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I am good friends with the teacher who has the severely disabled students (Down's syndrome, etc). She told me that this one student is so bad that he has been hitting other students and the teacher. He doesn't really know what he is doing because of his disability. He gets frustrated, then shows it by lashing out with physical force. They end up having to lock him by himself in a private room.
We have the mentality in this country that everyone deserves and education, but there are some people who really need to be at home or in a different environment. Public schools cannot cater to every single type of disability.
Yes, I do think some kids need to be in special facilities instead of public schools. Everyone would be better served if they were, including them.
That, however, is very non-PC to say.
Our school has been designated our district's behavioral intervention site. It wouldn't be prudent for me to describe what happens when several dozen disturbed teens are put into a semi-academic setting. They keep our intervention team busy.
It's not a mentality in this country that "Everyone deserves an education," it's federal law.
Most of my teaching career has been spent in specialized behavioral settings around students who, due to disability, are so physically aggressive and/or self-injurious that they are not able to maintain safe enough behavior to safely and functionally participate in the standard traditional public school's special education setting.
Due to their federally guaranteed right through IDEA to a free and appropriate public education, however, their home districts must either set up a situation allows for behavioral interventions that appropriately meet their needs, or fund their tuition at a private placement that meets their needs. The fact is, students are ALWAYS guaranteed the right to be educated in the least restrictive environment possible. In the case of some students, the least restrictive environment possible is still pretty darned restrictive. Which is fine, but it has to be offered free of charge to the student, if their local public district can't/won't provide it onsite.
In the case of your school, OP, I would REALLY watch the isolation protocols, were I on their special education team. "Safe Room" and other isolation measures are a MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR hot button issue specifically in your state, as in many, and easy lawsuit fodder. But there's no way your district doesn't know that.
I am VERY pro specialized facilities when they are needed and appropriate, provided they are regulated and run using safe, approved evidence-based behavioral procedures. There is SO much room for abuse and exploitation of protected populations in these venues, if they are not ethically run by ethical practitioners and subject to significant oversight. In well-run programs, I have personally seen growth and learning and skill-building that would NEVER have happened in a traditional public school environment, have seen students who have been labeled as "unteachable" flourish, become highly independent and functional, etc., in a way that would never have happened in a "one-size-fits-all" environment that is hard to avoid in the way that public district special education programs can often be structured. I have seen students labeled as aggressive learn to successfully curb impulsive behavior, self-monitor their own emotional states and respond appropriately when they feel overstimulated, learn acceptable means of communication rather than lashing out in frustration, etc., in ways that would never have been possible in the standard public setting.
But most of this is accomplished through incredibly intensive one-on-one to very small group (at most) intervention with trained practitioners, and that doesn't come cheaply.
Last edited by TabulaRasa; 09-09-2015 at 11:22 PM..
I do agree that inclusion can lead to exclusion, at some point. I'm dealing with this right now. I certainly appreciate both sides, with my own disabled child - but violence crosses the line. I don't mean an occasional outburst, but habitual danger. We've moved away from special schools, but there should be programs with better-trained staff, more accepting environments, etc.
I do agree that inclusion can lead to exclusion, at some point. I'm dealing with this right now. I certainly appreciate both sides, with my own disabled child - but violence crosses the line. I don't mean an occasional outburst, but habitual danger. We've moved away from special schools, but there should be programs with better-trained staff, more accepting environments, etc.
Unfortunately, one trend in public special ed in many locales is to downsize and go with less-trained (i.e. less costly) staff, and to cut back on noncertified staff, who can be essential to the process. Public districts everywhere, but particularly in non-affluent areas, make drastic cuts to special ed programs first, shaving down the availability and hours of 1:1 paras, failing to employ specialists certified in behavioral interventions, failing (as in my parents' district, where both have been employed for years) to adequately train employees by cutting back on required/paid training geared toward those working with the behaviorally disordered, etc. It's seen as an easy place to cut costs, primarily because so much of the hands-on work is traditionally done by noncertified (and consequently, often non-union, so non-protected) personnel.
