I am a general education teacher. One of my students, who has an IEP, interrupts class several times a day. It is not uncommon for him to blurt out on- and off-topic comments, or start singing, or get up and leave the room.
I have been told that there is nothing the school can do about his behavior because the law is absolute. The district says 80% of our special education students need to be in general education classes 80% of the time. Is there a law that protects my general education students? Their education is being negatively impacted on a daily basis.
The law does not require that any percent of children be educated in general ed classes any percent of the time. If the district is using a formula (80%), they do not understand the “least restrictive environment” preference in the IDEA, which says,
“To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities … are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular education environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability … is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.” 20 U.S.C. 1412(5)(A)
Courts have held that educating a disabled child in general education (LRE), while preferable, is secondary to ensuring that the child receives a free, appropriate public education.
In writing the IDEA, Congress knew that some children have behavior problems and may be disruptive. If a child’s behavior prevents him or other children from learning, the IEP team should do a Functional Behavioral Assessment. As the general ed teacher, you can and should request a Functional Behavioral Assessment.
After this assessment is completed, the child’s team should meet to develop positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) and other strategies to change the child’s behavior. As the general education teacher, you know the behavior that needs to be addressed. You should be part of the team that develops positive behavioral interventions and supports.
We discuss these issues – children with behavior problems and other special factors – in Wrightslaw: All About IEPs. (Chapter 7)
This article about Functional Behavior Assessments will help you understand what needs to be done: https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/discipl.fab.starin.htm
Check the info on OSEP National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support at www.pbis.org
You’ll see that you have a state coordinator who is responsible for providing technical support and answering questions about how to implement PBIS. Contact your state coordinator for assistance.
Review this short article about behavior issues and other special factors in the IEP: http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/special-factors/
If you need additional help, review the articles on our Behavior & Discipline page at
www.wrightslaw.com/info/discipl.index.htm
Good luck!
I have a question. My son is in a special needs pre-k, all the kids have ieps. My son is high functioning autistic. Anyhow, there is a child in the class room that has extreme behavior issues and is dangerous to other children and teachers. How can we get this child out of the classroom? Our son, has been attacked while napping, I have witnessed this child throw chairs, books, toys, punch the teacher in back etc. Please help, the school and administration are useless. Thank you
At my school this is blamed on the teacher. They didnt plan properly or have poor management..obviously the nap atmosphere needs an overhaul and is to unstructured..pull ur child out..
I am working as a one-on-one with an autistic child which is very intelligent but very manipulative. They place me on this position but the team never told me about any behavior plan and I had to come-up with my own. The child compared with his behavior a year ago is doing great. Except for sometimes when he wants his way. Then he pushes, and threat teachers and peers. Still I am using my behavior plans as the team has not said anything of one been written for him. Mine is working but the problem is that since I am a paraprofessional I have to stay away when the others want to take over when behaviors occurs. I feel you Stacie. Even though this is not my child I get mad when everyone is on his case and does not understand how he feels and instead of helping they escalate the behavior more. Anything or tips anyone can give me to help with this more than I am doing now will be greatly appreciated.
Untill you have a special needs child you have no idea what it is like and how degrading it is for them to be excluded from the other kids. My son is a special needs child but with an average IQ. He was in a regular school but when he had an episode and ended up in the hospital the school said enough and put him in a level 4 school. Now we are fighting to get him back to a regular school. He has no friends with no similar interests or background at this new school. I agree that you want all kids to have a good experience at school but it shouldn’t be for only those kids without a medical issues. My son should have field trips, technology class, art class, valentines day parties, etc.. He no longer can have those things. He knows he is excluded or put in a special “jail” school because of his medical issue. He can’t have friends or do normal things because of this. It is so depressing to see an 8 year old so unhappy at a point in his life. I’m frustrated because the regular school didn’t provide the paras like they said they would. Nor do they hire qualified individuals. My son is perfectly fine in karate class when a well qualified special ed teacher runs the classes. It is the only interaction with other kids he gets all week. My son should have a positive education experience. Not saying he needs to be in every class with regular kids but he should be in a regular school and able to participate in all the regular school activities.
