As a teacher who has worked in several special education settings since 2004, two major issues stand out. The most pressing matters I have encountered include contention over the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in regard to how it affects students with disabilities, as well as the cumbersome referral process.

As part of testing requireed by the No Child Left Behind Act, an anonymous local school district (not mine) mandated a former colleague to administer a modified version of the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE) to an eighteen-year-old student, “Lucia” with developmental delays. According to my teacher friend, the district required her to rewrite grade-level test and content area questions to assess Lucia. My colleague did not administer the test with glee, as Lucia performs academically on a first/second grade level and has severe speech delays. How is it possible to test a student on twelfth grade level content when she performs academically on a primary grade level? Is that an accurate measure of data?

Instead of spending hours creating the test, assessing Lucia, and conjuring voodoo data, would not time, efforts, and educational dollars be better spent on teaching the student important and meaningful life skills, and assessing her on information that is important and pertinent for Lucia as an individual?

The referral process for students to be evaluated for special education services is daunting to navigate. Parents and guardians have told me horror stories of advocating for their children. They have recounted woeful tales where their efforts were met with hostility and incompetence on the part of the schools.  For example, last year I tutored a middle school student with dyslexia in language arts and executive functioning. Previously the girl, “Lulu,” had attended a nonpublic school for students with learning disabilities. This was her first year in public school. Lulu’s grandmother, a feisty retired attorney, contacted various parties at the school in vain attempts to facilitate special services for Lulu. Finally, she researched special education law, whipped up the requisite written documents, and the school stopped dragging their feet. On one of the documents for the initial child study meeting, the teacher indicated that Lulu’s dyslexia was due to vision problems! Earlier this school year, I heard Lulu was skipping class on a regular basis.

I personally witnessed resistance to referring students for evaluation when I taught third grade in California. Teachers were overtly discouraged from initiating referrals of students, and the principal limited us to referring two students per month.  In a child study meeting, the principal poo-pooed a student’s difficulty with decoding one-syllable words as an “ELL processing issue.” If it were an ELL issue, he would have been able to decode just fine in Spanish, his native language. During the meeting, she encouraged several teachers to watch student’s behavior and learning and then take action if the children continued to struggle.

Since it is common knowledge that early intervention is vital, then why wait? So many students drop out and languish in our school systems because of this wishy-washy wait-and-see attitude. If the aforementioned public school districts were hospitals, students would be bleeding to death in epidemic numbers.

If your school were a hospital, what would it look like? Would the patients be dead?

What is Special Education? The Historical Rise

Beginnings

Historians regard Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard as a main forefather in special education. Special education is “specially designed instruction that meets the unusual needs of an exceptional student” (Hallahan, Kauffman & Pullen, 2008). Itard (1775-1838), a French doctor, is most famous for working with Victor, the “Wild Boy of Avyron.” Victor had been found at approximately twelve years of age wandering au naturel through the French forests. Philippe Pinel, Itard’s adviser, deemed Victor ineducable and referred to the boy a “hopeless idiot.” Nonetheless, through Itard’s pioneering strategic instruction, Victor made huge gains (Hallahan, Kauffman & Pullen, 2008).

During the nineteenth century, seedlings of change sprouted in the United States in special education. In 1848, Édouard Séguin, a student of Itard, relocated to the United States. Séguin gained fame as a teacher of allegedly “idiotic children,” who others had regarded as unteachable. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudett, a preacher, founded the first school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1864 an Act of Congress founded Gallaudett University, named in his honor. In 1832, Samuel Gridley Howe, physician, teacher, and activist, was an instrumental force in founding Perkins School for the Blind, where Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller were educated.

As mandatory school attendance became law, teachers and parents realized that students with exceptional and unique needs required more than just the general instruction. Elizabeth Farrell, a New York City teacher and special needs advocate, founded the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) together with other teachers across North America. (Hallahan, Kauffman & Pullen, 2008).

However, even into the first half of the twentieth century, special education as we know it today did not exist. If children with special needs were part of the general education classroom, they were sometimes treated with disdain. Oftentimes children with high incidence disabilities were not diagnosed at all and simply labeled as “slow learners.” In fact, in the 1930s-40s, teachers warehoused my uncle in a classroom for “slow learners.” My aunt was told by her fifth grade teacher that she “would never amount to anything,” and teachers placed her in the back of the room. After a few years of repeated and unsuccessful retentions, both my aunt and uncle dropped out of high school.

