Re: Back for more and 2 Questions

February 26, 2011

Congratulations on your son, graduating high school. Does he plan on

going to college. My daughter who is autistic and schizophrenic went onto

college and graduated with honors. She loved college because it was the first

time in her life that she wasn't bullied.

Now on to your daughter, . It may not matter how many hours she is getting

for support. If they aren't teaching her the way she learns it won't matter. My

son was in the 4th grade when the principal, teachers, vice principal, and the

head of the special ed department sat around and told us that he was incapable

of ever learning math and all they would do was to teach him to use a

calculator. We fought and fought but got nowhere. We moved to another state,

(from Hillsboro, OR to Yelm, WA) when he was in junior high, and Hillboro was

against us moving, telling us that Marcy would not be able to handle it and

would need to be put away forever. We didn't listen and moved to Yelm anyway. In

Hillsboro they were going to put in a vocational program when he got to

high school because academics wasn't his thing. Once we got to Yelm both kids

started to excel. went from D's in all his subjects to suddenly getting

A's. They taught him math for the first time. They tried different techniques

and came up with one where he could learn. He had teachers that really cared

about him and could see that he was very smart. It didn't hurt that once we got

here he learned about DigiPen program. It is a game and simulation programming

class that is math and physics based. He went on to graduate high school with

honors. He went to DeVry University and took game and simulation programming

class and he turned out to be the top student in the math classes. He even

helped the teacher sometimes. All the kids would go to him for help. He

graduated college with honors, the top student in his field. He then got his MBA

in business (mainly math based) and went onto graduate with honors once again.

These were things that Hillsboro would say never would happen. He even recently

developed an app for the Android phones/tablets that teach social and life

skills to autistics, developmentally delayed and even normal kids. My daughter,

who they told us we would have to put away, speaks at autism and mental health

conferences. She has art (she is an incredible artist) that she sells on her

website. She even helped her brother by giving him ideas on what she needed help

with when she was younger and even game tested his product to make sure no

errors were present. Her schizophrenia is controlled by meds and sometimes we do

have episodes, but they are still manageable.

If your daughter isn't successing it is the schools fault. Find her learning

style and find something that she is interested in and connect it to those

subjects. Between wanting something (goal) and the right way for her to learn I

wouldn't be surprised that her grades improve. Schools are too quick to say it

is the student. They are overcrowded and understaffed. It is their excuse to

teach one way and expect all the students to learn that way. Make them teach her

another way. If it includes getting special equipment such as the iPad or

Android tablet they need to supply that.

As far as not giving her support for those other things, if she is having

difficulty she needs that support as well. I had the school once tell me when I

wanted more services for Marcy that if I got it some other kids wouldn't get the

help then. I just told them to tell the other parents to fight for their kids,

that my child needs the help and therefore she will be getting the help. Schools

tend to really use the money issue sometimes.

Hope this helped and good luck.

Robin

>

> Hi all,

>

> Well, I am apparently back at this again with my daughter, . My son,

, who had asperger's, OCD, etc. graduated from high school this past

summer and now I find that I am starting the " fight " with school all over again

for my 10 year old daughter. (4th-grader) We are in the process of having an IEE

done through our local mental health facility and awaiting the summary. But the

preliminary seems to point to PDD-NOS.

>

> Life is hectic enough with the 4 kids and the 4 year old! But it appears that

I will be back again with more questions.

>

> First one..... my daughter receives 300 hours of resource/support for math.

Should she be getting a D on her work??? She has short term memory/recall

issues. She has comprehension issues..... but 300 hours and a D???

>

> Next, her current IEP gives her resource for only language arts and math. She

does have issues with the above-a lot of comprehension issues. Shouldn't her

support include science and social science as well? Her grades have fluxuated so

far this year. But we believe the teacher is glossing things over and passing

her. I've been to her along with the therapist and she totally believes that

is " playing " us. (The therapist told the teacher straight out that

lacks the developmental skills to do so. But the teacher didn't believe her.)

I've even spoken to the principal who supported her teacher.

>

> Any ideas? thanks.

>

> -Melinda H. Mom to , 18, AS, ADHD, OCD

> Casey, 16, female teenager sydrome!!!!! AAAAHHH!

> , 10, PDD-NOS, OCD

> Zac, 4, VERY ACTIVE!!!!!

>

February 28, 2011

Hi Melinda, congrats on graduating!

Re your daughter - if she has short term memory/recall problems, throw in the

comprehension too -- what supports are they using for math? I would think she

would maybe have some guide sheet by her to help do her work, and tests -- the

formulas, how to do this type math problem.... Just saying if they don't,

wouldn't she probably have low grades if left to just her memory when it comes

to work/tests??

I recall knowing of one boy who had short term memory and, really, they had to

drill him each day on the same things, it took a long, long time for some things

to finally " stay. " Can't say they all did. But he was so smart in so many

ways, but had that memory issue, a lot just didn't stick, had to have that

repetitiveness and hope that it worked over time.