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Post by mom23boyz on Apr 21, 2008 21:19:16 GMT -5
I have posted on here a few times. Most recently I am looking at getting a 504 for next year. But at this time with only 4 weeks of school left I find myself getting so upset that I am sick to my stomach daily. I have spoken several times to my childs teacher (first grade), currently his medication is not consistent, one day good, another bad, one morning good, another bad, good afternoon, etc. We are waiting until the end of school to try another med. The teacher will not currently punish my child by taking away a full recess, BUT she sends home daily reports and I am noticing he is having a lot of trouble staying on task, finishing work, timely work, etc. The problem is-- sometimes she will mark his paper completely wrong, instead of giving it back to him. She is making him miss music, part of recess, art, etc to finish uncompleted work. Sending him to in-school suspension to finish work. Now I know I dont have a 504 and cant enforce anything, but should I talk to the teacher again and ask her to please not make him miss out on activities to finish work? She will also make comments on his daily report such as " Took too long, last one done, on simple phonic page" or at 10:00am in the morning she wrote" turned in unfinished work, NO Good Job Note today". It makes me literally ill that he is being treated this way and cant help it!! Please help!
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Post by bugsmom on Apr 21, 2008 21:49:55 GMT -5
mom23...I've learned from the pass that this type of teacher is NOT going to change. Her behavior is absolutely rotten. How on earth can she call herself a teacher and continue to treat a 6 year old child this way! This just burns me up.  If this were me, I would go straight to the principle. I know you only have 4 weeks left, but 4 weeks is a long time. Plus, her comments are just degrading. Make an appointment with the principle and bring all her nasty comments in with you. You don't have to have a 504 in place for your child to be treated with respect. Taking him out of music and art is not the answer. Neither is in house suspension. I feel for you...my son had a 4th grade teacher just like this. It was the year from h%**! I will NEVER let it happen again, and no parent should. Good luck to you and let us know what you decide to do. |
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Post by mom23boyz on Apr 21, 2008 22:13:52 GMT -5
Thank you bugsmom. I just hate to be the trouble maker. I dont want my son to get treated any worse. I have a feeling the principal will back the teacher. The town we live in is so small and everyone is related to each other, type of thing. Of course except for us!! LOL. I will let you know what I decide.
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Post by katiekat on Apr 21, 2008 22:27:27 GMT -5
I agree with Bugsmom and I would also start working on getting the 504 asap even though the school year is almost over. Sometimes (as in my case) just because you request it does not mean they will give it to you. My son's (also 1st grade) teacher is great for the most part but I have also received those little notes on his work. They are directed to him but I know they are meant for me. It infuriates me and after the last one which was on his spelling test "you must not be studying" I wrote her a note of my own.  to you. |
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Post by charliegirl on Apr 21, 2008 22:29:55 GMT -5
Your school sounds like ours. Its like they never heard of IDEA and FAPE and they know how to get out of having to follow the law.
They know your son has ADHD. They know he is on meds for it. You have the teacher's daily reports showing that what he is being punished for is related to his ADHD, therefore it is caused by a disability.
What do you think would happen if you scheduled an appointment with the teacher and principal together and asked them if they could come up with any ways that he could complete the work without having to miss all the activities he is currently missing? You could point out that it is because of the ADHD and not that he doesn't want to do it.
Do you think if you asked rather than demanded, they would suggest he bring some of it home, have a chance to rework the work he does poorly on because of inability to block out distractions?
Sometimes if you ask for their help rather than get pushy and demand your child's rights, a teacher will be willing to offer more because they aren't on the defensive. I can't promise that would happen but if you haven't tried it, it may be worth a shot. If she responded in a positive manner at the meeting but doesn't seem to know what to suggest, you might be able to offer to help him complete unfinished work at home, etc, so it feels to her that you are offering to work with her to help your son rather than saying she is doing the rotten job you know she is doing.
I feel for you. Everything is an uphill battle with my son's school so I totally share your frustration.
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Post by mom23boyz on Apr 21, 2008 22:43:56 GMT -5
Thanks katiekat and charliegirl. I was just reading online about making the school (teacher, principal, committee, etc) think that all of the ideas are their own, instead of going in with a stack of papers and demanding. Something like, I noticed that he isnt getting his work done and is missing music and some recess, is there some other time he could finish it? Or I noticed he is the last one done, do you have any ideas about this? I may try some of those ideas, it's just so sad, that they will say "We just want to do whats best for him" and then you can clearly see they have no patience for it at all. Thanks again for your help!! I fell better now! |
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Post by charliegirl on Apr 21, 2008 23:23:28 GMT -5
They won't come out and say they don't want to do what's best for him. My son's school liked to say "If we allowed him to do that, it wouldn't be fair to the other kids", totally ignoring the fact that the other kids don't have ADHD causing them to not be able to focus and they would be leveling the playing field it they didn't punish him for it.
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Post by dimples74 on Apr 22, 2008 4:39:44 GMT -5
We call it an IEP in NC. Noah has one. Was his pschological eval sent to the school? Maybe I am just lucky. We went the early intervention route. My son was diagnosed autistic at age 3, however, everything was already in place when he got to kindergarten. Even though it is late in the year, if you haven't already, call that principal and school counselor. It is that time of the year to be scheduling appointments to set an IEP for next year. Music and recess are the 2 things a child with an Autism Spectrum disorder does not need to be taken away.
I wouldn't wait til summer to change his med's. He needs them the most at school. A lot of meds begin working within 48 hours. With end of the year testing coming up, you want him to do his very best work so it is definitely not to late to think about that. I have found that if you are having a problem with a med, most doctors will talk to you and prescribe something different w/o an office visit. I strongly encourage you to consider this, not for the sake of the teacher who is being a total jerk, but for him.
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Post by mom23boyz on Apr 22, 2008 14:28:20 GMT -5
Thanks for the info dimples. But he doesnt qualify for an IEP because he makes straight A's, it just takes him a long time to complete his work. I have spoken to the principal just yesterday before I posted this message, she stated to contact the school at the beginning of next year (August) to "try" to get a 504 plan but that not all ADHD kids will get one, but that she thought my son probably would. Also, it was his doctors idea not to change his meds until the summer, due to the fact we are switching from Concerta to Adderall-- which may cause issues-- he has to use short acting Adderall for a week, then if all is ok, switch to Vyvanse and then it will take a few weeks to get that dose right. All of this titration and change could cause more harm than good for 3 out of the 5 weeks left. Our school has already done state testing back in March.
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Post by mom23boyz on Apr 22, 2008 14:32:32 GMT -5
They won't come out and say they don't want to do what's best for him. My son's school liked to say "If we allowed him to do that, it wouldn't be fair to the other kids", totally ignoring the fact that the other kids don't have ADHD causing them to not be able to focus and they would be leveling the playing field it they didn't punish him for it. charliegirl, I have heard this once already from the Special Education Coordinator that I am going to have to deal with to get the accommadations made. She is also the Asst. Principal, and wanted to punish my child by taking 2 days of all his recesses away for a minor infraction. I heard the, "If we dont punish him, what will the other kids think?" Hello, the other kids wouldn't do what he did they dont have ADHD!! This ought to be fun. My husband says, well if they dont make the accommadations they will just have to deal with him being slower at getting things done, etc. But I worry about my child suffering due to these adults. I guess we will see. |
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I was about to conquer the world but then I got distracted by something shiny.
