Q for special ed teachers

[Kanin]

I'm a resource room teacher, so kids come to my room for reading, or math, or writing, and then go back to their general ed classrooms.

 

I'm curious about what happens in other schools when kids come to the resource room for part of a block. For example, a 3rd grade classroom has 60 minutes of math per day, and a student in that class has 45 minutes of math per day in their IEP, so they go back to the classroom and there is still 15 minutes of math going on.

 

Do you send the kids on their way and be done with it, or are you expected to provide material for the classroom teacher for the other 15 minutes of math? Many teachers at my school seem to think that I should provide work for kids to fill any free time that the kids have. My opinion is that once the kids leave my room, they belong to the classroom teacher, so he or she needs to provide the work (or differentiate the work, or provide different work). I'm happy to collaborate on what the work could be, but I think it should be directed by the classroom teacher. (I.e. if the student is really so far outside what the class is doing as to make the work impossible to differentiate, then the kid should have their IEP modified to reflect that, and get more intervention time in the resource room.)

 

Another hypothetical example would be if a classroom has 5 blocks of math per week, but I only see the student for 3 blocks per week. Teachers want me to fill the other 2 blocks for the student while they're in the genreal ed classroom (so, the student is doing completely different work from the rest of the class for two whole blocks per week). I think I shouldn't provide the work for this. This is causing some tension at work so I want to make sure I've thought about all possible points of view.

 

What do you/would you do?

[bookbard]

I'm not in the USA so can't help directly, but I sometimes found that the classroom teachers felt like they didn't have responsibility for the 'special needs' kids in their class, and so didn't put the effort in for them. I always wanted them to feel like they (the classroom teacher) 'owned' the kids, not me, the person who popped in once a week. Once the classroom teacher DID feel like the kid was theirs, everything was better.

So in short. too much hand-holding can be bad for the classroom teacher. 

[East Coast Sue]

As an intervention teacher, I see it basically the same as you. I do have the students use the bathroom or get a drink from the water cooler before returning to the classroom so they can re-enter ready to go. Most classroom teachers have the kids finish up work that they’ve put in their desk so it’s a quick reintegration to classwork. A few teachers have the kids do free reading time or centers upon return but it’s always their decision how to direct the students. 

[Hilltopmom]

We don’t pull kids anymore from Gen Ed, our resource room is during a set separate enrichment/ remedial block. However, when we used to, I worked with the classroom teacher to pull at a time of the block that made sense for the schedule (teacher does something everyone can participate in first then I pull) and once they were back in the room, the teacher was responsible for their work. I would modify things for them though or suggest things that could be easily differentiated during that time they were there.

If the whole group is finishing up something the resource kids didn’t do and only 15 min is left- they would practice math facts, do an online intervention lesson, read a book, finish incomplete work, etc

You are right- if things can’t be modified for them to succeed, then they need a different setting. But many schools are only offering Gen Ed these days, no more special class settings. (Mine is all inclusion unless you go out of district to the behavior program)

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Hilltopmom

[Kanin]

Thanks everyone! I'm glad to know I'm not out of the norm. 

13 hours ago, Hilltopmom said:

We don’t pull kids anymore from Gen Ed, our resource room is during a set separate enrichment/ remedial block. However, when we used to, I worked with the classroom teacher to pull at a time of the block that made sense for the schedule (teacher does something everyone can participate in first then I pull) and once they were back in the room, the teacher was responsible for their work. I would modify things for them though or suggest things that could be easily differentiated during that time they were there.

 

That's so interesting! How do you manage it if a kid needs intervention in multiple subjects - reading, writing, and math? 

So nobody is pulled from gen ed, at all? How do you think it's going? 

[Hilltopmom]

34 minutes ago, Kanin said:

Thanks everyone! I'm glad to know I'm not out of the norm. 

That's so interesting! How do you manage it if a kid needs intervention in multiple subjects - reading, writing, and math? 

So nobody is pulled from gen ed, at all? How do you think it's going? 

If they need alternate curriculum then other districts do pull for that.

For multiple subjects, I’m expected to rotate what I do in resource- I do math and reading on opposite days or split the time.

I would say for my lowest kids (several years below grade level), sitting in Gen Ed all day with only modifications and only getting resource for 30 min a day is not enough. 

I’m actually going to spend some of my co teaching time leading a Phonics group for my lowest group, pull out, unofficially. Because otherwise they will never learn how to read 😞 but then I’m shorting my kids who stay in the room on their push in time. Can’t win.
 

[Kanin]

23 hours ago, Hilltopmom said:

If they need alternate curriculum then other districts do pull for that.

For multiple subjects, I’m expected to rotate what I do in resource- I do math and reading on opposite days or split the time.

I would say for my lowest kids (several years below grade level), sitting in Gen Ed all day with only modifications and only getting resource for 30 min a day is not enough. 

I’m actually going to spend some of my co teaching time leading a Phonics group for my lowest group, pull out, unofficially. Because otherwise they will never learn how to read 😞 but then I’m shorting my kids who stay in the room on their push in time. Can’t win.
 

Oh wow. That sounds awful for kids that are several grades below grade level. 

Good for you for doing some stealth phonics teaching. Of course they won't learn to read without you. I don't see why admin can't understand that. Even if you don't understand how to teach reading, it should be obvious that kids with disabilities need to be taught how to do it!

[AmandaVT]

We are discouraged from pulling out for services unless the student is multiple years behind grade level and cannot access the general education curriculum. I do a fair amount of co-teaching with the general education teachers and pull during the designated intervention blocks for 80% of my caseload. I can pull during library or art or something like that too, but I try not to because those are usually high preference classes. One nice thing about it is that I'm well known in all of the grades at my school, so there's no stigma attached to working with me. I'm not seen as only helping the kids with IEPs. 

But, for the times I do pull for services, the students are expected to go back and work with the class on grade level materials when they return. If an assignment needs to be modified, the classroom teacher will typically ask me for my opinion on what need to be tweaked and then make the modifications themselves. 

We're reading this book right now as a team and there are a lot of good ideas in here. "Your Students, My Students, Our Students."

[Hilltopmom]

I literally just finished reading that book last week 🙂

[TABmom]

I am not a sped teacher- I was a gen Ed teacher before kids, then homeschooled for 10+ years, now my kids are in school and last year I was a sped para. Honestly, I would go to admin and ask for clarification on my duties- they’re the ones to make that call, it’s not really for the teachers to hash out themselves. The sped room I was in was not a resource room- they were level 2 kids K-2. They were in the sped room *most* of the day. But being with their peers is an IEP goal and they are in gen Ed for some things. Sometimes, they are in there when the class is doing something they cannot participate in. We would send “task boxes” with them to work on. A “task box” has an activity that they can do independently. It can be anything- tracing activities, puzzles, matching. I am NOT suggesting you need to supply activities, but something like that might be a compromise.