How many IEP meetings to change a lightbulb

[Debi]

If team members were asked "How many IEP meetings does it take to
change a light bulb," this is they might say:

Parent - "The light bulb is not the only thing that's burnt out."

General Education Teacher - "No one said I was going to have to teach changing light bulbs."

Case Manager - "If you hadn't wanted so many hours of service in that room, maybe the light bulb wouldn't have burned out."

Transition Coordinator - "I think they cover that in life skills."

Special Education Teacher - "We don't need a light bulb, it's not like they're reading or writing."

Special Education Director - "We'll have to just keep changing his placement until we find a room that has a light bulb."

Resource Teacher - "The side benefit is that we'll have to bring them up from the basement."

Teaching Assistant - "We don't really need a new light bulb, there's enough light coming off the television."

School District Attorney - "The regulations don't require light in the timeout room."

Dean of Discipline- "Is there supposed to be a light in the time-out room?"

Assistive Technology Team - "First, we have to determine that the light bulb's really burnt out and then we can trial a flashlight."

School Nurse - "I don't know how many it will take to change the light bulb, but all the special ed children will have to go home until we do."

Secretary at the meeting - "O.K. then, how many minutes of light are we allotting in the IEP?"

Special Education Director - "We are willing to provide nightlights and maybe open the door a crack; we feel this is more than educationally appropriate and all Rowley requires."

Teacher - (Sobbing) "What do you people expect from us anyway!"

Parent - "I don't understand why you're being so difficult, it's not like we're asking for a chandelier."

School Psychologist - "The children are just lazy. If they really wanted to learn they'd study by candle light like Abraham Lincoln."

Janitorial Custodian - "I'd like to help you, but I'm not a part of the IEP team."

Dean of Discipline - "I'm just here to make sure we write it as 'change the light bulb.' The minute anyone uses the word,'screw' this meeting is over."

Special Education Attorney - "The light bulb is the least important thing that needs to be changed in that classroom."

Author Unknown

[Debi]

rolling on FLOOR laughing!!!

[Angela Wilder]

I also wish they would focus on children with mental illnesses more. Such as kids with Bipolar Disorder and depression. I understand that children with diseases such as Autism need a lot of attention, and right now they are not getting sufficient care in education. But children with diseases such as Bipolar Disorder need attention as well. And I do not think that KCS are not doing their jobs in helping these kids.

[Vic Spencer]

Your example is a different ball of wax. It requires medical treatment. Such kids could be treated medically so that they could participate like a normal child, but the school is not equipped to provide such a service. I suspect that inner city children deal with a lot of depression, however the medications in this area have an adjustment period where an unsupervised child may not take the medication. This is a difficult area.

[Debi]

Well autism has a lot of cohabiting issues. 70-80% of those with autism have significant gastronintestinal problems, that leads to behavior problems. My daughter has significant immune problems common in autism (don't have statistic as to how much) leading her to be absent A LOT, and sick a lot more when she is at school. She also has numerous food allergies, as do many kids with autism.

The more I learn about various disabilities, the more I see how health overlaps so heavily with the behavioral/educational component. There is emerging research that shows AD/HD, bipolar, and schizophrenia, as three examples, may be mitochondrial, food allergy, and seizures presenting as these conditions. If mom & dad aren't heavily-versed in research, health care provider isn't checking out all options, and school isn't permitted to suggest medical interventions, the kid goes on with some difficult problems

I don't have a clue how to address it all. If we don't have proper health professionals to address these issues here, and we have no one for autism at present, how do parents, schools, and non-existent health providers balance it all to create a meaningful educational experience? I sure don't have the answers.

[Debi]

There was a meeting with DLAC here-while-back to discuss students with mental health disorders not getting proper help. As I hear, Dr. McCook showed up & told some that he has a son (maybe daughter?) with disability. I was not aware of that, I hope he/she got the educational interventions he/she needed.

[Angela Wilder]

I just graduated from high school. I have Bipolar Disorder. I did get help from tools such as meds and therapy. But I think the school could have done a little more helping me get through things ok. I was under Special Education for Consultation purposes. They had a social worker that you could have "mini-sessions" with a couple of times a week. I wish they could have had someone talk to me every day for a little longer to make sure I was functioning ok socially. My case worker was the Special Education Teacher and head of a lot of other things.He helped the best he could, but was just busy most of the time. I just wish the schools would provide a social worker that one could talk to every day. Someone who was more involved and knew everything that went on daily in a students school life. I know it would be really expensive to hire a professional to be there all the time for so many children. But they are needed for not only students who are inside a Specialized classroom all day, but also for students who have disabilities and are out in regular classes all day. These students who can function in regular classes, but still struggle with day to day school problems need a professional like this to make the school day easier

[Vic Spencer]

You know, all this costs time and costs a lot of money. We never have enough money for what we want to do. And someone within the education system must make a decision about what part of the money goes to special ed and what part goes elsewhere. That is a very hard decision to make.
I don't know enough about the Special Ed details, but maybe some of such functions should be covered under the parents' medical insurance instead under Education. In many other countries they have specialized schools for this and/or the problem is covered under the medical system.
Someone should study the Education system in Finland. They are the best and highest producers internationally. We are 34th. The Finns have an extensive special education system, they graduate 100% and have a much harder curriculum than ours. We graduate 75% (77% in Knox County) with a much easier curriculum. I don't know about their expense per child, but in general we are on top in spending, while our scholastic results are 34th. Therefore a number of countries are doing some things better that we could learn from. As an example, a mathematics teacher in Finland must get an MS degree in mathematics first, and then goes to a teacher college. In European countries teachers and professors are the most respected and well paid positions. What a teacher says goes.
It would be good for us to study the system in Finland and to somehow transition to it. When you graduate 100%, and 90+% go to a university, with many into science and engineering, people have a higher standard of living than us, make more money and pay more to finance the better education system.
We graduate only 4.7% of our college grads in science or engineering. That's the same % as Kenya, and this is not good news.

WE MUST CORRECT THESE PROBLEMS OR OUR CHILDREN'S AND GRANDCHILDREN'S LIVES WILL BE VERY DIFFICULT.

WHAT CAN WE DO TODAY? JUST MAKE SURE THAT YOU TAKE ALGEBRA 2, TRIGONOMETRY, GEOMETRY, INTRO CALCULUS, PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY AND ENGLISH COMPOSITION. IF YOU DO IT WITH AN A OR B FOR EACH, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PASS ANY SCIENCE, ENGINEERING OR ANYTHING AT A UNIVERSITY, AND ENSURE A GOOD LIFE FOR YOURSELF.

[Angela Wilder]

I was in Special Education in high school. An IEP is formally known as an Individualized Education Plan. I did not see them as being very productive at all. Every February, my parents and I would go into a meeting that lasted around 25 minutes. Except in the beginning of being put in Special Education, there were no changes made. I was in either on-level or honors courses. But I still wish there was more action taken on my IEP even though I was not having significant problems.