I'm curious - percentage of students with IEP/504/etc

[mdsoccermom]

Wow, there are a lot of defensive posts on this thread! And not just here at the end - several posters took exception to the OP even asking the question. Why? I can understand the defensive attitude if someone hurls an actual insult your way - but simple curiosity? I don't get it - we all love our kids and want what's best for them.

Curiosity is one thing. But it's something completely different when people are assuming, and refuse to stop assuming, that each and every child with an IEP is taking the teacher's time away from some other child.

 

[daughtersrus]

I was upset about the comment made about getting an IEP is the "thing" to do. Like it's just something I did for fun. Like the latest trend or something. No offence taken about the OP but yes saying that getting my son an IEP is the "thing" to do is highly offensive.

I agree. It's not the original post that got me but the ones that imply that children with an IEP should be educated or that it's an easy way to get something extra for your child.

DD#1 teaches a self-contained class of 6-8 students with behavior issues. 100% of her class has an IEP. Last year she was a resource teacher in another district at the middle school level. IL law says that no more than 30% of the class population can have an IEP. She was never identified as a resource teacher to the students either verbally or in writing. Her priority was to the students that she was assigned to but if another student needed help, she helped.

 

["Got Disney"]

In my wife's school it does not take much to be identified. An "evaluation" by the school and a doctor visit or 2 is all it takes.

I will give you a couple examples of what happened to my wife last year alone.

1. 2 students in the same class REFUSED to do any work in class or do any homework. My wife was forced to pass them because they had a 504. They never even attempted anything, nothing for the whole semester. My wife gave them a 0% for homework / class participation. The parents called and complained that the student should not have to do the work because of the 504. My wife was forced to disregard the homework and class participation for the grade

2. Same situation as above but this student also refused to take any tests. He would write his
name down on the paper and hand it in. Never did any
homework or class participation. Instead of failing him, my wife gave him an incomplete because she had nothing to grade him on. At the end of the semester, the school made my wife give him every test again but he was allowed to have someone there with him to take the tests.


3. Another teacher at the school was forced to change a student's grades from failing to passing AFTER the school year ended because the parents threatened to sue. She had to sign forms and back date them so it would go through the
system. The administrators made her do it so they would not be sued.



These are just some that stand out. It is very hard to believe an IEP or 504
when the students don't even attempt the work. I mean c'mon. Aren't these plans supposed to be in place for a child to learn how to manage with their learning disability? Not doing any work and then using your IEP as an excuse sure seems like abuse to me

That sounds more like a school district that is more worried about their scores than the students....that is not how an IEP or 504 works and your wife should report this school/ district....passing kids that failed is is wrong and if your wife is changing failed grades to passing than she is alsp doing that child wrong....

Having an IEP and 504 has nothing to do with giving failing students passing grades!

If they were doing this to my kid and I found out I would not only sue the district but have it reported to all the news channels ......

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Somebody PLEASE take my son's "thing" and his IEP too.

I would love more than anything to get rid of every single "thing" that makes his IEP a necessity.

I would love to not have to console him after a difficult day of being mocked and made fun of.

I would love to not have to hug him while he cries and complains because he thinks he was a bad boy and that is why other people got good brains that work and he got a bad brain that does not work.

I would love to not have to sit and watch him be so sad and have my heart break for him when his siblings are invited to parties, play dates and sleep overs and nobody invites him - because he has no friends.

I would love to not have to explain to him that his dreams of driving a really cool and fast car when he is bigger will NEVER happen.

I would love to not have to try and figure out how to tell him that No he will not get to be a really cool dad someday and will not have grandchildren coming to visit him at his house. He just won't get to be a dad or grandfather OR own his very own home.

I would love to not have to worry that some kid is going to look at him as an easy target and beat the ever loving crap out of him because he is physically and mentally defenseless.

I would love to not have to lay awake at night wondering what will happen after we are gone. If my other children will make sure that he continues to know love and be a part of a family. I wonder what his Christmas mornings will be like 30, 40 years from now.

I would love to not have to worry that someday my other children will think of him as a burden.

I would love to not have to worry about people thinking he is a threat to their children because he is male and is special needs. Would love to not have to worry about people being afraid of him because he's different even though he is harmless.

