Re: boyfriends...barbz-mainstreaming

[Guest guest]

Hi barb, I was wondering if you( or anyboby else) could tell me about the

problems with mainstreaming & some of the solutions you've come up with. Whitney

has always been in spec-ed classes, but next year she goes to the middle

school( our middle school is grade5-8).And they are planning on doing

full-inclusion using co-teaching. I'm reading a book on inclusion, but as you

may know,

their solutions are'nt very realistic,especially for behavior problems. What

worries me most is Whit has a high level of frustration,she thinks she has to do

something right the first time, if its wrong she will have a fit & run away &

not want to try it again. If shes overwhelmed,she still will hide under

tables,cover her eyes, or throw herself on the floor & refuse to move. Any tips

on

down-time? stress relieving time? Also she only reads at a low 2nd grade level,

so I cant see her keeping up with 5th grade classes. I'm wanting a

personal-aide, but the book is telling me that in middle school that is the

wrong

approach,as it sets her apart from the other kids. But I can't see throwing her

into

inclusion, after 5 years of self-containment, without an aide to at least help

her through the first year. I'm speaking with the director of spec-ed

tomorrow, and have an appointment with the spec-ed teacher at the middle school

on

Tuesday. Got a list of questions ready for them both.

Thanks for any help,

Robin

[Guest guest]

hi robin

why are they talking about mainstreaming her? this just seems wrong!!!

I dont understand what the school could be thinking with doing this!

I can talk to my advocate and see what she has to say. in the meantime i am

sure others here will have more information for you.

[Guest guest]

I think they are trying to mainstream the entire school district. They tried

the same thing the beggining of this school year, without telling the parents.

The second week of school, I was up there wanting to know what was different

because I was having major problems with her at home, & not wanting to go to

school. Believe me all hell broke loose when I found out all the changes that

had been made without me being informed, or consulted. Needless to say things

went back to normal after that. The only reason I know about them doing it next

year, is because I met Whits teacher for next year at an autism conference

last week & she told me. Thank God cause that is gonna have a big effect on our

IEP meeting! Since our IEP meeting will be in March, I'm trying to get as much

info as I can. The one thing that is stressed is the need for preparation

before mainstreaming, & shes not getting any of that.

[Guest guest]

ive been trying to get my christine into a classroom for autistic children...

so far she has been mainstreamed with pull out services. last year on hr

report card she got mostly U's... the equivelent of F's... with X's all over

it meaning needs improvement in different areas... this year she is getting

all b's and c's..... less x's.... sounds great doesnt it... seems like she

is doing so much better than she has been.... BUT... take a look at all of

her classwork... she is being graded on what she completes... (which i

thought was the right thing to do... i thought she should be graded on the work

she

has done and not the full paper. )

her work is modified... meaning she doesnt have to do all of her work... out

of a math paper that has maybe 20 problems on it... she only has to do 3...

at our last IEP meeting it was said that she is only completing between 20

and 50% of her modified work!

i see other parents of children whose kids are in the aspergers class here at

a local school... the parents seem so at ease and i think it is because of

the kids having the proper placement...

i feel that if the kids are doing better academically then they can do better

emotionally with other things.

i cant get christine to do anything at all on school days after school...

when i try to get her to do even the smallest task she simply cannot do it...

i wrote a letter to school about homework... homework was an absolute

nightmare for us! the letter than i am going to post on my next post will

explain

it all and if anyone feels like this letter can be used for anything else...

please feel free to use it... as it is or modify it to meet your needs... my

advocate asked me for a copy of it... she said it was a great letter to use for

just about anything.

[Guest guest]

Mainstreaming a child who has not had early mainstream and exposure to

social learning among typical peers from early on and to expect this to

suddenly like magic happen in the middle school to me is of wrong.

You child though will be the one who will say if it works for her or not.

Sondra