Thank you so much for pointing this out. My child is adhd and has behavior problems. He disrupts the class as well. I was looking for different “tools for his toolbox” to help out. I read this and was infuriated. I know the GE teachers parent trained on this area, but to try and exclude a child is just ridiculous. This teacher needs to get with the times and either consult on a behavior plan with the people doing the IEP or test some techniques themselves. These children grow bored very easily and most have impulse control issues. I know its hard to deal with such children , but i think the lesson plans need to be more hands on and multi-sensored. Kids arent meant to sit still for long periods of time. I am adhd and tell you what. My multi-tasking skills are unbelievable.I’ve conquered many office jobs, but the sitting was not my forte no matter how busy i kept myself. I have found that bartending/ waitressing is where i belong. Its all about honing in on their most valuable assets and TEACHING them how to cope with impulses and boredom. They shouldnt punish the child for being different just because they cant handle a different situation.
So your child’s rights comes at the expense of other children in the classroom. Are they not deserving of an education? Furthermore why should lesson plan be more hands on? I am tired of parents like you that think your child’s rights trip the other rights to be in the classroom.
Every single child deserves an Education, disruptive or not. This falls on the teacher for not having appropriate classroom management skills. I am so tired of lazy teachers blaming these poor kids. There are resources available for teachers to help in these situations, (getting support from your Principal is the easiest route). Ive worked in both GE and inclusion classrooms and its just a matter of changing your Teaching style to fit YOUR students.
I sincerely hope you are not a teacher with that attitude.
I’m sorry, Debbie, but that is ridiculous, and very clearly demonstrates that you are not a teacher. Teachers are already dealing with overcrowded classrooms of 30+ kids with individualized needs. Now, perhaps we need to separate this discussion by age, but when these students get to high school? If a student has a “rage disorder” or no impulse control or lashes out when he/she is angry, that child’s right to an education should not be allowed to trump the other 29 students who are trying to learn. It is unfair for each of those students to lose instruction time because a teacher must spend 30% of that time dealing with disruptive, aggressive behaviors.
My kids deserve an education too. It’s not fair if any student disrupts their learning. I’m lucky. I figured this out early. I’m a public school teacher and had a student my first year teaching who was a physical threat to the other kids. No way, would I put my kids at risk. They go to private school where behavior problems are dealt with. My brother is autistic so I’m very aware of special needs students. He was non-disruptive/nonviolent. He deserved to be in a peaceful environment too.
Yes every child deserves an education but it’s unfair to blame a teacher and say they have poor classroom management skills because they have an incredibly disruptive and defiant child in their class. That doesn’t make them lazy. When a teacher has an extremely disruptive child in their class it can CONSUME their entire day. It’s unfair to the teacher and the other students. A teacher can make accommodations, but asking that teacher to change absolutely everything they do (that works for all the other children) to accommodate one child is unreasonable. The amount of support teachers get is unbelievably low. Support teams basically just suggest you try different variations of behavior charts or a fidget tool with these students that DON’T work.
To be academically successful, more than three decades of research tells us students with learning disabilities require explicit and intensive instruction targeted to meet their specific learning needs. The general education teacher has neither the training nor the flexible time to provide this type of instruction. By training, they are exceptionally good at providing instruction across the content areas, organizing curriculum and guiding classroom learning. But they do not have specialized knowledge about processes involved in the development of reading or mathematics skills that would allow for the type of explicit, diagnostic and responsive teaching required by students with persistent learning challenges.
I agree Marcus. It’s only the 1st day of school and the special needs student in my daughter’s 5th grade class threw multiple “fits”. today and had to be physically removed from the classroom multiple times. This is extremely disruptive. That 1 person is invading the learning time of 25 other kids. It’s unfair and should not be allowed.
Please write your congressional office. This is epidemic in most schools. Everyone who has this concern should write and tweet their congressional office. There has to be a more productive learning environment suitable for all children but trying to blend special education children who have severe adhd or emotional development challenges with general Ed is failing for everyone. If you add up time lost your child could be losing a month or more of learning in the classroom by years end.
Unfortunately the well being, safety, stability, security, comfort and level of education the rest of the students in his school were reviewing are priority over your son wanting to cause havoc in an educational institute clearly not suited for his needs. It’s completely unfair on the other children.
So throw your hard to handle child in a regular school? Nope
I feel for each and everyone of our children out there. I was a gen.ed. teacher for 12 years and have been in special ed for the last 6 and I have a grandchild with special needs. I believe the problem is that we are ignoring the Individual part of the IEP. Here’s the deal…this child is not getting what he needs to advance either educationally or socially and the other students are not getting what they need. Sometimes a behavior plan works and sometimes the student needs to be put in a smaller setting with trained staff who can focus on helping this child acquire the skills they need to ..stand up for themselves, to discover their learning style, to control some of their actions to become a functioning member of society. We need to put the Individual back into the IEP and stop worrying about fitting them into the 80%, etc.
