biology lessons for special education students

Special Educator Academy

Free resources, teaching science in special education.

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Science in the special education classroom can be one of the most interesting subjects to teach and engage students. You can do a lot of fun things with teaching science in special education, from nature walks to in-class experiments. It can also be one of the toughest areas to teach effectively for students with severe disabilities for a variety of reasons. When I asked for ideas from  Facebook  about new products you needed, science was one of the most frequent answers. I think this is because finding enough material at the right level to support the wide range of special education students that we teach can be really tough.

So many of you may have seen that I have started developing science units to try to provide some of the types of instructional materials that you need to create learning experiences in your special education program to help students master alternate curriculum goals as well as basic science skills. I’ve started with life cycles and will be moving on to habitats and other concepts. So in this blog post I wanted to share some elements of successful lesson plans that are important in teaching science concepts to our students, considerations in having evidence of mastery, as well as some other resources for them to learn and practice skills. These elements are vital for student success whether the student receives science instruction in the resource room or the general education classroom throughout the school year.

Meeting the Standards for Science in the Special Education Classroom

One of the areas that many of the special education teachers I work with have struggled with is introducing science concepts, typically drawn from the state curriculum or alternate / extended standards, to students with significant special needs. Most states now require that K-12 students have goals in their IEPs that address the state standards through either modifying grade level standards or applying alternative or extended standards specifically designed for special education. 

Science is one of the areas that are particularly addressed in some states and there are specific skills that have to be mastered to pass the alternate assessment. Science teachers must assure that we clearly know the standard and what is required–because it’s not always completely evident what specifically an individual student has to demonstrate to show mastery.

One of the things that I think is a really difficult issue I find in special education with all subjects, but particularly with science, is getting enough repetition for the students to truly master the concept. Typical students can learn from science experiments or activities that relate to the skill and they don’t need tons of practice to learn, for example, the butterfly life cycle. Students with special needs need high quality activities with a good bit of repetition to practice the skills they need to master as well as to truly understand the topic. In order to meet special education students’ needs, we must provide them with multiple opportunities to practice the science vocabulary and skills in the standards.

Variety of Presentation

Addressing the needs of students receiving special education services requires a variety of learning activities using different strategies. Because our students need so much repetition, special educators must present the material in a variety of ways to ensure student learning and keep them engaged. Think about how boring it would be if we just did one worksheet over and over of the life cycle of a butterfly (or any animal). Having a variety of materials that present the same material is a way to keep students engaged while presenting it to them multiple times to facilitate learning. For instance, in my butterfly unit I included:

• A PowerPoint of facts about butterflies, it can be printed as a pdf book or read on a tablet as well.
• Mini-books that students can color or take home to practice the stages of the life cycle as well as brief facts about them.
• Adapted books (or interactive books) that the students manipulate pictures and/or words to read about butterflies.
• Flip books that the students can refer to with information about each stage of the life cycle.
• Multiple ways to practice putting the life cycle together

In addition, you might want to include some crafts practicing the life cycle, like this one from OurScienceNature .  You can also find videos and experiments to supplement a variety of science activities on my Science in the Special Ed Class Pinterest Board.

Easy Ways to Demonstrate Mastery

Finally, particularly because we are often teaching the science standards as part of the IEP and/or alternate assessment, we need an easy way to demonstrate mastery. We don’t want to add something on that creates more work through data collection, so permanent product is a good way to go. For instance, in the butterfly unit I included a number of different ways students can demonstrate mastery depending on their skill level. There are worksheets for cutting and pasting the stages using pictures, using words and pictures, and using writing with picture cues.

So, interested in checking out the butterfly unit? Check out the video below and click the picture to check it out in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I will be creating more so if you have topics that you are interested in materials for, let me know and I’ll see if I can help!

Video of the Science in Special Education Butterfly Unit

Click the picture to the left to hop over to my TpT store to check out the Butterfly Life Cycle .  Looking for something with the Plant Life Cycle?  Check out this unit .

• Read more about: Curriculum & Instructional Activities

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Simple Science Curriculum for Special Education

If your class is anything like mine, you are constantly modifying and searching high and low for age appropriate on level curriculum. You probably spend most of your time searching for math and ELA, and science is often forgotten. I know in my class it was.

NOT ANYMORE. I started created the simple science curriculum in 2017 and it has been a best selling resource ever since!

The simple science curriculum includes Simple Science Comprehension, Simple Science Adapted Book Bundle, Simple Science File Folders, and supplemental Simple Science Experiments. All of the units focus on the same 6 topics. Matter, Simple Machines, Living/Nonliving, Hot or Cold, Planets, and Five Senses.

Each adapted books works on the sight word vocabulary for each topic, picture matching or matching picture to word. This built in differentiation works for every level in your classroom. For higher students, you can use the book as a reference guide for writing about the topic, while lower students can work on mastering matching and identifying words. The velcro pieces make it easy for students who are non-writers and have difficulty managing small pieces.

These file folders focus on the same 6 topics as the adapted books, but include 2 levels of folders for each. One level focuses on matching picture to picture, which gets your lower level students interacting with the material and becoming familiar with the language and images, the 2nd level focuses on matching picture to word, mastering vocabulary and building independence.

These comprehension sheets have really made this curriculum complete. It’s perfect to get higher level kids really interacting with text, making inferences, an using what they learned in the lessons to answer. It comes with 3 levels of passages and 3 levels of worksheets for each passage. The levels accommodate full sentence writers, beginning writers, and non writers with the picture comprehension option!

The fun stuff. We do a science experiment a week to reinforce topics, or just have some fun! We love talking about WHY the experiment worked or didn’t worked, listing our ingredients, and deciding what we need! This is even a reward for some kids!

This curriculum is seriously life changing, requires VERY little prep if you get the file folders and books ready to go before the school year, and will keep your kids ENGAGED learning grade level topics at their level.

Grab the Simple Science Curriculum Here on SSE Shop .

Grab the simple science curriculum here on tpt ., free download.

Want to build your resource library for free? Grab a free task box- real picture matching vegetables here !

Learn more about  Simple Self-Contained Setup 101®: the bingeable online course made specifically for self-contained special educators!  Reduce overwhelm and anxiety during back-to-school season with the proven methods I teach you in this course! Click  here  to learn more and join the waitlist now!

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Special Educator Survival Guide

Special Education Science Curriculum: Exploring Habitats & Environments

Picture this: a classroom filled with eager young minds, each unique, each exceptional. As a special education teacher, you hold the key to unlocking their potential. The journey begins with a captivating science curriculum designed for early elementary students. Today, we’re delving into the enchanting world of Habitats and environments, exploring how it can transform your classroom.

Understanding the What

In the world of special education, a tailored science curriculum is essential. The Habitats & Environments module focuses on the study of ecosystems, animal habitats, and the delicate balance of our planet’s natural world. This curriculum is specially adapted to meet the diverse learning needs of your students.

• FAQ: Q: Why is Habitats & Environments an ideal starting point for the year in special education? A: Habitats & Environments engage students with visually rich content, stimulating their curiosity. It provides a solid foundation for understanding our world, fosters observation skills, and encourages critical thinking.

How to Teach Habitats & Environments

Whole Group Activities: In a self-contained special education classroom, whole group activities are a great way to kick off the curriculum. Start with an engaging video or picture book about a specific habitat. Use real-world examples to ensure understanding. Discuss the importance of ecosystems and the interdependence of species.

Independent Activities: Empower your students with independent tasks. Offer a variety of hands-on experiences: observation journals, art projects, and interactive worksheets. This approach caters to individual learning styles and paces.

Where It Comes to Life

Your classroom is the stage for this exciting journey. Transform your space into an immersive learning environment. Create a ‘Habitat Corner’ with posters, models, and sensory elements that represent different ecosystems. For independent activities, set up stations that mimic diverse habitats, allowing students to explore and connect with the content.

Story: Imagine the delight on your students’ faces as they gather around a makeshift pond, complete with floating lily pads and toy frogs. They observe the habitat and record their findings in their journals. This experiential learning leaves a lasting impact, making abstract concepts tangible.

Why It Matters

Habitats & Environments is a fantastic starting point for special education teachers for several reasons:

• Inclusivity: It caters to students with various abilities and disabilities, promoting a sense of belonging and success for all.
• Real-world Application: It connects students to their environment, fostering a sense of responsibility and care for the planet.
• Hands-on Learning: The curriculum encourages active engagement, making it easier for students to grasp complex scientific concepts.
• Builds Essential Skills: From observation and recording to communication and teamwork, Habitats & Environments cultivates a range of skills critical for personal and academic growth.

Engage and Reflect

Engage your students with thought-provoking questions like, “Why do animals live in specific habitats?” or “How can we protect our planet’s delicate ecosystems?” Encourage them to share their thoughts and findings, promoting peer interaction and collaboration.

5 Key Benefits of Teaching Habitats & Environments

• Promotes inclusivity and accommodates diverse learning needs.
• Fosters a sense of environmental responsibility.
• Encourages hands-on, experiential learning.
• Develops a wide range of essential skills.
• Creates an engaging, dynamic learning environment.
• Q: Can I adapt Habitats & Environments for students with severe disabilities? A: Absolutely. Tailor the curriculum to suit each student’s needs. Use errorless activities, matching, task cards, adapted books, tactile materials, simplified content, and individualized goals to make it accessible.

Are you ready to embark on this exciting journey with your special education class? Don’t miss out on our yearlong science bundle! Connect with the ‘Cultivating Exceptional Minds Exclusive’ podcast for more insights and join ‘ Be The Exception in Special Education ‘ for a wealth of tips to grow as a teacher. Plus, grab your ‘Special Education Survival Guide’ freebie to supercharge your teaching journey. Special education science curriculum is all about creating magic in the classroom, and you have the power to make it happen!

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Special Needs for SPECIAL KIDS

How I Teach The Scientific Method To My Students in a Special Education Classroom

June 15, 2018.

Throughout my childhood, I learned to love science and engineering. I was well-versed in the scientific method as a way to question the world around me and test my ideas.

However, the crux of my own science education as an older student was that often, scientific experiments were written out for me on worksheets from textbook pages that were copied in the teacher’s lounge.

