Re: IA maianstreaming

[Guest guest]

Joan,

I've had included for 6 years and now I'm so confused I don't know

what's best anymore. I know he does much better in a smaller group but loved

his old friends he went through the years with. All the changes they made

started all his problems and made me change schools. Now I can't even get

him back in there since they're full, whether in a regular class or a special

day class. I could keep him in his current school in the regular class, but

the principal is being a bi--h and intends to suspend him for every action

and is giving everyone a hard time over it. My attorney wants to get him

placed before coming down on them, since he needs to be in school. He's been

out since Christmas. They are bringing in a professional to assess the

program from a diagnostic center, to see what they are not doing correctly.

We won't beable to have another meeting until all this takes place after he's

back in school. Another change is going to be awful for him and will come

with it's own set of problems again.

[Guest guest]

Joan,

I've had included for 6 years and now I'm so confused I don't know

what's best anymore. I know he does much better in a smaller group but loved

his old friends he went through the years with. All the changes they made

started all his problems and made me change schools. Now I can't even get

him back in there since they're full, whether in a regular class or a special

day class. I could keep him in his current school in the regular class, but

the principal is being a bi--h and intends to suspend him for every action

and is giving everyone a hard time over it. My attorney wants to get him

placed before coming down on them, since he needs to be in school. He's been

out since Christmas. They are bringing in a professional to assess the

program from a diagnostic center, to see what they are not doing correctly.

We won't beable to have another meeting until all this takes place after he's

back in school. Another change is going to be awful for him and will come

with it's own set of problems again.

[Guest guest]

Joan,

I've had included for 6 years and now I'm so confused I don't know

what's best anymore. I know he does much better in a smaller group but loved

his old friends he went through the years with. All the changes they made

started all his problems and made me change schools. Now I can't even get

him back in there since they're full, whether in a regular class or a special

day class. I could keep him in his current school in the regular class, but

the principal is being a bi--h and intends to suspend him for every action

and is giving everyone a hard time over it. My attorney wants to get him

placed before coming down on them, since he needs to be in school. He's been

out since Christmas. They are bringing in a professional to assess the

program from a diagnostic center, to see what they are not doing correctly.

We won't beable to have another meeting until all this takes place after he's

back in school. Another change is going to be awful for him and will come

with it's own set of problems again.

[Guest guest]

DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was a hard and true inclusionist also and

fought tooth and nail for my son Zach to be fully included and yes up to

about 3rd grade, and by 4th and 5th grade for sure, it was fine but

after that the curriculm started to becoming more difficult. It was

time to face up to the truth and decide where Zach would get the best

services for his needs. When he reached middle school we really

looked. In 6th grade he went to some classes and in 7th a few less and

this year still less. I sat down and I wrote out my dreams for Zach

when he got to be an adult and out of school. Where would I like to see

him and what would I like to see

him doing with work and in the community? Where did I hope he would be

able to live? Then I asked myself how are we going to get him there or

at least on that road. Well it was not sitting in Social Studies, or

Math or Science classes that were so far over his head. Oh sure we

could have kept him there or perhaps working in the back of the room

with an aid but for what purpose to say he is " included " .

What we did is Zach likes hands on and he love science so he did not go

to science lecture but when to science lab and loved it and would come

home and talk about, at least the best he could, about what they were

doing. We made science pre-vocational in that Zach had to arrive on

time (he has a tendance to daudle) and sign in like a job. Then he had

a job or responsibility to do and be accountable for just like a real

job. In addition to all this he loved to be in science. This year in

science the curriculum is somewhat harder so he doen't go quite as

often. This year it has been health class and what is appropriate and

what will he be able to

learn. Art is in art with all the kids. He is in band and loves the

drum but I feel here they just let him be in there and spend no real

time with him to teach him but not sure with the band they have that

much time with all the kids. So they have him on what is call a

" practice pad " which does not make much noise. He plays at all the

concerts and goes with the band to different places and he feels very

much a part of it. So that is cool but what is even cooler is starting

in March I decided to give him private drum lessons at a local music

store. They were very positive and encouraging to us with this endevor

and the teacher is wonderful.

