What About the Teacher’s Safety?

How an Old Teacher Learned to Survive in a New Position Where Cattiness and Cliques Rule

My good friend Marti had a very nice job in a district near her home. She was a Special Education Teacher in a self-contained classroom. Her ten students were moderately to mildly disabled. Two of her kids were medically fragile but in stable health. Marti was very connected to her students’ families; in fact, she…

When Special Educators Find New Jobs

The Builders Tried To Build My parents were born in the 1930’s. They are stereotypical of the Builder Generation in every aspect of their being. They are hard workers. They saved a lot of money from their middle class working years to enjoy a lovely retirement. They held their family to a high standard. They…

Why Are There So Many More Kids With Special Needs Today Than When I Was a Kid?

Fair question, right? Easy answer? Sort of. Not really but kind of… biology and medical technology. What You Don’t Expect When You’re Expecting My best friend Lisa and her husband Jeff have been married about 12 years. When they discovered Lisa was pregnant, they were not yet married but decided to do what they’d planned to do…

Labels in Special Education: Are They a Suggestion… or a Life Sentence?

We live in a post-modern society where labels are kind of our thing. We’re trying to move away from pigeon-holing, stereotyping, or classifying people, but, in my opinion, in our attempt to NOT label people, we are doing exactly that. Who Am I? I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a Christian, a Special…

When Special Education Students Die: How It’s Affected Me and How I’m Coping

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon here in N.E. Arkansas. The weather was beautiful. The sky was a clear blue with those fluffy white clouds which let us know Spring is here and Summer will make its warm presence known very soon. It was a great day to sit outside on the patio and enjoy…

When Special Education Teachers Get Married

Last Saturday was a glorious day here in northeastern Arkansas. The breeze was steady but light, the sun was shining after what seemed to be endless days of drizzly rain, and the temperature was in the low seventies after days of chilly 40-degree temperatures. It was, in fact, a beautiful day for a wedding. The…

Freshening Up

During Christmas break, I spent far too much time in front of the television. I know this because there is a groove in the couch from where my happy hiney spent far too much time embracing the spirit of the word “break.” I took a break from wearing make-up. I took a break from wearing…

What Part of the IEP Process Is the Most Frustrating for You as a Special Education Teacher?

I got a new student in late March of a particular school year and as I sat down to review the out-of-state Individualized Education Plan. The student was sort of a mystery. He was a cute little strawberry blond-haired boy with those adorable red silicone break-resistant glasses. Kids and glasses…every time I see a little…

When Special Education Teachers Gets Sick

During the course of my career, I have been sneezed on, coughed on, vomited on, spit on, pulled on, tugged on, cried on, been in the presence of seizures, copious amounts of blood, and even a heart attack. Insulin pumps don’t scare me, neither do tracheotomies. What really scares me the most is the potential…