Inclusion class created - need opinion

[Guest guest]

My son's principal called me today to let me know that they have decided to have

what she calls an " inclusion class " . She says that there will be 7 kids with

special needs out of 22 total. She states that there will be an aide for math,

reading, language arts and resource will come to them. I was kind of excited to

see this happen and on the surface this seems great - but it feels weird.

Before, he was considered mainstreamed and just placed in the gen ed population

with resource for language arts and then an aide in pe only. Now it seems like

he's going to get more support than he was before. My concern I guess is the

type of special needs kids that will be in his class - I don't know if they are

on or around his level and if they are more severe if that will affect his

education.

Am I overthinking this, to me it sounds good and I was glad the principal was

thinking of our kids and ways to give them support. Because this school, in the

beginning, didn't even want to give him a pe aide, this is a new principal and

so far she seems to be really interested in my son having the support he needs.

Now they have a full time pe aide for all the pe classes.

I have a meeting with his new teachers and the principal the day before school

starts and I just want to make sure I'm not missing something that I need to

address. My initial reaction was: this is great! Is it?

If you have time for an opinion please let me know what you think.

[Guest guest]

This is the first time I have responded to an email. I am very new to this

process. My experience is not. I have a son 15, 16 in November, with the

school system. I have been lucky with what has gone on with my son, . The

first item which upset me with your email is the fact you explained there would

be seven students with disabilities in the classroom. This sounds to me as an

extension of the " portable unit " with " Special Kids " ....gag! My son is the only

one with a disability in a regular classroom. He has his own Para Pro in the

appropriate setting. I realize how lucky I am to have a school district that

TRIES. We have our problems, but I really feel they get it. I am also in a

small community and have not had to come across big city problems, or so it

seems. I have a new principal, and vice principal to deal with this year, and

that is very new to me. I might just be the next one asking for HELP! What I

need to know from you is what grade are you dealing with?

It makes a difference.

Thanks for reading,

wwellen@... wrote:

My son's principal called me today to let me know that they have decided to have

what she calls an " inclusion class " . She says that there will be 7 kids with

special needs out of 22 total. She states that there will be an aide for math,

reading, language arts and resource will come to them. I was kind of excited to

see this happen and on the surface this seems great - but it feels weird.

Before, he was considered mainstreamed and just placed in the gen ed population

with resource for language arts and then an aide in pe only. Now it seems like

he's going to get more support than he was before. My concern I guess is the

type of special needs kids that will be in his class - I don't know if they are

on or around his level and if they are more severe if that will affect his

education.

Am I overthinking this, to me it sounds good and I was glad the principal was

thinking of our kids and ways to give them support. Because this school, in the

beginning, didn't even want to give him a pe aide, this is a new principal and

so far she seems to be really interested in my son having the support he needs.

Now they have a full time pe aide for all the pe classes.

I have a meeting with his new teachers and the principal the day before school

starts and I just want to make sure I'm not missing something that I need to

address. My initial reaction was: this is great! Is it?

If you have time for an opinion please let me know what you think.

[Guest guest]

My son's elementary school has always had " inclusion " classes. In

theory it sounds like a good idea. Some negatives I've experienced,

however, are the following:

Sometimes the teacher given the inclusion class is a first year

teacher. They really should have more experience teaching in the

classroom, and, preferably, experience with special needs kids.

How can any teacher be expected to effectively keep up with IEPs for

half of her class? Not to mention the amount of time required to

prepare for and attend ARDs. And, who is teaching the class while

the teacher attends 10+ ARD meetings per school year?

Your child with autism may be in an " inclusion " class with kids that

have inappropriate behaviors due to their disabilities. Will your

child with autism be able to distiguish which peer behavior he should

model? Will the teacher be able to devote time to several kids

having meltdowns at one time?

Is the most appropriate placement for a kid with Asperger's or ADHD

the inclusion class? Our son has a very high IQ, but his ADHD and

Asperger's resulted in his inability to pass the Gifted and Talented

tests. When he attained a perfect score on the third grade reading

TAKS, the principal finally honored my request to remove him from the

inclusion class to the Gifted cluster class for fourth and fifth

grade (all the GT kids for that grade level plus regular ed kids).

He was much happier and I felt the teachers had more time to devote

to him becasue he was the only kid with an IEP and a BIP in their

class.

