Today was Daniel's first day of summer school. And after only 90 min being there, he's coming home. They say he's done nothing but tantrumed the whole time. Now that everyone isn't in the room, he's calm. But with 18 kids in the class, they can't have someone with him 1-on-1, they say. They say that he got calm, but as soon as they redirected him, that he would meltdown again.
If he does this again tomorrow, then the program "isn't right for him." and we'll have to figure out something else for the summer. The room is too small and there are too many kids, and they don't have enough people to have someone 1-on-1 to take him out of the room so everyone's safe.
Do any of you know something we can do? The whole reason he's there I thought was to re-inforce and re-establish structure so he could transition back into school come fall. I don't understand.. I just don't get it...
Should I call an emergency meeting and have them hire a 1-on-1 aide for the summer? Should I just swallow my tongue and basically have him miss summer school this year? I just don't know...
YES! There is no 'we can't do this or that to accomodate your child' it's they won't. You need to call the meeting asap.You need to document that things are not working within that classroom
setting right now. You need to ask if a FBA can be done on Daniel to see
what is triggering his meltdowns. An appropriate Behavioral Intervention
Plan has to be in place.
I agree with your gut feeling that this is not the best placement for your son.
He needs better supports. I would not stay quiet but be proactive . Tell
them he needs 1:1 supports at home to be able to gain the skills neccesary
to attend school. Behavioral Interventions are to help our kids cope with
school etc. Transitions are tough for our kids and so are certain structured
demands. Sorry he is having a tough time.
That is why I pulled my son from the program. Summer school is a very different place. My son's class during the year is 3 kids, each have an aid, and a classroom teacher. Summer school was over triple the size, 2 aids, 1 teacher! Not to mention an entirely different staff.
I chose not to fight for the aid and so on because it's only 4 weeks and my son is in a fabulous program during the year. It wasn't worth getting people all roused up for. Plus we have a home program 5 days a week, so it's not like he's without everything!
Anyway, good luck what ever you decide! It's so hard!!! Hang in there!
I wouldn't just let yor child not have a program that would benefit him. Also if they are unwilling to accomadate him, maybe they would be interested in paying for you to educate him with an ABA program at home? Usually, it is all about extra expenses, and if it sounds like you are coming up with more expensive things to educate your son, they may be more willing to pay for an aide. It is sad, but true.
(I may sound harsh on the board, but I am always respectful to everyone educating my son, but I know I also have to hold strong to get what he needs. There are so many stories of schools who can't bend the rules for these kids. Everyone needs a reality check. 1 in 150 kids. Get used to it.)
We found a kinderkids class with 8 kids and 2 teachers and they allowed us to have our ABA therapist with Sarah the whole time...it was a public class offered through the city at the local rec. center but was a dream come true for what Sarah needed...check out what is available in your area. She did this for 2 years and when she started kindergarten with 22 kids and 1 teacher she did great:) Best of luck!If you do let him go, I would go and observe what they are doing. You have a child that is on the apectrum, so they need to respect you coming in to avoid meltdowns. It may be something simple as you said, and nipping it in the bud right away is best.Well, my husband picked him up, he found out it was 18 kids to 3 adults in a VERY small room. I'm going to call everyone I can think of today to try to either get him a 1-on-1 in the room, or a 1-on-1 at home..
After dissecting the situation, we're wondering if someone took something away from him without asking. Like, he won't let you take his backpack off, but if you ask him to do it, he's more than happy to oblige. If that's the case, then it's all about telling them what his triggers are. I know he's little, but I don't see anything wrong with them asking him to do something rather than doing it themselves.
They said that from the minute he walked into the room he was upset.. Considering I put him on the bus happy, smiling and saying "Bus!", it came as a real shock to even get a phone call...
I would call a metting.. if he has a IEP and is in a speical ed porgram
they have to find out what is causing him to be upset and work with
him.. My son loves the summer program had no probelms they have 16 kids
and 4 people in the class for 2 hours every morning..
I am curious, what kind of class is he in for summer school? Is it a "specialized" spec. ed class or just a regular preschool setting??? Daniel is the same age as my Mark and for us summer school is just an extension of the same class offered through out the school year , same teacher same 1:1 aide for the kids that need it, and a few assisstants that rotate. The bottom line is if this is part of the school district "they need to accomodate you", and they should be able to handle him and they should know how to ask him to do things. IT IS THEIR JOB!!! It's a different set of teachers and professionals. Apparently, (though I haven't actually been told this) it's a regular preschool setting. He normally has sp.ed. preschool during the school year. We've not had an issue during the school year, so we never had a need for an aide even. I think that's why this all comes as a shock.
I got a hold of a lot of resources and one of them (after 3 hrs on the phone, and a dead phone at that) gave me the number for a Sp.Ed. person at the state level that they say has no issue calling the district directors and pushing for services. So in about 30 min, after my phone gets a charge back in it, I'll be calling her. I hope we can get a 1-on-1...