These children who are severe like my son can not control their actions, they have a brain disorder. They are not doing this just because they want to act bad. Autism is brain damage, and until you face that fact your going to get no where in terms of what you are trying to accomplish. Instead of throwing suffering families, and children in jail you should go to government about this issue. I can not do it alone, and expect change. You think that sweeping it under the rug will solve the problem by putting these suffering children in jail when the next day you could have another child doing similar behaviors back in your class.
The desire of parents to have their special needs students integrated into general education is laudable, although it can also be overzealous and misguided, specifically when it comes to students with lower cognitive functioning. These students are targeting a different set of goals than the general education population and require different resources to achieve their goals. While interaction between special needs and general education students can be beneficial to both it can, and more frequently than we would like to admit, is a detriment that hampers all students. As others have said, the focus needs to be on the Individual component of the Individual Education Program. Many special needs students progress much better outside the general education stream. Sadly some parents get so fixated on a “normal” life for their child that they push administration and teacher into levels of integration that harms everyone.
So agree! Nicely put!!
Yeah, because government solution ALWAYS work. I am a 12 year general education teacher who is overloaded with classes full of special ed kids. Many of these kids can be successful in the class, but other cannot and administration does a disservice to all parties involved by shoe-horning kids who belong in a small, more individualized class setting into general education classes. The majority of my gen ed kids are not getting the education they deserve because of the behavior challenges of some of the special ed kids. I am told I have to deal with it. In this case, the failure starts at the top and trickles down to the bottom where people such as myself are left to deal with inability or unwillingness of the “leaders” to properly address the problem and place ALL students in a setting that is appropriate for them.
I am a special ed teacher, have been since 1975. If I were a special needs parent, I’d be having a cow over inclusion. IT DOES NOT WORK FOR EVERY STUDENT. This one size fits all is a travesty to all concerned, except to the whiny parents who cannot accept their child is a royal pain in the butt and needs to be in a pull out class because of the constant disruptions. On the other hand, I have two seventh grade students whose reading levels are GE 1.1. That’s grade level one. In seventh grade. My heart aches for these two…
You have no idea! This is my 3rd year in special ed, and the disservice that is brought upon my special ed students with having them in inclusion classes is horrifying. I have students in 7th grade who read and do math on a 3rd grade level, yet they’re expected to keep up with 7th grade standards. If I were their parents, I would be pitching a fit with the school board!!!!
Sorry I have to go with someone who has been teaching since 1975.
My son is in his thirties now and a functioning member of society, with a good job and strong ties to volunteer groups that he has served in for many years, but when he was a kid he had a lot of problems. He’s severely dyslexic and has ADD and he absolutely could not cope in a regular classroom. I didn’t want him “included.” I wanted him educated. I didn’t think the world revolved around him, or that he was so special that his right to be disruptive was more important than the other students’ right to learn.
I demanded a special day class for my son. I fought for a year, with a learning disability advocate by my side, to remove my son from the regular school environment. I won that fight and he made wonderful progress in the special day class and finally got a good education.
what are a general education student’s rights when it comes to the implementation of another student’s accommodation plan? An allergy student with a 504 plan is in class, and the accomodations provided are excessive and impacting other students (excessive hand washing, etc). Do the general education parents have the right to refuse their child be held to these accommodations?
Are u serious????
After spending time in the local schools in recent years, it seems that expectations and resources are incompatible. What I saw were teachers beyond their capacity – or that of any human – to meet all the disparate needs of the students. The students who don’t have some sort of Plan or designation, are ignored in the process of meeting the needs of those being monitored for the purpose of statutory compliance. So, equity would appear to be that no one gets an adequate education in many of our public schools. I found that teachers don’t speak out lest they risk loosing their jobs. And, I have witnessed first hand, administrators lying to themselves and everyone else since what is being asked is beyond the ability of the system to deliver.
Severe behavior problem students should not be in the regular ed classroom. Students are in fear of these children and cry on a daily basis. Behavior people come in with all their props to try to use as incentives- but this does not change the behavior. Sadly until the child hurts or kills someone- will anything be done. Teachers are leaving in droves to get out of the classroom. If you are a parent- I would go above the admins heads- call the district….tell them you are concerned for your child’s life and if this severe behavior hurts your child- file a restraining order to keep that kid away from your child- you do have rights.