We followed the procedures laid out for us step-by-step, and were graded on, essentially, participation. The cognitive lift was low and so was my interest level.

If I didn’t get the “right” conclusion to an experiment, I would simply erase and correct the data table as my teacher reviewed the answers on the overhead projector. What this way of “learning” taught me was that failing to follow directions was a bad thing, and problem-solving through research and investigation was something saved for the kids that would one day be genius scientists finding cures for diseases.

Experiences like this alienated me from science until I realized that the scientific method could be used across subjects and facets of life. I now teach biology and environmental science to students with emotional disturbances and learning disabilities at Anacostia High School and I want each of my students to understand how useful the scientific method can be both in and out of the classroom.

By applying Summit Learning teaching practices, I’ve used a  classic classroom science experiment to make the scientific method understandable to all my students while putting them truly in charge of their own learning .  No more workbook worksheets, no more lectures.

In a traditional ecocolumn experiment , we glue together 2-liter soda bottles and add organic matter to model a pond complete with a fish in the “Aquatic Chamber”, the forest floor (referred to as detritus) in the “Decomposition Chamber”, and a sunlight-abundant ecosystem at the very top referred to as the “Terrestrial Chamber”.

When built correctly, students can observe cycles of matter, a live food chain, and  study how changes affect the biotic and abiotic components inside.

A Traditional Experiment that Missed the Point

Before using Summit Learning, my biology students in my special education classroom had experienced learning about ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles by building their own ecocolumns.

It was a fun project — students enjoyed observing the water cycle and drawing connections to the world around them. The students that kept their fish alive were proud of themselves and touted their ability to care for a pet. We bon ded over mistakes made, and students that yearned for hands-on activities got more than their fix with the help of a caulking gun.

Still, at the end of our project, I realized in exasperation that my students may have only learned how to glue two-liter soda bottles together! Looking back, I am sure they learned something more than that, but I’m not sure if that something was translatable to their everyday lives.

And, those real-world connections and cross-curricular skill sets are what our students urgently need to succeed in life after high school.

A Project-Based Learning Approach

These same connections and skill sets are what led our academy to implement Summit Learning this school year. Determined to make sure my students with various disabilities learned important life skills while taking my classes, I approached the project very differently.

In the Summit Learning version of the ecocolumn project, the objective wasn’t just to build an ecocolumn. It also included writing a lab report on our experiment. The framework for the report completely changed my approach to the project.

From research question and hypothesis all the way to data analysis and conclusion, building an ecocolumn wasn’t just a DIY project, it was about mastering the scientific method process.

Supporting Learning Through Customization

While the ecocolumn project in the Summit Learning Platform is comprehensive, the project in Summit Learning was written specifically for Advanced Placement students, not students in a special education classroom. So I delved into differentiation to make the project accessible for all learners.

For context, the students in my classroom entered the school year demonstrating large gaps in Content Knowledge. Non-readers to grade-level readers learn alongside each other. Our students are more often than not dealing with difficult circumstances outside of the classroom. To add to this, students didn’t know where to begin when it came to forming a hypothesis independently!

I needed to level those challenges by providing additional supporting material.

For students who were missing Content Knowledge, I made laminated biogeochemical cycle “cheat sheets” for students to look at and draw on with whiteboard markers as they discussed potential research questions and hypotheses that they wanted to base their studies around.

As we moved on to subsequent parts of the project, students began to recall and apply processes within biogeochemical cycles to their work without additional support. The tool was successful in helping students access the content they need, while not becoming a crutch as they continued on in the work we were engaging in.

I also made models out of two-liter soda bottles to show how to build the ecocolumn as well as what went into each chamber. Students could touch, take apart, and look at these models so that they could more independently construct their miniature ecosystems. I knew this would be one of the more helpful tools, as my students have shown an overwhelming interest in hands-on activities. Plus, models are accessible to most students, regardless of ability!

“A picture says a thousand words”, but tangible exemplars are way more fun for students (and me, too)! Check out what #biology students are building and testing hypotheses in for 4th quarter: pic.twitter.com/TWk0IzfmEI — Ms. Mus (@mollywmus) May 1, 2018

Demonstrating Mastery of Cognitive Skills through Workshops and Examples

Workshops were my final tool in solidifying student understanding of the scientific method. In my workshops, students are introduced to a skill, practice the skill with me, demonstrate the ability to produce work employing this skill, and then grade themselves or each other on said skill after independently producing their own work.

This follows the gradual release of responsibility instructional framework  — a way of teaching that is effective and puts the responsibility of independent, higher-order thinking on students.

For the ecocolumn project, I hosted small-group workshops on the following skills:

• Asking Questions (forming a research question)
• Hypothesizing
• Introductions
• Interpreting data
• Conclusions

For students who are frequently absent or those that want to move quickly through the project without workshops, they can demonstrate mastery by using a project exemplar on the board in order to see what I am looking for in their final products and move right into their work independently. Students even look at incorrect work with a Cognitive Skills Rubric so that they understand how I am grading their work, and what mastery looks like.

Building a Scientific Method Mindset

The ecocolumn project allows students to feel confident in their ability to create a question and test it. Because of  this, I have been able to talk to them about what science really is.

We talk about science as being a way to solve problems in the real world, like learning how to do laundry without turning your socks pink, or how to keep a job after making a mistake. We talk about how data doesn’t support initial hypotheses, just like we won’t always get the outcome we anticipate in a personal relationship.

These conversations result in more meaningful questions from students about their own observations from outside our classroom walls.

Because the scientific method is cyclical, just like life, students are learning how to problem solve for the rest of their lives. That is what science is all about, and it is an empowering experience for students.

Interested in learning more about how Summit Learning encourages a passion for science in students? Learn more about how Aspen Valley Preparatory Charter School grew student confidence in through science projects  and how its 6th grade students  used their skills to reduce their human footprint . 

enCORE Science Lesson Plans

TeachTown’s enCORE curriculum provides equitable, inclusive access to the general education curriculum with a K-12 standards-aligned and evidence-based adapted core curriculum . Read on to learn more about each segment within enCORE’s Science Lessons.

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Special Education Science Curriculum

Teaching science offers students the opportunity to develop an understanding of the natural world and it promotes curiosity to learn how and why things work.

enCORE Science, which is aligned with state and national science standards, is grounded in both inquiry-based learning and systematic, explicit instruction to teach key concepts.

Inquiry-Based Learning: Hands-On and Multisensory Science Experiences

In enCORE, inquiry-based learning typically includes hands-on activities and experiments to provide students with the multisensory experiences of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, or tasting the concepts in action. This multisensory learning supports students with different strengths and areas of need. Additionally, the text-based content (e.g., companion texts in middle school and high school, as well as some chapter books in elementary school) help students connect their reading to science-specific content and anchor their learning of science concepts in a meaningful way.

Systematic Instruction: Tailoring Science Education for Diverse Learners

Like all academic domains of enCORE, enCORE Science lessons are grounded in evidence-based instructional practices, including systematic, explicit instruction . Introducing new skills in small, bite-sized pieces supports complex learners by ensuring students receive multiple exposures to the new skill, prompting and regular feedback to avoid practicing incorrectly, and plenty of practice to reinforce new learning.

Science Lesson Plans

• View sample enCORE Elementary Science Lesson Plan
• View sample enCORE Middle Science Lesson Plan
• View sample enCORE High Science Lesson Plan 

All enCORE Science lessons were intentionally designed to incorporate high-priority vocabulary instruction at the beginning of the lesson and then build upon it throughout the lesson to provide students with repeated exposures to key words. For example, in Unit 62 of enCORE Middle School, the objective is to recognize examples of pure substances and mixtures. On the first page of the lesson plan, the following high-priority vocabulary words are identified:

If students use AAC devices, teachers are provided guidance to program the devices with these high-priority vocabulary words. 

Then, teachers are guided to practice constant time delay, which is an instructional practice that has been identified in formal research studies to support teaching science vocabulary. See lesson plan snapshot below for a peek into how constant time delay can be used to support teaching vocabulary.

All enCORE Science lessons are structured to flow through the gradual release of responsibility. This progression is noted within the print lesson plans as ‘Model, Lead, Test’ for Elementary and ‘Model, Guided Practice, Independent Practice’ for Middle and High School. This framework will likely be familiar to educators as the I Do, We Do, You Do model.

enCORE Elementary School Science Lesson Plans

Elementary science lesson plans are divided into three segments:

• Segment 1: Understanding Big Ideas
• Segment 2: Applying What We Know
• Segment 3: Making Connections

Core Vocabulary Development in Science: Building Conceptual Foundations

The Understanding Big Ideas segment begins by teaching core science vocabulary specific to the unit’s theme. For example, in Unit 17, the literature book is The Tortoise and the Hair. The science vocabulary concepts that relate to the themes of the book include the concept of speed. Target vocabulary words are slow and fast. To expand on the target vocabulary, teachers are provided with an explicit script on how to build science concepts with strategies like example and non-example instruction.

Hands-On Learning: Applying Science Concepts in Practice

In the Applying What We Know segment, students apply their knowledge of the science concepts and skills presented in the first segment. Through a hands-on activity, experiment, or project, students gain practical experience with the key concepts while working collaboratively and demonstrating their knowledge with their peers.

Enhancing Comprehension: Connecting Science Learning Through Newsletters

To help students Make Connections in segment three, teachers are provided a Science Newsletter to guide instruction and promote language and reading comprehension skills.

enCORE Middle School Science Lesson Plans

Middle school science lessons are comprised of 4 segments:

• Segment 1: Understanding the Big Idea
• Segment 2: Connecting to the Big Idea
• Segment 3: Investigate and Extend
• Segment 4: Applying What We Know

Anchored Instruction: Integrating Core Vocabulary with Companion Texts in Science Lessons

The lesson plans begin with anchored instruction that references the core science vocabulary specific to the unit’s companion texts. For example, in Unit 62, the companion text is States of Matter: From Solid to Smoke. The high-priority vocabulary words include atom, molecule, pure, substance, particle, and mixture. The science lesson plan instruction and activities match the high-priority vocabulary words of the companion text.

