Yesterday, we visited a school that is part of the Autism program. It was utterly depressing.
There were 15 children ages 3 through 5 there- this didn't include typical peers who hadn't arrived yet. There was a teacher and three aids for all of these children. We arrived at free time, which apparently was taken literally- as in you can feel free to do whatever you want as long as it doesn't hurt someone.
There were two children who were very severe and they were allowed to spend the morning stimming. One sat on an improvised sea saw and stared at the ceiling. The second held a doll that talked and shoke it over and over. No one made an attempt to involve these childre in any activitites. No one talked to them except when it was time to go potty.
The remainder of the children also did exactly what they wanted. There was a girl who was in the process of taking her shirt off. Another girl who was taking of her socks and shoes and screaming. Two boys were at the water table flinging water every where. Another set of boys were scribbling on the white board and the wall and themselves.
While this was supposed to be tailored to children with ASD, I can't imagine leaving Lennon there. Nick, Lennon, and I have worked *so* hard for the improvements he has made. I can't imagine dropping him off in a setting that is so obviously set up for failure. There are too many demands on the staff and too little resources.
I no longer know what to do. Part of me wishes I could quit my job and teach him. I know that isn't the right answer because he *needs* outside people- in order to gain social skills and have a healthy life. It isn't healthy to have your parents so involved in every facet of your identity. Eventually, they have to do it on their own.
Nick and I were hoping for the Autism Preschool to speak to us and make us excited for this change. I can't speak for Nick, but I was absolutely terrified for our son and his future. To me, it felt that by choosing either program, we would be sentencing him to mediocrity where no one challenges him or expects anything from him.
Showing posts with label placement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label placement. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
It worked!
Our Columbo Tactic paid off. We received an apology from the school district letting us know that they must have been misunderstood/misrepresented the process and they would certainly include us in the eligibility meeting and know that writing the IEP in advance in detail was illegal. The response was incredibly apologetic and detailed in how they would do the process.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Columbo Tactic
That is quickly becoming our new approach with the school district. We received the date for Little Bug's evaluations- June 5- and a detailed list of who would be attending as well as what tests would be included.
When I asked about the eligibility meeting and the IEP meeting, I was told that the school will have the eligibility meeting and let us know. The district with decide his placement and then that team will write his IEP for us.
Excuse me while I roll around on the floor laughing to tears.
Obviously, the administrator has not gotten it through his head that we know better than this. Nick and I have spent the last week reading the *entire* IDEA Act of 2004, No Child Left Behind, as well as Special Education law cases that went before the Supreme court to help further iron out things such as placement- remember, appropriate not best- and whether a medical need- CIC (clean intermittent catheterization), etc.- can keep a child out of school.
Needless to say, I know that what he is suggesting- a placement decision as well as a pre-written IEP without the parents- is bullshit.
I wrote him the following email:
Hi XXXX.
After reviewing your response and sharing it with Nick, we are a little confused.
Our understanding of this process was that parents were to be included in the eligibility meeting. If that is incorrect, can you tell us how school district XX normally works it. Specifically, how will you inform us of your decision? How long will it take to get a decision?
After reading the Idea Act of 2004, we understood it to mean that parents were an equal member of the IEP team and should be included in placement decisions and the creation and writing of the IEP. Specifically, we understood portions of it to detail that the IEP shouldn't be pre-written without the parents' vital knowledge of their children.
If I misunderstood your response, I apologize. we are simply parents who are passionate about being involved in our son's school like as well as advocating for him.
Thank you,
Blake
I call this the Columbo technique. Basically, it involves giving the district enough rope to either hang themselves or come back and do the right thing. If they should select the option to hang themselves, we are ready to fight.
The thing is that my normal instinct tells me to go in crazy style and dominate and win. While I know that I could do that, and that I want to, I also know that we are going to be at this for years. While I don't need these people to be my friends, I do need a less hostile relationship.
Wish the school district luck. For us, just hope that this works out right.
When I asked about the eligibility meeting and the IEP meeting, I was told that the school will have the eligibility meeting and let us know. The district with decide his placement and then that team will write his IEP for us.