Though a student may have different needs than others, that does not mean that they should not be in the regular ed classroom. These students need a peer model on how they are expected to act – how are they to get this model if they are put away in a different room. Furthermore, if a student had violent tendencies, they would not be left alone in any special that has historically agitated them. By having general education students in a room with peers who have special needs, they are learning how to work with people who are different from them as well as developing strategies to help themselves stay on task, even when there are other distractions in the room (like a behavior). It sounds like everyone needs a course on compassion.
I am compassionate, but when one child disrupts so often it is literally robbing the other children their right of education and growth. With the many expectations placed on the public school system to meet increasing standards, behavior is of great concern. We do need to be concerned with the majority of students in the classroom receiving what they need when one child is consistently out of control.
Emily, apparently you haven’t spent time in the classroom with these kids. We all have compassion for them but sometimes they need a smaller learning environment where their emotional needs can be met. They are being overwhelmed by being in General Ed. classrooms. We could serve them much better by having them in an ED classroom and eventually transitioning them into the regular classrooms. There are some students that need more than we can possibly give them!!!!!!!!!
Thank you emily! You said exactly what I wanted to say.
So I’m the parent of those of those behavior children you mention – let me tell you how they are treated by staff and peers – my son has been in general ed AND in self contained behavior class. People like you were so angry about him getting upset and tearing up another child’s artwork, but didn’t care at all when the kids in the lunchroom made fun of him because he acts childlike and has weird interests. My son has autism and a disease that is causing lesions in his brain. Yes he has come a long way and worked hard at it. I wish I could say the same for the “normal” gen ed students; they’ve never learned compassion or how to be an upstander against bullying.
You’re right- kids have little empathy and I dread the day I have to drop my 2 year old off at kinder. He is ‘normal’ but what I see as a teacher makes me want to just keep dropping him off at his grandparents until he is 18… seriously though children with special needs make my day in my gen ed class, but they need more than just me. Also sped parents ur slacking I do all the rewards no parent has ever said ‘here is A treasure box to help with his sticker chart, i buy everything and with 8 ieps in a class of 30 last year it gets expensive. My own kids have gone without. Dont get me wrong they are probably still spoiled but please dont believe the people who say teachers are lazy and dont care..those are fighting words
My son is almost 8 and has an OHI (Other Heath Impaired) IEP. Due to this, he is sometimes disruptive in gen ed classes. After a lame attempt at resource help, the school moved him to a new school in the district into an ed/bd class where his behavior worsened due to the age group of the kids in his class. The District my son is in is awful and does not do enough to help keep students in gen eds.
when I was in elementary school I would cry, sometimes it was because i didn’t understand the work but most of the time it was because i was being bullied from my classmates. I was kicked out from my class, I send most of my school hours outside, because of this i was behind my classes with reading and math. I was put into ED classes and until high school, i was told i was placed in the wrong classes. now I am working to be a ed teacher and change this. there are so many children like me
This is a very complicated problem. I work as a speech language pathologies at an elementary school in Florida. I believe children with behavioral problems do NOT belong in gen ed. There are children with low IQ and severe Autism to name a few that cry out, yell dis robe, hit other students and teachers and throw things that should not be in gen ed. These students take a significant amount of time away from the class by distracting the teacher trying to manage the behavior. Some low functioning students without extreme behaviors can add positively to a gen ed class. I do not believe that seriously and consistently disruptive children should be in gen ed classes. It does not help them or the gen ed students. Behavior plans do not help all students. There has to be a way to teach all students for sure but the very disruptive either low or high iQ should not be mainstreamed until behaviors are properly controlled.
And Nancy I do not believe children with learning disabilities should be in a general education classroom either they take up the teacher’s time, they slow the classroom down and make the teacher teach to them and not to the regular kids…….your attitude towards those with behavior issues is disgusting, saddens me you are in the position you are in.
I agree. I am horribly depressed over my son with behavioral issues. The school has put him in the setting he is now. I have taken him to doctors, you name it. I don’t understand myself as the parent and there’s not many resources for us – it’s a depressing life
Sometimes, if the right supports/accomodations are available, a child can succeed in a gen ed class with behavior issues. My 8 year old has autism and adhd and is constantly in trouble for behavior. He’s an average student with the ability to do very well if motivated. The school has deemed him “not autistic enough” for the autism self-contained classroom and are reluctant to give him more than an hour of special ed daily (which is used to take tests and practice social skills as well as writing assignments as he does all of those typed due to dysgraphia). We’ve been begging for a 1-on-1 because we know that keeps him on task–we have absolutely zero behavior issues at home when we stay on top of him, but the school refuses. Blaming us or him does little good because it’s not our fault.
