Re: Public school special education

August 29, 2006

Jennie...

While it wasn't my disabled son... one of mine just was NOT ready for

school...he was still young, one of the youngest in his class... tears and

screaming, every day for almost 3 months... I pulled him out. Seems

drastic...but

I came to believe he needed time to mature...he did AMAZINGLY the next year,

and has done well in school ever since.

Is there any consideration for pulling out of this kindergarten

situation or classroom? Some may not agree with me, but why should he SUFFER

while the administration gets their act together (yeah, right...)??? I

personally think it would be worse for him to continue this way, to be made to

feel

like a failure, to have his self esteem crushed...than to pull him out and

tell your doctors you have ONE YEAR to get this kid a diagnosis, so you can go

back to the school next September and he can start school with the help and

resources that he DESERVES.!!

~ANGEL~

Mom to 13, Mosaic Down Syndrome/Hirschsprung's Disease

Lance 18, Tyler 14, 11

Jaeda 10 and Shayne 4

August 29, 2006

Jennie my granddaughter went through the same thing for kindergarden

and failed.You have to push for testing or they will wait, fail him and

wait till the first day of repeating kind. and then tell you he is too

needy for the school and then wait to make other arrangements. Look into

no child left behind and IDEA to find out your rights. It is even harder

when it is the grandparents as guardians to fight for this. Do not let

up because I have found if you don't push no one will. rae

cichanski

>

> Well, I'm new to this public school special education thing. But I'm

> pretty sure that our county is either overwhelmed with the number of

> cases or they aren't organized, or both.

>

> Currently, is attending kindergarten in the standard

> classroom. He is suffering. He isn't making kids, they are

> demanding that his behavior be the same as the other students and

> grading him accordingly (yesterday he got a mark for not sitting

> still in carpet time - right. Like a kid with adhd can sit

> still...), sending him home with incident reports and expecting him

> to learn 12 sight words when he can't recall his letters. He came

> home from school on Friday in tears and complete frustration; " I hate

> school mom. It's hard and I can't be good enough. " Does that break

> your heart or what?!?!?!

>

> Placed a phone call to the lead teacher to work this out. She tells

> me about more forms, more testng, more, more, more. The school knew

> this LAST year, before he was even registered for kindergarten that

> he has problems and that he was coming to kindergarten. LAST YEAR.

> Could anyone have told me what I needed before now? BEFORE I put my

> son in a kindergarten classroom in which he was expected to perform

> the same way as his peers that have normal chromosomal assays?!

>

> And of course, I've shot myself in the foot because we fired the

> neurologist and we won't be seeing the new doctor until the end of

> september but the school, no the STATE wants a diagnosis before

> they'll consider " other health impaired " and THEN, here's the real

> kicker, I'm told that his IQ testing wasn't sufficient for State

> standards and that his IQ is too high to qualify him as learning

> disabled so NOW he has to do more testing at the school. So do I

> call the neuropsychologist that administered teh 14 hours of testing

> last spring and wring HER neck?

>

> This is ridiculous. My new prayer request is that my son's IQ is

> below 79 so he legally qualifies as learning disabled otherwise he's

> stuck in the standard classroom with NO assistance and I can tell you

> exactly what is going to happen: he'll fail kindergarten and have to

> repeat and when he fails it the second year, they'll say, " oh, wait,

> maybe we should do something different for this kid... "

>

> And THIS is why I ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY HATE THE FREAKIN' SOUTH!

> These people are schmucks! Yes, I'm a D@mn yankee and if that means

> I get more results for my son, fine. If you're from the south, I'm

> sorry, i'm not attempting to directly accuse, offend or slight anyone

> in this group. I'm just blowing off steam, so please issue me an

> extra measure of grace today.

>

> Jennie

>

August 29, 2006

Jennie,

I am a Damn Yankee living in the South currently, and I understand your

frustration from many angles! I have a question, have you considered and would

you be able to homeschool?? Up North we had similar problems with our son, and

no good options but a vocational school for the moderate to severe children,

eventhough my son is mildly retarded. The school district agreed to this

notion, but wouldn't work with us because they didn't have the resources due to

too many children in the LD classes needing parental control at home, not LD

services.

I have been homeschooling for 5 1/2 years and Nat has done well, along with his

siblings. It has been an adjustment, as homeschooling is a lifestyle choice

along with an educational choice. If you are interested, let me know. If not,

it's ok and I will be praying for you and the help you need. It is frustrating

looking into a situation for your child and feeling utterly helpless because the

school has taken over YOUR child's future!

Take care!

Irene mom to Nat 12 MDS, Luke 10 , Emilia 7, Lillian 5, Ikey the Dude 2 1/2, and

#6 due in Feb!

Public school special education

Well, I'm new to this public school special education thing. But I'm

pretty sure that our county is either overwhelmed with the number of

cases or they aren't organized, or both.

Currently, is attending kindergarten in the standard

classroom. He is suffering. He isn't making kids, they are

demanding that his behavior be the same as the other students and

grading him accordingly (yesterday he got a mark for not sitting

still in carpet time - right. Like a kid with adhd can sit

still...), sending him home with incident reports and expecting him

to learn 12 sight words when he can't recall his letters. He came

home from school on Friday in tears and complete frustration; " I hate

school mom. It's hard and I can't be good enough. " Does that break

your heart or what?!?!?!

Placed a phone call to the lead teacher to work this out. She tells

me about more forms, more testng, more, more, more. The school knew

this LAST year, before he was even registered for kindergarten that

he has problems and that he was coming to kindergarten. LAST YEAR.

