The Dark Side of Special Education: Violent Students, Extreme Behavior, Misdiagnosis/ IEPs & Low Pay
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- In today's interview, we'll delve into the experiences of a teacher at a Non-Public School in California, that caters to special education students with emotional disturbances and behavioral challenges. We'll explore various topics including the scarcity of teachers, concerns about over diagnosing or misdiagnosing students, parental pressure to enroll children in special education for perceived benefits, managing extreme behaviors from students, dealing with parents in denial about their child's behavior, and grappling with compassion fatigue and second-hand trauma among teachers and assistants. We'll also address the challenges of handling fights and runaway students, the looming threat of lawsuits, the high turnover rate for educators, and the persistent issue of low funding at Non-Public Schools in California. Stay tuned for all this and more, and don't forget to subscribe for more Teacher Therapy!
#specialeducation
#education
#specialed
#teachers
#classroommanagement
#iep
#autism
#autistic
#students
#california
#specialeducationacademy
#specialeducationteacher
#specialeducator
#specialeducationalneeds
#specialeducatorvacancy
20 years Special Education. I resigned and applied as a custodian for the same school district. Just a year in I make way more money and no longer have anxiety attacks. What a broken system we have.
Isn't that just ironic? I'm a 13 year teacher and on my third as a SPED teacher. I'm exhausted and burned out and I'm currently trying to exit my building. I work for a building and district that doesn't have any respect for us as professionals. I'm currently applying for positions and if a new start doesn't work, then I'm done. The system is broken.
I have been teaching as a special area teacher for 15 years and the Sped teachers last about 2-3 years before deciding to do something different. I know that they are trying but some of the kids are so out of control there is no way they can function in a regular classroom.
Sometimes we have to do what’s best for us.
I worked in an alternative school. It’s all about community and parenting.
@@optomix3988So now there is co-teaching in California. No real special ed anymore.
I was this troubled kid, I was thrown out a window and homeless at 13 and family trafficked. That is still not an excuse for the type of behavior we are seeing in school. I’m a teacher now and I have little to no empathy for a kjd throwing desks at me and destroying my room. Yes, the kids are traumatized, but that doesn't excuse their behaviour.
Thank you.
Agree completely! I can have empathy for students but stop feeling sorry for the kids. I have been throw a lot of trauma in my life too! I hate hearing trauma as an excuse for behaviors. Kids need boundaries and consequences to feel safe. Many children don't have these 2 things in their homes.
Really sorry that happened to you. I definitely have empathy for people who go through these things, and as a trouble child myself I agree that it's no reason to allow the behavior to be tolerated. However I think the emphasis on the kid's is just a way of society finding a scapegoat. Boundaries NEED to be set for the kids and just as importantly Parents(And tbh admin and school authorities who highkey encourage this behavior by giving it a pass while punishing well behaved students when they act out) need to be held accountable and educated on how to raise their children. These behaviors really are just symptoms of abuse. There needs to be a third space for children in these situations because many really would be better off on their own than in a poisonous home.
I agree and actually believe that our society’s permissiveness of this behavior does far more harm than it does help for these kids. It allows them to spiral ever downward without anyone holding them back. And they WILL eventually hit the bottom, likely in adulthood after they’ve seriously harmed themselves or others. Sometimes tough love is necessary to save people from an even more horrible fate.
Abuse is not an excuse for abuse. My grandfather abused me and he was abused by his father. All my siblings have agreed to end the abuse curse with us.
Kids in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s came from broken homes and abusive homes too. I was one of them. I was raised by a single mother, I went hungry, and came from an abusive family in the 70s and 80s. Me and my siblings wouldn’t dare be disrespectful at school. It is a lame excuse and the main reason I left the teaching profession.
Thank you for telling it like it is!
Yup, I was physically and mentally abused at home in various ways, and was consistently listed as one of the best behaved kids in class. To the point that a substitute left me ‘semi in charge’ which shouldn’t have happened in grade 4 or so. Made me keep track of kids ‘misbehaving’ while they were absent. It was not a good idea though, and my parents were upset when word reached them, and it sure didn’t help my popularity…
I think you probably still managed to learn emotional regulation where today I don’t think they learn that
This is a very good point. What about children who grew up during Jim Crow (like many in my family), they still managed to get good educations and didn't attack teachers. Trish, why do you think this is happening so much today?
@@littleeva Good point.
I am a teacher but I also was a foster child and in the juvenile justice system. It used to be that if you misbehaved the judge threatened you with the lock up and residential placement. If a teacher is attacked, they should call the police. A crime is a crime.
I’m curious, once they get into residential placement can they ever get adopted again?. Also, I’m pretty sure they stopped doing that because of the abuse happening in those residential placements.
OMG! He actually said it.”the kid been on his IPad since he was 4 years old & now he’s not interested in education.
Well it’s probably true 🤷🏼♀️
Yep! I have been teaching for over 15 years and these kids are addicted to the screens.
It's refreshing to hear the truth, especially when it's not being hidden or watered down!
For many special needs/nonverbal children, it’s technology “to the rescue!” When in reality, something like an iPad serves as nothing more than a security blanket and pacifier as opposed to a real means of assistance. And of course, who’d want to do any work after playing on an electronic device all day!
I agree like for a kid who has you know level 3 ASD or who is non-verbal? It's an iPad of the rescue but that doesn't help you know it just makes it worse. And that needs to change. I mean come on. No wonder They don't want work. Because all they've had to do is play an iPad their whole life. So does it surprise you that they don't want to work at all.
I was a foster kid - this is not an excuse. I was absolutely blessed that a teacher bluntly told me education was the way out. It changed my life.
But there isn't that hope now that 'education is a way out'. Most people in the U.S. work service jobs that don't require much education.
@@onceupon3805It’s not just about jobs. You also need critical thinking skills and writing and reading skills to navigate the world especially when so many companies try to take advantage of the average person.
@@Window4503 we should be learning critical thinking before we go to college. But the divided states of irony are not in the business of teaching critical thinking. In many respects, the opposite is true, even at college campuses (which, increasingly, are just money-making institutions). Writing and reading? Shouldn't you learn this in elementary school?
@@onceupon3805 edit the sentiment with "go into a trade" lol boom fixed.
Education aint the way out of shit anymore.
I did a 6 month stint as a 50% special day teacher on one time emergency authorization. Worst experience of my life bar none. The level of physical abuse I was subjected to and expected to be okay with as part of the job was wild. It would literally be a crime in any other situation.
I get the kids have a bad home life. Try pulling this nonsense in the grocery store when someone cuts you off with the shopping cart 🤷🏼♀️ it’s just not good pretending that this is okay in a school setting, because it will come into the real world soon
@@TheKnallkorperIn some ways, it already has! As a former teacher, I now work retail and some of my customers will talk over me when I am helping another customer who was there first, or if I am making an announcement over the PA system. Some customers will actually grab items out of my hands while I am scanning them if said customers decide they don’t want them after all, as opposed to simply telling me in a polite manner. Just like rudeness in kids of sorts. The apple never falls far from the tree!