Spurred by the blossoming civil rights movements, parents unified to create organizations to support one another and fight for better education for their children with exceptional needs. This included further legislation, such as the landmark Title VI to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, thereby creating a Bureau of Education for the Handicapped.  

More Recent History in the United States (1970s to present)

The 1970s marked further growth in the field of special education. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142) was ordained into law in 1975. The law was changed again in 1990, and bore a new name: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Since then, the law has been amended in 1997 and 2004, as is often simply referred to as IDEA. IDEA law mandates “to receive funds under the act, every school system in the national must provide a free, appropriate public education for every child between the ages of three and twenty-one, regardless of how or how seriously he or she may be disabled” (Hallahan, Kauffman & Pullen, 2008). With IDEA’s reauthorization in 2004, people with disabilities have become more accepted in American society, as well. Additionally, scientific research has helped create new advances in treatment, support, as well as research on best practices in special education today. New research has also helped with early identification and intervention. Special education has indeed manifested into an integral part of our educational system.

During my career as a teacher, I have met and taught many wonderful people with Asperger Syndrome, which is a form of high-functioning autism. I have enjoyed their humor, their quirky wit, and their unique observations of the world.
There’s an old saying that if you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism. WebMd states “because of the wide variety of symptoms, no two children with Asperger’s are alike.”
One common characteristic with Asperger’s, however; is difficulty with social cues.
The U.S National Library of Medicine states, “People with Asperger syndrome become over-focused or obsessed on a single object or topic, ignoring all others. They want to know everything about this topic, and often talk about little else.

Some people act just like this on social media! They get so hyperfocused about their business that they turn into spaminators with Asperger syndrome, perseverating about their businesses over and over, vomiting too much unwanted information on facebook walls. In fact, they may have dynamite social skills in real life, but stick them online, and they immediately acquire Social Media Asperger Syndrome (SMAS)!

For example, these social media challenged people have DMed me in twitter telling me to look at their glitzy business or download their free ebook. Sometimes I write back to them and they throw another opportunity at me.
There are a couple of guys on twitter who update every 3.14 seconds on this opportunity or that opportunity or urgent update. I replied to one guy who claims to be a social media expert and he just kept shouting about nothing, not listening, and never replied back or has commented on anything I have posted, or anyone else for that matter. Another so-called “social media guru” has DMed me several times about his dynamite company; made feeble attempts to get to know me, and has vomited all over my inbox.

Do any of those behaviors sound like anyone you’ve ever spotted on social media?

]]> http://nancycarrollsblog.com/social-media-asperger-syndrome/feed 0 http://nancycarrollsblog.com/are-you-being-ripped-off-by-your-wireless-provider http://nancycarrollsblog.com/are-you-being-ripped-off-by-your-wireless-provider#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 09:30:57 +0000 Nancy Carroll http://nancycarrollsblog.com/?p=59

You know how everybody is tired of big kahuna wireless bills and most people are sick of being locked in a contract? There’s an old saying that that’s just the tip of the iceberg.


The fact is the big wireless companies are scamming folks and sucking their wallets dry, month after month.

You probably already know that you’re paying too much in monthly fees. But did you know that AT&T charges a whopping 25% in taxes and fees, confirmed by an online AT&T Sales Agent. Not only are you paying mandatory local and federal taxes, you’re also paying for fees to cover for expenses that AT&T may have generated themselves, even BEFORE you were their customer!

The ripoff doesn’t just stop there. Additionally, there are sneaky terms that limit supposedly “unlimited data”, or dollop on extra charges for “unlimited data.” Family plans are a scam as well. Sometimes families incur unexpected overages, even when family members limit their calls to sparse minutes.

The bait and switch advertising, which confuses even the savviest of consumers imprisons people in an additional one to two year contract. Often they will offer you a free or heavily discounted latest and greatest mega super galactic handset, IF you sign a contract (or give supposed verbal consent over the phone), only to have increased your fees.

Another scam: “cell phone insurance.” Sure, the big bully carriers will happily get you a new handset. But did you know you may have a deductible, as well. Of course, you can sometimes waive that deductible if you lock yourself into another straight jacket of a contract.

Why all these taxes, fees, foggy contracts, and suspicious strategies? AT&T spent $11.7 million on funding their lobbyists in the first part of 2011, and still got slapped with a Department of Justice Inquiry. So they’re using your hard-earned money to pay for their lobbyists, lawyers, and the like! Also, how else could they pay for the billion they spend on advertising annually?

What about the best, fastest network? According to PC Magazine, Verizon’s 4G network is so efficiently speedy that you can zip through your 5GB monthly allotment in 32 minutes. Who only uses that dinky amount of data minutes per month? Maybe someone who doesn’t want the internet, texting, or email on the phone.

