Field Notes

Field Notes:

This past week, a classmate of ours came to visit my placement with me. It was great. I was really stressed about this experience at first, mainly because I felt like I had to ask my placement advisor about this even though I didn’t know her that well, but it turned out very well. It was great to have a fresh and different perspective. Additionally, it helped me feel more confident in my role in the classroom as I was able to talk through he various day-to-day activities as well as introduce students to my guest.

            Beyond the visit, I was able to continue my conversation with my host teacher about the student who has autism (or suspected autism). Her parents found out that she is indeed on the autism spectrum. The teachers asked the parents how the testing went and they responded well. Apparently, they are not being communicative with the teachers about the student’s needs, especially now that they know that she needs specific care in the classroom. The teachers believe this is still due the parents not being able to admit that their child has autism.

            At parent-teacher conferences (which has already occurred at this point), the teachers were all planning to talk to the parents, rather than just one teacher at the conference. The hope in doing this was for ”power in numbers,” The teachers want to make clear to the parents that they need to communicate with the teachers in order to provide the best care for the students – maybe all of them (three teachers) talking to the two parents will help?

            This got me curious – wouldn’t the school have to be notified about this somehow or is that only on the parents to notify the school? Are the parents the best suited to communicate the “plan” to the school? In general, I would like to be taught more about this process – the special ed class helped to open this door but I would like to actually see how IEPs are put into practice.