High school
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I have no specific question. I am just really scared of the unknown. Next month my son starts high school. The biggest school he has ever been in has had 198 kids pre-K thru 8th grade. The smallest was about 20. This will also be a public school with a 1000 kids! (Not implying this is a bad thing. He has always been in parocial school.) In some ways he looks ready but in others I am just not sure. I guess I just have to step back and let him try before I worry to death before anything happens to worry about. It is just so hard to do that. Our other two kids will be in the same high school but they are living with thier mom this year. I hope if anything serious did happen and they knew of it they would step in and let us know. We see them 2-3 days a week instead of 5-7 days a week. Any words of wisdom? Thanks for reading, Janis I'm already dreading the transfer to middle school, and it's years off. I definitely understand how you must feel. The only thing I have to offer is this, which might help you come up with some IEP goals to help the transition: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/asdfourt h.pdf - Inventory/Assessment of Functional Skills in Secondary School (such as entry routines, locker routines, etc.) Starts on page 124. Thorough! Good luck! No words of wisdom, just wanted to say let us know how it goes, and what kind of support/transition help your son gets. I am right behind you, my son is going to be in the seventh grade this fall so I have 2 more years before high school, but I am already scared about it. Good Luck to your son. High School is years off for us. My oldest is transitioning to middle school this year. He's just finishing a 4 week "transitioning to middle school" summer school program. I'm SO glad our district offers such a program. He's gotten to know the school really well and he's feeling pretty confident and comforatable about the upcoming change. (I wish I was!) Is your son familiar with the new school? Does he know any of the teachers? Maybe you could arrange for him to meet with some of the teachers he'll be working with before school starts. I hope all goes well and he has a great year. Good Luck! WiMomof 2, I tried to see if I could get a private tour of the school for my son so he could get familiar. The person I talked to said no! She said they didn't have the staff for that. I didn't want the staff I just wanted to be able to come in and walk him around and show him the lay out. I told her he was autistic (PDD-NOS, I didn't get into all that.) She said they will have Freshman orientation on such and such day but they couldn't allow what I was asking. His older sister(step) will be a Junior this year at the same school. Maybe she can go with us to orientation. I used to go to the same school (20 yr. reunion next month! can you believe it!) but there has been several changes to the building since then. It sounds great that your middle school has that program! Kudos to them! Hopefully at registration we can sneak off and look around a little more so he can see the class locations at least twice without the whole school there. [QUOTE=JanisA]WiMomof 2, I tried to see if I could get a private tour of the school for my son so he could get familiar. The person I talked to said no! She said they didn't have the staff for that. I didn't want the staff I just wanted to be able to come in and walk him around and show him the lay out. I told her he was autistic (PDD-NOS, I didn't get into all that.) She said they will have Freshman orientation on such and such day but they couldn't allow what I was asking. [/QUOTE] That really stinks! I have no idea what our district has in place for kids entering high school, but they have been great so far about preparing students for transitions - even the NT students. All of the kids who are entering middle school were given a tour of the school. In the end, it just makes things easier for both the students and the staff once the new school year begins! Does your son have an IEP? Will he be working with any of the special ed teachers or therapists? Maybe they could help. I hope you're able to sneak off and help your son get to know the new school layout. Best of luck! WiMomof 2, I tried to see if I could get a private tour of the school for my son so he could get familiar. The person I talked to said no! She said they didn't have the staff for that. I didn't want the staff I just wanted to be able to come in and walk him around and show him the lay out. I told her he was autistic (PDD-NOS, I didn't get into all that.) She said they will have Freshman orientation on such and such day but they couldn't allow what I was asking. re so he can see the class locations at least twice without the whole school there. [/QUOTE]I cannot believe that. Was it an uptight, controlling, rude secretary who told you this over the phone, or someone in authority? If it was just a secretary, call back and ask to talk to someone in the special ed. department or the Freshmen principal. Or call the school district office directly rather than the high school. Keith does have an IEP. I asked her