I got smacked in the face a month ago. My eye was a bit swallen for about a week. Talk about abuse.
Right! It's absurd what they let kids get away with!
@TheKnallkorper You've lost all respect. You don't get ro make rhise calls.
When I was a kid we had a special Ed class for these students with smaller classes and more teachers. To include them they joined us in certain classes, and it worked. In the argument of inclusion, they went too far, and now, one teacher with no special Ed training has 30 students and 5 could have varying degrees of special needs and the one teacher can't do it.
I have a psych degree, and one of my college professors jokingly called Oppositional Defiant Disorder “Bart Simpson Disorder.” They’re usually smart kids, but prone to misbehavior. It’s a pattern of behavior, but it isn’t a disability.
I’m a SPED teacher, been teaching SPED for 2 years; and some kids do not need to be there. Half of my students are ESL, I’m in elementary so those kids learn English in like 6 months! The other half are just “bad" kids the general education teacher doesn’t want to deal with. It’s sad because the students who genuinely need SPED get left behind because SPED is becoming a regular class.
No, I agree, I mean there's some kids who need sped and some kids who don't need it. The point is that you know it should not be a regular class on a daily basis. It should be reserved for those kids who actually need it.
40 years in Spec. Ed. this coming Sept.
I can’t 100% blame the classroom teacher for not wanting to deal with extreme behaviors. It seems like a trend these days that admin are becoming more and more permissive with the students, and the classroom teacher no longer feels supported. The Gen Ed teacher may not even agree with the possible diagnosis, but suddenly it’s out of their hands. If they receive a diagnosis, it becomes even harder for admin to do anything about the behavior because it looks bad for the school if the teachers didn’t first try everything in the book and spend entirely too much planning and instructional time trying to get the kid to comply. However, I also feel really bad for special education teachers. I really think this is what happens when you remove alternative school as an option.
Are ESL and SPED not seperate classes??
@@gustavus0013 in some parishes/counties (I’m in Louisiana) they don’t have enough funds to make esl a class, additionally in rural Louisiana very few people speak Spanish or could be esl teachers. When there’s no esl they just throw them in sped and they don’t need to be there
I have a severe learning disability and was in special education for 5 years, and it was a total disaster. I never had any behavioural problems aside from anxiety (if that counts) but I was put in a class where more than half of the students were violent. There wasn’t a day that went by where the teacher or teachers aide wouldn’t get a black eye or bloody nose. The class was meant for students with learning disabilities but instead a large number of the students had severe behavioural disorders and completely disrupted the learning process. There were also a few students in my class who had a mild intellectual disability and they just sat there the entire time not knowing what to do or understanding what was going on. In high school, I was fully mainstreamed and couldn’t cope because I was never prepared to work in a regular classroom environment so I ended up failing my classes and started having panic attacks everyday. In grade 11, my parents moved me to a private school that was only for students with learning disabilities and not behavioural issues and that is where I was finally able to thrive thankfully. I didn’t graduate until I was 21 but at least I graduated! Something in special education needs to change.
I'm glad you were able to thrive. I hate how they throw the violent kids get in with the other children. It unfairly makes the other kids a target. I've witnessed some of our kids just go up and hit a child in the head. We have so many with behavior issues, we can barely get to academics.
@@Boardonthekeyboard I think that children with learning disabilities are some of the most neglected students. It’s is unfortunate that you experienced what you experienced. My focus in my education is with children who have learning disabilities. I found that most children who have a learning disability do not have behavior problems at all but they are labeled that when when they express frustration or embarrassment from not being able to catch on to the learning material. This oftentimes happens when they are expressed to participate or called out out openly. I hope to be able to make a positive impact on my future students and have compassion for all students and give the students that have learning disabilities the attention they need rather than ignore them when they are quiet or label them as a behavior problem when they act out due to their inability to grasp learning concepts.
This teacher's self reflection and emotional intelligence is off the charts. Great man.
I give this person a lot of credit for what he does on a daily basis. This guy is speaking the truth. People have no idea how difficult this job is. Teachers who have these jobs should be paid $100K for a 10 month year (starting) plus full benefits, no deductibles on health insurance. It is so hard to watch society decline while you try to do your best for these kids. I also think there should be a time limit on being a front line teacher like this and then you're rotated out for a break. I know all these suggestions are completely unrealistic but I just wanted to make this comment anyway. I was an occupational therapist for 20 years and I have the utmost respect for teachers who work in these violent special needs schools.
I agree with you; particularly what I think is a very excellent idea is the job needs to allow for a rotation of duty, not unlike the rotation , or “tour of duty” in the military . I made a note of when Trish’s guest commented on how even though he cares deeply about the students, or “his kids”, he also said he had like “ emotional callouses” from the accumulated several years he’s been in service at this school. I think something like a sabbatical or a “tour of duty” model that includes time off to refill the emotional and physical stamina tanks would help keep more teachers in schools, particularly ones like in this episode.
@@gailgrigg Exactly. It is a "tour of duty". It becomes a personal war zone when these kids act out and you can't retaliate. At least in a military was zone, you are allowed to defend yourself.
Teachers here in NYC can max out well over 100k.
@@URestURust It takes a lot of years...at least 10 or more from my understanding. Send me the step schedule from the DOE.
@@URestURust"max" is different from "starting out"
Also, NYC is expensive to live in.
one of my friends in high school got slapped by an autistic student. the teacher had said “no sleeping” and my friend had his head down on his desk with a book in his lap that he was reading. the autistic student thought he was sleeping so he walked up behind him, and slapped him in the back of the head very hard while yelling, “NO SLEEPING!!”.
the student did not have any repercussions for doing this because he was special ed. its absurd. i get that they are special ed but if their parents and teachers are not willing to properly discipline the kids it will be very hard for them to succeed in life. special ed programs do not teach special needs students how to deal with the real world, all it does (in my experience) is treat these people like complete toddlers and make excuses for their actions rather than trying to teach them how to actually be a part of society. it feels like a program that ostracizes kid’s and robs them of their potential through the complete lack of accountability they put on them. accountability is what helps people grow, it is a key element to life that should not be neglected by anyone regardless of mental ability.
If we had such situations met with the need to properly apologize for it - as a starting point - it would be some help.
Hey guys, I don’t know what happened to your friend, but I want to let you know that some behaviors are based in biology and intractable , life long. They cannot be altered by medication or behavior therapy. This could be due to certain abnormal brain electricity or certain enzyme processes that don’t work right. In fact, we have a huge problem societally that these individuals, their caregivers, and their teachers are not getting adequate services including in educational settings. When institutions were closed nothing was put in place for this population. Please be aware. Thank you.
@@StephenieBaileyDEAFMETAL What is your point? This isn't problem? This is all good? I think that the OP here is making a good point, not giving these kids consequences for their actions doesn't help them in the long run. I had a friend whose wrist was broken by a special ed kid. No consequences for him. No sympathy for her. In the real world, he might wind up dead because he didn't learn to behave.
