Iowa lawmakers must make special education, children's mental health a priority
Banning smartphones is worthy, but special ed the more important issue
The topic of special education didn’t come up in Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Condition of the State address on Jan. 14, but it should have.
The number of students receiving special education services nationwide has risen nearly 73% from 1990 through 2023, per the U.S. Department of education.
About 14% of Iowa’s 480,000 public school students receive special education services.
Special education services include a wide range of assistance such as help with physical disabilities, special instruction in reading, writing, and math, and coping with behavioral issues.
The Iowa Department of Education lists special education grades 5-12 as its greatest area of need for teachers.
The reality is all teachers are special education teachers regardless of what endorsements they pursue in college.
I started this with one class that was more than 60% special education students and a second class that was more than 70% special education students.
I co-teach those classes with two brilliant, high-skilled, and passionate special education teachers who use their expertise in both subject matter and the seemingly infinite range of learning challenges students face.
Without these partners, I would not meet the needs of any students in my classes.
Classroom behavior issues are one of the leading causes of teacher burnout. My experience tells me most behavior issues are rooted in learning challenges, childhood trauma, and mental health struggles.
I earned my master’s degree in education through a program at Drake University that focuses on students who make a mid-career choice to become a teacher.
The program allowed me to count the credits I earned as an undergraduate toward my endorsements in journalism and English.
I took the full slate of required education courses required by state law, including a survey course in special education.
The course covered special education law, instructional strategies for students with disabilities, behavior management, and teaching students with diverse learning needs.
I recall the class being engaging and interesting, but it proves woefully inadequate in practice.
I am in the middle of my third year as a teacher and even with support from fellow teachers, administration, and Heartland Area Education Agency, I am often overwhelmed by the diversity of needs that I frankly feel clueless as how to manage.
I attributed my frustration to my newness to the field, but when I talked to career teachers without a special education background, they all said the same thing: The took a similar survey course as mine and it was not enough.
I don’t want to suggest that every prospective teacher be mandated to take the full, rigorous spectrum of courses required to earn a special education endorsement.
However, Gov. Reynolds and lawmakers must consider requiring more coursework in special education.
Specifically, all teachers need:
• A course focused on childhood brain development through adolescence.
• Courses focused on diverse learning needs with special attention to the best instructional practices for autism spectrum disorder, attention deficient hyperactive disorder, and emotional and behavioral disorders.
• A full class on child psychology from early childhood through adolescence.
These changes would not magically solve the immense challenge of teaching students with high-support instructional needs.
But I submit a teacher with more education in these areas will be far better off than I and many of my colleagues were when we first stand before a classroom alone and are faced with the full bandwidth of behaviors and learning needs.
Iowa offers some incentives to become a special education teacher, including scholarship opportunities and loan forgiveness programs.
School districts often offer higher pay scales or signing bonuses for special education teachers.
These are all worthy and smart programs, but we, as a state, need to get smarter.
Every classroom teacher needs a broader knowledge base to meet the needs of students receiving special education services and help them achieve grade-level standards and beyond.
Further, lawmakers would do well to invest in school counselors.
The job has evolved from educators who helped students schedule classes and plan for college or careers to full-on mental health crises response teams.
My school has two top-tier counselors who work miracles with students who struggle with a full gamut of mental health needs and a nothing short of miracle workers.
Even with the support of therapists and other mental health services, they are overwhelmed.
Schools need full-time mental health professionals.
The legislature should consider programs such as loan forgiveness and incentives to practice in Iowa schools for college students studying counseling and other mental health fields.
Special education and school mental health improvements won’t get news media members’ chins wagging as much as a proposed smartphone ban in all classrooms — a worthy goal that ultimately treats a symptom rather than the root cause of declining literacy.
However, making Iowa’s special education and children’s mental health services needs a top priority, the lawmakers have a chance to make the lives of tens of thousands of Iowans better and build a brighter future.
Daniel P. Finney is a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, but don’t hold that against them. Please visit their page to view a full roster of writers and consider subscribing to their columns. Writing is hard work; people ought to get paid for it. If you enjoy it, throw them a couple of bucks. They earned it.
Great article so much truth in what you are saying. Thank you.
She couldn’t mention special ed; one of her criteria for privatization was essentially no rules. No obligation to educate special needs people; that would cut into their profits, and further, no auditing as to how they spend our tax dollars. Public Schools must be audited and cannot contribute to politicians but private schools can and likely are! But do we know? As such, and this is my opinion, it’s theft when the money goes to any school that promotes a religion. Part of Project 2025 is to eliminate public education by defunding it via vouchers and using the mantra ‘parental choice’. Banning cell phones is a good idea but it feels like a ‘sop’ to offset criticism of private schools receiving tax dollars specified for public schools.