3 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew About IEP Meetings

"From above, EC teachers face immense pressure from the school administration. For example, they must worry about standardized test scores. As an EC teacher, Lisa not only had to make sure her students had equal access to education, but also that "the accommodations and modifications that I provided somehow would lead to equal results in the overall school test scores.""

"But this task is not only nearly impossible but also severely unhelpful to EC students' learning. Lisa told me that some of the students in her classroom, for example, "had severe trauma that they were dealing with, which led to severe nervous system regulation, which of course affects learning." Others had severe intellectual disabilities."

Exceptional Children (EC) teachers specialize in educating neurodiverse children, attend many IEP meetings, and often implement IEPs. EC teachers commonly feel crushed by competing demands from administrators and from classroom-level constraints. Administrative pressure centers on standardized test scores and expectations that accommodations yield equal schoolwide results, since administrators do not want EC students to lower average scores. Many EC students experience severe trauma, nervous-system dysregulation, or intellectual disabilities, making test-focused expectations unrealistic and unhelpful. Parental support for EC teachers, even simple gestures such as a kind email, can help address these pressures.

Read at Psychology Today