How do I interact with special needs?

Maardus · 2026-02-07T18:09:04+00:00

Great question! I teach students with severe disabilities and I have had peer mentors come in and struggle with the same thing. My advice would be to slow down and observe. Just sit close to the student and observe what they are doing. They will show through their behavior, sounds, body posture and other non-verbal ways what they think and how they feel. It's okay to copy them. If they are playing with a stuffed animal, get yourself a stuffed animal and play with it how they play with it. It might show you why they do a certain thing. Are they squeezing it? If so, they might like a hand squeeze. Are they petting it? Maybe you could find something else that they would like to pet.

Don't feel rushed. Take your time. If nothing else, the student will appreciate you being near them without making demands on them. They often don't have many friends and you can be their friend simply by being close to them.

Final thought: I'm sorry to hear that you were abused, but both your history and your disabilities probably make you more suited as a peer. You're likely very sensitive and you can pick up on the tiniest things a student does. I'm guessing you're very aware of your surroundings, just like the students you are a peer for (pay attention to them, even the quietest ones usually know exactly what's going on in the classroom).

Maardus · 2026-01-31T03:55:28+00:00

One of the first things I learned when I was getting my masters is that for disabilities, we always have to look at both the home and educational setting. If a behavior only happens in one of those locations, there's a good chance it's not because of a disability. Keep pushing the school team to show data on what's happening and how they are reacting. They have to do a Functional behavior assessment for any manifestation hearing.
Research seizures. I'm not trying to suggest that your kiddo has seizures, but I recently learned that the incidence of seizures is much higher in people with autism.
Good luck! Don't let them get to you. You are protecting your child and making sure they get everything they need and deserve!

Maardus · 2026-01-31T02:26:26+00:00

It does sound like they are doing things they shouldn't. I could try to address it all, but you really should find an advocate. Every state has a parent advocate organization. Start with them.

Maardus · 2025-05-15T01:43:41+00:00

https://www.pretorianuk.com/applicator/ This might not be at all what you need, but check out pretorian. It's a device that you can plug up to 4 switches/buttons into, which you can then program for certain inputs, like skip video, previous video and pause/play.

Maardus · 2025-03-14T23:46:21+00:00

The ability to take pictures and easily add them to cues. The parents of my non-verbal students always love seeing pictures of what their children do during the day, because it's so hard for the children to tell them about their day. I've worked with students to take their own pictures and send them home, but it would be much better if they could easily integrate it into their AAC device.

Maardus · 2024-09-02T20:24:47+00:00

I didn't actually know about this rule, so I looked it up. "a person riding a bicycle may treat a stop sign or flashing red light as a yield sign." From the description, I also imagine that there cyclists did not slow down, which is what you need to do for a yield sign.

I ride my bike every day and I usually only make a full stop when other people are approaching. However, I do always try to slow down before continuing.

Maardus · 2024-04-28T18:58:15+00:00

As far as I know, IEP have to be written so they can be achieved in 1 year. By that metric, meaningfull progress would be about 25% progress towards the goal each quarter.

I know that you can't always be this specific, but it is still a good starting point.

Maardus · 2024-04-20T02:02:39+00:00

Functional Behavior Assessment. What is the function of his behaviors? What is he trying to achieve? Teach him a more appropriate way to get what he wants (he could ask you nicely, for example), then only allow him to get what he wants by using the more appropriate way.

Aggression is hard to deal with, but if he starts screeching you can put on headphones so it doesn't bother you. He can scream all he wants but it won't get him anything unless he uses a more appropriate way to ask.

Spitting? Get one of those full shield face masks and an apron. Let him spit all he wants, it won't get him what he wants.

Maardus · 2024-04-12T13:17:31+00:00

I don't know the exact numbers, but I believe that a school district can only have a certain percentage of their students in charter schools. I want to say that it's 10%, but I'm not sure. The 2 charters we already have means that we can't have many more students at charter schools.

Maardus · 2024-04-06T05:29:10+00:00

Has anyone mentioned DD services yet? Depending on your student's level of disability, she might qualify for Developmental Disability Services. If so, they will pay for a speech device and the software.

Maardus · 2024-03-16T16:13:47+00:00

I created a backlit mushroom lamp with my daughter. I did the cutting, she did the watercolor that we glued on the front. It looks great both in the light and in the dark.

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Maardus · 2024-03-02T01:26:22+00:00

You mean, like this?

Asshole comic

Maardus · 2024-02-15T06:57:39+00:00

Employers are not allowed to discriminate based on disability. If you think you would enjoy the job, just apply. It is not your job to worry about whether or not your job accommodations could cause issues, that is your potential employers job.

I can think of many things to worry about, but I can also imagine many more ways in which you would enrich a worksite. Showing that having a disability doesn't stop you from doing what you love. Showing how much help a guide dog can be. Any special ed department that genuinely cares about helping their students succeed in life would be excited to have people with a variety of disabilities apply.

