To Tabitha re placement

[Guest guest]

Dear Tabitha,

In my experience, most kids with Asperger's do best in a regular classroom

with an aide or personal assistant. Classrooms designed for autistic or

developmentally disabled children (whom we used to call mentally retarded,

for instance my brother, who has Down's syndrome) are not challenging

enough, and our kids, as you've noticed, have little in common with them.

Classrooms for emotionally disturbed children are definitely wrong for them.

Did you show them the article from the Yale Child Study Center, " The Perfect

Misplacement " ?

Most of the problems teachers consider " emotional " can be dealt with by

having an aide accompany the child to all his classes and to recess, lunch,

and other non-structured parts of the school day. Schools sometimes arrange

for aides to be with the child only for academic work, when it is the

unstructured times that are the hardest of all for many of our kids.

Also, you should request, in writing, a functional behavioral analysis to

determine what situations cause your son to get upset, and a positive

behavior plan to help him learn and adopt desirable behaviors.

Having him attend school half time can only be an interim solution.

Otherwise the school is breaking federal law (the Individuals with

Disabilities Education Act) by refusing to provide him with a " free and

appropriate public education " in the " least restrictive environment. " A

classroom for emotionally disturbed children would probably be much more

restrictive than a regular classroom, and it would not be appropriate for

him.

Have you seen the special ed law websites, www.wrightslaw.com and

www.reedmartin.com? They are both full of helpful suggestions for dealing

with this kind of situation.

Good luck!

Jill