If you have students with significant physical, medical, or academic needs in your classroom, it is often easy to overlook the basics of education in favor of the things that are functional. This isn’t a bad thing! In fact, I would say that 60-70% of your instruction in a significant needs setting SHOULD be on functional academics, regardless of the age of your students.

–HOWEVER–

Just because you are in a functional needs class, does not mean that you can skip basic academics.  In fact, many functional skills can not be completed without them! But if you have a student that has difficulty moving their arms or fingers, gives answers using Eye Gaze or is not a good fit for regular normed assessment, how are you supposed to gauge what they do or don’t already know!?

I know that I struggled with this for a long time.  I would get new students that used wheelchairs, or only communicated with icons and simply try to teach my functional curriculum or the district curriculum (Unique) without actually knowing if they even knew their basic skills such as numbers, colors, letters, etc! And as far as I knew, there wasn’t a good assessment available for these kiddos.  We had the Brigance and the WIAT available and both required students to either be able to talk or to receptively identify/point to the correct response on TINY little booklets.  Definitely not a functional way to assess learning for all of our kiddos!

So if you can’t find what you need, what do teachers do? You make your own!
I actually made the original version in my Pre-TPT days using Microsoft Word.  Junk? Maybe, but it worked! In fact, some of my pages of my official copy I use (colors, letters etc) are still from the original! If it ain’t broke…..

So how would you go about using these assessments functionally in your classroom?

My first recommendation is to ASSESS TO YOUR STUDENT!
The best part of these is that they AREN’T normed or scaled or blah blah blah.  While those can be great references for some students, our families usually already KNOW that their child is behind grade level.  Giving them this information again isn’t usually helpful.  This also means you can Test your kiddos how you know they will best tell you what they know.  For some students, I can put 2 – 4 icons on a felt board and let them use their hands to make a choice to the prompt e.g. “Where is the number 3?” for students using eye gaze only, I can hold the two icons on either side of their vision and give the prompt and wait for them to look at the response.  If a student has a 30 second wait time, be sure to USE IT!  If a student is only good at answering Yes/No questions, you can give questions one at a time as a Yes or No response, “Is this the letter B? Yes or No?”

Next: TAKE DATA AND REPORT IT OUT!
The data sheets included are intuitive and simple, but if you don’t know how to interpret them, then they are just data sheets.  So here are some tips for taking the data and how to report it out.   When taking the data during an assessment session, make sure that you are familiar and comfortable with the abbreviations/notations, or use what works for you.  A student getting a question right with partial physical prompting is VASTLY different than a student getting it right independently and unprompted.  Also be sure note wait times and number of times you had to repeat the prompt.   Secondly you will want to note trends in your data.  Does the student know their numbers but need help with Letters? Can you see that they get all of their consonants but miss their vowels? Did you even know that they knew all of those shapes?!
When you report this data, try to keep a strengths based approach.  Like I mentioned before, parents are often told time and time again by assessment after assessment that their child is “Below Average” or “Below Grade Level”.  How discouraging!   Instead of saying “Jaime doesn’t know his numbers or shapes.” you can say “Jaime is making progress on identifying letters, he has receptively ID’d 20/26 letters and is working on his shapes and numbers!”  Doesn’t that sound a bit more positive? And it gives the same information!

There are endless options and opportunities to allow students to demonstrate knowledge!  I am constantly shocked by my students.  Students who we thought could only answer Yes/No are accurately ID’ing ALL their shapes!  Students who can barely move their arms or legs are moving their eyes and telling me they KNOW IT! And telling their parents how much their child actually knows is just half the fun!

If you need to assess for highly specific things, feel free to make your own! But you don’t need to reinvent the wheel here! I have a Basic Academic Assessment with Level 2 coming in June, as well as 2 Levels of My Math Assessment already ready for you! Just laminate, velcro, and store in a binder and you will have these for YEARS!

Do you use eye gaze or icon assessments with your kids?  What was something you learned that shocked you?  Let me know in the comments!

How does your school run ESY?

If you are lucky, you can stay in the same class, with your same kids, and basically run the same program that you do over the school year (with a fun summer theme of course).
Some of you, like me, don’t even start ESY until late summer! (Ours runs July 2-27 this year!)