Could anyone have told me what I needed before now? BEFORE I put my

son in a kindergarten classroom in which he was expected to perform

the same way as his peers that have normal chromosomal assays?!

And of course, I've shot myself in the foot because we fired the

neurologist and we won't be seeing the new doctor until the end of

september but the school, no the STATE wants a diagnosis before

they'll consider " other health impaired " and THEN, here's the real

kicker, I'm told that his IQ testing wasn't sufficient for State

standards and that his IQ is too high to qualify him as learning

disabled so NOW he has to do more testing at the school. So do I

call the neuropsychologist that administered teh 14 hours of testing

last spring and wring HER neck?

This is ridiculous. My new prayer request is that my son's IQ is

below 79 so he legally qualifies as learning disabled otherwise he's

stuck in the standard classroom with NO assistance and I can tell you

exactly what is going to happen: he'll fail kindergarten and have to

repeat and when he fails it the second year, they'll say, " oh, wait,

maybe we should do something different for this kid... "

And THIS is why I ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY HATE THE FREAKIN' SOUTH!

These people are schmucks! Yes, I'm a D@mn yankee and if that means

I get more results for my son, fine. If you're from the south, I'm

sorry, i'm not attempting to directly accuse, offend or slight anyone

in this group. I'm just blowing off steam, so please issue me an

extra measure of grace today.

Jennie

August 29, 2006

Angel,

I've been kind of anticipating facing this same thing with my son (or at least

the possibility of it). My husband and his brother did the same thing. They

grew up to excel in school, but in Kindergarten just didn't seem ready so his

mom pulled them out and waited a year. It ended up being the perfect solution

for them. Aidan's only 4, but I always wonder what that kindergarten transition

will be like for him.

Aidan (MDS) 4, a 2, 7 months

LDSAngel77@... wrote:

Jennie...

While it wasn't my disabled son... one of mine just was NOT ready for

school...he was still young, one of the youngest in his class... tears and

screaming, every day for almost 3 months... I pulled him out. Seems

drastic...but

I came to believe he needed time to mature...he did AMAZINGLY the next year,

and has done well in school ever since.

Is there any consideration for pulling out of this kindergarten

situation or classroom? Some may not agree with me, but why should he SUFFER

while the administration gets their act together (yeah, right...)??? I

personally think it would be worse for him to continue this way, to be made to

feel

like a failure, to have his self esteem crushed...than to pull him out and

tell your doctors you have ONE YEAR to get this kid a diagnosis, so you can go

back to the school next September and he can start school with the help and

resources that he DESERVES.!!

~ANGEL~

Mom to 13, Mosaic Down Syndrome/Hirschsprung's Disease

Lance 18, Tyler 14, 11

Jaeda 10 and Shayne 4

August 29, 2006

See, that's exactly what I asked them, citing the information many of

the moms here have stated, which is that MDS kids make a huge stride

developmentally and cognitively between ages 5-7 and that many of the

childen with MDS do BETTER than their peers if they wait the year.

But the school wouldn't hear my point of view. The only response

was " well, let's go ahead and put him in the classroom and see how he

does " to which I said, " I can tell you right now, he's NOT going to

do well and you'll only be calling me every day with one issue after

another " which they HAVE.

I don't know the laws when it comes to starting a child in school and

the last thing I want is a truant officer turning up at my door.

It's not likely they're going to want to hear my sob story about my

child's disability.

>

> Jennie...

>

> While it wasn't my disabled son... one of mine just was NOT ready

for

> school...he was still young, one of the youngest in his class...

tears and

> screaming, every day for almost 3 months... I pulled him out.

Seems drastic...but

> I came to believe he needed time to mature...he did AMAZINGLY the

next year,

> and has done well in school ever since.

>

> Is there any consideration for pulling out of this

kindergarten

> situation or classroom? Some may not agree with me, but why should

he SUFFER

> while the administration gets their act together (yeah,

right...)??? I

> personally think it would be worse for him to continue this way,

to be made to feel

> like a failure, to have his self esteem crushed...than to pull him

out and

> tell your doctors you have ONE YEAR to get this kid a diagnosis,

so you can go

> back to the school next September and he can start school with the

help and

> resources that he DESERVES.!!

>

> ~ANGEL~

> Mom to 13, Mosaic Down Syndrome/Hirschsprung's Disease

> Lance 18, Tyler 14, 11

> Jaeda 10 and Shayne 4

>

August 29, 2006

Well, actually, I homeschooled my oldest through pre-k because she has

social anxiety and some other " issues " and put her in the public

school to see how she'd do for kindergarten. It was a ROUGH year for

her but we muddled through. This year in first grade, she seems to be

doing much better. I think she just needed to turn a corner

developmentally. (She's 6 1/2). My son, on the other hand, was

already attending the public school speech program so I thought, well,

let's go ahead and try it out, surely the public school is better

prepared for his academic needs than I am. But homeschooling him has

always been our plan B for both the children. Actually, I'm a teacher

of homeschooled children. Our accredited school caters to highschool

level homeschooled students whose parents feel ill equipped to teach

the higher level maths, english and sciences. So I'm VERY familiar

with homeschooling, since I've been teaching for oh gosh, I don't know

how long! lol

Right now, it will be a few short turns with this monkey business wiht

special education before I throw in the towel and pull him out to work

with me

August 29, 2006

One thing that I like with the homeschooling, is the fact that he can excell at

the subjects he loves, ie-reading and phonics, but can slow down on the harder

ones, like math and composition. Also, no bullies or forgotten

lunches/sneakers! LOL!!

It is a hard choice, either way.

Irene in TX