Re: New to Group...Vent type thing (son's school) (LONG)

[Guest guest]

We are having a bit of a work stoppage problem, too. I thought it

was new this year, but DS tells me he had the same problem last

year, too. Have they kept track of what types of work he is not

doing? Is it everything? Has an FBA been done? The teacher and I

had great communication last year, or so I thought. They were

focused on his behaviors as the end product. They didn't get the

whole trigger thing, as far as I can tell. And, well, the teacher

was completely overwhelmed by the situation. (Huge amounts of tact

were put into the previous sentence.) I thought we were on the same

page. We weren't even in the same book!

We've had four IEP meetings this year, partly because of this

work " refusal " issue which I kept thinking is not just a problem

of " he is not doing what he is told. " Now I found out about last

year, I think it may take a while to unravel. I think we are in

agreement now. I told the principal right before break to not even

worry about the work because then we risk pushing him into a

meltdown if he is really struggling with an attention problem or

something like a creative writing assignment.

We just started ph on Focalin, and he is also on Zoloft,

Seroquel and Tenex. So it's about the same mix as your son. He also

goes to therapy every two weeks with a psychologist.

Just a thought, but they might be getting flack at the school for

putting your son into a restrictive environment such as the TLC.

(My thought is the financial aspect with that small ratio.) You can

request as a parent that he return. Keep track of everything.

Don't throw a single piece of paper away that comes home. Our

school has email so it's really easy to ask questions. Although I

tend to email alot LOL so the principal gets all my emails and

distributes them as necessary, or researches my questions. I am

well known for my 2-page discourses about the origins of my son's

behaviors.

We are making huge progress, but last year was a loooong year.

Jackie

ph/10/5th grade, AS/ADHD

>

> I keep trying to mention that because he is an Aspie child his

brain works differently then a normal child's would. He may be

intelligent but that doesn't rack up a hill of beans when it comes

down to actually doing the work. They say he can not go back to the

TLC classroom, because he doesn't do the old behaviors that he used

to do. He is at a point where he is going to fail 4th grade if they

don't do something!!

>

> He is on 4 different medications right now. (Lexapro, Abilify,

Tenax and the patch ADHD medication...Starts with a D) He see's a

therapist once every two weeks right now, she, thankfully is

agreeing with me and his education. She says his brain works

differently. Yes, she is going to the IEP meeting when we have it

next time.

>

> What's a parent to do??? The school keeps thanking me for keeping

the communication going and that we are all on the same page. OK

maybe we are not on the same page though. TLC teacher was slightly

annoyed when I jumped above her to the principle to talk about how

was doing in school instead of going to her. She " thought " we

had a great relationship, yes, that's what she told me. She had made

it clear that wasn't going back to TLC, so what else was I

supposed to do?

>

> Anyways, I am glad to be on the list, I hope to get some support

here, as I feel like my life is a tad crazy right now.

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Jackie!

I hope I am replying back to this the right way. I don't think they are actually

keeping track of what work he isn't doing. It seems to be a particular place

where he isn't doing his work. See, he went from being in the TLC classroom to

being in a regular classroom and now he is in two different places during the

daytime. Like he spends the first hour of school in the resource room, then he

goes to his regular classroom for awhile, then back and forth. I think that is

making his anxiety worse!! The TLC and resource room teacher asked me to start

making a list of questions for the IEP meeting, so that is my first

question...What kind of work is he not doing?

I believe that he has had an FBA done. I remember one IEP meeting where they

had the school physiatrist talked all about him. They did speech and

occupational, so I am pretty sure they did the FBA. When they did an Aspie test

at the school they said he had 45 out of 50 of the symptoms. You'd think they

would look into what exactly an Aspie child is then. They still have his IEP

listed as Other Health Impairments...or something like that and not actually

listed as Aspie or anything.

