Guest guest Posted October 16, 2004 Report Share Posted October 16, 2004 Can't even be sure that he dislikes school. He loves his bus driver, aide and bus ride. I think his teacher is a waste, but I am not sure what he thinks. Firedrills are definite melt down time!! Sara - Choose to make lemonade, not complain about the lemons. >From: charlyne1121@... >Reply-To: >To: >Subject: Re: School???? >Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 11:20:36 EDT > > >In a message dated 10/15/2004 8:41:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time, >pastmidvale@... writes: > > > > Elie tells me daily that it is time for Friday!! As in TGIF! Today he > > told > > me " OK enough school, vacation time. " Then he came to supper and told >us > > that October is over - no more firedrills. > >Hi Sara, >Do you think Elie dislikes school only because of the firedrills? >Charlyne >Mom to Zeb 11 DS/OCD/ASD? > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Hi Charlyne, Here is the current newspaper article that the mom had email me. Brent is the sweetest person and zero violence at home. Student's treatment questioned Web Posted: 10/18/2004 12:00 AM CDT Croteau Express-News Staff Writer SCHERTZ — Brent Mutchler has an IQ of only about 45 and can't speak in full sentences, but he always loved school — until this year. Almost every day for the first month of classes, Brent, 12, who has Down syndrome, became agitated and ended up being restrained, filling his trips to Corbett Junior High School with fear and dread. (Gloria Ferniz / Express-News) Mutchler puller her son, Brent, 12, from Corbettt Junior High School in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City School District. Attempts to control Brent in his special education class triggered the outbursts. Several times, he was knocked to the floor and a school district police officer sat on his back, cuffing his wrists — a position that can result in death. Things got so bad that his teacher and her assistant filed criminal assault charges against the stocky child last month, and his mother, Mutchler, pulled him from classes until he can be transferred to another teacher. " It seems clear to us that they started a pattern of extreme overreaction to what I, as a former teacher, would consider minor stuff, " said Kay Lambert, education policy specialist at Advocacy Inc., which is advising Brent's mother. " They made him what he is. " Mutchler said that in some cases, she learned Brent's agitation is compounded when school personnel threaten to restrain him or call his mother, both tactics known by his special education teachers to agitate him — and which a behavior plan filed with the school specifically rules as inappropriate. Mutchler said she has met repeatedly with officials at the school in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City School District and an outside expert to work out a detailed behavior plan for Brent. The teachers do not follow the plan, she said, and the result is chaos in the classroom. A school official said confidentiality rules prevent him from speaking about Brent. Juvenile offense reports taken by campus police from teacher's assistant Wen-Shing Buckley and obtained by the San Express- News state that Buckley signed an affidavit of prosecution and that she wishes to pursue criminal assault charges against the boy. The reports state that on Sept. 7, Buckley saw Brent striking another teacher and that Brent spit in her face when she tried to intervene. The reports also state that on Sept. 10, Brent struck her in the arm, causing Buckley " physical and psychological pain. " Brent's teacher, Tammy , filed a report Sept. 14 with Schertz police accusing Brent of assault with bodily injury, but the report gives no details. There was no mention of medical treatment needed in either case. " How does filing charges help Brent? " Mutchler said. " He doesn't even know what charges mean. " Buckley and did not respond to interview requests. Bob Graf, Guadalupe County chief juvenile probation officer, said this case is the first one in which he has heard of teachers filing assault charges against a special education student in the county. He said the child would have to be able to understand the charges and aid in his own defense to stand trial criminally, so it is doubtful that Brent, who his mother says cannot string three words together in a sentence, would be prosecuted. " It is always a problem for us, why is a mentally challenged child even in the system, " Graf said. " But there is a gray area. If you commit a violation and you know right from wrong, you are responsible. " It is rare, but not unheard of, for a teacher to bring in the police when a special education student is continually violent and creating an unsafe situation for teachers or other students, said Holly Eaton, a spokeswoman for the Texas Classroom Teachers Association. " It is usually an act of desperation by a teacher who has not gotten support from the school administration or the parent, " she said. " It is a cry for help. " The behavior plan for Brent, whose mother says does not have a history of violence, stresses positive re-enforcement when he behaves. For every 15 minutes Brent does not cause a disruption, he earns a check mark. The check marks then can be traded in for perks, including time playing computer games. If he acts up or hurts another child, the 15-minute timer goes to zero. He also had a " calm