Anyone have a high school student with a chronic illness in Faifax schools?

[Anonymous]

Be sure to contact guidance and get written approval. I had teachers say "oh it will be all right if he does this forbidden activity" or "well he missed the test!" There are so many students that it is easy to be overlooked. Once they know who you are , they are very helpful. Particularly, they love a doctor's excuse. I guess there are some who are gaming the system...

[Anonymous]

You may want to also post on the Special Needs forum if you haven't already. The parents might not all be FCPS, but a decent percentage will be and those who aren't might still have concrete ideas you can present before your next meeting.

[Anonymous]

I also live in virginia not fairfax but virginia beach. I have an auto immune disease and am a junior in high school. the public schools would not accomidate me because they only would catch me up on the regular classes no AP classes and trying to keep up while being sick just aggrevated my stress symptoms a lot worse. I ended up having to do online school. like you said it is great academically but socially and emotionally it is isolating and not fun. My symptoms are not good wnough that i can go back to school for junior year so to make the emotional side better I am planning to find activities to do around town. I fguidance does not work with you and accomidate you i would suggest doing online school (which usually has clubs you can join online) and find activities to do outside of school like classes at the rec center or other fun activites.

[Anonymous]

Can you ask them to skype the classes?

[Anonymous]

I work for a non-profit that helps families of children with disabilities & special needs. I also have a daughter who suffers from chronic migraines & has an anxiety disorder.

You have the right to have the school accomodate & modify any & all homework, assingments & even testing.

Make sure you have a team meeting with ALL teachers and staff who are part of the IEP or 504 team. Request this in writing!!! Make sure you know who will attend! Bring an advocate or family member with you and DO NOT sign or agree to anything you do NOT clearly understand1 !

[Anonymous]

Continued!

You can ask them to send copies of notes & lectures via email. You can have your child send assingments by email.
They can grade for content & understanding of a subject & change up or modify assingments. Grading for content so that a child can learn the material so they can test or pass the subject is the end GOAL. However this may look for each individual child may be different. Using a book on tape for examp;e may work for a child who has trouble reading, giving text book chapter assingments may work for a child who can work at home on their own.
Allowing more time for assingments & tests...throwing out some if the content & mastery is there.

[Anonymous]

Get a set of extra text books for home.
Allow for online assingments & lectures.

Let students work at their own pace...giving a chronically absent student a pile of missed work will do NOTHING but overwhelm them & cause them to fall even farther behind.

Give extra credit assingments to help make up for particiption points!
Give incompletes instead of "F's" so that they can achieve a grade when they earn it. How ever long it may take thetm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a set of extra text books for home.
Allow for online assingments & lectures.

Let students work at their own pace...giving a chronically absent student a pile of missed work will do NOTHING but overwhelm them & cause them to fall even farther behind.

Give extra credit assingments to help make up for particiption points!
Give incompletes instead of "F's" so that they can achieve a grade when they earn it. How ever long it may take thetm.

It would seem that a child would do far better with having a teacher at home than to expect an in-school teacher to accommodate one student who has such specialized needs. Expected typed notes alone would be burdensome for some teachers who handwrite. Expecting individualized extra credit assignments and incompletes when "f's may be earned is just not really right, fair, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a set of extra text books for home.
Allow for online assingments & lectures.

Let students work at their own pace...giving a chronically absent student a pile of missed work will do NOTHING but overwhelm them & cause them to fall even farther behind.

Give extra credit assingments to help make up for particiption points!
Give incompletes instead of "F's" so that they can achieve a grade when they earn it. How ever long it may take thetm.

It would seem that a child would do far better with having a teacher at home than to expect an in-school teacher to accommodate one student who has such specialized needs. Expected typed notes alone would be burdensome for some teachers who handwrite. Expecting individualized extra credit assignments and incompletes when "f's may be earned is just not really right, fair, etc.

While I understand what you are saying, in fact, schools are required by law to do just these types of accomodations to level the playing field for a disabled child. Every kid has the right to attend school-despite the "hassle" it may cause teachers and administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you ask them to skype the classes?

Tried...school is resistant.
We can walk on the moon but a sick kid cant seem to be able to skype into class from a hospital bed. Its unreal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you ask them to skype the classes?

Tried...school is resistant.
We can walk on the moon but a sick kid cant seem to be able to skype into class from a hospital bed. Its unreal.

At those times she needs to be in the hospital, is she feeling well enough to absorb what she would see over Skype anyway?

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is supposed to be good, but that is because of the high achievement of hard-working, capable students from high SES families. I've heard that high school students avoid missing even one day of school (for example, for a family vacation) because it is so difficult to make up even that one day. I can imagine the uphill climb it would be with one or two weeks out, unless your daughter is an extraordinary student. I feel for you in your situation.

I wonder if your daughter could be matched up with another student in common classes who could serve as a notetaker and catch-up tutor, who you would pay a modest amount when the need arose. The only catch may be if that student and your daughter were competing for grades and class standing somehow, and it would be strange for one to be helping another.

Would the school allow a tutor to attend your daughter's classes in her stead when she needed to be absent? I can think of a number of stay-at home moms in this highly educated area who have backgrounds in sciences and free time while their kids are in school. Perhaps they would be happy to feel that they are doing something positive and earning a few dollars by assisting your daughter.

I do like a PP's suggestion to take core academic classes online and the "no big deal electives" in school for the social aspect.

Good luck and I hope that your daughter's health will improve over time. With the excellent medical care available in this area, you never know.

[Anonymous]

I worked in PWCS and worked with a student on homebound due to cronic illness. I imagine FCPS has the same. Each week, I collected work from teachers, brought it to the girl, answered questions when I could, gave tests, collected home work etc.