The law states that in order to serve the needs of special education children there must be a Child Study Team available to every school.
The core team members include school psychologist, a learning consultant and a social worker.
The most thorough testing, the most beautiful reports, the most wonderful recommendations are pointless without competent teachers.
Three highly trained people in complimentary disciplines. The school psychologist has the expertise to develop programs both for staff and students that would deal with situations before they became problems. The learning consultant has the expertise to work with students and staff to enhance the learning process. The social worker has the expertise to work with students and staff to promote social awareness among and between groups.
All of this training and talent is going to waste because special education is overwhelmed with rules and regulations. There are only two things most child study team members have time to do under the law: test and fill out forms according to a rigid schedule. These required tasks take up so much time that there is none left to make even these activities meaningful. Bureauracracies only believe in numbers. They really do not care what the numbers mean or what use is made of them.
They want everything documented and reported. The resulting reports go in a file and stay there because there is no time for anybody to look at them and really understand them. Bureaucracies trust nobody to act competently. Members of child study teams know what programs are good for children. They do not need to do exhaustive mandated testing or to assign labels to know this. They need only to work out appropriate programs with competent teachers. The most thorough testing, the most beautiful reports, the most wonderful recommendations are pointless without competent teachers. It is not necessary to second guess the capable teacher by constant evaluations of the child. After the child has been in the class over a period of time, the teacher knows him better than anybody else in the school.
She can make the best recommendations for on-going programs. Test results are not as reliable as the opinion of a good teacher. Mandated special education requirements have grown by leaps and bounds. These proliferating rules are a burden to the child study team because they make demands on its limited time.
They are a burden to the school system because they make demands on its limited funds.
If the state does not take action soon, special education is going to, as the expression goes, "kill the goose that laid the golden egg". Schools are going to balk at funding it. One school system reported that its board of education had to use $150,000 more than anticipated this year for out-of- district placements. This is in addition to the $1.7 million out of a $33 million budget already specified for special education. This amount does not take into account the staff needed to monitor, test and write the mandated reports on these placements. One wonders what programs this school system will have to eliminate in order to pay these costs. There has to be a better way to spend limited funds and still serve special education children. Child study team members know that they have more to offer children than they are able to under the present mandates. It is time for the state department of education to consult them before more rules and regulations are added to an already overwhelmed child study team and all special education programs suffer.
First published in 1992
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