Another thought on the whole evaluation process.
There are main two reasons why this label thing bugs me so much, a "good" reason and a "bad" reason.
The "bad" reason is because intelligence is important to me and I attach more importance than I should to "measures" like IQ and labels like "smart." I've always known this about myself; it's something I struggle with daily and have for the past 3+ years.
The "good" reason became clear to me earlier this evening when I was talking to my youngest sister, the social worker/family therapist. Although she has to use similar tests and labels all the time at work, she hates them and makes a point to devalue the results to the kids and families she works with, for obvious reasons.
She pointed out to me how dangerous these labels can be, for people who take them too seriously. Part of the reason that Ellie is doing so well is because we expect so much from her. And if we (as a society) start dramatically lowering parents' expectations of their kids, that can have a profoundly negative effect on what the kids achieve.
That's not an issue with us and Ellie, but I am concerned that it will be an issue for Ellie with her new teachers and therapists. Imagine that you're a teacher and you're getting a new student diagnosed with a developmental delay.
Imagine how you might treat this child, if you're told, "This student should be able to keep up in your class. Please let us know if any difficulties arise."
Versus:
"This student is severely cognitively delayed. She will have an aide in here with her full-time to help her keep up, and she will be pulled out of class for an hour each day for special instruction and therapies."
Sure, the teacher might know that the tests are skewed at this age, but her expectations can't help but be different depending on what she's told about the student. We all know about the importance of first impressions.
I've heard far too many stories of kids with special needs not being held to the same behavioral standards as their peers (when appropriate, of course) and consequently not achieving everything that they're capable of achieving.
This is why I will reject any such labels being in the IEP report, and will insist that Ellie's given more appropriate labels or none at all, if the services she's offered seem inappropriate. I don't want the system to hurt her development; I want it to help her!
So far, most of the people involved with the evaluation process seem to be of the mindset that "the more therapies she qualifies for, the better!" I disagree. More is not always better; sometimes more is just more. Like the extra square of pizza I ate after dinner tonight.
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8 comments:
I completely agree with you, Sarahlynn and know that you will do everything within your power to protect Ellie's best interest.
Oh - and "More is not always better; sometimes more is just more. Like the extra square of pizza I ate after dinner tonight." - I adore you.
Sarahlynn, your ferocity is righteous. You are a kickass mom and Ellie will always thrive having you for a mom, no matter what label people try to put on her.
a good friend of mine who i admire very much as a six year old who has 'special educational needs' meaning that she needs a creative and patient teacher who understands that while this little girl is 'smart' and capable she learns at her own pace and in a unique way. Fortunately my friend can afford to send her daughter to a great school that can cater to this. She has refused testing in the past b/c testers have not allowed her to have a choice in which measures would be used. A lot of parents don't realize that they have choices or that sometimes as bob fosse would say 'less is more'
Jessica, I am looking forward to the game on Sunday! (Well, I'm looking forward to seeing you and Scott, anyway. :)
Krupskaya, thank you!
PPB, I am not a cat person, but you sure have one cute new kitten at your house. I love the jumping picture.
Lillsis, Fosse, Fosse Fosse! I'm going to go teach Ellie that right now.
And yet again, you rock.
Thanks, PK. It doesn't really feel like it, right now.
Ya know, Saralynn, I talked about you tonight. I'm in my 2nd week of an Educational Research class and we were talking about threats to internal validity of a research project. One threat is "Instrument" or researcher bias. I was all ready to print out your blog and say 'hey! here's an example of bias!' I didn't do that, but I did mention reading a blog that talked about it. Anyhow, I don't know if you are interested in hearing that, but I thought it was cool that I could bring up your blog as an example when talking Ed Research :)
I'm not surprised (although I'm very, very sorry) that these school district people are so utterly counterproductive and out of line. It's not you. It's not Ellie. It's THEM and their necrophilic love affair with bullshit outdated tests.
James is having his Big Bad Eval next Monday, and I get nauseous just thinking about it. They are Oh So Eager to dx him with continuing delays and register him with the new school district we just moved into to get $$. You're so right about first impressions . I don't know what I'm going to do if they proclaim he has delays. I see no delays. But I may be in denial. I feel like I can't trust myself to judge something so important...
... anyhow, blah blah blah me me me. Don't sign anything that isn't phrased exactly the way you want it to be.
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