Now just to figure out if I want to send him back tomorrow...
My ds's teacher often complained that my ds would arrive at school 'in a
mood' when I dropped him of at her classroom dor laughing and just fine.
My guess is that my ds needs to ask questions to orient himself and his
teacher had a habit of completly ignoring him and his questions if she fet
it was not time for questions - that might work for an NT kid but it did
not work for my ds.
I would call up the special ed department of the schoooldistrict to find
out what accomodations need to happen for the summerschool. my
feeling is that they can't just say - upps too hard - and drop him. It
seems like his behavior is an indicator that he needs summerschool more
than most kids so either they need to get him special accomodations like
1:1 or need to offer a more appropriate program. It really is not your
ds's job to be right for the program - it is the districts job to provide him
with a program that is right for him.If it doesn't sound like your child be suspicious! It also sounds strange to me that she was there to see the tantrum. Sounds like bull-honky to me. Definately document everything, and if you write notes to school, type them and keep a copy!Make sure that you document everything. Keep notes of all your phone calls and conversations. Make sure they're not telling you he's doing great just to appease you. When my son was in school, he got in trouble a couple of times, then when I asked them to determine why, maybe we needed to keep track, etc., all of a sudden it was, "Oh no, he's so good, there's no need...." I love the idea of popping in occassionally. I wish I had done it more often!
What's summer school? They told me my ds could have summer school which is going once a week for 2 weeks (twice! what a joke!)before school but I would have to drive him and his school takes me an hour to get there, he's on the bus for 1 1/2 hrs. during regular year. Once his teacher called me and told me to request 1:1 at IEP but I was quickly shot down. He has a rifton chair at school and wears a harness with a leash at recess because he runs off and they lost him twice. Once, they found him back in the classroom, and another time he tried to run to a nearby pool at a house. Of course we got no call from the school, the bus aide told us. There is an excellent residential school 2 hrs away but my district won't consider sending him till he's 12. Sorry to go off on my own rant, having a bad day and all the kids are still sleeping. Maybe your child is better off at home for the summer.
Update: I'm so confused now...
I called the State BoE.. The woman said that it's unreasonable to expect a 1-on-1 aide. She said that it takes too long to get one, to expect it to be done. (IEP meeting, everyone in agreement, approval from board of education, notice hiring one, hiring process..) She says she'll call the school district and see if she can set up a PPT. She said to go ahead and send him to school the normal way tomorrow. And if I don't hear back from anyone, to call her and she'll talk to the super intendant.
My B23 group started to try to figure out a way to help out. We're past the "transition" phase, but since they are still coming for Stephen, they haven't really taken to that. They are trying to figure out how to get the school to let THEM do the behavioral analysis since they know him..
Well, I get a call back from the school district. This woman says that there are 5 adults assigned to EACH room (this conflicts with what the teacher told my husband). She says that the Sp.Ed. director and the principal were also directly involved in helping Daniel. (This conflicts too, as it makes no sense why he couldn't be taken from the situation if there were THAT many adults involved.) She also told me that there's other placements in the school that he could do that have smaller class sizes. To which I ask, why wasn't he put into one of those to begin with knowing of his autism? (which she skirts around the question and doesn't answer)
She explained getting off the bus that he tantrummed (saying she was there to see all of this as well). She starts giving me generic reasons why he was having such a hard time. (That the way he got to school was different so this set him off, or maybe because it was different people on the bus, or because there were just too many people coming off the bus.)
So B23 calls me back saying that they're going to offer to the school district any and all help. I tell her what the previous lady told us, and she quickly says "That doesn't sound like Daniel at all." And says she feels like somethings weren't done correctly. (Daniel does GREAT with transitions, most new people, and has no problems going different routes. The only thing they said that makes sense with him is a lot of people, and that only sets him off in enclosed spaces, so doesn't make sense with it happening as soon as he gets off the bus into an open area.)
So yeah... I'm confused, and we have to meet with them in the morning to discuss what happened.. We're sending Daniel on the bus, and heading up just after he leaves...Try to replicate things as much as possible. My husband believes that someone must have taken something from him, as this is the only thing that is typical to get that sort of response.. Who knows.. Guess we'll find out tomorrow...or maybe not.. /sigh What a way to start out the school year..
MomofCurtis,
Sounds like you need to look into other schools. Why would you let them get away with putting your kid on a lesh at recess? My son had a rifton chair, and it had straps to keep him seated, unlike their claim it helped his posture. How can you be shot down for a 1:1 aide when they have lost your son? I sent my son to a private school, and they pay for it. You need to look into getting a lawyer. Especially if you are considering a home for him already. That may be avoided with a good school!!!