Comments on: How does Georgia treat special education students?

By: Patricia

Patricia — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:38:22 +0000

I came across this website looking to get info on the schools in GA, I currently live in Florida and send my child to a good school not in my district and drive her to another town each day. I am looking to move to the Gwinnett or Forsyth County. Does anyone know which one is better for child with high functioing Autism? I was sad to read from one of the posters who was a teacher in Gwinnett and felt the children were disturbing her reg classroom, what i get from that is the teacher i has no training in special education and i do not want my child in a class with a teacher who has zero knowledge in dealing with my Autistic child. I also can tell there is not much of a support system going on there as well or she would not be feeling this way. Its a shame because children pick up on if a teacher resents them and more so with Autistic children. It would not surprise me if they act out more in her class. She has lost control of her class and her posting says so. On the flip side i am fascinated by my Autistic child and see her as such a special gift and i am lucky to have such a amazing child. I really do hope someone can tell me a good school. Trust me im not the kind of mother anyone wants to play with regarding touching my child. I have dealt with the system for 17 years due to my sons severe emotional disability both NY and FL. from hospital abuse to school abuse. I know all the signs and all the marks and rug burns and makeshift isolation rooms, the non consent of injecting him with haldol in a emergency room at age 9 and almost killing him. I seen it all so i am very careful on where my little one goes. If anyone can post a good school please let me know thanks. And one more thing to the parents who are worried if there child is being abused in school. trust your instincts there always right.

By: mcgkcc

mcgkcc — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:57:25 +0000

My son was just placed in a psychoed program. He cannot function in a mainstream school. He has ASD, he is not violent. I pray he is not harmed. I will be a FIXTURE on his new campus every afternoon.

By: MaggieE

MaggieE — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:59:16 +0000

The abuse of special needs education children must stop. My son was one of these children. In fourth grade, he was in an EBD classroom and had his finger dislocated by the special ed teacher during her attempt to drag him to the office. I was not allowed to file a complaint with the campus police and the county told me to file with the campus officer. Yesterday, he was drug down a hallway and had bruises left on his wrist by a parapro. Once again, the campus officer refused to take a complaint and the county told me it is an issue for campus police. He was arrested for pushing the parapro away after being grabbed at least three times. The campus officer told me that he probably gave himself the bruises and told me I could file a statement as an addendum to the school’s complaint. This semester the school itself has been focused on pushing him to an alternative school. Suspension after suspension for things like bumping a student with his elbow in the hallway. Then they complain about his attendance and try to involve the school social worker when they have given him over 15 days OSS in the last three months. Any other adult that would injure a child to the point of leaving bruises would be investigated at least. But use the safety net of “county approved restraint techniques” and it is a free for all of uncontrollable behavior by the adults who are supposed to take care of him while in the school’s care.

By: penelpejo

penelpejo — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:12:59 +0000

Special Education is the largest state categorical program in terms of dollars, and the second largest federal program. On the blog, Why Can’t My Child be Special…Ed? (www.whycantmychildbespecialed.com) I will discuss how special education laws make it possible for individuals to exploit the system and thus a program that was intended to help is now crippling the education system. School districts all over the country have cut into general education funds to help pay for special education. In California alone the school districts shift over a billion dollars a year to pay for private schools, boarding school, summer camps, aqua therapy, horseback and dolphin therapy, travel costs, laptops, etc. An ever-increasing number of parents have learned that being insistent can yield striking benefits, especially when they threaten to sue. Administrators’ give in to avoid expensive litigation. Legal judgments and confidential settlements add hundreds of millions of dollars to already soaring special education costs. Meanwhile, in general education programs like sports, music, art, after school help, GATE, summer school and others are cut from the budget. In short, unless we stop this scandal our general education students will continue to be cheated out of their free and appropriate public education (FAPE).
http://www.whycantmychildbespecialed.com

By: Livingston Thomas, Jr.

Livingston Thomas, Jr. — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:04:46 +0000

Gwinnett Teacher: Students with special needs are placed in your regular education class because the law requires the school districts to provide them with a “Free Appropriate Public Education”. Parents simply desire that their children receive the best possible education. The method of isolation, functional curriculum placements currently used by the school districts to educate these students has been an open path to failure for most of them to achieve academic success. Furthermore, in addition to regular education placement of special students, the law require the support of a collaborative teacher or para-professional during the stint of each class period in each subject. While I feel your daily burdens and often times frustrating task, I certainly commend you for your unwavering commitment to the education of our future leaders.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:26:32 +0000

To the catlady July 21, 2009, FAPE has always been accessable to non-disabled students. The purpose of Congress passing the IDEA was to give disabled students the opportunity to receive a “Free Appropriate Public Education” It only been since 1975 that students with disabilities were allowed to attend public schools and receive a FAPE. Even after Congress had enacted education law: IDEA, students with disabilities are academically underserved. They’re likely to suffer mental and physically abuse, at the hands of Principals, Teachers, and Resource Aids, recipients of the poorest form of education instruction, and those who are responsible for providing them with academic instructions, seldom follow the goals and objections contained in the IEPs. Your outlook on disabled students is distorted and is without merit.

By: Sharon Gudger

Sharon Gudger — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:21:57 +0000

KJF, I agree with you. I’ve worked with several teachers who moved from other parts of the country and were speechless when they saw how little training teachers were provided. They were also amazed at how many teachers were offered training and wouldn’t go. I worked with one teacher who recently moved to Georgia. She had been trained in Orton Guillingham, Language! Wilson, and more. Not one teacher in her entire district (large metro county) had recieved ANY of the training she did. Moreover, when she got to Georgia all training by school districts stopped.

