School Problems

[Guest guest]

Dear Listfriends,

Oh this is bad. Back in May Natasha was hospitalized for the 4th time in 1

year. It was primarily due to the preschools lack of care and inability to

keep her hydrated and cool. So we took her out of school temporary while

looking for other/better situations. We contacted our local school district

and a very nice woman came to the house briefly assesed Natasha and made a

referal to our local Special Ed preschool plan area(Selpa)... I first asked

if they could provide services at the site where she was... Because she liked

it and it was free. They said they had something better and showed me a

classroom and said she could come there and nextdoor is a mainstream class.

Sounded good. So we enroled Natasha.

Well, here is the bad part. Natasha's only imparements are physical in

nature. She is very smart and well adjusted. Gets along well with other

kids. The special day class is comprised of low cognitive functioning kids

and Natasha has no friends in the class. Yes she is involved with the

" mainstream " class but it is at the will of either teacher. Now almost 3

months later, Natasha does not want to be in the special Ed class. She hates

it. She says she would rather be in the main class, but it is private and

the Selpa Teacher wants Natasha to be in the special class much of the time.

Friday the teacher sent home this big letter and made decsions without

comsulting with us. She states she wants Natasha on a scedule. It is very

biased and Natasha says she hates it. Doesnt want to be " Stuck " in the

special class.

The teacher threatened me, saying if Natasha is not in her class accourding

to her scedule,, we will have to pay for Private Mainstream class. This is

not possible for us. We cannot afford it. We would have prefered them to

provide her services at the old school... But they said they could do it

better for her here. What a mess.\

I need help.

Any input would be appriciated. I am going to file a complaint against her

teacher on Monday. This is horrible.

Hugs,

Ann

[Guest guest]

Ann,

Unfortunately Jodi is right, you will have to go in

prepared with paperwork and information to show them

that Natasha is not in the right environment and that

she is not being challenged. Children with special

needs come in all shapes, sizes and forms, as we are

all aware and the school districts are not at all

prepared to deal with the various needs of all the

children. And the big reason for this IS money!!

It's sad but true.And the worst part is for alot of us

and our children, they are going to be lumped into

that group because of their size limitation or issues

related to it. It's up to us basically to know what

our rights are, what our children are entitled to and

to make sure that our children treated fairly because

I can certainly tell you that noone, not even the

schools are going to do that for us. I'm learning the

hard way, from experience and speaking to other

parents. So, do your homework,ask questions and don't

give up!! You're her mom and you know what is best!!

Missy

mom to Ian

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