**Drill**

I am a Special Ed Assistant in Oregon.

Yesterday, one of Oregon’s schools experienced an immeasurably horrible tragedy.

The day before, my school had their LD drill.

About 3 minutes before the drill occurred, we had a student (level3), elope from our classroom and to our gym, myself and another assistant followed. We let our admin know that we were in the halls and were going to do the best we could.

When the drill began we were able to successfully guide the student into a PE room with us. But experienced immense difficulty trying convince the student to stay in the room and be as quiet as possible.

I used every tool that I carry in my bag. We did get a door knock and a warning from the police performing our drill, while they were doing their rounds checking doors, as they did not know who was making the noise. When we were released from the room by them and our admin, the first thing my coworker said “escalated non verbal- high needs- level 3 - autistic child in room”. Police explained that they did not know who was making the noises originally, and obviously would not mark us for it etc.

Then yesterday morning, we had our earthquake and fire drills. While a student did not elope, we again had a difficult time evacuating, causing myself and the student to be the last ones in the building, but I was able to finally get them out.

With the tragedy happening in our state yesterday afternoon, while over 100 miles away, my brain is looping going through our drill experiences trying to figure out what I would need to change, carry with me, or how my responses would differ if it were not a drill.

I know this is something we all dread and try not to think about.

I am writing our district today to ask for specific guidance to be made, but advice, ideas, literally anything that someone has to share, would be extremely welcome.

I have a SPED endorsement in Washington DC. I have taught for years (20+) abroad. This year I am preparing myself to move back to America and teach for the remainder of my career. I understand some of the challenges of SPED. I am working hard to gain as much knowledge as I can this year and I will do my best to succeed as best I can.

I am worried about the job market. I am open to transferring my credentials to other states if needed, but I do need to make sure that whatever district I get into has a decent pension.

I am also worried about getting laid off. Living abroad, job security is something I have aways had taken for granted. Is it rational for me to plan for 20 years of employment in a district if I meet performance standards? I also have an ESOL license.

I drive children to an “alternative” school that’s a few towns away. I have half autistic children half behaviorally challenged kids.

I have a monitor. We absolutely love our kids. We understand everyone has good days and bad days. We forgive it all. Tomorrow is a new day let’s try again. We play children’s songs on radio that kids request or that are about something we know your child enjoys.
We celebrate all the birthdays, holidays, good days and any other reason to get excited. We have noticed kids who are doing without, so we find a way to work that needed item into the rewards they received for good behavior on the bus.
We noticed when an older kid didn’t know how to read and got books his younger brother would be interested in and worked with him on the way to and from school every day to teach him how to read to his siblings to have something to be proud about.

But, one of my kids is biting us every day, he has hit the other kids because he can’t control his emotions. This week as I unbuckled his harness he grabbed my head and punched me repeatedly. I now have a concussion.
He is 14 so it’s not like it’s a little guy who did this. It is the thought that this could go on for another 8 years before he ages out of our district that’s scary. I wrote up 5 different incidents leading up to this weeks event and not once did the bus company or school come to bus to discuss how we can do ANYTHING to help the escalating situation.

Refusing to transport is the last thing I want to do for this student. He NEEDS to be in school. He needs help. But nothing is getting done. The bus company is doing nothing to offer suggestions or assistance on what to do. The school district offers no help or solutions on what to do.
The parent daily shows visible frustration and signs she can no longer handle his behavior.

Why do I feel like I’m the one who is being forced to be the bad guy when. I just want help for this kid.

*reposting because I forgot I was on my alt account and didn't have enough karma :) *

Help!!

I'm a first year teacher that will have my own middle school ELA resource class very soon. I am very nervous about this, as I want to make sure that I'm providing the proper services/supports to students. I already have a resource math class, but there's 2x as many goals to keep track of in ELA (writing + reading).

I'm trying to come up with a routine/structure for the class, but I'm not sure where to begin. The current ELA teacher (who will take the other half of the class once we divide up the students) has been using centers to work with each student. They primarily read a short article from Readworks/CommonLit or a leveled book from Fountas & Pinnell for reading, and then work off of a choice board for writing. I want to switch more to novel studies, as I feel that I can get a lot of activities/opportunities to target their IEP goals out of them. However, I don't have any idea how to start it. My lowest reader is at a 2nd grade level, while the rest range between 3rd-4th grade.

