One thing became quite apparent to me during Monday’s Board of Education parent visitation policy forum: Special Education Providers need to remember that parents are not the enemy. Parents are essential allies with educators in the battle to overcome disabilities.
LA PLATA – Among the educators who spoke last week in defense of the superintendent’s limited visitation policy, four life-skills teachers and one state psychologist stressed their particular need to minimize distractions and provide a safe, therapeutic classroom environment for special needs students. As the mother of three school age children with ADHD (plus accompanying disorders) and the daughter of professional educators, I quite understand the importance of a carefully controlled classroom environment.
On the other side of the issue were parents who pleaded with the Board of Education for more observation rights. They also have an extremely important need. These parents are interested in helping their child mature and learn outside of the school environment as well as inside. The challenge is that most parents of special needs children are not professional special ed providers.
Parents learn what works with their child by trial/error and by watching professionals work with the child. When parents see positive change in their child, they want to use the methods which produced the change because it’s obviously effective. It’s difficult to use the method if they’ve not seen it modeled. To do their jobs properly, parents of special needs children need more communication with their child’s teachers than two classroom observations, occasional conferences and IEP meetings. These parents aren’t trying to be overprotective; they simply want success for their child.
Special education providers in Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) need to remember that their students’ parents are not the enemy. Parents should be allies in the battle to help children overcome their disabilities. Specialists outside the school system operate under the expectation that their clients’ parents will be involved with sessions. They know children don’t exist in a vacuum; they’re part of a social unit. Unfortunately, the attitudes of those CCPS educators at the forum indicate they have forgotten that very important fact.
Like most parents of special needs children, I am my children’s caseworker. Because I’m with them more hours of the day than not, I watch and listen to them. I research their needs, develop supplemental treatment plans and coordinate therapies among their pediatrician, pediatric psychiatrist, schools, pediatric occupational therapist (OT) and speech therapists. It’s vital that I know what’s going on with each specialist so all my children’s issues are addressed as efficiently as possible for all concerned.
Each specialist outside the school system requires my presence during their sessions and afterward hands me a copy of their case notes from the previous session. If I’m not needed in the session, they brief me on session details when it’s over and then give me last session’s case notes. They not only tell me what they’re doing, but also ask for my opinions and observations from h