NICOLE SANTANA: My name is Nicole Santana. I’m currently a resource specialist. I started in general education about five years ago. I have my available ed credential. And I recently got into special ed, taking courses through CSUN to get my particular ed teaching credential, mild to moderate. So I’m doing an internship. So I’m working and earning my certification at the same time. I’ve been working with students from all different cultures and all different backgrounds this year. I’ve had both optimistic and some challenging scenarios with parents, mostly. The students don’t know the difference, but the parents sometimes don’t understand what an IEP is or the process. And if their student has a specific learning disability, it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with them. But if their experience hasn’t shown them what it means to be in special ed, sometimes they don’t want to be involved in the process. And they don’t want to accept that their student has this disability, so they won’t let their student continue with services or agree to eligibility.
But on the other hand, plenty of parents come in not knowing but very willing and open to learn and to see and want whatever help is out there for their students. So they’re able to sit down, and we talk. And we explain all the documents. And going over the IEP with parents who haven’t seen one before– maybe English is their second language, so all of the legal terms are kind of hard to understand. It’s a lengthy process, but I’ve had plenty of parents that want to sit down and learn because they’re in it for the interests of their child. And then also language issues– we’ve had a few students where they’ve been tested, and the school psychologist, whoever’s assessing them, is saying, well, it’s just a language issue. But we’re seeing other things going on. We see processing and different things. And so sometimes it’s hard to get them qualified for services because they say, well, it’s just because English is their second language. And I had a student this year that that happened to him. About two years in a row, he was tested, and finally, they removed that language issue and realized, you know what, he has else going on. And so now he’s getting help, and his needs are being met. And it’s just a much better place for him.
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