Were you ever in special ed?

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I'm on an IEP type program in University now for my Anxiety and OCD, but never before now. And all it really means is I get copies of notes, to record lectures and extended time on tests.

I was in the gifted classes until they decided to eliminate those programs from our school system. After that I had an even more miserable time trying to deal with school.

I was in special ed from as early as elementary school. There I was mainstreamed but I had the option to take tests in a more quiet secluded room. During middle school, I was in the LRC with an actual case manager and I would go there for one period a day for sort of an academic support class where the teachers would help out the students with their various schoolwork. Then come high school I did the same thing of only one period a day, but during the second semester of my junior year I started becoming better about homework and so I would usually finish early in the class and end up helping out some of the other students with their homework. During senior year I was a full time aide for that class

Special Ed from K-12. Towards the end of my school years however, my IEP was more of a safety net. I was in an out of district placement for a while, but that hurt as much as it helped in many ways. I was placed back in district in high school, and once I moved upstate (as in Upstate NY), I flourished more, made a great group of friends and found that the environment there was much better.

I graduated from a special ed high school 10 years ago last month, if I had one wish, I would go back 12 years ago and tell myself that all that BS that the teachers kept telling me about how life was going to get so much easier was utter BS, and that just because you leave a SPED school, doesn't mean that the reason you were there in the first place will go away, they stay with you for the rest of your life. When I graduated from that school, they had me feeling like I could go out and conquer the world, I wish it didn't have to take me 10 years, 4 failed suicide attempts, and various hard drug addictions to learn to understand that when they said that things would get easier down the road, that they were lying through their teeth.

If you're still in a SPED school, I'm gonna say right now what I really wish someone would've told me back then: When you ask any random person on the street what kind of people go to SPED school, they're gonna say "ret*ds". They're not saying it to be mean or funny, it's just that that's the only way they know how to say it. Don't go getting offended every time someone says the word "ret*d" because you're just gonna get yourself so worked up over essentially nothing. The word is in the popular language and it's not going anywhere, most people that refer to the disabled as ret*d just do it because it's the first adjective that comes to mind to them.

Also, remember that once you leave the SPED system, nobody's gonna give you a pass for having special needs, nobody in the real world cares about your needs, and if you say that your needs are special, they're going to hear "this guy just said he's ret*d". People tried to explain this to me back then and I didn't believe it, but the real world is a crappy place. If you get a job, don't ever expect that you're going to be treated any differently, they don't see your IEP, they don't know what you're diagnosed with, and they treat you just like everybody else, if you can't handle the same situations as everybody else, they're just gonna treat you with less respect, that's just the way it is. And when you apply for a job, under no circumstances should you tell them that you have any kind of mental handicap unless you want to just have a dead end job with never being considered for a promotion or raise, believe me, I learned this the hard way.

Also, if you have a speech impediment, don't assume that people won't judge you by it, or if you have CP and have a weird walk, or if you have Down Syndrome, it doesn't matter how smart you are and what you're good at, as far as 85% of the people in the world are concerned, you're just a funny ret*d to point and laugh at. If you're in a wheelchair, congratulations, you have a disability that's blatantly obvious, but people won't just assume it's mental, so even though you're still gonna be stared at and treated like crap, most people won't just assume your an idiot.

If you have a mental illness or some other mental disability and if you can walk, talk, and just appear more or less normal, don't bother trying to get people to take your issues seriously, to most people, if your disability isn't blatantly obvious at first glance, then as far as they're concerned, you're just a lazy drama queen. Oh, and don't bother trying to properly pronounce Asperger's, even if you explain it, most people are just going to hear "ass burgers" and think you're trying to pull a joke on them.

So if you're currently in a SPED school, enjoy it while it lasts, because things are going to suck a lot more when you get out, I just wish someone could've told me that when I was there, then I could've prepared myself for it better.

Me is Special Ed? Nope. Not that I'm aware of. I was in adaptive P.E. all through elementary school and in 8th grade (took regular P.E. in 7th and loved the machines the one time we used them but there wasn't time to really do much with them as we all took turns at each one for a few seconds then left).

My mom remembers going with me to IEP meetings though I have no memory of going to them and I only have a very vague idea of what an IEP meeting is.

My best friend (since first grade who is not NT or AS) was in Adaptive P.E. with me and we were the only students and had the same teacher for years. Then we had a new teacher for a short time who didn't seem to know what she was doing (I remember throwing scarfs in the air and trying to catch them as something she did with us and not much else).