If there are any teachers out there with experience teaching ELA as a resource, I would love any advice/insight as to how you structured your class. I will have the support of one paraprofessional, who is happy to lead a center if I go that route.

Hey everyone! I’m beyond excited to have started my career in special education. This has been a passion of mine for years, both personally and professionally.
My youngest daughter is autistic and attends a self-contained SDC class. My oldest daughter is dyslexic and has ADHD. She received specialized services from 2nd through 5th grade and went from struggling to read to reading at a 10th-grade level! She eventually transitioned from an IEP to a 504 and is thriving. I owe so much to my girls’ special education teachers. They made such a huge difference in our lives, and my hope is to pay it forward by supporting my students and their families in the same way.
I’m hoping to get some feedback and reassurance from those of you with more experience!
I feel comfortable writing IEPs, including PLAAFPs, goals, accommodations, and modifications, thanks to my student teaching experiences and exposure to IEPs as a parent.
Here’s where I’m struggling. I started three weeks ago and knew I had two initial IEPs due the second week of November. I planned to start testing last week but was waiting on a touchscreen device to administer the WJ-V. Yesterday, I found out I also have two reevaluations due that same week to determine eligibility for specialized instruction. These students currently receive speech services, and our system wasn’t flagging their upcoming reevaluations. I only found out after a teacher asked when I would be testing them and I followed up with the school psychologist.
Thankfully, I was able to borrow a touchscreen Chromebook and can start testing Monday! The challenge is that I’ll need to test during my small-group service times, and I don’t have a paraeducator to help supervise my groups. I’m also split between two school sites, spending only about 3.5 hours at each daily. All four students are at the same site. Fortunately I alternate between the two schools on Fridays to do my assessments and paperwork.
I know it’ll be a busy few weeks, but is this doable? I’m willing to put in the work and want to do right by these students and their families. I could really use some reassurance that this is manageable, along with any tips or advice from those who have been in a similar situation.

I work with a student who is always framed as disengaged, doesn’t want to try, not doing work on purpose. They have a history of trauma and this manifests itself as self harm and /or scripting and generally shutting down. The more we push the more this happens. Nobody wants to address the behavior and the possibility that the underlying issue goes beyond willingly being defiant and change their approach. ASD is in their medical diagnoses

I am a college student studying special education. I need to interview someone who works with the transition process for secondary ed students. I just have a couple questions to ask. If anyone works with special education transitions out of high school DM please!

My 12 year old is in 7th grade. He is Autistic, verbal but has a hard time answering questions, he is very friendly and pretty social.

He gets all his regular classes in an Autism classroom and has no issues there. At the beginning of the year they decided he would benefit from being mainstreamed in his electives so gym, art and music.

Almost immediately he started to have some issues in gym class. Within a few weeks of starting regular gym we got a call from the school that he had walked into the girls locker room. The he started not wanting to change for gym because he said he was embarrassed. On Wednesday we were notified that a group of boys in the gym class had tried to get him to go and hug and kiss another male student. We were pretty concerned. We spoke with him that evening and he told us the same boys had told him to go into the girls locker room and were also calling him names and making fun of his body when he changes.

We notified the school and they seem to be acting like it’s not as big a deal as we feel it is. Is there a specific policy or action that we should be requesting? We asked for an IEP meeting right away but have not heard anything back. Any guidance would be very much appreciated.

I have a goal of making $100-$150k in California (though I honestly might want to move within the next few years. What I really want is to make enough money to live comfortably.) What do you recommend, given that I don’t want to become a nurse or engineer?

I am going to have at least one associates degree (we’ll have to wait to see whether or not I pass my child dev classes this semester) after December ends (whether I fail one of the child development classes or not, I will have a social and behavioral sciences degree. I also already have more than 60 units of community college completed, so I will be able to attend a CSU either way.) I have a 3.87 in community college.

I will be starting a bachelors of social work program in January. I am 21 now and am assuming the program will take two years to complete (I also might end up switching majors but we’ll have to wait and see.)

