Tag: special-education

Where Special Education Law Meets Imposter Phenomenon

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Constrained Psychology of Educators (and Administrators) Pt 2

In part one I explained how a fundamental idea in school culture – the idea that teachers have the answers – constrains the creativity and effectiveness of educators and counselors. 

This cultural belief pressures teachers and counselors into thinking they should be able to provide easy and effective responses to complex and challenging social, emotional, and behavioral presentations of students. And if they don’t have easy-to-understand solutions ready to implement, they better find them soon! 

You would be hard-pressed to design better conditions for developing imposter phenomenon in school staff. The staff role at this point can become less about improving access to education for students, and more about maintaining an image of knowledgeability and competence to administrators and colleagues.

This constrained thinking runs in opposition to the kind of curiosity, wonder, and patience required to form real relationships and real understanding. I find it fascinating that relationship is a buzzword in educator professional development, but somehow does not have the same cache in the school counseling community.

This school culture problem of feeling pressured to behave as if easy answers are available extends into the individual education program (IEP) process as well. People find reassurance in the idea that special education law is clear and easy to understand, but this is not the case. Important parts of special education law are squishy, unclear, and sometimes not particularly coherent. Unfortunately, you won’t hear very many people acknowledge this truth.

This set of circumstances leaves parents at a disadvantage. They are generally counting on the school’s educators and especially administrators to be expert on the implementation of the law. Educators and administrators often claim, or have come to believe (with the help of a big dose of imposter phenomenon), that the laws are straightforward. 

Many school administrators and staff do not make distinctions between their district policies and practices, and what the law dictates. This all makes for a very confusing and disempowering experience for parents.

Here’s a demonstration of this phenomenon from a conversation in a teacher Facebook community. Someone asked: “How shortly after the IEP meeting should parents receive a copy of the written IEP?” 

A Facebook user responded “All this information is readily available on Google and standardized on the federal level.” receiving a shower of likes and loves for this comforting but incorrect idea.

Here is the actual law, which is not easy to find nor clear to interpret. 

Beyond that, there are separate memorandums from the state regarding the interpretation of the law.

As educators, school counselors, and administrators, we would all be better off to be patient with ourselves, acknowledge complexity and ambiguity – especially when working with parents – and support each other through a complex process.

What Kind of Teacher Doesn’t Know the Answers?

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spoiler: sometimes not knowing the answers is what makes an educator great

The Constrained Psychology of Educators Part I

I’ve had time to observe many of the psychological pitfalls of being an educator in K-12 schools. The effect is one of constraint, where educators experience a limited scope of what is possible in the classroom. 

My work has been primarily with students in special education programs due to significant social, emotional, and behavioral challenges, and their educators. The intensity of the issues presented by these students bring school culture concerns into clearer focus, but many of these issues are pervasive throughout schools.

The layers of these constraining problems are built on a foundational idea about school: teachers have all the answers. What a reassuring idea! In some parts of school life, it’s true. Your second-grade math teacher has in fact memorized the multiplication tables, and more. 

It can be largely true in more complicated situations as well. Your special education teacher may be able to administer assessments and know quite confidently what reading intervention is likely to be effective. Special education teachers are often amazing.

And then we encounter a student who is really struggling emotionally. This emotional distress is showing up in their behavior and interfering with their access to education, and to some degree even interfering with other students’ access to education. The usual incentives and disincentives for “good student behavior” are ineffective. We have reached a point where we educators no longer know the answers. 

This is a frightening crossroads for many, cutting to the heart of the teacher identity. What kind of teacher doesn’t know the answers?

Blocking out this troubling question, educators seek quick answers, hoping to return to their regular knowledgeable position as quickly as possible. Someone administer an FBA! (Functional Behavioral Assessment) 

Educators are increasingly taught that the answers lie in data. Let me be clear, data is a fundamentally good thing – more information is better than less. But, educators fall prey to the comforting illusion of easy and understandable answers. They feel the pressure of the expectation to be an expert, and an expert teacher (or school counselor) must know the answers. Welcome to perfect storm conditions for imposter phenomenon. 

Children, their families, and classroom groups are complicated. An individual child can’t entirely account for their behavior, thoughts, and feelings. -Nor can we do it on their behalf. We can’t even entirely account for our own behavior! Have you ever done something you intended not to do, or not done something you intended to? Why do you keep doing that?

However, we can move toward deeper understanding together. Part of what Laura Balogh and I advocate for in our book The Therapeutic Inclusion Program is shifting the classroom culture toward curiosity, wonder, and collaboration. We can think about it together. The more we do that, the more we will understand, but we still won’t know all the answers.