*** Official School Baloney Interpreter *** -- from YourChild.org
By YourChild.org on
*** Official School Baloney Interpreter *** -- from YourChild.org
🔴 “WE DON’T SEE THAT AT SCHOOL”
👉 Translation: We’re discounting your input and avoiding responsibility
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🔴 “HE’S DOING FINE”
👉 Translation: We don’t want to increase services or change anything
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🔴 “HE’S MEETING HIS GOALS”
👉 Translation: The goals are probably too low, and we want to keep them
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🔴 “WE NEED MORE DATA”
👉 Translation: We’re stalling instead of making a change
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🔴 “LET’S GIVE IT MORE TIME”
👉 Translation: We don’t want to act right now
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🔴 “WE CAN TRY THAT”
👉 Translation: We don’t want to commit to writing it into the IEP
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🔴 “WE ALREADY DO THAT”
👉 Translation: We don’t want accountability or documentation
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🔴 “WE DON’T TYPICALLY DO THAT”
👉 Translation: We don’t want to set a precedent or allocate resources
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🔴 “THAT’S NOT HOW OUR PROGRAM WORKS”
👉 Translation: We’re prioritizing our system over your child’s needs
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🔴 “WE DON’T HAVE THE STAFF FOR THAT”
👉 Translation: We don’t want to allocate resources
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🔴 “THAT WOULD BE TOO RESTRICTIVE”
👉 Translation: We’re avoiding adding support (even if it helps him succeed in gen ed)
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🔴 “HE NEEDS TO ADVOCATE FOR HIMSELF”
👉 Translation: We’re shifting responsibility to the student
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🔴 “THIS IS A MIDDLE SCHOOL—EXPECTATIONS ARE HIGHER”
👉 Translation: We’re lowering support instead of increasing it
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🔴 “WE’RE PREPARING HIM FOR HIGH SCHOOL”
👉 Translation: We’re justifying reduced support
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🔴 “HE NEEDS TO STRUGGLE A LITTLE”
👉 Translation: We’re allowing failure instead of supporting learning
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🔴 “WE DON’T WANT HIM TO BECOME DEPENDENT”
👉 Translation: We’re limiting support prematurely
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🔴 “WE’LL MONITOR IT”
👉 Translation: We’re not changing anything right now
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🔴 “LET’S SEE HOW HE DOES”
👉 Translation: We’re delaying action
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🔴 “THAT CAN BE HANDLED INFORMALLY”
👉 Translation: We don’t want it written or enforceable
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🔴 “WE’LL SUPPORT HIM AS NEEDED”
👉 Translation: No defined plan, no accountability
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🔴 “WE DON’T THINK THAT’S NECESSARY”
👉 Translation: We don’t want to provide it
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🔴 “HE DOESN’T QUALIFY FOR THAT”
👉 Translation: We’re drawing a line—often prematurely
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🔴 “WE HAVE TO BE FAIR TO ALL STUDENTS”
👉 Translation: We’re prioritizing equity optics over individual need
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🔴 “WE CAN’T GUARANTEE THAT”
👉 Translation: We don’t want to be held accountable
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🔴 “WE DON’T WRITE IEPS THAT WAY”
👉 Translation: We don’t want specificity
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đź§ PATTERN TO REMEMBER
Almost all resistance falls into 4 buckets:
1. Delay → “more time,” “monitor,” “more data”
2. Deflect → “we don’t see it,” “he’s fine”
3. Deny → “not necessary,” “not how we do it”
4. Diffuse → “as needed,” “we’ll support him”
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Replies (2)
- Charlotte: “We don’t see that at school” used to make me feel like I was overreacting as a parent. Like maybe I was imagining things. But I live with my child every day. I see the struggle with homework, the frustration, the shutdowns. That disconnect is real, and it’s not okay to dismiss it.
- Real Ray C: I appreciate you breaking it down like this. It’s not that every school is bad, but the language can definitely be slippery. Once I started asking for things to be put in the IEP, the tone of meetings completely changed.