Teachers ridicule disabled boy

[PDilemma]

These are usually the teachers who get into the profession to have summers off. They are really easy to spot.

The para educators at my school who work with the disabled kids are great.

IME, these are the teachers who wanted to coach sports. Even easier to spot.

[Matryeshka]

A couple of years ago, I wrote an anonymous letter to the school board because of both teacher and para treatment of a with Asperger's Syndrome. They knew what his triggers were, and would deliberately put him in situations where he would go off, and encouraged other students (special and regular ed) to do the same. The third time I was at the school, I stuck a note in the kid's backpack for the parents. (I'm very, very, VERY lucky I was not caught and fired over it, because they had to know which sub did it.)

Because of his outbursts (which, really, were artificially created), he was deemed not behaviorally able to be mainstreamed, even for part of the day. I worked with him a few times; mentally, there was nothing wrong with him. If anything, he was maybe ahead of his peers in reading and on-level in math and science.

This kid was seven years old, and what they did to him was tantamount to torture. The schoolboard did the Catholic Solution--they broke up that little group. None of those teachers or paras were at that school next year, but they were still teaching elsewhere. In this case it worked out--none of them are teaching/para-ing now. At other schools where special ed programs were better, those behaviors were not tolerated and were "encouraged" to leave that school system.

The problem with special ed is it really does attract the extremes--some of the best, most patient, loving people end up as special ed teachers/paras. At the same time, a lot of bullies end up in special ed because the kids can't always speak for themselves, and regular teachers don't always know what goes on/should go on in a special ed classroom, and bullies in special ed really encourage the idea that "special ed kids lie."

It's also compounded by special kids who ARE violent/dangerous to others and themselves, and what one passerby sees as being extreme is actually necessary for safety reasons. It's a hard job, and good special ed teachers are not paid nearly enough, even though they are paid more/a bonus than regular ed teachers.

[PDilemma]

. It's a hard job, and good special ed teachers are not paid nearly enough, even though they are paid more/a bonus than regular ed teachers.

Burn out is very high in special ed. The stresses of dealing with special needs students are much higher than a regular classroom and the paperwork is a full time job all by itself.

Burn out could lead to situations like this as well. And I know of no districts in this area that pay any more for special ed teachers than regular classroom teachers.

[algonquin]

These are usually the teachers who get into the profession to have summers off. They are really easy to spot.

Yes, they are. Instead of helping students struggling with math, my grade seven teacher gave us detentions. In the course of our school years, everyone has a bad teacher or two, but it is heart breaking when things like happen to special needs children. They have enough to deal with.

[Twilight1]

Education assistants make about $18-$20 an hour here. Not bad...but not as much as I think they should make.

I don't doubt burn out is high. At the school my sons are in there are 2 kids with special needs (my youngest son) and another boy. When one EA goes on break, the other watches both kids. The 2 boys can both rile each other up really bad some days. If my son has a bad day, he is really tough to manage, but the other boy is worse (the other boy has been suspended from school for half days because the school hasn't been able to manage him- luckily that hasn't happened yet with my son but it still could).

Distraction techniques only work so far with my son, using first/then, giving him options etc etc. If he doesn't want to do something he just won't and it makes it tough for his EA.

My biggest nightmare though is him being abused. He really struggles with verbal communication and I hope every day that it will come. If something ever happens to him...I want him to be able to tell someone. We have him on a computer, he uses pictures and he seems to be excelling with it.

[Matryeshka]

Education assistants make about $18-$20 an hour here. Not bad...but not as much as I think they should make.

That's what teachers make here ! Education assistants make about 9/hour.

[Twilight1]

Teachers make about $25-$35 an hour. Depends if they have 4 yrs or 6 yrs of schooling. There is a minimum of about $38000 a yr in my province for 4yrs of schooling. Mind you, they do have July and August off so my math could be off.

[barbk]

I've seen mean or clueless classroom teachers, but I've never seen a SPED teacher behaving anything like this. We have had issues with SPED teachers who were not flexible in working with kids who both had learning disabilities or Aspergers AND who were gifted, but never, ever as depicted here.

It seems to me that once there has been an arrest involving behavior at school or with a child that it should be LWOP after two weeks.