down " area he could choose to go to if he got agitated. If he did not follow directions, the teacher was supposed to move on instead of trying to coerce him into following the instructions. The next option was a one-minute time-out in the back of the room. Restraint was to be used only if he was trying to hurt someone. The check marks and positive reinforcement sometimes work, but can make classwork more difficult for teachers, said Cleborne Maddox, a professor of counseling and education at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a former special education teacher. " It is very difficult for a teacher to manage a 'token economy' in a large group and just reinforcing one child, " Maddox said. " Things can go wrong really easily. If there is a delay of just a few seconds between the appropriate behavior and the reward, you can be reinforcing the wrong behavior. " I feel for everyone involved in that situation. Once it gets to the point where it is so adversarial, with people getting attorneys and taking sides, there is not a lot of room for negotiation. " Mutchler and Advocacy Inc. attorney Steve Elliot said some school personnel who have restrained Brent have not gotten the required training and have not provided required documentation of incidents in which her son was restrained and that the district is not following the behavior plan it agreed to. Several times, they said, the campus police officer and other school employees used a dangerous tactic, called prone restraint, in which the person is taken to the ground face down and sat on. An April 2002 study by Protection and Advocacy Inc. found more than a dozen deaths from sudden cardiac arrhythmia or respiratory arrest and many injuries caused by prone restraint over a three-year period in California. The study recommended the tactic never be used and that restraint must " be viewed as the result of a treatment failure, not a treatment intervention " in treating mentally disabled people. According to a log compiled by Mutchler, Brent was restrained 18 times in the first 21 days of the school year, which began Aug. 17. The restraints lasted as long as 45 minutes, and he was handcuffed three times, she said. Most of the time, he was allowed to return to classes after he calmed down, but his parents have had to pick him up at least twice after incidents. Tim Savoy, a spokesman for the district who has since left the position, said teachers do not use prone restraint, but there " was a disconnect " between them and the district's police officers, who did use it. The officers have been retrained, he said. But Mutchler said students saw other district employees use the same force. One eighth-grader, whose mother asked that his name not be published because she fears retaliation from the district, said he witnessed two incidents in which Brent was restrained. In one incident, another special education student was pushing and hitting Brent in the cafeteria, when Brent jumped up and started yelling " quit it. " A district employee then walked in and saw the confrontation, the boy said. The man pushed Brent to the floor and held him down as Brent struggled and scratched at him. Finally, the man got control by pinning Brent's arms behind his back and hauled him to his feet, by the arms, lifting Brent off the ground. The other boy was not restrained or disciplined, the student said. " He (Brent) didn't deserve it, " the student said. Mutchler, who said she is not planning a lawsuit, wants another teacher who will follow the behavior plan for Brent, who is being taught at home by a district teacher until the issue is settled. She said the reason usually given for restraint him is that he runs from teachers. " Wouldn't you run away, too, if they were knocking you down and sitting on you all the time? " she asked. " I just want it to stop. My son deserves at least a halfway decent life. " --------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- rcroteau@... > Hi Irma, > The arrest of this child brings back many unpleasant memories. I have since > learned that this is not the norm but not uncommon in any state. The school > district personnel are all guilty. The OP & A's in the states are great > advocates. Hopefully this child will survive this one. Zeb did fine but I still harbor > plenty of resentment. > Charlyne > Mom to Zeb 11 DS/OCD/ASD? > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 In a message dated 12/9/04 6:33:40 PM Central Standard Time, writes: > Hi Karyn, > I have been away on a business trip and am backlogged with e-mails. I am > familiar with COACH. It is another assessment tool that asks questions to > staff > and family. The outcome can help in transitional and ed planning. The > originator > is Gianffredo, not certain of the spelling, a sped person from the > University of Vermont. It is a good tool for future planning. I pray that > > gets the services he needs to support him and peace of mind for you and your > > husband. > Charlyne > Mom to Zeb 11 DS/OCD/ASD? > Thanks for the reply. I looked up most of the assessment tools the evaluators will be using and they all seem very geared to futures planning and providing appropriate supports rather than the older type of assessments that I find so useless. I am feeling more comfortable with the team that will be doing 's assessment. Karyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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