“They won’t go to kindergarten in diapers!”…well, actually, they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m deeply concerned that the kindergarten teacher who started this thread does not understand that the three children wearing diapers that she’s talking about do, in fact, have special needs of some kind. If they are getting 504 plans, they have medical or mental health diagnoses of some kind. It’s troubling that the teacher doesn’t understand that.

Why do you assume they have special needs? Some parents just don’t want to be bothered. You’ll see it more and more.

You need documentation of a disability to get a 504 plan.

You need to post things that you actually know about. Your statement is blatantly wrong. My kid can get a 504 for having a broken leg. That’s is not a disability and no documentation needs to be provided.

But the do need a diagnosis!! In your case, the diagnosis is a broken leg.

It’s not remotely the same hurdle as getting an IEP. Some random teledoc or urgent care person could write you what you need for a 504. It’s just not remotely comparable. If the kid is truly SN, they will have an IEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My siblings and I were raised in traditional cloth diapers before the advent of disposable ones. All potty-trained before age 2, according to my mom.

WTF is the issue here?

In my experience as a special Ed teacher, constipation issues seem to be common in kids with autism. There are also other factors that may make toilet training hard for kids with ASD (loud flushing, reluctance to use public bathrooms). Many more students with autism are mainstreamed now because they have average to above average intelligence and can be successful in the mainstream classroom. The schools need more staff to make this all doable.

No they don’t. Autism is not actually a reason not to work to potty train by five.

No one said kids with autism shouldn't potty train before 5. They (a special ed teacher, so someone who would know) said that toilet training can be harder for ASD kids. Meaning it could take longer. An ASD kid might start kindergarten in diapers despite working on toile training for years prior.

My kid trained at 4 after years of working on it. And among the obstacles were a seeming inability to know when peeing was urgent, a rigid refusal to interrupt an activity to use the toilet, and intense fear of using a regular toilet (as well as fear of flushing, fear of wiping, and definitely fear of using any toilet outside our house). Also severely picky eating that can cause digestive issues.

Guess what diagnosis my kid got at 6?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have one kid with a motor disability and another with chronic constipation. I am certainly empathetic to parents but it is so ridiculous that this trend is increasing - kids with “special needs” and medical problems have always existed, and there are more treatment options, awareness, and support than ever before. It doesn’t explain why these problems are getting worse - the most likely explanation has to be parenting and changing social norms

+1 I have a child with a mild-moderate developmental disability -and he and his SN friends were ALL trained by 5. It was hard for some of us. I mean, these are kids where it’s questionable whether they’ll get a high school diploma due to cognition and behavior issues. Obviously there are physical impairments, extremely low tone, etc that affects these outcomes, but barring that I admit I’m having difficulty understanding this. As a parent of a SN child, my actual concern would be that this is actually abusing IDEA which comes back to harm SN kids and the principle of inclusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My siblings and I were raised in traditional cloth diapers before the advent of disposable ones. All potty-trained before age 2, according to my mom.

WTF is the issue here?

Lazy, good for nothing, parents. There can be no other excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My siblings and I were raised in traditional cloth diapers before the advent of disposable ones. All potty-trained before age 2, according to my mom.

WTF is the issue here?

Lazy, good for nothing, parents. There can be no other excuse.

Definitely this.

[Anonymous]

Not potty trained by 5 is a good reason to red-shirt your child, or to homeschool them for K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have one kid with a motor disability and another with chronic constipation. I am certainly empathetic to parents but it is so ridiculous that this trend is increasing - kids with “special needs” and medical problems have always existed, and there are more treatment options, awareness, and support than ever before. It doesn’t explain why these problems are getting worse - the most likely explanation has to be parenting and changing social norms

1. Are these problems actually getting worse or are we just mainstreaming more kids?

2. If they are getting worse, what's the reason? Is it diets? Parenting trends? I will say among parents I know nobody would keep a 3.5 yo in diapers, much less a 5 yo, just because of laziness or any kind of potty training philosophy. Nobody wants to chase around a 4 yo to try to change their diaper or deal with a 4 yo in a poopy diaper.

I think there is more to the story OP is telling

[Anonymous]

/\ oh I disagree, I’ve known more than one family that still had their 4 year old in diapers. None of them got to 5, but it was just “never the right time” then the kids got old and stubborn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m deeply concerned that the kindergarten teacher who started this thread does not understand that the three children wearing diapers that she’s talking about do, in fact, have special needs of some kind. If they are getting 504 plans, they have medical or mental health diagnoses of some kind. It’s troubling that the teacher doesn’t understand that.

Why do you assume they have special needs? Some parents just don’t want to be bothered. You’ll see it more and more. [/quote
You need documentation of a disability to get a 504 plan.

You need to post things that you actually know about. Your statement is blatantly wrong. My kid can get a 504 for having a broken leg. That’s is not a disability and no documentation needs to be provided.

But the do need a diagnosis!! In your case, the diagnosis is a broken leg.