about when we were going to have a new IEP because Keith was coming from parocial to public and the last school he attended wasn't even in our city. She said it couldn't be before school started. It is a very minimal IEP but there are things on there that I know he is going to need. His hand writing is not legible in most cases and he will need permission to use a lap top etc. He has always been main streamed without any aids although the last two years they have put breaks in his days to decompress, etc. THis probably isn't going to happen this year. I want to see if he can handle it before I make demands. My hope is that he won't need a break from the NT's but if he does I will fight for him to get it. Thanks for everyones support! Janis, Adam started in middle school last year that is in the high school. They allowed us to come in a few days before school started and walk through his schedule wth the special ed teacher. He also met his teacher before hand. He was given a map with his route through school highlighted. Oh, and they hand picked his schedule so he wouldn't be walking all over the buildilng. He bascially went in a straight line up the hall. Maybe because he didn't come from the feeder school they don't want to accomodate you. I think it is terrible. Maybe you can contact the special ed department a few days before school starts and they can help you. I understand he was mainstreamed, but because he has an IEP they maybe can be involved. Even though you are coming from a parochial school to the public system, you have ammunition in the IEP. I would forward it on to the Director of Special Education at the school district, along with the person in charge of special education at the high school and make them aware that he is coming in WITH AN IEP. Although they will more than likely decide he has to have a new IEP, you have a better shot at being treated like a transfer and having the one currently in place honored than you do if you let him try to make it before "making demands." You're not making demands - you're providing the accommodations your son needs to succeed. Those accommodations need to be honored from the start, if at all possible. My experience is that the parochial environment is much more sheltering than the public school environment, and he's going to be starting off at a disadvantage given the changes in size of the school alone. He doesn't need any additional hurdles that the district may toss up by starting from scratch. Alerting them from the start, they wouldn't have leverage of using the excuse of "we didn't know" to buy time - it may be time he doesn't have to catch up to his peers and stay on track in the mainstream environment. I would forward his IEP to the appropriate personnel, along with a written request to tour the campus prior to Freshman orientation so he can acclimate himself appropriately. I guarantee you, if the request were coming from someone blind or deaf, the "unavailable" staff would be found to honor your request. Just my 0.2 cents.
AnamaCara, The parochial schools ARE more sheltered. I realize that. They are also have a agressive learning style. I have decided that this year it would be in his best interest to go to public school because I feel there will be less academic pressure. He may already be ahead in some of the classes he will be taking. In turn that means for Keith a larger chance for success, less chance to getting over loaded with stress. Most school years up to this point he has had 2-3 hours of homework. The parochial High school I chose for him would have been more of the same. I am not sure if he could handle it at this point. His biggest setbacks are his handwriting and his social interaction. The handwriting issue in the past has accounted for part of the long homework hours. (He would do most of his daily written work at home on the computer.) Keith is very bright but he does get overwhelmed if he can't see an end in sight. He has a melt down/fit, etc. My second issue is that he DOES NOT want people to know about his condition (I couldn't care less, other than his feelings, about what others think), he is very concerned at least in that area about fitting in. I just mentioned IF he can go this year without breaks this would be a good thing. He may be able to do this, I don't know until I let him try. He can do many things now he couldn't do even a year or two ago. I am not going to go in guns blazing if he can't demanding anything. I simply will refer to his existing IEP if it isn't updated by then. It says he can use a scribe for essays and state/ or national tests, etc. He can have the number of questions on long assignments modified to shorter amount of questions. He can use a computer with (not sure what %) part of his work. This was done so he would not totally abandon hand writing. I admit I do have to see if it is actually in his IEP that he can have 15 minute break twice a day if needed or if the school just did it on thier own. He has a plan. It may not materialize but HE has a plan. He wants to finish high school with a regular diploma or an academic one. Then he wants to go to college for computers at ITT. Then he wants to work at