Guest guest Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 I am so glad to hear your story. My husband and I are having to decide right now what to do as far as inclusion. Our son is high functioning but has a lot of issues. He lives his life as a character(ex. Buzz,wiggles,etc.) He is in 4 year special ed pre-k and does great. I am worried that in reg. kindergarten he will be lost. He gets mad when other kids do not color characters right in a coloring book or other simple things like that. We are still learning the system. Does anyone else have advice on what we should ask for in our transitioning IEP? Do we need to a private para pro if he is sent out to be main streamed? I have heard that schools are reluctant to help in that way. Any advice would be great. > > From: <mysofas@...> > Date: 2006/01/23 Mon AM 12:41:49 EST> autism > Subject: Inclusion > > > I know I am not in the area any more but I know you guys! I was reading about the article on inclusion in a previous post. I am having second thoughts about this. I felt that my daughter should be in a regular classroom and not special ed since learning was not an issue but social skills are. Now I am wondering if it is not best. She was placed as a special needs student into a regular preschool classroom. The ratio is 3 adults to 14 students--including 5 special needs children. (This is being raised to 16 soon) Katarina was being punished so much that she now talks negatively about herself which she has never done. She can't tell me what happened but she repeats what ws said to her. " I am not a big girl " " I not teamwork " " Can't do it Can't do it can't do it " And she was crying every day after school screaming " TIMEOUT " The last day before Christmas break, I asked that she be changed into a different classroom, hoping the teachers would take more time with her. The very first > day, I only left her alone there for 2 hours. I came to pick her up and she was being physically restrained on the floor. > > I assumed she had attacked someone or something but no. She was talking during storytime and was asked to go to timeout. Katarina thinks she can't do anything right because she has been punished so much every day in school. She refused to go to timeout this time and was physically restrained for punishment. I had meetings with school personell, asked for a behavior plan, asked for an IEP meeting, asked for them to document how many times she was being punished every day, asked that she never be restrained again,asked for PECS cards to be used to remind her of the rules, and was refused! They did say they would document it but that was it. > > My problem with inclusion from this experience is that they expect special needs children to behave and do as regular ed. students. What if they can't? They are repeatedly sat out from group activities and punished with timeout. At least in this school system.I was told that Katarina was just being manipulative with me and that is why she was so upset every day after school. I don't believe that. I am fed up at this point in time and can't trust that they will do the right thing. So I am looking into homeschooling until Katarina can better control herself (and her talking ) I hate that she now feels that she is " bad " and can't do things " right " . She has always been encouraged and she never thought of herself like this. This is a public school system in the Midwest. > > While I was observing in the classroom, a teacher flipped the lights on and off. I had no idea what this meant and the teacher didn't say. The children started to clean up and K. followed along what they were doing. On the way home I asked her, what does it mean when Mr. Tom turns the lights off and on? Katarina said " means I can't see " . If she doesn't understand the rules, how can she follow them? Just following other children may work part of the time, but not all of the time! As I know all too well, the child she usually picks out to follow is usually the worst behaved child there! > > > > *Not all Miracles happen in an instant* > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > Photos > Ring in the New Year with Photo Calendars. Add photos, events, holidays, whatever. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 27, 2006 Report Share Posted January 27, 2006 In a message dated 1/23/06 1:47:45 PM, long4913@... writes: << Does anyone else have advice on what we should ask for in our transitioning IEP? Do we need to a private para pro if he is sent out to be main streamed? I have heard that schools are reluctant to help in that way. Any advice would be great. >> Remember, first, you determine the child's needs, then you write the goals to address those needs, then determine the services that will be needed to help the child meet those goals and then placement. If you want your child to be in a typical classroom, you need to be sure that the goals and provided services will be compatible with that environment. Too many goals or too many individualized services and the IEP team may argue that he should be in a " special class " . Place to start is to find out what the expectations are of typical kindergartners, then determine what your child will need to be successful in the classroom. A private parapro may not be the answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 My son is in 2 reg ed classes finally this year in the eighth grade. He attends with his parapro. If his behavior gets noticable, or before it does, she either gets him out of the class, last resort, or they have worked out a pretty good program to get him to focus. The kids have been really supportive. Prior to his attending, his teacher and the class were giving about a 10 minute siminar on and autism. We had trouble once in the beginning with the boys in the bathroom- a fav place to bully any kid, but the parapro was right outside the door, and actually walked in and stopped it. They recieved harsh punishments and it was made very clear this kind of behavior would not be tolerated...His program is modified, but he has made A's in his classes. His parapro said if he was graded as strictly as the other kids, he would still have a high C. So that is great. He loves his reg ed classes, and now when he has to return to his special ed class for language arts, if any of the children are having problems, he tries to help them. Its such a change. He had regular electives ..PE, and art and computers etc for 2 years, with his parapro, but this is his first year with academics. He wants to be with the reg kids and wants to fit in, which is so amazing he even notices it at all. But puberty has been a huge time of mental and emotional growth, besides growning 4 inches in the past year. > > > In a message dated 1/23/06 1:09:58 AM, mysofas@y... writes: > > << My problem with inclusion from this experience is that they expect special > needs children to behave and do as regular ed. students. What if they can't? > >> > > Successful inclusion may require that some special accommodations be made for > the child with special needs. What you are describing is " dumping " which sets > the child up for failure. This does not make inclusion the wrong decision - > it is just being done wrong. