James.Womack@f14.n300.z1.fidonet.org (James Womack) (05/14/91)
Index Number: 15598
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
Lord! I hate IEP's. Don't know if you are as burdened wwith them as
I am. We have so many papers for each kid that I feel like we are keeping
track of prisoners or Eastern Bloc spies rather than students!
My beef is that PL 94-142 was really meant to make sure that public
schools truly provided for "differently challenged" students. Deaf
programs were already set up for this (theoretically). Yet many mainstream
schools have only a very, very, very small fraction of the kind of
paperwork schools for the deaf are burdened with. I have a kid who
has A.D.D. and I went to a meeting at her school. They showed me this
single page IEP for her to, uh. . . prove they were meeting her needs.
Just that single page with a few lines of script on it! Visits to other
schools on various matters including a teacher exchange project; showed
that this was standard for many of them. I asked a few buddies in other
states and they gave the impression that the same was true in their
areas too. There are exceptions, I am sure.
My beef ( maybe I ought ot become a vegetarian again) is that basically;
all I do is copy information from one form to another. I feel if anyone
wants to have the info, let them read the original form. The objection:
Parents and others need the info on one form. Ganted. So why the resistance
to my idea? What idea? Have the evaluators and otherpeople who write
all this info use a standardized IEP form to record the data in the
first place. Why waste teachers' time having them copy the stuff onto
another form. It absurdity at the highest level. Well, I did get a
dirty look when I first suggested this so maybe I should count that
as a response, I guess.
I am in rather nice mood today. Yesterday, the high school kids voted
me teacher of the month for te second time this school year. Some told
me that their sponsor or someone told them they couldn't pick me each
month. It would be an affront to the other teachers. Those kids really
know how to make a guy feel great. I took them to my class at Pima
Community College as I do each year. They do more in one hour than
I do in one semester. I emphasize repeatedly for those future service
workers to look at the Deaf person as an individual first and above
all else. I don't think it gets hammered home until they meet my students.
I actually had to tell some kids they couldn't go. So many wanted to
that it just strains transportation logistics. I think they know that
the visits benefit them as much as it does the collegians.
Three are heading for Gallaudet this fall. Most others are heading
for the community college to strengthen skills or learn more about
themselves as deafies via a special course offered there by a special
lady-Helen Cohen.
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