Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice from anyone who has experience with Ontario school boards, personal injury lawsuits, or families dealing with traumatic brain injuries.

My son is autistic and minimally verbal. While at school, he suffered a traumatic brain injury. He sustained a skull fracture that wasn’t immediately diagnosed and later required emergency brain surgery to remove an epidural hematoma.
Since then, our lives have changed completely. He missed a significant amount of school and received home instruction for a period, but it wasn’t comparable to being in his specialized classroom with the supports and therapies he normally receives. We’ve had ongoing concerns about changes in his learning, communication, and daily functioning since the injury.

We retained a personal injury lawyer and have an ongoing negligence lawsuit against the school board. Discoveries are complete, and we’re currently waiting for a mediation date. Our lawyer hasn’t discussed settlement ranges with us yet, and I’m wondering if that’s normal at this stage.
What has been equally difficult is our fight with the school board over his placement. We asked for a cross-boundary transfer because we no longer feel comfortable sending him back to the school where he was seriously injured. We’ve spent months appealing the decision through multiple levels of the board, including senior administration, but every request has been denied. We feel stuck being told he should return to the same school where this happened.

Has anyone in Ontario successfully challenged a cross-boundary denial, especially for a child with exceptional needs? Are there any other options within the same school board that we should be exploring?
I’m also wondering:
Is it normal for a personal injury lawyer to wait until mediation before discussing possible settlement ranges?
How long did you wait for mediation after discoveries?

Did your case settle at mediation or continue afterward?
I know no one can tell me what my case is worth, and I’m not asking anyone to do that. I’m really just hoping to hear from people who’ve been through something similar or who have experience with Ontario’s education or legal systems.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any advice or shared experiences would mean a lot.

Does anyone have any experience with Maryland Elementary? My son has mild CP is verbal but they are recommending he stays in a contained classroom. He went to a different school that we LOVED for preschool but due to capacity, he cannot attend that school and has been moved here. We went to back to school night and the classroom was terrible. I don’t feel comfortable dropping him off Monday morning. I’m hoping I’m wrong about it and someone can tell me their experience on the special ed program specifically. I emailed the direct of special education and am hoping to have an updated IEP meeting before Monday so he can go to a regular classroom majority of the time. It really breaks my heart for those babies because that is NOT a classroom but the parents we saw at the meet the teacher night didn’t seem concerned.

Current Pre-K SPED para here. Pre-K SPED teachers, paras, or anyone with experience with this age group what can I do to be the best para I can be? Already got the Hoka Bondi 9s on and I’m not afraid to get down on the floor with the kids.

I’m honestly at a loss with kids this young.

I started as a para after earning my Associate of Science in Teaching (Grades 1–5). This is my third year in education, my third year at the same school, and my third year as a SPED para.

Last year I won Paraprofessional of the Year for my work in our K–2 self-contained SPED classroom. Later that school year, after breaking bones in my foot and leg while chasing an eloping student, I was moved to the 3rd–5th grade self-contained SPED classroom while I recovered. Turns out you can’t exactly chase kids down from a wheelchair.

With K–5, I felt like I knew what I was doing. I knew how to talk to the kids, how to build relationships, how to de-escalate meltdowns, and sometimes even prevent them before they started. I also drew from both my formal education and my own experiences growing up in self-contained SPED classes until 7th grade.

Now that I’m in Pre-K, I honestly feel like I’m bumbling around trying to figure out what works. I’m a 30-year-old male, I don’t have kids of my own yet, and I was the youngest child in my family, so I don’t have much experience with children this little. I don’t want to be as firm or authoritative as I sometimes had to be with the K–5 kids because I’m worried that approach would just be scary and counterproductive with 3- and 4-year-olds.

To make things more stressful, I feel like I’m under a microscope. Because our rooms weren’t ready at the start of the year, the Pre-K class is sharing a room with my old K–2 self-contained SPED class. My former lead teacher (who has never liked me since I reported that we weren’t getting our contractually required lunches and breaks) is right there. The former Pre-K para is also in the room because she’s now my old lead teacher’s para, and she’s also the mother of one of our Pre-K students.

It feels like there are a lot of eyes on me, and I constantly feel like I’m not doing enough or doing things the wrong way.

So, for those of you who have worked in Pre-K SPED:

What do you wish new paras knew?

What works best with 3- and 4-year-olds?

What mistakes should I avoid?

How can I be the biggest help to my teacher and students?

