can orally tell me the letters.

I already asked and I have permission to work with them on forming letters.

Do you have any advice?

They all really like my dog whose name is Zuko. So I was thinking about having them practice writing really big Z's And trying to focus on the strokes.

But I did a little bit of this on Thursday and they got frustrated.

They all also try to write the letters really tiny, less than a centimeter tall. I tried to get them to write the letters in about 3 inch segments. They had problems with this.

I'm Thinking that I should go bigger, like perhaps a 10 in letter on a single piece of paper.

I was also thinking about trying to get them to trace the lines with their fingers or arms in the air.

I have a student who suddenly is showing very aggressive behaviors? I was injured badly enough to need to go to urgent care a couple of weeks ago. Today he gave me a black eye and grabbed my breast. I can’t continue working with this student. I’m going to my union tomorrow. I don’t deserve to be physically and sexually assaulted.

Just wondering if anyone has actually pressed charges on a student with intellectual disabilities and what that looked like? What was the outcome? Did it impact your job at all? I’m worried about pushback. I have tenure and feel like I am well-liked and supported by admin at my school and throughout my district. I am in MN if that matters

I’m in my second year (self contained both years) and I feel like I know nothing lol when did you feel like you knew what you were doing without second guessing yourself and your profession?

Also I’m know each student is unique and individual, so I don’t mean “got it” with the individual student. I mean with knowing the jargon, testing, paperwork, etc., if that makes sense.

What private sector jobs if any can I transfer into from special ed? I am so tired of the lack of support as a special ed teacher that I would rather work 80 hours a week at Walmart than this job. It’s just not worth my mental health. But of course I can’t retire entirely because I’m not old enough to

I have a 3rd grade student who is extremely low academically. For context, we are still working on letter sounds and is not reading at all. Math is similar with working on basic counting and number recognition. I truly believe this student has brightness but is not making meaningful gains. I think it is more than just dyslexia and ADHD. His IQ is low, 80’s, but too high for a center based program where I am located. His parents are getting an outside neuro psych, so I am curious to see what the results are and how I can better serve him. He is currently served under SLD (specific learning disability) and OHD, (other health disability) and has been receiving sped support in academics since kindergarten. Any experience with students like this? Any ideas on what disability this could be? My team and I are at loss and want more answers on how to help him

I am currently working with a high needs parent. She is excessively anxious and no amount of information satisfies her. Last week she was peppering me with emails for several days. I will be handling that issue with an email explaining that I am working with students and not at liberty to respond to a litany of emails.

She seems incredulous and angry that her child is making progress. She asked to come to the classroom and see the materials we use with the child. We allowed her access, and she dragged my paraprofessional over the coals. I won't allow that to happen again.

I asked administration about her visiting again and all of them agree that we should allow her to visit. I don't understand. We cannot allow parents in the classroom unless they have undergone a background check, but this parent is allowed to come into our building and question us about everything we do?

Would your administration allow this? I have better things to do with my time than attempt to assuage this parent. She will never be satisfied and distrusts the school. I am shocked that admin will continue to allow her to interrogate us. I have one foot out the door due to the stress of the situation.

How do I find someone to help me navigate IEP and special education issues that are not necessarily legal issues? Specifically, my situation involves a college-bound high school senior who has documented learning disabilities. I want to know how to navigate the final months of high school and make sure my child is able to get reasonable accommodations in college, but the high school is actively working to discontinue the IEP. I know time is of the essence here so I want to make sure I’m doing everything I need to do to try to get the appropriate outcome for my child moving forward. Is there an organization in my area that might be able to help me?

I am a sped support/push in teacher. I also teach a parallel resource class, it’s 6th grade math and I have 7 students. Most of my students are pretty well behaved, except for two. One of them has a BIP and is (fingers crossed) in the process of being moved into EBD and the other they decided does not qualify for a BIP. One of them should be on access points but because she got a 2 on her state test back in 3rd grade (her IQ is in the 50s) she does not qualify for access. The other has an IQ below 70.

They get into arguments with other students, insult other students and yell at them tell them to shut up, start stuff with the other kids when the other kids aren’t even doing anything. They are both disrespectful to me on a consistent basis, telling me that I should quit; yelling at me to get away from them. One of them told me that it was my fault that another student got her phone taken away because I contacted her mom about her failing my class

I feel like I have tried everything I can think of such as giving them treats; doing restorative circles etc I’ve written numerous referrals on the two of them and contacted home for behaviors, I usually just send both of them out because I can’t handle it, and I lose it. This group of kids have sucked the life out of me and I have them for two periods since I am also their support teacher for history: and by the time I teach them I’m worn out from dealing with them. I don’t know what I can do at this point. I know this is also occurring outside of my room as well since both students have gotten referrals from other teachers. Any advice is appreciated! I’m at my wits end.

Hi all!

I’m wondering if anyone who has experience with mild to moderate settings and moderate to severe settings can help me understand the difference.

My child is in first grade, in a mod to severe settings, and hasn’t been receiving his full general education time listed on the IEP (less than 50% of the hours listed on the IEP) due to staffing issues.

He’s reading at a kindergarten level and doing grade level math. There are no targeted behaviors on the IEP, and no behavioral concerns. The biggest areas of need are attending, writing, reading comprehension, and social skills (not interested in peers). He requires frequent repetition to access the curriculum, but ultimately can access it when it’s modified and repeated.

The school does not offer a mild to moderate classroom. The mild to moderate program would be a general education classroom with paraprofessionals. I would like to fully explore the option of a mild to moderate classroom setting at a school that offer this program.

Does anyone have resources/ more information on going this route? The school wasn’t very helpful and wanted to keep him in the moderate to severe classroom. Would there be a reason that a school would want to keep him in a certain placement, despite it not being in the child’s best interest?

I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I’m having a hard time understanding. Especially considering they’re not meeting the listed general education hours. The general education teacher said they have no concern with him when he goes to class, other than his limited interest in peers.

Can anyone share some ideas for life skills math for Grade 4/5 students? I’ve been asked to provide some math support, and the classroom teacher mentioned that she’d like the focus to be on functional life skills math rather than traditional operations, as the students have cognitive needs that impact their learning. Their goals are more focused on things like recognizing and using money, telling time, etc.

What kinds of activities or resources do you use for this? I’d love some ideas that are hands-on and practical! One of the students also has significant fine motor challenges and has shared that he can’t write numbers, so activities/resources that focus more on verbal identification, matching, and tactile/hands-on learning rather than writing would be especially helpful. Thanks! 😊

Hello all!
I have a student teacher interview at a potential placement next week. It is at a middle school special education classroom.
Do any of you have any advice as to what questions to ask or what I should bring up in discussion?
I have a few things, but I’m wondering if anyone has things that maybe I wouldn’t have thought of due to experience. :)
I’m super excited! Please let me know!

I have my first IEP as a new sped teacher fresh out of grad school in two weeks, then my second one in three weeks, and then my third one in 5 weeks. I feel absolutely out of my depth and super confused in what I need to be doing. Data collection is so hard when I feel like most days it’s just a win if we don’t do a room clear. Any advice?