"Living in the State of Stuck"

I want to re-visit this topic as the reading ties in nicely with a student that I am indirectly working to support at school. As her needs are fairly unique, I must be quite careful to protect her identity...

As I worked my way through "Living in the State of Stuck" I found myself thinking about those very things- dilemmas, challenges and opportunities when it came to one student in particular.

I have known this student since they entered grade 7 and have been in on many Program Planning meetings working toward meeting her needs at both the junior and senior levels. We have had many outside agencies join us for support and to offer the school system tools to assist and to empower the learning opportunities for this student.

I agree with the point that "matching the person with the technology" for problem solving purposes is very "complex". The reading touched upon many things that made me think about the experience that students with special needs and challenges have in a public school setting. So many times as PST's we end up being the mediator between the student and classroom teacher or the parent and the school or the student and the parent! Our roles are complex as well and what I would have liked to have seen in this reading was a bit of an emphasis on the key players involved in the "comprehensive selection and evaluation process" that we partake in on a regular basis with students and their families in co-operation with the staff.

The process needs to be "person centred" as mentioned -yet I am left with questions such as -What responsibility do teachers have to follow through with assisting students in terms of preparing lessons with individual notes or specific aids (scanned materials, enlarged copies, notes etc.) when the student refuses to use the tools available to them that would help them achieve success?

I guess I believe in the "only as special as necessary" clause and definitely feel that a student needs to be pushed once in a while to reach that ultimate goal of independence and heightened levels of personal achievement...

How far can one go to do this? As one of two PST's in the school I find myself looking to support my teachers in the sense that I feel they are being asked to go above and beyond the call of duty in terms of lesson prep. for this student. The family in this case is not empowering their child, rather allowing this individual to call the shots on what they "will and will not do" when it comes to interacting in classes at school. For example, a laptop is readily available as are several "tools" from an outside agency that would allow the student to more easily keep up with day to day work in class and at home. The student refuses to use these "aids" and the parents feel that the student should be able to decide what they will and will not use.

I have requested a family/school meeting to clarify expectations and the parents are now saying that they work and can not attend any meeting at school... Can you say FRUSTRATED? Why should the staff be expected to take up to 1/2 an hour each lesson in individual prep. when the student has what they need to do what the teacher is now being expected to take extra time to do?

I see the ingredients listed in the reading in terms of the person centred process -peer support, social support and culture and personal input and I believe all of this to be essential to making an appropriate fit yet I want to know more about the expectations for those having relationships with the individual outside the technology... how far can we go to empower students? When parents "opt out" of this empowerment and instead, enable-what are our options as teachers? To what extent are we risking any future relationship and supportive role if we push to hard?

This reading clearly stated that the individual generally has to admit that they "can not do" something independently in order for assistive technology to be an option... my fear is that if teachers are expected to meet the needs that the assistive technology would then where is the motivation to switch and do something for themselves?