Life in the IEP Tribe
Join us as we dive into the world of special education with two educators who have walked the same path as many of you. In addition to teaching in self-contained and collaborative settings, our hosts bring a unique perspective to the challenges and triumphs of raising a special needs child. From classroom strategies to heartfelt family moments, they offer practical advice, empathy, and a community of support. Discover how their personal experiences can shed light on your journey and gain valuable insights into navigating the complexities of special education both in and out of the classroom. Welcome to the tribe!
Life in the IEP Tribe
The Impact of Therapy on Student Success
Can mastering the intricacies of school-based therapy unlock the potential of students with disabilities? Join us as we celebrate Edwin Hubble's legacy and explore the vital services available for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Discover how occupational and physical therapy can transform the educational journey for students with disabilities, enabling them to overcome challenges and excel academically. Through personal stories and expert insights, we shed light on the essential role of related services in tackling comorbid conditions and breaking down communication barriers that often lead to frustration and behavioral issues.
In this episode, we break down misconceptions surrounding occupational therapy, illustrating its impact on developing fine motor skills critical for daily school tasks. Discover how physical therapy not only supports peer participation but also lays the groundwork for future employment opportunities. We dive into the unique challenges posed by vision and hearing impairments and the need for proactive parental advocacy to ensure students receive the support they need. From Adaptive Physical Education to Applied Behavior Analysis, we cover a spectrum of educational supports that can empower students with disabilities to thrive in their learning environments. Tune in to understand how a collaborative approach can make a world of difference in the lives of these students.
so, on the date of this recording, it is edwin hubble's birthday. Do you know who edwin hubble is?
Speaker 2:is he the hubble telescope guy?
Speaker 1:I was pretty sure he created hubble bubble chewing gum hubba bubba okay, I was close. So today's conversation we are going to talk about the different kind of services that are accessible I think that's the right word Accessible for students that have an IEP, and it's kind of shocking to think about all that is that is offered for students. So we talked a handful of weeks ago about FAPE, or the Free and Appropriate Public Education Act, and or not act for an appropriate public education, public education Paper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anyway, so, in the best interest of the students, trying to provide everything that can be provided for them, schools, school districts, offer these different services, and so we're going to take just a moment and discuss some of these services. We're going to take just a moment and discuss some of these services and, uh, but, laura, can you give me like, can you tell us briefly, why would these extra services be provided? Like, what is, what is this? I mean, I understand the whole um supplying a free and appropriate public education, but when we start talking about things like physical therapy and occupational therapy and all of that, why is that lumped in there?
Speaker 2:Well, a lot of times individuals with disabilities have comorbid conditions or comorbid disabilities that are in addition to or go alongside with their condition or their disability, that can impact different areas of their development. Just because somebody has one disability doesn't mean that it encompasses that. You know, having an IEP and working on academic goals is going to allow them to make the progress necessary to be successful. So a lot of times you have to have some related services that go along with that, and sometimes we have. We see a lot of times in our students with disabilities. They have fine motor delays. They're behind on how to hold a pencil, how to cut, how to pull their pants back up. There's things that we use our fingers for.
Speaker 2:A lot of times our students have speech and language delays. We talked, I think, a little bit about the expressive and receptive language delays and they need someone to come alongside them. We need someone to come alongside us to help us with our students. Sometimes it can impact our students. Sometimes it can impact our students that their disabilities can impact them in a physical manner. Sometimes it's behaviors that come along with the conditions that they have or the disabilities that they have, and sometimes these behaviors can be part of not having these other functional skills. There's other medical conditions that will come along, that are vision difficulties, some hearing impairments or deafness, and so there's just a slew of things that can go along with a disability, and oftentimes it's not just one thing that you are that we're working with when we work with our students.
Speaker 1:And you know, I know, we've seen it multiple times too where the maybe the deficits in some of these areas, whether it be speech or more of a physical impairment, that it causes this extra frustration.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the things to consider is, you know we talk about our students that have speech services, and so for some it's you know they'll work on articulation and things of that manner.
