Re: what kind of training

[Guest guest]

I am in the process of getting my teaching degree in my state and we are only

required to take a 2 or 3 hours course that is a survey of everything from

profoundly retarded to gifted. ly my own self study and hands on experince

with my son way more education than the teacher of the couse had. Asperger's

wasn't covered until I brought it up in class.

Becky

--- Original Message ---

From: " E.C. " <e.c.bernard@...>

Sent:Sun 1/31/10 8:35 pm

To:< >

Subj:( ) what kind of training

Dawn asked:

As I was writing this I was wondering what kind of training regular teachers

get to handle non-neurotypical children? When they are studying to become

teachers do they look at all types of kids they may have to handle? If not,

ought that not be mandatory when getting a teaching certificate?

My answer:

Teacher certification varies by state and grade level. Check into your

state's department of education and they should list what is needed.

Elementary school teachers have different requirements than high school

teachers for content, but overlapping requirements regarding the 'soft'

skills of teaching.

Of course, when I became a teacher over twenty-five years ago, the two

classes in Special Education that I took were very different from what is

now being offered. In most states, we must take x amount of training to

keep our certificate. In PA, where I now teach, every 5 years we must have

180 certified hours of training. I pay for a chunk of that training out of

my own pocket, the rest is offered by my school during in-service training.

Our administration chooses the mix based on what's important to our school

board.

I have always been a public school teacher. When I first started teaching

in a small high school in New England, our principal told us that he would

not support us if we did not read the complete IEP and meet with the special

ed teacher before the IEP student entered our room in September. There was

time built into our schedule to learn about mainstreamed children. Our

special ed teachers did a lot of training during faculty meetings. This was

all before No Child Left Behind.

Many teachers have been frustrated that under the last president the

administration's focus became test scores, test scores, test scores. Our

union requested more training for handling diverse students, and we do have

special education teachers and involved parents offer training in dealing

with students in the mainstream. However, high stakes testing is what the

public has chosen to be of the utmost importance and other training can be

shunted aside if the test scores aren't where they are supposed to be. Some

schools pay teachers to take seminars but my school does not. Any

conferences that I attend come out of my household budget.

I read some of the heart-breaking letters from this group and just don't

recognize the teachers they are describing. I do work in an excellent

school district that can attract quality teachers because the pay is higher.

We'd be fired for doing some of the activities described so I find it hard

to understand why other teachers do what is described. So I sometimes have

to take deep breaths and tell myself that this group is not bashing all

teachers, just explaining their interpreation of events.

I do want to share some of my insight about my colleagues as I work in a

large building. We teachers are not all the same. But your guidance

counselor/iep teacher should be hand scheduling your child for the best

group of

[Guest guest]

In my teachers education program we had 1 class to cover every disability that you are likely to see in schools. This was generally offered as a night class (as are most education classes in schools) so they only meet once a week. So we had about 45 minutes in 1 class to cover every autism spectrum disorder. It didn't work very well.

From: e.c.bernard@...Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:49:00 -0500Subject: ( ) what kind of training

Dawn asked:

As I was writing this I was wondering what kind of training regular teachers get to handle non-neurotypical children? When they are studying to become teachers do they look at all types of kids they may have to handle? If not, ought that not be mandatory when getting a teaching certificate?

My answer:

Teacher certification varies by state and grade level. Check into your state’s department of education and they should list what is needed. Elementary school teachers have different requirements than high school teachers for content, but overlapping requirements regarding the ‘soft’ skills of teaching.

Of course, when I became a teacher over twenty-five years ago, the two classes in Special Education that I took were very different from what is now being offered. In most states, we must take x amount of training to keep our certificate. In PA, where I now teach, every 5 years we must have 180 certified hours of training. I pay for a chunk of that training out of my own pocket, the rest is offered by my school during in-service training. Our administration chooses the mix based on what’s important to our school board.

I have always been a public school teacher. When I first started teaching in a small high school in New England, our principal told us that he would not support us if we did not read the complete IEP and meet with the special ed teacher before the IEP student entered our room in September. There was time built into our schedule to learn about mainstreamed children. Our special ed teachers did a lot of training during faculty meetings. This was all before No Child Left Behind.

Many teachers have been frustrated that under the last president the administration’s focus became test scores, test scores, test scores. Our union requested more training for handling diverse students, and we do have special education teachers and involved parents offer training in dealing with students in the mainstream. However, high stakes testing is what the public has chosen to be of the utmost importance and other training can be shunted aside if the test scores aren’t where they are supposed to be. Some schools pay teachers to take seminars but my school does not. Any conferences that I attend come out of my household budget.

I read some of the heart-breaking letters from this group and just don’t recognize the teachers they are describing. I do work in an excellent school district that can attract quality teachers because the pay is higher. We’d be fired for doing some of the activities described so I find it hard to understand why other teachers do what is described. So I sometimes have to take deep breaths and tell myself that this group is not bashing all teachers, just explaining their interpreation of events.

I do want to share some of my insight about my colleagues as I work in a large building. We teachers are not all the same. But your guidance counselor/iep teacher should be hand scheduling your child for the best group of teachers possible. They know which teachers in each department do better with AS students. I can see as many as 200 students a day, including homeroom and study halls. Once the special education teachers realize that a teacher can work well with their students, the teacher tends to have more in his or her classload.

What makes a teacher “do better” with AS students? Some have AS relatives and are committed to helping. Some, like me, don’t have children of their own and so we have the extra time to learn and create new alternatives than the teachers who go home and tend to their own families. I joined this list serv, purchased some of the recommended books, and when our school offered to pay for two day training at the TIM ACADEMY.org next month, I jumped at the opportunity. It is the first time in 14 years my school offered to pay for any kind of training and it is for AS. Woo hoo!!!!

The expectation is that I will come back and train my colleagues at future faculty meetings..YEAH!

So while there are many horror stories out there, this seventh grade world language teacher is fighting the good fight for AS students. I am not unique, We’re out here, I promise!

E.C.

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