5 Red Flags That Require Parent Advocacy

It is certainly hard for a parent to know what happens at their child’s school, especially if they don’t verbally communicate or if they exhibit deficits in language skills. Compound that with a special education classroom where most or all of the students are at the same level, and you could easily experience a “deadzone” of parent communication.

There are a few red flags that will shed light on not-so-great situations that generally require parent advocacy in order to get rectified. I will share a few of them here, but these are most definitely not the only things that should trigger a big flashing WARNING sign in your head. They are, however, and sadly, some of the most common ones that parents report.

1. Too many students in a special education classroom

Best practices in special education tell us that ESE (special ed, clusters, units, etc) classroom ratios should be roughly three to one or five to one depending upon the level of the students in the classroom. In addition to the challenges of educating ten or more students with disabilities in one room, we know that more students do not yield positive outcomes for anyone. If students can handle environments with more than 10 students, especially where all ten students require a great deal of attention, then why not place them in a regular education classroom with a paraprofessional? At least in that environment they would get the attention they need and should something negative happen, there are other students who would report it to an adult, and maybe even their own mom and dad.

IF THIS IS YOU: Put your concern in writing to the school principal. You do have the right to conduct a classroom observation if you feel as though you are not getting accurate information. Yes, the school will know that you are coming and may make changes to the classroom on the day that you are there, but if you watch the behaviors of the students carefully, you should be able to recognize if what you see that day is how things are normally conducted.

2. Folder or lunch box comes home in the same way that it was sent

My opinion is that students with disabilities, especially those who do not or cannot come home and report what they did throughout the school day, should have a daily home note. That home note should include information that the parent wants to know, and not a paper filled with stamped smiley or sad faces. If you are a parent who currently gets a home note and you sign it before you send it back in, but that it ends up staying in your child’s folder or backpack without being checked, or your child’s lunchbox is coming home with the food you sent in this morning, this is a red flag that there are too many things going on in the classroom preventing your teacher or paraprofessional from having the time to take care of the daily activities required.

IF THIS IS YOU:  Let the teacher know that you do not believe that your child is getting the attention that they need and that this is evidenced by the home note being returned and or that there is still food in their lunch box from the school day. When my son was young, I created my own home note because I wanted the note to include the information I was mostly interested in. I encourage all parents to do the same.

3. School calls you to pick up your child

There are some children with disabilities who have behaviors; some are more significant than others. But if you are getting called by the school to either pick your child up due to a behavior or for you to talk to your child about their behavior, then the school is not doing what it should. If a student has behaviors that are impacting their learning or keeping them from participating in a regular education classroom, then they should have a functional behavior assessment and positive behavior intervention plan. This plan should include behavioral strategies that are supportive in nature and approaches the behaviors in such way that antecedents are identified and supports put in place so that the student doesn’t feel desperate enough to exhibit the behaviors in the first place. When a student is at school it is the school’s responsibility to provide the interventions to support their development and shape their behaviors. If they cannot do that with the staff that is there, then it is their responsibility to seek out district support and ensure that the proper staff is in place. It is NOT your responsibility to send in an RBT to meet the behavioral needs of your child.

IF THIS IS YOU: Request an IEP meeting. If your child does not have a positive behavior intervention plan, then request a reevaluation plan meeting to discuss a functional behavior assessment. That is the first step in obtaining a positive behavior intervention plan. Once the plan is completed, be sure that your IEP indicates the need for classroom staff to be trained in the implementation of the behavior strategies included in the plan.

4. Scratches, bruises, or bite marks

This is a MASSIVE red flag. This is a clear indicator that the classroom does not have enough support, and/or that the staff working in the classroom are not trained in strategies to address these types of behaviors. This is an unsafe environment for all of the students and should not be accepted by any parent, even if your child exhibits some of the same behaviors. Happy and confident children do not hit, bite, or scratch others. Oftentimes frustration leads to behaviors such as these and it is the responsibility of the school to determine what the student is trying to tell those around them. No child should go to school afraid. If your child gets upset when you get in the car in the morning, or when you walk them out to the bus, address this immediately. Behaviors are communication and should be taken seriously. Schools are required to keep all children safe, and this often takes extra steps for students who are unable to express themselves.

IF THIS IS YOU: Contact the school principal immediately. Do that by phone as well as through a follow up e-mail documenting your conversation and your concerns. Ask for immediate classroom assistance or move to another classroom to ensure the safety of your child. If you do not get a positive response, contact the district. This is most definitely not something that deserves a wait and see approach. Be certain to take photos of any evidence of harm.

5. Phrases like….

Sometimes it’s statements that give us the greatest indicators for concern. A few examples are:

• ” It’s always been done this way.”
• “You called this meeting.  What did you want to talk about?  After all, we don’t usually have more than one IEP meeting with a parent per school year.”
• “It wouldn’t be fair to the other students to give him that.”
• “This is middle school and they have to ______” or “This is middle school and we don’t have ____”
• “There is no money in the budget for that.”
• “We have 30 minutes for this meeting, so please hold your questions until the end.”
• When you ask about inclusion, “We will talk about inclusion when he/she’s ready.”

IF THIS IS YOU: I have no doubt that you could add a dozen of your own comments to this list. The best thing that you can do is educate yourself as much as you can about the rights that you have and that the school must do whatever it needs to do in order to provide your child with a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). In fact, if you read your procedural safeguards, you will see that your child is protected under the law to ensure that they have the education and the services that they need to make progress within the school setting.

I hope that this list gives you a few ideas of some of the red flags to watch for, and that if you are experiencing any of these that you do not wait or give it time as others may encourage you to do. It is a lot easier to address a concern when it first shows up than to let it percolate into an even bigger issue down the road.