The law says that any child with a disability has the same right to a FREE education as a child without a disability. That does not necessarily mean that the disabled child has to be in General Education. It does mean that the school district has to provide and pay for any accommodations necessary to provide the education. If it cannot be accomplished in a regular class, they need to pay for private school or whatever else is needed to educate the child. I do not believe that any parent of a disabled child in their right mind wants to deprive any other child of a safe quality education. The responsibility to adhere to the law is pushed onto the classroom teacher without providing the necessary resources. The school district and state legislature have to be held accountable and responsible!
Amen sister!
I understand that some parents who have students diagnosed as having a LD, or an ED , want their child in a reg Ed setting. As a reg ED teacher, this is a very difficult situation. The special needs child as well as the reg Ed students are cheated. Special Ed students deserve to be in a smaller setting. I have seen way too many times how these students are just miserable. Most of them realize that they are not academically or emotionally inept like their peers–this frustrates them and its so embarrassing to them. Something needs to be done because It is killing the American Classroom, not to mention the educator.
Our answer or societies answer to most problems is to swing the pendulmn as far to the other side as possible. NCLB was put into place to fix a wrong. Special Needs students deserved access to the same academic rigor as their peers. That is true of those who’s needs are for the most part physical. Those students who have learning disabilities and behavior disorders require greater support. That support cannot be expected to happen in a gen ed classroom. I am a teacher in a district high school behvior support program. This has been a contained classroom for disruptive students. The past couple of years they have worked to move our kids into gen ed. classes. This is a nightmare for our teachers and limits my ability to work with them on positive behavior strategies. Write your senator and congress, this cannot continue.
I have Autism and Complex PTSD from being abused psychology by emotionally disturbed students. I don’t understand why students who behave like horror film villains are allowed in public schools. I as is typical for PTSD survivors blame myself for not yelling, screaming more when these students abused me. Instead I was punished for trying to run away from them in terror.
I ended up gaining validation for what I went through being wrong from horror films. I lived through a life that is the type horror films depict. Students finding me, scaring me to tears, again again and again. I finally resorted to self-harm and mental dissociation. Why do children have less protection than adults from violent abusers than adults?
You don’t get Autism from being abused. Open up a book once in a while and educate yourself.
She wrote that she has post traumatic stress from what she went through in school. Autism is a separate issue. Don’t be so judgy!
Autistic 7th grade student is making many disturbing sexual remarks to the girls. The girls and the boys feel very uncomfortable
with his behavior. He was sent to my class after 2 months being in a restricted environment with other Autistic students. This boy has many advocates but what about my regular students who need to learn in a safe environment where they won’t feel harassed.
I need you input regarding this situation.
What is the aggressive out of control child learning in the classrooms described in these postings? Not very much I suspect. In the pre-school, elementary years, these children should be in an environment with lower student/ teacher/ paraprofessional ratio. Once kids get past the elementary school age if they have not learned to sit and not be disruptive, violent or aggressive, they need to continue in that type of environment. By middle, and high school the child is too big, too strong to restrain safely. We have a H.S. student who is so violent we have to remove the class to another room when he acts up. All they are learning in this class is that the school district has let them down and that the law can be an excuse to do nothing. Not all students benefit from mainstreaming. Parents know their child. Choose an appropriate setting.
My kid is becoming special needs from being around special needs kids. The teacher as 2 special needs kids that I know of… my kid average is now the Horse Whisperer…while teacher works on coming Johnny down my kid as to calm down the other out of control kid. My kid comes home and treats his kid brother the same way the 2 needs kids treat him and the rest of the class. Teacher acts like it’s normal and principal says I’ll talk to the kids. Ugh? If they need medicine give it to them… if they don’t know right from wrong they need not be in the room. The woman who said her kid has to sit across from the kid that sings??? I feel for you…how about seat my kid at your desk teacher — that way she doesn’t have to be a dog whisper – your kid is probably good – they put a good one with a bad one HOT and COLD and hope for luke warm.
This is the new reality in Chicago until a BD or ED child kills a Gen Ed student. Right now self contained classrooms are being eliminated throughout the CPS public schools. ED (emotionally disturbed) as well as BD (behavioral disorder) are being dumped in Gen Ed. This is not to mention the students who are LD (learning disabed) which are recognized. The Gen Ed teachers are being loaded up with IEPs. The IEP will state that the Gen Ed teacher modify the lessons in science or social studies. What is happening is that the students are being sent to the computers when the teacher teaches science or social studies. That is how their needs are being met. How are they getting away with it is a mystery to some. They looked at what the definition of least restrictive environment and eliminated a few of the words.