I am supposed to be starting in January for a bachelors of social work. I have been doing some thinking lately to try and figure out whether or not this is what I really want to do, since it will be time to sign up for classes soon. If I stick with social work I am of course planning to get an MSW and eventually study to become an LCSW.

I have depression and anxiety. I also seem to have a sleep breathing disorder. I am actually going to call the sleep study department tomorrow to request a follow up appointment (this is what my doctor recommended when I asked.) I have headaches over the last couple of months due to the sleeping issues and I definitely think this has impacted my cognition and memory. I have a migraine headache as I type this right now.

The community college class I liked the least was statistics.

I have 2 years experience as a behavior technician. As I was explaining to a professor of mine this week I don’t think I want to stay a behavior technician (though really, who does? I don’t think I want to become a BCBA either though, I know what they do.) I worked at a preschool for a year and four months before then. I know that I don’t want to become a preschool teacher, but I have subbed as a behavior technician with elementary schoolers and I could potentially see myself teaching 4th or 5th grade.

I was generally told that a behavior technician case of mine that I was on for a year where I supported a client who was older and needed support in things like staying on task went well. When I have subbed at elementary schools I have actually enjoyed it and found it to be quite easy, though I believe the students I was paired with had a milder form of autism. I don’t know what I am planning to transition out of in regards to my work as a behavior technician, but I do have plans to start volunteering soon with/for a homelessness shower program.

I may actually eventually move out of California completely.

I think that learning disabilities in schools often go undiagnosed for too long. A professional later on suggested my brother seems to have one, he wasn’t screened professionally in school and in high school when he was struggling with math and his mental health his peers and my parents simply suggested that he was stupid which I’ve never thought was okay.

I helped a friend pick up food for an event she will host to support the homeless community. I volunteered for one of her events before. I will actually practice cooking with her and a different friend (I don’t really know how to cook this weekend.) I think that if I do go into social work I want to do case management for those who need housing resources. I’ve also started to consider the therapist path.

I have to admit that deep down inside I want to figure out how to make as much money as I can without it taking like 6-7 more years. I am already from a low income family. I don’t want to really struggle. I have $30k saved. I’m 21.

I may eventually want to try out living in a different state entirely, but am not sure.

Working on my master’s in sped and currently subbing (I’ve been subbing for a couple of years in WA). I will have my master’s done in a couple of months.

I’ve been hearing that the job market in Western WA is beginning to tighten up, and it was tough during this past hiring cycle in 2026… is that true? I’d ideally like to work in seattle, or north/east of there (west of the mountains, and I’m willing to work as far north as Blaine)

I also got a districtwide email from my district’s school board saying that the budget is stable. Not sure if that will actually be true once spring rolls around. Do you think that 2027 hiring will look any better?

Thanks!