A friend of mine who had her special needs (LD) son in

the " inclusion " class at our school for fourth grade had a first year

teacher and ten special needs kids out of twenty total students. It

was uncontrolled chaos the entire year. My friend's son was a quiet

kid that didn't cause trouble. He came home every day complaining to

his mother that certain kids were always acting badly and getting in

to trouble. Lots of instructiuonal time was lost becasue the teacher

was forced to deal with a few out of control kids. My friend

considered the year a complete loss.

Just some things to consider. The last thing you want is for your

son's teacher to be untrained, ill-prepared and spread too thin to

teach.

Amy

> My son's principal called me today to let me know that they have

decided to have what she calls an " inclusion class " . She says that

there will be 7 kids with special needs out of 22 total. She states

that there will be an aide for math, reading, language arts and

resource will come to them. I was kind of excited to see this happen

and on the surface this seems great - but it feels weird. Before,

he was considered mainstreamed and just placed in the gen ed

population with resource for language arts and then an aide in pe

only. Now it seems like he's going to get more support than he was

before. My concern I guess is the type of special needs kids that

will be in his class - I don't know if they are on or around his

level and if they are more severe if that will affect his education.

>

> Am I overthinking this, to me it sounds good and I was glad the

principal was thinking of our kids and ways to give them support.

Because this school, in the beginning, didn't even want to give him

a pe aide, this is a new principal and so far she seems to be really

interested in my son having the support he needs. Now they have a

full time pe aide for all the pe classes.

>

> I have a meeting with his new teachers and the principal the day

before school starts and I just want to make sure I'm not missing

something that I need to address. My initial reaction was: this is

great! Is it?

>

> If you have time for an opinion please let me know what you think.

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Inclusion can be great or it can be awful depending on how it's applied.

Contrary to IEP they put my students in inclusion and I wasn't allowed to teach

them. My job became watching the reg. teacher not teach them. One girl had just

been moved from resource room and she would copy from the board. By the time she

finished copying the teacher finished the explanation so she heard none of the

explanation. The other kids were basically the same.

It depends on the quality of teacher, aide, and the level of the other students

but i can tell you from friends' experiences 7 special needs kids is a lot of

kids for inclusion. I'm very suspicious. Here in Roswell, they changed

superintendents. The old one gave each principal carte blanche to do whatever

they wanted. Teachers had no input unless the principal wanted it.

They got rid of him and the new super. makes all the decisions. He decided ALL

sped students would be inclusion. That didn't work but he " included " as many as

he could. CHEAPER.

wwellen@... wrote:

My son's principal called me today to let me know that they have decided to have

what she calls an " inclusion class " . She says that there will be 7 kids with

special needs out of 22 total. She states that there will be an aide for math,

reading, language arts and resource will come to them. I was kind of excited to

see this happen and on the surface this seems great - but it feels weird.

Before, he was considered mainstreamed and just placed in the gen ed population

with resource for language arts and then an aide in pe only. Now it seems like

he's going to get more support than he was before. My concern I guess is the

type of special needs kids that will be in his class - I don't know if they are

on or around his level and if they are more severe if that will affect his

education.

Am I overthinking this, to me it sounds good and I was glad the principal was

thinking of our kids and ways to give them support. Because this school, in the

beginning, didn't even want to give him a pe aide, this is a new principal and

so far she seems to be really interested in my son having the support he needs.

Now they have a full time pe aide for all the pe classes.

I have a meeting with his new teachers and the principal the day before school

starts and I just want to make sure I'm not missing something that I need to

address. My initial reaction was: this is great! Is it?

If you have time for an opinion please let me know what you think.

[Guest guest]

This woman's description of what can happen in a classroom is why I get so

focused on trying to get the best placement for the girls. Having a

inexperienced teacher or one with too many SN kids can cost a child a year

in their education.

Thanks for being a supportive husband and a great dad!!!!

LYVVVM - me:)

Re: Inclusion class created - need opinion

My son's elementary school has always had " inclusion " classes. In

theory it sounds like a good idea. Some negatives I've experienced,

however, are the following:

Sometimes the teacher given the inclusion class is a first year

teacher. They really should have more experience teaching in the

classroom, and, preferably, experience with special needs kids.

How can any teacher be expected to effectively keep up with IEPs for

half of her class? Not to mention the amount of time required to

prepare for and attend ARDs. And, who is teaching the class while

the teacher attends 10+ ARD meetings per school year?

