Advocacy in Public School: requesting an aide or new placement

November 29, 2010

Hi all - I'm new to the group. I am dealing with the public school on a current

matter for my 10 yr old Aspie daughter that I'd thought I'd put out to the group

as a discussion.

What is your opinion? What has your experience been? Does anyone know the

legal answer?

.... My 10 yr old daughter is mainstreamed in 5th grade at a Chesapeake, Virginia

public school. She is making As and Bs but is bullied, counselled, anxious about

school, left unattended in unstructured areas such as lunch, hall, recess, PE

and library, is counselled without our knowledge, and disciplined without the

appropriate intervention.

The school has refused to give us a Behavior Intervention Plan b/c they say what

little they have observed in their functional behavior analysis is not

consistent enough to warrant a BIP, and they further state they don't have the

time to observe her regularly. My daughter's neurodevelopmental pediatrician

diagnosed her as being clinically depressed with an " All or Nothing " view, and

requested we get a PHD psychologist to evaluate her. She does well at home and

out at other places b/c we give her that 1:1 social education intervention when

needed. However, the school does not do that nor do they consider her

disagnosis of Asperger's when " disciplining {ie., 1 hour lunch detention, no

recess, or silent lunch]. " She has been counselled by her teachers to simply

" make the right decision. " This puts the burden of " solving the problem " on my

daughter and assumes the motivation behind her misbehavior is willful and

intentional. [if my daughter could simply heal herself, or solve the problem on

her own she probably wouldn't have a diagnosis in the first place!]. I have

requested an IEP meeting and will request in writing our desire for either an

aide or new placement at a local private school more equipped to give 1:1

attention but, b/c my daughter is making As and Bs, I believe I will have a hard

time convincing the LEA that they are not providing a Free and Appropriate

Public Education in the least restrictive environment.

Do I have the right to request that the school district provide a more

appropriate placement or an aide of my approval b/c my daughter's psychological

well-being is at risk even tho her academic skills are currently unaffected?

[Her grades are not negatively impacted now, but if nothing changes by Middle

School, I believe they will be drastically.]

....thanks. /Donna

November 29, 2010

Donna,

First of all do request an IEP and evaluations in writing, because at that point they have 30 to 60 days (depending on the state) to conduct any testing or observations. As far as the school providing services if it is not affecting her academically- that I believe is going to be a very gray area. The district will more than likely state that if it isn't making an impact on her grades that they really dont have to do anything. Not trying to be doom and gloom but that is my experience. Request the evaluations especially from the school social worker and school psychologist. As far as the bullying is concerned I would check with your district superintendent or the state school board because I am almost certain they have a anti-bullying law or a zero tolerance for it. If her school isn't following procedures I would complain to the district and then the state. Hope I helped.

Lee

Michigan

mom of 2

M-8 autism and bipolar

J- 4 genetic diseases

On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 12:17 PM, tcrwriter <Thecommunicationroom@...> wrote:

Hi all - I'm new to the group. I am dealing with the public school on a current matter for my 10 yr old Aspie daughter that I'd thought I'd put out to the group as a discussion. What is your opinion? What has your experience been? Does anyone know the legal answer?

.... My 10 yr old daughter is mainstreamed in 5th grade at a Chesapeake, Virginia public school. She is making As and Bs but is bullied, counselled, anxious about school, left unattended in unstructured areas such as lunch, hall, recess, PE and library, is counselled without our knowledge, and disciplined without the appropriate intervention.

The school has refused to give us a Behavior Intervention Plan b/c they say what little they have observed in their functional behavior analysis is not consistent enough to warrant a BIP, and they further state they don't have the time to observe her regularly. My daughter's neurodevelopmental pediatrician diagnosed her as being clinically depressed with an " All or Nothing " view, and requested we get a PHD psychologist to evaluate her. She does well at home and out at other places b/c we give her that 1:1 social education intervention when needed. However, the school does not do that nor do they consider her disagnosis of Asperger's when " disciplining {ie., 1 hour lunch detention, no recess, or silent lunch]. " She has been counselled by her teachers to simply " make the right decision. " This puts the burden of " solving the problem " on my daughter and assumes the motivation behind her misbehavior is willful and intentional. [if my daughter could simply heal herself, or solve the problem on her own she probably wouldn't have a diagnosis in the first place!]. I have requested an IEP meeting and will request in writing our desire for either an aide or new placement at a local private school more equipped to give 1:1 attention but, b/c my daughter is making As and Bs, I believe I will have a hard time convincing the LEA that they are not providing a Free and Appropriate Public Education in the least restrictive environment.

Do I have the right to request that the school district provide a more appropriate placement or an aide of my approval b/c my daughter's psychological well-being is at risk even tho her academic skills are currently unaffected? [Her grades are not negatively impacted now, but if nothing changes by Middle School, I believe they will be drastically.]

