Policy on potty training at DCPS?

[Anonymous]

My asd son was not trained fully till he was 5 and the teachers would change him or help him change himself. Put it in the iep. What school is this?

[Anonymous]

I think FAPE is only a term used for special education.

[Anonymous]

Parents have to work. DC provides universal preschool for 3-4 yr olds... and most kids are not fully potty trained when they turn 3: The avg age for potty training for boys is 3.5. If you are going to provide public preschool for 3 yr olds, expect accidents.

There you go...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So it happened. DS has a #2 accident in the classroom, and low and behold, they called and DH had to drive to school from work to clean and change him. He has had a history of #2 accidents at times of transition and stress (like when we started getting him evaluated for special needs, etc). So now my question is, has anybody at DCPS had any luck with adding #2 clean up to an IEP? Is that bananas? Or is that a reasonable request for an ASD 3 year-old? My thinking is that if he has to sit in a nurse's office for an hour to wait for a parent to come, on multiple occasions, it starts to affect is access to FAPE. Last year he was at a charter and they cleaned and changed him no problem. Thanks for your thoughts.

I would be concerned that they have no problem making a kid sit in a mess for an hour. That's so unsanitary and disgusting and it really makes me question their judgment on just about everything else. Like, do they know anything at all about three year olds?

I think they denied him access to the curriculum when they refused to clean him up and made him sit in the office and wait for you. Since late pottytraining is part of the developmental delays that come with autism, it certainly seems like something that could be addressed in the IEP.

FWIW, I have 4 kids who have been to several different preschools and at none of them would this have been allowed to happen. A child has an accident, it is cleaned up right away with no shaming or judgment. I would have dropped dead of shock if any of my preschools had called me to come change my child after an accident. It just would never happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Parents have to work. DC provides universal preschool for 3-4 yr olds... and most kids are not fully potty trained when they turn 3: The avg age for potty training for boys is 3.5. If you are going to provide public preschool for 3 yr olds, expect accidents.

There you go...

I think there are separate issues here. I think it's fine for the school to say that all children are welcome at 3, but parents will need to come clean up messes for #2. If your (NT) kid cannot meet that threshold, or if you cannot leave work, then maybe public PK3 is not the way forward for your family.

However, OP has a kid with an IEP, which I think can and should change the dynamic a bit.

[Anonymous]

Two of my boys were not potty trained until over 3, and neither of them had the extra hurdle of autism. This teacher sounds terrible, and not a good fit for early child education.

Honestly, I would be concerned that the whole program is bad if they care so little about the children in their care.

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't know anything about the DCPS preschool program except what I've read on here, but as a parent of an older kid with SN who has switched schools a lot here's my two cents: They didn't want your son to enroll at this school (is it your neighborhood school?). They didn't want to educate your son. They really want you to pull him out and send him to the other program they suggested (a special ed only class? at another school? just guessing), where he is someone else's problem.

Their plan is to inconvenience you as much as possible until you give up and leave. Don't be surprised if his behavior also gets worse at school. There are lots of things teachers can do to antagonize kids with SN which then "proves" that they aren't a good fit for their class. Poof! Problem solved, difficult child gone.

[Anonymous]

This is ridiculous. DCPS needs to make reasonable accommodations for this issue - the benefit of having an IEP/disability at the moment since you and PPs are right this is totally a 3 year old issue generally. Get a letter from your pediatrician that says due to development/disability, kid will occasionally have accidents. Health issue to leave kid in accident for an hour. Reasonable accommodation is to assist him in changing (and really, they're telling you they leave ALL other 3 year olds the same way?)/needs a goal to use toilet independently without accident. Now you have documentation. Ask for it to be added to his IEP as accommodation or goal - it's what's needed for him to access the curriculum/remain in the LRE. While you're at it, I'd give the central office a call - whoever is in charge of early childhood (http://dcps.dc.gov/page/dcps-office-specialized-instruction - has emails but I'm sure phone numbers are on the OSI webpage somewhere, anyway, it's housed under office of specialized instruction) - and explain what you've been told/what they're doing. Certainly to the extent they EVER help ANY other kid with toileting in ANY way, to refuse to do so for your child (whether his issue is because of the disability or their attitude is because they don't want to serve him) is discrimination. A daycare wouldn't be allowed to do this, I don't see why DCPS gets away with it (and in fact, most DCPS's don't and don't take this stance - they may not be happy about untrained kids, but they don't make them sit in filth). And by making him wait for you, they're removing him from instruction which is a no go.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks everyone for your support. DS is potty trained well most of the time, can go months without an accident, but then may hit a rough patch due to transitions or stress and go several days in a row with accidents. I don't want to name the school outright, but its a DCSP that only recently created its first PK3 class, and perhaps they didn't update their toileting policy when they took in 3 year olds. They say its a liability thing regarding abuse prevention. They say its the same for all DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Well I can tell you that last part - it's the same for all DCPS - is absolutely not true and total BS. And DCPS has kids who are WAY older who need potty training assistance/are in diapers. How is it not also an abuse issue with them? Plus a whole lot of special needs and non-special needs 3 and 4 year olds in regular classes in many a DCPS who are in pull ups or still have accidents or need a pull up for nap, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I can tell you that last part - it's the same for all DCPS - is absolutely not true and total BS. And DCPS has kids who are WAY older who need potty training assistance/are in diapers. How is it not also an abuse issue with them? Plus a whole lot of special needs and non-special needs 3 and 4 year olds in regular classes in many a DCPS who are in pull ups or still have accidents or need a pull up for nap, etc.

My totally typical 4 year old in PK4 last year had a couple of (pee) accidents last year. I only found out because the dirty clothes came home in his backpack. It wasn't a problem at all.

[Anonymous]

OP, the majority of the children in my son's PS3 class at a DC charter had potty accidents the first month and the teachers were understanding. If it has to be written into the IEP, go there. Don't let this school push you around, and I hope you lottery into a better school next year!

[Anonymous]

They want you out, OP. Disgusting to make a kid sit in his own poop for an hour to try to "get" at the parents.

[Anonymous]

The DCPSs that recently added PK3 are in upscale areas and are Wilson feeders. They are probably trying to get your kid out so they don't see a hit to their test scores and can get in some other in-bound kid whose parent will donate a lot of money.

But you have a right to attend the IB school if you got a space, so keep fighting if you think it's the best place for your kid to be. If they need to hire an aide who will change him, so be it.