Actually it was an *****Autistic****** kid who killed all those poor kids at Sandy Hook – stop badmouthing ED/BD kids……
I am a special education teacher in a general education classroom. I have two disruptive and emotionally disturbed children in my room who frequently have “meltdowns” and yell, hit others, destroy property, sing loudly, and run out of the room. I taught my other students to sit quietly, read and ignore their behavior. One of the students with the emotional disturbance runs around the room and takes the other children’s books and destroys them. He also kicks the students in line and tries to slap them. Some of my students are frequently absent due to this child. If I were six years old I would not want to come to school to put up with this either. The ED rooms are full at our school so this apparently is the new “normal.”
As a general educator I am saddened by nearly every comment on this site. Clearly no 2 situations are ever the same. I have had many students in my class with a very wide variety of abilities, and most have done very well within their capabilities. However, there are students who just need considerably more support. Laws, guidelines, budgets and administrative red tape do obstruct our path! I’m speaking mostly to the extreme behavioral students who impact the learning of the other 95% of the students on a daily basis. My only advice: work together! As a united team you will get so much further than simply railing against teachers, administrators, parents, or other individuals.
What can be done to protect children who are in a classroom with a violent student. When their educational oppoprtuntiy is being impacted by a child who scream obscentities, hits and kicks students and teachers, throws furniture, is there nothing the parents of the other children in the classroom can do about this one child who is stealing the instuctional time from their children?
This comment addresses my understanding that IDEA means “all” children receive a fair and equal education. PLEASE remember the word “ALL,” meaning that this includes typically developing children also. Three of my own children have varying degrees of LD along with other comorbidities, and throughout their school years I have heard various “suggestions” from educators about “what to do” with my children, some of whom would say that my child could “move” about the room to complete his/her class work to which I would say. One of the rules of society is to learn to wait our turn, and children who are not able to do this in an inclusive classroom can have provided for them, “a least restrictive environment.” I for one choose to have my children learn to understand & live by societal rules, as not all people will be as accommodating.
The inclusion of behaviorally disruptive special education students in the regular education classroom has, is, and continues to destroy classrooms, destroys the percentage of active instruction occuring, destroys the opportunity of regular education students to receive and engage in an environment conducive to learning. Special education is virtually non-existent. The regular education instructor without voice is being dumped on with CD, EBD, ODD, DD, ADHD, ADD; while the regular education student suffers through the day with the negative effects of these students in the class daily with all their legal rights. This doesn’t begin to address the cost of these students; professional psychological staff on-site and in the budget of schools while the art, music, gym, theatre, computer technology and sports become a past thought.
My daughter, who is occasionally quite disruptive herself, has been seated in a grouping with a little boy who handles stress balls and talks to himself continually. He is facing her, so this is not only distracting, it interferes with her ability to hear her teacher. When she asks him to stop, she is chastised…so she has to just sit there and not hear. I can understand the desire to integrate special needs students into the classroom…but not at the expense of the other children’s education. While I want my daughter to be kind and accepting of all people, I don’t want her to have to forego her education because she’s accomodating a special needs child.
My 11yr old daughter has been in counciling and om medications since she was 5. I have been through hell and back with the school trying to get her put in a class that she can feel comfortable learning in and I hear, “she isn’t bad enough “. What does your child have to be like to get in a class to learn? She has never had good grades or even passes her ISTEP tests but yet she has never been held back a grade either, I hear, ” if we hold her back she is more likely to drop out when she gets older.” Well I believe she is more likely to drop out later because she has no idea what she is doing in school because the teachers don’t want to deal with her and they pass her on to the next teacher. My point is, as parents of “regular kids ” you must feel so bad for yourselves that we parents of the disabled kids have our hands and feet tied.
I believe that a lot of the parents and educators are being very unrealistic about what they want or expect from our special needs children. If teachers would remember what they were taught in psych class they would remember that everyone has a different personality and different defense mechanism for every problem they are faced with. You can’t expect a child with a mental disorder to behave perfectly just like we don’t expect your child without a disability to behave perfectly. Disabled children need the protection of his or her parents because as I have read here today there are more bullies than we thought, so it’s safe to say that if this was a classroom you yourselves would be the “problem children “.
