So defeated? exhausted? PDQ

[spedrunner]

Thanks all!

I feel much better. Finally spoke to my principal and voiced my concerns. She will be looking into some things

[whitemerlot]

I taught sped for 9 years and what you are describing is the reason I'm not sure I'll go back.

Based on what I'm reading here, I feel like maybe your kids who have the behavior issues may need to be considered for the self contained classroom. If there are a couple of kids they are so disruptive of your environment that parents are willing to miss out off the support you provide, that's not working. I understand how parents don't want their kids in a self contained class, but resource room settings are not usually appropriately staffed or supported to deal with some of the needs.

Do you have good administrative support? Can you get your psych in for some observations?


What kind of setting were the 6th graders in before? Any chance to talk to their former sped teachers?

[flamingeaux]

Obviously the best situation, would be to have the 2 extremely low kids moved into the self contained room full time, but failing that is there a way to rework the schedule so you don't have the two groups at the same time?

Maybe the self contained teacher could take them for a few hours every other day, and the kids with the angry parents could come on those days, not ideal, but if the lower kids actually function better in the self contained room, maybe that will suggest something to the admin.

[redwino]

Sept 19, 2017 22:59:03 GMT -5 flamingeaux said:

Obviously the best situation, would be to have the 2 extremely low kids moved into the self contained room full time, but failing that is there a way to rework the schedule so you don't have the two groups at the same time?

Maybe the self contained teacher could take them for a few hours every other day, and the kids with the angry parents could come on those days, not ideal, but if the lower kids actually function better in the self contained room, maybe that will suggest something to the admin.

I agree with this. Maybe the difficult children could go to the self contained room for their pullout. I know admins may not go for that but I would at least ask.

Don't beat yourself up. What you are going through is exactly what many of the sped teachers in my poor urban district are experiencing. It's a systemic issue. Districts have basically lumped kids into 3 groups, gen. ed, mild/moderately disabled, and severely/profound disabled without considering that the kids in these groups will have vastly different needs. Also, there is no real consideration given to students behavior needs. It's frustrating for kids, teachers, and parents alike. I'm sorry you're going through this. I know it's so hard.