By Anna Stewart

You may not recognize them but there’s at least one kid in nearly every classroom in America who receives special education services. It’s another kind of diversity.

To quality for special education services, a child has to be assessed. Genetic or developmental disabilities are usually identified well before kindergarten.

In Boulder County, we have the free TransAct evaluation for kids 0-3 and ChildFind, a school district service, assesses kids 3-6. Many kids with learning disabilities aren’t identified until kindergarten or first grade. If you or your teacher suspects a problem, then the school calls a meeting with the Child Resource Team (CRT) at your school to decide if your child needs further testing to receive services.

Once teachers, therapists, and parents, establish a child’s needs and goals, an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) is put into action. This is a written plan explicitly detailing a child’s goals that her team is accountable for achieving.

For instance, my daughter Sabrina, a kindergartner at Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies, is under an IEP. One of her goals is to be able to write her first name by the end of the school year. These goals are steps that most kids make in a flash but for kids with special needs, they need to be broken down and addressed step-by-step. Sabrina will learn to read and write as long as she gets this kind of help.

While every kid could benefit from an individualized plan, the kids who fall outside the lines need it in order to access the same curriculum as other children. It’s not always fair, but it’s the system we have right now. Only a few decades ago, kids with special needs were usually denied an education. Now we have IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), a law ensuring all kids have the right to an education.

Though the district has an average of about 12% of all kids on IEP’s most only get one or two services for learning disabilities or behavioral challenges. Sabrina has multiple needs so she gets the maximum in services. Sabrina has a team consisting of a special education teacher, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, a social worker, and a classroom aide, also referred to as a para-educator, or para for short. I work very closely with them and we have regular meetings to make sure we are all on track.

Sabrina’s biggest challenge is a speech impediment so she sees her speech therapist twice a week for about 25 minuets. Her occupation therapist comes into the classroom once a week to work on fine motor skills such as cutting, drawing, and making her letters.

In kindergarten, where there is less academic work, Sabrina’s para helps her with social interactions, especially speaking to her classmates as well as supporting her during recess and work times. Under the guidance of the general special education teacher, the para also helps make sure that Sabrina’s IEP goals are being met. Sabrina’s regular classroom teacher also makes adjustments for Sabrina. We are grateful to have such a committed and talented team!

According to a survey of kindergarten and first grade parents I conducted, many parents believe that having a kid with special needs in the classroom takes too much of the teachers time. This is not true in my daughters’ case- all the kids benefit from having more adults in the classroom as well as more guidance on how to be friends with Sabrina. It’s a win-win for everyone. Some kids with behavioral challenges do demand more attention and can be disruptive.

There's no easy answer for how to handle those kinds of situations but I would encourage you to consider how it might be for that kid and his or her parents. Imagine if it were your child. One teacher told me that she encouraged people to consider what the benefits are from having kids with behavioral issues in the classroom. They may have gifts to offer we can’t see through the disruptions.

I tell parents that one of Sabrina’s gifts is that you have to listen carefully and really pay attention to her to understand her speech. Perhaps a gift a more challenging person brings is teaching us to set boundaries and hold our own space.

Special education services are in integral part of public schools. Everybody deserves a chance to become all that they can be. However IDEA needs more support at the federal level to make it easier for local districts to meet the needs of all the students.

Special education is not something that each school provides on their own; it is a system weaving local districts, state requirements, and federal mandates. Each school is supported and accountable to special ed coordinators under the special ed department of the school district.

There are lots of experienced, talented and committed professionals working for our kids, our families, and our schools. Encourage your senators to support IDEA reauthorization along with providing more federal funds. Everyone is touched by disability at some point in his or her lives. Help make a difference!

Thank you for including my family.

Copyright © 2005 Anna Stewart. All rights reserved worldwide.