Spotlight On Heidi Reichel

Today’s Disabilities Leadership Council spotlight is on Heidi Reichel, a registered special education teacher and educational consultant. She currently works with special needs students and instills in them the skills necessary to lead “self-sufficient, independent lives.” In a recent interview, Heidi discussed the problems that result from giving special education children extra, often unnecessary accommodations in schools. “Too little is expected of [special education children],” Heidi said, “They are given accommodations for things that can be taught, like learning how to work within a time frame.” She believes that schools often take the simplest route; they “reach for accommodations before they understand what limits the child.” Schools often restrict a student by not teaching or urging a child to learn. As Heidi said, “If there is something that says a child needs instructions explained, I want [the child] to have the goal to understand directions on their own. I don’t want to limit the children by not teaching them.”

However, Heidi does not oppose all accommodations offered. She simply feels that teachers should be certain that the child truly needs the accommodations before they are offered. Heidi explained that, “Theoretically, a school is supposed to find where the special education child stands with their abilities. Then, the school is supposed to make goals and determine what needs to be allowed for the student.” Despite the rules, schools often act prematurely and give children accommodations in class before their abilities are tested and compared with their peers’ skills. Parents also fight for accommodations for their children; they do not want their children to “get hurt or fail” in the mainstream classes.

According to Heidi, once special education children leave high school and prepare to enter the workforce, they realize the “crippling effects” of having too many accommodations. Often, the children cannot read or write well enough to construct a substantial résumé, or they find themselves unable to finish work on a specific deadline; they become “entitled” and cannot succeed in a world of deadlines and schedules. Heidi says that the best evidence to support her claims are the students she works with. “I have taken students who were in special education and helped them enter the mainstream classes, go to college, and lead a successful life,” she says. “In the same way that I can teach, these kids can learn.”

After years of lobbying for legislation to accommodate children with disabilities, the topic Heidi raises can potentially strike a nerve with parents. However as Heidi says, she “frequently get[s] support from parents she has worked with.” Heidi feels that the special education system is “far from flawless,” and though she does receive opposition from certain school districts, she believes that her points must be addressed. As Stuart Flaum, founder of the Disabilities Leadership Council says, “Heidi shares an interesting perspective on the subject of special education and the goal of the Council is to shed light on differing viewpoints. We don’t want to hide others’ opinions; we welcome and appreciate them.” To learn more about Heidi Reichel, please look at the blog entry below which further describes her opinions.

Accommodating Special Needs Children

The Disabilities Leadership Council recently received a fascinating article written by one of our members, Educational Consultant, Heidi Reichel. The article highlights some of the problems that result from giving special education students accommodations in schools. It also addresses some of the difficulties that special education students face once they leave high school and prepare to enter the workforce. The article is found below.

Toward the close of the last school year there were news articles about special education students who were ‘graduating’ school with IEP ‘Diplomas’ and not prepared for competitive employment. This should not have come as a surprise to anyone. Those students were on alternative assessment. They did not have to sit for any of the State tests that typical students take. They did not do the same coursework. There is no disputing the fact that, those students were not being prepared to lead self-sufficient independent lives. IEP ‘Diplomas’ were not designed for students who had the potential for competitive employment. IEP ‘Diplomas’ are not high school diplomas at all, in fact, students who have received IEP ‘Diplomas’ are still eligible to continue going to high school to pursue a regular high school diploma.

The more insidious problem, however, is that many special education students (often, but not always, classified as learning disabled) are graduating school with actual high school diplomas and are not prepared either. These students passed their classes and exit exams but they did it with the help of special education accommodations such as one to one aides, tests read, scribes, directions repeated and or simplified, and extended time. Perhaps their spelling errors were not to be counted against them or perhaps they weren’t required to fill in the bubbles on Scantron answer sheets. Graduating from high school led these students to believe that they were ready for employment or higher education. Imagine their surprise (maybe I should say shock or horror) when they found that they weren’t able to read or write well enough to fill out a job application or when they could only qualify to enroll in non credit bearing remedial courses at the local community college.

I know that a lot of teachers and parents believe that giving students special education (and 504) accommodations only levels the playing field. However, that would only be true if school was a game and the goal was just to pass the tests and eventually get a diploma. School is not a game. The purpose of school is to educate students so that they have the tools necessary to become successful independent adults. Keeping students on an artificially leveled playing field denies them that opportunity.

“But these kids would never make it without accommodations. You’re setting them up to fail!” I would never set children up to fail and I don’t want others to prevent them from succeeding. What I am advocating here, is going beyond accommodating them all the way to educating them. Teach them how to read, write, fill in Scantron forms, follow instructions and pay attention all by themselves. They will not have someone at their beckon call to help them with these things once they leave high school. Even if their aspirations are low and all they want to do is drive a car, get a job, and go out on dates, they will need to have these basic skills. I have found that in over 90% of cases if students aren’t learning, then they are not being taught (appropriately for them). By the way, it doesn’t matter if a student is being taught with a ‘scientifically proven’ method. If that student isn’t learning then that method is inappropriate for that student.

Heidi Reichel is an Educational Consultant with a private practice in Huntington, N.Y. She is primarily involved in tutoring, remediation, diagnostic educational testing, and advocacy. You can contact her at (631) 423-6215 or by e-mail at Heidi1121@att.net.

Copyright 2009 by Heidi Reichel