Then one of the discount carriers would be a solid option, but only if you don’t want any of the features, don’t want service outside of your driveway, you like personally dealing with the hassle of going into said carrier’s store and adding roaming for another fee. Or you like being charged per text message. One woman I spoke to using her handset from a discount carrier had such bad service that the call dropped 3 times when I was talking to her, and I heard only about every other word.

Are you sick of being bullied by your provider? What do you feel is the most evil tactic used by wireless carriers?

Some people have found a way out from cell phone hell. Contact me to find out how.

]]> http://nancycarrollsblog.com/are-you-being-ripped-off-by-your-wireless-provider/feed 0 http://nancycarrollsblog.com/one-of-the-biggest-mistakes-i-see http://nancycarrollsblog.com/one-of-the-biggest-mistakes-i-see#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:00:00 +0000 Nancy Carroll http://nancycarrollsblog.com/?p=51

A few years ago we lived in southern California in a gated community, supposedly sequestered from the outside gang shootings and riff raff that could invade our homes at any minute.

One balmy evening, as my husband and I sat on the porch, we heard a guttural scream. “Bubba,” our neighbor’s boyfriend, ran shirtless down the street in an attempt to escape from “Lolly” brandishing an aluminum baseball bat chasing him. She screamed about his infidelity and broadcasted expletives through the smoggy Southland air.

We deducted from her loud screams that she had just found out about his recent carryings-on. Now, I can empathize with a scorned women. I can’t imagine the pain she was in when she found out, which would cause her to pick up an aluminum weapon of mass destruction and run him out of the house with it.

One of the biggest mistakes I see is that some overzealous MLMers treat their prospects just like Lolly whipping around her baseball bat. First, they throw up all over their prospects unprofessionally. Then they take follow up to a nouveau amateur level, calling them several times a day, even shoving so-called “tools” (i.e. brochures, scientific literature on how you will DIE immediately if you are not using their company’s megarevolutionary products). They chase their prospects down the street with their vomitoreous zeal. I’ve even heard someone talk about how if we buy her products we will help her qualify for a trip, or rapacious reps telling their prospects, “When you sign up, you’re going to make me rich!”

No wonder some folks have such a nasty opinion of the network marketing industry.

You don’t need to chase prospects fleeing for their lives down the street to enroll them. This is a legimitate, real profession.
Be professional, polite, and poised.
Show your prospects the presentation.
Follow up with them.
Answer their questions, and/or utilize your support leaders to help you.
Collect a decision.

If they say, “no”, thank them for their time and ask for a referral.

If they don’t enroll on the spot, and most of the time they won’t, no biggie. Don’t hunt them down until they do. Inform them every month or so of any company news, specials, success stories (they don’t even have to be your direct team’s stories).

Your professionalism and perseverance with your company and team are much more attractive than any baseball bat.


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If so, what does the autopsy report say? What was the official time of death?
Was it murdered? Any witnesses on the scene?

No, silly! The internet is not dead. Au contraire.

It’s morphed from a secret tunnel to a foggy city superhighway with 17 lanes zooming in 51 different
directions.
The internet simply is part of our lives, like a refrigerator or a flush toilet.
It’s a tool for holding (mis)information.

However, in terms of internet marketing, it has indeed become more complex. Since most people are used to
hopping online for information it takes special skills to rise above the hubbub and the chatter.
Sadly, some people have been led astray by Scammy Whammies, or sold some “make money on autopilot” while sitting and
home in your underwear. Just order this kit for $35 and stuff envelopes, assemble toys, data entry,
or earn a college degree in 5 minutes or less!
In fact, the other day, a guy I know was telling me that engineers in Romania get together
and construct scams to dupe world citizens everywhere.



Hello!? The internet is simply another tool in your entire marketing toolbox.
To make yourself stand out, don’t make false claims, exaggerate, use overly-salesy words.
Be professional. Be real. Have integrity. Find a trustworthy internet marketer and learn from
their system. Use discernment, but don’t be so skeptical and suspicious that you end up taking no
action at all to jump start your home business.

The internet isn’t dead at all. Like any tool, handle it with care.
Don’t forget the proven ways of prospecting and building
a business are to actually meet and talk with people.

Facebook cannot replace face time.

In fact, the most successful in the industry have and created solid,
sustainable foundations by building their network marketing businesses by talking
to people, the old fashioned way. What about you?

