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From Chapter 16, Touching the Future: The Secondary Teacher's Role in Facilitating PSE

"What happens to them later on?" I have been asked this question many times in my career, about what the future holds for my students and others who have similar disabilities. What people are asking, of course, is will my students be able to work, to live independently, to have a traditionally "good" quality of life? Will postsecondary education be a part of that life?

I usually answered, in all honesty, that many of their options were limited. Some students came from families with limited finances and serious family problems, but many more simply did not have the skills they needed to succeed. All the more reason for educators to encourage students with significant disabilities and their families to pursue PSE options that will enable the students to gain the skills and experiences they need to change these limiting patterns. Education is a great equalizing factor, and fortunately, it is more within our control than any of the others.

There are factors we can’t control. The recent testing hysteria in the United States, fueled by the No Child Left behind Act, has devastated special education. Even children in elementary schools are aware of "the tests" and the consequences of not passing them. More and more students with relatively mild disabilities are being shut out of traditional high school diplomas because of their inability to pass the standardized tests required for even the lowest tier of "regular diplomas." These students wind up on track for certificates of attendance or other special education credentials (such as an IEP diploma) alongside their peers with significant disabilities. In my opinion, very few students with disabilities in any district should be receiving these alternative credentials.

In the past in some states, the IEP diploma was a formal recognition of the achievement of students with significant disabilities at the end of their school career. It used to represent individual achievement, and it honored students who had painstakingly met their goals, learned many skills, and participated in a variety of educational experiences. Now it has lost this status. Now more than ever before, if a student is placed on IEP diploma track for graduation, it represents failure—primarily failure to pass the state tests.

This failure devastates individual students and negatively affects special education classrooms, too. Students in my special classes now have reading levels ranging from pre-primer to high school—previously, the span was far narrower. It is a planning nightmare to try to reach all of these students at their various levels and really improve their skills.

In the past, students who did not want to take college preparation classes, high stakes tests and all, were encouraged to enroll in vocational education programs. For many students who struggled in academic classrooms, vocational education (also called Career and Technical Education or CTE) was a godsend—hands-on learning, an opportunity to learn marketable skills, and structured building of necessary "soft skills" that employers wanted. The options for CTE are shrinking. Ironically, access to CTE programs in high school is limited due to increasing academic requirements for graduation. Vocational education programs have also had to bolster their academic components to meet state education requirements. The academic requirements for vocational education are also keeping out students with SD.

Special educators can do something about these trends, one classroom and one student at a time. In spite of my state’s increased testing requirements, I believe that my success as a teacher is not dependent on my ability to "get my students through the test." (I once got a round of applause at a department meeting by saying that out loud.) I view the individualized nature of my students' educational programs to be an advantage. It gives a chance to teach them what they really need to know, so they can be the ones in charge of "what happens to them later on." Here are some of the principles I usei n my own classroom to use the current state of American special education to prepare my students for futures I hope will increasingly include PSE and success in the future as contributing citizens.

1. Make Your Students Educated and Knowledgeable about the World
Students with SD are able to learn many more things than was ever before thought possible. In the past, I have had students who were experts on baking, computer technology, history, Soduku, animals sports, etc. They can learn facts, practice applications of those facts, and can teach those facts to others. Particularly when it comes to technology (cell phones, iPods, computer games, flash drives), I turn to them first to teach me what I need to know. I don’t need to learn the theory—just tell me what to click. My students easily oblige.

Basic skills and facts don’t have to, and should not be, neglected in high school special education programs. Educational people should have a working knowledge of academic topics, including historical and scientific information, and students with SD should have this knowledge, as well. Some students with SD will spend their high school years gaining academic skills in full inclusion settings, and others will spend time in separate settings. Whatever the student’s placement, the goal of the educators should be to make the student with SD as well rounded as possible. Developing a wider world view will give students with SD a better basis for work at the PSE level.

Time spent developing academic skills is not time taken away from functional skills. Academic skills support life skills. Math instruction supports money skills and measurement used in cooking. Health class can support a student’s understanding of good nutrition and regular medical exams. Every transition component has specific vocabulary that students may learn across the curriculum. (For example, income/expenses may be discussed in math class, communication terms in English class.) Reading and writing skills support independence at home, at work, and in the community.

