With Good Reason

This article is a revision of an earlier one I wrote asking parents to share their stories about their education system no matter where they lived in Canada.  While I realize the article is long, I hope parents will have the time to read it. While the issues discussed are representative of many of the parent stories I received, I will be using quotes from one particular parent who lives in PEI and who I will identify simply as AM  (Anonymous Mom). 

The issues that appear to cause parents the most frustration are: the  invisible (or brick) wall they come up against when they try to advocate for their children, getting their children properly identified as exceptional and accessing proper treatment or programming once identified. Indirectly, the apparent lack of funding is also a problem, as is the necessity of having to “label” a child as exceptional in order to get that funding.  

It should also be mentioned that when I refer to “exceptionalities” it is an all encompassing term that includes the special needs of children who are extremely bright and gifted, as well as those who have hearing and visual impairments and physical, communication and behavioural disabilities.

The Need for Parent Advocacy:

Parent advocacy, no matter how unpopular a concept it is with school board personnel — is absolutely essential to get results. While I have written other articles on the need for parent’s to rock the boat and advocate for their own children, parents have repeatedly told me that is very difficult to do because of the apartness they feel, what I will refer to as the “invisible education training wall.”

For example, AM said she has been told many times that it is not her place to question educators, that they are the ones who are trained to do what they do and that they know what is best for other people’s children. AM said: “I have been told that since I don’t have an education background, I should not be telling the teachers what will be good for my child. So, advocating for my child is very hard when one is faced with a hard-nosed attitude and making assumptions that parents are incapable of knowing what is the best method in teaching our children.”

Now exactly, what is involved in the education training that supposedly separates parents from educators? Some provinces have three or four year undergraduate education degree programs. Others have a one-year program following a Bachelor’s degree.  I have taught in all of those types of programs, including graduate education, so I know the skills prospective teachers learn.

While there is no doubt that all teacher training programs are rigorous and challenging, the bottom line is that unless a teacher has specifically studied and had supervised clinical training in psycho-educational assessment and programming for exceptionalities, they should not be putting up any walls. They did not learn anything during their training about parenting an exceptional child 24/7. 

Rather, for the most part, what future teachers learn is designing and writing curriculum based on provincial and school board documents, day planning, class room management (routines and discipline) and how to teach — namely, instructional strategies.  However, they do not know everything there is to know about children!

So, when parents are faced with the invisible “education training” wall, they should ignore it while being very respectful and polite. Parents should also have all their documentation and be well planned for any meeting. And, above all, parents should also always be firm. Think of it this way, in ten or twenty years who will remember? Certainly not the educators. They will likely be retired.

What parents may find particularly surprising is that, while both my husband and I were teachers within the same school board where our son attended, we too felt that “wall.” In our case, it was the unspoken “you shouldn’t be rocking the boat” here. But, we did and we are now very glad we did.

Identifying exceptionalities and funding:

The second and third issues are related. First, there is the reluctance, or in some cases, a downright refusal by some boards of education to identify students as exceptional. Second, there is a lack funding for special needs services and accommodations. In fact, I have heard of boards of education that don’t identify “any” children and instead “integrate” all children into the mainstream. While that works very well sometimes, it certainly doesn’t work all the time. What it suggests to me is IF there is a lack of money to spend on special education services, the boards of education simply don’t identify any children who have needs for such services.

On these issues AM says:”At the present time, I am fighting for help in improving my child’s fluency in reading, handwriting and organizational skills relating to her school work….In the school she is attending, I was told that she does not need help at this time but that she will get help by the time she is 14 [she is eleven now]. The problem with that is by that time the children will be streamlined into general courses because it will have been determined by the educators that she is not university or college material….I have come to the conclusion, special needs are being underfunded, especially in the areas of LD for one reason only, money.”

Clearly, most Boards of Education across this country are failing families. While labelling children as exceptional should only be done when it is absolutely necessary, it should be done when absolutely necessary.  

I would welcome feedback on this post, from both parents and fellow educators.

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Note:C/P on Crux-of-the-Matter and Jack’s Newswatch.  One exception to parent advocacy that I did not discuss in this article, which is very important, is when school board personnel or parents feel a child should not be “labelled” as exceptional. Parents need to think about this long and hard because, unless absolutely necessary, labelling a child as disabled can have lifelong repercussions.

On this topic, I would recommend parents read about the pygmalion principle, a seminal study done by Rosenthal and Jacobson in California in the early 1960’s about “teacher expectations.” Children who were labelled as gifted excelled, while average children labelled developmentally delayed did not. Both classes lived up to their “labels.” 

That said, if a child needs help, they need to get that help and if a label will get the help they need, so be it.

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