I think some of you are been unfair. The law says your children have to go to school. Parents have no choice sometimes in there child been in a regular class. I personaly feel like hey this is my child his needs are my concern not the other 20 kids i know that sounds mean and i am sorry but truth be told the school system is to cheap to pay for the kind of teachers theses kids need and alot are over the top mean so i am going to keep my opinion and worry about my own childs education and parents if u dont like it tell the school system to get off there butts and provide the kids the right kind of educational needs in the first place until them no one and i mean no will mistreat my child
Your bold to say anything about trying to have a normal – meaning a quiet well diciplined, forcused class, like what I had when I was a kid. I personally think that it’s important to have a smooth, calm day in the classroom for the teacher and students so that everyone can get the maximum learning. I’m old school and I sympathize with what teachers are forced to contend with on a daily basis. It’s unreasonalble expectations from the parents of autistic children, to think that all is normal in the classroom and it dosn’t affect other children because — your right, it does. My child comes home after school and tells me who kept screemining, who threw a chair, who attacked him, who was rolling around on the floor doing a hissy fit, who ran around with their pants down. Sympathetic? People let’s get real! How this affecting their education
As science teacher, emotionally disturbed, disruptive children have no business in a regular ed classroom. I have easily dealt with learning disabilities, modifying assignments, modifying tests and finding easier ways to explain the subject matter. What we can’t deal with are the mentally disturbed students. No regular ed student should ever have to put up with their problems. In our system, they are eventually sent to an alternative school. This gives the rest of the class their right to an education.
Disagree— learning disabled kids shouldn’t be there either…they slow the class down you shouldn’t be modifying ANYTHING for them….I have an ED/Autistic child who has been through the self contained ED program, now back in gen ed fulltime and doing AWESOME , he can outsmart any learning disabled child any day of the week—reads on a 6th grade level (in 5th) and I don’t want any learning disabled child slowing him down
And what is that suppose to mean? It is not the LD children that are making the problems, most of them want to learn also. we are talking about emotionally disturbed children, that make it hard for everyone to learn not just general Ed children, but also children with LD. This thing of taken all children with problems and putting them all in one group, for the school to save money is the problem.And as you can see it now, even general Ed is feeling the burden. what we have here is not just a educational issues, but also a financial issue.
This is in response to Shanda’s comment. I am a speech therapist in a large district in north Texas. I deal with special ed. students all day with disabilities ranging from simple articulation to extreme emotional disturbance and autism. The majority of them do just fine in the general ed. classroom. There are those whose behavior is so severe and disruptive that on some occasions the other students were removed from the room for their own safety. I agree with you that everyone deserves an education but not at the expense of everybody else. I have seen children as well as teachers(one of whom was knocked unconscious) injured by these students and only by shear luck was a lawsuit not filed. So much class time is lost dealing with these behaviors. We bend over backwards for these special ed. kids at the expense of the others.
I have a kindergartner in the fall who I want in a regular class 75% of his day. He has behavioral problems which are better now that he has meds and will require a para however he is academically strong and I feel he can do it and not disrupt the class with the right supports. They can’t learn if no one teaches them. Typical kids are no better than anyone else. It’s like discriminating black vs white. It is NOT right. The school is to educate ALL not just the regular. You don’t like it put your kid in private school they are selective like you.
It is not that your student does not deserve an education but if the special needs student disrupts the learning of any student special needs or not they should not put them in a gen Ed class for learning purposeses or safety of other student. If he can be in the room without disrupting learning then that is ok. Butt when a teacher has to spend most of the day dealing with bad behavior it hurts all student learning.
My question back to you is this- Does your child’s disruptive behavior management take priority over 25 other kid’s right to learn? Kids will be kids and have their moments, those are typical and I would not expect those kids to be excluded in Gen Ed. However, when a child is displaying behavior that is detrimental to the class/teacher and is provided concessions that my non-disruptive non special needs kid would NOT be entitled – you are basically saying your child has more and different rights than mine and the other 25+ kids in a classroom… so it goes back to your discrimination comment – who is really being discriminated against – my kid doesn’t get special treatment because she isn’t labeled!
My son has a mild learning disability but he is functional except when students who have major learning disabilities disrupt the class. He is in 4th grade and since kindergarten, he has encountered 3 special needs students who have side-tracked his education as well as others in the class. In kindergarten, a young boy with cerebral palsy created such a disturbance that 10 out of 22 kids had to go to remedial reading by second grade. In second grade, while my son was in remedial reading trying to catch up, another special needs student targeted him and other students for bullying. Now in 4th grade, a child who has IEP protection jumped on my son’s back in class to take away a pencil he wanted. His “shadow” had stepped away. I agree everyone deserves an education, just not at the expense of everyone else in the class.