I’m a first-year Education Specialist (mild/moderate support needs) working at an elementary school, and I’m struggling to adjust to the culture of my new school. I’m wondering whether this is normal in special education or whether I’m experiencing a genuine culture mismatch.
For context, I previously worked as a paraeducator at a Title I elementary school. The school had its challenges, and there were definitely teachers who ran tight ships and could be stubborn about their classrooms. But overall, I experienced a much more collaborative environment. Staff seemed more flexible when schedules needed to change, students transferred in and out regularly, and there was more of a general feeling that we were all working together to support kids.
My current school feels very different. It’s an affluent, academically driven elementary school with high expectations for students and a strong emphasis on academic performance. From what I’ve observed so far, some general education teachers seem accustomed to a classroom environment where most students can access the instruction being delivered, and special education needs can feel like an interruption to that routine.
I’m finding that when students with IEPs struggle to keep up with whole-class instruction, I sometimes receive emails from general education teachers that feel extremely urgent or frustrated. I understand why they’re concerned. These students deserve appropriate support, and I want to make sure their needs are being met. But sometimes I feel like the frustration is directed at me personally, as though I’m responsible for fixing the situation immediately.
There’s also some history here. The previous education specialist apparently didn’t provide consistent services to some students, so I suspect I’m inheriting some of that frustration and distrust despite being a completely different person. I want to build relationships with the teachers and demonstrate that I’m reliable, but it’s difficult to feel like I’m starting from a deficit before I’ve had much time to establish myself.
One thing that has surprised me is how much I feel responsible for other teachers’ emotions. If a teacher is upset that a student isn’t making enough progress, I immediately start questioning whether I should be doing more, changing the schedule, or providing additional specialized instruction. I want to be responsive, but I’m learning that I can’t make every decision based on how urgently someone wants a problem solved.
For example, I recently developed a student’s IEP and increased her specialized instruction minutes. Looking back, I wish I’d had more time to develop the schedule and hear from the general education teacher during the meeting. Now there’s a discussion about whether the student’s current instructional arrangement is appropriate, and I’m reconsidering whether the schedule should be adjusted further. I don’t mind revisiting my decisions, but I wish there were more room for thoughtful collaboration instead of feeling pressured to have an immediate answer.
My administrator has been candid with me that the school can be unforgiving toward new teachers and that the staff culture is sometimes more like “you do your thing, and I’ll do mine.” He has also acknowledged that he and other experienced special education staff deal with these dynamics themselves.
At my previous school, I experienced more of a “we’re in this together” mentality. At my current school, I sometimes feel like general education teachers expect special education to provide whatever support they need without necessarily approaching the situation as a shared problem. I realize this isn’t every teacher, and I don’t want to paint everyone with the same brush.
There are also structural differences. My current school doesn’t have an extensive range of special education program options, such as an ESN classroom, so figuring out how to support students with significant needs within the available setting can be challenging. Some families may also arrive with expectations about the school’s programs that don’t necessarily align with the systems and resources it has in place.
I’m trying to learn how to be a good special education teacher without taking every concern personally. I know I’m new, and I expect to make mistakes. I want feedback, I want to improve, and I want students to receive the services they need. But I’m also realizing that the culture of a school can make a huge difference in how sustainable the job feels.
For experienced special education teachers:
Have you worked at schools where general education and special education felt like separate teams rather than one collaborative team?
Is it normal to feel like you’re constantly responding to urgent concerns from general education teachers?
How do you distinguish legitimate concerns about a student’s needs from pressure to make a classroom teacher’s life easier?
How do you stop yourself from feeling personally responsible for every teacher’s frustration?
Have you found that school culture can matter just as much as caseload, workload, or student needs when deciding whether a school is a good fit?
I’m not expecting every school to be perfect, and I know some of this is part of being a first-year teacher. I’m just trying to figure out how much of what I’m experiencing is normal growing pains and how much is a mismatch between my collaborative approach to special education and the culture of this particular school.

I feel like I’m completely losing my mind. I’m a second year Spec Ed (Cross Categorical) CC teacher at the high school level. I have a caseload of 15+ students, servicing well over 20. Individual lessons plans every day. Co-teaching. Progress monitoring, goal tracking, specially designed instruction (SDI), blah blah. Mid masters degree. Emergency license. I don’t know how people do this for years and years. I feel like I have no support from my admin. I love the work I’m doing but idk how long I can keep up with this. I leave every day feeling horrible, depressed, and like I accomplished nothing.
My question really is, how to build progress with students who are oppositional to everything I say.
I have a few students who refuse to engage with anything. Somehow our SDI together turns what should be a 20 minute session into an hour and a half, and I ended up ‘modeling’ the whole thing. I get screamed at, swore at, told I’m not a real teacher, that they hate me, they hate school, they don’t understand their goal work. I’ve worked with my two mentors closely about this, we’ve brainstormed, we’ve pivoted, I feel like I’ve tried all I can. I left work today bitter and angry and had a panic attack half way home. I don’t know what to do. I feel like whatever people tell me to do, I’ve already tried over and over again. This is really what’s getting me. I don’t know how to get them to do our work together and I just KNOW when progress reports come around and I have NO progress for any of them, it’s going to be my fault. How can I service my minutes and SDI when they just oppose every. Single. Sentence. And get off task ever. Five. Minutes. Was observed today. I had to redirect a student 19 times within a 45 minute span. All we were doing was going through a ‘self check’ list to try and get him to slow down and revise his work.
I have never felt like such a failure in my entire life and I debate crashing out every single day. I don’t know I think I have a question somewhere in here but mostly I just want to know if I’m going insane.

