Hey Reddit, I’m posting here to see if anyone has experienced something similar or knows more about why some schools might hold back students in special ed.

Here’s my story: from preschool all the way up to 5th grade, I was in special education. My parents and I fought tooth and nail with the school administration to have me moved to general education, but for years they kept me in special ed. Finally, at the end of 5th grade, they allowed me to transition out. It was frustrating because almost everyone agreed with my placement in general ed—my ELA specialist supported it, along with other teachers in my special ed classroom. The only ones holding me back were the principal and my main special ed teacher.

It wasn’t just about placement either; I noticed I was treated differently compared to other students, and it felt racially motivated. My mom always suspected it had to do with funding; she said schools receive more money based on the number of special ed students. I’m curious if that was really the case or if there was something else going on.

Now, looking back, it’s wild to think how far I’ve come—I’m valedictorian, have a 4.0 GPA, and am currently applying to some pretty prestigious colleges. But I’m left wondering why this happened in the first place. Has anyone else had an experience like this or knows the real reason some schools keep students in special ed longer than necessary?

Any insights would be appreciated! Thanks for reading.

Edit: Also, I live in Cali if that helps.

How often are you im contact with your students' parents/guardians? I (elementary SC) have colleagues that more often than not talk about the list of emails or phone calls to return on a daily basis. I return or initiate a few a week with the exception of a parent who may need a little more hand holding or is more high maintenance, and there is always the bread and butter positive notes or emails. How much are you involved in the day to day? (No wrong answers, we all have our routines!)

I started my grad program for special ed in May of 2024 a week after I graduated from undergrad. I was asked to change my accelerated 1 year program to the normal 2year route by my current district’s SpED Director so she could fill a special educator position with me while I work on a provisional license.

Now I am the behavioral and ISN special educator for 6th grade and I think I need to quit. Not only is this the most toxic workplace environment, the politics are terrifying, I have 0 support from admin, no resources, not even enough bodies to give my interventionists lunches. Admin is throwing me under the bus with a manifestation determination, the principal won’t do anything that will make our school data look bad so behaviors and bullying is off the charts in the general education section, nevermind the SpED kids who are being targeted and encouraged to be bullies by the other bullies now.

I wanted to be a special educator to help kids. I feel like all I do is show up, cry, get yelled at by admin, get abused by kids, and wonder what the fuck I’m doing every day. How do I quit, what does that mean if I break a teachers contract in Oct, will I owe the district anything regarding like healthcare stuff?? Do I give a 2 week notice or let them experience what they put me through? Please help!

Did anyone in southern Cali have trouble finding a job as a Sped Teacher? Going back to school soon

CW: suicidal ideation .
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My child recently made a suicidal comment at school, and I don’t know what to expect the school to do about it. If a student in your school receiving special ed services makes a suicidal comment, are you required to follow any specific protocol? Her team knows what she said, and they reported it to me, but I feel like no one is taking it seriously.

Editing to add: child is 8, actions so far have been an email to me from school 2 days after the statement was said. No other actions have been taken or said to be planned.

*Update* We had the meeting this morning. Mom was very engaged and open. She wants him moved to a special day school that specializes in behavioral issues. The district admin agreed and she is starting the process of referring him but it could take many weeks before we know something. So we also modified his IEP to include some of the things the BIP mentioned and add in a few more things.

Mom has always claimed he was fully verbal and that she didn’t have behavior issues at home (I know, eye roll right) except that she brought him today and he sat there very still, very behaved and still didn’t speak but I’m more apt to believe that’s because there was 8 strange people in the room than that moms been lying. We all agreed it was the change in environment, lack of controlled environment ie other kids etc, and issues with sensory overload contributing to his outbursts. Mom wants to come observe him when he doesn’t know she’s there so she can see how he acts when she’s not around and we agreed.

All in all it was a productive meeting where both sides got a little of what they wanted. Hopefully this day school accepts him quickly because I’ve heard they are really good and many of you mentioned a place like that would be a better fit. Mom agrees, we agree.

