Matching Students and Teachers

I am the wife of a military officer, and as a result, I have worked at a number of schools. No matter which school it was, I always encountered the debate, "Is it a good idea to hand select teachers for students on IEPs."

I am a firm believer that it is definitely a good idea to do so. I've learned, however, to make these selections carefully and to have solid reasons when requesting matches. We all know that there are teachers that just don't work well with IEPs and do not easily accomodate curriculum, but those reasons do not hold much water with administrators. They can be perceived as personal attacks, rather than keeping the students best interests at heart. I've begun to say things, such as this teacher relies on lectures and this student with auditory processing difficulties cannot follow the lecture or this teacher is very structured and this student with autism must have structure. It's a good idea to keep the focus on the student's needs and learning style.

One last point I'd like to make is that I am always concerned about overloading certain teachers. We do not want to cause burn out by requesting the same teachers over and over again. Look for unique pairings of students and teachers. For instance, a secondary teacher who assigns a large number of projects may seem intimidating to some of my students, but it could also be a great way for a student with language difficulties to express their knowledge in a wide variety of ways.

Best of luck dealing with the debate in your work setting and good luck in requesting those matches.