Classroom teachers' responsibilities

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the elementary school system, as my son, diagnosed with PDD-NOS,

left preschool (where he had no aide, but his teacher was a special educator)

and entered kindergarten this past fall. We live in MA. Please bear with me as

I give you a little background before going on to my question, which is about

regular education teachers.

My son is attending a neighborhood public kindergarten class (22 students),

where he is on an IEP, and he seems to be the most " autistic " child this school

and teacher have had as a student. Asperger's is more familiar to them. (My

son's skills are uneven, with some of them quite good--but social skills and

attention are major issues, and his language is not at age level.) He has a one

on one aide who both does ABA programs with him (outside of the classroom for

about 40% of the school day) and is with him during non-ABA activities with

the class. The aide writes in a daily communication notebook, and when we write

back, it is the aide who reads what we wrote.

In our school system, each elementary school has one staffmember, who is a

special educator by training, in the job of " inclusion facilitator. " This person

is responsible for overseeing the accomodations that need to be made to the

curriculum for children with more severe disabilities like autism spectrum

disorders, down syndrome, deafness, etc. Part of the inclusion facilitator's job

is to supervise the one to one aides for these children. In addition, in our

case there is another person, the ABA Consultant, who comes to the school for a

few hours a week, does some parent training, and supervises the nitty-gritty

of the discrete trials, as the inclusion facilitator is not an ABA expert.

So this is my question. In a set-up like this, what are the responsibilities

of the regular education classroom teacher? (There are no classroom teachers

in this school who are special educators--the only special educator is the

inclusion facilitator.) What do I have the right to ask for (perhaps write in to

our next IEP) and to expect from my child's teacher?

I am especially interested in hearing about what other people have succeeded

in getting written in to their children's IEPs. Specifically, what language do

you have in the IEP about the level/amount of hours of training about your

child's specific disability the regular education teacher should have? Is it

considered reasonable to ask them to have read all current neuropsychological,

speech/language, and occupational therapy reports? Is it considered reasonable

to ask them to have read about your child's disability, and if so, what is a

reasonable amount of reading to ask for? Are there any regulations that relate

to what the classroom teacher is and isn't obligated to know and do? And,

probably most important, do you know how much " release time " from their regular

duties the teachers are or can be given to do the extra work this would involve

(since I'm sure the teachers' unions would say they have no obligation to work

overtime)?

More informally--how many of you actually talk to your child's regular

education teacher one on one for 10 to 30 minutes periodically during the school

year? How often, and how do those talks get set up? Do you feel free to ask to

talk to them, or do you get subtle vibes that the classroom teacher is to be

" protected " from one on one conversations with SPED parents? Do any of you have

communication " success stories " to share?

Thanks for your insights!

Carole