Teachers who lack confidence in their ability to meet the needs of students with disabilities are reluctant to take risks. They don’t want to be responsible for a lack of success on the part of the student. As a consequence, many teachers resist trying something new unless they are assured that it will be successful. This causes a lack of opportunity for the student:
Teachers who haven’t been exposed to [special needs] students think that everything they do should be successful. They don’t realize that at times they have to learn from mistakes and they can’t always be certain that things will turn out the way they want.
Methods and resource teachers frequently feel frustrated by the difference between what they know is possible in classroom instruction and what actually occurs. They are sometimes caught in an ethical dilemma when they become aware of classroom practices that may be detrimental to individual students:
The methods and resource teacher is not in a position of authority. We are trained in strategies for teaching students at different levels in the classroom. But we don’t actually have any authority to tell teachers, “This is what you must do.” We can’t mandate change. We can only suggest.
[Teachers] will say, “that’s a god idea”, but unless you’re right there, checking all the time, you can’t count on them doing it. I think things just fall by the wayside and if you’re dealing with a number of different students and a number of different teachers, it’s very easy to lose track. I find that frustrating. You are privy a lot of information you have to control over. You’re responsible for the kids; you know where the problem is; but you can’t do an awful lot.