Speaker 1:But then sometimes we've got students that can't speak, they're nonverbal, for the most part, can't say anything, so they learn how to use devices and sign language and things like that to be able to communicate, because it's I mean, just I know that we've had the privilege of going over to um, going over to ethiopia I know weird segue, but stay with me and one of the things that kind of like really hits you in the face when you're standing in the middle of their capital city is that there's nobody around you that can understand what you're saying.
Speaker 1:Like if you needed to talk to somebody and you needed help or you needed direction, you would have to be as creative as possible to help them understand what it is that you're saying and then, in return, be able to understand their response. And and so I know that that when we stand in a place like that, it's it's kind of um, overwhelming, it's, it's it's uh, somewhat can make the anxiety kind of flare up a little. So now let's put ourselves in in the place of one of our students that is already struggling academically. But they can't verbalize what it is that's going on, that's going on in their mind, that's going on in the way that they feel, and so that just brings on a whole bunch of frustration. And if I don't have a healthy way to express what's going on inside of me, it's got to come out in the form of behavior.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so, and that's just I mean, that's just one small piece of the puzzle Then to consider, you know, if there's, if a child has a certain physical restriction or, along with that, whether it's hearing or vision, or you know if there's, if a child has a certain physical restriction or, along with that, whether it's hearing or vision, or there's added, there's added stress that's going to Prohibit them from engaging in their school materials and assessments and to be able to engage with what it is that they're being asked to do.
Speaker 1:And then, like you, add all this on top of it and it's just incredibly frustrating, I'm sure, for those students. So let's talk just a little bit about what are some of those services that are out there.
Speaker 1:That, because I got to tell you I, you know, I, when xander was small, before we even got into all the sped world ourselves, um, it was one of those, like I'd show up to a meeting and and they'd have to tell me well, here's, here's what he needs and it's like, okay, well, yeah, that this is what y'all do, this is your world, but would have never guessed that there were so many different supports out there, and so what we do know is that, again talking about FAPE, that the government has set forward to say, all right, to give these students the best shot possible, here are some other services that we're going to put out there so that they can engage, so they can engage at their highest potential with whatever materials are given to them. So what are some of those? We already talked about speech a little bit, but what are some of the other ones?
Speaker 2:right.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, touching on that speech and um therapy, that um, I think that's probably the most common, that almost most individuals that have an iep that are in like our setting and then more of the small group adapt curriculum, they're going to have that speech therapy, um, and you also have students that have an IEP only for speech. You have students that have IEPs just for academics, but when I think one of the most prevalent provider or additional services is is speech, and you talked about articulation, and I think a lot of times when they're and I'm sure we'll learn a little more about this in the future episodes but they work on the things that the students need to be successful and sometimes articulation isn't one of the first things that they work on, because if they can understand the child enough, they're. It's like oh no, we got to focus on some of these other things, which that was one of the things I found. That was interesting when I first started in the school system is that's what I thought speech did. Well, they taught you how to talk, right.
Speaker 1:Makes sense.
Speaker 2:Right. But no, they work on a variety of skills and whether it's just having conversations, teaching the children how to say good morning and how to play cooperatively sometimes and those things positional words, verbs and nouns, I mean all sorts of things. So it's not just they're going here to learn how to talk, it's really an encompassing communication. Then, another service that a lot of our students are qualified for is occupational therapy.
Speaker 2:I think we touched on this a little bit in one of our other episodes, because people think, well, occupational therapy, that's the therapy that you get for doing jobs or skills, and well, in the school setting, that school is our kids' jobs, and so the occupational therapist will come in and work on those fine motor skills to help them be able to do the things needed in school. Now are there outside occupational therapy, of course, and they can work. They'll work more on the everyday living tasks, but in the school setting it's more making sure that they can hold their pencil, making sure they can use scissors or use a glue stick, and then, you know, making sure that they're not writing their letters all different sizes, and so that's what the occupational therapy provides, and you want me to keep going.