The other thing I forgot to mention was that I this year they kept him in the

school he is in for TLC and they actually got special permission to do it. He

was supposed to go to a new school as his current school is setup for K - 3rd

grade for TLC. (The school does have up to the 6th grade in it) but originally

they thought it would be a good idea cause he was doing so good and all, so they

thought they should keep him there and it would be easier to transfer him to the

regular 4th grade class. Now I really just want them to transfer him to the

school he should be going to. I talked to his therapist today and she said she

is behind me 100%.

I think 's main issue is the attention part and also writing. They got him

this little computer type thing so that he could type out his writing

assignments. I do believe the more they keep pushing him the less he is going

to want to do. Does anyone know of a good web site that will tell me (and the

school) what the behaviors are for an Aspie child? That would come in handy at

the IEP meeting.

Thanks!!

We are having a bit of a work stoppage problem, too. I thought it

was new this year, but DS tells me he had the same problem last

year, too. Have they kept track of what types of work he is not

doing? Is it everything? Has an FBA been done? The teacher and I

had great communication last year, or so I thought. They were

focused on his behaviors as the end product. They didn't get the

whole trigger thing, as far as I can tell. And, well, the teacher

was completely overwhelmed by the situation. (Huge amounts of tact

were put into the previous sentence.) I thought we were on the same

page. We weren't even in the same book!

We've had four IEP meetings this year, partly because of this

work " refusal " issue which I kept thinking is not just a problem

of " he is not doing what he is told. " Now I found out about last

year, I think it may take a while to unravel. I think we are in

agreement now. I told the principal right before break to not even

worry about the work because then we risk pushing him into a

meltdown if he is really struggling with an attention problem or

something like a creative writing assignment.

We just started ph on Focalin, and he is also on Zoloft,

Seroquel and Tenex. So it's about the same mix as your son. He also

goes to therapy every two weeks with a psychologist.

Just a thought, but they might be getting flack at the school for

putting your son into a restrictive environment such as the TLC.

(My thought is the financial aspect with that small ratio.) You can

request as a parent that he return. Keep track of everything.

Don't throw a single piece of paper away that comes home. Our

school has email so it's really easy to ask questions. Although I

tend to email alot LOL so the principal gets all my emails and

distributes them as necessary, or researches my questions. I am

well known for my 2-page discourses about the origins of my son's

behaviors.

We are making huge progress, but last year was a loooong year.

Jackie

ph/10/5th grade, AS/ADHD

[Guest guest]

I have to be honest with you. I don't think MOST schools have a

clue. My daughter had a great teacher until the end of grade 5 and

we still had problems. I pulled her out before middle school and

now I homeschool her. I have five kids but homeschool only her at t

this time. We use the Charlotte Mason method (you can research it

online) and it works great. She is learning almost up to grade

level, loves to read again (hated to and refused to read in school

since they pushed it so hard), just devours books and we do lots of

music, art, hands on manipulatives and social interaction with other

homeschool groups (they've been very accepting of her and the kids

are great with her). She is more socially capable now than she ever

was before. It's just a thought and it's truly not as hard as

people think, depending on your state. Look into Dept. of Nonpublic

Education for your state, county. NC has fairly loose laws, so it

is easier here to make my own curriculum (time consuming!) and

social opportunities. She has TONS of social interaction out of

school.

Just a thought. I found the fight was tiring and they weren't

getting it! I even started a support group for local families with

spec needs kids homeschooling to supplement her mainstreaming groups.

> >

>

> > I keep trying to mention that because he is an Aspie child his

> brain works differently then a normal child's would. He may be

> intelligent but that doesn't rack up a hill of beans when it comes

> down to actually doing the work. They say he can not go back to

the

> TLC classroom, because he doesn't do the old behaviors that he

used

> to do. He is at a point where he is going to fail 4th grade if

they

> don't do something!!

> >

> > He is on 4 different medications right now. (Lexapro, Abilify,

> Tenax and the patch ADHD medication...Starts with a D) He see's a

> therapist once every two weeks right now, she, thankfully is

> agreeing with me and his education. She says his brain works

> differently. Yes, she is going to the IEP meeting when we have it

> next time.