I would love to not have to scrimp and save as much as we do to make sure that there will be money to care for him, since he will not be able to get a job that will allow him to take care of himself.

I just would love for him to have an average life and be happy and have all his very basic dreams come true for him.

 

[SaraJayne]

I'm getting the impression from some posts in this thread that it's only acceptable to be an advocate for children that have IEP's or need extra help.

I'll continue to advocate for my average child, and you can continue to advocate for your kid.

 

[princessmom29]

How? How do they spend extra time every day accommodating each student with an IEP? For example, like I said in a previous post, my daughter's teachers spend no time accommodating her, unless you consider handing her a calculator taking time away from another kid. She gets her help outside the class. If you were observing her in class, there would be no indication that she had an IEP.

While I know there are some kids that need the extra daily attention from a teacher, not all do. And unless you have been involved in the process, it's very unfair and ignorant to say each kid with an IEP is affecting your child.

personally, I have taught very few children with IEP's that did not require a large amount of time to accomodate. I have to make seperate tests for them with fewer items, less answer choices, no written respones, ect. Whatever their IEP demands. I have had students with IEPS that require I communicate daily with thier parent about assignemts. I have had IEPS that require daily or weekly meetings with SPED teachers. The list goes on. Almost every one of them costs me time. I don't have a problem doing it, but to believe that they don't take time away form what I could be doing for other children is simply unrealistic. What SPED students need is no more or less important than what anyone else needs, but my time is finite and meeting legal obligations from an IEP comes first in many cases. You wouldn't see any of this pbserving my classes either, but it does take away from the amount of time have to plan, grade, provide feedback for other students. I don't know what the "right" answer to the situaiton is, but to pertend IEPS never take time away from other students certianly isn't.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

I'm getting the impression from some posts in this thread that it's only acceptable to be an advocate for children that have IEP's or need extra help.

I'll continue to advocate for my average child, and you can continue to advocate for your kid.

I have an average child too. It's much easier to advocate for him.

 

[HelenePA]

I was born with TOF! I didn't have surgery until I was 5 (I'm old so they did things differently back then) which meant that I was often carried up the stairs by my preschool teachers and got to sit out of dance and PE in preschool and K until I had recovered from surgery. It was a small private school, though, so I didn't have anything official. Just great, caring teachers. I'm sure glad none of my friends' parents' decided to throw a fit because of my accomodations.
As I'm sure you know by now, though, once the TOF is corrected, the future is nearly limitless. (Although I really wanted to be an astronaut, and it turns out that with a heart murmur and pulmonary stenosis that was out of the question. Stupid NASA! ;-) If you have any TOF questions for an adult with TOF, feel free to PM me.

That is soooooo awesome! Now they like to correct them before anything "bad" happens and there isn't much CHF. She is just as active as my other kids, & she probably sleeps less than they do. You'd never know about her heart surgery except for her little battle scar on her chest I'm so glad to hear from an adult who had the same thing as her! I dont find them much! y'all are a rare.

 

[HelenePA]

I'm getting the impression from some posts in this thread that it's only acceptable to be an advocate for children that have IEP's or need extra help.

I'll continue to advocate for my average child, and you can continue to advocate for your kid.

Oh my lord... do you not think most of us have average children as well?!?! I had to fight for my son last year when there was a whole debacle down at the school with being put into a gym classroom when their classrooms were open (its where the new addition to our school hooks on.. they were going to keep them empty ALL year instead of just when they broke ground in the spring and needed to knock down the walls, i called who I needed to call in harrisburg and got them out of there asap..) I haven't had to do anything for my dd9.. she's an awesome student.. I dont know what I'd need to advocate for her? less kids in her class with IEP"s?

ETA this thread is about IEP/504's who did you think was going to post here.. parents of only average children? with no IEP's, common sense would say its going to be mostly parents of SpEd kids (who also have average kids) not just parents of average kids..

 

["Got Disney"]

The way our schools are and Tenure keeping bad teachers teaching...IEPs...504s...and students without either need all us parents to advocate for all our kids....

 

[daughtersrus]

I'm getting the impression from some posts in this thread that it's only acceptable to be an advocate for children that have IEP's or need extra help.

I'll continue to advocate for my average child, and you can continue to advocate for your kid.

I advocated for my average children as well.

