school grading question

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I need some information from those of you whose children go to public schools and have IEPs. My 12 year old ds is my Aspie, and he is in 6th grade at a Catholic middle school (the school is preK-8, and he has been there since Kindergarten). To make a long story short, although his Asperger's is fairly mild, he struggles a great deal with attention and organization issues (along with the usual language, sensory, and social issues). The school's discipline policy includes infractions for not turning in homework assignments on time, and detention when 3 infractions are accumulated. He has the private school equivalent of an IEP, and they are actually very supportive of Connor in most ways. I had them include in his "IEP" that he could receive infractions for missing work (to call his and my attention to the omission), but that he would not serve detentions, as I believed that to be unfairly punishing him for his disability.

They readily agreed to that. However, the school policy is also that work turned in late be deducted in grade. This was not much of an issue last semester, but this semester he is missing many more assignments, is unaware of projects, and his grades are suffering in several classes because of the deductions simply for work being turned in late. I have addressed that some of the school supports that were in place last semester have gotten lax, and we are shoring up his support and homework supervision at home again as well. He has been struggling with more and more anxiety over the past few years, and although it flared at the start of the school year, it improved second quarter, but is worsening again now, due to the stress.

Again, we are re-emphasizing the school's job in providing organizational support, as well as our own. My question regards is it fair to deduct from his grade for work being turned in late. To me that also seems to be punishing him for a disability. I think his report card should reflect his organizational challenges (under "work habits, or something), but his grades in science and social studies should be reflections of his performance in science and social studies, not his organizational issues.

Do your IEPs include how late work is handled, and are kids in public schools receiving grade deductions for late work? Is this an individual school thing, or is there a consensus in how this is handled, and how it is handled as the kids move into high school?

Thanks for any info!

Peggy

He got his official diagnosis just before 3rd grade, but had special needs well before (early childhood special ed preschool for language, sensory, and behavior issues). Since third grade he has had the private school equivalent of an IEP, but the school's resources are limited (ie no PT/OT/resource room). Thankfully, his Asperger's is mild, and his needs have been reasonably accommodated (extended time on standardized tests, preferential seating, extra support from the teacher, etc).No formal adaptations made in K-2 grades, although the teachers were good about respecting his sensory needs.

The transition into the middle school part of the school has been challenging. We met with all of his teachers and the learning consultants before the school year started, and outlined what we believed to be the accommodations needed for him to be successful. His main issues tend to be with attention and organization. He has been given extra copies of textbooks to have at home, and homework assignments are posted online. They also stress the use of an assignment notebook (beginning in 2nd grade), although he is not able to write things down quickly enough for that to be of much use. He also has a couple of buddies that he can call for clarification of homework assignments when needed.