Speaker 1:Sure, well, or I can say this like so I know that we we've been able to work with some really cool occupational therapists over the years, but the one that we get to work with now is really cool because, like so, over the summer, my dog bit my finger off well, not my whole finger, but the top third of it and it was gross it was. It was like hanging there by skin and anyway.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I know it was a it was a crazy experience but it was really great to be able to go to her after, you know, talking to the doctors and all and just simple things that she was able to share with with me about how to help work in my finger back into where I can use it, Because I mean, the finger was stiff, as could be, because it was all wrapped up for so long that it was just like I had this perpetual middle finger.
Speaker 1:And I'm surprised I didn't get yelled at more things thrown at me because it was just like always sticking up and I wasn't doing it on purpose, I promise um but her understanding of how, like the joints and, oh, I hit my microphone but her understanding of how you know the joints and the fingers work and all that, and to be able to give me some some direction on how to get where I can use my hands. So now you know, take that same concept into for a student that you know may have more struggle than just they got the top of their finger bit off right. Some like real developmental issues that. So now again, kind of like we did with the whole I was talking about the whole Ethiopia thing take a kid and put them in a classroom and ask them to write a sentence. Well, one.
Speaker 1:Most kids don't want to write sentences, right? I don't like writing sentences. I'm 47 years old and I don't like writing sentences, but I just don't like it. It's not that I can't do it. So now you know, again, put yourself in the place of one of these kids that they go to school, there's academic requirements, but I can't hold a pencil right. So how in the world am I going to be able to spend any of my time focusing in on what you're trying to teach me when I can't? I can't write it Right, and so, again, that's another place where one of these services steps in to help give this platform for the child to, for the student to be able to engage more in their education. So what else we got?
Speaker 2:Physical therapy. Yep, I don else. We got Physical therapy.
Speaker 1:Yep, I don't know anything about that one.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Nope, other than it's therapy and it's physical Right.
Speaker 2:Does that make you think of?
Speaker 1:that song? What was it? Let's get physical.
Speaker 2:Sorry, it's okay. Anyways, I have the voice of an angel.
Speaker 1:So now I know a little bit about physical therapy. So remember again we're talking about, like all school based Right.
Speaker 1:So there is a big difference and in the near future we're going to have people on to that know that understand this stuff way better than I do anyway. I do anyway. But the physical therapy in a school, setting the purpose behind it or the point is to help the child to participate, or the student to participate in what's going on. So if we can give this extra physical therapy, the hope is that in turn, that student will be able to engage in the same things that his typically developing peers engage in, right? So, given that extra step, that extra, that extra push so that they can experience To the fullest extent the same thing that their friends are experiencing. So friends are experiencing so.
Speaker 1:So with that, with the physical education, it can again, it can work on our physical education. That's PE Physical therapy. What it does, is it? It helps them to not only go further in their schooling, but then there is consideration for future employment, right? So it's all of these things build on each other, right, for the betterment of the child. Because it's not. You know, people don't? I don't know that anybody would ever say or agree to the idea that. You know, let's just get our kids in school until they age out, and then you know who cares.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Just stick them in a room somewhere or whatever, but the idea is not any different for students with disabilities than those that are, again, the typically developing.
Speaker 1:The school is to help children not only just learn things, not just learn math and reading and all of that, but learn how to interact with people, learn how to be in a community, learn how to have a conversation right. All of these things are a part of school educational development for people and the whole idea behind it is so that once you have finished this time here, go be a contributing member to society, go and give back to the place, the area that you live in, and the students with disability world, the special education world, is not any different. We still work to help these children be who they can be, to be a contributing member in the society that they live in, and so when it comes to the physical therapy during the course of their school career, it might allow them to get a job at some other position or at some other place after school, simply because now they have another job, they have another ability they can bring to the table.
Speaker 1:And so now I can I can bend over and pick this up, or I can move from this point to this point stable, right, and so then it's just another, like I said, another thing that they can bring to the table and finding employment and contributing to something bigger than themselves.