> >

> > What's a parent to do??? The school keeps thanking me for

keeping

> the communication going and that we are all on the same page. OK

> maybe we are not on the same page though. TLC teacher was

slightly

> annoyed when I jumped above her to the principle to talk about how

> was doing in school instead of going to her. She " thought " we

> had a great relationship, yes, that's what she told me. She had

made

> it clear that wasn't going back to TLC, so what else was I

> supposed to do?

> >

> > Anyways, I am glad to be on the list, I hope to get some support

> here, as I feel like my life is a tad crazy right now.

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

_Asperger Info: moreno_tips_for_teaching_

(http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/moreno_tips_for_teaching.html)

[Guest guest]

IF they did an FBA, they should have said.... " okay, he doesn't do x

and y type of work. " " And we don't think he does x and y work

because..... " Then they say, " okay, how can we change the structure

or environment or assignment to increase the possibility that he will

complete this assignment. " That's the behavior plan part of it.

Then they say " okay, and when he does do the assignment, he will get

a or b positive reinforcement. " The positive reinforcement could be

as simple as a high five or a verbal comment. " Wow, I see you

finished that assignment even before the end of class time. You

worked through the difficult problems by working step by step. You

are really making progress! " Or it could be an external enforcer

such as extra free time or junk food.<---that's what my son gets

A good site about behavior plans:

http://www.schoolbehavior.com/behavior.htm

They have your child's education in mind. But YOU have a much

greater interest in your child. They don't remember everything you

tell them, either, so don't be shy about repeating things.

" This relates to what I was saying previously about..... " I've

practically memorized every email I've sent, but I realize they don't

actually memorize the ones they receive.

It sounds like your son has an Alphasmart or similar? Wow, that

usually takes some doing. So I do give them some credit. :-)

My older son was classified as ED for a while before we had him

diagnosed with a spectrum disorder. Then he was changed to autism as

his classification. We had my younger son diagnosed at the same

time. So his first IEP was classed as ASD, with a secondary

communication disorder.

Jackie

On Jan 5, 2007, at 9:39 PM, Graves wrote:

> Hi Jackie!

>

> I hope I am replying back to this the right way. I don't think they

> are actually keeping track of what work he isn't doing. It seems

> to be a particular place where he isn't doing his work. See, he

> went from being in the TLC classroom to being in a regular

> classroom and now he is in two different places during the daytime.

> Like he spends the first hour of school in the resource room, then

> he goes to his regular classroom for awhile, then back and forth.

> I think that is making his anxiety worse!! The TLC and resource

> room teacher asked me to start making a list of questions for the

> IEP meeting, so that is my first question...What kind of work is he

> not doing?

>

> I believe that he has had an FBA done. I remember one IEP meeting

> where they had the school physiatrist talked all about him. They

> did speech and occupational, so I am pretty sure they did the FBA.

> When they did an Aspie test at the school they said he had 45 out

> of 50 of the symptoms. You'd think they would look into what

> exactly an Aspie child is then. They still have his IEP listed as

> Other Health Impairments...or something like that and not actually

> listed as Aspie or anything.

[Guest guest]

Here is something that really bothers me. Our kids do well, so let's

take them away from what made them do well.

If he is failing, they need to help him succeed. This is the time to

help him. Giving him detention because he doesn't do his work? You

know what, if he needs more of an incentive, then they should be

giving him one. If they want him out of the other program, then they

should do it slowly. They have tossed him out and not made a plan

for transition.

Are they stupid? (sorry about that!~) If he fails it is their fault,

NOT his. He clearly needs more help and they shouldn't take him out

because of high IQ alone. That is not how we judge our kids needs.

Oh, and the teacher and her guilt trip with you? Well, if you had a

reason to go see the principal you had a good reason. Explain it

like it is.