To expand on the target vocabulary, teachers are provided with an explicit script on how to build deeper understanding of key concepts through evidence-based instructional strategies and a variety of materials. The remaining segments of enCORE Middle School science lead students into deeper understanding of key concepts through hands-on activities, research, and experiments to help them organize, share, apply, and generalize what they have learned.

enCORE High School Science Lesson Plans

High school science lessons follow comprised of 5 segments:

• Segment 1: Introducing the Vocabulary
• Segment 2: Understanding the Big Ideas
• Segment 3: Connecting the Big Ideas
• Segment 4: Investigate and Extend
• Segment 5: Applying What We Know

Similar to middle school science, high school science lesson plans begin with anchored instruction to connect to the core science vocabulary specific to the unit’s companion texts and to put new learning in context of students’ everyday lives. Lessons then progress to introduce core vocabulary and concepts and connect the target vocabulary to the unit’s companion texts. For example, in Unit 93, teachers are guided to anchor instruction this way:

Anchor Instruction for All Students

Before starting the lesson, begin with anchored instruction by referring to the Companion Text for Unit 93, Lesson 1 in Science.

This week, we will be reading Unit 93 Lesson 1 Science Companion Text. The subtitle of this companion text is Photosynthesis, and we will be learning more about how plants take in water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to make food. The cells in a plant’s leaves contain organelles called chloroplasts, which is where photosynthesis takes place. Is the green pigment inside of the chloroplast called the nucleus or the chlorophyll? Give students time to respond. Write “chlorophyll” on the Magnetic Whiteboard. That’s right! Chlorophyll is the green substance in plants that absorbs light energy during photosynthesis. Let’s learn more about photosynthesis!

Guiding High School Science Learning with Flexibility and Depth

Vocabulary words are introduced through Constant Time Delay or System of Least Prompts. Throughout all instruction, teachers are provided with detailed scripts for delivery instructions. Scripts are designed to be a helpful tool to keep instruction grounded in evidence-based practices while allowing for flexibility to meet and respond to the needs of students. The remaining segments of enCORE High School Science lessons lead students into deeper understanding of key concepts through hands-on activities, research, and experiments to help them organize, share, apply, and generalize what they have learned.

enCORE Lesson Plans:

Click on a subject area to learn more.

English Language Arts     Math    Science      Social Studies

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Using Science Experiments in a Special Education Classroom

Science experiments are a fun, engaging way for students to explore the world around them while also practicing reading, writing, and math skills without realizing it.

Science doesn’t have to be boring, it can be fun! And science doesn’t only have to happen during your science block or in the general education classroom – you can bring the excitement to your special education classroom too!

>> Grab 16 visual science experiments here . <<

Science experiments for special education.

As teachers, we know that students learn best when they are involved in their learning. But when you have multiple students in your classroom with varying grade levels and instructional levels, how do you plan it?

And how do you know which science experiment to do? What supplies do you need? How much do you prep ahead of time? And how do I do this without spending more time and money on the supplies?

All very great questions – let’s get started then!

How to add science experiments to your lesson plans with ease

Step 1 – Look at your curriculum, for all the content areas. What are the standards you’ll be teaching this week, month, marking period or semester? Write those down. You’re basically going to create a graphic organizer for yourself.

There are so many ways for you to connect science into your math and ELA block. For example: if your math lesson is about measurement and it’s autumn, you could add in a pumpkin science experiment for math – whether it’s counting seeds, measuring volume or weight, measuring circumference… it’s all there in that one science experiment integrated into the math lesson!

Step 2 – Once you have step 1 completed, think about the time of year you’ll be teaching that topic or standard. It could be related to the season or a specific topic.

Here is an example:

• Standard: measurement. When: February. Integrations could be: Valentine’s Day… see this lesson here .

Step 3 – Set up the basics of your lesson plan. You know the standards, you know the learning objective, you know what the content is, and you know what you’ll be teaching. Write it all down. Then you can go back in and fill it in with more.

Let me show you my science experiment lesson plans (which are included in this resource ):

Step 4 – Get all of your supplies ready. Most times, you’ll have a lot of the supplies for science experiments already in your classroom… popsicle sticks, markers, straws, Dixie cups. And if you don’t have them, ask your teacher neighbor or teacher down the hall – more than likely, someone in your building has the one supply you don’t and is willing to share.

Step 5 – Teach the lesson!

When you’re thinking about science experiments, there are also some other things to keep in mind.

• Make sure you have graphic organizers that students can use during the experiment. Anchor charts are also a great addition to these lessons.
• Give students an experiment reflection.
• Introduce all of the science experiment materials to your students prior and explain what each item does. This could be a beginning of the year lesson in itself for all of those science lab instruments.

Here’s what teachers are saying about our visual science experiments:

My kids have so much fun doing hands on experiments like these and these made it so easy to plan them and have more fun engaging with them during it! These are perfectly planned and wonderfully easy to use! Your kids will have fun and so will you! Amelia B., Middle School Special Ed Teacher

This is a fantastic resource with lots of options to do with a wide variety of abilities and students. Each week we will do one experiment on “fun friday” since we do not have much time in our days to set specifically to science, my students loved it! Emily G, 4th grade teacher

My students love to do these experiments and I love that they aren’t super expensive, super messy, or super intensive to prep. Very satisfied! Elizabeth H., Elementary Special Ed Teacher

What is your favorite science experiment to do with your students? Share it with us in the comments below!

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Especially Education

Adapted high-quality curriculum to help special education students succeed in the classroom

Hands-On Science in the Special Education Classroom

April 19, 2016

As a special education teacher, I know the challenge of differentiating instruction.

While my district provides a specialized reading and math curriculum for special education classrooms , they are seriously lacking in the science and social studies department.

“Oh, just take what the grade level is doing and modify that,” I was instructed , as a general education teacher handed me a 6-page multiple choice test to review as a guideline.

I will tell you this, though: one can only adapt the Declaration of Independence so much.

Made For Me Literacy creates curriculum for a whole month.

Differentiating Curriculum is Time-Consuming

I would spend hours planning my lessons and nearly twice the amount of time searching for resources and making accommodations and modifications to everything. It was truly exhausting.

The sole purpose of my TPT store is to provide teachers with resources that have already been adapted and meet the needs of their students.

I take the prerequisite skills needed to master grade-level standards and provide you with engaging, hands-on activities that make learning exciting and appropriate.

This week I tested out one of my science resources on magnets.

My students LOVED them.

And I’m not just saying that because I spent two weeks manipulating little boxes in PowerPoint and downloading more clip art than I should have.

I’m saying this because my kids were participating.

Hands-On Science Curriculum Kids Love

My students were excited to make predictions with their table tent prediction cards.

They were dashing around the room to test the magnetic properties of anything and everything in the classroom.

Most importantly, they were the little scientists I knew they could be and were accessing the grade-level curriculum in a way that best met their needs.

I love science and am so happy I found a way to make my students care even just a little bit more!

below are a few more in the Especially Education “All Sorts of Science” series

Click below to see all my TpT science downloads.

About michaela lawrence.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been drawn to people with special needs. It makes me happy to watch my students grow and progress with all their hard work. I truly believe I was put on this planet to work with these children.

If you’ve seen my posts recently, you may be thinking, “wow, Michaela sure has been posting a lot about her projects and activities! But why?”

Well, as a special education teacher in a self-contained classroom, I know how challenging it can be for my students to access the grade-level curriculum. Resources are limited and can require hours worth of accommodations and modifications.

The intention behind my TPT store is to provide teachers with adapted teaching materials that focus on the prerequisite skills needed to master grade-level standards and provide engaging, hands-on activities that make learning exciting and appropriate.

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Valerie Cox

7 Ideas for Making Science Fun for Kids with Special Needs

Science is everywhere in the world around us, and it’s important to help all children find joy in science. It can be tricky finding ways to help kids with special needs engage in learning about science. However, there are easy ways to work around accessibility and sensory challenges to make science activities fun for every child. 

Thinking outside the box and tailoring science activities to fit children’s specific needs are key ways to ensure that everyone will have fun. Read more below on ways to help children with special needs engage in science-related learning and activities.

1. Modify experiments to fit sensory needs

Performing science experiments is a fun way to explore science, but children won’t enjoy the experiments if they feel discomfort doing them. The good news is, many experiments can easily be modified to fit sensory needs.

Fingerprint Balloon

Teach your child about our individual uniqueness with this experiment. Color your child’s finger (or your own) with a marker and press it down on a balloon. After you blow the balloon up, your child will be able to see an enlarged fingerprint which is a great introduction to fingerprints and DNA.

Walking Water

Help your child learn about capillary action. Fill cups with water and use food coloring to make each cup a different color. Next, place folded paper towels into each so each cup is connected to another color. As time passes, the colored water will travel up each paper towel and into the next cup. 

2. Learn about scientists who overcame obstacles

Help your child learn about scientists who overcame obstacles to change the world with their scientific discoveries. Alexander Graham Bell had dyslexia , Thomas Edison had hearing loss and Nikola Tesla had OCD. Show your child that everyone has something to offer to the scientific community and can make a difference.

3. Experiment with seasons

During the spring, you can plant flowers with your child and watch them grow. In the summer, you can use the hot temperatures to monitor how quickly water evaporates or try the popular trick of frying an egg on the sidewalk. 

In the fall, experiment with pumpkins . During the winter months, melt snow to see how much water is actually in snow or chart the weather to study trends.

4. Build with building blocks

Not only do building blocks help with counting, sorting, and motor skills, but this STEM activity is a fun way for children to learn about engineering and architecture. As you help your child build different creations, you can talk about the importance of having structural support.

5. Spend time exploring nature

Exploring nature is a wonderful way for your children to learn more about science. Many parks have paved walking trails to make nature more accessible for everyone, and this is a great way for children to learn more about the plants, trees, and wildlife local to your area. 

If your child loves animals, you could visit a local farm . Many stables offer programs that allow everyone to participate in riding horses.

