Re: Question about school buses leaving early

June 24, 2009

My state (Indiana) has a site on the internet that had all the cases brought

against the schools and their outcomes. One specifically was about the bus

leaving early. Several parents got together and filed suit. The resolution was

to have the kids come in earlier in the morning. I'm not sure if they would even

be getting instruction from a teacher during that time, but that's what the

result was. I will try to find the site again if anyone's interested.

I also *think* I read something about this in my 's Law book, but don't

have it with me now to check. You might want to do some research and then meet

with the school.

TJ

>

> Hi everyone .....I am going to throw this out to all of you....and see what

you think or know for a fact.

>

> My son rides a smaller bus becuase he was getting in trouble on the larger

one...kids picked on him and teased him...he didn't know his own space and

annoyed kids...etc. etc. So we put him on a small bus with about 3 kids on it.

He comes home in a better mood...less noise, less stress and no picking on.

>

> But here comes the problem.....the bus leaves earlier then the regular buses.

They tell me 15 min. I know for a fact that the high school students leave 1/2

hour early as I work in the school district.

>

> Now here is the corker....at the transition meeting...the teacher said she was

very concerned about his IEP because it states he can take up to 4 sensory

breaks a day. She was afraid he was going to ABUSE it. She said you know how

kids love to get out of class. She was afraid of him missing academic time. I

informed her that so far my son has never taken a break...not once. In fact, I

told her I want the teacher to monitor him and make him take one when they see

he is tired or stress ....Then they told me since my son is allowed to retake a

test if his grade is below a 70, that he would have to take it after school.

They are afraid of him missing academic time. Ok....that is fine...I

understand....but then I dropped the bomb.

>

> I told them at the meeting...since the buses leave early, I didn't want my son

in an academic class at the end of the day. He had math this past year and

missed 15 -20 min. of academic time. Well, guess what...since he is in

band...he will have math at the end of day...in fact both red and blue teams

have math at the end of the day. Only the white team doesn't and that is

becuase they don't have band.

> The teacher said....oh, he can take a few worksheets home and work on them.

Yeah, right. Who is she kidding...I can't get him to do 3 math problems without

having a fight and she thinks he will do 2 math sheets. OMG! Each time now I

get angrier and angrier when I think about it. It is okay for my son to miss

academic time when it is convenient for them....but otherwise NO!

>

> So, I wrote the asst. principal and the case manager....basically I told them

that my son was not being give his right to a full academic day like all the

other students. Discrimination. I added up 15 min. a day which come to 1 1/4

hours a week or 5 hours a month or 45 hours a year...so I gave them some

choices:

>

> 1. Put him back on the reg. bus (not such a great idea)

> 2. Put him on another small bus that leaves at the regular dismisal time

> 3. Give a tutor for 1 1/4 hours to make up the difference ...plus he should

get one for all the time he lost last year.

> 4. Put him in a math class that is not at the end of the day.

>

> My son stuggles with math and he needs all the time he can get with the

teacher. A lot of time they let the students work on their math homework and

have the teacher to help them. So, he is missing all this. Plus I truly believe

what they are doing is Illegal. Does anyone know this for sure???

>

> I would appreciate your comments.

>

> jan

>

June 24, 2009

My has been on a special ed bus for ages and he always got finished early.

I don't believe he ever had any " core curriculum " OR academic subjects at that

time. gets breaks whenever he asks within reason. As his stress levels

decreased he asked for fewer breaks. Stress is absolutely the WORST for our

kids and it interferes with learning so not giving him breaks means that he

misses out on academics because he's too stressed. I was okay with leaving

early because by the time 3:00 rolls around he's pretty much had it. But then,

nobody tried to tell me he couldn't have breaks because he'd be missing academic

time. It is hypocritical of them to send him home early during math and site

loss of academic time as a reason for no breaks. The child needs breaks and

that is that. He should have PE or art or music at the end of the day if he's

leaving early.

I don't know how things are going to be now that is moving up to the middle

school but it sounds like they do all the most heavy academic stuff early in the

day.

I don't know if sending him home is illegal but denying him breaks when it's in

his IEP definitely is!

We moved to New Hampshire in 2007. In NH, well in our town anyway, everyone

really GETS asperger syndrome! They do well with a lot of disabilities. Not as

well with some learning disabilities like dyslexia, or so I've heard, but still

better than anything I saw in TX. Sorry, I know people don't like TX bashing

and I'm not trying to do that. Just relaying my experiences. Anyway, since we

moved here and started getting all his needs met spectacularly and beyond

any expectations I've EVER had his academics have improved and his dedication

and enthusiasm for the work has increased. He is more interested and involved.

He is HAPPY and learning. Everyone loves working with him here and they don't

even get it that a lot of it is their own positive attitude reflected back at

them. They just do what they do. gets loads of breaks. In the beginning

he would use the bathroom 5 times in the morning. This was partly due to our

drive from TX to NH when we moved here. He developed dysfunctional elimination

syndrome. His bladder was trained a certain way and kind of became irritable

(for lack of a better word). We got a note from the doc because the school was

suggesting limiting his bathroom use. They were great with this. They

consulted me, wanted to know if it was medical and didn't change anything until

they heard from me. The doctor gave us strategies for fixing the problem and

within a couple of months 's bathroom use decreased to a more typical

frequency. The RX was MORE FLUIDS because fewer fluids meant highly

concentrated urine which can increase urgency and allowing use of the

restroom as needed. We did limit him to not stopping the bus to use the

bathroom as that was a safety issue. still likes to go twice before he

leaves for school sometimes but he only goes 3-4 times/day at school now.

Anyway, asperger kids need breaks and that is probably the one constant, the one

thing that seems to be true of every single asperger kid I've encountered. I

needed more breaks at school but of course nobody knew. I don't have asperger

syndrome though it wasn't a dx when I was in school. I started kindergarten in

1967. I have traits of ADD and AS without any hyperactivity. I have a

neurological difference that one neurologist said had to do with an incomplete

myelin sheath on my nerves. I'm not losing myelin, it just never completely

formed. Every physical move takes more energy that otherwise. I get faulty

signals which is basically sensory integration dysfunction. It's just that I

have new insight into it because of this neurologist. I'd like to see some

studies on the myelin covering in autistic kids. I know this is controversial,

but I wonder if stem cell research could help.

Miriam