26. The Special Education Mess Part IV: Elyse Dorflinger, A Transitional Kindergarten Teacher's Fight to Acquire Support for Her Autistic Son

In this episode of the Teacher Shortage Crisis Podcast, a transitional kindergarten teacher, Elyse Dorflinger,  shares her unique insights as both a general education teacher and the mother of an autistic child. Elyse describes the painstaking process of securing an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for her son, highlighting systemic inadequacies in special education support. The discussion addresses the overwhelming struggles faced by teachers, the lack of proper resources and training, and the significant impact on students with disabilities. Elyse's story sheds light on the broader issue of educational inequity and emphasizes the urgent need for systemic change.

00:00 Introduction and Host Introductions
00:49 Meet Elyse Dorflinger: A Veteran Teacher's Perspective
03:48 The Challenges of Special Education
05:21 The Fight for Support and Resources
09:11 Systemic Issues in Special Education
13:10 Possible Solutions and Call to Action
22:55 Navigating Special Education Services
23:50 Investigating the Teacher Shortage
24:20 Challenges in Special Education Reporting
25:01 Personal Struggles with the System
26:35 Fighting for Support and Services
28:17 Systemic Inequities and Advocacy
34:33 The Importance of Early Intervention
37:28 The Emotional Toll on Educators
40:08 Resources and Recommendations
44:05 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

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Transcript

Amanda: [00:00:00] Hello, Teacher Shortage Crisis podcast listeners in the United States and around the world. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this important information. I'm Amanda Warner, one of the three co hosts of this podcast. I currently teach high school English and, uh, am the ELD specialist at my school.

ELD is English Language Development. Trina English. One of my co hosts, she teaches sixth grade, uh, history and English. It's called CORE here in California. Trina and I are in California. And then our other third co host is Jessica Martin, and she is currently a librarian in California. Nevada. Both Trina and Jess interviewed a wonderful veteran general education teacher named Elyse [00:01:00] Dorflinger.

Elyse is a fellow California teacher. She's taught in three different school districts and is currently teaching part time in the in a transitional kindergarten program. She's also a wonderful and dedicated mom to two kids, one of whom is autistic. She shares her unique perspective of being on both sides of the IEP table.

And when I say IEP, I mean, I'm referring to the, uh, acronym for Individualized Education Plan. And an IEP is something that, uh, students who, uh, have a disability or multiple disabilities, uh, are required to have by law. And it can be extremely challenging to get one of these for, uh, Uh, child [00:02:00] for a student and Elyse describes her experience and the uphill battle that she had to go through, uh, to get the support that her son needed.

So I really hope that you take something or many things away from this episode. I know I did, and I'm in awe of Elyse and, uh, the things that, that she's gone through And, uh, and what she's done for her son and her students. Um, it's really, really a wonderful episode. And if you are interested in being on our podcast, we are inviting teachers, uh, in the United States, but also in other countries as well.

We want to hear from you. We want to know what is it like being a teacher where you are, because we're so siloed, uh, in our schools. And in our school districts and things [00:03:00] are done so differently, even between different schools within the same district, but definitely between districts and definitely between states and definitely between countries.

And so we are really trying through this podcast to come together. to share what is it like being a teacher where you are. Uh, it's very eye opening to find out what, what is going on in all of these different places. Uh, so please contact us by going to teachershortagecrisis. org.

Jess: Hi, and welcome back to the Teacher Shortage Crisis Podcast. We are here today. We are so excited. This is another, this is another part of our Series about special education, the special education mess in America. I'm so [00:04:00] excited to have my good old buddy, Elyse Dorflinger. Let's hear it, Elyse. Can you tell us who you are and what is your current role?

Elyse: Hi, my name is Elyse Dorflinger. I am currently working, um, in a job share position as a transitional kindergarten teacher or TK teacher. Um, and I am working halftime this year for the first time. Uh, aside from that, I am a mom to two kids. My oldest is seven and he is autistic and on the spectrum. So, uh, I have now been on both ends of the IEP table and honestly, No matter which end you're on, the whole thing is a mess.

