The Autism News | English


If my wife wanted to teach a general education class in California, she wouldn’t be allowed.

Why not? Because she has a special education credential (from San Diego State University). She’s specifically qualified to teach students with disabilities like autism, cerebral palsy, emotional disturbance or Asperger’s syndrome.

That makes sense, right? She’s been trained to do a certain job. She spent two years doing a credential program specifically designed to give her the skills needed to meet the challenge of teaching kids with special needs.

But in the last few years at San Diego Unified School District, general education teachers have essentially had to become special educators almost overnight. As separate special education classes have been phased out, thousands of kids with disabilities have been moved to general education classes in their neighborhood schools.

So, you might expect that the teachers who will be teaching those children will have had to get trained up on how to do that, right?

Wrong.

There’s been no mandate at San Diego Unified School District that general education teachers or school principals get training in special education before receiving an influx of students with special needs into their classrooms.

The district says it has provided oodles of training for general education teachers who want to learn how to connect with a child with severe autism, say, or a child with emotional disturbance. That training has ranged from one-day sessions to week-long intense training.

But teachers don’t have to take that training. It’s optional.

So, that means thousands of kids with learning disabilities, autism, Asperger’s syndrome and other disabilities have trooped off to general education classes to be taught by teachers whose last training on special education might have been 20 years earlier during their university credentials.

General education teachers have suddenly been faced with students with emotional disturbance, who scream or run around classrooms. They have been asked to teach children with severe autism, who may be extremely hard to reach without specialized intervention techniques and methods. The range of scenarios runs the gamut from the benign to the potentially hazardous.

When I met with Joe Fulcher, the district’s director of special education, I pressed him pretty hard on this. Why wasn’t training mandated?

“That’s something that was out of my hands, unfortunately,” Fulcher told me.

“I would certainly like to see more gen-ed and special-ed teachers take more advantage of the training,” he added.

Fulcher said any decision on mandating extra training for teachers would have to be made in conjunction with the district’s bargaining units.

On Monday, I called Bill Freeman, president of the teachers union, and asked him if he’d be against mandating special education training for general education teachers in light of the new paradigm of inclusion at San Diego Unified.

Voice of San Diego

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The Autism News | English


HAMPTON — Before school began earlier this month, Sadie Boone stopped by Langley Elementary to visit her son’s classroom.

She was shocked that her 8-year-old, who has autism, was in a classroom with students ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Boone is one of at least three Hampton parents who have filed complaints with the state’s education department. They are decrying the district’s decision to place children with special needs in classrooms spanning six grade levels without parent notification or input.

Boone says the range of children in a single classroom could lead to accidents and to students regressing in behavior and academics by mimicking younger peers.

“My son is 8 inches taller and twice the size of a young boy in his class,” Boone said. “If my son accidentally bumped into this young man, (the younger child) could very easily hit the floor.”

Regina Johnson, a special education advocate who filed the complaints with the state, says her 8-year-old son has vision loss, hearing loss, and intellectual disabilities. He is in a K-5 class for about half of the school day for math and language instruction.

Last year, Johnson said, Hampton’s students with special needs were in classrooms with a maximum grade span of K-2 or 3-5. That is the norm in most local districts, she added.

It is unclear whether budget cuts, scientific-based research or other factors led Hampton to place students with disabilities in K-5 classrooms this year.

Deputy Superintendent Patricia Johnson said Hampton’s special education classes could include students from multiple grade levels, and that classes with no more than a three- to four-year grade span are preferable.

Johnson would not elaborate and declined to answer Daily Press questions, including if K-5 classrooms existed before, how many there are now, and if teachers received special training to lead them.

She wrote in an email that a response “may in some way” lead to identification of individual students, a reference to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

In a later email, Superintendent Linda Shifflette said the questions can’t be answered because they “track the issues raised in the complaint” filed by a parent.

The Daily Press questions did not refer to Regina Johnson or any complaints.

K-5 approach

Few local districts place students with disabilities in classrooms with peers ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Newport News’ special education classrooms span K-2 and 3-5, said spokeswoman Michelle Price, and are typically for students with intellectual disabilities or autism.

York County has four self-contained special education classrooms, each ranging from K-2 or 3-5, according to spokeswoman Betsy Overkamp-Smith. Poquoson has one elementary class with students in grades 3-5, said special education director Doris Feltman.

There are two classrooms spanning grades K-5 in Williamsburg-James City County, according to David Gaston, the district’s director of special education. Studentare are placed in them only after approval by an “Individual Education Plan” team that includes the child’s parents and school staff, he said.

Teachers in K-5 classrooms are trained to meet specific student needs, he said, and give individual or small-group attention to each child’s functional, academic, and developmental needs.

Most students with disabilities are served in mainstream classrooms, Gaston said. Otherwise they are in self-contained K-2 or grade 3-5 classes for children with developmental delays, cross-categorical disabilities, emotional disabilities, or autism spectrum disorder.

The K-5 model allows for a longer and more consistent relationship with the child’s teachers, parents and service providers, Gaston said.

It also saves money for the district, since related services can be provided in one classroom with the individual student or the group.

‘Remarkable change’

Regina Johnson said Hampton officials have told her they don’t have to notify parents if the age groups in a student’s class changes, because that is not a “change in placement” under the law.

Johnson points to a caveat that “remarkable” change in a child’s classroom setting from one year to the next requires notice. Moving students to a classroom that spans six grade levels fits that bill, she says. Last year, her son was in a K-1 class.

Attorney Miriam Freedman, who runs the website “School Law Pro,” agrees with administrators that changing the age range of students in a class doesn’t constitute a change in placement. Schools don’t have to tell parents about it, just as they don’t need permission to promote a child from second to third grade.

“Administrators are allowed to run their schools as long as children’s individual needs are met,” Freedman said. “If parents want to dispute the placement, they would have to show that their own child’s needs cannot be met there.”

DailyPress

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