(2017, February) | Useful to Parent Centers working with families. Good for sharing with parents!
This article from Friendship Circle offers parents of children with disabilities a guiding list of 11 questions to ask if the school is proposing that their child receive part of his or her special education in a resource room, rather than completely within the general education classroom. As the article begins:
“It sounds good on paper: Your child with special learning needs in a mainstream classroom will get specialized help a few days a week from a special education teacher to reinforce concepts learned and help him or her keep up with the classwork. Maybe you’ve been a little concerned about how your child will make a leap from self-contained to inclusion, and this seems like the best of both worlds. Maybe a place to struggle with hard concepts without mainstream peers looking on sounds like a good IDEA.
And maybe it will be. Different things work for different kids, and effectiveness varies wildly depending on your district and your school and the seriousness with which personnel approach making things like resource rooms work. Still, don’t take for granted that the resource room your child will experience is like the one you imagine in your head. Ask the 11 questions about how exactly this thing is going to work, and if you don’t like the answers, press for changes or alternatives.”
Updated 8/2023