But not all of us in the SpEd world are that lucky.  I actually AM blessed by this in my current job, but that was not always the case!   I’m one of the weird ones who actually LIKES teaching summer school.  It always just seemed more “DayCamp”-y to me.  You can have water balloon fights, picnic outdoors, have water days or trips to the local pool, teach community skills and get PAID for it! Sign me up!  Here are some tips and tricks I picked up along my ESY teaching journeys.  I hope they help you too!

IF YOU ARE CONTINUING WITH YOUR SAME KIDDOS:

K.I.S.S. ( Keep it Simple, Silly!)

Okay, so this is an easy one! Pick a fun Summer Unit, continue with a similar schedule that you followed during the school year, and GO!  In all seriousness, if you have the same kids, you are already lightyears ahead of some of your peers.
I like to keep a VERY similar schedule to the school year, especially since some of my kiddos with down syndrome and Autism are routine driven.  Work on their goals, OT, PT, PE, etc. You already know what they need to learn, so just continue!

My Summer School Schedule looks like this:
8-9AM-  Arrival, Toiletting, Positioning, Independent Work
9- Snack
9:30- Recess
10- Circle/Morning Meeting
1030- Group Work
11- Bathroom, Hygiene
1115- LUNCH
1145- Music & Home!
So Simple and goes by so Fast!  The only things I need to prep are my group work for the day (I am following my new Summer Unit I just put up on TPT) and independent work stations for my kiddos who are able in the mornings.

Plan a few fun trips if you are able.  Even community walks count! Get out of the classroom, do some outside science experiments, explore your community!  Where I live, it will probably be in the high 90’s-110 the whole of summer school, so we are going to the Pool on Fridays, and a park with water features on Tuesdays.  We will have fun water based play, bubbles, etc for recess on days we are in class all day.

Summer School is a time to try new things! If they work, AWESOME! Incorporate them into your school year! If NOT, Oh well- it was only summer school 🙂

I remember vividly a parent that was adamant that his son would NOT do well at the pool, would throw a tantrum leaving, etc etc.  We took him anyways, primed him with a social story, and honestly it is some of the happiest pictures I have of the kid.  And guess what, NO TANTRUM! Some of my kiddos in wheelchairs, this was also the ONLY time they ever got to go to the pool! So explore on!

IF YOU ARE IN A NEW SITUATION:

First of all, try not to panic.  But also, try not to over-do EVERYTHING!

As a Special Education Teacher (or any Teacher for that matter), I know you want to be as prepared as possible.  When I taught out of my class for Summer School I was placed with a different age group, kids with behaviors, and a room on a campus neither of us were familiar with.  Stress City!
Here is how I survived:
1. USE THE PARAS- If they are the same para’s as the students are used to, you are GOLDEN! What is there schedule, what do the students like/dislike? ASK!
2. If you do not have access to the same paras that have worked with kiddos before, try to observe them before ESY.
3. If you have new Paras and you can’t observe them, can you talk to their Regular teacher? Send a quick e-mail just asking if there is a Sub Binder or anything else you can get your hands on (their routines, favorite activities, etc) to help your ESY go smoothly!
4.  Read the IEP’s.  Or at least the IEP’s at a Glance. You should be doing this anyways…. BUT I DIGRESS.  You don’t need to memorize it, but knowing if you will be dealing with behaviors, what level the students are at, etc can be super helpful in your planning process.
5. Make a schedule.  Find out about Specials like speech and OT,  ask if you can go on trips or if some are already planned.  Then create your schedule.  Remember, this is not the regular school year.  You can have a little scheduled down time! But remember that behaviors are way less likely to occur with any student if they know what is coming next. Write the schedule on the board or use visuals.
6. Invest an hour in a planner. Use a template (I love Chalkboard_Superhero or Joey Udovich, but there are hundreds of templates on TPT) and jot a group work or activity to try each day during that scheduled time. It might look like this:

Monday-  Group Work- Word Wall    Recess- Bubble Play
Tuesday- Group Work-  Vocab Spelling Activity  Recess- Walk
Wednesday- Group Work-  OT Cutting Skills     Recess- Water Painting
Thursday- Group Work-  Art Cut and Paste Sun Project    Recess- Outdoor Music
Friday- Group Work- Counting Activity    Recess- MOVIE DAY

Copy, paste, and edit for 4 weeks (or however long your ESY is).  Try not to repeat a lot or you will get bored staff and bored students.  But don’t make it overly complicated either!
Some things to look up on Pinterest to get some great ideas:  Sensory Play, Music, Summer Art, Recess Activities, Indoor Recess Activities, School Water Play!