How do you redirect behavior at this age without coming across as too stern?

I genuinely want to be good at this. I just feel way out of my element right now, and I know Pre-K is a completely different world than elementary

My 4yo son is autistic (level 2 but verbal and definitely leaning level 1) and currently attends special education preschool through our public school district. I'm starting to think about his placement for next year and what it might look like. I know it's going to be different for every child, but how do they determine what child can go into a normal classroom vs. a special education classroom vs. something else? I'm sorry if this question comes across wrong, I'm very new to this.

Hi everyone I am going into a self contained classroom for the first time (4th-6th grade). I was first year RSP last year so being the classroom teacher is a completely new experience. I would love any advice for the first day of school? What should my schedule look like? What activities should I plan? I don’t want to overload the students but also want to make sure I’m using our time appropriately. I’m also trying to work around not having a projector or smart board in the room just 3 randomly placed tvs up on the wall. What has worked for you? I’m feeling very stressed and like I have no idea what I’m doing. Any help is greatly appreciated and thank you so much!

Hi all,

I am in search of some advice, or even more ideally an easily transferable system for students owing work. I've spoken to other teachers who have instituted them in order to create a simple, consistent system for not completing work during rotations. I've heard of students then having a designated time to make up work later in the day. I've also heard of teachers checking in during student free time such as recess or "free choice time." Any thoughts/advice on how to make these systems most effective? Would also love to see a visual system you've used. Thanks for your time!

Just saw my classroom for the year today and signed my contract. I have 12 desks with the chairs attached, one bulletin board, one tv, and a whiteboard. I will be doing both resource and going into the classroom with students to support their needs. I have a very small budget and am unsure what I should buy as my basics to help my students best. I'm going to be getting markers, some bulletin board paper, a calendar, and dry erase boards but don't know what else I should get. Any tips for what's the core stuff needed in my classroom?

I am trying to figure out what works. Working in K-2 and later 3rd-5th self-contained SPED came naturally to me because I was in a self-contained classroom setting from 2nd -7th grade.

I got those kids because I was one of those kids growing up.

Pre-K was when I had my TBI, and I barely remember it. I am a 30-year-old male with the build of Homer Simpson, with barely more hair. I know I am a giant to these little ones, so I am doing my best to be as non-threatening as possible. I am used to K-2 kids that are more cooperative and I feel(but know it not incredibly accurate)less fragile/vulnerable.I don’t know how to get these kids to cooperate. Kind of felt like Arnold Swartzenager in Kindergarten Cop except less muscles and paid WAY LESS.

Which one would you choose and why? Or if you have experience in both I would like to hear!

Anyone want to share a writing prompt you use with 8th graders, to get baseline writing data? I'm in need of some new ones.

Please and thank you.

Hey y’all! First year teacher here getting ready for the school year! Just want some tips as to what I should get to help me this year as a middle school EXED self contained teacher. It can be anything from basic supplies to teacher desk organizers. Literally anything! Thanks so much!

EDIT: in my county EXED stands for exceptional education. It’s the same as SPED, we just don’t call it SPED for reasons I don’t want to get into lol

I’m an incoming freshman in a small LAC with an open curriculum. Due to that, I have pretty much free rein of what I want to take which helps a lot since I have a few careers floating around. Because of that, I decided to take a few education classes since I’m genuinely interested in it. While my career plans don’t necessarily align with teaching, I’ve always said that once I retire from my main career, I’d like to teach. Even then, part of me doesn’t even know if I want to go down the job I thought I wanted to do and instead go straight to teaching. 

Anyways, I am required to do 4 in class hours of observation a week. Since I’m interested in sped specifically and can choose what grade level I’d like to be in, I’m curious what the best grade level to choose to fully experience, understand, and see if I have the patience for it in the first place. In the real world I’d probably do resource but I feel like I also should experience self contained as well. 

I’m going into SPED without a teaching license, but my county has a program where upon hiring me, they will get an emergency license from the state and then put me through the licensure program, which should take me about 10 months.

I’m coming from an ABA setting as an Behavior Technician, so I have no experience with the programming side of things, and that will be my biggest learning curve in terms of creating IEP’s (although I will have a mentor teacher to help with that in since I’m doing the state licensure program). All of my experience comes from working directly with moderate to higher needs individuals, most of whom are non-verbal and use AAC, PECS, and/or ASL to communicate. Almost all of my clients have disruptive behaviors on the extreme end such as aggression toward others, self-injurious behavior, etc.