Jess: I agree. I agree. It is, it is so messy right now. Um, like, okay. So in your opinion, like what is the messiest part right now? Like, [00:05:00] what is the mess? Like, what do you want people to know listening? Like, I mean, just in your opinion, having been on both sides of the aisle, what. What do you, where do you think the biggest mess is?

I'm sure, I'm sure me and my cohost Trina have some ideas, but like, what do you, what are you thinking as a parent and a teacher? 

Elyse: Honestly, our kids with disabilities are not being supported. properly. Um, and everything is just a fight. Every single thing. It doesn't matter on what side of the table you're on.

Everything is a fight. Whether you're a teacher and you're begging your administrators or your special education team for more support, there is Such a pushback on that and part of it is definitely because there is a shortage of specialists whether that's speech therapists or occupational therapists or psychologists or social workers or whatever As well as it's expensive for those people to [00:06:00] exist in a school realm and As a parent, you're pushing back on that as well, begging for help.

And it kind of seems to fall on deaf ears. And what it kind of creates is teachers who are exhausted, absolutely exhausted and trying to do a job that they don't necessarily have all the tools to do. I am a gen ed teacher. I, my credential does not cover special ed at all. In fact, in my credential program, I'm pretty sure I took like, One class as a very general here's some basics and that was it.

Um, And that's not really fair to me because in our world right now Everything is inclusion, which I am a hundred percent for and as a parent I want my kid to be supported But there's no one to support them. We don't pay paraprofessionals well So they usually don't stay the good ones, especially they're out Um It's so [00:07:00] hard to get any sort of service because there's so many kids and the caseloads are insane, which means that your kid doesn't get individualized instruction because your teeth, the teacher or the professional has to cut corners just to survive, just to make it to the next day.

And it's just creating this cycle. At the end of the day, there's no such thing as special ed police. And I learned that as a parent, when I had to file a complaint against my son's school district, there was nobody to back us up. When I realized. I had to get a lawyer or something. There are so few. I live in California.

It is a huge ginormous state and your only options are a few in the L. A. area and a few in the Bay Area. And if you are not in one of those two places, there is no one to help you. And even if you are in one of those two places, to get a lawyer is insanely expensive. And the districts count on that. [00:08:00] They count on parents not reading their procedural safeguards and not actually following through.

And so when I did, my district was completely shocked. They were, the district that my son was in was completely, they had no idea that I would actually push through. And they were like, oh my gosh, you're escalating this. And I was like, yeah, of course I am. But even to escalate it, the timelines are huge. It was, he wasted his entire kindergarten school year not being supported.

By the time he got support, the entire kindergarten school year was over and I had tried to get him support starting in preschool. I was like, Hey, we're getting ready for kindergarten. Everything's going to change. We were just coming out of the pandemic. Let's make sure he's got every support he needs.

And they fought me every every step of the way. And that's just on my end as a parent. I can't imagine what it was like for his own teacher. And so I know that I was frustrated as a parent. My son was frustrated as a [00:09:00] student. And I know his teacher was frustrated because my son was running amok in that classroom.

Nobody was winning. The whole system is kind of set up to fail. We don't. value these professionals. We don't value the kids enough. We don't want to spend the money, especially I live in the Central Valley of California. We are so short staffed on special education teachers. We are so short staffed on speech therapist in the district that I work in right now.

We have to do speech therapy online. It is our only option. We can't even get a speech therapist to come and work for us. Nobody will do it for the amount of money that they're willing to pay. What and why would they as my son's private speech therapist used to say, why would I do that and have a caseload that's unmanageable or I could go private work on the skills that I want to work on with my kids that I know are best for them and not have to [00:10:00] answer to someone else.

Yeah, the mess is big. 

Jess: Yeah, as a, as a librarian now, I'm working with, you know, kindergarten through fifth grade. And that is one thing I'm seeing with the kindergarten teachers is they just like, they're getting these very, like what I would consider pretty extreme cases and they're being told, Oh, just document it.