Then all you need to do is add in your independent work/lessons.  This can be as simple as setting up pre-existing task boxes or printing worksheet lessons for students.  You don’t need to re-write the IEP for this one. Pick a few goals and focus on those.  If Johnny has a spelling goal and Counting goal (along with 10 more), focus on those two and prep those materials.  PRO TIP: Do it all Friday afternoon and you will be stress-free come Monday!

Well that’s all I got.  Actually no, I got a lot more but I’m sure you’re probably done reading and ready to start planning!  If you are interested in my Summer School Unit, click HERE.

And I hope you have a fabulous, cool, stress free ESY!

Hey there friends! Today we are tackling a toughie, scheduling of all of those adults in your room. If you have followed my blog for a while you probably know that when I signed up for my teaching program in special education, I had NO IDEA para-educator management was such a HUGE part of my job!  Seriously why haven’t teacher programs added this class yet!?   One of the biggest issues I have come across is scheduling all of those adults in your room to best utilize their talents and support your students.

Some of you are blessed with many paras (instructional assistants, aides, 1-1’s etc, I am including them all under the term para here).   Some of you are limited to 1 or 2 (if you have 0 and you are in special education please call your admin ASAP because something is not right!) and either way, scheduling is hard!

As you probably know, I would in an S/P class, K-6 with 5 using wheelchairs, 2 with behaviors, and 3 other significantly impacted students.  All of my students need hygiene support, and 6 needs eating support. This year I have 3 permanent paraprofessionals (2 from my County and 1 as a 1:1)  and one 1:1 provided by the district to support one of their students. When I started at this school 3 years ago, two of my paras had been in the same classroom for 20 years! That puts a lot of pressure on a relatively new teacher!  It took me a while to overcome my insecurities about being a young teacher, and I soon realized that a good relationship with your paras is more important than making sure everything is perfect with academics or data collection. I try to listen and be flexible, and if there is a project or activity they want to do or create I give them free reign.

This picture is an example of my schedule.  I try to keep One staff with 1 – 3 students (depending on needs) for two ‘shifts’; Before Lunch and After Lunch.
My Reasoning for this type of schedule (I call it, Man on Man Defense if you follow sports) :  Some students have significant behavioral, medical, or academic needs and need 1:1 support during certain aspects of the day.  Some students can be paired with Like students if they are at similar levels.  Staying with one student for a larger chunk of time helps reduce confusion of “who has Johnny right now?”, and also allows us to really focus on that student and learn more about them and their goals.

Every 3-4 months we switch up the schedule. Switching it up helps the students learn how to handle change as well as prevent staff burnout with certain more challenging students.

As many of you may know, my class has a variety of levels and learners.  We have students with little to no functional movement, students at grade level that use wheelchairs and eye gaze devices, and students with autism working on core skills.  It sometimes is difficult to design lessons with the variety of learners in mind.  What can I do that will challenge my higher learners, what can I do that some of my most limited learners can participate??

We are blessed with Unique Learning Systems in our County.  however when we first received this subscription 3 years ago, I was SO OVERWHELMED!  And if you have received Unique for your class of limited learners (or even those closer to grade level functioning) you probably were overwhelmed too!  That “Suggested Monthly Plan”, ha! How am I supposed to get through 30 lessons in a month of 16-20 school days, on TOP OF all of the feeding, medical, positioning, and toiletting support myself and my staff do in a typical day (we average 30+ diapers a day over here!). Over the years I have found a few core lessons and tips that I use every single month to allow students access to the curriculum, vocab, and lessons with less stress.   Hopefully they can help you too!

Our Unique Board shows parents and admin standards and instructional targets!

First things first, the Printing Guide:
The Unique Printing Guide is found at the bottom of the Monthly Lessons Page.  On the 7th of each month, the following Month is able to view.  This is great for prep time especially if you have access to a Print Shop.  Some districts have a Print Shop at their District Office that prints flyers, booklets, etc for various people at the D.O.  If your admin is willing, ask for Print Shop to print your lessons for you.  My Print Shop prints Our 2 Monthly Books and Binds them for us! They use cardstock so they last longer, and my class library gets bigger! Use the Printing Guide and Highlight or circle the pages you want printed out of the Large “All Lessons” PDF File, and send both (electronically) to your Print Shop!  Helped cut down on prep time and my ink usage.  My Printing Guide looks something like this when I send it in.

