Re: Mainstream class or not?-kind of long

[Guest guest]

I've never heard of a school district paying for private school. I have lost all faith in the crumbling Calif school system. Our son has always been mainstream. He had trouble and it wasn't until 5th grade that his teacher thought he should be tested. At our IEP meeting we were able to fight for a one on one. He is now 15 in 10th grade and was tanking. It turned out that his aide was making advances towards him. The mama bear came out and I immediately had her fired. It was a tough decision but we pulled him out and put him in a independent learning charter school. I see your in Calif. The school is called Options for youth. He goes in 2 days a week for 1 hr testing (he completes the test in a short period of time and then they let him go home) he is given packets to work on at home. He hated the idea but is getting use to

it. he's so far getting all A's and is doing great. I sometimes have to push him to work but it gets done. He wants to drive so badly and can get his permit but to be insured at a good rate he has to maintain a B average so we'll see. He does have lots of friends outside of school which really helps. Hope you find an answer. It's good to get it done early. Make sure you document everything. Keep a special file. go over wrights law to know your rights. Our kids are entitled to a free appropriate public education. The school may try and get him into special ed to save money for an aide but that is not where our kid belong. They are generally very smart.it may be a greater fight with all the budget cuts but if he stays in a public school the fight will be worth it. Options for youth is one on one which is great. They have sister schools all over Calif. I highly recommend it. Not sure about the age limit. But they may be able to suggest some

alternative.

-Son B 15,ASP 10th grd. Starting a charter school in Jan.

From: SoCalVal <socalval@...>Subject: Re: Mainstream class or not?Autism and Aspergers Treatment Date: Friday, January 21, 2011, 8:58 PM

Actually we did homeschool last year for kindergarten. I knew my son was struggling with something and was hoping to buy some time to figure things out. We did well with it but he really wanted to try "real" school. Now that he's there he wants to stay but I'm not sure yet. I at least want to wait to see how the IEP turns out.

Before moving here to CA we had him in Montessori. That's when his sensory issues were at their worse and having the smaller class size was perfect. It was the teacher there that suggested he be evaluated as she noticed some things. She was an awesome teacher. Just don't think our bank account could handle it right now.