I was also in 'resource' throughout my time in public school (K-9th grade) which was interesting. As I was the place where I went and was tested was also part of the Special Ed (I think) program. I never asked why I was Resource for some reason and i never knew why as a kid. The other kids didn't go to Resource that I knew of and the kids that had the folders and play money at Resource weren't kids I knew. And I knew I wasn't part of their group as none of the folders were mine and I had no play money (though on day I did get to pick two things from their store for some reason. I still have one of the two things which was a Bambi soundtrack cassette tape. I think by 5th grade I wasn't in Recourse as much or at all for some reason.
Around that time the Special Ed class joined the Adaptive P.E. class and we got yet another new teacher. My friend and I did not play the games the rest of the kids played because as we were both less disabled then them we were helpers. (We were not asked to help so much as we were expected to help. Maybe the teachers thought we were normal kids that had been sent to help out their class I don't really know).

One day at school (I'm not sure if it was late 5th, 6th or 7th grade) I was picked by to go to room X(I forget what the actual number was) and help in that class. (Once in 4th grade when I was in trouble I had to help in a class during recess but this was different). I think the idea was that a kid would be picked to help in room X and it was supposed to be good thing. I went alone and no one really told me why I was picked or what room X was. I found out that room X was the 'Special Ed' classroom. Or so I assume as all the mentally disabled students were there (there weren't very many of them). It was one of their teacher's birthday's (50th I think as all the decorations were black). And I was told to help watch the kids. I had never been around disabled kids before (So I assume this was around 5th grade after all. My memory isn't very good with things like this. But I remember the day very well just not when exactly it was). Back then I was of the belief that disabled people should be treated kindly and nicely. The kids there happened to be jerks. I didn't know what to do to help them and they didn't want my help (I didnt' try to hard to help either as they were all strangers to me and I was timid, shy and scared with being in this new place with strange people.) I was sure they were acting that way because I was different then them and not part of their group. I don't know if that's really true or not but it was not a good experience. (I remember that day, the day 'my' P.E. class merged with their class for P.E. and similar days very well. I never liked P.E. nor was I ever good at sports of any kind).

In 6th grade adaptive P.E. stopped as the whole school then had a P.E. teacher that taught everyone. Each class would take turns going outside to attend his class. He was a jerk. My friend told him about her disability one the first day which was good for her to do he did need to know. Right after that I told him that my mother had told me (to tell him) that I wasn't to run because of my Asthma. He claimed I was using my friends disability as an excuse. Which made no sense whatsoever. At the time I was only aware of my having Asthma (I was not aware of my having CP which I was unaware of though my mother says she'd told me about it before). The teacher also pointed out a classmate who he said had Asthma and was runing like anyone else. I had never known of anyone else that had Asthma and hadn't known that boy had it. I was confused and upset as the boy didn't act any different than the other kids where as I always get out of breath after running too much (which I used to do for fun anyway). We were supposed to run to the back fence and back to the black top. I didn't run becaue I had been told not to by my mother and because I knew that if I did I'd be all out of breath by the time I got back anyway and as this was the first exercise of the day I didn't know what else we'd be doing in that class. The teacher punished me for not running. I had to walk (not run) around the sand box X many times or til class was over I don't remember which. I tried to explain why I didn't run but that didn't help. So I walked around the sandbox which wasn't that bad just mostly boring and I had all the time I needed to think about what had happened. (I made it more fun by walking on the wooden border of the sand box heel-to-toe like a balence beam. Which was one of the exercises in adaptive P.E. I loose my footing a lot doing that but the wood was very low to the ground so it I could get hurt doing it). I never liked that teacher from that day onward but I don't remember ever getting in trouble in that class afterward or being made to run (though I did try to run the next time which as I'd predicted left me out of breath while the other kid who I was told had Asthma as well was one of the faster kids in the class and not out of breath like me afterward). I never asked the kid in question himself if he had Asthma so I only have the word of that teacher to go by on if he did or didn't. If the kid did he had it less severely then I did.