Some kiddos with special needs are capable of learning those things, it does take them longer to learn than the average kiddo and requires reinforcement through a lot of interacting with others. I'm on the fence about kids that aren't able yet to understand how those interactions are supposed to work on a mostly consistent basis. These kids need relationships with others and especially their peers. However, I don't think other kids in the classroom should have to pay for it physically. I think it would go a long way for the other students in the class to know more about a special needs child's needs, things to avoid doing, ways to interact safely, ways to engage with their fellow student that won't scare the special needs child, ways to be helpful for that child. As a substitute, some of the classrooms I observed the whole class had really gotten to know the child and were very supportive, understanding, and accommodating. Most classrooms, that wasn't the case. The students knew the behavioral tendencies of the child somewhat, but the child seemed to be separate from the class despite being in the classroom. I don't know if there is concern about HIPPA laws being broken by revealing information on the child's needs, behaviors, etc maybe?
Some special needs children are unfortunately incapable of ever learning the social rules and norms. They have little if any cognitive capacity to even begin to understand those things. I have a 2nd cousin with that situation. She has no comprehension of her strength or even decent motor control. In my opinion those are kids that should not be put in standard classrooms without a dedicated para if they have a tendency to hit, bite, kick, etc. Other kids should not have to be harmed in the name of integration.
Im sorry that happened to your friend. I feel deep sympathy for anyone injured in this way. I myself have suffered life-risking injuries at my own (now adult) daughter’s hands. I do know peoples lives are ending all across the US, wherein behavior crisis are called into law enforcement. I am an advocate and a mother/caregiver, and I just want to again, point out, that my point is that certain types of disorders cause intractable behaviors and it is true, that children and adults with intellectual disabilities, severe forms of autism, and related behaviors need to be re-evaluated for safety services in the community because “discipline “ doesn’t factor into it. Thats like putting someone in time out (or handcuffs) for having a seizure. Im kind of struggling to articulate myself, but I hope you get an idea of what I want to say to the world with urgency, regarding this topic. My point, as an advocate, was that environmental safety and accessibility accommodations need to be reconsidered for this population, all across the board, to protect teachers, classmates, nurses, and the individual, caregivers, siblings. Thank you.
I’m only 5 minutes in - my child had an IEP for 6 years before I removed him from public school to homeschool him myself. The IEP was essentially the schools free pass to advance my child to the next grade, with passing grades, all while learning NOTHING!
Teachers are not allowed to fail any student with an IEP. I gave a student a failing grade, because he failed the work. The parent reached out to me and I asked admin to help me with my response. I was told to change the grade and tell the parent I had made a mistake when inputting grades.
Mind you I was a general education teacher in 5th grade, I was only required to give one grade and the rest of the grades came from the interventionists.
this is my step kid's reality. lol yep...
This may be our next step as well…and we’ve done HS before so my heart goes out to you…it’s not easy ❤
I speak as both a related services provider in special education and the parent of a child with multiple special needs who currently attends what we call and "out of district" placement.
Plenty of students come into special education with behaviors as a result of their disorders. So, a child with cognitive impairment or autism or ADHD may ALSO have behaviors. So, these students are entitled to a free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) just like a student that doesn't have challenging learning styles/behavioral issues. That's the whole ethos of the right in America to have your child educated.
The problem is that we have the legal obligation to provide FAPE and individual states don't choose to spend or have the ability to spend enough money to provide these students with the APPROPRIATE education. Special education teachers do NOT have training to deal with aggressive and oppositional students and they don't have the resources to keep those students a. engaged in learning, IF possible and b. keeping the rest of the class engaged and learning.
I have worked with special needs 20 and 21 year old students (students with IEPs have the right to go to school until 21) who have bitten me (once a student who was seated while I was standing bit me on top of my breasts), punched me, banged my head into a concrete wall, pulled me by my hair, dug into my skin with fingernails that have dirt and feces under them. We have restraint trained teams (one team for 500 kids in a school) who can be code called. You'd be surprised by how much physical damage that can be done to you by an enraged person who has the mental maturity and ability of a 5 year old but the strength of a 20 year old with raging hormones.
NOBODY knows how to be successful with these kids. Not the teachers, not the parents, certainly not the admin and of all of them, LEAST of all "the experts".
In terms of positivity, the hard truth is that positive ONLY interventions don't work. Punishment does not work. A combination of carefully applied positive reinforcement and rational consequences has the best success rate ,but it's nowhere near 100%. Admin, pressured by "experts" who either have never been in the classroom or haven't been in the classroom for YEARS and are paid, ad paid well, to come up with "interventions" that are published in a book that no one has time to read and are poorly researched.
As a society, we have a crisis of youth mental health, a lack of effective interventions, a lack of effective parenting, a lack of money/funding. And it's FAR FAR easier to blame teachers or parents than it is to fix these societal problems.
🎯
💯
Big yup.
I am curious your opinion on least restrictive environment?
As a general education teacher, I would have many students with IEPs. I was teaching 5th grade material to students who had no idea what was going on. Then the interventionist comes to het the kid for their pull out services and when they get back, they have no idea what going on. Then testing time, omg 😳 i dreaded testing, because I taught English Language Arts, and I had kids who were just learning to read 3 letter words… i couldn’t read the passage to them, only the question and answers…. All of us would be in tears.
So again, what is your opinion of least restrictive environment?
RELATED SERVICES REPRESENT! SLP here.
I’ve gotten some of the abuse, got grabbed in the crotch and breasts, and hit a few times, but not nearly to the level you have. WHY do the case managers never tell us related services which kids BITE?
I'm one of the teachers that ended up with an actual case of PTSD from 27 years of dealing with them every day. The worst year was my 7th, there were many kids who were utterly unpredicatable and violent, I broke up several fights in the classroom. That year I began to get insomnia worrying about dealing with them the next day, and then suddenly it turned into full blown panic attacks. I couldn't simply stop working and went several months panicking constantly, and finally started taking medication. But the damage was done, and to this day suffer with anxiety.
Im a homeschool mom and these kinds of stories make me NEVER want to put my son back in public school. He's autistic and he used to be in one of those special education classes. He was CONSTNATLY coming home with stories about the violent kids in his class and how hard it was for him to focus, and it would overstimulate him and make him SUPER overwhelmed and anxious about school. It was terrible. But he couldn't function in a gen ed setting! It's so crazy what everyone involved in those situations has to endure, the troubled student, their peers, the teachers...etc.
Teachers working with students in SPED have been physically beaten up to the point of being hospitalized and hiring lawyers. It's not a safe environment for anyone.
It's horrible. Teachers shouldn't be in a position where they are violently attacked by students. Some schools don't have resource officers to restrain violent students and the responsibility is placed on school staff. It's ridiculous.
It absolutely isn't. My teacher is home right now with a concussion and black eye. We told them for a long time that we didn't feel safe.
@MJ-vt4nb oh, I believe it and not surprised
My niece was a special Ed teacher in one those schools. It was the only teaching job she could get with her Arts Therapy degree. She was brutally attacked by some of these students. Thank God she got out of that before she got hurt.
She's now married to an officer in the Army and a stay at home mother.