Excuse me while I roll around on the floor laughing to tears.
Obviously, the administrator has not gotten it through his head that we know better than this. Nick and I have spent the last week reading the *entire* IDEA Act of 2004, No Child Left Behind, as well as Special Education law cases that went before the Supreme court to help further iron out things such as placement- remember, appropriate not best- and whether a medical need- CIC (clean intermittent catheterization), etc.- can keep a child out of school.
Needless to say, I know that what he is suggesting- a placement decision as well as a pre-written IEP without the parents- is bullshit.
I wrote him the following email:
Hi XXXX.
After reviewing your response and sharing it with Nick, we are a little confused.
Our understanding of this process was that parents were to be included in the eligibility meeting. If that is incorrect, can you tell us how school district XX normally works it. Specifically, how will you inform us of your decision? How long will it take to get a decision?
After reading the Idea Act of 2004, we understood it to mean that parents were an equal member of the IEP team and should be included in placement decisions and the creation and writing of the IEP. Specifically, we understood portions of it to detail that the IEP shouldn't be pre-written without the parents' vital knowledge of their children.
If I misunderstood your response, I apologize. we are simply parents who are passionate about being involved in our son's school like as well as advocating for him.
Thank you,
Blake
I call this the Columbo technique. Basically, it involves giving the district enough rope to either hang themselves or come back and do the right thing. If they should select the option to hang themselves, we are ready to fight.
The thing is that my normal instinct tells me to go in crazy style and dominate and win. While I know that I could do that, and that I want to, I also know that we are going to be at this for years. While I don't need these people to be my friends, I do need a less hostile relationship.
Wish the school district luck. For us, just hope that this works out right.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Lots of Tears
Poor Little Bug, there were tons of changes. On Thursday, we started brushing therapy. He seemed to really like it at first. He asked for the brushes and would brush himself on his hands and feet. Starting on Sunday evening, his love affair with the brush was over. He now screams, “No, no, no, owa, owa” whenever we try to brush. Honestly, we aren’t sure if this is being 2 and waiting to control the situation or if, to him, it is painful. We are going to take a break and check in with his OT on Thursday.
We also started packing this weekend. Nick and I decided that we wanted to pack while he was awake and around to see so that he can deal with the change. He was pretty excited while we were packing- jumping in and out of boxes, putting his stuff in, taking his stuff out, etc. Once we were done packing for the day, he suddenly began screaming and crying and yelling NO! over and over again. He fell asleep crying and saying No. It broke our hearts. We were hoping that this was a result of him being too tired or not feeling well, but yesterday when I packed a couple more boxes, he again began yelling NO and crying.
We knew that this would be hard for him- new cloths or shoes are a major problem. We just didn’t realize how hard this would be and how to make this better for him. Our therapist recommends that we drive him by the new place every day and talk about it. She also recommends that we leave a box out at all times so that he can “pack” his stuff. One note, we aren’t packing his stuff. Nick and I made the decision to leave his stuff unpacked and haul it over in the car early in the morning and have his room set up completely- therapy swing and all- before we take him over.
The last change that happened was in his routine for school. We had our first school visit yesterday and it didn’t really go well- for anyone involved. Little Bug was hyper focused and very into repetitive actions. He wouldn’t talk or look at anyone with physical and verbal prompting.
Nick and I didn’t like the class room style. It would be very easy for Little Bug to get lost. They have free play for the first 45 minutes. They then have exercise time- either outside or in the basement of the school- then circle time, lunch, and go home. A good majority of their day is free play. We asked the teacher about what experience she had with children with ASD and she admitted very little. She also believes that during free play it is truly free and if a child wants to do something for all 45 minutes, they can. The problem with this is that Little Bug would gladly play Thomas for all 45 minutes and never say anything to anyone.
Another difficulty is that there was no forced interaction between the kids or teacher. When I say that, no one entices the kids to play games together or interact. Its very much, if they want to great! If not, oh well. Also, the teacher and the aides only interact with the children if the children come up to them. This is not to say that they are sitting on their butts all day, just that there is a lack of structure and focus that Little Bug is used to and craves.
