ESE ~ Tools for behaviors?.....

Have you ever attended a DOG TRAINING CLASS? Have you ever tried to get a dog to do a new trick? Keep tasty little dog treats or something yummy in your pocket and reward your dog quickly with a little treat when they do 'the trick' or what you are trying to get them to learn...this is what I obseved in an ESE CLUSTER CLASSROOM the other day!

Is this really the correct way to get CHILDREN to behave and do well in school and do what the teacher wants? Yup...this is how this particular teacher was helping her young students behave well during calendar math time! I was appauled to see this in action! It was amazing to me to know that here I was actually observing how this Special Ed teacher with a degree to teach Special Education in our schools was reaching into one of her 2 front pockets of her sweater/jacket and using GOLDFISH CRACKERS to reward or NOT reward her beautiful students! She even went as far as to make sure she did NOT give a goldfish cracker reward to a particular student and made sure all the other students received a tiny goldfish cracker!...she was showing "him" he can't have one till he stops moving from "his spot" on the carpet. He kept moving to the corner spot up front closer to her and up against the filing cabinet, so he could use the corner of the wall to lean up against. Teacher was going over the calendar, weather and telling time yet it really seemed to be more about keeping him in the same spot and NOT MOVING, not about teaching. He is an active little boy and also has hypotonia, which I am sure not many teachers fully understand how hypotonia affects the body of the child with this condition.

I was greeted in the front office by the school principal, she was professional in the way she greeted me and shook my hand....but the PINK CROCKS she was wearing on her feet surprised me as her choice of professional dress. Never have I met a principal that is in charge of a school wear flip flops or PINK CROCKS to work! She was going to be taking me to where I was to do my observations and she would be staying with me throughout the entire observation time.

We started my observation time when he was visiting the regular kindergarten classroom during their calendar math and weather time first thing in the morning. He was sitting on the corner edge of the carpet near the classroom door, like he just came in and wasn't able to mingle or be amongst all the other students, but was able to just sit 'just on the edge'....with a woman sitting directly behind him monitoring his every move and action. She had a baggie full of CHEETOS she gave him for 'behaving well'. He was quiet and didn't move from his place, his head was down most during most of this time as he touched his shoes with his crossed legs. He was never called on or even LOOKED at by this teacher or his classmates. The other students interacted with one another and actively answered the questions the teacher was asking of her class about the calendar day and date, the time and the weather. One student was in a rocking chair next to the chart the teacher was using. This student was the one that was allowed to 'pick which students were called on to answer the questions' the teacher was asking. He was behaving himself sitting so nicely on the carpet during this time, but he wasn't really 'part of' the class at this time either, he kept to himself and had his head down most of the time and didn't participate with the lesson....he just seemed to be listening to everything and doing what the others were doing.

The class then stood up and went to go stand behind their desk and chairs to do some physical activity. He or his Para/Aide didn't seem to know where to go to do this activity so they just went to the front of the class to an 'open empty area'...was this his spot or did he even have his own desk area and chair in this classroom? It didn't seem so during this time of observation, by the way the Para/Aide or this student didn't know where to go stand.

He was happy to be in this classroom, but at the same time, there didn't seem to be anyone that was friendly with him or seemed to 'notice' him other than the fact that the little girl next to him seemed to be 'waiting for him to touch her' and she was ready to tattle on him for touching her! I could see it on the faces of some of the students that they were NOT to interact with him or talk to him...he was an outsider visiting this classroom. The teacher pretty much never made any eye contact with him or ever engaged with any kind of teaching with him. She let the Para/Aide work with him, since the Para/Aide had the baggie full of Cheetos to give to him, so he would 'do what he was suppose to do' and behave well. He was being ignored by this wonderful General Education Kindergarten teacher and was being provided Cheetos as his training treat to help him with behaving properly in this classroom. (I wonder if these food treats are listed anywhere on his IEP that he just has to have in order to BEHAVE....) INCLUSION WAS NOT HAPPENING WITH HIM in this Gen. Ed Kindergarten classroom!....HE WAS A VISITOR to this classroom and was being 'trained with CHEETOS' at every opportunity, just to get him to do what the adult watching over him wanted him to do!

I was not happy with how they were not providing INCLUSION for him in a Gen. Ed Kindergarten classroom...even though he obviosously seemed happy being in this classroom! The teacher never looked at him or seemed to notice he was there, allowing him to visit her classroom was ok, but to have to 'teach him' was not something she was doing.....he was invisable to her....the Para/Aide was only with him to prevent him from touching others or moving from where 'they wanted him' to be. Is it possible this Kindergarten teacher told her students to also not notice or interact with him?...because no one talked to him or acted like he was even there...the entire time he was being INCLUDED.....so sad to see first hand!