Monthly Checkpoints
By now, you have (hopefully) used the GPS in Unique to create Profiles for your students.  They basically tell you what level your teaching should be (1-3).  A GREAT tool, especially for IEP’s, is the Monthly Checkpoints.  We administer them at the beginning and end of each month as a pre-test and post test.  The Goal would be that if the student is exposed to the materials, core vocab, images and lessons, that they would score higher on the post test and show learning growth!  Now I’m not 100% sure of how accurate those results are at level 1, since the concepts are very basic (WH questions and counting) with errorless trials and prompting available.  But how cool as a parent to get this graph at an IEP?!
You can print out the questions and make them into manipulatives for students who need larger visuals or the ability to choose.  I print and velcro mine and administer on a felt board.  You can also use an I-pad or computer for higher level learners and set it up on internet enabled eye gaze devices!

Lessons 1-4 Books and Comprehension Questions

We use both Monthly books and the Level 1 Comprehension Questions in our classroom.  I have the Books printed but you can have them projected on your screens or download the power-point at the bottom of the Monthly Lesson pages (the power points have a much better audio voice telling the story!). I print the Level 1 comprehension questions and print an extra copy to make Icons for manipulatives. During our Circle I read the book and ask the questions using 2-3 icon responses depending on the students’ Levels. This helps them to get familiar with the characters and concepts for the month as they are referenced in the Pre/Post tests. The level 2/3 Pre and Post tests even have a content understanding section based on the books. The books come in 2-3 levels (usually E-F/D and B/A) so you can modify.  We switch the books every day.  Sometimes it can get boring and repetitive so I try to add in activities like Matching, Who Has X, Vocab etc when reading the books.  Repetition is good for our learners! There are usually some comprehension fun worksheets at the end of the Lesson 2/4 as well for table time!

Lessons 12 Vocabulary

This one is pretty simple, I print the Picture/Word cards for the month. Each day we go through them by asking students to “Find X” from a field of 2-3.  Then I ask for them back through “Who has the word X?”  We practice these words writing them out, tracing, creating and matching through the month! We also use lesson 18, Vocab sort as a fun activity.  You can keep these if you laminate them or print them as a cut and paste activity. They are also able to be used in student view electronically!

Lessons  6/7 9/10

These lessons practice Core Vocab Words and Rhyming words.  I only print the tracing sheets and the vocab match.  Then I print the icons and make it into a matching workbook.  I try to make them re-usable so that my students can use them to practice core vocab for years to come.  The rhyming words aren’t as big of a focus but are fun reading practice!

Lesson 19

Number Sense is usually a LOT of worksheets so you really need to determine what is appropriate for your students.  I usually Print the first section of worksheets and modify or print as worksheets as necessary. This is usually just a supplement of the number skills we work on in class.

Errorless learning in math skills

News 2 You

While we don’t focus on News 2 You in my class, it has some great resources for classrooms, I can almost argue that just by itself it can be used in a classroom.   I download the Holiday adapted reading and create Holiday activities based on it. I love how all of the articles have picture based levels to aid visual learners.  The articles change each week based on current events and there are many many worksheets and activities to go with them.

Other Helpful Hints!

Symbolstix is what we use as our icons in our classroom now.  They are just as expansive as Boardmaker, my only issue is that the tools to create your own boards are a little limited. I like that they directly correlate to our curriculum.

There is an aspect called Joey’s Locker that contains fun games for students to access on an I-Pad or Chromebook!  And students can access the lessons on their own by setting up a student view on Tablets or Chromebooks. This, as well as projecting on an Apple TV or Smartboard can help save a LOT of paper in your lessons! We do not have a lot of Tech in our classroom, I use a Computer screen during circle time but it works!

Benchmarks (found in GPS) are tests that measure basic skills such as matching, letter ID, etc.  You can retake the tests as often as you wish for each student and set targets and base learning goals off of the results!

The lessons are revamped but repeated every 3 years.  This means you can save all of your materials and you will most likely be able to use them again!  I have filed mine away to hopefully make prep easier in the future. And there are lessons like Science Experiments and recipes that can be used year round!