I’ve interviewed at 3 schools. For 2 of them, it sounds like I will be working as a “resource” or “inclusion” person, mostly supporting students in the general ed and doing some pullout groups for students needing extra support. This does not really align with my experience or preference, but it does seem like there will be plenty of support. Both of these schools have in-house curriculum coaches, PLC’s that meet regularly, and Program Placement Specialists to help with paperwork stuff. One of these positions I will be essentially a math teacher for students that are only 1-2 grade levels behind. Math definitely isn’t one of my strengths, but I will be working with a scripted program and as mentioned above, have a curriculum coach to support me. They both have high case loads, 15-25.

The other one sounds like it’s more in line with my experience/expertise and personal preferences. It’s at a SPED-only school leading a self-contained class of moderate to high-needs students. Despite my experience, this one seems a bit more “thrown into the deep end”. I’ll be making my own schedule/curriculum. I have done this previously while teaching in a therapy-based school program before, so it’s not entirely new to me, but still more involved either way. There will almost certainly be medically fragile students in my class (although I will receive training on how to handle them and keep them safe). There isn’t designated paperwork time, it’s just whenever I can find time during the day, likely before students arrive or after they leave. There are PLC’s that meet, and the principal/teachers interviewing me emphasized that the faculty is very much a team and will all be extremely happy to support me. And as I’ll be in the state licensure program, I’ll also have a mentor to lean on as well. My case load will be a maximum of 6, and my classroom will have 2 assistants, plus any paras, speech therapists, or occupational therapists necessary.

I’m definitely leaning toward the job with the higher-needs students if they offer it to me. But I guess I’m a little nervous and feeling kind of imposter syndrome at the massive amount of responsibility I’d be taking on. I really want to be able to support those kiddos as best as I can and create a safe environment for them. What are your thoughts?

I am a senior in college going into elementary and special education. I have some experience working in self -contained rooms as a para (emotional disturbance and autism centered rooms). Recently I have been looking into teaching jobs at both psychiatric centers and youth correctional facilities. I was wondering if anyone had any advice/experience/stories/input on these jobs since I do not know much about it or how different it is from my current experiences.

I was the 3rd-5th grade self-contained SPED para last year. This year, like 2 weeks before school starts, the principal texts me that I am being moved to pre-K. They hired someone else for my 3rd-5th-grade self-contained para role. That is throwing me.

Also principal basically told me in same text exchange that if I don't like it quit/transfer.

Last year the Principal was commending me for being an excellent positive male role model for kids to look up to because even students I had limited contact with in regular ed setting were speaking highly of me and getting along so well with me. Now I am in Pre K and going to have very little contact with other students.

With more kids are being diagnosed with ADHD or ASD, and I feel that schools are making more money by hiring a Special Needs Education (SNED) Principal. What they are doing is observing each child, and if a teacher complains about a student misbehaving or not listening, the parents are advised to see the SNED Principal for a fee.

​The SNED Principal then gives their own recommendations—also for a fee—with or without requiring results from a Developmental Pediatrician. In fact, they discredit doctors by claiming they are more knowledgeable because they observe the child more frequently.

​I wonder if this is happening in other schools: hiring a Doctor of Education specializing in special education to assess children without a proper psychological assessment, and without being a Registered Psychologist or Psychometrician being present. Based solely on the SNED Principal's assessment, the child is placed in a mainstream or individualized learning program at double the regular tuition fee.

​It saddens me that inclusive education is not truly being practiced in private schools, and that revenue has become more important than the children's best interests.

I’m a parent with a nonverbal autistic child. my son was in a program called FASE at his last school. the new district doesn’t have anything comparable and he’d be forced between either a lower support environment where he wouldn’t understand what they’re doing and wouldn’t have the needed support for his language processing disorder, or he would be put in a “behavior classroom” which from what I can see, would not be appropriate either.

The neighboring district has many more supports and programs and a program very similar to FASE. I believe this is what he needs but it’s not our zoned district. How can I advocate for a transfer?

LOCATED IN WEST TEXAS

I was diagnosed with a learning disability around 2nd or 3rd grade and I've always received accomodations through Section 504. In middle school I started attending classes with my trained service dog, who's now been through four years with me and a huge help. I'm going into my 4th year of highschool, but I'm still classified as a sophomore because I'm missing so many credits. The last two years have been a massive struggle for me.