6. Tailor your activities to their interests

One of the easiest ways to make science fun is to tailor your activities to your child’s interests. If your child enjoys playing with cars, you could build a racetrack to learn about physics. If your child likes learning about space, you could build a rocket or learn about key figures in space exploration. 

Once you find a scientific aspect that your child enjoys, you can visit the library to find books on the topic or see if any local museums have exhibits or programs.

7. Allow your child to help you in the kitchen

From mixing ingredients to understanding the states of matter to learning about the importance of using the correct measurements, so many science lessons can be learned in the kitchen . Even simple tasks like preheating the oven, stirring ingredients, and rinsing items provide the opportunity to learn more about science.

Valerie Cox is a contributing writer for LOC Scientific .

WRITTEN ON February 25, 2021 BY:

Valerie Cox is a contributing writer for LOC Scientific. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, playing with her dog, and volunteering in her local community. https://www.locscientific.com/

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Explore biology curriculum.

Description

A standards-based curriculum for high school students to go beyond the basics of biology

The Explore Biology Curriculum is a full-year biology course for high school students with limited reading abilities, including those with intellectual disability or autism.

The curriculum has six main components: Student Book, Student Workbook, Instructor�s Guide, Reference Guides, Study Cards, and Lab Materials.

The Student Book has 11 chapters, including a supplementary chapter. The chapters cover everything from ecology to complicated cellular processes, and even genetics. The supplementary chapter is a review of Attainment�s Explore Life Science. The curriculum covers crucial biological concepts, regardless of complexity, but presents them in a way that students can grasp. Each page is heavily illustrated with about 60 words per page so it can be easily read aloud to nonreaders. All chapters follow the same template: title page, four Big Ideas, major illustration, eight vocabulary words, chapter overview, topic pages, an In Focus topic, hands-on lab lesson, and a quiz. Important concepts learned in the book are often reinforced in many places to increase student understanding.

The Consumable Student Workbook corresponds to the Student Book and reduces teacher prep time. The workbook condenses all of the student activities from the Student Book into a consumable option. With this new consumable book, students have the opportunity to keep and share their accomplishments with peers, parents, and instructional staff.

The Instructor�s Guide provides detailed lesson plans for all 82 lessons. Each lesson covers two-four pages in the Student Book. The Instructor�s Guide gives talking points that relate to the topics. These add more information to a topic and ensure the lesson takes an appropriate amount of time. Ideally, a talking point leads to small group discussions or spurs other ideas.

Four Reference Guides are included and serve different purposes. Write About It functions as a lesson adaptation for a component of the quiz. Animations serve as a review. Special Molecules and Activities function as lesson extensions. The Activities reference guide has activities that help students grasp complicated topics.

Lab Materials are used for the Lab lesson in each chapter. Most labs have a component that is provided in the lab materials. Many of the labs use special cards for the activity. A high-quality Animal Cell Model is also included as a great hands-on tool to teach about cells!

Study Cards for every vocabulary word and Big Idea help with review. Vocabulary cards can be used for quiz and whenever the word is covered in the text.

Lastly, a flash drive provides PDFs of the Student Book pages, lab materials, term tests, reference guides, animations, and an Explore Biology image library. This image library can be used to create communication pages for students who are nonverbal.

The Curriculum includes: Student Book, consumable Student Workbook, Instructor�s Guide, 1 set of Reference Guides, 1 set of Study Cards, and 1 set of Lab Materials.

• Publisher: Attainment Company
• Grade Level: 9-12
• Item #: EX-B10W
• Availability: In Stock

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Features and Benefits

• A logical next step after Attainment�s Explore Life Science
• A full-year biology course for high school students with an intellectual disability or autism
• Eleven chapters comprise the curriculum, including topics like Cells and DNA, Photosynthesis, the Immune System, and Reproduction
• A supplementary chapter is included that reviews the basics of biology

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NGSS: A Case for Special Education Inclusion

• Jun 10, 2019

The NSTA Press publication, NGSS for All Students: O.Lee, E. Miller, R Januszyk (Eds.) highlights the importance of providing high-quality science education for all, including students with disabilities. After teaching together for nearly 28 years, one as a Special Education Teacher, the other as a General Education 8th-Grade Science Teacher (both CA NGSS Early Implementers), we have gained some insights into how the shifts demanded by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) make a rigorous science curriculum accessible to a wide range of students. The phenomenon based, three-dimensional learning of the NGSS provides students with a rich, real-world context that can put even abstract science concepts within reach.

While not the case in all California School Districts, at McCaffrey Middle School in the Galt Joint Union Elementary School District, all 147 special education students are mainstreamed into the regular general education science classes. This came about as a direct result of special education teachers advocating vigorously and continually for that outcome. Throughout the day, approximately 22 special education students are mainstreamed into one of the 8th-grade general education NGSS science classes. Their classifications range from Resource Specialist Program (RSP), Emotional Disturbance (ED), to Special Day Class (SDC). While benefiting all students, this article will focus on the SDC student experiences in the NGSS classroom, components of NGSS that are particularly valuable, and interventions with the SDC students that can help them get the most out of their science experience.

Phenomena Driven Instruction - Video

• humpback whales lunge feeding off the coast of California
• mud sliding down a hill in California
• an unknown fossil
• layers of rock in a canyon

First-Hand Experiences:

• hot soda collapsing when placed in cold water
• eclipse of the sun

These are just some of the phenomena used in the 8th-grade science class to introduce NGSS Learning Sequences. Students make observations of a phenomenon, record their observations and questions in their science journals and share these observations with partners. The special education teacher guides her students through the individual components of the process, but since all students begin by engaging with a phenomenon with which they are unfamiliar, all students can contribute their unique perspectives to pair group and class conversations. And, because the phenomena are concrete, real-world events instead of abstract concepts, it sets students on a path to success right from the start. The real-life phenomenon is something that the special education students can relate to versus seeing a picture in a book.

Recently, working in pairs, the 8th graders placed sand onto plastic wrap that was stretched over a bowl. Students were encouraged to, without touching it, make loud noises near the sand. They could yell, hit pencils against plastic tubs, snap their fingers, whatever they wanted (within reason). All students, including all designations of special education students, were able to come up with ways to make noise. While all students were able to see the sand jump, students used a variety of ways to communicate what they saw happening. The special education teacher worked with some of her students individually to help them describe what they saw, while other special education students talked with their student partners and then wrote down their observations. In the end, all students were able to participate in the investigation experience and have their observations validated and recorded in their Science Journals. Each larger group of four students shared out to the entire class what they observed and one question they had.

Engaging in the Science and Engineering Practices

The NGSS provide opportunities for all students to develop the skills of a scientist through the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs). Often, students partake in these practices as a group. While planning and carrying out investigations, students in a group can each have a specific job for which they alone are responsible. For students with disabilities, having a role to play in the overall success of their classmates allows them to develop their cooperative group skills and feel useful. The physical manipulation of materials used in investigations provides kinesthetic, memorable experiences that students can draw on later in the Learning Sequence and during assessments. General education students also benefit in that they can see students with disabilities contributing to the overall success of the group. While participating in an activity where students worked to investigate the effect of the slope of a surface on the speed of an object, student jobs were as follows:

While students develop and use models to show their understanding of phenomenon, students with disabilities gain valuable experience listening to the ideas of their classmates while also providing their own input. It’s during these conversations that students realize that no individual person has all the knowledge, but that they each have some. Sensemaking is built by a community of students which includes the special education students. When groups share their models to the class, students with disabilities can help their group (sometimes with the assistance from their classmates or the special education teacher) by sharing in some of the speaking responsibilities. General education science teachers should be strategic in their placement of special education students in groups. It is preferable to place them with students who are willing to help when needed while still allowing the special education students to do what they can independently. This also challenges the special education students to not always rely on the special education teacher for direction. While constructing explanations, students can start by using their own words – not concerning themselves with academic vocabulary. More specific vocabulary is provided later once meaning is made and students have something more to which they can connect the vocabulary. On more than one occasion, students have encouraged the special education students to take the primary lead during their oral presentations, promoting and assisting when needed.

Complementary Strategies to NGSS

While mainstreaming students with disabilities into general NGSS science classrooms is the goal, the special education teacher’s role remains to help these students achieve at their highest level possible. The nature of the NGSS classroom provides a robust environment that these teachers can draw upon when working with the students one on one. Special education students may have auditory or visual processing problems which allows access to the concepts although it may take longer for processing. In addition, essential questions around phenomenon may have multi-faceted answers. The special education teacher can help her students make sense of the phenomenon by accessing the experiences the students have had in science class. While multiple layers of experiences may be provided in the NGSS science class, the Special Education Teacher can provide additional experiences to her students after class in smaller groups that meet the specific IEP (Individualized Education Program) needs of the students. These may include additional videos, group discussions, computer simulations, or modified text.

While this article certainly does not exhaust all of the ways students with disabilities gain valuable experiences in NGSS classrooms, we hope that it inspires science and special education teachers to consider how they might, if not already, include their populations of special education students in similar classes.

By including all students in NGSS general education classes, you allow all students access to rich science curriculum which will help them make sense of the world around them.

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Written by Heidi Freedman

Heidi Freedman is a Special Education Teacher, McCaffrey Middle School, Galt, CA, is a CA NGSS Early Implementer and member of CSTA. She can be reached at [email protected].

Written by Lisa Hegdahl

Lisa Hegdahl is an 8th-grade science teacher at McCaffrey Middle School in the Galt Joint Union Elementary School District; a CA NGSS K-8 Early Implementer; and Past President of CSTA. She can be reached at [email protected] .

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For educators, keeping a classroom organized and structured can be difficult. For special education teachers, it can sometimes seem impossible. Teacher lesson plans help educators enter a class prepared with objectives and strategies for their goals. However, special education requires a lot of extra effort, changing plans when they go awry, helping students struggling to comprehend material and working hard to achieve the main objectives.

While many websites offer teacher lesson plans, some are better than others for finding lesson plan ideas and building upon them. After special education teachers develop their teaching style, understand their students’ capabilities and craft realistic goals, they can create their own lesson plans that fit the class’s specific needs and they can use the Internet to help get them started on preparing the right lesson plans.