All in all, Unique Learning System is a great resource for Special Education Classrooms, but it should be taken at face value, as a resource to help cut down on prep time.  It may NOT fit all of your student’s needs and you may still need to modify and accommodate the lessons to fit your students. If you’re just starting out, pick and choose a couple of lessons to focus on that you think will benefit your students most.  It will take time to get in the swing of things so don’t expect to be able to do EVERYTHING right away!  Even a little bit for your students is better than nothing at all!

Leave a Comment with any questions, tips or tricks you have for implementing in your classroom!

Differentiation is one of the most common skills teachers need to have and need to develop.  Sadly, it is a skill that can get -forgotten- as demands on teachers increase.  For some it comes as second nature. Other teachers have to work a little harder at it, but like with all things teaching- it is a skill you can hone and practice and keep getting better at.

Differentiation is the overall teaching strategy that when effectively implemented includes varying assessments, gathering background data on your students, offering choices, and other things that just help you differentiate automatically. It doesn’t have to be as rough as creating 2-3 levels of worksheets for different students, and luckily, some software that schools use for reading and math differentiate automatically based on students’ performance on a brief assessment.

My special day class has students who are mainstreaming into general education classrooms.  Often there is a major disconnect between these two classes in terms of what can and cannot be done. More often than not, when a students is assumed that he/she can’t do something, or isn’t up to that level, the response is usually something like”Well they just don’t have to do that part,” or “He can skip it and do something else,”.  I’m sure guilty of it, I mean, who has the time to change your worksheet/paper/project for every little different student that walks into your room.   Well, YOU DO!  I’ve found from working with GE teachers and my knowledge of my student’s abilities provides the basic recipe for some quick “down and dirty” differentiation that takes no time at all.

Lets take this common 4th grade vocabulary worksheet.  You have a class of 28 and a special needs student is in your class for this hour of the day. Here are some Easy quick ways to differentiate. ***Disclaimer: I always send my mainstream kiddos with an aide for behavioral or limited motor reasons. If you don’t have a trained paraprofessional, you could always use a parent helper or peer tutor, even just a student in the class that always gets done quickest!**

For Students With Limited Mobility (cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, paralysis etc)
Limited mobility can present with learning disabilities or without. If the student has a device to aide in speech, you simply need a scribe to help with reading the paper and recording answers.  If there is no speech device you may have to resort to a more limited form of communication such as a 2-3 response answer or even a simple Yes/No.For example, I have one student who is below average grade level but mainly in our class because she has quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy. She has limited ability to move her arms but prefers to to make choices. She can do a yes by looking up and a no by lowering her head and slightly shaking it.
For her with this worksheet you could differentiate many ways, but the easiest, fastest way I have found is with flashcards.
For question 1- I would write ‘tonite’ ‘tonyte’ and ‘tonight’ on two flashcards and place in front of her. I would ask “Which is the correct way to spell the word?”, have her choose, and scribe her answer (Which means if she gets it wrong, then she gets it wrong! It feels weird as adults writing down the wrong answer and we can get tempted to want to correct, but just like the rest of the class, save the corrections for the teacher unless asked otherwise). This can be done with every sentence mistake.  You can make this easier by making “correct” and “incorrect” cards or even “yes” and “no” cards asking questions like “Is this word correct?”

Learning Disability
Learning disabilities can take many different forms and have multiple levels. You can have a 4th grader at a 2nd grade level or a Pre-Kinder level with a qualification of Learning Disabilities. Some simple modifications for this type of activity could be as simple of having them find only 1 mistake in the sentence or choosing what mistakes they find: “Find a spelling mistake” or “Find a punctuation mistake”.  For lower academic levels you could have the students practice their handwriting by rewriting the sentences as corrected by peers. You could also have them pair up with a buddy and help them by working on it ‘together’, peers make the best teachers!

Sensory Processing/Autism/ADHD
There are so so many sensory strategies for general education classrooms that I couldn’t possibly list them all here.  Children with Autism are usually seeking out or avoiding sensory experiences and the best way to find out which one your student is is to check the IEP or ask the special educator or OT that works best with the child.  Some options include: Printing on different colored paper, masking so only one question shows up at a time, larger sensory friendly pencils or pens, typing as an option instead of printing, working outside, alone, or with a peer, a sensory friendly seat such as lined with tennis balls or having a band tied around the legs for bouncing, a standing desk, headphones to block ambient talking and noise or provide soothing music.  There is so much more you can try!