Zach is so excited. He participates in regular gym as much as possible

with the aide of an adaptive PE. When things are to difficult or there

is a chance he could get hurt for one reason or another then he and some

of the other kids go off with the adaptive PE and work on other things

but they always start out with the class. Zach has other jobs at school

too. He takes the attendance around every morning this he does on his

own. He goes to regular life skills class also. Computer, math,

reading etc are all in special ed. We are very much working on a

functional curriculum with him because that is what he needs to learn

and do to function in society

and at work after school. We have added money into his day. I have

given his teacher money to use to pay Zach for his work and jobs he does

at school. They pay him in change and he can exchange it for dollars.

If he has money he's made he can use it to buy items off the snack cart

or on Fridays for a cookie as proceeds go to Childrens Hospital. They

also do trips into the community ie the post office, to Shopke (a

discount store like K-mart), a restaurant for lunch where he buys his

meal, to the library or they may take a bus down town to go to say

Burger King. His speech therapist usually takes him and she use that

time to help develop appropriate

greetings, conversations, and ordering of food. (We do do this with him

in the home situation too.) Whatever is functional. Sometimes they go

to the grocery store with a list and buy items they need and then go

back and make lunch in the classroom as they do have a very small

kitchen area but it does have a stove, microwave and small refrig. That

is what I refer to as functional is teaching Zach the things he needs to

know to function in the world. Zach is very popular at school and

almost all kids like him. I am no longer the inclusion fanatic I use to

be. I surprise myself. Time goes to fast and we have no time to loose

especially at the rate

Zach moves sometimes there is no time to waste trying to teach him

science facts that won't matter or math concepts he will never use. I

wish I had been more realistic and practically a few years earlier but

we can only go forward from where we are and forward we will go. A

couple of years ago the Appleton School District had a class for parents

on functional curriculum funded by a grant and I took it. It was

wonderful. As a leader of the group asked me do you hang with doctors

or lawyers? I said no. Why not?

Because I do not have anything in common with them. Well who do you

hang with? I hang with people I can relate to and who I share simialar

interest and believes. BINGO?

So who will our kids really have friends with? It is a hard reality but

it is reality. Will they have " regular " friends and acquantances? I am

sure they will but there best friends will be people they have things in

common with and can relate to and who can relate to them.

Zach started to talked about Peggy a few weeks ago. If was Peggy this

and Peggy that and Peggy, Peggy, Peggy. I ask who is Peggy. She's my

girlfriend he replied and I love her. HMMMMMMMMMM, I said. How do

you know Peggy? I don't know. Where do you see Peggy? I don't know.

Is it at school? Yes Well, where at school?

In life skills. Oh Peggy is going to tuck me in tonight. She is and

then what?

Zach's birthday was Feb. 8 and he was " reading " his birthday cards and

it did not matter who had sign or sent the card at they end as he " read "

he ended every card " Love, Peggy " . Peggy can come to my party? Peggy

can come over? You get the idea. I had to find out who Peggy was. So I

asked his Special Ed teacher she did not know and was not familiar with

Peggy. Then I asked another student in his class and she had the

answer.

Zach really wanted her to come to his birthday celebration which was

going to be bowling. Gail his teacher contacted the guidance counseler

and he talked with Peggy (she is a " regular " 8th grader) and she was

cool with the whole thing and gave her number to the teacher but did not

know if she would be busy. Turned out she was going skiing. The

guidance counseler told me Zach's got great taste as Peggy is a very

nice girl and very pretty. Well I've not met Peggy yet but he still

talks about her. He announced tonight that Peggy was his best

girlfriend. I said, she is? and he said yes.

This is our first experience with this but we try not to encourage Zach

with conversations about Peggy because once he gets on it, it because an

obsession and is hard to stop the talk so only so much is allowed.

Well now that I have truly run over with the mouth I better go that is

if you all have read this far. Thats all I got to say about this and

that and the other. R. mom to Zach age 15.

