Just Like Everybody Else

I have a love/hate relationship with special education. On one hand, a lot of the special ed students have been some of the sweetest kids I've known, and I really enjoy working with them. Other times, however, I feel like I'm overburdened with an abundance of them in my classes - particularly choir. There was one year when one of the special ed teachers sent me her entire caseload of 10 kids (a third of my overall class) simply because she wanted extra time for prep. 10 special ed kids in one class with no aide.... yeah...

The worst case I had was years ago - a kid named Scotty. He was enrolled in my beginning instruments class - for what reason I can't imagine, other than he refused to go into choir. The big problem with Scotty was that he was so needy that I couldn't work with anyone else when he was there. After two weeks of ignoring about twenty other kids, I finally said something to the S.E. director (a friend of mine) who basically responded with "I'm Sorry" and "Mainstreaming is required by law."

I hate going over peoples head, but I did that time - It wasn't a matter of adjusting a lesson plan or coming up with an alternative process to accommodate Scotty's needs - I couldn't meet the needs of the class with Scotty there. So I went to the principal, and he forced a compromise - Scotty would attend the class two days a week. The S.E. director said it wasn't enough, but I wouldn't let go of the fact that he was still getting far more individual attention that the rest of the class. She wasn't happy with me, but I think she eventually forgave me.... I think... my parting comment from that meeting probably didn't help - "Look, I know you're looking out for Scotty's needs - I'm trying to do that, but I need to look out for everyone else's needs too, and it's frustrating that you're not helping me do that."

For the next two months I found myself working overtime to come up with alternative lessons for Scotty. I'm not complaining about that - I made a deal, and I was determined to see it right. Besides, I came up with some techniques that proved helpful for other students later on down the line. Then suddenly Scotty disappeared - transferred or moved, I can't remember which. Go figure.

Over the years I've developed a reputation for being one of the "friendly" teachers to Special Ed. I don't mind that at all, but sometimes when you get 8+ special needs kids in a single class, then it starts to feel like the purpose of the class is to mainstream the Special Ed. students. My friend the S.E. chair and I argued about that on more than one occasion.

This year hasn't been too bad. I mean, yeah.... I have Autistic Billy - who, need I remind you, is the district's most problematic case. I mean, I can't tell you how many times some random person with a clipboard has shown up during choir to watch Billy for a few minutes - sometimes in pairs. But besides being a little quirky, Billy isn't all that bad. He's even managed to behave himself in concert (a fact that reminds me - God sometimes cuts me a break). Maybe it's just because choir is early in the day, and he doesn't have time to crank up his tantrums... I don;t know, but I'm not pushing it.

I have five other Spec. Ed. kids in the class - and except for the little Vietnamese girls who occasionally gets out of her chair, and runs/stomps around the room before being corralled back to her place (yeah.. she runs and stomps at the same time - I can't explain it...) they are barely noticeable. They're all pretty nice, and they all seem to be having a good time. Funny thing about autistic kids (which shouldn't be a surprise, really) they are usually really good at memorizing songs.

The one who's got me a little worried at the moment is little Odette -who previously only mildly annoyed me by persisting to ask every single day when the day of the next concert is, and what she is supposed to wear (I know... it's an 'autistic thing', so I let it roll. Eventually it became part of my routine - take roll, answer Odette's questions, send her back to her seat and then do warm ups.)

But recently Odette has decided that she's going to join my advanced choir - a heavy SATB group that regularly works on stuff like Vivaldi, Mozart and what not. Her family got her into voice lessons to prepare her for the audition.

I fear that audition... fear it like a drunk fears election day. I mean, of course I'm not going to prevent, nor even discourage her from auditioning... but folks, I've had her in choir for two years now... I know how she sings. She can hold a melody and she's aggressive about trying out for solos (she actually got one once) but she's not capable of harmonizing or holding her own in a polyphonic setting. I just don't see how it could work.

...But....

She loves to sing, and she's already decided that she's getting in... I don't know if her parents are as determined as she is, but the fact that they got her a private voice teacher seems to be an indication that they at least think it's possible.

Ugh... I'll be sure to blog how that turns out....