Until 1987, we were in the Department of Special Education and
Rehabilitation. In the 20 years in that department I have seen some good
teachers and bad ones.
It is often sad to see teachers and administrators developing an "us vs.
them" mindset in regard to parents. As far as mainstreaming vs special
education, you have to take it on a case by case basis. There was one
self-contained school for the physically impaired here in Memphis and I
have seen high school graduates from that school who could not read on a
4th grade level!!! My sons in-laws had to move back to NC to obtained
decent services for their autistic son who now works and lives
independently. Beth is correct, if administrators see their job as
maintaining the status quo, then it is an up-hill battle for parents.

My .02 cents worth.

Bobby


>It's shameful -- shameful.
>
>In a message dated 06/09/2000 1:29:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
>> You know what the really pitiful thing is Betty?  Most of the people
>>  that we have to fight so hard with are the very same people that wouldn't
>>  have the agency they have if it weren't for our kids.  They waste more time
>>  trying to figure out how NOT to provide the very services they are supposed
>>  to!  Oh man don't get me started on this
>>  subject...I just went through a major 6 month battle with therapy for
>>  closing her case without telling me and it was in her IEP no less. It took
>a
>>  lot of extra work on my part to have something reinstated that should have
>>  never been stopped in the first place.
>>