Creating special education lesson plans

While many lesson plans can be used universally, special education requires a bit more crafting. Even the best special education lesson plans will be catered to a specific class style and level of development. Each teacher must do some added work to decide what parts of the lesson plan need to be adjusted for the class as a whole.

Certain students will also require varying levels of attention in their assignments. Special education teachers know how important it is to individually work around their student’s abilities and lesson plans can incorporate different approaches for specific students.

Learning from experience

Special education teachers learn a great deal from their experience in handling each class. They might utilize some of their past experiences years later with similar students and have new ways of handling difficult situations.

A special education lesson plan might seem like a disaster the first time around, but as the teacher redevelops the outline based on what events occurred, he or she can better prepare for where the objectives did not come through and how assignments and instructions could be better explained.

Where the lesson plan ends

Lesson plans are a crucial part of any teacher’s approach to the classroom. However, they are just one added tool in the educator’s belt. A great lesson plan can help special education teachers maintain better control of their classroom with clearer objectives and purposeful assignments.

As the course unfolds, teachers can make adjustments and rework their lesson plans to accommodate their students’ needs. While a lesson plan may work well with one class, the next year it may bring about a completely different result. Teachers must not get discouraged and instead use their own experiences and the lesson plans of other educators to keep changing their work and preparing for each new class.

Online teacher lesson plans

Technology has embedded itself into nearly every aspect of education. Today, teachers can find lesson plans online to help them get a jump start on the course or compare how others are approaching the curriculum. Many websites showcase free lesson plans and some include categories for special education. Here are some popular websites for finding free teacher lesson plans in special education:

• Teacher Planet
• Teachers.net
• TeAchnology

The importance of top quality

Every teacher knows that the quality of a lesson plan is determined by how well it can be followed during a course. Top-end materials yield more engagement from students who will better follow handouts and assignments and show more interest in the studies.

While there are many online lesson plans available for free on the Internet, another option is to purchase them at sites like TeachersPayTeachers, which lets educators upload and sell their own lesson plans, prompting them to put more effort into their work and allowing other teachers to buy, review and rate each lesson plan.

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Law aiming to protect teachers could harm students with disabilities, opponents claim

Advocates say that the law will provide protections and support for teachers..

(Kyle Green | Associated Press file photo) Teacher Abi Hawker leads preschoolers in learning activities at Hillcrest Developmental Preschool in American Falls, Idaho, on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. A grassroots effort to support children and families led the town to rally around a simple mantra — “read, talk, play.” The town has seen improvements in preschool access and kindergarten readiness.

Parents and disability rights advocates say they fear an incoming law will further isolate students with disabilities from their classmates, and possibly violates current federal policy.

But lawmakers and education leaders who support the new law say it will help better protect teachers in the classroom.

Known as HB347 during the 2024 legislative session, the law would require schools and local education agencies — such as school districts — to provide a safe, learning environment for teachers, staff and students.

Such an environment, the law states, should be free of predictable threats of “serious bodily injury.” The environment should also be a place where students’ education is not “disrupted by a pattern of behavior” that interferes with classroom instruction. And it should be an environment “free from repeated verbal or physical sexual harassment or sexual assault.”

Under this part of the law, scheduled to go into effect on July 1, students found to have violated those policies could potentially be removed from classrooms.

In March, the Disability Law Center sent a letter to Gov. Spencer Cox, urging him to veto HB347, arguing that it would further isolate students with disabilities from their peers “by suggesting they present a danger to others and/or are more disruptive than other students.”

The letter also argued the bill would make it difficult for schools to follow the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, which could “lead to unnecessary litigation.”

“HB347 seems to require unilateral placement changes for students who are disruptive, among other things, in direct conflict with provisions of the IDEA,” the letter stated, “because it requires schools to provide an ‘education to all students ... in the least restrictive environment possible that does not result in a pattern of behavior that interferes substantially and materially with the instruction of other students in the classroom.’”

Opponents question the bill’s purpose

Nate Crippes, public affairs supervising attorney for the Disability Law Center, said he is concerned about the law’s language, specifically where it states that classrooms would have to be free from disruptions.

He questioned what would happen to a student who had Tourette’s Syndrome, or who is stimming — repeatedly making the same movements or sounds — in situations where their classmates may not mind it as much.

“Once we start to segregate and separate people with disabilities, I think it perpetuates that stigma, that cycle of discrimination,” Crippes said. “If we start doing it at such a young age, we’re keeping that stigma and that cycle alive.”

Crippes added that he wonders what would happen to a child who is disruptive in a self-contained classroom with other students with disabilities.

“If you are too disruptive, where are they going to send them? Home? Are we just going to say students that leave can’t come to school anymore? Because that’s what would be the end result,” Crippes said.

North Ogden parent Kim Garrett told lawmakers in February that she has a son with Down syndrome and autism, and that the then-bill would hinder his right to “learn alongside neighbors and friends.”

Those are “kids that know how much he loves Chick-Fil-A and all things Disney,” Garrett said. “He deserves to go to the same school as his little sister and best friend.”

Crippes also questioned the new law’s purpose, due to federal regulations already in place for students with disabilities that may be disruptive in classrooms.

According to federal law , school personnel can remove a child with a disability from a classroom “who violates a code of student conduct from their current placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting, another setting, or suspension, for not more than 10 school days.”

“Why wouldn’t we just follow the processes available that we are aware of?” Crippes said.

Advocates say it will give rights for teachers and students

On the other hand, HB347′s original sponsor, Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, said that the bill is meant to provide protections and rights for teachers and the other students in a classroom.

Ward made the hypothetical argument that when “unhappy” parents of a student with disabilities take a school district to court, a teacher who may have been injured “has no legal right” to say they’ve been attacked, since school districts have governmental immunity — that they can’t be sued for damages incurred at school.

Additionally, Ward said, if a student, for example, is being sexually harassed by another student with an Individualized Education Program , or IEP, the district “will correctly say” that it’s doing the best it can.

The teachers and parents are told “you will just need to submit to this cause, because this party can and has sued and you can’t sue,” Ward said.

“I believe in that federal right. I’m not against that right. I believe that that’s important for those [students with disabilities],” he said. “I was just trying to define some basic rights for the other groups, and to ask the school district to honor them.”

While he said he supports the federal regulations for students with disabilities, Ward also referenced a conversation he had with a father, who said his daughter had class canceled multiple times because a student who was throwing things around the classroom.

“The principal couldn’t help him, because his daughter doesn’t have a right to not have her class canceled over and over again,” he said. “One student in that class has been granted rights, … but no one else has the right to say, ‘Don’t I have a right to an education if the class is canceled two times every week?’”

Ward said the bill, while it is “a pretty weak protection,” asks school districts to prevent those situations from happening in the first place.

And those protections are what teachers have been seeking, Utah Education Association policy and research director Jay Blain told lawmakers in February.

Blain said the union surveyed over 3,000 teachers before the legislative session. Their top priority: Wanting more resources to deal with disruptive behavior in classrooms, which has become “a very serious concern for educators,” he said.

“Teachers care deeply about their students, they care deeply about how to manage behaviors in their classrooms,” Blain said. “But when they’re being physically assaulted or hit, punched, bitten, other things like that, it’s a serious issue.”

Blain said in February that for anyone to say the incoming state law would violate federal law, “I don’t think anybody really can predict what may happen.”

More resources for special education

In place of the law, Crippes said he would rather see “more resources being put into schools to say, ‘How can we better support students with disabilities?”

The DLC’s letter stated such support could include increasing pay for paraeducators and funding “co-teaching models” — where a general education teacher works alongside a special education teacher in a classroom.

Ward said he would and has been in favor of those resources, but that they would not be “a solution to the problem.”

Crippes said the new law isn’t a solution, either.

“What they’re pushing is more segregation,” Crippes said, “and more pushing students with disabilities out of the classroom and trying to say that somehow they’re the problem.”

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LISTEN: Students speak out about special education

This episode of P.S. Weekly dives into New York City’s notoriously complex special education system, which serves 1 in 5 students — or more than 200,000 children.

Students with disabilities have the right to customized support — listed on individualized education programs, or IEPs, or 504 plans — that spell out what accommodations they need, from smaller classes to frequent breaks. But securing a learning plan, and getting the services listed on it, can be an uphill battle .

Our first segment focuses on those challenges through the eyes of two Beacon High School students who have a common accommodation: extra time on tests. Beacon senior Zoe Lazaros tells student producer Ava Stryker-Robbins that they faced a monthslong process to get that accommodation.

“I would not have gotten through my junior year without it,” Zoe says. “But I’m now realizing, like, so many people don’t have access to therapy or a psychiatrist or a parent that will stand up for them. And even with that, it was almost impossible for me to get [a 504 plan].”

Stryker-Robbins also digs into the stigma and trade-offs students can face when they try to use extra time, including missing out on classroom instruction.

Next, student producers Santana Roach and Dorothy Ha explore the broader experiences of students with disabilities through short-form interviews at Frederick Douglass Academy II Secondary School and Stuyvesant High School.

“Not everyone wants to be treated, like, differently,” one student says. “No matter of your race, or gender, or even if you have autism.”

P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify . Be sure to drop a review in your app or shoot an email to [email protected] . Tell us what you learned in this episode or what you’re still wondering. We just might read your comment on a future episode.

P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between Chalkbeat and The Bell . Listen for new episodes Wednesdays this spring.

Read the full episode transcript below

Sabrina: Hey listeners, save the date! We’ll be having a virtual Zoom event on April 17 from 5-6 p.m.

It’s called Inside P.S Weekly: Meet the students and the adults behind the new podcast.

Join us on Zoom and learn how the podcast is made, how it can be used as a teaching tool, and how you could potentially have your voice heard on the show.

Check out the link in our show notes!

Bernie: Welcome to PS Weekly… the sound of the New York City School System. I’m your host this week, Bernie Carmona. I’m an 11th Grader at The Beacon School in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan. I’m very excited to be hostingBernieing the third episode of P.S. Weekly! P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between Chalkbeat New York and The Bell.

Today we’re diving into an important issue… the struggle students with disabilities face in getting accommodations from their schools.

