Page 34 - EdViewptsSpring2020

Building Independence for

Special Education Students

By Dana Blair, Ed.D., Director of Special Services; Maryelizabeth Tirone,
Supervisor of Special Services; Samantha Defilippo, Psychologist/BCBA;

Annemarie Hanley, BCBA; Jaclyn Little, BCBA, Marlboro Township Public
School District

In the world of Special termination and student independence For many school districts, this delicate
Education, it is imperative is the “ultimate goal of education” balance can be difficult to juggle as
consistent monitoring needs to take
(Halloran, 1993, p.214) for students.
that we give students Self-determination includes skills that place, and trust needs to be gained by
a Free and Appropriate empower individuals to control their all parties. As a result, school districts
lives (Field, Martin, Miller, Ward, &
can face the systemic problem of
Public Education (FAPE). Wehmeyer, 1998) and to “produce students receiving assistants for years
Ensuring that students have access to responsible, self-sufficient citizens who without any changes, data tracking, or
instructional assistants in order to ac- possess the self-esteem, initiative, and most significantly, students becoming
cess the curriculum or a less restrictive skills to continue individual growth” dependent on assistance without any
placement is often crucial. However, (Sarason, 1990 p. 163). Therefore, to plan to promote independence.
there is a fine line between exploring avoid potentially negative consequenc- In the summer of 2018, we had the
various personnel options for students es such as social isolation, the failure unique experience as both new Direc-
and stifling their independence. In to develop self-regulation behaviors, tor and Supervisor to the Marlboro
fact, often, when a special education and/or over-dependence on adults, the Township Public School District to do
student is struggling, the first instinct support of an instructional assistant what all new administrators do; watch,
is to add more personnel. However, in should be considered temporary and listen, and take an inventory. With the
the field of special education, self-de- should be regularly assessed. help of our Behaviorists, we realized

Educational Viewpoints -32- Spring 2020