Sure, you may get the occasional ‘neurotypical’ kiddo asking about why Johnny gets special treatment.  You can give them the whole ‘because I said so’, or you can point them to this graphic.  It’s a great tool to explain the difference between equity and equality and to explain that one day hopefully your classroom will reach the goal of removing barriers to learning altogether!

It is hard to believe that this is my fourth year as a teacher for special education, and my 6th in the field.
As an aide, I have worked in district Special Day Class, a Non-Public School for Autism, a Non-Public School for ED and severe behaviors, and as a teacher in a Self Contained High Behavior Autism Program, a higher functioning district Middle School SDC (with periods and grades and subjects, eek!), and currently in a County Special Day Class for Severely Handicapped students.
I can’t say that I actively enjoyed one more than the other these past 6 years because one of the best parts of special education is that every job is so so different! And each comes with its own challenges and rewards.
For example, in one previous setting, my aides and staff were amazing and so much fun to work with, but we had such high aggressive/self injurious behaviors we had to go into restraint 1-3 times per day. It was exhausting and I ended up using a lot of sick days just to recover mentally and physically from the day before.
This is only my second year with the county, and to be honest due to our life constantly moving between the Bay and the Valley, my second year teaching consistently anywhere!  And year two has come with just as many ups and downs.

The Ups:
Include working with the same staff (or mostly the same) and building a relationship with them.
Getting to know the kids better, working with the same kids and families for more than one year is great building consistency and for knowing what works best with them.
Getting to expand upon work, schedules, and new ideas brought into the class in the last year. It is nice to continue working on new curriculum, assessments and goals and really see progress as the years go on.
No big shake ups! As much as a secretly love re-organizing and rearranging classrooms, there was definitely way less stress this year knowing that

The Downs:
Having the same students means knowing what to expect, which can be good or bad if you have students with behavioral issues. For example, Knowing that a parent won’t come to an IEP gives you a good idea of what to expect out of them all year. Knowing that “Johnny” has marathon blowouts in his diaper every other day makes you a little hesitant to come to work when its your toileting day!
Schedule Shake Ups/Staff issues- Just because you are now here for your second year does not mean that things are going to change any more significantly than they had before. Issues that were unresolved or swept under the rug last year will not magically get better this year.
More expectations/less expectations.  In some ways, when you get in the swing of things, it leads to you expecting more from your staff and self, such as knowing what data to take to get great results. In other ways it can lead to complacency and laziness which I especially can fall guilty of.  Now in my 18th week of pregnancy, there was a 4-6 week period where I was just exhausted and did not want to work on any new stuff.  Movie Fridays occasionally happened on Wednesday afternoons and paperwork got a bit behind.

I tend to lean towards the moving and challenging myself in all aspects of life.  While I’m not sure whether I will stay in SH forever, learn more about BCBA, go for my admin credential, or even move into general education some day, I am so glad for this opportunity to be teaching students I love in a supportive and upbeat classroom for the second year.

It seems strange to have been a teacher for almost 3 years now, but in 3 different settings. While I am always up for a new challenge (and secretly love all of the organizing and classroom rearranging that comes with the change), there have been some drawbacks to go along with the positives of job change. So I thought for my first post in a while, I would highlight some.

Drawback 1: Classroom Clean out
While change can be a good thing, too much of a good thing can be overwhelming. As it was in my new classroom. The last teacher in my room had been there for over 30 years. 30 YEARS! That’s a long tenure for teachers to teach at all, let alone in special education. I am in awe. IDEA was barely passed back then! I can’t even imagine the things that she had to deal with. While this was great continuity for her kiddos and her aides, she kept a lot of the past in that small little portable. We spent our full two prep days at the beginning of the school year reorganizing, rearranging and trashing bags after bags of old, broken, outdated stuff. There is still a drawer in my teacher desk full of useless forms (like old power points from a 2001 training) and documents from 2006 and before. I had to stop myself from continuing the cleaning process into the school year and focus on actually teaching! But while organization is one of my strong suits, I would love to stay in a classroom long enough to not have to worry about cleaning and organizing every year.