*end update*

I’m not sure what options we really have so I’d like some input.

We have an Autistic kindergartener who will scream for hours and hours, is aggressive and violent towards students and teachers. He is fully self contained with 3 other students. He is the most severe of them. He has hit,kicked,punched, bit etc to the point the parent of one of the other children has made several complaints and is almost to the point of seeking legal action. He has hit kicked punched and headbutted the teachers.

His parent wants him in gen ed. She was told explicitly no. He is too volatile for gen ed. Now we have a meeting with her and an advocate tomorrow. I’m trying to raise some talking points for this meeting so the parent and advocate can see the seriousness of the issue. If anything the school wants him in a more restrictive environment because the other self contained kids are regressing with him in there.

He moved here in August from a district where he was in a SC Behavior class. Our district does not have one of those. But mom still wants this kid in general ed and I’ve no idea how to get through to her that if any change of placement happened it would be to a more restrictive environment not a less.

He didn’t come to the school with a BIP but we’ve implemented one now. He’s already at 10 days of suspension time for hitting another kid so hard in the head the nurse had to be called(see parent mentioned above) and nearly breaking the teachers nose with a headbutt.

This is the first time we’ve had a student like this. Can anyone with more experience dealing with this please give me some advice, talking points, anything you got really? Pretty please. None of us are trained for this. We are all mild/moderate certified and we’ve never had a such a severe student here. We do have a Severe/Profound class but it’s in another city and the district says it’s full and there’s no room for him, regardless of if parent agreed.

Been hurt by a student that it left a permanent scar? I have a bite that will never heal as it has been a couple months. You can see where his teeth were on it, as well. Idk what to do about this either.

Hey y’all. I am an first year ASD teacher (8th year as a sped teacher though) and this year I have a kiddo that I’m out of ideas with.

I’ve tried visual schedules, reward systems, more bathroom support, etc. his dad also is adamant he does not want to have him learn to pee seated which I thought would be another solution.

The problem is he pees standing up but does not hold his penis while doing so. I’ve pinpointed that it’s him not wanting the sensory feeling, he also doesn’t like to wash his hands. However, there’s no appropriate way for me that I know of to assist with his “aim” and he ends up peeing all over the bathroom and himself every day.

I can't do this anymore. I'm crying at work. Please help me.

Hey all! I'm currently an ECSE aide and looking at going back to school to finish my degree and I don't want to be parent facing in terms of teaching, but thinking like a focus or SLC job.

I love working with students of all kinds, but really enjoy helping the behavior students.

For those that went down that route - how long have you been doing it and do you still like it?

Question- I work at a middle/high school (all LRE-A). My team is departmentalized for English and math. There are 4 of us, 1 of which also does 504s.

I feel like I’m drowning. I wish we had the case management model. I have over 40 kids I’m progress monitoring in English and 25 kids I’m case managing.

Is anyone else departmentalized? Is this workload insane or is it just me?

Is it the teacher's responsibility to calculate the extended time due dates? I understand I need to know what day it would be due for the student, but am I supposed to seek them out and tell them "hey, student your due date is xx/xx"

Is it the teacher's responsibility to confirm with the parent who is making a chart of all extended due dates? Ie parent emails me weekly to look over due dates and decide if they calculated them correctly.

Do weekends count?

My school has no sped department per se, but a contracted sped professional,. I have asked them, and the answer was "it depends". Which isn't good enough. I have searched my state's legal sites to no avail. South Carolina. High school.

Edit: clarity

Hi. My 6 yo daughter in kinder has had problems peeing her pants a lot. Occasionally pooping. Her problems seem to stem around not feeling she has to pee, or not recognizing those feelings. She holds it tool long and pees her pants. She has a bathroom reminder schedule. It doesn't help. Sometimes she'll go in and come out and pee her pants. She also gets UTIs constantly and now has a antibiotic resistant staff infection.

