My little brother goes to school and has a TSS. He is learning absolutely nothing other than how to escape having responsibility for his actions and his homework. The TSS doesn't help him with his homework; she does it for him. At this rate I hate to say but he is going to become another prisoner incarcerated in the criminal justice program because he is being conditioned at school and at home to be nothing but a irresponsible criminal. Thank you to the Pennsylvania board of education for telling these children that something is wrong with them and that they need help when they are nothing but children that need guidance and some strict parenting. Yes, the children that have autism or cerebral palsy and serious illnesses need help and a TSS worker. Not high strung children that will use your diagnosis as a scapegoat.
Yes, it is called an IEP. My son also has one for speech. When he was abou 2 1/2 he start to talk. At three years old I started taking him to speech classes privately. When he started there were 34 sounds that he could not do. Today he is down to aproximately 10.
My son also started stuttering and was really down becuase he didn't talk the same as the other children did and that is why I put him in speech so early. He has made remarkable progress from it too.
His c's were D's, his F's still are s's etc. My littlest who just turned 3 in May has a couple of sounds that aren't what they should be, but not anything like his brothers were. I'm not worried at this point about him.
The schools have so many IEP's today, so that is why I was wondering if the school across the nation did too. We are in North East Pennsylvania.
Imovepeople - I understand at least part of your feelings. I, too, have a gifted and talented (GT)child. I believe that GT is considered one category of special needs in our state.
Theoretically, the district has a GT program. And the teachers try, but it's the old story of just not enough resources. I struggle every year what to do about it. I know my child is not being challenged to her potential. In one way, I feel my obligation is strictly to her and I should fight for every opportunity. Frankly, what would probably be best for her is to be in private school targeted to her needs.
Schooling, like anything else, can be a very personal choice. I respect each person's decision, so don't think I have anything against private schools. However, there seems to be a trend here of financially able parents abandoning the public school system instead of helping make it work. For us, we've made the choice to stick with public school as a matter of principle. Unfortunately, part of the "cost" of that principle is being paid by my daughter.
Watching two best friends struggle daily with disabled children humbles me. And believe me, I feel blessed that my child is on the GT end of the spectrum of "special needs".
Still it's always difficult knowing that your child isn't getting what they need.
The plan that JHB refers to is called an IEP which I believe stands for individualized education plan. At least in the two states in which I have had these for my children they are legally binding contracts between the parent, the state and the school. The problem I have run into is that in the state in which I currently live these are not "required" for gifted children, but rather only for handicapped or learning disabled children. I have one child with a learning disability and two others who have been identified as gifted. When a state and/or school does not recognize giftedness as a special need it is stunting the opportunities for growth of that child. The reason that the state and/or school district decides not to pursue this is that it can become a financial burden upon the district - once an area is written into a contract as a need then the school is responsible for paying for everything associated with that contract. For example - should a 2nd grader read 3 grade levels higher, in elementary school that's fine - once they get to middle school and need to take high school classes or high school and need to take college classes - it can become a burden - i.e. they must pay for transportation to/from the courses, textbooks, and tuition if that is the case. Some schools think "promotion" or grade skipping is the answer - socially wouldn't be my first choice. My youngest also has a speech impediment ("R" sounds like "W") which is how I got around the not writing IEP's for gifted kids!
To answer your original question - in our state there are several levels of accommodation made for students with disabilities - learning, physical or otherwise - so that they are as "mainstreamed" as possible from self-contained classrooms, behavior disorder classrooms, inclusion teachers, etc. One K-8 school in our district has 26 full timers assigned to these areas and one half-time gifted coordinator (sorry, did I sound bitter?)
I'll get off the soap box now - could go on for hours on this topic!
I don't know if we use those terms, but certainly Texas has programs to assist those students with special needs. This includes additional aides in the classroom to help with educational, communication, and/or behavioral issues.
As I expect with most areas, the parents meet with the school officials, the child is assessed and together they agree on a plan. "Agree" might be a bit optimistic a choice of words. I don't know that many are totally thrilled with the compromises that must be made.
I've seen both sides. Two of my closest friends have autistic children and I've watched each battle school districts for years (and with very different approaches) to get every possible service to help their child. On the other side, I've seen the school officials, desperate to help but having limited resources to offer.
So, yes, we do sometimes have additional staff/aides in special needs situation - but probably not enough.
Does your school have TSS workers or Enablers for students?
My son has an enabler becuase he has multiple food allergies. He also has peanut/nut allergies which is life threatening. We also have many TSS workers in our school district.
The TSS workers sit with the children in class. Some are for educational purposes but others are for behavioral.