I mean, they're, they're to the point. And then nothing happens 

Elyse: with the documentation. That's the best part. Just document it. Just write it down and just apparently put it in a fire because no one's ever going to do anything with it. 

Jess: Yes. Trina, did you have anything to add? 

Trina: Well, I have a question for you, Elyse, because I've seen this a lot on the parent side as a parent of a student, um, who has a special education IEP, but also I've seen it a lot as a gen ed teacher.

Is this constant like subtext of everything that's going on in special education? This is constant subtext [00:11:00] of trying to minimize the severity of the student's needs, trying to reframe it as it's anything else, but this kid needing more services. Oh, it's the gen ed teacher, not doing their job. Oh, it's mom and dad.

They don't do their job. Oh, the kid is not, it's anything, anything. They can call it anything else to save money. Yeah. And then they also kind of like pervert. The terms that are, were fought for by special, uh, special education rights activists, terms like least restrictive environment, try to get them at, you know, not pushed off into a corner somewhere so that they could be a part of our society now are being perverted to mean, Oh, we can't provide that service.

It's not the least restrictive environment and full inclusion. And I saw a bunch of propaganda videos at the beginning of, did you hear the state of California is adopting full inclusion. Yeah. Okay. That's not actually, that's just the way administrators are interpreting the law. [00:12:00] There was teacher unions that went to the California legislature and were like, we don't have enough special education teachers help help.

And so what did the California legislature do? They asked administrators and administrators said, we need to mainstream all the kids. Uh, make everybody learn UDL, Universal Design for Learning, and call that least restrictive environment instead of actually fixing the problem of why we don't have enough special education teachers.

I'm going to let you respond to all that. 

Elyse: 100%. Um, yeah, 100%. We don't have enough special education teachers because we drown them in paperwork and we give them caseloads that are not manageable and then we blame them when a kid doesn't make progress. And it's not fair. It's not sustainable. It's just not sustainable for anybody to do it.

It creates health problems and high stress. And why would somebody do that job for the [00:13:00] pain that it is? It doesn't make any sense. We can't continue like this. We can't expect it to succeed like it, like it is. 

Jess: So at least I feel like this is going perfect. And then my next question for you is just like, what possible solutions do you think that there, there are for it, or there should be, or there could be like an ideal world or like, what do you even see?

Like, has anything come to mind that would even be possible? To fixing a mess like, like this, 

Elyse: I don't, I don't know how individuals necessarily can fix it other than doing their own research as far as UDL to survive in the meantime, right? Because at the end of the day, I am a gen ed teacher and I got kiddos in my own class who I don't feel trained to fully support.

And I need to learn how to fully support that child. And I have spent so much of [00:14:00] my own time trying to read and investigate and learn and observe others who are able to do that. But aside from that, honestly, teachers need to educate parents on their procedural safeguards. And I know this is something that, um, administrators go.

Don't do that. Um, I've worked at three different Districts and I've seen that we're at every single one. The administration does not like teachers to be up front that. Hey, if you have a concern about your child and the teacher has already gone through whatever SST type process or referral process there is and the district has just pushed that off.

You as a parent have the right to put in writing writing. A, B, and C, but it must be in writing. All of that's just publicly available information. We give these procedural safeguards to parents at every IEP meeting and nobody reads them really. I mean, it's, it's written in legalese. Um, ideally in a [00:15:00] perfect world, we would have multiple types of classrooms for so many different needs.

Um, my own son would've really benefited from at least some time in an autism specific classroom when he was in kindergarten because he was so restrictive on everything. And going from a preschool where he was allowed to be restrictive and had a small ratio and going to a public kindergarten was really difficult for him.

Um. All of our kids deserve whatever supports they need. And in order to get that, we need a variety of environments for our kids to get their needs met. And we need to attract professionals to do the job. We have to lower caseloads. We have to pay them well. Um, especially if it's something like a speech therapist or an occupational therapist who could go private and make more money and have less restrictions, we have to compete with that.

We need [00:16:00] to attract people who are willing to go to bat for their kids, like their students, and that's really, really hard, especially if you're not tenured. I know before I was tenured, I was really, really quiet, um, about special education concerns because I was so scared that I would lose my job or not get a job again.

