I mentioned in my original post that I would include some further information about the students working in our PA teams. Our students qualify for special education services in the state of Minnesota under the disability category of Emotional Behavioral Disabilities (EBD). The definition of the educational disability of EBD in the state of MN reads as follows:
"Emotional or behavioral disorders" means an established pattern of one or more of the following emotional or behavioral responses:
A. withdrawal or anxiety, depression, problems with mood, or feelings of self-worth;
B. disordered thought processes with unusual behavior patterns and atypical communication styles; or
C. aggression, hyperactivity, or impulsivity.
Our program is a federal setting III which means that out students are with us, and away from the general educational setting, for at least 60% of their day. Many of them are with us for their entire school day because they have not been successful in other, more traditional, school settings. School has not been a place of success for our students. Students in programs similar to these are traditionally left out of opportunities such as PA and are tucked away as much as possible in school buildings. There has been an “out of sight, out of mind” approach for many years. This may partially explain the high burn-out rate for special education teachers… but that is for another post!
We have begun to see student’s perspectives and the perspective of another adults change in regards to our students through PA. One student told me last year, “people think we can’t do anything because we are in this special program… but we can, we can do more.”
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