Re: How often do u communicate or email your child's teacher?

[Guest guest]

What area of the country are you in that they tell you to keep the novels

coming? Can you name the city/state please? I'm darn curious to know. Thanks for

the input and confirming what I thought was normal--is!

>

> Oh, I forgot to mention that in addition to the emails my son has a 1:1

support person who writes down his assignments every day. We communicate most

days. Just a line or two on the homework page in his binder. There is a blank

sheet they photocopy that has each subject and enough lines on which the 1:1

writes assignments. Then there is an area at the bottom labeled " resource " .

Resource is a class for a lot of kids who have learning disabilities that

involve academic issues. doesn't have a lot of academic issues most of the

time so that area is often blank or contains extra notes about how 's day

has been, if there are any problems, if has PE or needs money for

something. We have a fantastic 1:1 whose job it is to help and communicate

with me. If there is a bigger problem I email or if I feel the staff needs to

know something like, " had a bad night " so they can have a heads-up. I

think we probably communicate more than most IEP teams. I say " team " because

that is what we are and that is what most kids need. They need a group of

people working to help them. The people in the group all need to be on the same

page. The IEP is part of that and communication is essential. The best schools

we've had have always treated me with respect and appreciated my constant

emailing. They tell me it is preferable to parents who do nothing and ignore

teacher's concerns. I do a lot of communicating with my daughter's teacher as

well. She has a 504 but mostly doesn't need a ton of support. Her teacher said

to me at our recent conference. " You keep those novel's coming. " I had joked

about sending too many emails that were more like novels. She feels that if

Rayleigh knows we are on the same page about things that Rayleigh will be more

likely to stick to the plan. Rayleigh tends to bend the truth a little when she

doesn't want to work but once she knows she really has to do it then she works

hard and does a great job. She's super smart and has very good social skills

which she sometimes uses to get out of actually doing anything. She has sensory

issues and anxiety which are both reasons for her 504.

>

> Anyway, communication is deemed vital by everyone involved with my kids in

this district. It is also a very very good district for special education. The

school in TX that was so bad didn't want to hear from me or see me and tried to

keep me out, avoid me, dissuade me etc. This might be a good thing to consider

when moving or going to a new district. If you can find out from other parents

how they are treated with respect to communication you might get a better idea

of how good a school is.

>

> Miriam

>

[Guest guest]

I would continue to try to contact the teacher. For email, I would copy the

principal, asst. principal, special ed, and anyone else on the IEP team so they

are aware of what's going on and if the teacher has responded.

If there's a problem at school and it isn't solved, it's appropriate for you to

continue to bring it up. If there's no issues, then it's appropriate to check in

once a week or once every couple of weeks. Your child's situation is different

from the other kids in the class. For my NT kids, I rarely need to contact the

school. But for my AS son, it seemed like I needed to keep in close touch with

his teachers, especially starting in 7th grade. Starting in middle school, it

was harder to keep in touch with the school. I've made phone calls, send email,

dropped notes off in their mailboxes, and some teachers would never respond.

My daughter's high school has a good system. You call the counselor and the

counselor will then contact the teacher and set up a meeting or ask the teacher

to give you a call back. Having that third party involved makes the teachers

more accountable, I think.

[Guest guest]

I talk to myself :-D (we homeschool) hehe sorry had to just throw that lil joke out there :-D Sorry I had one of those Aspie days where I was reminding myself that Holland isn't so bad !! On May 3, 2010, at 11:34 AM, wrote:

I would continue to try to contact the teacher. For email, I would copy the principal, asst. principal, special ed, and anyone else on the IEP team so they are aware of what's going on and if the teacher has responded.

If there's a problem at school and it isn't solved, it's appropriate for you to continue to bring it up. If there's no issues, then it's appropriate to check in once a week or once every couple of weeks. Your child's situation is different from the other kids in the class. For my NT kids, I rarely need to contact the school. But for my AS son, it seemed like I needed to keep in close touch with his teachers, especially starting in 7th grade. Starting in middle school, it was harder to keep in touch with the school. I've made phone calls, send email, dropped notes off in their mailboxes, and some teachers would never respond.

My daughter's high school has a good system. You call the counselor and the counselor will then contact the teacher and set up a meeting or ask the teacher to give you a call back. Having that third party involved makes the teachers more accountable, I think.

“Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” - Steve Jobs

[Guest guest]

Bedford, NH. Oh and the special ed teacher gives all her parents her cell

number for emergencies. I've used that twice. Once when didn't bring home

his computer (he uses a netbook for taking notes and some classwork) and one

other time and I can't even remember why but that turned out to be a time that

it would have been better to call the individual teacher. It was in the

beginning of the year and I was dealing with all new people. I also have the

1:1 support person's cell and he sometimes text messages me to send pix of what

is working on and samples of how projects need to be done. Seriously, they

always seem to feel good about my emails. I tend to be very positive with them

but then they've always been very positive with me. It's a win win situation.

> >

> > Oh, I forgot to mention that in addition to the emails my son has a 1:1

support person who writes down his assignments every day. We communicate most

days. Just a line or two on the homework page in his binder. There is a blank

sheet they photocopy that has each subject and enough lines on which the 1:1

writes assignments. Then there is an area at the bottom labeled " resource " .

Resource is a class for a lot of kids who have learning disabilities that

involve academic issues. doesn't have a lot of academic issues most of the

time so that area is often blank or contains extra notes about how 's day

has been, if there are any problems, if has PE or needs money for

something. We have a fantastic 1:1 whose job it is to help and communicate

with me. If there is a bigger problem I email or if I feel the staff needs to

know something like, " had a bad night " so they can have a heads-up. I

think we probably communicate more than most IEP teams. I say " team " because

that is what we are and that is what most kids need. They need a group of

people working to help them. The people in the group all need to be on the same

page. The IEP is part of that and communication is essential. The best schools

we've had have always treated me with respect and appreciated my constant

emailing. They tell me it is preferable to parents who do nothing and ignore

teacher's concerns. I do a lot of communicating with my daughter's teacher as

well. She has a 504 but mostly doesn't need a ton of support. Her teacher said

to me at our recent conference. " You keep those novel's coming. " I had joked

about sending too many emails that were more like novels. She feels that if

Rayleigh knows we are on the same page about things that Rayleigh will be more

likely to stick to the plan. Rayleigh tends to bend the truth a little when she

doesn't want to work but once she knows she really has to do it then she works

hard and does a great job. She's super smart and has very good social skills

which she sometimes uses to get out of actually doing anything. She has sensory

issues and anxiety which are both reasons for her 504.

> >

> > Anyway, communication is deemed vital by everyone involved with my kids in

this district. It is also a very very good district for special education. The

school in TX that was so bad didn't want to hear from me or see me and tried to

keep me out, avoid me, dissuade me etc. This might be a good thing to consider

when moving or going to a new district. If you can find out from other parents

how they are treated with respect to communication you might get a better idea

of how good a school is.

> >

> > Miriam

> >

>