And the more that I've been in education and now that I'm tenured and I have my own child and I've seen what it's like being on IEP table, if we had more teachers who were willing to tell districts, it does not matter how much it costs. Figure it out. Um, we might actually get somewhere, 

Jess: Trina. Did you have something to add to that?

Trina: Yes, because I really everything you just said totally resonates with me. I think you can identify with this. Because what you just said about the sort of the call to action for gen ed teachers, how you can support your special education teachers [00:17:00] in another episode, we explain what a special education teachers job like really is and I don't know that a lot of gen ed teachers know this, but it is like two jobs and you could even call it two and a half jobs.

It's not our jobs aren't doable. Theirs are ridiculous, you know, and then they have students who are often like have limited mobility Emotional disturbance they're dealing with life and death with these kids and it's just extremely stressful but so as a gen ed gen education teacher like i've been in a situation where I knew that what we were doing was not supporting my students And I, the subtext in an IEP meeting is to not say that, to not call that out, to not be honest because we're all supposed to do the dog and pony show of pretending like what we're doing is working.

You know what I mean? And like, there's an admin in the room, but the SPED teacher is running the meeting and that SPED teacher is getting a lot of looks from that admin. And, [00:18:00] and it's all about double thing, double speak. I love the book 1984. I quote it all the time, but it's like, we know the real truth, but then there's the truth we can only speak, um, in the IP, right.

I stopped playing that game when I got tenure in my new district, I stopped playing the game. So consequently, I don't get any kids with IEPs anymore. Cause I don't, I don't tell you all to figure out like, why am I not getting kids with IEPs anymore? But like I sat in an IEP and I was like, this child cannot read.

And he needs explicit instruction in phonics in his special education class. He needs this accommodation. He needs this modification. And his parents just started crying. They were like, thank you. Somebody is finally acknowledging it. But I mean, I got, I feel punished for it. Cause I like my spud kids. So now I don't get it.

I don't get them anymore except for the multitudes of kids who aren't diagnosed. So I still kind of get them. I'll let you respond to that. 

Elyse: 100%. Um, I know [00:19:00] with my own son, it was really hard to prove how much he was struggling in class because his teacher was I believe his teacher was told to essentially not put things in writing to us.

So don't send that class dojo message. Um, and if you're going to make a phone call, make it in the principal's office. So the admin's right there, or the counselor's office. So somebody's right there watching. And it was really difficult for me to collect evidence. And This was something that really frustrated my husband, but as the teacher part of me understood because I've been that teacher who was essentially told, don't put it in writing.

Don't send it as an email. Don't send a message. Let me handle how to say that. And then the whole message would be twisted where all I was really doing was looking for help for my student. Desperate for help. Desperate. Um, yeah. That's one of those things, that subtext of don't actually say how it is or how [00:20:00] difficult it is.

Keep that part quiet. Only speak in niceties. And I am not saying that anyone should bash a kid 100%. Never. You have to speak truth to truth. If, if something's not working, you got to say it's not working. If you need to try something else, you have to say you need to try something else. 

Jess: Yeah. I always, I, when I'm trying to explain like being a teacher, especially the like people that are new to the profession, like right now I have a teacher's assistant and she's never been in a school before, like she's never worked in a public school and she also has an autistic son and I'm always like, I'm trying to explain, like, You know, like the way I see it is like we should really be more like investigators, right?

Like we should really be more like pushing with facts and details and like what we're actually seeing happen. And I feel [00:21:00] like that's something that, you know, as I'm seeing her struggle as a parent with an autistic child, getting feedback from teachers and she's getting like a lot of angry emotions from the teachers.

Yeah. And she's not getting a lot of, like, facts of, like, this is what happened when it happened, like, almost like a police report, right? But, like, that's what we kind of have to do. Like, at this time, this is exactly what we saw happen. And then we saw this happen. And then, like, that's what an investigator would do.

Like, they would, like, investigating a crime scene or, like, reporting about something. Something that happens like we need to keep facts and evidence at the forefront of like what we're actually seeing because I just feel like but we're not taught to do that and teachers are not, we're totally 

Elyse: and that's the problem.