In 7th grade I was in regular P.E. with P.E. clothes and a little locker and so on. Our class never used the showers so I was spared that problem (I'm sure if they had enforced it for us I would have been miserable through the whole thing and added such a thing to my list of P.E. memories, few of which are pleasant). I have never been good at sports and 7th grade was no exception. I remember a game like ping pong that used lines on the ground as the playing area and 'net'. It was a cross between ping pong and tennis somehow. As the balls and paddles were from ping pong but the net was longer and taller? (maybe there was a real net). I don't remember the exact details just that I rarely hit the ball and was always the one chasing after it when someone missed. Why my partner in the game never offered to chase the ball instead I'm not sure. Half the time I went after it no matter what and other time I waited and when she kept standing there I went after it. We played outside (of course) and it was windy that day. It's hard to chase a ping pong ball when the wind keeps blowing it and you (I wasn't fast enough to grab it or I would try to stop it with my paddle). I think part of it was as a kid I used to love to run (even though I shouldn't with my Asthma).

In 9th grade I was in adaptive P.E. again and my friend was there and all those Special Ed kids were there too and more importantly our old teacher that was my friends' and I's teacher way back at the start was the teacher, which was good. We meet in the gym and played inside and everyone played the games. They were a geared a little more toward the majority of the class but they were still fun to play. And he(the teacher) didn't talk down to us at all like the Special Ed P.E. teacher had. (but then I was a 'helper' in that class).

After 9th grade I was home schooled (by my own request) so P.E. was whatever I did that was active at home and could be counted (ie swimming in our pool we used to have, walking, jump rope - which I can't do anymore and was never good at anyway, ect.).

I notice I've strayed far from the topic of Special Ed and I have no diagnosis yet (I am working toward getting one), but I suppose Adaptive P.E. may be somewhat related if not a part of Special Ed.

I was never in special education. The only time I had a teacher's aide was when I was in year 1, but that was because I had difficulties with English, and had nothing with any suspected disorder.

Back in my day you were only taken notice if you had academic issues. As I was fine academically, I slipped under the radar. However, during primary school years, my parents were called in a few times to discuss some "behavioural issues", and I was sent to the school counsellor during high school for some "anger management" and other behavioural issues.

I was in "Academic Challenge" which is a special ed program for "talented and gifted" children from grade 2-9. Basically we just got to do cooler projects and do more creative stuff (we could pick our own topics). It was fun. Also they were smaller classes (had an entrance exam) so we got more one on one help which was good.

I got in because apparently I had an above average IQ (scored so well on the first half of the test I didn't take the second half) in first grade and got bored and acted out. Still do not know what kind of test it was but I imagine it was some kind of IQ test. It was a good program. Took a similar one in high school for the sciences (you got more field trips, cooler projects and smaller classes).

I was in special ed in elementary school, but I didn't have poor grades. I think I was just stuck in there because the teachers thought I should be in there.

Well, I went into a special unit for people on the autism spectrum when I was in primary and secondary school. The unit was part of a mainstream school, so we had the opportunity to integrate with mainstream pupils and practise the stuff we learned in our therapy sessions. I think I was treated well for the majority of the time (although I did have a few s**t teachers).

In primary school, I was around kids from all over the spectrum, but my secondary school mostly dealt with kids on the higher end of the spectrum. A lot of people in the mainstream thought that we were stupid and I recall someone saying to one of my peers (in secondary school) that he "doesn't belong at this school", even though we were actually performing much better than him in our classes. Also, many of us were generally smarter than most of the kids in the mainstream, which I thought was hilarious.

I still get support at college, which helps me a lot.

Damn straight. I bounced back anf forth between special ed and advanced classes. I was officially taken out in 6th grade, teachers said there was no way I needed it. I still had access to the Resource Room, I used to act up on purpose just so I could go there xD. All we did was play computer games. I was in it when I was younger because of behavioral/social problems mostly

SHORT BUS xD.

I was in a spec. Ed. Preschool type thing.and was in special Ed until 1st grade. Then i was in normal classes.

I was never in special ed. I got diagnosed six months ago at 20 years of age but had been starting to get help in college before then. I had to get extensions on projects because I couldn't fit it all into the time given (I'm slow to work and my concentration is also pretty poor) and there were times I had to take a chunk of time off because I was sick with stress.

I really hope that someone sees my last sentence there as many don't realize that they can get permission for time off if they need it! I was allowed because I talked to my tutor about it who then sent an email around to all of my lecturers and teachers in order to explain everything and to make it clear that I wasn't just dossing!

I would have been but we started home educating instead. When ever I go out n summer camps, I get really tired and stressed so I don't talk to people that much. The good thing is because I am not in a school environment I do not get as stressed. However as soon as I go into a group situation I get really stressed. The funny thing about the i go to home-ed group i go to is that out of 20 people 5 of us are aspies/dyspraxic's etc...

James