Usually a 504 is also for an ongoing medical issue not for something acute that will be resolved in a month or two. Usually if a child has an injury that is temporary the school just email the staff about it instead of doing a formalized 504 plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have one kid with a motor disability and another with chronic constipation. I am certainly empathetic to parents but it is so ridiculous that this trend is increasing - kids with “special needs” and medical problems have always existed, and there are more treatment options, awareness, and support than ever before. It doesn’t explain why these problems are getting worse - the most likely explanation has to be parenting and changing social norms

1. Are these problems actually getting worse or are we just mainstreaming more kids?

2. If they are getting worse, what's the reason? Is it diets? Parenting trends? I will say among parents I know nobody would keep a 3.5 yo in diapers, much less a 5 yo, just because of laziness or any kind of potty training philosophy. Nobody wants to chase around a 4 yo to try to change their diaper or deal with a 4 yo in a poopy diaper.

I think there is more to the story OP is telling

+1, I do know kids who didn't potty train until 4 but it was not due to laziness and those parents were way more stressed about it than anyone else was. People are weirdly judgmental about this issue and the parents whose kids train late know it and feel all that judgment and I think it can actually make the situation harder because the parents get more and more stressed as their kid gets older and then the kid feels that pressure and it can actually make the process harder.

But I also don't know anyone who sent their kindergartener to school in diapers except for my sister whose youngest has a serious developmental disorder, and even then, my sister worked extremely hard to try and avoid it but her child was still not potty trained until the end of K. The great thing is that this same child is now in 4th grade and is academically on target (actually working ahead in math) and socially well integrated and while she still gets therapies for developmental issues, you'd never know it interacting with her, so mainstreaming her in K (and not redshirting) was the right move and I think gave her the best shot at the most normal, functional childhood she could have.

My niece had a dedicated aid in K who helped with a host of issues including the toileting issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:/\ oh I disagree, I’ve known more than one family that still had their 4 year old in diapers. None of them got to 5, but it was just “never the right time” then the kids got old and stubborn.

That's not remotely the norm. You start getting judged if your kid is 3 and still in diapers. Those parents were super stressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:/\ oh I disagree, I’ve known more than one family that still had their 4 year old in diapers. None of them got to 5, but it was just “never the right time” then the kids got old and stubborn.

They "got old" meaning they "turned 3." That's what you are saying. You are sitting around judging parents who put off toilet training for a few months and thus having to train their kid as a stubborn preschooler instead of a compliant toddler, and then it takes twice as long. You're mad at parents for making a 6 month mistake that they then pay for by having a tougher time toilet training.

And as you said, all of those kids were still toilet trained by kindergarten so actually it in no way supports this weird argument OP and others seem to be making that we have some epidemic of lazy parents sending kids to elementary school in diapers. It's quite obvious that the kids starting K in diapers have special needs, and because we have a general trend toward mainstreaming, regular teachers are now encountering more of these kids. Ok.

None of this speaks to an epidemic of lazy parents. None of it. But go on clutching your pearls and tut-tutting your neighbors for putting of toilet training their oldest for some perfectly normal reason like the birth of another child or just not realizing how hard it will be if you wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m deeply concerned that the kindergarten teacher who started this thread does not understand that the three children wearing diapers that she’s talking about do, in fact, have special needs of some kind. If they are getting 504 plans, they have medical or mental health diagnoses of some kind. It’s troubling that the teacher doesn’t understand that.

Why do you assume they have special needs? Some parents just don’t want to be bothered. You’ll see it more and more. [/quote
You need documentation of a disability to get a 504 plan.

You need to post things that you actually know about. Your statement is blatantly wrong. My kid can get a 504 for having a broken leg. That’s is not a disability and no documentation needs to be provided.

But the do need a diagnosis!! In your case, the diagnosis is a broken leg.

Usually a 504 is also for an ongoing medical issue not for something acute that will be resolved in a month or two. Usually if a child has an injury that is temporary the school just email the staff about it instead of doing a formalized 504 plan.

The lack of understanding about Section 504 is mind boggling. People are just making s h i t up. You absolutely can and should get a 504 for a temporary medical issue, especially at the high school level where grades and credits are impacted. It protects the student from things like getting marked tardy or ensure more time to complete something like a chemistry lab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m deeply concerned that the kindergarten teacher who started this thread does not understand that the three children wearing diapers that she’s talking about do, in fact, have special needs of some kind. If they are getting 504 plans, they have medical or mental health diagnoses of some kind. It’s troubling that the teacher doesn’t understand that.

Why do you assume they have special needs? Some parents just don’t want to be bothered. You’ll see it more and more. [/quote
You need documentation of a disability to get a 504 plan.

You need to post things that you actually know about. Your statement is blatantly wrong. My kid can get a 504 for having a broken leg. That’s is not a disability and no documentation needs to be provided.

But the do need a diagnosis!! In your case, the diagnosis is a broken leg.

Usually a 504 is also for an ongoing medical issue not for something acute that will be resolved in a month or two. Usually if a child has an injury that is temporary the school just email the staff about it instead of doing a formalized 504 plan.

The lack of understanding about Section 504 is mind boggling. People are just making s h i t up. You absolutely can and should get a 504 for a temporary medical issue, especially at the high school level where grades and credits are impacted. It protects the student from things like getting marked tardy or ensure more time to complete something like a chemistry lab.

The real point is that it’s not hard to get a 504, the way it is for an IEP. You can basically get a 504 for the asking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who will change them? Nurse?

No. The Nurse or Health Aide will take care of the children coming in for illness and/medications.

Former health aide in VA: changing diapers is not allowed and requires special licensing. We are unable to assist with potty accidents and are no longer allowed to store extra clothes in the health offices.