For those of you who have been teaching for 15+ years, how did you manage it? I’m in my first year and I’m loving it more than I thought I would and would like to make this my lifelong career. I need all the tips of tricks I can get to make it longterm 😆.

I was wondering if this even existed in some states where you have the right experience just not the teaching certificate. For example someone with a masters in ABA has over 3 years experience as a behavior interventionist. Can they be a special ed adminstrator without a teaching license and if so what states?

This is my 6th year in education and my 2nd working in SPED. I teach cross categorical at a district that’s struggling (not great admin, not a lot of resources at all.) I knew what I was getting into in that aspect.
The lack of support from a building admin level and district level is beating me down so badly. The expectations and workload keep growing but the support has been nonexistent. People in the district I am supposed to report to and go to for support are completely unresponsive and I feel like I’m on an island. I have a newer student with unsafe behaviors that are escalating and I’ve been taking data and using interventions and practically begging for any sort of support.
I love my students so much. Aside from the above I love this job so much and it’s hard to imagine doing anything else. But it’s also sucking the life out of me sometimes. It is really heartbreaking lately.

I know I am not alone in this and this is not a groundbreaking post. Looking for tips on how to maintain my sanity, really.

I have 2 years of behavior technician experience. I have been with this place since August. I have subbed for them more than once, but I have been called a couple times - this is the only time I was called this week, so the calls for sub positions aren’t frequent. I need to get ingredients for blueberry muffins and was planning on spending today finishing up homework. I don’t think it’s best to go in when tired and I also have depression and anxiety. The recruiter had responded with “no worries!” when I had been honest about intending to focus more on homework today. I just don’t think it’s good to go in when you aren’t feeling your absolute best, mentally and physically. What do you think?

So its half October and as days go by I feel more tired. I have a class of three severely impaired children and I talk to their parents intensively,and although we have good relationships so far,it is really starting to drain my energy,bc I feel their expectations and I am worried I may let them down.

My question is: how do you relax,what activities help you get your energy back, how to stay resilient in this job,what are your hobbies.

Throwaway account for privacy reasons, but I've been working at a school with a very high limited-verbal population and behavior issues for multiple years. It can be very chaotic and demanding. We are understaffed and I understand you arent supposed to take away a students AAC device under any circumstances but lots of these kids are K/1st grade and even lower cognitively, so it can feel almost impossible to manage the classroom, let alone implement them with fidelity when none of the paras have any training on them and non SLP staff have very limited training/knowledge.

Im not saying students shouldn't be allowed to stim on them or anything like that, but there are times where you would remove a student from class for being disruptive and inappropriate with their voice the way some students use their AAC devices. I feel like having similar expectations for limited verbal students makes you evil or something.

I'm just looking for some guidance other than "model on the device" and "talk to your SLP staff" because I am and have tried those things but they dont really feel like they are not always practical or working. Kind of a vent but any help would be appreciated

I’m a TA (I’m based in the UK, I’m not sure what terms are used in other countries) working in a classroom with children with limited to no verbal ability and severe learning difficulties. This year we have a child in my class who’s really struggling at the moment and when he’s unsettled, he will snatch things and sometimes put them on the floor and jump up and down on top of them. Recently, my glasses have become a target for this behaviour. My work glasses got broken last week due to this and my only remaining pair nearly were broken this week (I was able to bend the arms back into place, one of the lenses popped out but I’ve managed to pop it back in - and unlike my other pair, the lenses aren’t scratched beyond repair so they’re still wearable). The school have said they’ll compensate me if I bring them the receipt for the replacement glasses - which is great but I don’t know how they’ll feel about it if this becomes a weekly thing. I went in and ordered a new pair of glasses the day my last pair were broken - but if my second pair had been broken this week I’d have been without glasses for several days before my new pair have even had a chance to arrive.

I need my glasses to be able to drive to and from work, my prescription isn’t a mild one. Today, I ended up taking my glasses off and putting them away in the afternoon to avoid this problem - the child in question has also become quite physical in his behaviour and if I’m worried about making sure he can’t snatch my glasses off my face, I can’t really properly ensure that I’m protecting myself and the other children, as well as supporting him effectively. This meant my glasses survived the day obviously but it’s not really practical as a long-term solution. My vision is very poor without them, I can’t properly see facial expression or gestures that aren’t at very close range - even things like personal care, where I just can’t see very well to tell if a child needs their pad changing whilst they’re in the toilet. I’ve tried contact lenses in the past but wasn’t able to get along with them and my eyes got really irritated. I’m left at a bit of a loss to a solution here. Has anyone else had trouble with this sort of thing? And what was your solution?

