Re: Can you please tell me how to.....

[Guest guest]

I would go to the Principal....and if that didn't work I would go to the Superintendent of Special Education and from the there I would go to the Superintendent of the school....go all the way to the top...squeeky wheel gets the oil.

No way should he have 3 study halls.....we don't even have them in our school....the kids are required so many credits and in special areas in order to graduate....there is no time for study halls...and that to me is a waste of his time! One ...okay....but not 3. I mean if that was my son,,,,,he would not do any work in the study halls....not without prodding!

Jan

Janice Rushen

"I will try to be open to all avenues of wisdom and hope"

From: Hall Melinda <mlndhall@...>Subject: ( ) Can you please tell me how to....."support group" <Aspergers Treatment >Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009, 5:26 PM

Tell a guidance counselor to get a brain????!!! ! Seriously. I am having the worst time with 's counselor. She doesn't see anything wrong with giving this kid 3 study halls! It's his junior year! He needs to be preparing for getting out of school. Not sitting there doing nothing! It became a huge problem at the beginning of the year that they weren't offering the classes he could use for after graduating. (Incidentally, they are offering them in the fall when he may NOT have room for them if he gets into the vocational school.) They put him in useless electives which became basically fill in the blank. He has had a study hall first part of the year. Now they have switched into the 2nd semester courses if they were taking 1/2 semester classes. I told them that creative writing would NOT be a good choice for him. They convinced him it would be, and he became adamant about taking it so he could keep another class. (Classes are

hard to change when you are in supported classes.) SOOOOOOOOOOOOO this guidance counselor has succeeded in making this child who had speech services and language for years because he doesn't "expand" his sentences, to take a class where he has to write something that has to be 500-800 words. This is a kid that thinks an essay is maybe 2 paragraphs, if you can get that much out of him.His other option is a study hall. He is already taking 2 study halls this semester. So that will make 3 study halls. They have given him a choice of Marriage and Family as well. Uh, it's not something he'd be interested in because of his OCD. And it would be hard to keep his interest. He's willing to take it, but I don't see him wanting to stay in there either, which will then give us no options.I am really mad at this guidance counselor because she doesn't see anything wrong with having 3 study halls! Not a problem at all!!!! She just looks at the classes

available and says, "Okay, how about this one?" Knowing nothing of his ability or likes or dislikes. So it's okay to just stick him anywhere.I don't know who to even go to to get this resolved. There is a head of guidance, but I don't know if she would even be a good choice because I've known this woman since I was in her 7th-grade math class. So, I'm just up in arms over the thought of giving this child a 3rd study hall. If I could get him a job, I'd get him an early release, but so far, that hasn't panned out-though we've tried.Any suggestions.Melinda

[Guest guest]

Melinda,

if you don't advocate against this nonsense, nobody will. So you must!

One thing to remember is that giving him 3 study halls is the same as admitting that they have not provided FAPE to him. This is hardly an "appropriate" education if he sits around doing nothing for 1/3 of his school day. This is especially true because he is a child with special needs - he needs help learning daily living skills and a number of other things. They do not address his needs at all. Then they think they can get away with sticking him in study hall all day instead of addressing their lack of appropriate programming for kids with special needs. How many sped kids are being warehoused like this? What will he do when he graduates? He will be on your doorstep, doing nothing because he can't do anything. You can be sure that this counselor and all the staff at the school will not be with you, trying to help him figure out life. No. It will be only you. Now is the time to change this!

I would tell them just what I said above - that this is not FAPE! Write down the things he needs to be working on and tell them, "This is what he needs, how will this be provided?" Do not back down. It is one thing if he had years to go before graduation but time is running out for him. This is not the first time they have screwed up his schedule as well. He needs special programming and they know it! HIs schedule should be dealt with early enough so that he has choices because he has special needs and his needs are specific. This is BS at this point. Go to the director of sped and start complaining big time. Let her deal with schedules.

In addition, request that he get 1-1 help for his future needs during these study halls. They can cough up a teacher to work on work skills, daily living skills, help him find a part time job, etc. Thse are things they are responsible to be doing!!! Since he has so much "free time", they should plop in appropriate programming geared to his special needs during these wasted times. Do not let them sway you on this. There is no time now to screw around. You know, too, that they do this crap - they will tell you "We can't...." we can't move him to that class, we can't put him in this class, we can't change that class, we can't make that class...it's BS. They can do anything and they need to do it. Do not let them change your resolve.

PS: The multiple study hall option is my pet peeve in life, did ya notice?

RoxannaYou're UniqueJust like everyone else...

( ) Can you please tell me how to.....

Tell a guidance counselor to get a brain????!!!! Seriously. I am having the worst time with 's counselor. She doesn't see anything wrong with giving this kid 3 study halls! It's his junior year! He needs to be preparing for getting out of school. Not sitting there doing nothing! It became a huge problem at the beginning of the year that they weren't offering the classes he could use for after graduating. (Incidentally, they are offering them in the fall when he may NOT have room for them if he gets into the vocational school.) They put him in useless electives which became basically fill in the blank. He has had a study hall first part of the year. Now they have switched into the 2nd semester courses if they were taking 1/2 semester classes. I told them that creative writing would NOT be a good choice for him. They convinced him it would be, and he became adamant about taking it so he could keep another class. (Classes are hard to change when you are in supported classes.) SOOOOOOOOOOOOO this guidance counselor has succeeded in making this child who had speech services and language for years because he doesn't "expand" his sentences, to take a class where he has to write something that has to be 500-800 words. This is a kid that thinks an essay is maybe 2 paragraphs, if you can get that much out of him.His other option is a study hall. He is already taking 2 study halls this semester. So that will make 3 study halls. They have given him a choice of Marriage and Family as well. Uh, it's not something he'd be interested in because of his OCD. And it would be hard to keep his interest. He's willing to take it, but I don't see him wanting to stay in there either, which will then give us no options.I am really mad at this guidance counselor because she doesn't see anything wrong with having 3 study halls! Not a problem at all!!!! She just looks at the classes available and says, "Okay, how about this one?" Knowing nothing of his ability or likes or dislikes. So it's okay to just stick him anywhere.I don't know who to even go to to get this resolved. There is a head of guidance, but I don't know if she would even be a good choice because I've known this woman since I was in her 7th-grade math class. So, I'm just up in arms over the thought of giving this child a 3rd study hall. If I could get him a job, I'd get him an early release, but so far, that hasn't panned out-though we've tried.Any suggestions.Melinda

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