Practical Special Education for Parents
Hello, I'm David Poeschl, a retired school district special education director and Cal State University lecturer.
For the past 10 years I have been providing individual advocacy services to parents of students with disabilities.
Currently, I speak to 300-400 families per year and work closely with 40-50 of those.
I see every day the difficulty parents have trying to access the system initially, and the struggles to get and maintain a good special education program for their children over time.
I also know that knowledge is power, particularly when one is facing a complex and sometimes incredibly frustrating system. Studies consistently show that parents who are better informed are more satisfied with their children's IEP programs.
The podcasts in this series are designed to provide you with both the facts and, more importantly, the context and meaning that my experiences bring to the facts.
In my professional career, I chaired thousands of IEP meetings, set-up school and district programs, both special and general education, and provided training to hundreds of teachers and paraprofessional staff.
At a Cal State campus, I taught the one special education course required for general education credential and masters candidates. I taught thousands of students about the field and how to work with students with disabilities.
Although the program is geared towards California, there is universally applicable information in each episode.
There are several types of episodes that encompass different areas of special education. Here is a list of the categories:
IEP Meeting Series - Insightfully presented information about the nuts and bolts of the IEP process. This is not just about what an IEP is but also includes the real-world experiences of someone who has been there.
IEP Tidbits - short and to the point IEP technical information.
Behavior Series - a deep dive into Positive Behavior Support theory and practice. This series was originally meant to be used for school district paraeducator training, but I decided to release it here. The information is relatively complex at times.
Behavior Tidbits - short additions to the Behavior Series that help explain and clarify the longer behavior episodes.
For Your Information - explanation and examples of best practices in the field.
Commentary - Examination of current problems and possible solutions in special education.
Policy and Law - Often focused on California, information that parents need to know regarding special education programs.
Musings - Short, real-time episodes with my reactions to things that happen in my work on a daily basis.
Practical Special Education for Parents
Teens with High Functioning Autism and School - Problems and Solutions (Commentary)
I have seen a significant trend in my practice, teens with high functioning autism unable to attend school due to intense anxiety.
The problem of children with autism who are unable to cope with school and develop agoraphobic type symptoms has long been around, but the increased numbers of highly intelligent, often with a "superpower" talented young people who are unable to participate in their educations and life in general is tragic.
Schools are not being flexible and creative in addressing this. They insist on the old paradigm of highly structured behavioral model programs that simply don't work for these kids any longer. Many of them reject, sometimes with vehemence, the idea of the stucture of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) being practiced on them any longer. They "age out" in a way.
But there is hope, in the form of a study of a school in England that developed a program based on empathy, kindness, and most of all, flexibility. (a link to the article is at the bottom of the page)
The school is proving that the humanization of behavior interventions is still evolving.
The profound positive effect of ABA for serious maladaptive behaviors is clear. Lives have literally been saved and ABA has provided a path to autonomy for countless children.
However, without significant changes, I do not see evidence in my daily interactions with parents that ABA is working for their kids.
It's time to look at programs like the one featured in this episode and make similar models available here.
Link to article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37860824/
In the transcript section I've included a copy of the outline I wrote for the episode.
Thank you for listening!