Question, when you say arts therapy, are you saying she ended up getting a Master’s Degree in counseling, or she just got the certification for administering arts therapy? The reason why I ask is due to how my state states that you cannot provide counseling services unless you have licensure as a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist. And if their state is similar in anyway, it would be that the arts therapy degree would qualify more as a certification for continuing education and expansion of practice than as a marketable trait on its own. Trust me when I say I know it sucks, because I spent 2 years with my BA in psychology and unable to get a single decent job outside of working in retail…
Wow, this guy is a rock star. He gets it, and he’s able to keep his head above the water and show up everyday for these kids. God bless this man.
This guy sounds like a genuine good person, these kids are lucky to have him.
If we are so worried about violence and trauma, why are we allowing teachers and students to be abused in the classroom? And then telling them it's their fault we need to be more understanding.This is how we create violent abusers with an excuse
I ask myself the same question!
Yep and the girls are learning from the very beginning that it's okay for men and boys to bash women.
You said it!! I agree. I am one of the teachers that is physically attacked EVERY DAY. Nobody cares!
@@lorihill9129 I am so sorry this is what we've come to. I do care.
@@lorihill9129 Feel the same as a para educator getting attacked, peed on (yes literally that) and spit upon. Horrible experience and no at all what I envisioned special education to be. I urge you to look for employment elsewhere, where you will be valued and have peace of mind. Care enough for yourself to make a change, that's what I am looking into as well. ❤
tons of respect for the teachers who deal with these kids
Much respect. Kids shouldn't be like that.
I'm a sped teacher who retired early. I couldn't take it after 5 years. Administration kept making too many decisions based on sped. As the sped teacher I was the face of those bad decisions that I didn't even make.
This!!! I had to look like I was case managing in reality I was being case managed.
Love the empathy from this man, who takes a lot of abuse, and still returns love
The summer before I started high school, my family moved from Pennsylvania to rural Florida. The public school system in that county was abysmal with high rates of teen pregnancy and low graduation rates, so my parents didn’t want to send my brother and me there. They found a brand new “Christian” school across town that was just getting ready to open for its inaugural year. And they assumed that because it was a “Christian” school, they’d be sparing us from all of the evils of public school. Boy, were they wrong. It was basically an alternative school. My brother and I were among the very few students who were actually there voluntarily from families that were paying tuition. 95% of the students had been expelled from public school, and that’s how this school guaranteed they’d be able to pay their bills- state subsidies. All year, I was bullied by other girls and sexually harassed by linebacker sized 19 year old 10th graders who were too stupid to graduate. Once, this very violent autistic boy (level II support needs but zero emotional control) shoved me in the janitors closet and locked me in. He didn’t get in trouble. Instead, when a teacher let me out and I called the boy a name, I received demerits for “having an un-Christlike attitude.” Another time, my class had an end of year trip to a nearby key. They chartered two boats to take us for the day for swimming, BBQ, volleyball, etc. On the boat ride back, a girl who had relentlessly bullied me all year and never been held accountable dumped a bucket of slimy, bloody, reeking chum all over my lap. She was finally expelled the last week of school after 9 months of tormenting me. Lots of kids used drugs, slept around, beat other kids up, cussed out teachers, broke desks and computers when they were angry. They were horrible human beings. It felt like being sent to prison every day. Anyone who teaches in a setting like that deserves twice what public school teachers earn, IMO. Last year, a friend of mine who taught at an alternative HS quit after a male student kicked her in her pregnant stomach. The school told her she needed to me made of sterner stuff and not let the kids get to her. She said, “He literally tried to kill my baby,” and the principal told her she was being dramatic and that the kid was just having a hard time. So, she quit and will never go back to teaching. It’s awful.
🤯
Thank you for your comment. I’m so sorry what you went through and pray you are blessed abundantly 🙏
I work in an EBD room and it feels like One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. They do what he says, bicker and verbally fight each other, disregard any adult that isn't their buddy and they don't understand their actions have consequences.
30:00 in, there is no repercussion for behavior. The principal does nothing for a kid that has been there and knows she can do nothing.
Nothing happens and if it does, they return to school and continue to resort in violence.
This is a great interview. The heart in this teacher is big. He obviously cares deeply. My child is autistic and epileptic. We did not know this at the beginning.... He was the child that took off his clothes, screamed at teachers, destroyed the classroom.... our teachers fought for him. They recognized that it was not a discipline situation and that he needed the right environment. We lucked out. I cannot say enough good things about the guidance teachers around us have given us. Not so much for the medical situation. Don't even get me started on social security or disability., or any of that kind of stuff, even though he is eighteen at this point.
I was diagnosed with ODD in the 90s. It's not new. My IEP was the only reason I was able to graduate HS and go to college. Teaches have never been able to diagnose kids. But they think so often that they don't even need an assessment or evaluation of any type to determine that a child doesn't have a disability. It's a disservice to children. Disabilities are on the rise. The funding needs to be on the rise too. Not cutting services to kids who need it.
Basically special ed teachers deserve respect and support and better pay.
All teachers do...
So do the paraeducators.
Agreed.
Yes, they do so much extra work!
They need official protection from the students 24/7, like a cop.
Your guest has a special talent to be where he is. I wish him a blessed life.
I’ve been a middle school teacher in California for 22 years and the last 8 have been exactly what you described as a regular day at your school. I’m at a public school and the system is definitely broken. I have over 15 ODD and OHI students with IEPs or 504s which make up about half of the sped students I have in my classes. We do not have alternative schools in our district and yes, our classes have terrible behavior. We also have about 36 students in our classes as well. We are exhausted
It's 36 students a large number. Does your state have unions?
As a specialist teacher (15years) in a public school. I have a love hate relationship with Special Ed. The emotionally disturbed kids are on the rise. It is a big issue! I don't have a clue on what is causing the rise, but the only thing that has changed is smart phones and tablets. I really feel there is some sort of connection. 🤷♂
Technology and parental negligence are the two main reasons, and the two main differences between children of the 20th Century and children of the 21st Century.
@@munimathbypeterfelton6251Yup.
Parenting, the food, technology & environment even the air we breathe. The world as we knew it just doesn't exist anymore. I grew up in the 90s.
iphones, IMO.
"Gentle" parenting basically and that whole philosophy that kids should never be held accountable for anything
You couldn’t pay me to work at this school and deal with this violence. No ma’am!!!! I did not bust my butt in graduate school to be a babysitter for delinquents.
They have it worse than a corrections officer at these schools.
Agreed, you couldn't even make pay me to volunteer in one of those places.
I agree. Too much violence.
You're so right, because all it is, is babysitting. Some kids have the ability to learn, but we can't work with them, because we're too busy trying to protect them and ourselves from the violent and disruptive kids.
Another great teacher speaking truth! I didn't teach Special Ed but always had plenty of Special Ed kids in my classes, sometimes up to about a third of the class. I understand what he's talking about. We had an alternative school in my district, but it moved location almost every year so some of those kids probably felt like they were in foster schools in addition to foster homes. 100 kids a day limits how much you can get to know individual students, but some I did, and some of their stories were just heart-breaking. This is a compassionate young man. I hope he can keep doing this valuable work, although I don't have high hopes for the school system in general.
