Protecting special needs children from harsh discipline in school

[Anonymous]

How does one go about doing this? Is this something that must be put into an IEP? My child has adhd and spd and can be impulsive. While some acts are overlooked others are punished as though he has no neurological issue whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

What do you consider "harsh" discipline? It sounds like you consider any discipline for certain acts to be harsh.

[Anonymous]

How old is your child and in what grade? Can you provide some examples of what behaviors are being disciplines and what you consider 'harsh'. Have you spoken to his teacher about this? What is her response?

[Anonymous]

No child shoudl be punished because he or she is special needs. However, actions, whatever the cause, should be addressed consistently.

Analogy - no one should be fired for being an alcoholic. However, if you show up drunk for work, you don't get a free pass because you're an alcoholic (and you don't get a harsher punishment, either).

[Anonymous]

Agreed, if your child is impulsive or disruptive he or she should be disciplined. It sounds like you are looking for a school that will never punish your child for any impulsive behavior. The only school that will be like that is your own homeschool.

[Anonymous]

Here is an example. In my school, there was a student who had an IEP and was very hyperactive and impulsive. Most teachers dealt with him with as much patience as you could get. He was allowed to do things other kids couldn't like taking frequent breaks, walking down the hallways to deliver messages, etc. But when he grabbed another student and ripped up his paper b/c the other student finished before him, he was disciplined just like any other student would have been. That isn't harsh. It is real life. No police officer is going to give him a break in 10 yrs b/c he has an IEP.

[Anonymous]

I had this issue with inappropriate discipline being used at school and no homeschooling is not your only option. You should talk to the teacher and possibly put something in his IEP.

We had a problem with 1 teacher - for example - taking away recess might actually contribute to the problem.

I doubt you don't want your child to have consequences for their actions but a plan.

I also found that mostly I just had to protect my son from "volunteers" since their basic form of discipline is yelling and humiliation.

As always first start with the teacher to create a system that works for your child.

I also worked with a behavioral therapist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is an example. In my school, there was a student who had an IEP and was very hyperactive and impulsive. Most teachers dealt with him with as much patience as you could get. He was allowed to do things other kids couldn't like taking frequent breaks, walking down the hallways to deliver messages, etc. But when he grabbed another student and ripped up his paper b/c the other student finished before him, he was disciplined just like any other student would have been. That isn't harsh. It is real life. No police officer is going to give him a break in 10 yrs b/c he has an IEP.

But if you treat him with respect and give him appropriate discipline he probably won't be dealing with a cop in 10 years.

If you scream at and humiliate the kid because he tore a piece of paper you are just adding to the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does one go about doing this? Is this something that must be put into an IEP? My child has adhd and spd and can be impulsive. While some acts are overlooked others are punished as though he has no neurological issue whatsoever.

You can get a behavior plan through the school. An example in my son's case was that instead os using the green/yellow/red card program that MCPS uses in ES, my son was given a checklist of activities he had to complete at various points in the day. Instead of requiring that he sit in his seat to work, he was allowed to stand or sit on the floor so long as he wasn't disruptive.

Now to the however. The school is still a zero tolerance zone when it comes to any type of violence and he would never have been given a pass or a less stringent punishment if he hit someone on the playground. Even though he is extremely impulsive, he is expected to tell an adult if someone does something to him and would be punished just as any other kid if he, say, pushed the offending kid instead of getting an adult.

One last thing. In my experience in MCPS, recess is rarely taken away from kids. Sometimes if the kids don't get their work finished, they are offered the opportunity to spend half of recess inside rather than taking the work home to finish. The only other time recess is taken away is for a serious rule violation, such as bullying, hitting or the like. Then, depending on the infraction, recess is taken away for multiple days and the kids have to spend the time in the principal's office. Again, even with the behavior program, my son would be subject to the same discipline. Personally, I don't have an issue with this though because, hard as it is for him, he has to learn to control himself and I would prefer that people are hard on him in ES rather than letting him off easy and then suspending him in MS.

[Anonymous]

You need a functional behavior assessment and a behavior improvement plan integrated into the IEP>

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an example. In my school, there was a student who had an IEP and was very hyperactive and impulsive. Most teachers dealt with him with as much patience as you could get. He was allowed to do things other kids couldn't like taking frequent breaks, walking down the hallways to deliver messages, etc. But when he grabbed another student and ripped up his paper b/c the other student finished before him, he was disciplined just like any other student would have been. That isn't harsh. It is real life. No police officer is going to give him a break in 10 yrs b/c he has an IEP.

But if you treat him with respect and give him appropriate discipline he probably won't be dealing with a cop in 10 years.

If you scream at and humiliate the kid because he tore a piece of paper you are just adding to the problem.

I never said anyone screamed or humiliated this child. But some parents actually say, "But he has an IEP" when their ADHD child gets in trouble as that should give them a "free pass" out of trouble.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Sorry, not going into the details of what my child did or what kind of punishment he received. I've been on DCUM long enough to know that too much information that isn't absolutely necessary can send a simple question on a runaway train into never never land. LOL I never said any discipline is harsh. Nor did I say or infer that my child should be given a free pass because he's special needs. Nor did I say he should have zero consequences. Nice try. Just not interested in adding more to stir up an unnecessary debate.

I just wanted to know how one goes about getting the issue of behavior and disciplined integrated into an IEP and if it has been done by anyone already. DH and I know what we consider to be harsh. If it doesn't get added into his IEP, fine. But we want to give it a try to protect our child from the school completely disregarding his legitimate issues.

[Anonymous]

sounds like your kid needs to be in a specialized class or school and not in the general population

[Anonymous]

PP, what did I say that gave you that idea?

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PP that said you need the school to do a functional behavior assessment (FBA) and then a behavior intervention plan (BIP) to address behaviors and how they will be handled.