Recently in ADHD Category

Before I worked at Education Week, I spent six years as a reporter for The Washington Post, where I covered the Prince William school district in suburban Northern Virginia. I covered everything that happened in that district, not just issues related to special education—in fact, I tried to avoid such stories, because they all seemed so complex and difficult to write about.

So, I felt a pang of recognition when I read this column by my former colleague, Jay Mathews, about a mother who is seeking a specialized placement for her son that her local school district appears unwilling to give:

I admit that education writers in general, and I in particular, write very little about learning disabilities and the many failures of federally mandated public school programs to help students who have them. I often say the cases are so complicated I have difficulty translating them into everyday language, and even then readers struggle to understand.

But that is not the whole truth. I also avoid special education stories because they all seem the same, one tale after another of frustrated parents and ill-equipped educators trying but failing to find common ground, calling in lawyers while the children sit in class, bored and confused.

Kelli Castellino's son Miguel has learning disabilities that have been covered under a "Section 504 plan" rather than under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I've written about the differences between the two laws in this blog post. I also wrote a post about how changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act could affect Section 504 students

Mathews doesn't offer a solution to this situation. Instead, he throws it to readers, and like many of these articles, the comment section is as interesting as the story itself.

I actually see many potential "solutions" to this particular problem, keeping in mind that I don't know what has already been tried. Perhaps this dispute can be resolved in mediation. Perhaps Miguel can move to another school. Tutoring might make up for some of his academic deficits.

But the questions posed here are bigger than just one student. As Mathews says, "The old way is rutted, bumpy and slow. It is not taking us very far. We need something new."

If there were one piece of the special education "industry" that you could change, what would you do?

Posted by Christina Samuels at 6:05 PM | Permalink | 3 Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times (registration required) recently ran an article about Deborah Phelps, the mother of Olympics swimming sensation Michael Phelps, and some of the academic challenges her son faced.

Deborah Phelps is currently the principal of Windsor Mill Middle School in Baltimore County, Md. She's been an educator for more than 30 years. But what strikes me, in this article, is some of the stinging comments that she got from teachers when her son was young:

As he entered public school, he displayed what his teachers called “immature” behavior. “In kindergarten I was told by his teacher, ‘Michael can’t sit still, Michael can’t be quiet, Michael can’t focus,’ ” recalled Ms. Phelps, who was herself a teacher for 22 years. The family had recently moved, and she felt Michael might be frustrated because the kindergarten curriculum he was getting in the new district was similar to the pre-K curriculum in their old district.

“I said, maybe he’s bored,” Ms. Phelps recalled saying to his teacher. “Her comment to me — ‘Oh, he’s not gifted.’ I told her I didn’t say that, and she didn’t like that much. I was a teacher myself so I didn’t challenge her, I just said, ‘What are you going to do to help him?’ ”

In the elementary grades at their suburban Baltimore school, Ms. Phelps said, Michael excelled in things he loved — gym and hands-on lessons, like science experiments. “He read on time, but didn’t like to read,” she said. “So I gave him the Baltimore Sun sports pages, even if he just read the pictures and captions.”

She will never forget one teacher’s comment: “This woman says to me, ‘Your son will never be able to focus on anything.’ ”

I've read and heard genuine concerns from teachers who feel that they're mistreated and misunderstood by parents. But I've also heard from plenty of parents who have the same thing to say about teachers and school administrators. And I don't think any parent would take kindly to being told their child will "never" be able to focus.

Parents, teachers, readers -- what do you think?

(Deborah Phelps has back-to-school tips for parents on the Facebook page ADHDMoms. You can download the article as a pdf here.)

Posted by Christina Samuels at 4:39 PM | Permalink | 5 Comments | TrackBacks (0)