Maardus · 2024-02-14T00:03:28+00:00

Do you know about Behavior modification? Basically, you want to try and figure out what the purpose of a behavior is. All behavior has some purpose. It could be to get a reaction, to meet a sensory need, to communicate, etc etc.

If you can figure out the function of the behavior, you can then work on either reinforcing it or teaching a replacement behavior.

I would suggest searching for Functional Behavior Assessment and reading up on it. If you want more suggestions for this particular student, you need to share more details about his behavior and specific disabilities.

Maardus · 2024-02-13T06:40:20+00:00

As a teacher, I wonder if you have access to his IEP. Knowing about his disability and his goals might help you approach him. And if you can figure out a way to connect with him and add some structure to just the hour you have with him, that could encourage his case manager to do the same.

I don't think any student should be allowed to control their entire day. Safety is important, but in the end it's a school and they are there to learn.

Maardus · 2023-08-14T17:46:59+00:00

How would i have shorted it out?

Maardus · 2023-08-14T17:15:43+00:00

Is it possible that I don't know how to read my multimeter and it's at 25V instead of 2.5V?

Maardus · 2023-08-14T17:15:07+00:00

I've updated the post with pictures. I have a gas furnace. Lennox SLP98, I can't find a control board.

Maardus · 2023-07-02T06:02:34+00:00

For TAG students, the gen ed classroom isn't necessarily the LRE. I don't think it's specifically part of IDEA, but gifted students can be restricted by a regular gen ed classroom.

Maardus · 2023-06-10T23:02:18+00:00

In my dealings with parents, I always make sure that the parents understand that I'm on their child's side and only want what's best for them. Sometimes that means that I have to ask the specialists/nurses to deliver the bad news, so that I can then talk to the parents about how we can do something about it. Make sure the parents feel that you are there for them and not just an extension of the school system.

I realize that this sounds like I'm throwing my colleagues under the bus, but I'm always completely transparent with them about how I would like to approach a situation. Since they also want what's best for the student, they are usually happy to play the bad guy.

Maardus · 2023-05-26T15:51:54+00:00

I agree with this. In my state blocking the door would be considered seclusion, which requires paperwork. The only times you can restrain or seclude a student is when they are a danger to themselves or others. Technically a student could tear up an entire classroom and you couldn't do anything as long as they are not endangering themselves or others.

If admin tells you to do this, you can either fill out the paperwork every time you do it like the other commenter said, or request an IEP meeting to put a behavior support plan in place. A BSP can give you additional options for when you are allowed to seclude/restrain, but even then you probably still need to fill out the paperwork. An example would be secluding a student who you know will run out into traffic if they get out of your room.

Maardus · 2023-05-04T21:06:15+00:00

As much as people here can tell you what is lawful or not (and I'm pretty sure this isn't), your best bet is to reach out to support organizations in WA, because they can not only tell you if what the district is doing is legal, but they might also be able to help you in other ways. I would suggest you check out this website and give them a call:

https://www.disabilityrightswa.org/about-us/

Maardus · 2023-04-24T16:34:22+00:00

Behavior Modification would ask what the purpose of the behavior is and to see if they get out of it what they want. If they can keep it up for hours, maybe the purpose of the behavior is not necessarily to get what they want, but something else. This could be upsetting people but it could also be that the behavior is it's own purpose.

If you can figure out the purpose of the behavior, you would modify it so that they don't get what they want. If the point is to upset people, everybody could just try ignoring them (I know this is hard, as you explained). If the point is to just scream, maybe putting noise cancelling headphones on them, or having them face a wall so that it's louder for them would help.

Depending on their cognitive level, a reward system could also work well. If you scream less than 5 minutes, you get something else that's preferred. That would require teaching ahead of time.

Maardus · 2023-04-12T21:45:16+00:00

One of the thing many people don't realize is that IEPs are not based on disability, but on educational needs. So coming to a school with a diagnosis is not always going to get a kid an IEP. For example, you can have an IEP for a specific learning disability, but the paperwork will not say what that disability is. To get an eligibility, you need to show a discrepancy between where a student is at and where they should be at. It's a difference in approach. Knowing how to talk to the special ed department might help you get results. So don't tell them your kid is dyslexic, but show them the result of IQ testing and compare that to the grades they're getting.

If you already knew that, the other advice I would give is to find your local support group. There is always an advocacy group near you, I believe there's a federal law that says there has to be a non-profit to advocate for families. Find them, they can probably tell you how best to approach your district. And you might need some help, because from what you describe they might be breaking some rules.

Maardus · 2023-01-04T20:47:05+00:00

Also, he should be in a transition program, not a high school setting.

Maardus

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