Better trained staff, particularly those with relevant training and experience in behavioral psych, cost a lot more than minimum wage paras (whose hours often get shaved down to the barest minimum and who often work with zero benefits or protection, despite routinely putting themselves at both risk of physical injury and risk of liability). We as a society are not big on equitably compensating people who are trained to work with our most vulnerable populations, even in the private sector, in many cases. It's also why group homes and similar have such hemorrhagic staff turnover and are places at high risk for incidences of abuse/neglect/exploitation. Working intensively with the severely developmentally disabled and behaviorally disordered can be dangerous, exhausting, demoralizing, and thankless at times, even though it can also be highly rewarding at others. Pair that with low wages, and you end up basically with a caliber of staff that matches the level at which you are willing to compensate.
I am good friends with the teacher who has the severely disabled students (Down's syndrome, etc). She told me that this one student is so bad that he has been hitting other students and the teacher. He doesn't really know what he is doing because of his disability. He gets frustrated, then shows it by lashing out with physical force. They end up having to lock him by himself in a private room.
We have the mentality in this country that everyone deserves and education, but there are some people who really need to be at home or in a different environment. Public schools cannot cater to every single type of disability.
Surely others here have the same opinion as me.
I don't know the exact disability he has, but it could be that the class is a poor fit rather than the school, or he may need a one on one. They should have the OT in there to observe him in class and see if they can do anything (some kids for instance have sensory issues and will lash out if another child touches them).
It costs school districts a fortune to send kids to special schools. Some cost $25,000 a year, live-ins over $100,000, and the district must pay for it as they are responsible for educating all children who live in the district, so they usually try very hard to keep them in public school and only send kids out if nothing has worked. It may also be that the parents of that child have advocates or even a lawyer to make sure they get what they want for the child.
It costs school districts a fortune to send kids to special schools. Some cost $25,000 a year, live-ins over $100,000, and the district must pay for it as they are responsible for educating all children who live in the district, so they usually try very hard to keep them in public school and only send kids out if nothing has worked. It may also be that the parents of that child have advocates or even a lawyer to make sure they get what they want for the child.
Yep, which is why I am always amazed when a district opts to farm a kid out versus pony up to hire qualified staff and supply necessary supports in-house. Either way, you're GOING to be on the hook for making sure their federally protected interests are legally provided for. It's not like you're gonna get out of meeting their needs, especially if there are strong advocates. Knowing the private setting tuition at given establishments with which I'm professionally familiar (and your figures are low, in my experience), it's like, "You know, you could hire your own in-house BCBA full-time or even contract with one on an on-call consultant basis AND fund an adequately trained 1:1 if needed, AND various therapists (who may already be on-staff or itinerant) and still not touch what it's going to cost the district to use x facility for a single year."
Most of the time? It gets to that point when there is already such a contentious relationship between the parents/advocates and the district that the district just doesn't want to deal with them anymore. Broke schools have fewer options, of course.
Yep, which is why I am always amazed when a district opts to farm a kid out versus pony up to hire qualified staff and supply necessary supports in-house. Either way, you're GOING to be on the hook for making sure their federally protected interests are legally provided for. It's not like you're gonna get out of meeting their needs, especially if there are strong advocates. Knowing the private setting tuition at given establishments with which I'm professionally familiar (and your figures are low, in my experience), it's like, "You know, you could hire your own in-house BCBA full-time or even contract with one on an on-call consultant basis AND fund an adequately trained 1:1 if needed, AND various therapists (who may already be on-staff or itinerant) and still not touch what it's going to cost the district to use x facility for a single year."
Most of the time? It gets to that point when there is already such a contentious relationship between the parents/advocates and the district that the district just doesn't want to deal with them anymore. Broke schools have fewer options, of course.
Broke or not those schools have to pony up the money for private care out of the school budget.
Cuts are made to other areas to make up the difference.
SPED education is a priority cost item. Schools can't say no.
Broke or not those schools have to pony up the money for private care out of the school budget.
Cuts are made to other areas to make up the difference.
SPED education is a priority cost item. Schools can't say no.
Yep, that was my point...along with being often surprised how often districts opt for the more costly option when presented with multiple ways of addressing the situation.
I will say that there isn't any way on earth that I would EVER take a special ed position in a public district, although I was wooed at various points when working in private settings and would have made much more. Not worth the headaches and lack of support.
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