Your child with autism may be in an " inclusion " class with kids that

have inappropriate behaviors due to their disabilities. Will your

child with autism be able to distiguish which peer behavior he should

model? Will the teacher be able to devote time to several kids

having meltdowns at one time?

Is the most appropriate placement for a kid with Asperger's or ADHD

the inclusion class? Our son has a very high IQ, but his ADHD and

Asperger's resulted in his inability to pass the Gifted and Talented

tests. When he attained a perfect score on the third grade reading

TAKS, the principal finally honored my request to remove him from the

inclusion class to the Gifted cluster class for fourth and fifth

grade (all the GT kids for that grade level plus regular ed kids).

He was much happier and I felt the teachers had more time to devote

to him becasue he was the only kid with an IEP and a BIP in their

class.

A friend of mine who had her special needs (LD) son in

the " inclusion " class at our school for fourth grade had a first year

teacher and ten special needs kids out of twenty total students. It

was uncontrolled chaos the entire year. My friend's son was a quiet

kid that didn't cause trouble. He came home every day complaining to

his mother that certain kids were always acting badly and getting in

to trouble. Lots of instructiuonal time was lost becasue the teacher

was forced to deal with a few out of control kids. My friend

considered the year a complete loss.

Just some things to consider. The last thing you want is for your

son's teacher to be untrained, ill-prepared and spread too thin to

teach.

Amy

> My son's principal called me today to let me know that they have

decided to have what she calls an " inclusion class " . She says that

there will be 7 kids with special needs out of 22 total. She states

that there will be an aide for math, reading, language arts and

resource will come to them. I was kind of excited to see this happen

and on the surface this seems great - but it feels weird. Before,

he was considered mainstreamed and just placed in the gen ed

population with resource for language arts and then an aide in pe

only. Now it seems like he's going to get more support than he was

before. My concern I guess is the type of special needs kids that

will be in his class - I don't know if they are on or around his

level and if they are more severe if that will affect his education.

>

> Am I overthinking this, to me it sounds good and I was glad the

principal was thinking of our kids and ways to give them support.

Because this school, in the beginning, didn't even want to give him

a pe aide, this is a new principal and so far she seems to be really

interested in my son having the support he needs. Now they have a

full time pe aide for all the pe classes.

>

> I have a meeting with his new teachers and the principal the day

before school starts and I just want to make sure I'm not missing

something that I need to address. My initial reaction was: this is

great! Is it?

>

> If you have time for an opinion please let me know what you think.

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

This sounds really interesting. Let me know how it works...Trina

Inclusion class created - need opinion

My son's principal called me today to let me know that they have decided

to have what she calls an " inclusion class " . She says that there will

be 7 kids with special needs out of 22 total. She states that there

will be an aide for math, reading, language arts and resource will come

to them. I was kind of excited to see this happen and on the surface

this seems great - but it feels weird. Before, he was considered

mainstreamed and just placed in the gen ed population with resource for

language arts and then an aide in pe only. Now it seems like he's going

to get more support than he was before. My concern I guess is the type

of special needs kids that will be in his class - I don't know if they

are on or around his level and if they are more severe if that will

affect his education.

Am I overthinking this, to me it sounds good and I was glad the

principal was thinking of our kids and ways to give them support.

Because this school, in the beginning, didn't even want to give him a

pe aide, this is a new principal and so far she seems to be really

interested in my son having the support he needs. Now they have a full

time pe aide for all the pe classes.

I have a meeting with his new teachers and the principal the day before

school starts and I just want to make sure I'm not missing something

that I need to address. My initial reaction was: this is great! Is it?

If you have time for an opinion please let me know what you think.

[Guest guest]

I could almost bet that they have come up with this so called inclusion

class in order to lump all the special needs kids together and hire less

staff. It would not be inclusion if there are several special needs kids in

it. Do they not know what inclusion means? Your last ARD would override

this unless they have another one and change it. If they vote to change it,

it doesn't matter what you think. They will override you. You would need

to take them to due process. Sad but true, but it looks like your district

is heading towards making it easier and cheaper for them and not what is

best and right and legal for the kids.

Best of Luck

Fight hard

in Austin (I have been there)

Inclusion class created - need opinion

My son's principal called me today to let me know that they have decided to

have what she calls an " inclusion class " . She says that there will be 7

kids with special needs out of 22 total. She states that there will be an

aide for math, reading, language arts and resource will come to them. I was

kind of excited to see this happen and on the surface this seems great - but

it feels weird. Before, he was considered mainstreamed and just placed in

the gen ed population with resource for language arts and then an aide in pe

only. Now it seems like he's going to get more support than he was before.

