Re: Visiting Schools

[Guest guest]

I have to say that I found this thread to be very interesting as well as

enlightening.

A few years ago, the preschool program for hearing impaired children my

daughter attended wouldn't let parents observe, volunteer or " pop in. " I

agree that teachers' classes should not be disrupted, but I also feel

that parents of young children who are just learning to speak have every

right to be allowed into the school to observe their child. At that

time, my daughter didn't have enough language to tell me what she did in

school that day, what she liked/disliked about her teacher or her peers,

etc. and the school did not do enough to communicate with the parents on

a regular basis. I became the class parent because it was the ONLY way I

was able to get into the classroom. I soon understood why they wouldn't

let parents come in unannouced. The groupings weren't appropriate, the

student to teacher and aid ratios were not sufficient and some children

were so disruptive the teacher was unable to get through the curriculum.

There was no support from the administration for any of these issues.

I think een's suggestions:

I would set up a conference with the teacher. Let them know that you want to

observe the child in the classroom and set up a time to come...

are very good ones. I and several other parents tried to volunteer at

our children's school, the administration didn't even want us in the

building much less their classrooms. In our case, there were serious

issues of trust, poor teacher to parent communication and difficulties

between both parents and administration as well as between teachers and

the administration.

When it comes to late diagnosed children and language development, time

is always of the essence. I felt we had no time choice but to find a

better program, one that would welcome us and meet our child's needs. We

went to the Moog School in St. Louis for 3 years and never regretted it

for a moment. The differences in the programs, parent/teacher

relationships, observation policy and just about everything were like

night and day. My heart still broke for all the children in the old

program and I'm planning to work to offer better options for children

and their parents. Families should not have to fight so hard to get what

they need for their children.

a

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a Rosenthal, Publisher & Speaker

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