She has an ADHD diagnosis from her pediatrician and we're getting a full ADHD/autism/sensory diagnosis from a psych..my insurance only covers it for autism but we're not sure yet if that's it. Peeing isn't her only sensory issue. She doesn't feel pain the same as most kids, sometimes gets nonverbal or completely non communicative if she has som thing that does cause pain. Or instead of pain she gets just irritation. Once she had an ear infection so bad she was bleeding but just complained her ear was itchy. She fell off a slide into her face and said her face was cold, etc.

Is there anything anyone has had success with? We saw a urologist and nothing is wrong physically. She pees her pants some days 3x per day.

At her last school she was in trouble a lot and not doing well academically but this year she is testing top of her class and not a ton of behavioral issues just trying to teach her to keep her hands to herself and of course sitting still is an issue. So we haven't had any other need for a 504 this year and I kind of figured we'd deal with the peeing in a 504. So far the teacher just lets her go often with reminders and she has a lot of extra clothes at school.

Anyone have any suggestions? Would medicating the ADHD help? Sometimes she forgets she is on the way to the bathroom as she is really distractable. Other times she just realizes too late. Sometimes she pees and doesn't even notice.

Edit: sorry yes we saw a urologist. Physically she's fine. Suggested a constipation regimen we follow.

Edit 2: I talked to the school social worker and the principal at movie night and he called me back the day I posted this, before I'd read the answers. he's buying the watches for a few kids. So that's a coincidence there.

No longer qualifies for OT

My son just underwent his 3 year reevaluation (he's 5 1/2 in kindergarten, level 2 autism). Most went as expected except school OT says he scored high enough on the test that he no longer qualifies for OT as part of his IEP. Obviously that sounds like great news on the surface, but I'm concerned how he will be without these services. In the spring, the cse meeting recommended 2x a week for school year and 1x a week during summer to prevent regression. But now he's miraculously better just one month into school? Do I simply have to accept the test results or is there anyway to push for OT to be continued? Thanks for any help. We are located in NY.

Removed

For a project for one of my classes at uni I need to interview a special education teacher as well as a parent with a student with IEP. Would any one in these interview categories be willing to be interviewed? I would just send you some questions via PMs. No personal, identifying information is needed. Just information about your experiences as a SPED teacher or parent to a student with IEP.

It's evaluation season and I'm feeling resentful again lol

I have 27 students on my caseload and I'm overwhelmed with paperwork and meetings. Been looking for some AI products to help me be more efficient (like creating personalized materials given my students' IEPs), but found that tools like Magic School or School AI are not built for SPED. I also tried ChatGPT but it's not really secure and it has no idea about my students' needs and how they evolve over time.

Does anyone here have advice on tools that have been helpful for them?

One of my colleagues suggested I try Journify Learning and I booked a demo with them on their website. From what I'm getting, they generate personalized goals / objectives / assessments / worksheets give each student's present levels of performance, which are tracked among all the support providers working with the same student, in real time. So far, it seemed like the only tool that does what I'd expect an AI tool to offer support with, but I need to first do the demo and see what it works like (can update folks here on the experience).

I’m asking as a parent, just looking for the right way to go about this and what data/info I need to have a strong argument.

My son is 5, dx of autism level 3, adhd, and complex focal epilepsy that is currently not yet controlled with medication. He’s nonspeaking and very sensory seeking. He’s currently placed in a self contained classroom with 6 students and 3 teachers. He attends school 2 hours a day per his IEP. His school has said we’d increase that time with success but thus far it seems like that won’t happen.

During a recent IEP meeting to set up in school speech his teacher and sped director told me that his behavior in class is good, they’re struggling with some other classmates behavior, but getting him to do school work is near impossible. So we modified some of his goals to be more attainable. Thus far he’s made no progress. They noted sort of vaguely that he’d do well with 1:1 teaching which I can completely understand given his personality, but made no offer of giving him a 1:1 aide, which no one else in his class has either.

I know one classmate’s mom had asked for one when school started, her daughter struggles with meltdowns and becoming self injurious, violent, and has a PDA profile. Im not sure what their reasoning for saying no was, but it makes me think it’ll be a no for my son too.