I think teachers are not taught how to have the specific observational skills and how to document. What you see and what is happening. And so then it just comes out as [00:22:00] frustration because you don't know what you don't know. That is something that I'm noticing in my own district, which is having a huge, huge special ed crisis right now.

Um, like. Really bad. Um, and the gen ed teachers don't know how to advocate for things. And so in their frustration, they're saying, well, this kid just needs to go to x type of class. And that might not actually be the appropriate environment for that child, but they don't have the tools. They don't know how.

to support that child in the classroom or how to get the support that that kid needs in that classroom. 

Jess: Yeah, because like you said, we really don't learn that. Like I took one special ed education class, like getting my teaching credential one. I took one. And I basically just found out that, oh, I'll have to go to a lot of IEP meetings.

That's kind of what my teacher told me. And she gave me a bunch of sample [00:23:00] IEPs and was like, well...

Jess: I went to a private university and it was very expensive. That's the only thing I could think of. That's why I got this star treatment, this red carpet rollout to being a teacher. Here's a real IEP. I did have excellent professors.

Was it worth the money? Probably not. But! I Um, yeah, but anyway, Trina, did you have something to like add to that? This, this part? 

Trina: Well, I guess I want to talk just for a second about how varied, um, SPED services are across our state or the nation. Because these SPED laws were passed in the 70s and they've been interpreted.

And very nuanced and very disparate ways across the country. So in some of the introductory episodes of the podcast, I was trying to get at, um, the real number, which quantifies the teacher shortage. Like, what is that [00:24:00] number? It gets quoted. So I did a ton of investigative work and I found that everything is tracing back to just one scholarly article That was only recently written and so in it and it's really well written Uh, and I had one of the co authors come on the show The big takeaway isn't that we have a horrible shortage, which we do.

Okay But the biggest takeaway is that the information is not being documented each state And each district at that district level is reporting or not at various Rates and some and so some of the like Worst offenders who are not reporting are both are all red, blue, and purple states. Some of the best reporting ones, which is not even that great red, blue, and purple states.

The mediocre in the middle of red, blue, and purple states, like it's all over the place. And one of the worst states for not reporting is our state of California. I know. I know. I know. Shocker. California is shameful on so many levels we're finding. We think we're so rad. We're so not. [00:25:00] We're so not. But so what I wanted to say though is It really depends where you wind up getting to go to school because, um, in my son's district, he, they have awesome special education services.

So he's in high school. There is special day classes for autism spectrum disorder, emotional disturbance. Um, and I think there's like intellectual disability room. Like there's all these different rooms and my son has services for emotional disturbance. And so, um, he gets to spend two day, two periods a day in that space with a counseling and enriched experience.

What and he has access to counselors at all times. They are loving he has group every day If he is overwhelmed, he can walk out of class and go visit that space I get to talk to his his um, sdc therapist once a month We get regular parent sessions and like as a parent with the child I had to fight tooth and nail for my kid to get That okay [00:26:00] But as a parent of a special education student Student, I gotta say like it is baloney to say that mainstreaming kids is equitable and fair and anything else is violating their civil rights.

I call BS on that. I call you out, you school administrators, you don't know what the heck you're talking about. Our kids deserve these services. Don't get rid of them 

Elyse: 100%. It has been such a struggle to get. My son services such a struggle. I mean He got services as a preschooler when the pandemic started which was all kind of wonky and weird, right?

And none of us had ever been through anything like that. So I gave the district so much slack and Then by kindergarten They tried to say oh His autism doesn't affect him anymore. That's just not how that works. Like, he's autistic. [00:27:00] No matter what you want to say, he's autistic. He's been medically diagnosed.

We saw it impact him in preschool. It impacts every part of his being. I don't want to change that, but I would love for him to get some support. And they were like, nope, we're going to like, we're going to Exit him out of special education, which is the entire reason I had to say, all right, let's go. I'm going to go get an independent educational evaluation.

