Re: schools

[Guest guest]

Good luck Dana. I am sure you are doing the right thing!

Sherryxx

> Life has been interesting as usual around here, the school

situation

> has been getting worse and worse with my son getting a " red ticket "

> on the playground from his gifted ed teacher. So I decided my

psych

> for my son might be right and to look at the charter schools in our

> area. Boy was I impressed full inclusion with the sp teachers

coming

> to him and his areas of strength and weaknesses built into his

lesson

> plan. Lots of technologically asst. learning, behavior plans,

etc.

> The sp ed teacher seemed to have a lot of knowlege about AS and

> ADHD. What was interesting was when I talked to the school he

> currently is in no one had any idea things were not going well.

He's

> been suspended from PE, computer lab at various times. The gifted

> teacher has tried to get him removed from gifted, he got a red

card,

> and we didn't know things were not going well. I will miss his sp

ed

> teacher as she had formed a real bond with him, however she knew he

> was not placed correctly in a level d classroom. There was

> absolutely NO stimulation intellectually from his peers. I hope I

> have made the right decision to change schools, and trying to make

it

> as easy for my kiddo that hates change we are doing it immediately

> with no time to build up more and more anxiety. Let you guys know

if

> I screwed up doing this or if it works.

> Dana (Joy's mom 10 yo AS, ADHD, and cooooooool)

[Guest guest]

Dana,

Do you know if Charter school’s

are required to follow the federal guidelines under IDEA?

Ive never really been

clear on this. I hope that everything

works out for you.

Talk about stupid school employees. My sons Sped Teacher came up to me and

asked me what my sons “dx” was outside of school. Long story short she didn’t even

know what Asperger’s was or what PDD was. Neither did his teacher. This really ticked me off because ive

given them so much to read and teaching strategies for children on the

spectrum. The districts never ceases

to amaze me.

Thanks.

TK

Schools

Life has been interesting as usual around here, the

school situation

has been getting worse and worse with my son

getting a " red ticket "

on the playground from his gifted ed

teacher. So I decided my psych

for my son might be right and to look at the

charter schools in our

area. Boy was I impressed full inclusion

with the sp teachers coming

to him and his areas of strength and weaknesses

built into his lesson

plan. Lots of technologically asst. learning,

behavior plans, etc.

The sp ed teacher seemed to have a lot of knowlege

about AS and

ADHD. What was interesting was when I talked

to the school he

currently is in no one had any idea things were

not going well. He's

been suspended from PE, computer lab at various

times. The gifted

teacher has tried to get him removed from gifted,

he got a red card,

and we didn't know things were not going

well. I will miss his sp ed

teacher as she had formed a real bond with him,

however she knew he

was not placed correctly in a level d

classroom. There was

absolutely NO stimulation intellectually from his

peers. I hope I

have made the right decision to change schools,

and trying to make it

as easy for my kiddo that hates change we are

doing it immediately

with no time to build up more and more anxiety.

Let you guys know if

I screwed up doing this or if it works.

Dana (Joy's mom 10 yo AS, ADHD, and cooooooool)

[Guest guest]

I wish you all the best. Know what? Its the day to day decisions

that we have to make for our kiddos that cause US more stress

I agree... often 'just do it quickly' works better for the

transitions. Its a catch 22 isn't it? " give them plenty of time for

transitions " but its a fine line with the anxiety issues hanging over

their heads.

Keep us up to date as you said

DES

[Guest guest]

When deciding to put my son into Wordsworth Academy, on Medical leave,

the school had basically said that they didn't have the facilities for

my son. At the time it was just an ADHD diagnosis with a possible

Asperger's diagnosis coming. They said that the only resource room

available was for children older than gavin (he is 6, and the school

only goes up to 5th grade). At the most recent eval they have said

that he doesn't really need a special resource room and that with a

TSS in place he should be fine. They won't put in writing that he

needs the TSS because they don't want to pay for it, but they said

verbally that there is no way he can be in school with out one. Most

of the schools in Philly with the necessary Resource rooms are filled

or in bad areas. Charter schools are an option, but they don't accept

kids based on special needs, only on a lottery basis. This June, my

son will be thrown into a huge lottery with 6000 other kids in hopes

that his name is pulled, and then he can turn in an application to the

charter school, and maybe after all of that he will be accepted.

Philly schools are in shambles. They are having trouble educating

regular students, how could they possibly educate mine. He is super

smart and high functioning. I am lucky and I know this, and I don't

want him to fall through the cracks. He is to smart to go into an LD

setting, and they don't want him to go in with the other Autistic

children because he lacks alot of the traits, and his case manager and

behavioral specialist fear that he will gain the traits as a learned

behavior which would set him back. I am in a very tough spot, and I

am seeking an educational lawyer, but I am in for a battle. I have

seen first hand what the Philadelphia Public School System can produce

and I want so much more for my child. Even if it was just a public

school across state lines, it would still be better than my options

here. As for the physical restraint, that had to do with his

tantrums. I originally told them, since he was in kindergarten at the

time, that if they set up the nap mats in a corner and told him that

was where he should go if he wanted to have a tantrum, then he would

do it. They refused. It also didn't help that the teacher spent all

of her days screaming at my son and telling the other kids what a bad

kid my son was. He never hit anyone else, he was just anti social,

and threw tantrums. He was so scared of his teacher. This year he

told me that he really liked the first grade teacher, she was nice to

him. How sad is that? And there were 8 children, including my son,

who had something happen to them. All but 1 were boys. It is also

common knowledge that this teacher hates boys, she has stated it on

many occasion to many people. Because I live in a tight knit

neighborhood, it has been swept under the rug. She has been a teacher

at the school for many years. She was my teacher, I am 29. I am the

only parent who feels that this is something worth persuing. I guess

partially because they knew that he had ADHD and we were still trying

to find the meds that would work, and they also knew that we were

looking at PDD, yet they still treated my son like that. Sorry to

have rambled on, but understand my frustration. Being a single mom

with a PDD child is hard enough, but add this stuff in and it gets

super stressful. Have a Happy New YEar.

Sharon

> In a message dated 12/31/03 9:02:31 PM Central Standard Time,

> autism-aspergers writes:

> PDD, and he had a definate diagnosis of ADHD, a teacher grabbed my son

> by his neck, trying to make him focus or at least that is what he

> claimed the reason was. The school also informed me in front of my

> son's case manager that they enforce physical restraint " when needed " .

> I am currenly searching for a lawyer on that matter. My question is,

> does anyone know of any schools in Pennsylvania, more specifically the

> Philadelphia area, that are more catered to Aspergers? I have

> I work in a government funded pre-school. I know that we cannot

enforce

> " physical restraint " unless the child is flinging about, about to

hurt someone or

> himself. No, they cannot grab a child unless for instance that

child is

> under a desk and needs to come out, they can grab him slowly by the

arm and pull

> that child out carefully. This is for safety. The teacher cannot

grab a child

> by his hair or neck as you said a teacher did. Also, I believe this

is the

> general rule every where that gets government funding.

> As for private schools near Philly, well, the school does not have

to send

> your son to any special school unless the entire IEP team decides

this is

> necessary and agrees. This however may not be something that he has

to have, and

> they may not all agree. I know here I would never get that kind of

service, but

> all situations are different depending on the child's needs and the

> situations. My son is also ADHD and Aspergers. I have battled the

schools since

> preschool for him. He is now in high school, in ninth, and it gets

better, but only

> by a fraction actually as far as dealing with schools who understand

or care.

> in IL