The teacher was amazingly honest. She told us that she would strongly encourage us to check out the Autism Preschool. She also told us that she doesn’t get a say even if she doesn’t feel a child is right for her program. When I asked her about the ability for a child to go more than two times a week for 2.5 hours, she stated that if she feels it is necessary she will advocate. She told us that she did this for a child this year and the school district told her that if she feels passionate about it, she can have it her way, but they will flood her class with pupils.
I felt so bad for her. She talked about time outs and breaks and how some parents feel that is too extreme. We heard her tell one child that if they did something again, she would tell their mom. She told us that for that student, it was the only recourse because they weren’t allowed to have the child take breaks or have timeouts unless they actually hurt someone.
I appreciate that her hands are tied- sometimes by lack of knowledge, sometimes by parents, and often times by the school district- but this is not the right program for Little Bug. No offense to her, but this program is set up for failure for the students and the teachers.
We have a visit to an Autism Program and we are hoping that we like this one. The thing is, we really, really wanted to like the first program too.
We also started packing this weekend. Nick and I decided that we wanted to pack while he was awake and around to see so that he can deal with the change. He was pretty excited while we were packing- jumping in and out of boxes, putting his stuff in, taking his stuff out, etc. Once we were done packing for the day, he suddenly began screaming and crying and yelling NO! over and over again. He fell asleep crying and saying No. It broke our hearts. We were hoping that this was a result of him being too tired or not feeling well, but yesterday when I packed a couple more boxes, he again began yelling NO and crying.
We knew that this would be hard for him- new cloths or shoes are a major problem. We just didn’t realize how hard this would be and how to make this better for him. Our therapist recommends that we drive him by the new place every day and talk about it. She also recommends that we leave a box out at all times so that he can “pack” his stuff. One note, we aren’t packing his stuff. Nick and I made the decision to leave his stuff unpacked and haul it over in the car early in the morning and have his room set up completely- therapy swing and all- before we take him over.
The last change that happened was in his routine for school. We had our first school visit yesterday and it didn’t really go well- for anyone involved. Little Bug was hyper focused and very into repetitive actions. He wouldn’t talk or look at anyone with physical and verbal prompting.
Nick and I didn’t like the class room style. It would be very easy for Little Bug to get lost. They have free play for the first 45 minutes. They then have exercise time- either outside or in the basement of the school- then circle time, lunch, and go home. A good majority of their day is free play. We asked the teacher about what experience she had with children with ASD and she admitted very little. She also believes that during free play it is truly free and if a child wants to do something for all 45 minutes, they can. The problem with this is that Little Bug would gladly play Thomas for all 45 minutes and never say anything to anyone.
Another difficulty is that there was no forced interaction between the kids or teacher. When I say that, no one entices the kids to play games together or interact. Its very much, if they want to great! If not, oh well. Also, the teacher and the aides only interact with the children if the children come up to them. This is not to say that they are sitting on their butts all day, just that there is a lack of structure and focus that Little Bug is used to and craves.
The teacher was amazingly honest. She told us that she would strongly encourage us to check out the Autism Preschool. She also told us that she doesn’t get a say even if she doesn’t feel a child is right for her program. When I asked her about the ability for a child to go more than two times a week for 2.5 hours, she stated that if she feels it is necessary she will advocate. She told us that she did this for a child this year and the school district told her that if she feels passionate about it, she can have it her way, but they will flood her class with pupils.
I felt so bad for her. She talked about time outs and breaks and how some parents feel that is too extreme. We heard her tell one child that if they did something again, she would tell their mom. She told us that for that student, it was the only recourse because they weren’t allowed to have the child take breaks or have timeouts unless they actually hurt someone.
I appreciate that her hands are tied- sometimes by lack of knowledge, sometimes by parents, and often times by the school district- but this is not the right program for Little Bug. No offense to her, but this program is set up for failure for the students and the teachers.
We have a visit to an Autism Program and we are hoping that we like this one. The thing is, we really, really wanted to like the first program too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)