Bernie: But first the Chalkbeat Bulletin….

Mike: I’m Mike Elsen-Rooney, a reporter with Chalkbeat. Here’s a quick recap of the week’s biggest education stories.

A 4.8-magnitude earthquake shook New York City last Friday. Most schools were unscathed, but the gym at J.H.S. 218 in East New York, Brooklyn, was damaged and is temporarily closed. Officials said the rest of the building is safe.

Mike: Looming budget cuts this summer could jeopardize the jobs of 100 Education Department coordinators working in family homeless shelters. Advocates and families say that would be devastating when there’s a record number of homeless families and high rates of chronic absenteeism.

And there are 9 new public schools set to open in New York City this year. They include a new Bard Early College High school in Brooklyn and a high school in Queens focused on the motion picture industry.

Mike: To stay up to date on education news throughout the week, head to Chalkbeat.org/newsletters and sign up for the New York daily roundup.

Bernie: More than 200,000 students in New York City’s public schools have a disability classification–that’s larger than the ENTIRE city of Syracuse. These students are guaranteed a plan that lays out exactly what accommodations they need to learn; from a smaller class size to physical therapy. They’re called Individualized Education Programs–or IEPs. Others might have what’s known as a Section 504 plan.

504 plans are for students with disabilities who don’t need specialized instruction, but STILL need accommodations to learn. These accommodations can include sitting near the teacher, or having classroom breaks.

Bernie: Getting an IEP or 504 isn’t always easy. We drilled down into one common type of accommodation: extra time on tests. Our reporter Ava Stryker-Robbins found that students often face roadblocks and even unexpected consequences when trying to use their accommodations. She has the story…

Ava: Imagine you’re getting ready to take a test. You grasp your pencil and feel your heart beating as the teacher sets a timer.

Voice: Class, you may begin.

Ava: You hear the bustling movements of your class fade to silence. Everyone around you starts to scribble at a fast pace. And though you studied all night and knew the material through and through, you just can’t keep up. You try to stay focused. You try to go faster. But before you know it…

Voice: Time is up. Everyone put your pencils down.

Ava: You couldn’t finish as fast as everyone else; no matter how hard you tried. Zoe Lazaros, a 17 year old senior at the Beacon School, has had many similar experiences. Although they have ADHD, they went through school without any accommodations — like extra time — for many years.

Zoe: I think, at first, I had this kind of reassurance that, you know, I always kind of pulled through as a student, regardless if I was struggling in a class. And when that started kind of not working anymore, it felt very stressful. And also just generally helpless.

Ava: After years of constantly working long hours outside of school to stay on track, Zoe finally got their 504 two years ago during their sophomore year of high school. Getting it was not an easy process...

Zoe: It took probably around four months from the beginning of the process. Like, it wasn’t as long as I know some other people were, but it was definitely a draining process.

Ava: One of the first things Zoe had to do for their 504 application during the 2022-2023 school year was get on a Zoom meeting with their mom, their therapist, and a 504 coordinator at Beacon.

Zoe: There was a bunch of people kind of vouching for me and being like, you know, Zoe needs this. A lot of people don’t have that. So the fact that I had that and still it was difficult for me to get a 504 is really telling. So yeah, what ended up happening was we were on, like, this group Zoom call, and they said that they would not be able to give me a 504 cause my grades were too good. I felt very discouraged after that.

Ava: But a few months later, Zoe had to try again.

Zoe: I was failing three of my classes, and I wrote this very angry email to my 504 coordinator, and I was like, “Do you see my grades? I’m failing 3 classes. Will you help me now?” And she responded back to me and she’s like, “Yes, let’s have a meeting.” And I was like, “Girl…” It took me failing 3 of my classes, and my therapist, and my psychiatrist, and my mom, and like four months for them to approve the 504.

NARR: And it changed their life for the better.

Zoe: I’m so grateful because I would not have gotten through my junior year without it. But I’m now realizing, like, so many people don’t have access to therapy or a psychiatrist or a parent that will stand up for them. And even with that, it was almost impossible for me to get one. I feel very lucky.

Ava: Zoe is just one of many students who have had to endure a long process to get the accommodations they deserve. Every year, thousands of families face delays, according to city statistics. Families might feel like they’re fighting an uphill battle when navigating the notoriously complex special education system. And students often don’t get all the services they’re entitled to. Nearly a third of students who were referred and qualified for special education for the first time last year waited more than 2 months for an IEP meeting to be held.

Ava: And, even when students get IEPs or 504s, and are granted accomodations–they’re not always enforced. For example, when it comes to testing, students I spoke to said teachers sometimes forget, or resist giving students the extra time they need. The teacher also may not have received a student’s IEP or 504 documents outlining the accommodations a student is entitled to. Zoe explains…

Zoe: I had an experience in my forensics class last year where my teacher was basically like, “Oh, I don’t know where the school sent your 504 stuff. I haven’t gotten it, so you can’t use your extra time.” What? Like I have extra time. And so I have had experiences where, like, teachers discount extra time or like, are ignorant to it in some way. They’re like, “Well, I didn’t know that.”

Ava: Zoe isn’t the only one struggling from not being able to use their accommodations. Becca Sidi has experienced similar setbacks. She’s a senior at Beacon who’s had an IEP for ADHD since she was in elementary school. Her IEP entitles her to double time on exams, the ability to take tests in a separate room, tutoring, extensions on assignments, and more. One time, Becca said a teacher accused her and other students of cheating because of their extra time.

Becca: After a midterm, my teacher had gathered everyone who– who was an IEP student, and then he goes on to say something about how we got suspiciously higher test scores. I didn’t cheat, but in that moment, I just felt, like, scared.

Ava: Another one of Becca’s teachers told students that they would need to use all of their extra time in one sitting, meaning they would have to miss part of their next class.

Becca: I was missing other instruction. But at the same time, my teacher was also blaming me for missing other instruction. She told us, “Don’t you guys have class? Like, this is ridiculous.” And what everyone wanted to say to her in that moment was, “Well, I mean, this is your policy, and we’re not necessarily happy that we’re missing instruction either.”

Ava: For Becca, It’s not just teachers who don’t always understand the necessity of accommodations. Some students don’t either.

BECCA: I finished taking a calculus test once, and I think I overheard some people in the hallway talking about how someone who with an IEP, who was still taking the test. And then they were saying something like, “Oh, wow. Why does this person get extra time, this isn’t fair, like.” I feel like there are just some things that some people don’t understand or refuse to understand. I cannot stress this enough, like people have IEPs, not to have a leg up on everyone else, but to stay at the same level as everyone else.

Ava: While this may sound shocking to you listeners, this is daily life for me and so many of us among the nearly 20% of students who have IEPs across the city.

I reached out to the city’s Department of Education, as well as Beacon’s principal, for comment on the incidents students shared with me. Department officials emphasized that they regularly train staff to make sure students get the support they’re entitled to — including extra time. And 504 coordinators are required to complete training every year. Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein wrote the following in a statement: “We are steadfast in our commitment to ensuring all students receive their entitled accommodations in accordance with their IEPs and 504 plans.”

Ava: She added, “When a concern is raised, we work closely with the school support team until the family is satisfied with the resolution.” Johnny Ventura, Beacon’s interim principal, wrote in an email that “students who believe they’re not getting the right accommodations should report it to him so the school can investigate.” So why is this happening? Why might it take so long for students to get IEPs and 504s? And why are they sometimes not being enforced? To answer this I spoke to Dr. Ben Lovett, an associate professor of psychology and education at the Teachers College of Columbia University. We first discussed the benefits of extra time.

Ben: The primary reason that we give extra time or other accommodations is so that the student can get a fair score on the test. So if someone is not able to read quickly enough, then they wouldn’t be able to read the items on the test in time, and they wouldn’t be able to show the knowledge that they have.

Ava: So if there are benefits, why would some people be opposed to granting students extra time?

Ben: I’m not sure there are many people who are opposed entirely. I think there are some folks who think we need to be more careful about granting extra time. So we know that on standardized tests, having extra time can inflate scores artificially. And by that I mean they can actually suggest that someone has higher skills than they do. And that’s part of the reason that we want to make sure that we’re using decisions very carefully about who gets extra time, that it be done equitably, and that it be based on someone’s actual needs.

Ava: I ask Dr. Lovett about the process of granting students accommodations. He says there’s typically a school team that reviews a student’s diagnostic assessments. This can include 504 and IEP plans or evaluations done by psychologists and special educators. They also review other relevant student data, like their academic performance.

Ben: Things like the student’s current performance without accommodations to see whether or not the student is able to perform at a certain level without having extra time. Another piece of relevant data would be information from diagnostic tests where we look, for instance, at how fast someone is when they’re reading or writing, and we’re able to compare them to other kids of the same age.

Ava: What would you say the shortcomings of this process are?

Ben: I think the process, in general, is a good one. I think some school districts need more resources to follow the process, so there may not be a sufficient number of school psychologists or special education administrators to make sure that there’s not a long wait before things happen. So, for instance, the federal law requires that generally, within 60 days of a formal request for an evaluation, that the evaluation be done or contested. And so some districts aren’t able to meet those goals if they have insufficient resources in terms of staffing and things like that.

Ava: Because of the lack of resources, families who pay for private evaluations have a big advantage. These evaluations — which typically cost more than $6,000 — can lead to a two-tiered system. Those who can afford outside evaluations and understand how to navigate the system are more likely to get their children’s needs met, while the needs of many other students go unaddressed.

Ava: So, what’s the best way to ensure that extra time can be equitably enforced throughout New York City?

Ben: I would say having official criteria, having a decision tree or a flowchart of data where you ensure that folks who are getting extended time meet certain criteria and that you’re not just in, for instance, letting someone’s social advantage allow for accommodations would be important. Also, having that sort of database process protects students who may lack certain types of access and resources to be able to persuade or pressure a school for extra time to make sure that they can point to that process and say, I do have the data, I do have the evidence that I need this.

Ava: So Dr. Lovett believes we have a good system in place. But the most effective way to ensure students with disabilities get the accommodations they need, is to make sure schools have the resources necessary to accommodate them. It’s time to reallocate more resources into special education across New York City schools. Everyone deserves a quality education. No one’s disability should hold them back.