ITT (not the same as the college) possibly for the government. Later he wants to live in New York in a condo over looking the staue of liberty. He wants to see this every morning. This is what he told me. Who am I to say he can't. I think as long as he wants it bad enough he has a chance. (He is already very good with computers. My husband says, 'he knows enough to be dangerous' LOL. He reads his PC Plus mag. or something like that, like I would a good book. Sorry for getting off topic and rattling on Janis, You're not off topic by a long shot. And if what I said came across as too harsh, my apologies. My concern, as is yours, is that your son succeed in an environment that's going to be a challenge. He has a plan, and that's half the battle :) We can all certainly understand his desire to "fit in" - particularly those of us who have teenagers (and I do - one on the spectrum and one with severe dyslexia) and I was not suggesting at all that his peers, etc. be notified of his condition. He should find a space where he is welcome and has friends who support him in achieving his goals, including college. My concern, however, is that it would be unwise NOT to inform the teachers and proper personnel that he has an IEP, at the very least so that they can implement the minimum modifications he needs - and inform them he wants a trial run without breaks - but that they all (teachers included) go into the school year "hoping for the best, but planning for the worst." rather than having to come in after and play catch-up. Those teachers should not find it necessary to inform your son's peers of his condition for any reason, so he would still have the opportunity to fit in. If, on the other hand, one of the primary concerns is the possibility that the district will attempt to "pigeon-hole" your son into getting a substitute certification instead of his diploma, then I can understand the reluctance not to utilize his IEP. Having dealt with supports being completely yanked out from under my dyslexic child when she transitioned to high school (and did have 3-4 hours of homework a night and similar handwriting issues) because "she's on track and doing okay" only to have her ultimately flounder again, the amount of time the district may spend dragging its feet should your son wind up needing assistance concerns me. Our situation deteriorated into her winding up so far behind that she was ultimately withdrawn from school and homeschooled to catch up. Although now well past her peers on her own and doing college-level work, she opted to continue homeschooling because of the damage to her self-esteem that resulted because of it. Given your son's determination and yours for him, I know you'll make the right decision. JanisA---RE: the tour of the building. Did you call the principal of the school directly and ask if you could "introduce yourself and your child" and take a look around the building? Most principals can't rationally say no to meeting a child and parent. You can also say you will be on vacation during orientation and don't want your son to start school w/o getting his bearings. Our school has an amazing knack for planning summer orientations while we are out of town. The more hardcore approach is to call the director of special ed. and request a tour, but if you don't want to emphasize your son's classification, that's not a good plan. As for getting him off to a good start, I call a meeting with my son's teachers every year to discuss his learning style, strengths and weaknesses. Any parent should be permitted to do that whether their kid is ASD or NT. You might feel better if you do that and the teachers would start off with good information---always an advantage. High school teachers tend to be more product than process oriented because they have to get the kids ready to pass so many standardized tests. At a meeting, they can communicate their expectations to you and you can see if they are realistic for Keith and watch throughout the school year to see if he is meeting them. (Suppose you have a teacher who takes off for sloppy handwriting, for example?) In having a dialogue with the teachers, you can bring up the IEP just to reinforce it, briefly. Legally, they have to follow it and will be informed of it anyway. Where I teach, you are not supposed to have any instructional contact with a classified child until after you are made aware of the IEP on the first day of school. Teachers should not mention a kid's classification to other children and your son certainly doesn't have to bring it up to his peers. Some kids will figure it out anyway just because they will notice that certain people get certain services or have interaction with a certain special ed teacher. Jake starts high school this year, too. We both have to hope for the best. No worries, I am glad for all replies! Anamcara and Toodycat, Thanks so much. I will definately make sure they know about his handwriting issues. I may call Our school district today. |
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I think one day this week I may leave work early and go over to the school and take Keith in with me.
I DO want those aware that need to be aware.