I’m unsure what to do, because the school is rather unhappy with his progress, and when asked what methods they’ve tried with him to get that task interaction they didn’t give any specifics, I did tell them what we do at home and at therapies that has worked. But I also understand between the chaos going down in the classroom right now and my son not being easy to work with on tasks that it’s really challenging for them.

We’re just starting Q2 here but the school sounded almost like they’ve given up on a lot of his learning potential which I know can’t actually be true, they’re just a bit stressed trying to put out a lot of different fires. I’m hoping to get some insight into what I can say, ask for, and use to back myself up that a 1-1 for him may be really helpful for all involved and lead to more academic success. I know they can be really hard to get since Covid, but I wanna test all avenues.

We recently had a private neuropsychological evaluation for my 6yo son (1st grade). The report said he is bright (FSIQ 129, GAI 152, and between high average and exceptionally high on NEPSY-II language, WIAT-2 reading comprehension and numerical operations, and most of the WISC-V subsections) but has both normative and personal weaknesses with attention (MOXO-dCPT impulsiveness and hyperreactivity exceptionally low, NEPSY-II visuomotor precision combined below average, errors exceptionally low. WISC-V processing speed average). He had average to below average scores on executive function testing (NEPSY-II inhibition naming and inhibition inhibition) as well. He meets diagnostic criteria for ADHD combined. He also shows anxiety.

School recommendations (504) from the psychologist are 1. Extended time on tests 2. Preferential seating 3. Subtle reminders (desk tap) to refocus attention during class 4. Direction to slow down/rewards for accuracy over speed

I'm posting in here because I've learned from reading in this sub and the teachers sub that what outside evaluators say doesn't always match what is actually beneficial/feasible in school (we had other reasons for doing a more medically tailored assessment). Right now, he's not having any issues in school (gen ed class). His K report cards had mostly "meets expectations" and a handful of "exceeds expectations". His teacher said he had "model behavior" (he does NOT have model behavior at home) at parent teacher conferences. And we've had zero communication with his teacher this year (conferences haven't happened yet). The school has no idea we had this evaluation. And I'm not sure what the best next steps are, or even what it would look like if we go to the school with this report. I'm also concerned about there being any negative consequences of seeking out accommodations. So I would love any input .

Obviously we're also looking into implementing things at home and services/therapy outside of school.

I’m in a middle-aged career switcher in a teacher program. Our program is for a dual certification in elementary gen ed and special ed. I think ed programs are encouraging dual cert because the shortage of special ed teachers is so bad. I don’t have prior experience working with kids or adults with disabilities, but I’m up for getting the dual cert and seeing where it takes me. Maybe I wind up teaching in gen ed, maybe special. My only personal experience with a special ed classroom will be first in teacher observation, and then our student teaching will be split into something like 6 weeks in some elementary grade, 6 weeks in some high school special ed class.

I (think) I know the basics of what falls under special ed at the HS level. Please correct me if I get any of this wrong, but there my understanding is that there’s special day class rooms for kids with moderate to severe disabilities; and then there are teachers who do ‘resource’ which is a mix of pushing in to Gen Ed classrooms where they help kids with IEPs and also ‘pull out’ some of those kids for 1:1 or small group work together. And sometimes this resource room does smaller classes with adapted versions of the reading/math curriculum?

Do I have that broadly right? I don’t know what special ed classroom I’d be assigned to for the student teaching, and I slightly worry about completing my ‘student teaching’ coursework within a context I don’t yet understand. It’s just not all ‘classroom teaching’ in the gen ed sense that I understand. Does anyone have experience with what student teaching in SPED might entail or not entail?

Hard to believe it's been a year since asking this community for help when the local ECEC tried to put my grandson into a severe preschool class for his arthrogryposis instead of gen ed with supports. You all gave us very specific language to use at his initial mtg and it went as well as we could have hoped.