And we actually decided to drive all the way to Gilroy to get someone, because I said, I don't want anyone in the central Valley since. It's a tight knit community to be the one doing this independent evaluation. I don't trust anybody here. Everybody works with each other. I want something truly independent.

And I got that. And they said, well, that's great. That's all fine and dandy, but we're going to completely ignore that. You're like, then what's the point? Why did we, why are taxpayers paying for my kid to get a second evaluation if you're literally the entire [00:28:00] time not even going to listen to the evaluation, not going to take anything from it, you're going to completely leave.

Ignore it. I said, okay, fine. So I'm gonna need to get a lawyer and I did. I was very lucky that I was able to get one. Um, but imagine the parents that can't afford one. Like once again, it just comes down to there's so many different inequities, whether it's, um, financial or, uh, race or language, there's so many inequities.

And I had to fight to get my kid any level of support. And even then they acted. Like, I was the one throwing the tantrum asking for support for my kid. All I want is for my baby to be supported so he can be successful. And I don't care what environment it is that he's gonna be successful in. I just want him to be successful.

It was really hard to get that. And that's just from me knowing that I can fight and knowing how to fight and being Stubborn [00:29:00] is all hell, because I think so many other people in my position would have probably just pulled their kid from the school and homeschooled or found a private school or whatever, and that was certainly something that I considered.

Imagine the parents who cannot consider that. It's, it's one of those things where there, there's so many levels of problems. mess going on and everybody is just frustrated and no one's winning. 

Trina: Do you ever think that like, I mean, I'm a white middle class teacher and it, and it was hell on earth to get my kids services.

Yes. How is anyone else supposed to have a master's degree in ed, right? How is anyone else supposed to navigate the system? 

Elyse: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. I don't know that we would have continued navigating the system the way that we did. Um, I essentially had to [00:30:00] file for due process to get my son's services.

And no one should have to do that. It's really difficult to do on your own. You pretty much need a lawyer to do it. Um, because it's, it's pretty complicated. And. That was the only time that I ever had someone admit to me. Yeah, we, we see the issues. It's all documented here on power school. And I'm like, I know.

So like do it. And yet so many parents don't know that they don't know how to fight the system. They don't have the time or the energy to fight the system, which is also fair because it's exhausting. It's emotionally draining. to fight the system. And I have only personally worked in schools with high minorities and low socioeconomic status.

And some of these parents, I've seen them and they just trust whatever the school district says. They have so much respect. [00:31:00] And so if a school district says Your child doesn't need the support even though everybody else at the table knows The teacher knows this baby needs the support The specialist knows this baby probably needs some more support, but we're all gonna pretend like they don't whether it's because of money or Because we don't have the people or whatever it is um Yeah, it's, it's a hot mess, and everybody is suffering because of it.

Trina: Karina, did you have something to add? Just two things. First of all, if Amanda was here, she'd be like, wanting you to know that like, she has a child that's on the spectrum too. And she had such a hard time with the system that her child is now in a private school. I mean, there are, there are a lot of teachers in this world with children with special needs who [00:32:00] put their kids in private school and that is, we are public school teachers.

Yeah. It is so heartbreaking because I believe in public school. I really do. But like for me, my son is in a special alternative school Right. And I had to advocate like, heck, he's not in his neighborhood school. His neighborhood school could never be the right place for him. But then I, I, what I also wanted to say too, is that like, you mentioned, um, socio, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, racially, um, racial minority students.

Like what I always see is like, they're over and underrepresented in SPED in weird ways. 

Elyse: Yeah. 

Trina: They're not. Yeah. So they're, they're often, um, in like overpopulated emotional disturbance rooms. And underpopulated with 504s for dyslexia or sometimes even Um, not getting the right services and autism spectrum disorder.

But like one of the episodes we're going to talk about, cause Amanda's actually writing a book about this is how we, I know it's so rad, how we miss neurodivergence [00:33:00] in our screener tools. Cause we use really blunt old fashioned tools. I remember I asked for one from my son because he is neurodivergent. I don't know if he classifies as on the spectrum.