I do know the poor education begins in the universities. Having gone through a special educational undergraduate program, until I changed my major, I am witness to the fact that the university education is more than lacking in preparing teachers to teach children, much less those with disabilities. It should be illegal to allow universities to do such, especially given the state of education in this country.

The main point I wanted to comment on is your reference to the above. There is proof of abuse and many speak out. There are school employees who do speak out, give testimony to the abuse, and yet Georgia does nothing. I can prove though multiple reports of the abuse a child went through, witnessed by, if memory serves me correctly, eleven school employees, yet no one seems to be interested. I would turn it all over to the media if they want, but things just seem to be stifled in Georgia. Is it the politics- I don’t know. But I do know the proof is there. It is no longer alleged, in my opinion, from the information I know. Yet it does not stop. I agree with you about speaking out. It seems no one is listening. How does the APS story get on TV, the one story above get written, when so many other tragedies and incidents of abuse get looked over. It’s hard for me to comprehend. I have no answer. If I were reading this in a book, or seeing it in a TV movie, I would think it unrealistic that children are being abused and no one is doing anything about it.

By: KJF

KJF — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:08:43 +0000

Very interesting, reading all the comments above. Moving to GA a couple of years ago, many asked “why would you move to GA?” “Do you know what it will be like teaching there?” As I thought, and said, “kids are kids” “schools are schools.” I teach special ed. and knew I would be seeing the things as I had for over 20 years. I did; however, there did show up to be a big difference. After over 20 years of teaching, teaching 2 years here and I resigned from public school teaching. The long and short of it is that 99.9% depends on the teacher’s ability, as well as administration’s understanding. Unfortunately, I found both to be severely lacking. Since all teachers have to have gone through college and teacher prep, I guess I have to question what/how they were taught. Soooooo many had/have no clue as to special ed. regs and laws, there is a great lack of understanding of how to work with individual disabilities, there does not seem to be much initiative taking by teachers to attend conferences and workshops to gain more skills (or to take help when offered – the old “we know best” mindset), and I’ve seen very little support to parents by teachers and schools. I guess what I’m thinking is that until there is better teacher training and higher expectations of the teachers, you’re not going to see much difference at the school level – and that goes for any setting: schools, day schools, separate centers, etc. As for a comment made above by someone that, over the years they had seen umpteen opportunities for making a complaint or bringing things to attention, my question is “why didn’t you?” There is a saying, “Evil exists when good men do nothing.” Nothing will change if people do not speak out – loudly, if need be, request improvement and EXPECT improvement. You don’t settle for less. I’m working with families now with students with disabilities because people have to start requiring change.

By: Theresa Edwards

Theresa Edwards — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:56:07 +0000

First I am the PROUD mother of six wonderful children, three of whom are autistic. I have read all of the comments posted the Good, The Bad and The Ugly. For those of you who believe abuse in Georgia schools is not real it is all to real. In, 2003 I enrolled my NON-VIOLENT, NON-ABUSIVE autistic beautiful baby girl in a Richmond Cty school. During the two months that she was there I witnessed other children being struck, slapped, snatched off the floor so violently that their heads struck cinder block walls (one of these non-violent children suffered a skull fracture). On the occasion that I called 911 from the classroom I was threatened with arrest if I didn’t leave the class. The little girl who was the punching bag for these teachers now suffers from severe epilepsy. By filing complaints in the hope of protecting these children my own daughter was made a victim. My sweet baby came home with bruises to her face, chest and throat. As a parent you first go to the police who refuse to do a report, then you call DFACs who refuse to investigate the schools, then you get your childs pediatrician to file a report and they refuse to investigate the teacher and school even for a doctor. Then you have the option of running or filing papers. If you file a law suit you soon find out what “Sovereign Immunity” is. Their is nothing you can do to these teachers and the teachers know this. Then if like me you continue to fight only to have a school district continue to retaliate by refusing your children an education and to be so brazen about it as to tell a Congressman Quote “It will be a cold day in hell before they get an education” UNQUOTE
As for the comments about the AJC covering this story I APPLAUD YOU our children are not throwaways. For too long school districts have been able to frighten parents into backing off and mainstream media from hearing about the atrocities being done to our children. Georgia along with Florida are the two worst states when it comes down to how they treat spe-ed children. As for the pre-conceived notion that our children are dangerous to the average child in school as a parent of both sides of the coin I disagree. With the proper education and treatment ALL children can succeed. Unlike what one person wrote above that the most spe-ed children will accomplish is stocking shelves. Once again this is ignorance on the writers behalf, Albert Einstein who never spoke a word till seven yrs of age was AUTISTIC, Vice President Al Gore is Asperger (autistic), Bill Gates of Microsoft Learning Disabled and the list can go on and on. It is what our children are given that will decide what is in their future.

By: Gwinnett Teacher

Gwinnett Teacher — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:14:18 +0000

I am a Gwinnett County teacher. The only poor treatment of students that I have seen is in the regular education classroom. I have taught as a regular education teacher with an inclusion/collaborative teacher for several years. The special education students have a great situation in my class. They have their test read to them, get extra time on everything they do, use sources and technology that are limited to the regular ed. students and yet they are not even held accountable. Many of the students (usually 7 out of do not have to pass my class in order to promote to the next grade level. The students that are mistreated are the regular education students that are put into this class. They are the ones that have to wait while the 2 teachers run around the room to help the special ed students. They are the ones that even when they “get it” have to lose precious time while the special ed students catch up. They are the ones that get distracted when the EBD or ASD students have behavior concerns.

When I was a student in Gwinnett county, these students were never in my class. I know they were in the building, but they were never in my class. Some of them can handle the regular education classroom but many of them are put there because their parents do not want to face the facts that their child is special and not a regular kid. These are the same parents that push so hard to get their kid into my class only to complain that they need more special accommodations.