Speaker 2:I know you had touched on also about like communities and you'd say to one another one of our episodes that you know, when the Individuals, they grow up and they become adults and they depending on what their caregivers plan for them, is, if they, if, if the desire is for them to move out and go to a community setting, the more skills that they have and the more adaptive skills they have, the more they can do for themselves, the better chances of them being accepted into these different communities or living facilities, and so, like you said it is, it's that continuum there. You have to look at them. Even those pre-K and kindergarten, even babies, can't wait. Is that it's all trying to prepare them for that post-secondary life?
Speaker 1:well, and we found too that in a lot of our research and looking for things for the you know, future, possible future for xander is that it's very similar to to students that are start applying to colleges and the more things that you can have on that resume when you apply to a college, the better chance you have of being accepted into that college, right?
Speaker 1:So, if you know, if I apply to I don't know Harvard and I have a do they still have D's in school now, a D average or whatever right I have not positioned myself very well for that right. I've not taken the time. If I haven't done extracurriculars, if I haven't done all this other stuff been involved in different groups and different programs and different this and different that if I haven't done things that catch the eye of the decision makers at that educational setting, I'm not going to be accepted. Well, we found that when it comes to students with disabilities, that the more they can bring to the table, the better chance they have of being accepted into these different areas, because what they don't want is this is you know, you don't want to push somebody into an environment that they cannot, that they cannot function, they cannot um function function or even thrive.
Speaker 1:Thrive, that's the word, thank you very much. That they can't thrive and because? Then it just adds to the frustration, right for them. It adds to the frustration of the people that are running the program and it'll take away from what they can do. For the ones that can thrive, right. Never suggesting that anybody's less valuable.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But there are. There are opportunities out there for everybody, of every different.
Speaker 2:Ability yeah.
Speaker 1:And so, and so, to take the time now, as you say quite often, do all the hard work up front. It better prepares those students for those options down the road.
Speaker 2:It's true.
Speaker 1:I know I said it. That's all I do is say true things Sometimes. So what do we talk about? We talked about OTPT speech, what else?
Speaker 2:what else is there?
Speaker 1:what else yeah? So there also is there's vision therapy now that I really don't know anything about and I think I'm fairly new to this too.
Speaker 2:It was Andrew's teacher last year and the year before she left the classroom to fulfill this spot, which apparently is definitely needed in the county. But oddly enough it isn't always offered. Offered it can kind of go state by state. Um, some states say it's a medical service and so it's not covered under idea. Um, other states do offer it but what it does is it helps. Um, the vision therapists will come in and they'll work with the students and try to help retrain their brain so they understand and process that visual information more effectively and efficiently. And so you know, through different activities and different exercises they work with them to be able to help them understand what it is they're seeing.
Speaker 1:And I think that's a really important thing to identify issues. It's not about just having poor vision, like I know. We've been, again fortunate enough to hang around a lot of people that know a lot of things that we don't. Again, fortunate enough to hang around a lot of people, I know a lot of things that we don't, and, for instance, we've talked about how myself, when I'm reading a book, or if I'm reading something online that my, for whatever reason, my eyes are like drawn to the space between the sentences, right, and then I have to I end up reading the same line over and over and, you know, kind of lose my place. I have to I end up reading the same line over and over and, you know, kind of lose my place.
Speaker 1:And so now I'm using all this time to try to figure out what I'm reading that I'm not spending a whole lot of time comprehending what I'm reading, so I have to keep going over it over and over and over again.
Speaker 1:Vision would assist in not necessarily just being able to see, but that communication that takes place from whatever it is that the student's looking at, to processing it in their mind right, seeing what's there and then, at the same time, being able to walk down that path of I see this, I understand it as this comprehending what it is that I see in the moving on from there, versus spending that extra energy trying to say I don't decode or stay focused on the line or whatever other things might get in the way of of being able to really understand what it is that you're seeing, right, and so that's important to keep in mind as well. And we know that there's hearing services and those can range from like I know I've seen situations where it was there's a little bit of time that someone would come in and work with making sure that the child is taking care of their hearing aids properly and that they're staying clean and functional and you know, adding support that way.