It's just none of anyone's business how many children in the class have a "thing" that allows them to have an IEP or what the IEP dictates.

 

[lillygator]

Wow, there are a lot of defensive posts on this thread! And not just here at the end - several posters took exception to the OP even asking the question. Why? I can understand the defensive attitude if someone hurls an actual insult your way - but simple curiosity? I don't get it - we all love our kids and want what's best for them.

I know..

 

[1girln3boys]

I'm getting the impression from some posts in this thread that it's only acceptable to be an advocate for children that have IEP's or need extra help.

I'll continue to advocate for my average child, and you can continue to advocate for your kid.

I advocate for all my children. I have 4. One in GT, 2 with IEPs and 1 bright kid that doesn't apply herself the way she should. And if any of thier needs aren't being met I will stick up for them and make sure that all of them are getting what they need to be successful. But please don't ever call my getting my son an IEP the "thing" to do. Because that is so far from the truth.

 

[daughtersrus]

There have been some posts about IEP students "taking away" from the rest of the class.

I'd be curious to hear some suggestions on how to "correct" this.

 

[HelenePA]

There have been some posts about IEP students "taking away" from the rest of the class.

I'd be curious to hear some suggestions on how to "correct" this.

I think they'd be surprised to see some of their kids friend have IEP's or 504's....

 

[1girln3boys]

There have been some posts about IEP students "taking away" from the rest of the class.

I'd be curious to hear some suggestions on how to "correct" this.

Lots of kids take away from the rest of the class. Not just the ones with IEPs. So do those need to be corrected as well? I know my daughter that doesn't have an IEP took away a lot more class time from the other students than her brother did and he has an IEP.
There are students that have to be reminded everday to stop talking or sit down or stay on task. and some of them don't have an IEP. So before you start thinking that a child that just requires time to learn needs to be corrected how about we deal with all the bad kids first that disrupt the class everyday just because they can.

 

[englishteacha]

In my classroom, I have anywhere between 3 and 6 kids with some sort of accommodations needed. I have between 18 and 20 kids at a time. One thing to remember is that a child may have a 504 plan due to a health issue that requires accommodations. For instance, I had a brilliant student last year who also had diabetes. I had to be aware of his health issues so if something went haywire with his blood sugar, I could help him. It wasn't a big deal, but I needed to know. Other students may have a 504 for needing glasses, or a heart condition, or a hearing condition that may impair their learning somehow. It's not the same as having a learning disability or a diagnosis that affects how a student learns (like ADHD or ODD or any of the other various alphabet soup terms thrown around now).

 

["Got Disney"]

There have been some posts about IEP students "taking away" from the rest of the class.

I'd be curious to hear some suggestions on how to "correct" this.

What about all the kids that don't have either that also take away from the class...it goes both ways.....

My BFF daughter and another friends son have IEPs and are hearing impaired....in elementary school they had sign language teachers in there classes along with the regular teachers....they still have the IEPs in place in HS and rare both in Honors classes.....

Never caused one problem in class....

My son with his 504 no problems either causing class disruptions...matter of fact his teachers tell me he is a joy...he is a Sophmore.

He has ADHD,OCD, Tourette syndrome....

 

[DopeyDame]

I'm getting the impression from some posts in this thread that it's only acceptable to be an advocate for children that have IEP's or need extra help.

I'll continue to advocate for my average child, and you can continue to advocate for your kid.

Not at all. You absolutely should advocate for your child, average or not. You just shouldn't advocate AGAINST other people's children.

 

[daughtersrus]

Lots of kids take away from the rest of the class. Not just the ones with IEPs. So do those need to be corrected as well? I know my daughter that doesn't have an IEP took away a lot more class time from the other students than her brother did and he has an IEP.
There are students that have to be reminded everday to stop talking or sit down or stay on task. and some of them don't have an IEP. So before you start thinking that a child that just requires time to learn needs to be corrected how about we deal with all the bad kids first that disrupt the class everyday just because they can.

I completely understand. DD#1 would share stories with us about school last year and many of the students that she was helping or were causing problems in the class were not the ones on her caseload with an IEP.

It just seems like a lot of people aren't happy that IEP or 504 students are in class with their children because they're taking away from the entire class. I'm curious to know what suggestions they might offer.