Special Education Time Wasters

By
Catherine Whitcher, M.Ed
Published: August 3, 2009Posted in: Strategy 1: Take Responsibility
Special Education Time Wasters

Regardless of where you are now in leading your child’s education team, you have the ability to make change for the better. It is not about what happened last year, the past teacher or your long history with the district.

Right now your child’s education depends on your actions that effect today, tomorrow and their family-yardfuture.

There are many actions you can take as an individual to lead your child’s education in the right direction to meet your expectations.

Today, I ask you to take your actions one step further and review the influential people you have regarding special education.

Many of you have several different groups of people that you are discussing special education issue with and perhaps it’s time to reevaluate which ones are most helpful.

Think of all the groups you have been a part of for the last 12 months.

  • Do you have 2-3 parents you talk to in your child’s classroom?
  • Are you involved in the PTA?
  • The Special Needs PTA?
  • An online parent support group?
  • A disability specific support group?  Now make a list of all of these groups.  (Go ahead, really, get the piece of paper & pen, I’ll wait.)

    • Now, evaluate the outcomes of the time you have spent with each one of these groups. I’m asking you to take responsibility for the time your spent in these groups and how that time effected you and your child’s education and/or well-being.

    Consider the following:

  • Did you feel emotionally better?

  • Did they help you take action?

  • Did the actions result in a positive outcome?

  • Do you spend more time helping others than receiving help for yourself?

  • Is the talk more negative than positive?

  • Is participating in this circle of influence overall worth your time?

    • The hardest part of this activity is the realization that you may have spent too much time with one group and although you enjoy part of the conversations from the other parents, overall it’s not a beneficial situation for you to spend extensive time in again this upcoming year.

    Now, think of all the places where you can find other sources of influence.

  • Have you ever attended a School Board Meeting?

  • Are you aware of the Special Recreation resources in your area?

  • Have you googled lately to see what new groups have formed?

  • Have you pursued parent groups outside of disabilities?

    • You may be surprised what changes will take place when you broaden your outreach and outlook by socializing and networking with various groups that you never pursued before.  Often when I conduct workshops there are parents from various networking groups in attendance and sometimes the most valuable support for a parent comes from the most unexpected person. Having conversations with persons outside of your current network can broaden your resources, bring new insights and create outcomes you’ve never experienced before.

    Need ideas for who to meet in your area?  Drop us an email and we’ll send you some ideas!

    HINT: Many teachers read this newsletter.  If you are one of them I highly suggest including positive parent resources in your classroom newsletter or communication with your classroom’s parents.  Don’t single anyone out.  Adding these resources to your classroom updates could be priceless in producing positive outcomes of parent/teacher relations.

    Responsibility: Step 1 of 7 Special Education Success Strategies

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