....thanks. /Donna

December 1, 2010

Yes you do have the right, as you stated, you need to put it in writing and send it to the teacher, guidance counselor, principal, and the special ed dept. Also ask for the school to perform an evaluation. My daughters school didn't think she had aspergers even though her pych dx her. Well after the school preformed there own eval, guess what, she has aspergers. Ugh, I felt like telling them I told you so. Also children with aspergers are intelligent so there's no reason why she shouldn't be getting A and B

just because she's an aspie. Good luck.-From: tcrwriter

<Thecommunicationroom@...>Subject: ( ) Advocacy in Public School: requesting an aide or new placement Date: Monday, November 29, 2010, 12:17 PM

Hi all - I'm new to the group. I am dealing with the public school on a current matter for my 10 yr old Aspie daughter that I'd thought I'd put out to the group as a discussion.

What is your opinion? What has your experience been? Does anyone know the legal answer?

.... My 10 yr old daughter is mainstreamed in 5th grade at a Chesapeake, Virginia public school. She is making As and Bs but is bullied, counselled, anxious about school, left unattended in unstructured areas such as lunch, hall, recess, PE and library, is counselled without our knowledge, and disciplined without the appropriate intervention.

The school has refused to give us a Behavior Intervention Plan b/c they say what little they have observed in their functional behavior analysis is not consistent enough to warrant a BIP, and they further state they don't have the time to observe her regularly. My daughter's neurodevelopmental pediatrician diagnosed her as being clinically depressed with an "All or Nothing" view, and requested we get a PHD psychologist to evaluate her. She does well at home and out at other places b/c we give her that 1:1 social education intervention when needed. However, the school does not do that nor do they consider her disagnosis of Asperger's when "disciplining {ie., 1 hour lunch detention, no recess, or silent lunch]." She has been counselled by her teachers to simply "make the right decision." This puts the burden of "solving the problem" on my daughter and assumes the motivation behind her misbehavior is willful and intentional. [if my daughter could

simply heal herself, or solve the problem on her own she probably wouldn't have a diagnosis in the first place!]. I have requested an IEP meeting and will request in writing our desire for either an aide or new placement at a local private school more equipped to give 1:1 attention but, b/c my daughter is making As and Bs, I believe I will have a hard time convincing the LEA that they are not providing a Free and Appropriate Public Education in the least restrictive environment.

Do I have the right to request that the school district provide a more appropriate placement or an aide of my approval b/c my daughter's psychological well-being is at risk even tho her academic skills are currently unaffected? [Her grades are not negatively impacted now, but if nothing changes by Middle School, I believe they will be drastically.]

....thanks. /Donna

December 1, 2010

The problem is that your daughter is having emotopnal problems

due to the lack of school support. Perhaps a child

psychiatrist can also help advocate for more support.

It would probably mean though that your 10 year old

would be treated for anxiety/depression with medication.

My experience has been that " until " my daughter had a nervous

breakdown and refused to go to school the school did not

consider the anxiety a problem for them. Even though she

had many panic attacks at school. As long as she showed

up and got passing grades they were fine with it.

Unless a psychiatrist makes a very strong case that she

is emotionally distrubed in this setting and needs a

more theraputic and nuturing school or an aide I doubt that the

school will agree to things that cost them lots of money without

a fight. You have a stronger legal case if she becomes school

refuser, but I would hope your daughter does not

get to that point of despair.

They will agree to perhaps including her in a social skill

group, you can request that at recess she be allowed to go to

the library (our school would not agree to this though), we

requested a smaller lunchroom setting (she was included but it

was all boys, I ended up picking her up for lunch in 4th grade

daily and she ate in the car and relaxed and read books).

I can relate to the amount of stress you must be experiencing

seeing your daughter struggle like this. I do think her

anxiety is making it harder for her. My daughter started

on medication at age 11. It reduced panic and anxiety but

she still feels distress about life in general and it's

complexity. She is in a protective setting, a small

special needs school. Her therapist and psychiatrist

advocated (after years of school anxiety) in 5th

grade 6 months of school refusal. We had a lawyer

but it was not the lawyer that made the difference.

It was willingness of the therapist and psychiatrist

to get involved and attend the IEP meeting (that we

had to pay for their time of course). It is like

finding a needle in a haystack to find a therapist

with a great reputation willing to advocate. There are

some though. They are usually the one that don't

take insurance though. It is a struggle finacially and

emotionally.

I am going to pray that you get some help,

Pam

>

> Hi all - I'm new to the group. I am dealing with the public school on a

current matter for my 10 yr old Aspie daughter that I'd thought I'd put out to

the group as a discussion.

>

> What is your opinion? What has your experience been? Does anyone know the

legal answer?

>

> ... My 10 yr old daughter is mainstreamed in 5th grade at a Chesapeake,

Virginia public school. She is making As and Bs but is bullied, counselled,

anxious about school, left unattended in unstructured areas such as lunch, hall,

recess, PE and library, is counselled without our knowledge, and disciplined

without the appropriate intervention.

>

> The school has refused to give us a Behavior Intervention Plan b/c they say

what little they have observed in their functional behavior analysis is not