Hello, I'm new here.

[unicorn]

I have a 9 year old daughter with ADHD, aniexty issues and a LD. This is a great site and you will get a lot of information and support from this site.

[lillian]

Hey, Carol! I'm the Education Moderator on the board and look forward to any input you have! I also have a son with attentional issues and reading/writing issues, the latter of which some specialists attribute to dyslexia and some do not. He has an IEP for a Disorder of Written Expression. We came very close to due process, but the school backed down at the last IEP meeting before mediation and gave my son his IEP. The whole process was such a nightmare! How is your son doing in private school?

[carol]

My son had attended a charter school in PA. Although charter schools sell a better education with better policies and rules, in a number of cases, they lack the capability to accommodate any type of LD. In my case, this charter school was not extremely privy to educational law or they were counting that I was not. Their error which really won the case was in that I signed a Permission to Evaluate when my son was in the 1st grade. I received a phone call from the psychologist explaining what was going to happen. Since my son already had some lack of trust issues with adults, we talked about his need for repoitre to cooperate. After that phone conversation, I was not contacted again, not in 30 days, not in 60 days, not in 90 days, basically not until I pestered, wrote letters which were counseled to me by an atty., provided 2 evals by a developmental pediatrician, which which the school wanted, filed for disability benefits at the assistance of the school saying they can only provide my son services if he receives disability benefits, and traveled up state PA and spent my last dollar on an eval diagnosing him with dyslexia. In the meantime, they also insisted I get a biopsychosocial eval and have my insurance pay for it. All this time went by and they were out of compliance with the Permission to Evaluate by 2years. In second grade, I signed another Permission to Evaluate. This ER stated he had a LD. I went for the IEP meeting which was after the alloted 30 days and the school said they checked the wrong box on his eval and he was not eligible for services, because his scores were not low enough. My atty. who had my silent partner at the time, asked me to make a decision as to whether I wanted to file a complaint. THis atty. had a good reputation. He never loses. This was a Special Ed. Atty. He was paid by some of the compensatory education funds he knew were going to be allotted to Gage, because they never evaluated him in the 1st grade which made them considerably out of compliance. They shot themselves in the foot. They were counting on me being ignorant to the law. The result of the case was a settlement. My son has a huge Special Education Trust Fund. He attends an Approved Private School which is paid for by his previous charter school's state funds. They also had to pay for an Independent Evaluation by a psychologist of my choosing. The icing on this cake really was when they insisted on my son receiving a psych eval, because they wanted a mental diagnosis validating their perception of Gage as simply being ODD which would relatively put all the owness on him and absolve them from anything. Well, the psychiatrist evaluated my son for an extended time and concluded that the school had mistreated him almost to the point of Post Traumatic Stress. They neglected to help him with his LD and constant focus on his poor behavior with unrealistic goals and cruel discipline was primarily the cause of his current psychological and conduct problems. He also speculated ADD, but it was not observable one on one at the eval. The school turned around and refused to pay for the eval in which they insisted Gage have. Well, my atty. fought tooth and nail and it took about 6 months, but they finally coughed up the money for reimbursement. The school my son attends is primarily for children with SED Serious Emotional Disturbance/ADD/ADHD/LD/Autism. It is not the placement I had initially wanted, but I discovered that Gage really needed the emotional support since his entire school year prior, he did no classwork and repeatedly shut down at school, disrupting and retreating into a shell. I also found out that they are several children at my son's new school who had attended his old school. There is another Approved Private School in which other children from the same school were referred to as well. His charter school cannot accommodate any child with an LD. They also do not wish to. They want to educate the children who fit into their mold. The principal told me that the charter school was a lottery school and Gage did not actually have to be there. He could go to our local public school. I told her that Gage had a right to be at the school. She was under the impression that she did not have to follow the IDEA. Well, I told her she had to since she was receiving funds from the school district. This was not a private school in which parents paid tuition. Then the school would be able to turn Gage away when he was identified with an LD, but this was not so at his charter school. It was a long, awful experience. My husband supported me when I wanted to give up with all the paperwork. In the midst of the limbo, waiting period for a court date, my son had to be at the school and I worried sick everyday if they were mistreating him. I lost 30lbs. at that time and was completely stressed. I couldn't work or think for all I did was worry to send him to that school and he knew it. Between the stress at school and the my stress, my son had, what I would call a nervous breakdown at school in which they had four people restrain him. He ended up finishing the school year being home schooled. What they did was criminal. You just can't put a price tag on that. No child should have to go through this.

[carol]

Thank you for letting me share. It is therapeutic. My only hope is that no child ever have to go through that. If I can be a resource for anyone, I would love to help.

[charliegirl]

Your poor son. I believe there is a special place in hell for people who abuse kids like that, and it is abuse.

I'm glad you won and got what he needs for him.

How is he doing now? Do you see him healing and wanting to learn now? Is he ok with going to school or does he still dread going?

[carol]

School seems to be a more positive experience for him now. He has baggage, but the weight is getting lighter with successes.
Thanks for you support.

[misty]

What an awful experience your son had! That makes me so mad...I'm so glad you were able to get him out of that situation in time!

[lcdc1]

It is good to hear that he has made strides with positive support, I wish everyone that is involved with anyone any age could see that positive support works much better then degrading and punishing people that need a hand!

[jill]

Welcome Carol.