This parent interview took place on February 7, 2014 at 10:30 AM at Mrs. Ts home.

I
was very excited to be interviewing Mrs. T, because she has a lot of children and has so much
experience with children with disabilities and I was sure I could learn a lot from her. Mrs. T has
five biological children, as well as two adopted siblings. She adopted a girl and a boy who are
twins (at the age of 3) six years ago. One of her oldest children has a learning disability, and she
was able to share her past experiences dealing with this. This allowed me to see changes that she
has seen in the special education system from a parents perspective. In the last couple of years,
her oldest daughter had a traumatic brain injury and she was able to discuss the challenges and
successes saw at the college level as well. However, for interviewing purposes we focused on
her youngest adopted son who is in the third grade.
Owen has been diagnosed with ODD-which stands for Oppositional Defiance Disorder.
He also deals with short term memory loss because of tragic events in his past and certain times
of the year (particularly seasonal changes) are difficult for him to deal with because of negative
associations that go along with them. He was given this diagnosis when Mrs. T first adopted
him. I told Mrs. T that I was unfamiliar with this disorder, so she gave me better insight on what
this means. She told me that her son refuses to comply with things like school work, etc. and
that he has difficulty doing what he is asked to do. However, she did want me to note that he has
made major strides with this over the years and she has seen a lot of progress in this area.
Originally, she said he was also diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder), but after
she had many psychological tests done he was said to not have ADHD. She was pleased with
this, as she did not truly believe that he was ADHD. This was also helpful in backing up Mrs.
Ts decision to not medicate her children. She described that she had much difficulty
specifically with her older child because of staff who were not supportive of her choice to not
have medications prescribed to her child. She said she was pushed so hard by the staff to
medicate her child that she threatened to sue the school if they did not stop telling her that he
needed to be medicated. Mrs. T said that she is very aware of all her parental rights in the
education system, and believes that it is important to know that there are laws surrounding this
issue. She believes that family members have been the most supportive, though at first her
children were very frustrated with the behavior of her adopted son. They didnt understand his
inappropriate behavior, but as they have gotten older they have been able to see the experience as
a positive one.
The biggest issue that Mrs. T has faced in her journey with a disabled child has been a
lack of resources available for the school. She said she feels very involved in the IEPs and
meetings that have taken place. She is able to openly brainstorm and express her concerns to the
other members of the meetings. She goes to meetings twice a year to reevaluate what needs to
be changed, what should stay the same, what is working, not working, etc. Up to this past year,
her child had been in the special education classroom fifty percent of the time working on
reading and math. In the past year, many changes took place in the school that made things
change drastically. The special education teacher lost her position as a result of a small number
of students needing assistance. Therefore, the special education teacher from another school was
placed in her sons school only until 9:45 in the morning. Now this time between arriving at
work (approximately 7:45) and leaving to the next school only allows for two hours a day to
provide services to all the children in the school who need it. This means that Mrs. Ts child
only gets 20 minutes of his Spire lesson (she said it should be an hour and a half). Also, the
principal only works at the school part time now, so this leads to some problems with her sons
behavior problems not being addressed in a timely manner or in some cases at all. She will
sometimes only hear of problems that took place in school from her child rather than the
principal. This is problematic, because the principal may not get to speak with all the students
involved in the issue and then this leads to unresolved issues and a continuation of the problem
and or situation as it escalates. Her son Owen has difficulty with transitions, so working with the
special education teacher right when he gets to school after eating breakfast can be difficult.
However, the school did put in classroom support three times a week to help Owen with math.
Some accommodations that Mrs. T shared with me outlined in his IEP are longer testing times,
reading instructional material to him and keeping a good eye on him and intervening if they see
things starting to escalate as this prevents inappropriate behavior that he occasionally displays.
Another thing that the school has done to support her son is giving them a laptop to use so he can
have books read to him on the computer through a special program called Raz Kids.
Mrs. T emphasized that the teacher needs to be willing to work with the needs of the
child and understand that they need to be flexible. She believes that the special education system
has made great strides in working with parents and being supportive but in the past she did not
experience this. She also brought up the fact that a lot of students come from broken homes, and
that they need teachers and staff that are understanding and compassionate. She stated that she
has had a very positive overall experience with the student services department since there has
been a change in staffing. The head of the special services department has been instrumental in
making necessary changes in order for her child to succeed. She has been able to get help from
them when she has not been able to contact the ever traveling and busy principal and special
education teacher of her childs school. For example, it was agreed between Mrs. T and the
principal that her son needed to have an extra staff member outside for recess in order to watch
her child and make sure his behavior was appropriate. Mrs. T said she did not want him to go
outside without this because of recent major incidents that had taken place. However, two weeks
later Mrs. T came to the school and saw that her child was on the bench. When she asked him
why he was on the bench, he said that it was where he did his recesses. She left crying, taking
her son with her because she was so upset at the situation. The principal was not around to
notice that he was on the bench, and the other staff members did not question this. She felt very
sad for her child who was being continually punished even though he had already dealt with the
consequences of the prior events. This lack of communication between school and home, as well
as a stretched thin system of authority is very problematic.
Mrs. T also shared that she feels that because of her experience with children with
disabilities, she is more compassionate and understanding of others who are going through
similar situations with their kids and she said she is more actively involved in her childrens lives
as well. She also told me that if I were to teach her child next year, I should be sure to keep the
lines of communication open and to set the bar high for her child because he is a hard worker and
he needs someone to have high expectations for him as he will succeed. The last thing that Mrs.
T shared with me that I thought was extremely insightful and important was to realize that you
should never go back to past events with a child. Each day should start new and you should not
bring up past failures with a child. She said that you need to move forward and start every single
day fresh with a new attitude.
It is really important to forget about what happened, and not go back. Negative things cant be
carried onto the next day. I dont go back and deal with past things. I move forward. Start
fresh again every day with a new attitude.
This experience was very eye-opening for me, Mrs. T and I even found ourselves laughing
and crying at times when we talked about some of these situations. The interview was
professional yet informal, as we took breaks in between the interview questions to talk about
relevant stories or experiences that we have encountered and this made the interview very
personal. I truly think that the thoughtful answers that she gave really made me contemplate
how I could be a positive part of a childs life through teaching. I believe that this is an
emotional topic for a lot of people, because they care about their children and they want the
best for them. I could really see that Mrs. T loves her children and wants them to succeed.