MIDVALE wrote:

> From: MIDVALE <Midvale@...>

>

> I think for many of us, mainstreaming or inclusion was the dream of our

youth!! That is our child's early days. I never thought that I would be

insisting that segregation was in my child's best interest. But after age 10

and third grade, as curriculum became more complex and as Elie's " strange

behaviors " became more noticeable because they varied more extremely from the

norm, retreating to smaller class sizes with increased ratio of staff became a

better learning experience. Frustration levels are decreased and learning can

actually take place.

>

> I believe that my son will better function in the typical world because he has

learned the skills necessary to survive rather than being " tolerated " (not a

favorite word of mine) in regular classrooms with dumbed down curriculum that

does not meet his needs. He does go to social studies class where he learns a

very modified part of the classes regular curriculum more so that the children

learn to socialize with him and he can practice learned skill across a broader

domain.

>

> He needs extensive time to work on word recognition and number sequences and

to do seat work that helps to learn the sequences of ideas. Noisy classrooms

are far too distracting. He also needs to learn the pre-vocational skills of a

working world. (Which he is greatly improved in this year). My dream for him

was never that he would do a minimum wage repetitive job. But he is very happy

with learning the skills of a factory line or following repetitive verbal

instructions. And it is his life we are talking about. He does not have the

current ability to learn to write a resume (what school to work classes in 7th

grade are learning at our school).

>

> Sara

>

> >>> " Mardi Deluhery " <mdeluhery@...> - 05/17/72 1:36 PM >>>

> From: " Mardi Deluhery " <mdeluhery@...>

>

> Kara,

> Smouse and River Hills in Cedar Falls are the last segregated schools in the

> state. We used to have one in Davenport which closed(converted to a regular

> school) in about '91. My daughter spent her first semester of preschool at

> Smouse in 1983. They were on the third floor and had a spiral ramp that

> went down to the first floor. Rose could be out of that room and down the

> ramp in a flash in those days. I guess the ramp was 1926 style

> accessibility!

> This story is even stranger-In about '96 I went to the big inclusion

> conference that the PEAK Center runs in Denver. A woman from Colorado came

> up to me and wanted to know all about Smouse/VanMeter School because she had

> heard that they were the best in the country and she had had it with

> inclusion in Colorado. I believe that her daughter had DS and that they

> moved to DesMoines so that she could go to Smouse/VenMeter. I couldn't

> believe that she was at an inclusion conference looking for segregation. To

> each their own!

> Mardi-mom to Rose DS 20

> ----------

> >From: kawetzel@...

> >onelist

> >Subject: IA maianstreaming

> >Date: Wed, Feb 16, 2000, 1:57 PM

> >

>

> >From: kawetzel@...

> >

> >I could not believe it when we moved to DesMoines. They have an entire

> >school for special needs kids. I guess parents of regular kids were tired

> >of seeing special needs kids at their own schools or something. Both my

> >sister-in-law who teaches teachers and runs the university daycare, and

> >Jen's old preschool teacher in ND think this is illegal. Least restrictive

> >environmenmt ya know. There are kids in there I saw last summer that

> >should have been mainstreamed. One has the option of special needs in the

> >regular school, or mainstreaming, but they push the Smouse School.

> >

> >I wrote to the govenor about the state not giving services to kids with

> >special needs unless they have MR. One family I met had 2 autistic boys

> >with no MR; another had a child with early skitzophrenia (sp) and no state

> >help. None qualified for services. The gov. did not offer to solve this,

> >but sent me an ap to be on the diabilities council. In my spare time

> >

> >Kara

> >

> >---------------------------

[Guest guest]

WHY is someone like this teaching children? You have terrific self-control,

! I don't know if I would have been able to stop myself from letting

her have it! Go get 'em!!! Hang in there,

Maureen

In a message dated 02/22/2000 11:53:40 PM Central Standard Time,

MBrayley@... writes:

<< The teacher that abused him had the nerve

of laughing at the lawyers suggesting my becoming 's aide. My

instinct

was to turn to her and ask if she thought my son's education was a joke, but

I decided to be more professional then her and go after her legally which I

am doing. >>