In my state these schools are called “special purpose private schools”, where the most violent students are sent. These schools charge up to $200,000 a school year for students to attend (not exaggerating). My school district only sends kids that are extremely violent or have sexual behavior who have IEPs.
Really appreciate this interview. I think we medicalize behavior too much. And we employ the word "trauma" to the detriment of young people. We give too many excuses in the name of "trauma" or "being a kid." We have created a generation of the most selfish individuals on planet earth who have no respect for authority or fear of actual consequences (because there are none). We are witnessing the fruits of our psychological society and dealing with problems that would never have been tolerated 75 years ago (regardless of how tough the home life might have been). We aggrandize things that would have been considered petty back then. I can go into detail about the history of kids on the streets during the Great Depression, who sat in classrooms of 50 students and yet had to be respectful because there were actual consequences and nobody placated or excused rotten behavior. This is all fundamentally based on a view of human nature; the education system is based upon theories of human nature that have proven to be false as evidenced by the degeneracy of the school system and its utter confusion over the most basic things people would never have scratched their heads about 75 years ago. Likewise, parenting (by and large) replaces discipline, accountability, and consistency with drugging kids and making endless excuses for the most egregiously rotten behavior. Throwing around pseudo-science labels like "ADHD" and "ODD" makes people (administrators, educators, social workers, counselors, psychologists) feel cutting edge. Teachers are smart but they have been trained to trust in a system utterly deluded. But if they would take the time (as many students of science have done) they would no longer be fooled by this big charade. Unfortunately, it is much harder to swallow the pill of accountability and much easier to lay blame on some "disorder." Pain and trauma are real, but what is happening in society and the school system is so much bigger than that. The sciences of the mind with their view of human nature have inculcated the false ideas that parents or guardians and the school system continue to stand upon---all while society gets worse and worse. And we continue to look to the same system for the answers.... absolute delusion.
Preach!!!
I don't disagree with anything you said other than ADHD being pseudo-science. That is a real neurological difference. ODD on the other hand.... not sure about that one.
🎯
I was a substitute teacher for years before I became a full-time teacher. I had a student in one class who wouldn't even try to answer questions correctly. I was told later that he had ODD. I spoke with a special Ed teacher about it, and I asked her, "What's the difference between a child being called lazy and a child being diagnosed with ODD?" And she told me, "Money. Pharmaceutical companies are making a gazillion off of doping up these kids."
@@rtj630 Thanks for your response. Yes, I definitely disagree with the statement that "ADHD" is neurological (as opposed to behavioral/metaphysical). Why? I don't know how familiar you are with pathology and pathophysiology. If treating a diabetic, for example, we know the etiology of the condition. In dissecting human cadavers, for example, we can see the neurodegeneration in Parkinson's Disease (a real neurological condition). This is not the case with so-called "ADHD." Even if someone has an infectious disease we can withdraw blood and see the immune response. In contrast, we cannot withdraw blood and draw a conclusion about "ADHD." It is in fact based on pseudo-science. Articles published on it are full of so much psychological mumbo-jumbo conjecture (that real pathologists don't have to engage in to pretend to be science-based) Why? Because they can actually work in the physical and examine histological tissue. There are so many myths about the brain that people are simply unaware of. The field of psychology has to borrow medical terminology to sound more legitimate (e.g., "therapy," "treatment," "illness," etc.). If psychology was properly understood as metaphysics or philosophy (as it always was until the 20th century) it wouldn't deserve the label "pseudoscience." However, because it is purported to be more than it is, it warrants this pejorative label. Today poor behavior is excused in the name of pseudo-illness labels like "ADHD" and "ODD." This has essentially trained parents and children away from accountability and self-control, leading them to believe they can’t help it because of a so-called chemical imbalances in the brain (although they have quietly tried to move away from this embarrassing hypothesis, which has sadly been utilized to drug millions of precious children). Sadly, people don't even know about this pathological mythology (a smokescreen of psychology as it pretended to be a hard science) even though so many people stand upon it as if they were discussing the law of gravity or actual physical and/or medical science (when in fact they are not). Thanks for reading this and sorry for being long-winded.
@@ViewPoint1517as an individual with a Dx late in middle age for ADHD, I strongly disagree with your claim that ADHD is a “pseudoscience “. I will refer you to Dr Russell Barkley and Dr Ned Hallowell (Barkley has a YT channel now that he is semi-retired from academia). your claims that adhd isn’t real are based on…your personal biases? Please for the sake of anyone in your life who may have adhd, get educated on it before you make further erroneous claims that it is a made up fantasy. You only appear ignorant at best and cruel at worst with your claims
omg Trish you are the best. you are tackling topics that a lot of teachers are aware of but no one dares to talk about. you are the best. greetings from Greece! (similar problems exist everywhere ! )!
Yes! Not talking, especially honestly and bluntly, is making things worse! These kids are screaming for structure and discipline (not as in punishment, but a set of rules and goals with accountable follow through) and consistency in policy. Both from school and more importantly from home.
My heart goes out to the general ed students that are expected to put up with this behavior. Special Ed or not no student should be above the needs of others. Every single child has special needs. A piece of paper and/or diagnosis should not allow the needs of one student to hold hostage the needs of all the others.
I was a substitute for three years until Covid. It had been a long time since I had been in a classroom and hadn't had many years under my belt to begin with.
You could see it written all over the other kids' faces "why did the rules only apply to some kids and not others?" I subbed a 1st grade class. This class had about 5 kids with known behavioral issues. It was a last minute sick call out, so there were no plans, except another teacher pulled some worksheets out for them and wrote me a schedule of when lunch, recess, and PE/music was. The classroom was located away from the other 1st grade classrooms. Next door was a Sped classroom where they were testing for kids to be able to move on to 5th grade. One of my students refused to sit down and do any work. He kept walking about the classroom shoving and hitting other kids, distracting classmates, etc. would not cooperate. After trying to redirect many times, I finally called the office because the classroom next door had complained we were too loud. Another teacher came in and spoke with the classroom. A few hours later. Same stuff, but now the kids were visibly bothered and concerned that he was continuing to hit, etc. I called the office, principal came down and spoke with the student. Things were a bit better for about an hour. An hour and a half before the end of school, I had had enough of this kid refusing to cooperate and hitting his classmates. My son was a student at this same school in a different grade. Principal came down again and spoke with me in a manner that the kids would not hear and basically told me the boy would not be leaving the classroom and I had to just do what I could to keep things together until the end of the day. I had previously been amazed at this principal and her knowledge of every student. That day I lost my respect for her as a principal. As a parent of a child in that school I was angry. And it was now apparent to me that my child's well being was not necessarily as well as what they sold parents on.
Thank you.
@@dawnmitchell11 Good grief 🤦🏾♀️.
I worked with special needs and behavioral issues in Ontario Canada. I can relate to your guest's experience and approach. I found that I became incredible at reading people's behavior because I had to analyze children's behavior. Finding the balance between "human" and educator is tricky. Emotionally perserve the self while dealing with children from very unfortunate circumstances is also important
It is emotionally and physically exhausting
Trish, you are great! I am so happy and relieved that you are doing this. I work in an overwhelmed district, and kids are just becoming diluted in this toxic solution that has been concocted for American education. Would love to interview one day but actively teaching and would of course want to prep for exactly what I want to talk about…..there are so many things. But watching this video…it all rings truth.