This year she made a change to program because of special ed changes transistions are
difficult so it takes a while to get things on track. In classroom support three times a week for
math class specifically. Testing went way up for reading. Inclusion needs to have a compliant
teacher who is willing to make changes.

Modifications, Accomodations:
Longer testing times, reading material to him: instructional, keeping a good eye on him
behaviorally. Intervening,


Parents Interaction with School: Very positive.
Involvement with IEP/how often is it updated?: We meet twice a year. Brainstorm open,
respectful. Laptop home-for Raz kids online reading books that read to you. Continue from
school level.


2. How did you learn that your child has a learning disability? (Who was present? When did
this happen?) If you were giving advice to professionals who need to explain to parents
that their child has a special need, what would that advice be?
I adopted him, and he came with the learning disability diagnosis. Six years ago. Original was
ADHD, no longer. As a parent, I preferred to be dealt with straight. You need to be
compassionate and care, thats a big difference. Short term memory loss.
3. What have been the positive aspects of having a child in the family with a learning
disability?
It helps to be consistently involved with their lives, made me a better parent. And has made
me more compassionate to those around me who are also going through difficult
situations withtheir children.
4. What have been the problems or challenges youve experienced having a child with a
learning disability?
A big push to medicate, and I was not an advocate of this.
5. How did your other children (other family members, friends) react to learning your child
had a learning disability? What impact has this had on them?
We expected it, because we had been having foster children. Frustrated with beahviors,
because they could not understand them. Child sees how much this has benefitted her
and helped her to mature and become responsible as an older sibling.


6. What kinds of supports have been most helpful to you? (family members, parent groups,
neighbors, other?)
Family members


7. What have been your experiences in working with school personnel? What have they
done that has been most helpful? What have they done that was least helpful or was even
harmful?
Teachers been able to think outside the box for alternate ways to teach the same material.
Resources dont allow for full time principal and full time special education person.
8. If I were to be your childs teacher next year, what advice would you want to give me so
that he/she has an optimum learning experience?
Do not let him get away with things, you need to make sure that he knows that you are watching
and set the bar high because he is a worker. And dont hesitate to call me.
9. What would you want me to do/not do in terms of my interactions with you if I were your
childs teacher?
Contact me, communication is key.

10. I am just learning about students with disabilities and how to work effectively with them in
my classroom. What other information would you like meand my classmatesto know
about working with children with special needs?
It is really important to forget about what happened, and not go back. Negative things cant be
carried onto the next day. I dont go back and deal with past things. I move forward. Start
fresh again every day with a new attitude.

TOOK him out of school for homeschooling because of a lack of accomodations from staff which
was promised.