It may be a struggle, and you can still be positive, but make sure

your sons needs are understood, and fight for what he needs. He

deserves it!!!

You can do it!!!!!

*hugs*

B

>

> Hello all...My name is and I have a 10 year old son, ,

who was diagnosed with Aspie about a year ago. He has also been dx'd

with ADHD and originally Tourette's.

>

> Let

[Guest guest]

Yes, he has an Alphasmart! He loves that thing. He actually did a

writing assignment this past week using it. I was amazed.

I do believe that they did have a FBA, because when he was in TLC classroom

they would give him rewards, they had plenty of little junk food type snacks

in the room also. They also have tons of animals in there. He used to get

extra computer time too. (He loved that) Now that he is out of that

environment though he does not get that reinforcement anymore. He might get

a your doing good but that is stretching it.

Yesterday for example, I had to go pick him up for an appointment and when I

went to this classroom (regular 4th grade) he came right up to me and said

after they called you I started cooperating. The teacher came over and I

told him he said that and I swear to you he rolled his eyes and said it's

been a really tough week for .

I just remembered too that once a week I get a progress report and it has

his weekly how is he doing. All the of the categories that are checked try

harder are in his behaviors. I need to start making copies of those, so I

can show them it is his behaviors and he needs to be back in TLC.

> IF they did an FBA, they should have said.... " okay, he doesn't do x

> and y type of work. " " And we don't think he does x and y work

> because..... " Then they say, " okay, how can we change the structure

> or environment or assignment to increase the possibility that he will

> complete this assignment. " That's the behavior plan part of it.

> Then they say " okay, and when he does do the assignment, he will get

> a or b positive reinforcement. " The positive reinforcement could be

> as simple as a high five or a verbal comment. " Wow, I see you

> finished that assignment even before the end of class time. You

> worked through the difficult problems by working step by step. You

> are really making progress! " Or it could be an external enforcer

> such as extra free time or junk food.<---that's what my son gets

>

> A good site about behavior plans:

> http://www.schoolbehavior.com/behavior.htm

>

> They have your child's education in mind. But YOU have a much

> greater interest in your child. They don't remember everything you

> tell them, either, so don't be shy about repeating things.

> " This relates to what I was saying previously about..... " I've

> practically memorized every email I've sent, but I realize they don't

> actually memorize the ones they receive.

>

> It sounds like your son has an Alphasmart or similar? Wow, that

> usually takes some doing. So I do give them some credit. :-)

>

> My older son was classified as ED for a while before we had him

> diagnosed with a spectrum disorder. Then he was changed to autism as

> his classification. We had my younger son diagnosed at the same

> time. So his first IEP was classed as ASD, with a secondary

> communication disorder.

>

> Jackie

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>

>

> I do believe that they did have a FBA, because when he was in TLC

classroom

> they would give him rewards, they had plenty of little junk food

type snacks

> in the room also. They also have tons of animals in there. He

used to get

> extra computer time too. (He loved that) Now that he is out of

that

> environment though he does not get that reinforcement anymore. He

might get

> a your doing good but that is stretching it.

Not that the reward does the trick in all cases, but it does seem

that they pulled all the support. Amd like another poster said, the

support (smaller class, including) was what was making it work.

> I just remembered too that once a week I get a progress report and

it has

> his weekly how is he doing. All the of the categories that are

checked try

> harder are in his behaviors. I need to start making copies of

those, so I

> can show them it is his behaviors and he needs to be back in TLC.

>

Does he have goals on his IEP or behavior plan that support

progress? How do they track his improvement? Do they have

something like " he will complete assignments within the specified

time limit with 80% accuracy in 4 out of 5 trials. " ?

My son's are NCR forms (no carbon required). They were created just

for him. I had this issue with the check box for " I did what my

teacher asked, " which led to two of the four meetings. That's a

pretty broad statement, even when asked nicely to do something.

What if he doesn't know how to do it/is having a hard time getting

started? He is not one to admit that.

Jackie