Hello!

I am a current freshman in college, and I have always dreamed of being a special education teacher. I worked with disabled students for two years during high school, and I genuinely feel that it is both my calling and drive to work with these folks.

I do plan to major in Special Education/Inclusive Education, but I also heavily struggle with math. I am afraid this is going to prevent me from becoming a teacher, and I am not sure if anyone has any advice for my specific issue? I will do anything to be better, though I do suspect I have some form of dyscalculia (and I am also autistic, though not at a stage where I need/have needed specialized help in my academic career). I will take any advice, and deeply appreciate it and all the work special education teachers do! You guys do some of the most important work out there, and I deeply appreciate all of you for giving both a voice and support to those who unfortunately receive so little of it in schools.

I am open to hearing about other career options as well, so long as they still work with students with special needs; I have previously considered becoming an Occupational Therapist, or doing something with therapy! :)

Hi everyone! I’m a new SPED resource teacher and would love some advice from more experienced teachers!

I have a student who really does not want to be pulled out of the general education classroom for services. When it’s time to leave the room, the response is a straight-up “no.” I’ve been trying to acknowledge the student’s feelings and avoid turning it into a power struggle, so I’ve tried providing support inside the gen ed classroom instead.

The tricky part is that even with push-in support, the student doesn’t seem to want help.

Interestingly, the student does come with me during reading groups without much of an issue. The refusal seems to happen specifically during ELA time.

I’m also new to the school, so I know that building rapport and trust may be part of the process.

For those of you who have been doing resource for a while:

How do you build rapport with students who resist services?

Would you continue with push-in support for now or gradually work toward pull-out services again?

How do you respect a student’s feelings while still ensuring IEP services are provided?

Has anyone experienced something similar, especially when a student is willing to attend reading groups but refuses to leave during ELA?

I want to handle the situation in a way that supports the student and builds trust without making services feel like a constant battle.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone! I’m a first-year special education teacher working in an ICT classroom, and I’m honestly feeling so overwhelmed and lost.
This is my first year teaching, and I feel like there are so many things I’m expected to know that I was never really taught how to do. I’m struggling with collecting data, understanding IEP goals, writing IEPs, and figuring out how to manage all my responsibilities as a special education teacher.
I feel like I’m constantly trying to figure everything out on my own, and it’s exhausting. I genuinely want to be a good teacher and do what’s best for my students, but I feel like I’m not doing enough or that I’m always missing something.
Lately, I’ve been questioning whether this career is even for me. I worked so hard to become a teacher, but now that I’m actually doing the job, I feel so unprepared. I’ve even started thinking about resigning because of how overwhelmed and anxious I feel every day.
I guess I’m just wondering if any other special education teachers felt this way during their first year. Does it actually get better? How did you learn to collect data, manage IEPs, and feel confident in your role?
I really don’t want to give up, but I’m starting to feel like maybe I’m not cut out for this.

Hey all,

I am a preservice teacher studying at uni. I also have adult diagnosed ADHD — a lot of my shitty experiences at school were a direct result of non-inclusion, which is why I want to become a teacher.

This inclusive education subject I am in has sucked the life out of me. I get it; not everyone holds the same views as mine, and many are lucky to come out of school relatively unscathed. However, I feel like I am being punished for understanding the concept of inclusion better than any other PST who hasn't experienced ableism.

This last assignment is asking us to justify and connect our understanding to however many frameworks there are, and I'm sitting here thinking the basis of my best inclusion strategies are to: treat everyone with humanity because its the right thing to do.

I feel annoyed because I have to link everything to the 5FC's and evidence-based strategies and justify how I would meaningfully engage with parents and students, when in my mind, inclusion itself is a philosophy.

For me, inclusion is 'important' because non-inclusion is inhumane, but that answer will never be enough.

Anyway. I would love to know if any inclusion teachers had any words of wisdom to help me get through this assignment.