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 No, this isn't true. There are many ways to include individualized services along with substantial periods of inclusion. OT and Speech can be delivered in inclusion settings in many instances (though this is a new thing and most practitioners don't yet have a lot of experience doing things this way). It sounds like you know what you want out of the inclusion time. Often kids will be included for recess, lunch and specials. If you want these times to be times that he is taught and can practice social skills you will want to find out if there a staff member is available to support those goals during those times. Time and again I find that the social goals are the ones that no-one is actually teaching. I think was cautioning you that the kinds and number of goals you want to address may impact what IEP members say and the placement they may try to push for. Kirsty Re: Inclusion I'm a little confused about something ... Do you mean to say that once a child is placed a typical classroom, he couldn't get indivisualized services such as ST, OT? I am going to call on some period which my son could communicate or immitate typical peers. However, being in a typical classroom without a supplementary aid would carry great risks to him. Is it difficult to get both of indivisualized services and typical peers? Rie If you want your child to be in a typical classroom, you need to be sure that the goals and provided services will be compatible with that environment. Too many goals or too many individualized services and the IEP team may argue that he should be in a "special class". - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 No, this isn't true. There are many ways to include individualized services along with substantial periods of inclusion. OT and Speech can be delivered in inclusion settings in many instances (though this is a new thing and most practitioners don't yet have a lot of experience doing things this way). It sounds like you know what you want out of the inclusion time. Often kids will be included for recess, lunch and specials. If you want these times to be times that he is taught and can practice social skills you will want to find out if there a staff member is available to support those goals during those times. Time and again I find that the social goals are the ones that no-one is actually teaching. I think was cautioning you that the kinds and number of goals you want to address may impact what IEP members say and the placement they may try to push for. Kirsty Re: Inclusion I'm a little confused about something ... Do you mean to say that once a child is placed a typical classroom, he couldn't get indivisualized services such as ST, OT? I am going to call on some period which my son could communicate or immitate typical peers. However, being in a typical classroom without a supplementary aid would carry great risks to him. Is it difficult to get both of indivisualized services and typical peers? Rie If you want your child to be in a typical classroom, you need to be sure that the goals and provided services will be compatible with that environment. Too many goals or too many individualized services and the IEP team may argue that he should be in a "special class". - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 I'm a parent of a 14 year old. His disabilities include PDD, OCD, Tourette's, and ADHD. I have not had good success with his out of district school. I feel he's picking up behaviors from the school. I don't feel he's learning as much as he should. I have had problems at the school bus as well. I'm thinking about inlcusion. This could eliminate the bus problem (bus is a 1.5 hour drive with other kids picking up on his OCD. My son does not like others burping, coughing, sneezing. The other kids in the bus pick up on this. They've been fist fights!). I also feel I could more at the school. What has been the experience with inlclusion. How do I ask for Inclusion? He currently has an IEP, will it be a matter of the school district revising it? Any pitfalls? Thanks, Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2008 Report Share Posted September 10, 2008 1.5 hours on the bus? Is he going to a school within the district or another district? The biggest red flag for me here is the long time on the bus, there are legal issues here. Can you give me some more specific info and how much inclusion you want? There are degrees of inclusion in the public school system I can not speak to private schools. Sue Inclusion I'm a parent of a 14 year old. His disabilities include PDD, OCD, Tourette's, and ADHD. I have not had good success with his out of district school. I feel he's picking up behaviors from the school. I don't feel he's learning as much as he should. I have had problems at the school bus as well. I'm thinking about inlcusion. This could eliminate the bus problem (bus is a 1.5 hour drive with other kids picking up on his OCD. My son does not like others burping, coughing, sneezing. The other kids in the bus pick up on this. They've been fist fights!). I also feel I could more at the school. What has been the experience with inlclusion. How do I ask for Inclusion? He currently has an IEP, will it be a matter of the school district revising it? Any pitfalls?Thanks,Ed No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.526 / Virus Database: 270.6.19/1662 - Release Date: 9/9/2008 10:47 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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