Experiences/ thoughts/ feelings on special ed classes

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I have never really been find of special ed classes and lower end classes. My sister was in these kinds of classes when she was in school and she hated most of them because the teachers sucked and she didn't like how she was treated. I have observed different classes for school assignments and I was a peer counselor in a special ed class. Most of the teachers my sister and I have encountered in these classes don't know hardly anything about disabilities, have poor classroom management skills, and treat their students like they are stupid. I feel like the expectations for these students are too low in most cases and school administration doesn't make special ed a priority at all.

What are your experiences/ thoughts/ feelings on special ed and lower end classes?

I am an advocate of avoiding these sorts of classes whenever possible.

A few days ago I read viewtopic.php?t=300537.
My mother told me once that they considered put me in Special Ed. I'm glad she didn't it.

my nephew had a few of what he calls "special ed classes" in high school, as part of his IEP. he often told me that he liked the relatively quiet environment when compared to the relative rowdiness of the normal classes, and the classes were smaller which i imagine is always good.

i didn't hear much about condescending teachers, but that's probably because he was older/more high functioning? than many of the others there.


i didn't have any special ed classes in elementary or high school. i don't think they were offered then, if they were they sure were good at hiding it.

Special ed was of no value to my eldest grandson, the children were not valued and not invested in, in any meaningful way there. They were bully targets and the teaching quality was poor. Fortunately, he was headhunted by a very-hard to-get-into highschool, because they wanted to benefit from his exceptional basketball talents in the national competition for this, so he got into a school which was hard otherwise for any teenager to get into, and so got the benefit of motivated and excellent teachers in a top grade school, in a mainstream class, and he made terrific progress there. They did invest in him, and provided as much one to one support as he wanted, though they didn't force it on him in an intrusive way. He was lucky, most kids aren't that lucky, and I really feel for them. It gave him the confidence to turn basketball into a professional career later.

My own verdict in special education classes in my country is that it's underdeveloped, and still on progress.
Somewhere in most of it's provinces and regions, it might as well be nonexistent.


The special ed class I've been into was practically the very pioneer in my city. Otherwise, I would had to travel miles just to attend a session.

Personal opinion in the special ed class I've been into? Just meh. But then, the staff there had little idea what to do with me then. Academics weren't my problem then. I was sent there because behavioral and social reasons.
Yet a teacher there was at least willing to put up with questions that most people couldn't or flat out refuse to answer. I don't have an 'equal' or a friend there. At least there weren't any bullying there then.

And I didn't last a year. My household couldn't afford it.

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I was in special ed from fourth grade through high school. I was very fortunate to have some very dedicated teachers and aides, but also was exposed to some who had no business teaching such classes. Unfortunately one of the latter was my teacher my senior year. He discouraged me to the point that I dropped out. I was later able to pass the GED and get my certificate. Even with my experience in high school, I would have to say that special ed was a success for me. Now that we have an IEP in place for my ASD sons, I have noticed that the first thing they do is add accommodations for the standards based testing that the schools live or die by. This is done before even discussing the findings of the evaluation and any services to be offered. I feel that scores of students receiving these accommodations should be weighted to have a greater effect on the districts overall score. That might ensure that ineffective special ed teachers are rooted out.

Special Ed is nice theoretically, but in practice, it is an art, and one that is only well funded in a few pockets of sanity like Finland. Most places, schools are run by people who don't want anyone to think for themselves, but rather just blend in and buy overpriced stuff. I have worked with many professionals, and expensive training was generally useless. What helps is the personal concern and kind attention of some people who are often at odds with their bosses.

I was never in special ed cuz my skewls didn't have special classes but I did receive accommodations due to my dyslexia & ADD. I also went to a skewl for dyslexia from middle of 6th through 8th grade. I did aLOT better in the dyslexic skewl than regular skewl. I was bullied alot in regular skewl & really s#cked with skewl work despite my accommodations. The accommodations did help but I needed more help than regular skewl could provide. I struggled with skewl so much that the only thing I knew when I graduated high-skewl was that I did NOT want to go to college. I have other mental disabilities & some physical 1s & I majorly struggled to find any kind of work that I thought I could do. I think if I had more specialized individualized skewling like the dyslexic skewl did that catered to my various disabilities & strengths & abilities more, I might of been more confident in myself with job searching & applied for more various types of jobs. I may of also wanted to go to some kind of trade skewl or something if I felt like I could do more which would of helped me with employment a lot more. I'm on Social Security Disability now.