What if my child is getting pulled out of their classroom too often for services?

Parents often feel torn between the need for services that are difficult to provide in a general education classroom and their dreams for including their child with their peers. Skills-based interventions might require 1:1 teaching in a quiet setting.

Make sure the pullout time will benefit your child, not that it will benefit the general education teacher to have your child out of the way. In addition, pay attention to IEP goals that need a lot of intensive 1:1 work because your child will likely get pulled out for those.

Here are some things you can ask during your IEP meeting if you're concerned that your child is spending too much time pulled out of their classroom:

• How will the pullout service benefit my child?
• What will they do for that time?
• What kind of specially designed instruction will be used?
• Is it possible for the service to be provided in the general education setting as push-in (meaning that it occurs in the general education classroom)?
• If it has to be a pullout, is it possible for the service to be provided outside the regular school day to minimize disruption to general education time?

For more tips, see our full article What to Do When “Inclusion” Isn’t Working.