]]> http://nancycarrollsblog.com/is-the-internet-dead/feed 3 http://nancycarrollsblog.com/seriously-easy-work-just-saw-on-craigslist http://nancycarrollsblog.com/seriously-easy-work-just-saw-on-craigslist#comments Thu, 02 Jun 2011 05:42:26 +0000 Nancy Carroll http://nancycarrollsblog.com/?p=7

I’ve changed/deleted identifying information to protect innocent ice cream truck owners everywhere.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Teachers Great summer job (town’s name deleted to protect the unknown)

Date: 2011-06-01, 7:55PM PDT
Reply to:

Own your own ICE CREAM TRUCK business. Great money, easy work*, low hours.
Teachers, great summer job. Each year the clients build as they keep coming back. This is your chance to own your own business that will pay you every year, for as many years as you work it. We will train you, give you two freezers for storage. Everyone loves the ice cream man. high income for few hours of work. For credit worthy person we will consider financing the purchase. My family has done great with this business. Give me a call to talk more about it. 555 XXX-XXX
—————————————————–
* Easy work? Ha! (Red emphasis mine)
A few years ago, before I had ventured into the wonderful world of network marketing, I might have considered this business venture for about 27 minutes. Some teachers who haven’t been informed of the true beauty of a REAL home based business might seriously consider eeking around town purveying ice cream during their cherished summer vacations.

Now I am not opposed to ice cream, ice cream trucks or even ice cream truck music. I am sure that OWNING a fleet of ice cream trucks could be quite lucrative.

Easy work? Driving around in a giant, creaky truck serving up frosty popsicles sounds unfun. Bending over to lug cases of fudgesicles, falling into a freezer, counting change from dirty hands, and listening to ice cream truck music ALL DAY long does NOT sound easy. Working from home and spending time with one’s own children sounds like a better summer and a more solid future.

Seriously….is there residual income from ice cream trucks in the freezing fall or the wacky winter? No!

]]> http://nancycarrollsblog.com/seriously-easy-work-just-saw-on-craigslist/feed 3 http://nancycarrollsblog.com/reveal-remove-renew http://nancycarrollsblog.com/reveal-remove-renew#comments Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:02:44 +0000 Nancy Carroll http://nancycarroll.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/reveal-remove-renew/

Today during my quiet time a phrase plopped into my head….

“Reveal, remove, renew” (TM) (copyright 2010 Nancy Carroll LOL)

In terms of personal development, if you’re experiencing a blockage or stronghold that’s stopping you from achieving what you desire, consider asking God to reveal it to you. I often ask God to be super clear with me because I can be spiritually stubborn. Sometimes the answer comes from a friend, the Bible, or a book I’m reading. Be open to the answer and use discernment.

Once revealed to you, ask God to remove your character defect or whatever is preventing you from reaching the heights you desire. Sometimes God won’t simply just take it away. He’ll reveal it and then want you to work on it. Remember, God gave us each other and a friend, trusted counsel, or perhaps someone you haven’t even met yet may be the one to help you remove the icky splinter hindering your path to more success. Take action to remove the stronghold. Don’t just sit there and “wait on the Lord.” God asks us to ask, seek, knock; not ask, seek, sit.

Now that the junk in the trunk has been gutted out, ask God and take action on renewal. Embrace your path and trudge boldly toward your goals.

Remember, success is a journey, not an event!

Blessings,
Nancy

P.S. Rinse and repeat.

]]> http://nancycarrollsblog.com/reveal-remove-renew/feed 0 http://nancycarrollsblog.com/a-system-that-works http://nancycarrollsblog.com/a-system-that-works#comments Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:52:59 +0000 Nancy Carroll http://nancycarroll.wordpress.com/?p=492

However you feel about McDonald’s, you’ve got to admit that they have a pretty suave system down. If you eat a burger in LA, it’s going to taste pretty much the same as a burger in Florida. I’ve even had McDonald’s in Germany and Italy that have tasted very similar due to McDonald’s systems and procedures.
So what if you don’t like McDonald’s? They have sold billions and billions, they have a proven success model that works.  Managers at McDonald’s don’t reinvent the systems or create their megagalactic fantaburific super duper creative complicated 15.82 step way of frying burgers. They follow a system.

Thus, if your company leaders have a proven system, or your team has one, consider following it instead of trying to start your own McDonald’s with a Coleman Stove.  If you have no system,  this training will show you how to triple your sponsoring or go here and listen to the Quickstart Call, part of Priorityteam’s solid, no frills training.

To Your Success,

Nancy Carroll

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