2. Make Your Students Competent in Areas Beyond Academics
I don’t mean to suggest that academic instruction is all that students with SD need for future success. Special education teachers in particular can’t afford to neglect nonacademic areas, because our students have such difficulty with incidental learning. Many special education programs allow for community-based instruction (shopping, using public transportation) and work study opportunities, and the skills learned in these settings will be invaluable in PSE and beyond.

Even if your current program does not allow for teaching community-based or employment skills, social skills are no doubt a daily part of your curriculum. Whether through formal training or using "teachable moments" when students run into conflicts, every teacher teaches the skills for social success. Take a long view with these skills. Behaviors and conversations that are "cute" or at least tolerable in a young child with SD often become intolerable and limiting when that child grows up. Have the expectation, early and often, that your high school students—regardless of their disability—will behave like the young adults that they are. Your own interactions with them are critical. For example, an eighteen-year-old student should be called Josh, not Joshie. Use the same tone of voice and vocabulary you would use with other teenagers.

Teach your students old-fashioned manners. If they use appropriate language and common courtesies, others will be more willing to help them and they will be more pleasant to be with. Especially for students who need major support for academic work, for physical care, or to perform everyday tasks, they have a respons ibility to be "help-able." A "please" or "thank you" to whoever is providing the assistance should be mandatory.

Self-advocacy skills can be practiced every day, throughout the school environment. Special educators have been trained to help students, to anticipate difficulties, and to make tasks simpler. Sometimes, we do this too well! I know it is time to pull back when I see students turning around to look for me before attempting to do something on their own. Urge the students to try tasks by themselves first, and if necessary let them take the responsibility to ask you for help. Emphasize asking for help appropriately; however the student is able to do so. We can often serve our students best by holding back.

3. Be Practical about Educational Requirements You Can’t Control
It’s always bad news when your principal stops you with a smile on his face at 7:30 in the morning.

This time the news was about Regents Exams, which are New York state high school tests. Up until a few years ago, my students were exempt from state testing, due to the fact that they were not included in general academic classes. The core classes (English, math, social studies, and science) that I taught were considered "pre-Regents" level, and thus not subject to a state test, as long as I did my own testing. My students were not delayed enough to qualify for the New York State Alternative Assessment, and too academically delayed to pass the Regents Exams. They were what we called "the gray area" kids, and for about five years, there was no appropriate assessment for them. Now, the state had tightened the guidelines, and the students were no longer exempt.

The long and the short of the story is—they survived. In New York State, because my students are eligible to receive an IEP diploma and have enough safety nets in place, they manage to stay on track for graduation in spite of the tests. Written assessments are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future, and students with SD must learn to deal with this reality.

I scrutinize the tests for skills with long-term value—reading comprehension, writing a business letter, problem solving—and teach those skills thoroughly. There are other benefits, too. My students need to keep track of their testing schedule in January and June, making sure to show up on time, which is good practice for time management. They have a greater appreciation now for their test accommodations.

The biggest benefit is that my students learn the very critical lesson that, sometimes, they will simply have to do things they would rather not do in order to reach a goal. Graduation requires taking state tests. If a few long and stressful testing sessions in high school teach this lesson, that will be good enough state testing requirements, so I do my best to use them to my advantage in the classroom.

Make sure you stay current on graduation requirements for your students. There are states that are liberal in their graduation requirements. Other states are extremely test driven. If your state is one of them, your students may work tremendously hard for "only" a certificate of attendance. Always remember, though, that college is still possible.

But avoid smiling at principals first thing in the morning.

4. Require IEP Participation, Teach about Disabilities, and Teach Disability Law
Back in the old days, a student with special needs could spend 18 years in public school special education programs and not know she had a disability, let alone what the disability was, how it affected her learning, and what helped her perform better. Parents would tell me confidently, "She’s always been treated like she’s any other kid. She doesn’t think of herself as disabled. I don’t think she even knows she has a disability."

Trust me, she knows.

But disability was a forbidden topic, even in special education classrooms. Maybe if we all just hoped enough, worked hard enough, praised the kid enough, and told her she could be anything she wanted to be, the disability would go away, or, at least, stop mattering. It didn’t—and we let far too many students go out into the world not knowing what they needed to know about their disabilities and how to advocate for their needs.