Bernie: Once again, that was our P.S. Weekly Reporter, Ava Striker-Robbins. We’ll be back, after a short break.

AD: Hey listeners! We hope you’re enjoying this episode of PS Weekly. We’ve got an assignment for you-- follow us on Instagram @bell.voices. And, we want to hear from you! Reach out to P.S. Weekly at the email address: [email protected] with comments, questions, and suggestions.

Bernie: Welcome back to P.S. Weekly. We’ve been hearing about how difficult it is to get specialized learning accommodations. Our producer Santana Roach roamed the school halls to chat with a few more students with IEPs and 504s.

Santana: I had the privilege of speaking with several students and a teacher from Frederick Douglass Academy 2 and Stuyvesant High School.

Santana: What do people often misunderstand about students with IEPs?

Jack: They assume that we’re all what’s the word “special.”

Kaiya: They think that we’re like different. They look down on us as if there’s, like, something wrong with us or, like, we’re disgusting. Not everyone wants to be treated like differently, no matter of your race or gender or even if you have autism.

Mr. Wheeler: To be brutally honest, I very much felt that the fact that I had an IEP meant that there was something wrong with me.

Santana: Who are some people advocating for students with IEPs?

Hana: There are lots of counselors who advocate for me and for other things that I might need.

Kaiya: Oh, the psychologist.

Jack: My guidance counselor.

Keimar: My mom and myself.

Santana: How has your IEP helped you?

Jack: I’ve been able to pass my classes because I have an IEP.

Giandre: I get extra time on the tests. It’s a great experience cause I don’t gotta rush. I can just take my time on test.

Jack: When I have an IEP, I can prove that I’m smart.

Santana: What would you like to share with our listeners?

Kaiya: Don’t judge a book by its cover because you never know what you might see inside the book.

Mr. Wheeler: The way to make sure that students with IEPs are treated the way they deserve is to make sure that the paperwork never takes precedence over the person.

Santana: Thank you to Jack Blake, Kaiya Baker, Hana Debrah, Giandre Sorey, Keimar Miller, and Mr. Isaac Wheeler for speaking with PS Weekly.

Bernie: Thank you Santana. Well, there you are, guys…that’s it for our third episode! Don’t forget to go to chalkbeat.org/newsletters – or click the link in our show notes –to sign up for the Chalkbeat New York morning newsletter. It’s the best way to stay informed on local schools coverage Monday through Friday. And drop us a review! Or shoot an email to [email protected] . Tell us what you learned today or what you’re still wondering. We just might read your comment on a future episode.

Bernie: And P.S., we’re back next week with an episode about high school seniors making decisions about the future.

Alex: Someway halfway through, you kinda have this realization that “what if this is all for nothing? Like, what if I’m here writing these essays, and nothing comes out of it?”

Bernie: Until then… class dismissed!

Bernie: PS Weekly is a collaboration between The Bell and Chalkbeat, made possible by generous support from The Pinkerton Foundation, The Summerfield Foundation, FJC, and Hindenburg Systems.

This episode was hosted by me, Bernie Carmona.

Producers for this episode were: Ava Striker Robbins, Santana Roach, and Dorothy Ha, with reporting help from Chalkbeat reporters Alex Zimmerman and Mike Elsen-Rooney.

Our marketing lead this week was Jose Santana. Our executive producer for the show is JoAnn DeLuna. Executive editors are Amy Zimmer and Taylor McGraw.

Additional production and reporting support was provided by Sabrina DuQuesnay, Mira Gordon, and our friends at Chalkbeat. Special thanks to our interns Miriam Galicia and Makenna Turner. And thanks, as well, to our amazing team of volunteer mentors.

Music from Blue Dot Sessions.

And the jingle you heard at the beginning of this episode was created by the one and only: Erica Huang.

Thanks for tuning in! See you next time!

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Are ‘Forever Chemicals’ a Forever Problem?

The environmental protection agency says “forever chemicals” must be removed from tap water. but they lurk in much more of what we eat, drink and use..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. And this is “The Daily.”

[THEME MUSIC]

This month for the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency began to regulate a class of synthetic chemicals, known as forever chemicals, in America’s drinking water. But the chemicals, which have been linked to liver disease and other serious health problems, are in far more than just our water supply. Today, my colleague Kim Tingley explains.

It’s Wednesday, April 17.

So Kim, any time the EPA announces a regulation, I think we all sort of take notice because implicit in it is this idea that we have been exposed to something — something bad, potentially, lead or asbestos. And recently, the EPA is regulating a type of chemical known as PFAS So for those who don’t know, what are PFAS chemicals

Yeah, so PFAS stands for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They’re often called forever chemicals just because they persist so long in the environment and they don’t easily break down. And for that reason, we also use them in a ton of consumer products. They’re in makeup. They’re in carpet. They’re in nonstick cookware. They’re in food packaging, all sorts of things.

Yeah, I feel like I’ve been hearing about these chemicals actually for a very long time. I mean, nonstick pans, Teflon — that’s the thing that’s in my mind when I think PFAS.

Absolutely. Yeah, this class of chemicals has been around for decades. And what’s really important about this is that the EPA has decided, for the first time, to regulate them in drinking water. And that’s a ruling that stands to affect tens of millions of people.

So, help me understand where these things came from and how it’s taken so long to get to the point where we’re actually regulating them.

So, they really actually came about a long time ago. In 1938, DuPont, the people who eventually got us to Teflon, they were actually looking for a more stable kind of refrigerant. And they came upon this kind of chemical, PFAS. The thing that all PFAS chemicals have is a really strong bond between carbon atoms and fluorine atoms. This particular pairing is super strong and super durable.

They have water repellent properties. They’re stain resistant. They’re grease resistant. And they found a lot of uses for them initially in World War II. They were using them as part of their uranium enrichment process to do all these kinds of things. And then —

Well, good thing it’s Teflon.

In the 1950s is when they really started to come out as commercial products.

Even burned food won’t stick to Teflon. So it’s always easy to clean.

So, DuPont started using it in Teflon pans.

Cookware never needs scouring if it has DuPont Teflon.

And then another company, 3M also started using a kind of PFAS —

Scotchgard fabric protector. It keeps ordinary spills from becoming extraordinary stains.

— in one of their big products, Scotchgard. So you probably remember spraying that on your shoes if you want to make your shoes waterproof.

Use Scotchgard fabric protector and let your cup runneth over.

Right — miracle product, Scotchgard, Teflon. But of course, we’re talking about these chemicals because they’ve been found to pose health threats. When does that risk start to surface?

Yeah, so it’s pretty early on that DuPont and 3M start finding effects in animals in studies that they’re running in house.

Around the mid ‘60s, they start seeing that PFAS has an effect on rats. It’s increasing the liver and kidney weights of the rats. And so that seems problematic. And they keep running tests over the next decade and a half. And they try different things with different animals.

In one study, they gave monkeys really, really high levels of PFAS. And those monkeys died. And so they have a pretty strong sense that these chemicals could be dangerous. And then in 1979, they start to see that the workers that are in the plants manufacturing, working with these chemicals, that they’re starting to have higher rates of abnormal liver function. And in a Teflon plant, they had some pregnant workers that were working with these chemicals. And one of those workers in 1981 gave birth to a child who had some pretty severe birth defects.

And then by the mid 1980s, DuPont figures out that it’s not just their workers who are being exposed to these chemicals, but communities that are living in areas surrounding their Teflon plant, particularly the one in Parkersburg, West Virginia, that those communities have PFAS in their tap water.

Wow, so based on its own studies, DuPont knows its chemicals are making animals sick. They seem to be making workers sick. And now they found out that the chemicals have made their way into the water supply. What do they do with that information?

As far as we know, they didn’t do much. They certainly didn’t tell the residents of Parkersburg who were drinking that water that there was anything that they needed to be worried about.

How is that possible? I mean, setting aside the fact that DuPont is the one actually studying the health effects of its own chemicals, presumably to make sure they’re safe, we’ve seen these big, regulating agencies like the EPA and the FDA that exist in order to watch out for something exactly like this, a company that is producing something that may be harming Americans. Why weren’t they keeping a closer watch?

Yeah, so it goes kind of back to the way that we regulate chemicals in the US. It goes through an act called the Toxic Substances Control Act that’s administered by the EPA. And basically, it gives companies a lot of room to regulate themselves, in a sense. Under this act they have a responsibility to report to the EPA if they find these kinds of potential issues with a chemical. They have a responsibility to do their due diligence when they’re putting a chemical out into the environment.

But there’s really not a ton of oversight. The enforcement mechanism is that the EPA can find them. But this kind of thing can happen pretty easily where DuPont keeps going with something that they think might really be a problem and then the fine, by the time it plays out, is just a tiny fraction of what DuPont has earned from producing these chemicals. And so really, the incentive is for them to take the punishment at the end, rather than pull it out early.

So it seems like it’s just self-reporting, which is basically self-regulation in a way.

Yeah, I think that is the way a lot of advocacy groups and experts have characterized it to me, is that chemical companies are essentially regulating themselves.

So how did this danger eventually come to light? I mean, if this is in some kind of DuPont vault, what happened?

Well, there’s a couple different things that started to happen in the late ‘90s.

The community around Parkersburg, West Virginia, people had reported seeing really strange symptoms in their animals. Cows were losing their hair. They had lesions. They were behaving strangely. Some of their calves were dying. And a lot of people in the community felt like they were having health problems that just didn’t really have a good answer, mysterious sicknesses, and some cases of cancers.

And so they initiate a class action lawsuit against DuPont. As part of that class action lawsuit, DuPont, at a certain point, is forced to turn over all of their internal documentation. And so what was in the files was all of that research that we mentioned all of the studies about — animals, and workers, the birth defects. It was really the first time that the public saw what DuPont and 3M had already seen, which is the potential health harms of these chemicals.

So that seems pretty damning. I mean, what happened to the company?

