During the recent confirmation hearings for Betsy Devos, now Secretary of Education, she suggested that compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act should be left to states to enforce. This raises concerns that the rights of students with disabilities will vary from state to state, and that services provided may be equally inconsistent.
In my classroom we are studying the native tribes of the Great Plains. Arianna raises her hand to tell me, in complete seriousness, that she has a buffalo in her backyard.
Weeks later, we read a piece about whether zoos help or harm animals. The passage is beyond Arianna’s reading level, but we are reading in a group, the conversation is lively and relevant, and she has a peer partner to help her with difficult words. I assume she understands the main points of the article, until she raises her hand to tell me she has a hippo in her backyard.
I stifle the urge to ask how the hippo gets along with the buffalo. Instead, I make a mental note to review the goals in her IEP (Individualized Education Plan) to determine whether we need to add a goal about distinguishing fantasy from reality, both in reading and class discussions. She spends part of the day in a pull-out special education program, but I’m not sure that I can do enough for her to be successful in a regular 5th grade class.
When we sit down for her yearly evaluation, a team of educators and administrators will decide if a regular education classroom is the best placement for her. Although the federal law known as IDEA requires the least restrictive environment for special education students, it also demands that children receive necessary accommodations to address their disabilities. If she’s placed in an all-day special education class, I’ll be sad to see her leave my group, but relieved that her needs – and her federal right to a free appropriate public education — are being met.
Eric, on the other hand, participates actively in discussions. He loves learning new vocabulary words and uses them at every opportunity. For several weeks, he was delighted by the word “voyage” and asked daily if he could take a voyage to the restroom. If the day’s vocabulary words come up during read-aloud, he shouts them out with excitement, “Glare!” “Tremble!” He has difficulty remembering multiplication facts, but meets the vocabulary goals in his IEP. My next step is to scaffold that love of vocabulary into the ability to write sentences, then paragraphs. This is not optional, not something I can work on if I have an extra moment. It is federal law, and I am bound by it.
I sit in my own son’s IEP meeting to review the results of the tests given to determine if he has learning disabilities. I’m exhausted after years of frustrating parent conferences, and angry that some teachers don’t see him as more than a row of unfinished assignments in the grade book. I know that with more time, he could get everything finished, and
I rage against a system that doesn’t allow late work to be turned in.
I begin the meeting by asking for them to listen to me for 5 minutes. I want them to hear about the amazing child he is before they tell me all of the ways in which he is deficient. I describe his attributes outside the classroom and make clear that he is far more than a row of zeroes.
He has Attention Deficit Disorder, and despite taking medication, cannot finish most of what he is asked to do in the time he is given. I have been told by teachers that he is lazy, careless, unmotivated, or spoiled. I disagree; I believe he would be successful with more time for exams and assignments.
I know the law, and I know his rights. I lobby for accommodations, chiefly extra time, time he so desperately craves when he cannot finish an assignment during a class period or a final exam in the allotted period. When he eventually takes the SAT and ACT exams to enter college, the IDEA allows him time-and-a-half to complete those tests. I breathe a sigh of relief when told he qualifies for an IEP and accommodations.
Devos recently said “…I assure you that if confirmed, I will be very sensitive to the needs of special needs students.”
As a teacher and mother, I hope that her sensitivity extends to adherence to federal law for all schools, whether public, private, or charter. We owe that protection to students throughout the nation.