Speaker 1:And then there's other areas where there's more sitting and working with the student. Do you have anything to add to that?
Speaker 2:No, I don't think so.
Speaker 1:Just like you said, they come in and they, whether it be just partial hearing loss or complete hearing loss, and so there seems like there's a whole range of help that can be given there, and I know we've also seen where the the county will go out and find people that that know sign language, that can speak to those that are deaf or hard of hearing, that that know how to sign um, and so the reason we bring all this up in in this manner is it's important to know that. I think when you have a law like idea right, it can be interpreted in many different ways, and so I think that what it is we in sharing this information, what we want to put out there, is it. If you think your kid needs it and you don't know if it's there, ask questions.
Speaker 1:Definitely find out Right, dig, push, talk to your, your kid's teacher, talk to anybody that is involved in in that world. And, hey, is there something that can be done about this? I see this taking place in my kid's life. I see this that I think might be a hangup. Is there something out there that can help them work through this particular issue? Um, because if you don't, there's a good chance that it may not happen, and it's not necessarily anybody's fault.
Speaker 1:It's not a matter of people just trying to not provide services for kids. Is that? There's a lot out there. I mean, there's a lot of kids out there that need special education services, right? We know that, like we've said before at the national level, that 15% of our public school students are being served with an IEP. Some may just be speech, like you said earlier, some may focus more on academic, but not all of them. So there's a lot out there and it's easy for students to kind of fall under the radar. So there's nothing wrong with a parent, a guardian, going to a special education teacher and saying, hey, I'm really concerned about this. Is there anybody that can help, right? Um, because I know that, while we know we don't know everything, we know a lot of people right, and so we'll ask the questions.
Speaker 1:Find out and uh and so and so really, that's, that's the whole thing, and we haven't even. I mean, that's just the ones that we know about. We know there's all kinds of stuff out there.
Speaker 2:And there's we didn't talk about APE, which is the Adaptive Physical Education, and that's for the students that can't physically, can't do do PE, participate in PE, Not the ones that just won't.
Speaker 1:I know we have several that just won't do it, but it makes me sweat, but this is for the ones that physically cannot.
Speaker 2:They physically cannot kick a ball, they physically cannot catch or throw or jump, and yeah, that's what the adaptive PE is for. And then I don't know if you'd call it a service, the ABA, applied Behavior Analysis and I know we have providers that come in and do some observations and work with teachers and I don't believe that's like a service that our county offers at this time. In this classroom, however, we do have access to those therapists that come in and help the teachers with some of those behaviors and give them some Some guidance, some direction.
Speaker 2:Support yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm not good with words.
Speaker 2:Not methodology. Give them, yeah, give them Memeology Symbolism.
Speaker 1:Yeah, give them the good Mamiology Symbolism.
Speaker 2:Yeah, practices, and yeah, help them. I think they get it. Give them some help. Yeah, I think they get it.
Speaker 1:I think y'all know what we're trying to say If you're teachers and you're listening. Yes, we are teacher-tired, yes, so.
Speaker 2:I think.
Speaker 1:Is there anything else that we wanted to talk about? I don't believe, so I think we're going to go ahead and wrap up this episode. So, hey, feel free to check us out on social media. You can find us on Facebook, you can find us on Instagram. You can find us on Instagram, you can find us on YouTube and we might even be on X. You know, it used to be Twitter, we Twitter.
Speaker 2:Twitter yeah.
Speaker 1:See, we don't do all that stuff very well. It's like they talk. Somebody talked to me today about watching the tickety talk and I'm like I I don't even understand it because I'm old, but that's okay, that's okay. So, anyway, until next time. Uh, yep, I'm jared. I'm here with my awesome wife laura, and we'll uh talk to you later next time.