A Frank Love Letter to Special Education Professionals
I don’t think special education teachers, therapists, and school district staff have any idea how much trust and reliance that parents with disabled children give them at the beginning of the special education process.
Whether their child is being assessed, is just diagnosed, or is just joining a school, most of us parents are petrified.
We’ve never dealt with “Special Education” and are often just getting our heads around the fact that our child is disabled.
… and then you show up and we are putting our most precious, beloved thing into your hands.
With great power, comes great responsibility.
This past week, someone told me about an IEP (Individualized Education Program) meeting gone wrong. And, coincidentally, I listened to a podcast with the authors of Unreasonable Hospitality and I had a bit of an “Ah Ha” moment.
How could “Unreasonable Hospitality” apply to special education?
Reversing the Special Education Scorecard
I actually intended to write an article this week about building an “IEP Scorecard” for your IEP team. In the report card, there are three “Grades” that each team member earns from a parent:
- Good Will – how much does your child’s teacher/IEP team member WANT to educate your child?
- Competence – does your child’s teacher/IEP team member have the skills to educate your child?
- Adequate Resources – does your child’s teacher/IEP team member have the resources they need to educate your child?
But, I’d ask that special education teachers, therapists, and staff members consider turning this around…
How can I convince a very nervous, scared parent that I have lots of good will, tremendous competence, and all the resources needed to ensure that your child will have an excellent education?
Not by saying “We’ve got this”… though that could definitely help, but by showing “We’ve got this”!
The Bellagio Principle
I was at a conference at the Bellagio Hotel a number of years ago and after a day or so was struck by the fact that my room is extra nice.
I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels. Something was different.
It felt luxurious and special, but, I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
After all, I was staying in a standard Bellagio hotel room. Not a special suite or anything.
And it bugged me.
And then I took the time to really study my room.
Everything (and I mean everything) was just a bit nicer.
I didn’t measure, but the room seemed a bit larger and taller (maybe a foot or so… just enough that it felt “big”).
The furniture was a bit nicer.
The bathroom was a bit bigger with nicer appliances and features (and a comically large tub).
The service was excellent of course…
And this was true both in my room and throughout the resort.
Everything, everything was just a bit better then you expected.
And then, as someone who had been contracting for upgrades to a house, I realized that this was not actually very expensive for the Bellagio to do.
Most of the cost in the building is the basic labor to install or build something or serve you as a customer.
…the cost to make things special… not a lot, maybe even nothing sometimes.
Just care and attention to details.
Consistent care and attention to lots of details.
Probably every detail they could think of.
And then they just kept looking and tweaking…
It didn’t just add up, it multiplied together to be unreasonably special … long before the book came out.
…So…
Why not do this for special education?
Unreasonably Excellent Special Education
Parents (desperately) want you to succeed!
You’ve probably done this a thousand times. Instead of being bored, anticipate what has made parents uncomfortable or confused in the past… and give them the right answer in advance that is good for the student and achievable by the school.
…use every meeting as a tool to figure out how to make the next meeting with this parent, and every parent – BETTER.
… they don’t understand this system… be aggressively transparent and educate parents accurately on the strengths and weaknesses of the special education system and how you can both use it together to help educate their child.
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.
Be honest on the challenges that the student will face and that the road is likely to be bumpy.
Let them know you aren’t magic and this is going to be a lot of work for everyone, but they are not in this alone
Focus on relentless, incremental improvement. Both in education and working with families.
This is, I think, what teachers get into teaching for.
This is, truly, what teachers and therapists get into special education for.
Making a difference.
.. and finding ways to make a bigger difference.
It isn’t one thing. It is a thousand little things. It is making something, anything, one percent better every day – and then doing the same again the next day.
Is that unreasonable?