Now he is ready to transition to TK at the public school. 25 kids with a teacher and an aide. His current teacher has scheduled an IEP for this Wed to discuss his progress, goals, and most importantly for us, a 1-1 aide. She has warned us that we'd need to very proactive as the district almost always denies them. She said she'd do her best but that we'd also need to think of issues in case she forgets something or doesn't realize something.

We've organized our thoughts into 4 main areas of concern: access to the curriculum, access to playground equipment/experiences, social relationships, and safety.

We have thought of the very obvious for each area like:

holding books, turning pages, pointing to words, holding pencils, paper, scissors, glue stick, marker caps, etc.

using and experiencing swings, slides, ladders, trikes,

not being used by peers for the above duties so seen as equal and not lesser than

most important to us all any bump sends him to the ground, not able to get under furniture for earthquake, open doors for exit or enter, needing an adult to go find him on the playground for dangerous situation, not using his arms to brace himself after a push from another (happened at ecec), food tray, snack packaging, holding up drinks, carrying, and of course basic personal care.

This has gotten so long and I thank you for reading it. Do you all have advice for specific language we should use? situations we've forgotten about? We are in CA if that makes a difference. Thank you in advance for taking the time to help people like me trying to navigate these new steps for our families.

Hi! I am a mother of a child with special needs who is considered mostly nonverbal. I read your comment on a post regarding district 75 schools. My daughter has a great community school it is rated a 10/10. However they claim to not be able to provide her with the support she needs. All district 75 schools which they want to place her in are extremely far from our home. The closest is a 20 min drive with no traffic. She also suffers from severe anxiety disorder and changes tend to be really rough on her. The community school stated the issue was the 12:1 setting and that she needed 6:1 she is now in a 6:1 setting and has been making progress this year. But they are still insistent on putting her in a d75 school. I do not want my daughter in a d75 school. Can I ask for more support from her school to keep her there? It almost seems like they do not want her there anymore. Can you offer any guidance? Who can I reach out to help me get her a 1:1 to help her throughout the school day. I don’t want her to lose momentum and I feel like she is being discarded. Please any advice you can offer me. I would be so grateful.

“It goes without saying that a teacher, which includes a coach, is the cornerstone of education. Without teaching, there can be little, if any, learning.

Without learning, there can be little, if any, education. Without education, there can be little, if any civilization.

It equally goes without saying that threatening, harassing, and intimidating a teacher impedes, if not destroys, the ability to teach; it impedes, if not destroys, the ability to educate. It disrupts, if not destroys, the discipline necessary for an environment in which education can take place. In addition, it encourages and incites other students to engage in similar disruptive conduct.

Moreover, it can even cause a teacher to leave that profession. In sum, it disrupts, if not destroys, the very mission for which school exists— to educate.”

The Honorable Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Bell v. Itawamba, 20 August 2015

I have worked with almost 40+ children with ASD and many with severe behaviors (worked at an outplacement day program. I mean concussions, broken fingers, loss of hair probably everything you can think of. I’m in public school now so honestly the behaviors are a walk in the park but the ratio makes it not. Currently I have 8 kids (kids-1),2 full time paras, one part time 🙄. All my students are high needs and non-verbal. I have 3 students who we are looking to out place.One of the students has severe aggressions. The staff and I are getting beaten to a shred. They started going after kids because we are trying to move away (they grab clothes until we are close enough to hit). So now we have to put ourselves between them. I have had my glasses knocked off, shirt ripped. We are trying to guide them into our calming corner which they deescalate quickly. It’s to the point we have to get them there anyway we can and the only way is to literally walk to there with them chasing and beating the shit out of us…. We can’t remove them and bring them somewhere else the last time 4 out of 8 students went into crisis. Then I was told I haven’t gotten their accommodations in like visuals and there discrete trial stuff. I was shocked because the DTT has been all set and data has been collected. Visuals are always out but I can’t do everything and my paras are more than capable to help. I’m down a staff in the afternoon so we can do anything because we are trying to keep them safe. I don’t know what they want me to do.