Annual review meetings with the IEP team are one place for students to learn more about their disabilities and academic accommodations. My students are very intimidated by meetings. Meetings have traditionally meant they were in trouble or the school had bad news to report, and both, the students and their parents are often reluctant to attend routine annual reviews. The IEP team (me, included) always encouraged the students and their parents to attend, but encouragement alone didn’t yield good results.

So, using a time honored teacher trick, I decided to hit the students in the grade book. My students are now graded on their preparation for and participation in their annual review meeting. If they are "sick" (or really sick) on the day of the meeting, they must write an essay that outlines the information they would have presented at the meeting. Most students, obviously, find it easier to attend the meeting.

We start the process with questions about each student’s future goals (including employment, independent living, community involvement, and, of course, plans for postsecondary education), present skill levels, and areas in need of improvement. Then, we discuss new goals for the next school year, and each student writes or dictates a summary we call a "cheat sheet." I explain that everyone goes into important meetings with notes, and they should as well. They practice reading their cheat sheet aloud and have the chance to review the draft of their IEP before the meeting. We role play meetings and discuss the roles of everyone at the meeting before the big day.

A friend and former school psychologist who watched my students at their meetings over the years once commented, "If your students can do this for their meetings, every student receiving special education services should be able to do this for their meetings." The students, their parents, and I have all gained from their active involvement, and meetings have lost much of the intimidation factor for everyone involved.

"Oh, meetings are no big deal," the upperclassmen assure the nervous freshmen every spring.

I have always had the luxury of a flexible curriculum in my special class and I teach IEP and transition planning as a unit every spring. If you are working in a more inclusive model, you may have to be creative in finding other times to meet with students to make sure they are involved in the process. For more ideas on how to include your students in their IEP preparation and meetings, check out the online resources for student-led IEP meetings.

Another unit I have recently included in my curriculum is disability law. The first objective is to define disability. I watched my students carefully as i outlined the definitions of learning and intellectual disabilities. Tense at first, they slowly relaxed as I reinforced that neither definition included the words "dumb" or "lazy." We discussed the differences between IDEA and the ADA. We talked about reasonable and unreasonable accommodations, I asked them to think about the academic accommodations they really needed to succeed. I compared the accommodations to using the stairs versus using an elevator.

"We all prefer to take the elevator, but most of us climb the stairs even if we don’t like to do it. But what if you were using a wheelchair? Then the elevator is a necessary accommodation." They got it.

Students need to learn how their disability affects their learning, and what accommodations bridge the gap. Do they need a reader or a scribe? Do they need extra time on tests? Do they need directions rephrased or simplified? Require that they ask for the accommodations they need in an appropriate and polite way: "Could you read this paragraph for me?" "Can you check my project as I go along to make sure I’m following the directions?"

Do an honest assessment of their independent work and study habits. How well do your students know how to work? Can they initiate tasks, carry through, and complete them without one-on-one help? One instructor in the Transition Program at Middlesex Community College in Bedford, MA, encouraged teaching students strategy use—not just what to do, but how to do it independently. Since the Transition Program teaches entry level business skills, such as data entry, students must learn to keep their place in paperwork by using a ruler or sticky notes. Look at the tasks the students are performing and the amount of help you must provide to get them started, keep them working, and bring projects to quality completion. Teach them how to monitor their own progress, perhaps by using a checklist or a list of questions. Fade your assistance back, steadily and consciously. Someday soon, they will need to do all of this without your help.

I asked several college directors for other specific things that I as a secondary special education teacher needed to do to better prepare my students for higher education. Their advice follows:

• Students need to monitor their progress toward their own goals, to see their own progress, and to speak for and advocate for themselves.
• Start teaching the hidden curriculum of college skills—how do you act in the classroom and in the coffee shop, how do you read a room as you enter it?
• Believe they are going to go to college; give them a vision that college is for them. Organize social interactions with students without disabilities (for example, study partners, buddies for involvement in clubs and school events).
• Encourage parents to send their kids to camp or on school trips and to spend time away from home as soon as possible.
• Mirror college design in courses. For example, use a syllabus to outline the semester and list when assignments are due.