Zoe Girl
8-3-13, 10:51am
We just had our last day of summer camp this week and on clean up day we had an all staff reflection time. I was very proud of the summer staff for asking for that and participating well. We talked about what we liked, what were challenges and what we would take to our school year programs. One huge topic of conversation was our special needs students. I had to really step in and curtail some conversation that become unproductive, however I was very impressed that some of the staff who had the most concerns were also able to see something good in each child and talk about their growth.
We had 2 behavior contract students that both showed growth. One went from having a one on one the majority of the day to not needing that support later in the summer, just time outs when he needed them. The other improved even though he lost his grandfather suddenly this summer who was part of raising him. There was a student who had a behavior plan during the school year, I suspended him 3 times (by standards we usually expel) but he showed improvement every time and he attended summer without write ups so I feel good about that.
Then we have a true special needs kiddo, A. We do not have her figured out. We had her all year and we still struggle with stubborn and aggressive behavior. She is low verbal and low cognitive and they don't have a diagnoses despite trying. She has been in our schools and programs for years so if this was easy we would have it now. OUr department is improving with special needs but it is slow. I think truly we all expected to have some answer that would allow her to function in a group of 15 kids but she can't, and now my supervisor knows it also. Dealing with staff is another issue, one just talked me to death yesterday on this kid. This staff has had her all year and summer so I understand burn out. Her bottom line is the kid should have been gone a long time ago.
I was able to see some of the unwritten understandings in education. One is that you don't pick your kids. Teachers get a classroom and an administrator decides if they get assistance or not for certain children, the teacher can request an aide but does not always get one. Another one is that sometimes kids hit. Good kids, bad kids, one time or chronic problems, but sometimes kids do hit or pinch or kick. And the last one I can think of is that we take some risk working with children. Maybe you give a kid a hug and it is misinterpreted, maybe a parent hears your voice raised.
I am hoping that maybe this will help future conversations,
We had 2 behavior contract students that both showed growth. One went from having a one on one the majority of the day to not needing that support later in the summer, just time outs when he needed them. The other improved even though he lost his grandfather suddenly this summer who was part of raising him. There was a student who had a behavior plan during the school year, I suspended him 3 times (by standards we usually expel) but he showed improvement every time and he attended summer without write ups so I feel good about that.
Then we have a true special needs kiddo, A. We do not have her figured out. We had her all year and we still struggle with stubborn and aggressive behavior. She is low verbal and low cognitive and they don't have a diagnoses despite trying. She has been in our schools and programs for years so if this was easy we would have it now. OUr department is improving with special needs but it is slow. I think truly we all expected to have some answer that would allow her to function in a group of 15 kids but she can't, and now my supervisor knows it also. Dealing with staff is another issue, one just talked me to death yesterday on this kid. This staff has had her all year and summer so I understand burn out. Her bottom line is the kid should have been gone a long time ago.
I was able to see some of the unwritten understandings in education. One is that you don't pick your kids. Teachers get a classroom and an administrator decides if they get assistance or not for certain children, the teacher can request an aide but does not always get one. Another one is that sometimes kids hit. Good kids, bad kids, one time or chronic problems, but sometimes kids do hit or pinch or kick. And the last one I can think of is that we take some risk working with children. Maybe you give a kid a hug and it is misinterpreted, maybe a parent hears your voice raised.
I am hoping that maybe this will help future conversations,