Kathy,
I worked in a room as a para with such students who are disruptive. The para, or you, should have a behavior plan to address disruptive behavior. I agree–sorry if this offends some parents. I have a child in special education. It is very disruptive in a classroom with such a child. We have taken such kids out of the classrooms to give them breaks, modified work in the classroom,etc. I have sat in a classroom where I collected data on a student who had verbal outburst about every few minutes. The students became very fearful and cried. That data was enough for the school to better service the child. It is unfair to teachers to have such students in the class without behavior plans. Some teachers cannot complain and no one wants to go the parents as some parents will explode and cry foul. I feel your pain.
What do you do when you are the special education teacher and a student with very severe disabilities is placed in your room (because there is no other classroom for him). His outbursts, constant noise making, and trying to run about the room and throw things disrupts the learning of the other students in life skills. The other students are very functional students and cannot concentrate when such disruptions are constant!
The one below made me sad…”My child is 3 years old and not behaving in class…”
My goodness! He is 3 years old! Isn’t that the answer? He is simply too young to behave in a class setting. And we need to define “behave.” Is he expected to sit still for longer than he is developmentally able to do?
As I read this article, my heart sinks, you see, that child could be anyone of ours who deal with autism on a daily basis.
As a teacher you seem ill equipped to deal with the outbursts. Perhaps, and I know this will get me in trouble, you should consider taking some courses in special ed that may help you cope.
To me, a Grandfather of a 4 1/2 year old non verbal autistic Grandson who we have raised since a newborn, it seems a shame that this child will become the whipping post as the “normal children” see you struggle with dealing with this child.
I understand your frustration, there’s not one of us who deal with this daily that hasn’t had days where you could just cry, but that is of no help to the child.
We have to ensure that autistic children have proper schools built, adequate therapy and special ed teachers to help them cope.
My son is 3 years old and he is not behaving in class. What should I do? I need help.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of the functional assessment. Without understanding the causes of the behavior, much time can be wasted “disciplining” the child or trying to get alternative placement.
Try to see the child as a student who HAS a problem rather than a student who IS a problem. This approach models behavior that teaches acceptance and compassion to the entire class. We all will interact with people who have behavioral differences.
Behaviors related to a disability are outside of the child’s willful control. Imagine being looked at as a “trouble maker” for sneezing during allergy season, or needing glassed to see. And simply because a child is able to control a behavior one day, does not mean they can control it all days.
Classrooms could use a talented behavior controller along with the talented creative innovative teacher. These talents often don’t exist in the same person. Just like a physics genius may not be a good actor. Given this about human abilities. It’d be better if we had dual teaching classrooms.
Without this these extremely disruptive student (special ed or not) do take time away from the others education. Actually they take away about 30-45% of the instructional time!
The child u describe sounds exactly like my son. He is the elephant in the room. Your response to it is critical. Once the REGULAR students see that the teacher is frustrated by his behavior, it becomes open season for bullying. Believe me, this i know.
My husband and i have been fighting for 5 yrs. to have my son placed in a classroom where he is not the elephant in the room, only to be told that they can handle it and protect him. Still waiting. I would rather have my son understood than for him to come home from school, saying “I wish i were dead,”, ”Why does everyone hate me?”, Why am i so different?”
As a parent, I don’t believe he should be singled out in his classroom. Talk to the parent, be honest, and work it out. They may feel the same as I do, and prefer that he is placed where he better fits.
Your concern about “protecting your general education students” further perpetrates an “us vs them” mentality that implies a child with special needs is something one must be “protected” from. If his blurting out and disruptions are part of his disability, have you conferred with his team regarding behavior plans or successful techniques used in the past? Is there a LBS1 or aide in the room with you? Perhaps you can explore ways to incorporate this student into your classroom successfully or ways in which to make his time in your classroom more positive rather than jumping to getting him out under the guise of “protecting” the others. Part of being a teacher is teaching the students in front of you where they present.
We are in the midst of this situation, almost at the end of a second school year wasted. His diagnosis is Sensory Processing Disorder. I am beginning to think that a complete inclusion in the mainstream program is actually more restrictive and found this article as I navigate how to proceed. It is very much us vs them – at age 8 he is the subject of all that is wrong in his teacher’s class. ): but they do not have an SDC program and would have to release him to another district ie lose funding they receive for him and refuse to. Any words of advice?