Drawback 2: New Staff
The biggest drawback in my book is working with new staff. Not just aides, although since you work with them every day it is the hardest transition. The aides in my current classroom are great people, so kind and generous, some have been there over 18 years!  They have been great tolerating some changes to their day and the classroom operations, and I have had to change myself and my teaching and delegating ways to fit the staff.  It’s a PROCESS. And it takes TIME. They know the students better than I do, yet I am also the teacher and have learned a lot of different, new, and exciting strategies I am ready to try. You need to build working, collaborative relationships with your administrators, program specialists, and multiple therapists. One of the harder ones in a county setting is building relationships with the general education teachers on the site. Since we are not employed by the same group, I don’t get their emails, their training, or any real time with their teachers. Which means that opportunities building relationships with the general educators is few and far between.

Drawback 3: No Two Districts are Alike
No two districts are alike. And that goes double for county programs. For those unaware, when a student doesn’t fit into the special education programs that a district offers due to severity of condition, medical needs, or severe behaviors, the student is often referred to the county. Each district is different in what it offers. And each county is different in what classrooms it offers. Sacramento almost exclusively has SH (severely handicapped) and ED (emotional disturbance) classes with a few others mixed in.  If the child is too severe for the county, usually because of behaviors, than they would most likely be refered to a nonpublic school setting. I will be doing a post later on describing some CA programs in more detail. While it is pretty amazing the amount of variety in the special education teaching setting, it can be confusing moving from district to district to county. Everyone has different computer systems, IEP set up and processes, curriculum, admin procedures etc. It can be confusing and often aggravating doing something ‘right’ according to your last district and having it be so wrong!  It’s just one more thing to get used to.

Drawback 4: New Kids (and Families)
I love getting and meeting new students. In my book, one of the best parts of special education is figuring out the students, their likes and dislikes, and getting to know their quirks and what makes them smile. It is a huge downside leaving my previous students and families, especially when we are just getting into a rhythm and getting to know each other better.  I can always tell that the parents are never happy to have to get to know new teachers each year and I know that its a huge bummer for the kids having to fall into a new routine and a changing curriculum.

I could go on an on about the differences in my past three programs (and more if you count my time as an aide). I am grateful for the opportunities to work in such different settings and experience so much, but I am also very happy to be in one place (for now!)

Sadly, I have to give up my job at my Middle School to move 🙁 J got a job and we are moving so that we can finally live together for our first year of marriage! I will definitely miss everyone and my wonderful students. However, I am very excited about my new job with the County! It is in a Severely Handicapped classroom at an elementary school. Although elementary is not my forte, I am so happy to get back to students with more significant disabilities. As much as I loved my students and getting a chance to do common core and curriculum, my heart truly loves art, music, functional skills, independent living skills, and community based instruction! Plus from what I understand from the principal of my program, since the county deals with mostly special education, the resources available and training for staff is much more applicable than at a district where more of the teachers teach general education students.  I am a little nervous about the new staff, a few of the aides have been there for 10+ years! And also about the logistics of working in a county classroom in a district run campus. Hopefully there will be a lot of integration and inclusion.  More posts to come once the stress of the move passes!

It’s the end of the school year, and I’ll bet many teachers, and kids, are feeling a little ‘burnt out’. But real professional burn out is no joke.

When I was in grad school for my special education credential, they warned us all, “the burn out rate for special education teachers is 5 years”. In just 5 years, most special education teachers move to other careers or leave the profession. In some states, they have less than a 10% after 1 year!!  At the time, as a grad student and instructional aide, I was thinking to myself, ‘No way, that’s so short, I’ll make it to retirement, I can do better than those people‘.

Man, was I naive. But not for the reasons you may think. I am still employed as a SpEd teacher. I am not planning on leaving anytime soon, and I am confident (or at least hoping) I will make it to 5 years.   But I can see where these stats come from! Burn out, or attrition in the fancy technical term, has been a problem for special education teachers ever since special education moved to the mainstream, and for many reasons.

First, you have life getting in the way. Most teachers coming out of school (not all, I am generalizing here) are around the age that they begin starting families, or already have them.   I know that J and I have discussed me staying home for a year or two when we have children, and I’m sure other teachers have had familial obligations take them away from the job.

Another reason I have personally seen is lack of training.  Many special educators do not realize the extent of their duties (diapering a 16 year old, dealing with severe aggressive behaviors, etc) before they come on the job. Most teacher training programs have the students complete limited observations or ‘student teaching’, but each special education room is SO different. An ED classroom is miles apart from an Autism classroom. An academic special day class is completely different than a functional one. And what they do in a nonpublic school is considered crazy from a public school perspective.  The truth is that you are never truly prepared for a new job in special education.