I know I'm neurodivergent too. And so I asked for a screener tool and you know what it was? Can your child toilet go to the toilet by themselves? Can your child feed themselves? And I was looking at them like, this is the screener tool we're using for autism spectrum disorder. Like this is so, uh, they're, they're deliberately trying to miss these kids.

And then these kids are so brutally oppressed by school systems and wind up at higher risk for like suicide. And other mental health disorders. Someone let you respond. Sorry, it was a lot. 

Elyse: No, 100%. Um, What you said about, it's like we're deliberately trying not to catch, not to find the kids, right? Like, our screeners are so vague and they don't actually catch kids.

I've, working in early ed, I am usually like the [00:34:00] first defense, right? As far as finding kids with a disability, if their parent didn't already notice and they didn't already come in from early intervention. And it's like you submit all the paperwork, all the documentation, and then your administrator or special education director or whatever that title is, takes a look at it and goes, No, we just need more time.

That's that. That's that's the favorite phrase in my district. They just need more time. Don't know that time is going to fix this. Um, early intervention is what research says is key. Let's intervene early. Let's provide support early. Let's do all the things early. Early on and have higher success rates and higher achievement rates, but we don't want to do that.

For some reason. I don't know if it's money Um, I don't I don't know if it's the lack of specialists or if it's just the numbers that get reported to the state Right so that you don't [00:35:00] look a certain way it drives me absolutely crazy, especially this year because We have the COVID babies for the first time and holy moly.

We are noticing a lot of kids that need some help. And I thought, is this just like my school? And so I went on a bunch of my transitional kindergarten, um, Groups, and I was asking other people and they're like, holy moly. Holy moly. There are some red flags now Well, all of those red flags turn out to be disabilities.

Maybe maybe not Some of them might just need intervention for a short period of time to get back onto the same page Paces. They're typically developing peers, but it's this issue that districts don't want to provide the support early. And so then that kid gets further and further behind, higher and higher frustrated and the behaviors escalate and the kids just get bigger.

Um, one of my favorite people, one of my favorite special [00:36:00] education teachers ever says little monsters turn into big monsters, meaning if you have a small child who is showing these huge behaviors, big emotions, and it's starting to turn violent or aggressive. Um, for example, last year I was bit on a regular basis or scratched or pinched or whatever.

It's only going to get worse the bigger they get if we don't intervene and provide the support that that behavior either stops or slows down or that child feels safe enough not to do those things. It's going to get worse the bigger they get. It is so much easier to teach that child coping skills when they are small, rather than waiting until they've been pushed behind and they're frustrated because they can't catch up with the academics and they can't keep up with their peers.

And so then they're acting out just to get out of class. And especially when we have so many administrators that just want to hand them a lollipop and a bag of chips and send them on back to class with a quick little talking to [00:37:00] nothing changes. And then you have gen ed teachers who are frustrated and angry at the system and, and blaming the child, which isn't right, but I understand why they're doing it because they're completely overwhelmed and they don't have the exact specific special ed lingo that you need in order to advocate for that child.

They don't know how to advocate for that child. And the whole cycle just gets worse and worse and worse. And then people leave in droves. I am halftime this year because I had to for my mental health. It was either that or walk away from education completely. And there is nothing more that I have wanted in my life than to be a teacher.

I have known it in my bones since I was five years old that when I grew up, I wanted to be a teacher and I wanted to be at that front of that classroom. And last year was like my breaking point. Not because of a child's fault, but because I had kids who were not supported adequately. And I felt like we were all just drowning.

And [00:38:00] so it was either go halftime or leave completely. And I was very lucky that I was able to find somebody to job share with and go halftime and that I could afford it more than anything that I could afford to go halftime. 

Jess: Wow, at least this is like you are, you are our ideal listener. Like you were exactly who we're hoping to find with this podcast or like teachers that are just really teachers and parents that are just really at their wits end with the system and wanting to see major change happen, right?

Like, because that's what we want to do with this podcast. Like we really, like, it sounds so awesome. It sounds so cliche, but we really do want to change the path for teachers. We want to change the world with this, because we just feel like if, if the general public knew that this is what it's really like, maybe there would be a little more, a little more push for some teacher [00:39:00] autonomy, some teacher leadership.