Really love that you continue to reach out and hear perspectives from professionals in the field. I'm passionate about education but dropped out of the major, largely because of all the warning signs that flashed every time I researched modern standards. It's disheartening for sure, but discussions like this move the dialogue forward.
Your channel name is perfectly suited for your content. It does feel like a therapy session when I watch your videos. The amount of times I yell "EXACTLY" when I hear some of the points you and your guests make. I feel really validated at the end of your videos and some of your videos make me really hopeful with the advice you give. Thank you.
I always tested in the 98th percentile. I was a nerdy kid, I was in chess club, I had a college reading level by 2nd grade. I never disturbed a class, I did my homework for the weekend of Friday night. In 4th grade I raised my hand politely and asked why Egypt was taught separately from Africa in history class. No follow-up questions, no intention, just a sincere question. They called my mother and told her I had ODD and tried to put me on pills. My mother, who was an arts educator, walked out. This was 1999. Kids weren't cursing in class, we had no phones, we weren't allowed to do homework on computers because not everyone had them at home. Teachers were part of the problem. The diagnosis track for children that you didn't want to teach to out of your class or made them compliant. If my mother didn't advocate for me, I could have had my education sabotaged by one lazy teacher.
Fantastic interview, thank you both. My son is in a similar-ish class that operates in a similar manner. Not exactly, but close enough that almost everything he says applies, and I appreciate the insight from other schools/jurisdictions, etc. I wish more people knew what our kids and teachers are dealing with and the support that is required. I hope more compassionate teachers come forward to help our kids, too.
I homeschooled my kid who was about to be labeled ODD. All he could think about was whatever you told him not to do. It was not a discipline issue, it was his personality. I changed how i spoke to him and that made a huge difference. I don't think the public school model as it is can accomodate this. He's 17 and attending college. He was shocked at all the bad behavior he's seeing and all the kids on devices. Nobody would call him ODD now.
It's true what he said about age. It doesn't occur to them. I have many traumatized students with major behaviour and emotional issues. I play therapist and cop every day. Teaching is a luxury tbh.
The only thing that matters in this specific educational setting is CONNECTION. That is what I bring to the table when everything else fails.
Regarding empathy and compassion, I have a limit. If I have a student with whom I have exhausted all of my resources to no avail and they still don't care or have even an inkling o respect for me, their peers, themselves, then... I withdraw my energy from them and reinvest in myself and the others who DO care.
Yup.
I came from a single-family home and I am a special education teacher. My kids came from a single-family home and my kids had never been disrespectful. We have never been disrespectful because our mother did not play. We never disrespected the teacher. They put too much on a teacher and they expect us to do and be everything to these kids and we just can’t there’s no more teaching in the classroom. They want us to take care of behavior and that’s not our job. Your kids should behave before they come to school. We shouldn’t be running around here making behavior goals. We are teachers, we’re not their parents and they need to start holding these parents accountable or if kids are that destructive, they can’t come to school until they get some discipline and that’s how we should be.
I am so glad young women are deciding not to have kids until they feel ready and WANT to. So proud to see that trend. Imagine a world with LESS unwanted children in it. Sounds wonderful.
I am so deeply sorry this is the state of public education now. The adults in my time were able to nail down the safety. Becoming a prison guard sounds like a safer career choice than teacher.
Basically sounds like parents thinking their kids are just special so they deserve a special education. Our their kids aren't raised with basic manners. Teachers in public schools need to be allowed to have control of their classroom. When a kid is a brat, parents try to automatically blame the teacher instead of teaching their child discipline.
Trish, thank you for addressing this issue. Thank you. I agree that kids need to have accountability. I mean especially special ed kids because if they don't they're going to run into problems when they're in the real world. Hello from Iowa.
Thank you, I’ve always had a problem with the policy’s of special education, my biggest problem being situations such as shortening assignments, if you have a weakness the policy is more leaned toward reducing the work in that area, this will hinder the student further, the policy needs to be aimed at increasing skill theough remediation or tutoring, this can become an issue related to funding. I agree that we are heading down a path of qualifying the majority of students as special ed. One policy I would like to see changed is mandatory upper
level math and science for all students, this are specialized areas that the majority of students are not going to fit the mold, the result being increased discipline problems and a decrease in learning for the students who want that class, not to mention higher rates of teacher burnout. I’m a child of the 60’s, when I graduated they only required one math and one
science, there was no school grading, teachers presented information and the student worked to learn what was being taught, it’s my belief that subjects should have a basic limit of what should be learned and the administration all the way to the top should be focused on actual learning with an expectation of basic critical thinking skills.
Liked and obviously subscribed.
And not just because this spoke to my heart especially while listening during my first year of employment in NJ as a paraprofessional where I spend my days with one friend and appreciate the insight you have provided….🙏💕
So interesting to hear this perspective. Thank you Trish!
100% agree with simple behavioural issues being classed as additional/SEN, we're having that same issue in the UK. "We can't control the child in a mainstream school so he/she must have additional needs, lets send them to the Special Education Facility"... where I worked we had so many children who just simply lacked discipline in their life and it took away from us being able to support the children that do have ASD, ADHD, ODD etc, because we're busy trying to calm down a 10 year old having a tantrum just because they can.
Special Ed kids are often lumped in with Emotionally Disturbed/behavioral kids and because of the behaviors no one learns. Staff has gotten hurt at my school(-seriously injured. It is crazy.
Our district has a school for these behaviorally challenged sped students. There are much lower ratios of student/teacher. The push to move a student into an IEP is not only medicalized and psychologized but it's financial as well. Districts get higher FTE/QBE for these kids. Districts also take sped $ and don't use that money directly FOR those students. All these labels and acronyms bring in big bucks.. we need mental health professionals working along side the sped teachers.. this needs to happen NOW. Btw the med cart was always the focal point at the district alternative school. It's like a mental health facility/jail/school all rolled into one.
Exactly, 👍🏼 My niece is a great student but learns at a slower rate! No behavior problems!
🎉🎉🎉
I was like that,and was stuck in a classroom with bad kids
This is the flip side. The alternative schooling for extreme behaviourally challenged and a place for those with learning difficulties shouldn’t be under the same roof.
That’s going to affect the vulnerable children’s behaviour and outlook in life.
I love this channel. Keep up bringing the truth to light!
God bless all the teachers. They are true gifts from God.
My school just stuck us (special needs kids) in a different room away from the other kids and mostly just ignored us.
Kind of feel like this is what that school is made for...but in my experience, these regular public schools are trying to bring these methods into the regular classroom, while also holding us to a higher standard of student growth and achievements. It's so much harder to connect with those kids when your career depends on them actually doing the work, actually learning the materials. In a place like that, you can lower the standards to focus on connection. You can bribe them just to not fight with candy.
I feel like I've been in that same school, having those same conversations...but it's different when you have a deadline for them actually picking up a pencil and do an assignment on grade level.