Parent and Social support is often another reason teachers may leave. Parent support  can range (as in any classroom) from helicopter parent to absentee parent, however when the child has special needs, the communication need rises and conflicts almost inevitably arise. Parents need to be present for meetings, behavior support at home and at school, sign medical forms, deal with special diets, etc. If parents and teachers are not on the same page, it can be some of the most stressful days of your career. In general, the public tends to undermine teachers. “Oh you get summer off, you’re soooo lucky” “You get off at 3, your job must be so easy!”  Personally, I don’t know any teacher who has had a whole summer off, or leaves the school at 3. The lack of support and people undermining what teachers do can be really annoying and  degrading.
(Having a school board vote on whether I get a raise or not after spending 0 days in my classroom, UNFAIR, but that’s a conversation for another day).

But speaking of Pay Scales- Program supervisors, program directors, behavior analysts, speech therapists, etc., all often make more than special education teachers. So why wouldn’t I think about advancing my career (and my payday) but getting another certificate or degree and moving up and out of the classroom? When there are other career options in your field, it is natural for teachers to look to other jobs.

Dealing with other staff members is another way special educators can have added stress in their lives.  There is no college course in how to manage your aides/paraprofessionals, yet that is so much of your job. In some schools, you are their supervisor, trainer, evaluator, or scheduler. Although you have this role, when you get too many adults in the room, there will inevitably be issues (especially as a young teacher with older paraprofessionals).  As a Special Educator, you are also responsible for coordinating with OT’s, PT’s, Speech Therapists, Administrators, Principals, and General Education teachers! Getting reports back, student’s scheduled, IEP’s scheduled, and paperwork from everyone on a child’s team can be time consuming and frankly ridiculous.

One of the biggest issues I have heard of in other states is teacher evaluations. I have been fortunate enough to work in CA where my performance is not judged by student test scores and men in suits at the capitol.  However often teachers in other states’ jobs are on the line based on state test scores that do not take into account student disabilities or IEP goal progress. Talk about stressful!

Burn out does not only affect the teacher; when a teacher is burnt out, the students can tell. It is stressful for the students to have a teacher who is on their ‘last hair’. They can tell you don’t want to be there and they in turn, do not want to be there. It puts everyone in a foul mood.

With all of these things pitted against you, what are some tips to keep yourself stress free and happy in your job?
Here are some of my personal suggestions:

• Take a ‘you day’. If possible with your budget and sick days, take a random Wednesday, get yourself pampered, run errands, lay by the pool. Do you for 7 hours! Although we get weekends off, they are often full of family, planned events, sports, and commitments. Take a day and do everything you need or nothing at all.
• Focus on why you are in this job! Take a minute to write out why you chose this job and why it makes you happy. Teachers need to have a deep love for what they do (because it obviously isn’t for the money!).
• Vent! Have a glass of wine or beer and vent to a friend outside of school for an hour. Venting for me is a huge stress reliever. Just getting everything I am feeling out in the open and off my chest. But make sure you are not causing any gossip or problems by doing this!
• Exercise and eat right- but have the ice cream too. The oldest trick in the book. Treat your body right and you will have one less thing to worry about! Plus exercise gives you endorphins, and endorphins make you happy!
• Voice your concerns. If you have serious issues that are making you contemplate why you are here at all, then you are not being properly supported. Let your supervisor or admin know your concerns, they might be able to help in ways you hadn’t considered.
• Develop realistic expectations- special educators are trained to find problems and help fix them. But you can’t fix everything! Realize this and let certain things go.
• Fake it til you make it. At any job you’ll ever have, they say ‘leave your home life at home’ or ‘leave your emotions at the door’ and it’s incredibly important. Often if you just smile through the day, you’ll come home feeling a lot better than if you kept that grumpy face on!

Now all this being said, if it really isn’t the job for you, QUIT! You are not doing yourself or your students any favors by being in a job you hate. It’s more important to be happy! But if it could possibly be just the ‘end of school year blues’ try to de-stress and smile. It’s almost summer!

(Note: I love my job and my kids and hope to make it to retirement!)

Sources:

http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2012/02/01/the-top-10-challenges-of-special-education-teachers/

http://www.bu.edu/today/2013/what-will-it-take-to-keep-special-ed-teachers/

http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-2/coping.htm