06/19/98

Label Jars, Not People..

If an SEM student gets in trouble at school, IDEA requires an FBA before convening a PPT to recommend sanctions or changes to the IEP to insure a FAPE for that student.

Any professional educator who reads the above sentence and understands it, has a severe case of jargon fever, in need of treatment ... fast! Special educators fill their conversation and reports with so much jargon and so many acronyms, parents sometimes wonder whether a strange new dialect has been introduced in the schools.

Special education terminology can obscure meaning more than clarify it, because the same terms mean different things to different people, even within the same professional circles. The word "autistic," for example, might mean "non-verbal" to one person, "echolalic" (imitation of words without comprehension of meaning) to another or "unsocialized" to someone else. There are nearly as many definitions of ADD-ADHD as there are children who carry the label!

Professionals should translate all special terminology into layman's language and spell out each acronym the first time it appears in a written report or is mentioned at a meeting. One way to check reports for jargon is to reread them, while asking yourself whether you recognize the unique person about whom you're writing. If you could put someone else's name at the top of the page and still write the same sentences, you've succumbed (again) to deadly jargon fever. Scrap the report and start over!

And while I'm on the subject of jargon, acronyms and labels, I'd like to share another pet peeve of mine related to the use of language in special education. Have you ever heard yourself or someone else talk about "servicing" a student or family? We "service" cars, fellow educators; we do not "service" students and families. We "serve" them. There's a big difference between "servicing" someone and "serving" him or her, and that difference has to do with conveying consideration and respect. Words carry tremendous power, so it behooves us all to choose them with great care.

I'm not suggesting that we toss out the labels altogether. We need them to guide planning and implementation of services for individual students. In Iowa, for example, efforts are being made to de-emphasize labeling students in special education in order to remove the potential for stigma associated with a label. Iowa educators also think that reduction of labeling will promote increased accommodation of learning differences in regular classrooms and more teaming efforts between regular and special educators.

These are worthy goals and need to be pursued with or without label changes. The diagnostic process is often very instructive for all participants, and it often leads to variations in programming with no special education diagnosis required. If it were practical, and maybe someday it will be, every student would benefit from an IEP (Individual Education Program). Labels are not the issue; appropriate instruction for the unique individuals in our classrooms is.

It's true that we educate children in groups. But every time we recognize an individual child for his or her progress and achievements, we move closer to the long-term goal of schooling. That goal is to instill in each child the love of lifelong learning and the skills to pursue it. That's what FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) is all about!

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.