My concern I guess is the type of special needs kids that will be in his

class - I don't know if they are on or around his level and if they are more

severe if that will affect his education.

Am I overthinking this, to me it sounds good and I was glad the principal

was thinking of our kids and ways to give them support. Because this school,

in the beginning, didn't even want to give him a pe aide, this is a new

principal and so far she seems to be really interested in my son having the

support he needs. Now they have a full time pe aide for all the pe classes.

I have a meeting with his new teachers and the principal the day before

school starts and I just want to make sure I'm not missing something that I

need to address. My initial reaction was: this is great! Is it?

If you have time for an opinion please let me know what you think.

[Guest guest]

I think is so right. Look into it some more.

Candis

Levine wrote:

I could almost bet that they have come up with this so called inclusion

class in order to lump all the special needs kids together and hire less

staff. It would not be inclusion if there are several special needs kids in

it. Do they not know what inclusion means? Your last ARD would override

this unless they have another one and change it. If they vote to change it,

it doesn't matter what you think. They will override you. You would need

to take them to due process. Sad but true, but it looks like your district

is heading towards making it easier and cheaper for them and not what is

best and right and legal for the kids.

Best of Luck

Fight hard

in Austin (I have been there)

Inclusion class created - need opinion

My son's principal called me today to let me know that they have decided to

have what she calls an " inclusion class " . She says that there will be 7

kids with special needs out of 22 total. She states that there will be an

aide for math, reading, language arts and resource will come to them. I was

kind of excited to see this happen and on the surface this seems great - but

it feels weird. Before, he was considered mainstreamed and just placed in

the gen ed population with resource for language arts and then an aide in pe

only. Now it seems like he's going to get more support than he was before.

My concern I guess is the type of special needs kids that will be in his

class - I don't know if they are on or around his level and if they are more

severe if that will affect his education.

Am I overthinking this, to me it sounds good and I was glad the principal

was thinking of our kids and ways to give them support. Because this school,

in the beginning, didn't even want to give him a pe aide, this is a new

principal and so far she seems to be really interested in my son having the

support he needs. Now they have a full time pe aide for all the pe classes.

I have a meeting with his new teachers and the principal the day before

school starts and I just want to make sure I'm not missing something that I

need to address. My initial reaction was: this is great! Is it?

If you have time for an opinion please let me know what you think.

[Guest guest]

To be an effective inclusion class there should be TWO

teachers, not just one, and one should be certified in

the content area, the other in special ed.

--- Candis Firchau wrote:

---------------------------------

I think is so right. Look into it some more.

Candis

Levine wrote:

I could almost bet that they have come up with this so

called inclusion

class in order to lump all the special needs kids

together and hire less

staff. It would not be inclusion if there are several

special needs kids in

it. Do they not know what inclusion means? Your last

ARD would override

this unless they have another one and change it. If

they vote to change it,

it doesn't matter what you think. They will override

you. You would need

to take them to due process. Sad but true, but it

looks like your district

is heading towards making it easier and cheaper for

them and not what is

best and right and legal for the kids.

Best of Luck

Fight hard

in Austin (I have been there)

Inclusion class

created - need opinion

My son's principal called me today to let me know that

they have decided to

have what she calls an " inclusion class " . She says

that there will be 7

kids with special needs out of 22 total. She states

that there will be an

aide for math, reading, language arts and resource

will come to them. I was

kind of excited to see this happen and on the surface

this seems great - but

it feels weird. Before, he was considered

mainstreamed and just placed in

the gen ed population with resource for language arts

and then an aide in pe

only. Now it seems like he's going to get more

support than he was before.

My concern I guess is the type of special needs kids

that will be in his

class - I don't know if they are on or around his

level and if they are more

severe if that will affect his education.

Am I overthinking this, to me it sounds good and I was

glad the principal

was thinking of our kids and ways to give them

support. Because this school,

in the beginning, didn't even want to give him a pe

aide, this is a new

principal and so far she seems to be really interested

in my son having the

support he needs. Now they have a full time pe aide

for all the pe classes.

I have a meeting with his new teachers and the

principal the day before

school starts and I just want to make sure I'm not

missing something that I

need to address. My initial reaction was: this is

great! Is it?

If you have time for an opinion please let me know

what you think.