There used to be reform schools. Im thinking we need to go back to those. My daughter almost had her ankle broken by one of these out of control kids. The principle deliberatly sat this kid next to her so he could learn good behavior. I put a stop to that. The truth is, a bad home and trauma is no excuse for these behaviors. Another truth is, people tend to drop to the lowest common denominator. If you keep rewarding these bad behaviors others will immitate it. Discipline is whats needed. If the kid is way to out of control, they need to be sent to a reform school type of environment. Kids in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s rarely behaved like this and i guarantee they went through the same kinds of trauma and crap homes with a lot less help than today. So explain that? Something else is going on here and imho it has to do with creating new diagnosis, excusing behaviors due to various adverse situations and lack of any real discipline or consequences. True special ed kids are suffering and losing resourses because of this. Bad behaviors are not special ed.
Exactly. Kids were being abused left right and centre in the 80s and noone did anything yet I never in 12years saw a kid say fuck you to a teacher, throw a chair or just refuse to do any work at all.
I agree here...I went into a job thinking I was going to help students who learned differently but wanted to be there. The SPED environments I had volunteered with at the community center, swimming in the pool and engaging with one another. I was placed in a room with 100% aggressive behaviors, nothing like a special education environment I had known. Full on physical attacks, pee'd on, spit thrown, biten, tripped, making gun signs with their hands threatening to kill me every minute of the school day. And a bunch of under conditioned middle aged woman trying to control them while using file cabinets as barriers. Another solution is necessary because this just ain't it!!!
As a special education student from the 90s and 2000s. It has been very difficult trying to not respond to those that havnt learned the tools to adapt to their surroundings in a healty way. I tried my hardest to make it after highschool and all I've learned is that theirs alot of individuals that missed out due to the stigmatized thoughts about being in special education. I still have trouble reading and writing as you can tell. I find at my 30s it is very difficult to not respond to those that see your having difficulty regulating their emotions. People will seek me out throughout my short first part of my life just because they understood how to get at me. I hope this makes sense. I still hate the way I deal with all of this and struggle everyday to remind myself that it's not just me. The government and agencies can only do so much for the public and when it comes down to it intervention early in life really helped me see this. I just wish the va would see what my struggles are and see im trying my hardest to be productive. It's just some people are making it really hard for some of us to get by as we get older.
I taught non public school the first three years of my career and I loved it. We had a pretty good staff who worked hard to support students and one another. I knew what I was getting into when I took the job. Those kids had absolutely horrific histories and for most of the students I worked with, I was able to establish rapport and trust. Yes I did get assaulted a few times and it was traumatic but mostly because I thought I was getting through to a kid. The majority of the behaviors are due to the nature of the disability coupled with significant trauma.
I teach in a school like this. My biggest problem is the responsibility to protect students from each other. If one student starts hitting another, I'm responsible for breaking up the fight; in doing so, I've been physically hurt. Every time I show up for work, I feel like I'm putting myself in danger. I don't intend to continue teaching in the school.
That’s because you are. As a former teacher who taught in a similar school I strongly recommend you quit. As soon as you are too injured to defend yourself they will fire you and then you will face unemployment, a major injury, and no insurance. Or they won’t fire you. Instead they will demand you return to class and then sue you for breach of contract if you don’t even if you have a badly broken arm or leg.
I’ve seen both happen to teachers at least a dozen times over the years. And the students who cause the injury are usually emboldened and back in class before the teacher is out of the hospital. Don’t sacrifice your lifelong health for the industrialized world’s worst education system that graduates illiterate adults with B averages.
@@RandomOldPersontotally agree with you. Your Job duties do not include getting beat up by students.
Also, those districts that demand a fine from teachers who quit during the contract period, I’d love to see those wind through the judicial system to see if that is actually legal for districts to put those early quit fines into teachers’s contracts? I’m not telling any teachers here to voluntarily be the legal test case. But I suspect that if the fines were disputed in court and made there way up to higher courts, those clauses in teacher contracts for fining teachers who resign during an employment contract would not be enforceable
@@gailgrigg It’s been legally tested multiple times and upheld. Some states even require on top of the fine that the quitting teacher pay the full employer end of the long term substitutes salary. Teaching today has the legal protections of a 1800s era coal miner.
Is this a special education public school ? Asking because I currently teach public school and trying to get out ... Have an interview for special needs public school .. but if it's this crazy, I'm not taking the job.
@@truth.is.here23 Yes. A special education public school. I asked around there and found that every staff member who has been there more than a year or two has been physically hurt at least once. Not long ago a student threw a rock at a fellow student and missed; the rock hit a teacher on the head who then had to be hospitalized.
Perhaps other special education public schools are not as bad. I have no idea.
I was thrown into a terrible special ed program, an "inclusion room" (read: Thunderdome.) I was put in alongside a non-verbal autistic child with incontinence, a violent learning disabled student as large as an adult, a sociopath student, a girl with a histrionic disorder, a physically disabled kid with a spinal disorder and another autistic child.
My reason for being there: emotional disturbance. I was being bullied relentlessly, lacked the wit to respond vocally, and just screamed. The teaching assistants there were not experienced with special education, the head teacher was a substitute gym teacher. Public school special education has been inadequate for decades.
My question is WHY are there so many? Growing up, there was maybe 1 in a class. What is going on with our society? Parents, y'all need to answer up! There have always been broken children, society has changed, parenting has changed.
The culture is falling apart.
No structure at home, no clear ENFORCED guidelines at school, kids relying on their own judgement about how to behave, lost, angry confused and hostile.
Are you a successful parent?
@@sharinaross1865 Actually, I am. My son is off to a very top tier college in Texas, graduated top 3% of his class and is well mannered, emotionally stable, hard working young man. Thanks!
@@txspacemom765 well that's good. I wasn't expecting a response. Thanks for sharing your accomplishments.
It's a difference! I went to school with special education students and years later some of these people are really mentally ill. The school system has not been prepared for that!!
I had a chaotic home environment and I still respected adults at school
Excellent Broadcast as Usual!!!👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽🥰🇺🇸
This show really helped me after work today.
Reassessing my day's experience.
Moving forward. Thanks.
Great interview!!! I work at one of these schools and everything he said is right on point.
The biggest battle is the kid/kids not caring and the parents doesn’t care. You can tell when a parent doesn’t care they will not ask about homework, and they will not even attend at least 1 parent-teacher conference or they will not ask questions during an IEP. It might be that some parents don’t know what to ask . I had a heart to heart conversation because I knew the kid was not on the reading level that the IEP stated the kid was on . Therefore, I suggested to the parent that they should ask about assessments and ask about homework that way they can know how their child is learning and what their is understanding. Understanding the home life is important but be careful of some of the parents that might be crazy and do not want the school to know
I just noticed that when you talk, you sound like you're talking to middle school students. It makes you easy to listen to.🍎
Thank you for such an enlightening interview on the reality of NPS schools! Frankly, I do not how you handle it all! James
I also think that when some children are diagnosed and they are made aware of their diagnosis, that can make them "play up" to those traits. Almost like they're stuck "in a box" and they "can't" be better than those traits or learn to cope and live with their prognosis.