I was there to observe BENSON in several of his 'classroom changes' and saw so much in the very short time I was on that campus! The ESE Specialist told the mom the day she enrolled him that they are an INCLUSIVE SCHOOL and that her son would be attending a General Education Kindergarten classroom first thing in the morning for circle time. Mom asked me to schedule an observation to go see what exactly was going on at her sons school, because she hadn't been able to even SEE ANY OF HER SONS CLASSROOMS in the 2 months he had been attending his new school....communication coming home wasn't the best either!. Mom just wanted to know how he was being included in a REGULAR KINDERGARTEN CLASS but wasn't able to have any communication with his teachers to help her know more about the fact everyone was saying: that 'he was doing so well'....she wanted to see and know more than what they were 'telling her'....she needed to have someone else do the observation for her.

It took about 5 weeks of phone calls and emails back and forth with the ESE Specialist in trying to set up an observation time, the day he was enrolled we told them we would like to be able to come for an observation about 2 weeks after he has some time to 'get settled into' his new school. After mom had several conversations trying to set up an observation time, I started emailing the ESE Specialist and then I was beng told I was only allowed just a 1/2 hour of observation at the most, that is was according the the BTU=Broward Teachers Union policy. This is what that ESE Specialist provided me in one of her emails as THE POLICY this school principal was going by, please note there was no policy number or where this was coming from other than the BTU! I had to ask her during a phone call WHERE this policy came from or was written, I had to do my own research on the Broward Schools main website to see exactly what this entire BTU policy was and said and not go by what she was choosing to send over to me in an email. Here is what was provided to me in her email:

"Observations of an employee's class by persons other than school system personnel shall be allowed only after consent has been granted by the principal or his/her designee, notification to the employee, and proper security clearance has been granted. The visitation shall be scheduled no sooner than two (2) workdays after notification, except in extenuating circumstances as determined by the affected principal. Such observations shall be no longer than one (1) hour in length. Upon request, a building administrator shall be present in the employee’s classroom during the entire observation period."

This entire time of my trying (about 5 weeks) to set up a day-date-time for an observation, mom had still not been able to see any of her son's classrooms or get to know her son's teachers or the male Para/Aide that was usually taking him into the 'regular Kindergarten class' for his INCLUSION TIME first thing in the morning. Mom was being barred from getting to know or have any real communication her son's teachers or to see any of his classrooms!

Is this how all principals in charge of our public schools and districts treat the NON-DISABLED STUDENTS and their parents? I don't think so...but have a young 5 year old student with Down syndrome that has communication delays. His mom that just wants to make sure she had made the right decision to have her son attend this oh so wonderful fully inclusive elementary school, yet don't let that parent see his classrooms or get to know his teachers!! THIS IS NOT RIGHT OR ACCEPTABLE TODAY! This mom has a right to SEE HER SON'S CLASSROOMS....ALL OF THEM....AND MEET AND GET TO KNOW HIS TEACHERS! She also has a right to have regular communication with each of his teachers....since his speech isn't clear and not everyone understands what he is saying, he communicates by gestures and some signs, sounds and of course facial expressions.

I am hoping by blogging about the real life experiences of what parents go thru in trying to make sure their child is being treated fairly and is attending the classrooms and being provided what the ESE Specialist SAID on the day this boy was enrolled...is really being carried out, but with all the 'cat & mouse' games and 'dragging their feet' in providing just a simple observation day-date-time to be able to see what his school day really looks like, sends up a RED FLAG! This school NEEDS IMMEDIATE TRAINING ON POSITIVE INCLUSIVE PRACTICES.....there was nothing positive about him being included at this school. The teachers and the Para/Aides also need some training on how to help TEACH the child and not use FOOD TREATS so much!

Mom is fed up with the games being played....her sons education for Kindergarten is being wasted on or in a program that does not 'feel right' anymore. Mom knew the day she was enrolling him....that they were painting a picture that wasn't true! With so much nonsense to go thru just to set up an 'observation day'....speaks volumes!

Mom..........THANK YOU for allowing me to share your story, you and I both know your son is not the only one out there in the same situation!

Please post a reply to this post if you or someone you know can relate to this small snippet of an 'observation day'.....would love to hear what you have to say! (Click the COMMENT word in white)
DS Advocate