Like, Like, listen to the opinion of teachers. You're wondering what's wrong with public education. Why aren't you listening to the people in the center of public education, right? And like, you're exactly who we want. Like, you are the voice that we want on the show. So, I'm so, so, so happy that you wrote me to be on because I have loved this story.

Um, Uh, just to kind of like finish out a little bit, like, do you have any recommendations for like people listening in your position, either as a parent or a teacher, like, is there anything that's helped you through this process of like, not only, I mean, suing your school district, so bad ass. I love it. I love it.

So not only, not only like suing your school district, but advocating for your child and advocating for yourself. In going to part time. I mean, that's so huge. Like, is there anything like, is [00:40:00] there anything that's helped you along the way or any recommendations you have or anything that you'd like to leave listeners with?

There's so many things. 

Elyse: Um, for the parent side, um, I would definitely recommend understood. org, which is just a great website for learning about what your child's rights are. If you're in California, there is, um, Disability Rights California, which I think is dot com. They're also fabulous for breaking things down.

Um, and that would be great for both a parent and a teacher, because I think so many gen ed teachers don't actually know. what the rights are of these Children in our system and how to get that child what they need. Um, as far as a parent, I've really loved a day in our shoes, which is a blog written by a parent advocate in Pennsylvania.

I believe she has helped me so much right. So many letters and emails for [00:41:00] both my own son and my own students trying to get them help and support. But the biggest thing I think that teachers can do and that parents can do is to read the procedural safeguards and don't be afraid to push forward when I decided that I was ready to, um, file for due process and I read, I will never, ever, ever forget that IEP meeting and how the administrators in that meeting would put file folders over their face during the meeting and whisper to each other.

Which, please, if you're an administrator, for the love of God, don't do that. Um, like long whispers, not like little quick, what page are we on? But like long ones, where I'm like, do you have something to share with the team? Would you like to speak up? If you're ever in that position where you decide that you need to do the next step, Um, I got really lucky here in California with something called the Bren Clinic, B R E N.

They are run out of the [00:42:00] San Joaquin Valley College, which is a private university, and it is run by a mom who became a lawyer. She became a special ed lawyer and she runs this clinic for interns. And these law interns are there and she was the one who helped me file for due process. I called her Crying on the phone begging and saying please I need help and I never thought that I would need help because this is my world Education is my life.

I thought I could do this. I don't need outside help. And I really did. And if it wasn't for her helping me, I don't know what we would have done. 

Jess: Wow. That's so amazing. I can't believe you have all these cool resources, resources for us. And it's just like, you are a rock star, at least I just can't believe you've done all these things advocate for yourself, advocate for your child advocated for the teaching profession as a whole.

Like, you are amazing, and I'm so happy that you are on. Um, is there, [00:43:00] is there any way, like, if people listening to this, like, have a question for you as an individual, or like, want to reach out to you? How, how can we get a hold of you? Like, where are you? 

Elyse: The easiest way to do it would probably be Instagram, and my Instagram handle is at elementary lease.

Trina: Aw, that's sweet. I like that.

Jess: I love it. Well, thank you for being on Elyse. This was like so much fun. I am inspired by your story. You are so courageous to take on your school district like that. Like I said, you're such a badass for doing that. Like it's so cool. Not only as a teacher, but as a parent, like hearing that, that is just so amazing and so cool.

And I mean, I think that you are one of those. You are one of those people out there changing the world right now just by this, by what you're, what you're doing for your child and your profession. Like it is amazing. So thank you so [00:44:00] much for being on. Thank you for having me. 

Trina: Thank you. That's it for today.

Thanks for listening everyone. Please let us know if you want to join in this or any conversation on the podcast because we have only begun to delve into each topic and we need your voice to do this justice. Don't forget to go to teachershortagecrisis. com to sign the petition and join the movement to save K 12 schooling and our democracy.

And remember, we may just be teachers. But we're the only ones who can fix this mess.