So, DuPont and 3M are still able to say these were just a few workers. And they were working with high levels of the chemicals, more than a person would get drinking it in the water. And so there’s still an opportunity for this to be kind of correlation, but not causation. There’s not really a way to use that data to prove for sure that it was PFAS that caused these health problems.

In other words, the company is arguing, look, yes, these two things exist at the same time. But it doesn’t mean that one caused the other.

Exactly. And so one of the things that this class action lawsuit demands in the settlement that they eventually reach with DuPont is they want DuPont to fund a formal independent health study of the communities that are affected by this PFAS in their drinking water. And so they want DuPont to pay to figure out for sure, using the best available science, how many of these health problems are potentially related to their chemicals.

And so they ask them to pay for it. And they get together an independent group of researchers to undertake this study. And it ends up being the first — and it still might be the biggest — epidemiological study of PFAS in a community. They’ve got about 69,000 participants in this study.

Wow, that’s big.

It’s big, yeah. And what they ended up deciding was that they could confidently say that there was what they ended up calling a probable link. And so they were really confident that the chemical exposure that the study participants had experienced was linked to high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, testicular cancer, kidney cancer, and pregnancy induced hypertension.

And so those were the conditions that they were able to say, with a good degree of certainty, were related to their chemical exposure. There were others that they just didn’t have the evidence to reach a strong conclusion.

So overall, pretty substantial health effects, and kind of vindicates the communities in West Virginia that were claiming that these chemicals were really affecting their health.

Absolutely. And as the years have gone on, that was sort of just the beginning of researchers starting to understand all the different kinds of health problems that these chemicals could potentially be causing. And so since the big DuPont class action study, there’s really just been like this building and building and building of different researchers coming out with these different pieces of evidence that have accumulated to a pretty alarming picture of what some of the potential health outcomes could be.

OK, so that really kind of brings us to the present moment, when, at last, it seems the EPA is saying enough is enough. We need to regulate these things.

Yeah, it seems like the EPA has been watching this preponderance of evidence accumulate. And they’re sort of deciding that it’s a real health problem, potentially, that they need to regulate.

So the EPA has identified six of these PFAS chemicals that it’s going to regulate. But the concern that I think a lot of experts have is that this particular regulation is not going to keep PFAS out of our bodies.

We’ll be right back.

So, Kim, you just said that these regulations probably won’t keep PFAS chemicals out of our bodies. What did you mean?

Well, the EPA is talking about regulating these six kinds of PFAS. But there are actually more than 10,000 different kinds of PFAS that are already being produced and out there in the environment.

And why those six, exactly? I mean, is it because those are the ones responsible for most of the harm?

Those are the ones that the EPA has seen enough evidence about that they are confident that they are probably causing harm. But it doesn’t mean that the other ones are not also doing something similar. It’s just sort of impossible for researchers to be able to test each individual chemical compound and try to link it to a health outcome.

I talked to a lot of researchers who were involved in this area and they said that they haven’t really seen a PFAS that doesn’t have a harm, but they just don’t have information on the vast majority of these compounds.

So in other words, we just haven’t studied the rest of them enough yet to even know how harmful they actually are, which is kind of alarming.

Yeah, that’s right. And there’s just new ones coming out all the time.

Right. OK, so of the six that the EPA is actually intending to regulate, though, are those new regulations strict enough to keep these chemicals out of our bodies?

So the regulations for those six chemicals really only cover getting them out of the drinking water. And drinking water only really accounts for about 20 percent of a person’s overall PFAS exposure.

So only a fifth of the total exposure.

Yeah. There are lots of other ways that you can come into contact with PFAS. We eat PFAS, we inhale PFAS. We rub it on our skin. It’s in so many different products. And sometimes those products are not ones that you would necessarily think of. They’re in carpets. They’re in furniture. They’re in dental floss, raincoats, vinyl flooring, artificial turf. All kinds of products that you want to be either waterproof or stain resistant or both have these chemicals in them.

So, the cities and towns are going to have to figure out how to test for and monitor for these six kinds of PFAS. And then they’re also going to have to figure out how to filter them out of the water supply. I think a lot of people are concerned that this is going to be just a really expensive endeavor, and it’s also not really going to take care of the entire problem.

Right. And if you step back and really look at the bigger problem, the companies are still making these things, right? I mean, we’re running around trying to regulate this stuff at the end stage. But these things are still being dumped into the environment.

Yeah. I think it’s a huge criticism of our regulatory policy. There’s a lot of onus put on the EPA to prove that a harm has happened once the chemicals are already out there and then to regulate the chemicals. And I think that there’s a criticism that we should do things the other way around, so tougher regulations on the front end before it goes out into the environment.

And that’s what the European Union has been doing. The European Chemicals Agency puts more of the burden on companies to prove that their products and their chemicals are safe. And the European Chemicals Agency is also, right now, considering just a ban on all PFAS products.

So is that a kind of model, perhaps, of what a tough regulation could look like in the US?

There’s two sides to that question. And the first side is that a lot of people feel like it would be better if these chemical companies had to meet a higher standard of proof in terms of demonstrating that their products or their chemicals are going to be safe once they’ve been put out in the environment.

The other side is that doing that kind of upfront research can be really expensive and could potentially limit companies who are trying to innovate in that space. In terms of PFAS, specifically, this is a really important chemical for us. And a lot of the things that we use it in, there’s not necessarily a great placement at the ready that we can just swap in. And so it’s used in all sorts of really important medical devices or renewable energy industries or firefighting foam.

And in some cases, there are alternatives that might be safer that companies can use. But in other cases, they just don’t have that yet. And so PFAS is still really important to our daily lives.

Right. And that kind of leaves us in a pickle because we know these things might be harming us. Yet, we’re kind of stuck with them, at least for now. So, let me just ask you this question, Kim, which I’ve been wanting to ask you since the beginning of this episode, which is, if you’re a person who is concerned about your exposure to PFAS, what do you do?

Yeah. So this is really tricky and I asked everybody this question who I talked to. And everybody has a little bit of a different answer based on their circumstance. For me what I ended up doing was getting rid of the things that I could sort of spot and get rid of. And so I got rid of some carpeting and I checked, when I was buying my son a raincoat, that it was made by a company that didn’t use PFAS.

It’s also expensive. And so if you can afford to get a raincoat from a place that doesn’t manufacture PFAS, it’s going to cost more than if you buy the budget raincoat. And so it’s kind of unfair to put the onus on consumers in that way. And it’s also just not necessarily clear where exactly your exposure is coming from.

So I talk to people who said, well, it’s in dust, so I vacuum a lot. Or it’s in my cleaning products, so I use natural cleaning products. And so I think it’s really sort of a scattershot approach that consumers can take. But I don’t think that there is a magic approach that gets you a PFAS-free life.

So Kim, this is pretty dark, I have to say. And I think what’s frustrating is that it feels like we have these government agencies that are supposed to be protecting our health. But when you drill down here, the guidance is really more like you’re on your own. I mean, it’s hard not to just throw up your hands and say, I give up.

Yeah. I think it’s really tricky to try to know what you do with all of this information as an individual. As much as you can, you can try to limit your individual exposure. But it seems to me as though it’s at a regulatory level that meaningful change would happen, and not so much throwing out your pots and pans and getting new ones.

One thing about PFAS is just that we’re in this stage still of trying to understand exactly what it’s doing inside of us. And so there’s a certain amount of research that has to happen in order to both convince people that there’s a real problem that needs to be solved, and clean up what we’ve put out there. And so I think that we’re sort of in the middle of that arc. And I think that that’s the point at which people start looking for solutions.

Kim, thank you.

Here’s what else you should know today. On Tuesday, in day two of jury selection for the historic hush money case against Donald Trump, lawyers succeeded in selecting 7 jurors out of the 12 that are required for the criminal trial after failing to pick a single juror on Monday.

Lawyers for Trump repeatedly sought to remove potential jurors whom they argued were biased against the president. Among the reasons they cited were social media posts expressing negative views of the former President and, in one case, a video posted by a potential juror of New Yorkers celebrating Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. Once a full jury is seated, which could come as early as Friday, the criminal trial is expected to last about six weeks.

Today’s episode was produced by Clare Toeniskoetter, Shannon Lin, Summer Thomad, Stella Tan, and Jessica Cheung, with help from Sydney Harper. It was edited by Devon Taylor, fact checked by Susan Lee, contains original music by Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, and Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Chris Wood.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for The Daily. I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you tomorrow.

• April 18, 2024   •   30:07 The Opening Days of Trump’s First Criminal Trial
• April 17, 2024   •   24:52 Are ‘Forever Chemicals’ a Forever Problem?
• April 16, 2024   •   29:29 A.I.’s Original Sin
• April 15, 2024   •   24:07 Iran’s Unprecedented Attack on Israel
• April 14, 2024   •   46:17 The Sunday Read: ‘What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise’
• April 12, 2024   •   34:23 How One Family Lost $900,000 in a Timeshare Scam
• April 11, 2024   •   28:39 The Staggering Success of Trump’s Trial Delay Tactics
• April 10, 2024   •   22:49 Trump’s Abortion Dilemma
• April 9, 2024   •   30:48 How Tesla Planted the Seeds for Its Own Potential Downfall
• April 8, 2024   •   30:28 The Eclipse Chaser
• April 7, 2024 The Sunday Read: ‘What Deathbed Visions Teach Us About Living’
• April 5, 2024   •   29:11 An Engineering Experiment to Cool the Earth

Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise

Featuring Kim Tingley

Produced by Clare Toeniskoetter ,  Shannon M. Lin ,  Summer Thomad ,  Stella Tan and Jessica Cheung

With Sydney Harper

Edited by Devon Taylor

Original music by Dan Powell ,  Elisheba Ittoop and Marion Lozano

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

The Environmental Protection Agency has begun for the first time to regulate a class of synthetic chemicals known as “forever chemicals” in America’s drinking water.

Kim Tingley, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, explains how these chemicals, which have been linked to liver disease and other serious health problems, came to be in the water supply — and in many more places.

On today’s episode

Kim Tingley , a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading

“Forever chemicals” are everywhere. What are they doing to us?

The E.P.A. issued its rule about “forever chemicals” last week.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

Fact-checking by Susan Lee .

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

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