Matrix Parents Presents: Practical Special Education

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Homework, literally, a traumatic experience for many neurodivergent children and their families.  If you are in this situation, how can you make it at least tolerable, or even an enriching experience?

In this episode, I talk about why these students are so resistant to the idea of homework, the importance of making it relevant, and how to incorporate preferred content into the process.

And I talk about when homework should be restricted or eliminated and how to work with your IEP team to get appropriate accommodations into your child's IEP.

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Dyslexia – the 21st Century’s Superpower (says a British study of the skills needed to succeed in the new AI world)

This fascinating new study overseen by the British charity Made By Dyslexia analyzes the human skills that are needed to use AI to its fullest potential.  The study's sponsor's, who agree with and support its results include GCHQ (MI5/MI6), Microsoft, Linked in and others.

Listen to hear more about this groundbreaking report and how it will profoundly affect the 20% of the population who are dyslexic thinkers.

Here are links to the resources used in the program: 

• Intelligence 5.0 Report: https://www.madebydyslexia.org/MBD-Intelligence-5.0-Report.pdf
• Dictionary.com definition of dyslexic thinking: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/dyslexic-thinking
• World Economic Forum - Klaus Schwab: https://www.weforum.org/about/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-by-klaus-schwab/
• Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills at the OECD: https://hwrkmagazine.co.uk/prioritise-human-skills-in-the-age-of-ai/
• Strategies highlighted: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1185416.pdf and King, 2005; Willard-Holt, Weber, Morrison, & Horgan, 2013
• Visual graph of a spike profile: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-Spiky-Profile-showing-example-IQ-scores_fig1_344429344

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What does neurodivesity in the classroom look like?  This musing is a specific example of what a student faces, both as a challenge and a gift while being neurodivergent.

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IEP goals are the most important part of the entire IEP process.  It is vital to write goals that clearly and concisely describe what progress a student should make on a specific skill over the course of a year.

The services a student receives is directly relarted to goals in an IEP.  The IEP team determines what services are needed to provide a reasonable chance of meeting the goals.

While the implementation of goals is the purview of the professional staff working with a student, the goal drives that teaching.

The SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Based) goals concept is the most effective way of guding an IEP team on the content and wording of goals.  It is an invaluable tool that every IEP team should be using.

Listen in to hear the whys and hows of SMART Goals.

Here are the goals that are used in the podcast:

Behavior:
When his classroom teacher invites participation by students by being called on after raising their hands quietly, John will call out with an answer or comment in 5 of 10 opportunities.

Goal:
By (one year), in a classroom setting, When his teacher asks the class to answer a question or make a comment by being called on after raising their hands quietly, John will do so 4 out of 5 opportunities with 80% accuracy. 

 Academic:
Marie’s reading level in the area of oral reading as measured by standardized testing is 85 words per minute, she is 4th grade, should be 100-120 per minute.

By (one year) in a one-one setting with an assessor, Marie will read a 5th grade passage at 100 words per minute with accuracy and age-appropriate expression 4 of 5 opportunities.  

Thanks for listening!

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Getting back to school from break often makes parents feel their child is not making the progress at this time of year that they should.

If its lack of objective data on goals reporting, an accommodation that has not been implemented despite months of trying, an email question that hasn't been answered...

Parents should know that educators feel the same way this time of year.  The plans and in-service training over the past summer haven't come together as hoped.

That is the frustration of education, the fact that there is so much to do, so much to accomplish, but by the nature of it some sense of failure is inevitable, neither parents nor educators can ever do it perfectly, so we try to realize this and do our best.

But there are ways to improve things, and do it in a way that will lessen the feeling of having to do more.  Listen in to this episode to learn how.

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This short episode discusses the importantance of children being recognized for partially accomplishing an appropriate behavior.

There needs to be a series of steps in learing something new, and lots of practice to master it.  Behavior is the same, learning how to act in a new way is like any other skill, the small successes need to recognized and celebrated.

Listen in to hear how this is done is a classroom setting.

Thanks for listening!

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Many schools and districts practice a form of institutional gaslighting.

I talk about how the structure of schools, along with how the socioeconomic level of the parent determines how much influence a parent has on their child's IEP process. 

Other factors such as parent participation are important, see this link for a research article  (see link below), but parent's knowledge of the way institutions work in general are more satisfied with their experience in the IEP process.  And a parent who has more knowledge of this are often more educated and affluent.

However, gaslighting appears in some form in most schools and districts, it's the nature the of beast, so to speak.  Any time a group of people, in this case educators, feel threatened in some way, the natural impulse is to retreat or strike out.

I would argue that the potential consequences of complaints, due process filings and similar parent responses make some school staff feel constrained into non-participation in the IEP process. Generally, those staff members who are less educated about special education are generally more reluctant to participate fully.  General education teachers are the group most reluctant to "make a mistake" in a meeting.

In this episode I talk about why some IEP meetings include open and honest discussions about issues, while others discourage parent participation, and what you can do if you are feeling gaslighted.

Here is a link to an article about the issue:
https://adayinourshoes.com/gaslighting/

And here is the link to the parent satisfaction article:
https://www.researchgate.net publication/321690929_Satisfaction_With_Individualized_Education_Programs_Among_Parents_of_Young_Children_With_ASD

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In this episode we'll get into the most important part of a behavior plan, reinforcement.  Learn what it is and what it looks like.

Remember, the more you know about special education practice, particularly how Positive Behavior Support is supposed to work, the better off you will be at IEP meetings and in helping the team.

Here are a couple of links to more information on reinforcement.  The first gives an explanation why reinforcement in a behavior plan is not working. 
(https://theresponsivecounselor.com/2022/12/your-positive-behavior-reinforcement-intervention-will-probably-fail-if.html)

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The preschool special education system in California is in critical need of reform.  Listen to my experience with the system in the California counties where I provide advocacy services.  

The system as we now know it excludes neurodivergent children from the preschool system in alarming numbers.  The fact that many of these children are the brightest potential intellects in their age group makes this even more problematic.

Listen to my ideas to help correct the problem and what school districts can do to implement needed reforms.

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Learn how the discipline system for students with disabilites in California works, and how the letter and spirit of the law is often violated by school officials. 

Schools often under report discuplinary removal of student's with disabilities from their classrooms.  They do this by using "informal removals" (see below for link to OSEP information).  This is when students are sent to the office (or any other area outside of their regular classroom placement) or just sent home without being formally suspended.

Most of the time, the misuse of discipline is caused by a lack of training and experience, but sometimes the misuse is intentional to reduce reportable instances of student discipline. 

The number of suspensions in California is now closely tracked through reporting by districts to the state.  If those numbers are artificially low, it harms all students.  That is because the need for services such as behaviorists and support staff is also artificially low when the actual numbers are higher. 

OSEP resources and explanations:
(https://sites.ed.gov/osers/2023/02/discipline-discussions-informal-removals-matter/)

California law regarding discipline:
(https://sites.ed.gov/osers/2023/02/discipline-discussions-informal-removals-matter/)