Rich Henderson's Diary
The First 180 Days

Rich's Diary: PPTs

Week 35

What three letters are on most teachers' lips at this time of year? PPT, which stands for "planning and placement team." I learned that a PPT is a meeting where special education teachers, regular education teachers, parents, social workers, school psychologists, and administrators discuss the progress of a special education student. I also learned that the PPT participants review the academic and social goals that were established for a special education student at prior PPTs and set new goals for the student to reach with the assistance and guidance of the PPT team.

I clearly remember the PPT "season" last year. Even though I was an intern and did participate in the PPT meetings, I was called upon to substitute teach for each teacher who had to participate in those meetings. For weeks, I was running all over the school, spending two hours in one class, one hour in another, and the rest of the day in another. I was exhausted. Yet, as tired as I was, I clearly remember how drained some of the teachers looked after they emerged from their meetings. I was left to wonder, "What goes on in there?" Well, this year I did not have to wonder any longer. This week, I participated in my first series of PPTs.

I found two things that were very interesting about the PPT process. First, the amount of thought and discussion that the teachers put into each student's goals was much more than I had anticipated. The goals that are created are not the "fill in the blank" types often used for a variety of students. Teachers exhaustively consider and discuss each student's strengths, weaknesses, and challenges in order to develop goals that are individualized and attainable by the child.

The second item I found interesting was the large number of school resources provided to support the child's academic progress. Special education teachers, regular education teachers, paraprofessionals, reading teachers, writing teachers, counselors, speech therapists, and occupational therapists are some of the school personnel and support staff who assist each child. Various types of equipment, such as voice amplifiers, computers, and tape recorders are just a few of the resources used to help each child as well. The attitude is "whatever it takes."

Why do schools put in so much time and effort and provide so many resources for each special education student? The answer is very simple. No child, no matter what challenges he or she faces, can be allowed to fall through the cracks. Each special education child is given the assistance he or she needs to be on an equal footing with all the other children -- and to have an opportunity to succeed. That is what this week's PPTs exemplified to me.

Rich Henderson
Education World®
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