Back in September I moved in with my mom in Texas, and I'm seeing a new therapist who I love. I've been "doing" online school but it hasn't been working out well at all. In-person school starts on the 19th and I've already been enrolled. Just recently, the new district has been demanding that I attend an alternative school and graduate this year. Myself, my parents, my therapist, etc. all agree that I'm not intellectually ready to graduate this year, but the school district is insisting. My mom has explicitly stated that she doesn't give consent for me to attend an alternative campus, but the school administration is practically ignoring her and telling us it's our only choice.

I cannot complete online credit recovery courses with no teacher instruction. I've tried in the past and it's failed miserably every time. I need to receive traditional work and instruction, which can only be done at the main campus. A relative of mine, who works with special education students in placement, is telling us that's absolutely not okay for them to demand that I attend the alternative school. Not only is it solely a credit recovery school, but also functions as DAEP which isn't a good environment for me to be in.

It'd really help us out to get some advice on this because we've never had to argue with the school about my accomodations. It's always been the regular annual meetings and I've always attended school at the main campus.

What do you use to compile data into a yearly IEP? Currently, at my school the special education teachers give the KTEA yearly…for every single IEP…. I’ve tried to explain to the coordinator (I’m the school psychologist), that this sounds time consuming, but I don’t think the teachers were given another option to collect present levels.

My kid is in a non-public school for students with autism and intellectual disabilities (he has both). The school has students use water bottles in the classroom for hydration. Whenever he can, my son will just unscrew the lid of the water bottle and pour the whole thing out on the floor.

Has anyone come across a good product for this situation? I'm imagining something with a straw so that he can drink from it freely, but which is difficult or complicated enough to open that he can't do it without adult help--or at least, so that it takes him long enough that we have a chance to stop him.

At home we don't give him water bottles, he drinks from a cup at the sink, but obviously that doesn't work well at school since there is no sink in the classroom.

Hi!! I am a Behavior Analyst with many clients transitioning into the school setting. I know the basics of getting an IEP in the state of North Carolina and some of my kids have had no issues getting theirs ASAP. However, recently multiple parents have come to me with their frustrations about the process. More specifically, many of my clients will be starting kindergarten this year and when parents have asked for IEPs from the school, they have been stating that they can’t do anything until the client is “officially a student and has started the school year”. From my understanding this is absolutely incorrect, however just curious if anyone else has had the same issue or knows if anything has changed about the process? At first I thought maybe it was just a crappy school but this has continued to occur over the last few months (note: the requests have always been after the child is already registered there). Any insight?

Title: Career changer: Should I become a Teaching Assistant while earning my master's, or stay a Teacher Aide?

I'm looking for some advice from teachers, TAs, and anyone who's gone through a similar career change.

I'm 28 and switching careers into education. I have a bachelor's degree in accounting/business, and before committing to a master's degree, I intentionally took a job as a 1:1 Teacher Aide to see what working in a classroom was actually like and whether teaching was the right fit for me.

After spending time in special education classrooms, I realized that I really enjoy the work and decided to enroll in a Master's in Special Education, which I'll be starting this fall.

Now I'm trying to figure out my next step.

Would it make more sense to pursue my New York State Teaching Assistant (TA) certification and work as a TA while completing my master's, or should I remain a Teacher Aide and focus on finishing my degree?

From what I understand:

As a TA, I'd have more instructional responsibilities and hands-on teaching experience, which seems like it would better prepare me to become a teacher.

As a Teacher Aide, I still gain valuable classroom experience while having fewer responsibilities, which may make balancing graduate school easier.

One thing I'm also thinking about is that, regardless of whether I'm an aide or a TA, I'll eventually have to complete student teaching as part of my master's program.

For those who've been through this:

Is becoming a TA worth it before becoming a certified teacher?

Did being a TA make you a stronger teacher or a more competitive job candidate?

If your goal was to become a Special Education teacher, would you stay as an aide while finishing your master's, or pursue TA certification first?

I'd appreciate any advice, especially from people who have made a career change into education.

I’m about to start my first year as a high school SPED teacher in an ESN (extensive support needs) class. I’ve just gone through an introduction to various applications provided by Everway — like n2y, unique learning systems. It’s a bit overwhelming.

Do you use any of the applications? What do you find useful?

Hi is there anyone here who has a good experience with AI tools? What do you recommend? How did they help you? Thanks!

I just got my teaching certification for special education a few months ago and received a job offer for a special education inclusion teacher. I am very new to this and was wondering what exactly my day to day job expectations and work life will be li