The Best Mistake I Made as a Special Education Teacher

Before you judge me, let me explain!

Over the thirteen years I was a classroom teacher, I taught students with autism spectrum disorder, multiple disabilities, and intellectual disabilities, especially in the early part of my teaching career. My students spent most of their day with me and my assistant.

Because my students were significantly impacted by their disabilities, many of them could not tell their families what happened during the day. If we did a wonderful science experiment, their families relied on me to inform them through a written note.

By the end of the school day, it was often difficult to write down everything we had done, so on some days I was unable to reach them.

School-home communication has always been complicated, as you cannot convey everything that happened during the day in detail in writing. I remember when I attended the teacher education programme, one of the things we were encouraged to do was set professional boundaries with our students' families; the one thing that was always considered a mistake was sharing your phone number.

One evening, I sat down to write the first welcome letter to a student's family. I reached the closing and greeting section at the end of the letter and felt bold enough to put my number under my name. I knew it was a mistake, but I could think of a thousand reasons why this mistake felt right.

Perhaps the family might have a question about homework, or perhaps they wanted to talk about their child's goals. Regardless of the reason, at that time I was the only teacher who became available to their students' families.

Families and teachers of students receiving special education services typically develop what is called an individualized education program, and in this meeting, educational and behavioral goals are established for the student's development.

As a classroom teacher, I always preferred to call each family before the meeting to discuss the goals and areas of growth they wanted for their child.

I clearly remember telling them that they "were an essential part of building the individualized program" because they knew their child best.

After having some conversations, I was able to draft some goals and objectives to present at the meeting, and the families felt they were a true part of the team.

Even though my fellow teachers viewed this as a professional weakness, it was the best mistake I made as a special education teacher; the wonderful, unintended outcome of extending this respect to my students' families was that I built strong relationships with them by involving them in their children's education.

Relationships are built on trust, and that is what you need if you are going to develop a plan for your students' success.

Now, in a new era, technology has made many things easier, making it standard and accessible for teachers and families to communicate with high confidentiality and privacy using tools such as the Ynmo Plan app.

Connect directly with families now using Ynmo tools!

Source

Originally published in Arabic. This English version was produced with AI-assisted translation; the Arabic original remains the reference.