Hello all,,
For those of you with some legal know how,,a question:
At a recent IEP, we went over the use of some of Luke's sensory activities to see how they were working. While on the topic of the "body sock",,the principal chimes in and states, "oh, well, we are going to send that home", I asked why.
He stated that he "heard that there have been problems resulting from these things. That they are strange and that other children think they are wierd. My staff is not trained to properly use those. So from no on, they will not be permitted in our building for the safetly of all"...
I was TICKED off. I told him, that if this is a tool that is working, that they need to implement it!! He again stated that his staff isn't "trained" in how to properly use them. Does it take a class to "learn" how to use a body sock?? OMG...am I overreacting or what? Should I push this isssue or let it go? The sock is sometimes effective at calming him. Not always, but it is one of our "tricks" we use.
Thanks in advance.
kelly
Hi Kelly!
If Luke is in public school, there are Parent Resource Centers that have good information, resource staff, books and tapes to check out, advertisement of upcoming conferences and events, etc. When I ran into an incident with my son, I just spontaneously stopped there one day. The woman who staffs our local center is great. She gave me some ideas and made some suggestions, and 6 months later I went back and thanked her. I had got what I wanted...It took time as it was more than a body sock!
It sounds like your son needs a "sensory diet", but the public schools don't recognize Sensory Integration Disorder or dysfunction as a diagnosis, so they get around it that way...The way you get around it is to find documentation explaining how certain children with autism including your son need certain sensory stimulation during the school day in order to get their FAPE = Free Appropriate Public Education.
Good Luck! Hope this helped some!
If the body sock itself is named in the accommodations of the IEP, then this may be worth a little bit of fighting. The IEP is a legal document and should be followed as written. If the accommodations list sensory activities, similar to the body sock, there is probably not much to fight about using that particular tool.