How to Best Support Our Students with IEPs
Megumi Tanaka Cramer has experienced a lot, from growing up as an Asian American student to navigating college as an undocumented immigrant. But it was her experience as a special education teacher, working with students with IEPs, that particularly captured our attention. And it’s this part of the conversation that we wanted to share with you.
First, let’s get some necessary lingo out of the way.
An IEP is an individualized education plan for students who need special accommodations in the classroom. This could be glasses, sitting in the front of the classroom, or going to a separate, quieter classroom to learn. In essence, It is meant to level the playing field so that these students can get the same education as their peers.
Over the years, there has been a lot of stigma around IEPs and special education. And that’s something that Megumi has sought to change. In our conversation with her, we covered a few ways that teachers can do this.
How to Help Our Students with IEPs to Thrive
Accept Them as Your Student
In Megumi’s experience, many GenEd teachers consider it the special education teacher’s respondibility to take care of IEP accommodations. She saw the damage of this attitude first hand, noting that it fed into the narrative that the student was different and they needed a “special” teacher.
As teachers, we need to change that narrative.
We need to have the attitude of “this is my student” – not just this is a special education student who is joining my class. This change of attitude can make a world of difference to these students.
Remove the Stigma
Sadly, there are students who refuse accommodations that they truly need because of traumatic experiences in their past. They don’t want to be labeled and treated as different.
Of course, you can’t control what happened in the past.
But you can do your best to normalize and destigmatize the experience moving forward.
Oftentimes Megumi would notice that fellow students who did not have IEPs would be jealous of those who did. Sometimes they would even ask to join students with IEPs who received individualized attention.
Why not nurture this attitude?
After all, it create a culture of acceptance around IEPs and ultimately helps students who need those IEPs to accept the help.
Involve Them in Clubs
In a traditional classroom, Megumi saw that certain students with IEPs felt “lesser than”. But when she included them in clubs that spoke to their interests, such as anime or KPOP, she saw them come alive. Suddenly, they were the smartest kid in the room and even schooling others on the subject. Experiences like this are invaluable to a kiddo’s self-worth.
In essence, these clubs create a safe space where these students can fee equal to their peers.
As educators, we need to support and nurture these kinds of activities.
Concluding Thoughts on Working with Students with IEPs
An essential part of helping our students with IEPs is working to remove the stigma of IEPs. The ultimate goal is to help all of our students to achieve their full potential, no matter what they may need to do it.