I've definitely seen this! Unfortunately, various disorders are also glamorized on TikTok and social media, so some kids are actively trying to emulate symptoms, especially related to Autism. 😢
It’s really interesting to listen to this from an Australian class room education assistant perspective. I was trained at RMIT to be a “Youth Worker” and then started looking for assistant educator positions in high schools. Have also worked in childcare centers with 6 week olds to 6 year olds and primary schools (elementary) and community based education programs in a neighborhood house with 14-17 year old students.
I work one-on-one with children with autism as a behavior therapist. My first job in the field we made $20 an hour, and one of my coworkers was a former special ed teacher. In that role she had made $17 an hour and had to manage 20 special ed students by herself. She found being a behavior tech infinitely easier (though it’s still a hard job, don’t get me wrong) and it paid better! That’s crazy to me.
This guy really gets it. I worked in a similar place to what he described and the whole thing about the two paths is true. When I was still working at a school I would tell kids who didn't care to either drop out or get their GED and they would be surprised and all my coworkers really didn't like me for giving that advice but those same kids almost always went to me for advice for being real with them.
I've seen a huge increase in digital curriculum, and screen use because of it. Kids aren't learning to hold writing tools correctly, let alone learn legible penmanship. We're creating a nation of icon tappers.
In the early 1980s, I was sentenced to spend at least part of the school day in a special ed classroom in a mainstream public school from 5th grade all the way through high school and it did nothing for me except make me a bully magnet.
You are doing great❤ lead with compasion and you deserve a great pay for the valuable job you do!❤❤
Been in the special ed field on the west coast going back 30 years. One thing i notice is they hand out IEPs like breath mints, probably get more funding...
muddies the waters and contributes to the difficulties supporting students who need support.
Anyone else see this kind of practice?
Yes. I do.
I can tell you what it's like to be in special education, well at least back in the day (late 70s to the end of 1989). Back then when you got labeled "retarded" like my biological mother did just to get rid of me and have me placed into foster care, I was placed into special education. I didn't belong there at all. It was to the point where I was "stealing" educational material starting from the age of 8 years old through 12 years of age where I felt that I was actually learning something. Special education back in the day was merely just a babysitting program, where you hardly learn anything. All one had to do was be occupied and behave. I had to fight tooth and nail to get removed from that program and it literally took me to the 11th grade to accomplish that mission. When I "graduated" high school, I thought to myself to not accept that I had graduated. When I went to college was when I started to claim those accomplishments.
I'm so sorry you had such terrible experiences in school! 🥺💔🙏🏽
@@TeacherTherapy, at least I had the drive and discipline to not only educate myself, but to get myself removed from that special ed program in which I never should have been placed into. I really feel bad for these kids in the future with nearly zero knowledge, discipline and structure. This world is about to be doomed for sure.
I’m sorry you went through this & am so glad you fought for yourself when nobody else was! God bless you 🙏
My child on the spectrum sounds so much like these kids! Especially the snack motivation!
Thank you for caring about these kids. 😢
I had to be put into a special ed class because i would have uncontrollable crying and i would hide in the back of class and just cry almost every single day but i was never aggressive or super disruptive or hurting anyone i was just really depressed probably cuz my parents got divorced and it kinda scared me cuz i was so young, being transferred into that special ed class ruined my life and gave me ptsd and trauma cuz some the kids were mentally disturbed but they would get aggressive and scream and literally attack the teachers and throw chairs at other kids and verbally abuse other kids that aren’t aggressive.
Everyday i would try to just do school work and one of the kids would throw a huge tantrum if something happened and they didn’t get what they want, they would direct it at me or someone else and scream and yell at me and call me all kinds of badwords like they really wanted to hurt me. Then the teachers would actually have to call the police to get the kid to calm down. People always talk about special ed kids getting bullied but they never ever talk about special ed kids bulling and hurting other special ed kids in the same class.
They would threaten to punch and chase and scream bloody murder at me.
I graduated from high school but it still affects me to this day i would get ptsd and start shaking and crying like it happened yesterday.
I know the kids are probably abused and need help but putting all the kids together like that should be a crime.
The teachers were nice but they were just not assertive enough.
I didnt even know what self harm was and i have hurt myself really bad in the past cuz the emotioms were so unbearable. It didn’t want to go to school cuz it was my hell.
I got my ass out that hellhole just by doing really good and finishing my assignments and i was able to get back with the normal classes and make some good friends but i will forever be damaged by that.
I will constantly cry at night because the kids were so damn aggressive and tormented me. I would have melt downs in the class but i was never screaming or being aggressive i would just go outside and cry for bit.
But one time this girl was really out of control and she went after me in this room and i felt so threatened that i had slam the door at her.
Geez no wonder why i am so hard on myself and cry so much.
I feel like was born to be a punching bag
I landed a job in a "private" school in a pretty safe neighborhood. I realized that many of the students had been bounced around. My nephew said, "Oh, I know that school! At lunch they do drugs and steal. We called it 'one stop away from Rikers Island '." In other words...jail!
one of the things that bothered me while I was in school I was considered special ed but all of my classes outside home room were regular ed which made absolutely no sense at all
Go beyond behaviours you are doing great in the sense that first comes the relationships. But quit positive reinforcement and consequences. Trauma informed practice is what u need. You know they diserve better❤
I have seen every bit of this. Ten years ago, parents didn’t want their kids to get a diagnosis. Now, they seek it out so that their kid doesn’t suffer any consequences for their actions. This overloads the system and kids that actually need help don’t get the amount of help they need. SPED teachers are completely overwhelmed because every parent demands an exorbitant number of minutes for their kid. It’s a broken system.
Not only the behaviors, this is very true. Absolutely is. But the extreme amount of paperwork needed to be completed now, before and after meetings is insane and unbearable now. Best to everyone out there.
I’ve lived this life for 16 years in the classroom and I only left because physically my body was breaking down. However, it was the most rewarding when we were able to help turn a kid around. It takes a lot of patience and discipline to want to build a relationship with these kids and recognizing the good in them, while also building classroom routines where kids can can feel safe and comfortable to learn.
Not a teacher, but a Teacher's Aide for special needs. It's tough work, and little pay. 💔
I worked as a special Ed assistant for years. They pay pennies for the work we do!! The emotional, mental and physical drain is not worth it! I quit happily
Amen! What do you do now? I used to do homecare and I was devastated when a client would pass on. However, I was much more at peace and actually felt as though I was helping someone. I feel attacked here as an assistant, literally, and I'm wondering if I should tap out while I am physically able to.
What an amazing, big hearted, and wise teacher.
That he is.
As someone who had severe psychosis growing up and was occasionally very VERY disruptive to say the least at school.
Mental illness and/or trauma is no excuse for violent and disruptive behavior at class. It’s no excuse for physically destroying property and harming and endangering teachers and students.
It explains the behavior but doesn’t excuse it.
Students like that need specialized schools and care so they don’t themselves or others
You are a beautiful soul, Trish. 😊
Thank you for your discussions and your insight.