Showing posts with label Special education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Special education. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
School Psychologist
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
When should school districts pay for private special education?
The New York Times ran an interesting article about a case to appear in front of the Supreme Court.
Tom Freston, the former chief executive of Viacom, the company that runs MTV and Comedy Central is worth $85 million. In 1997, his son, then 8, was found to be lagging in reading. The NYCDOE offered his son a coveted spot in the Lower Laboratory School for Gifted Education, a competitive school on the Upper East Side that also has classes for students with moderate disabilities. He would have been placed in a classroom with 15 students, and given speech and language therapy.
Freston chose to place his child in the Stephen Gaynor School on the Upper West Side, where students, in Gaynor’s language, display “learning differences.” While the city is required by federal law to pay for private programs for disabled children when it cannot provide appropriate programs, city officials said the Lab program was suitable for Mr. Freston’s son and wanted him to try it. After two years of reimbursing the Frestons for a large part of the private school tuition, the city stopped.
Now Freston wants his due.
Although the Supreme Court will hear this particular case, it has implications which are far-ranging. The real question is: Do school districts have to pay for private school for disabled children if the families refuse to try out public programs?
The answer should not be an over-powering "yes" or "no"; the Supreme Court would do well to decide this case in a narrow judgement. That is to say, they should decide whether the city owes Freston the money or not, but should go on to state that each case must be decided independently.
Let me indicate some points. There is no evidence that the program that the city offered was bad or inappropriate to the Freston's son's learning needs. Therefore, I truly think that the Frestons should have attempted a trial run of approximately 3 months before making the decision to switch over (that could have been a good time to use many of the tracking programs that are out there such as Aimsweb or DIBELS).
However, I see that many programs that Local Educational Agencies (LEA's) offer are often staffed by poorly trained teachers, with little or no support to deal with special educational issues. I have gone in to see many programs that deal with children with autism which are so inappropriate. In these instances, it is necessary that parents DO NOT take the chance to enroll their children in those programs.
Tom Freston, the former chief executive of Viacom, the company that runs MTV and Comedy Central is worth $85 million. In 1997, his son, then 8, was found to be lagging in reading. The NYCDOE offered his son a coveted spot in the Lower Laboratory School for Gifted Education, a competitive school on the Upper East Side that also has classes for students with moderate disabilities. He would have been placed in a classroom with 15 students, and given speech and language therapy.
Freston chose to place his child in the Stephen Gaynor School on the Upper West Side, where students, in Gaynor’s language, display “learning differences.” While the city is required by federal law to pay for private programs for disabled children when it cannot provide appropriate programs, city officials said the Lab program was suitable for Mr. Freston’s son and wanted him to try it. After two years of reimbursing the Frestons for a large part of the private school tuition, the city stopped.
Now Freston wants his due.
Although the Supreme Court will hear this particular case, it has implications which are far-ranging. The real question is: Do school districts have to pay for private school for disabled children if the families refuse to try out public programs?
The answer should not be an over-powering "yes" or "no"; the Supreme Court would do well to decide this case in a narrow judgement. That is to say, they should decide whether the city owes Freston the money or not, but should go on to state that each case must be decided independently.
Let me indicate some points. There is no evidence that the program that the city offered was bad or inappropriate to the Freston's son's learning needs. Therefore, I truly think that the Frestons should have attempted a trial run of approximately 3 months before making the decision to switch over (that could have been a good time to use many of the tracking programs that are out there such as Aimsweb or DIBELS).
However, I see that many programs that Local Educational Agencies (LEA's) offer are often staffed by poorly trained teachers, with little or no support to deal with special educational issues. I have gone in to see many programs that deal with children with autism which are so inappropriate. In these instances, it is necessary that parents DO NOT take the chance to enroll their children in those programs.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
What is a school psychologist?
Sorry all for my departure - I was quite sick for some time and I had some problems installing Windows Vista on one of my computers.
I wanted to start to begin to answer the question in my title - what is a school psychologist. It is a particularly difficult profession to define - even its members are currently engaged in a debate as to what a school psychologist is.
Historically, the first school psychologists were teachers who were re-trained in psychology. These school psychologists were to consult with teachers regarding difficult learning and behavioral issues.
As the testing craze hit its phase, school psychologists because primarily evaluators.
Currently, this is how I would define the term. A school psychologist is:
I wanted to start to begin to answer the question in my title - what is a school psychologist. It is a particularly difficult profession to define - even its members are currently engaged in a debate as to what a school psychologist is.
Historically, the first school psychologists were teachers who were re-trained in psychology. These school psychologists were to consult with teachers regarding difficult learning and behavioral issues.
As the testing craze hit its phase, school psychologists because primarily evaluators.
Currently, this is how I would define the term. A school psychologist is:
- An applied educational psychologist
- A professional who is versed in child pathology so that s/he may prevent problems in the school setting.
- A consultant to teachers, administrators and professionals for learning and behavior problems.
One of the things which strikes me is how professionals may not be willing to consult with school psychologists as they assume that they do not know the current research on evidence based practice in educational settings. Hopefully this will change.
For more information please consult the NASP Website page: Who are School Psychologists?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Parenting as a Form of Therapy
In a comprehensive review, the American Psychological Association urged in August that for childhood mental disorders, “in most cases,” nondrug treatment “be considered first,” including techniques that focus on parents’ skills, as well as enlisting teachers’ help.
Some researchers and doctors are looking again at how inconsistent, overly permissive or uncertain child-rearing styles might worsen children’s problems, and how certain therapies might help resolve those problems, in combination with drug therapy or without drugs.
It has almost become standard practice for all adults to turn to medications before attempting some type of behavioral interventions for students or children. We need to look at some of these interventions first.
Some researchers and doctors are looking again at how inconsistent, overly permissive or uncertain child-rearing styles might worsen children’s problems, and how certain therapies might help resolve those problems, in combination with drug therapy or without drugs.
It has almost become standard practice for all adults to turn to medications before attempting some type of behavioral interventions for students or children. We need to look at some of these interventions first.
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