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how to deal with MoCo administration re autistic child accosting other kids in 1st grade class
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Anonymous
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The comments about calling the police on a six year old child with autism makes me incredibly sad. To all those out there who are so quick to judge or make such harsh statements, be thankful that you do not have a child who has to attend school with an adult right by his/her side just to function. For that matter, be thankful that YOU don't have to go through life that way!
Regarding the school, my guess is that this is not a matter of the school not taking this seriously but that they have not been given the necessary supports by the County. I would CC the area supervisors on all written communication with the principal (you can either ask the principal for the name or can search for it on the MCPS website). If you speak to the principal directly, follow up conversation with an email summarizing what you discussed. While paraeducators (yes, they ARE called paraeducators even if they are working 1-1 with a student; the term "shadow" is no longer used) may have the best of intentions, they are usually not trained well enough to manage more complex behaviors, to facilitate social skills, etc...when working with autism. In your written communication, I would push for more supervision and not for the student with special needs to be removed from the general education classroom--where he is legally entitled to be. It's the County's legal responsibility to provide him with the necessary supports to be included. |
Anonymous
| In my county, the person working one-on-one w/ individual students are called one-on-ones, not paraeducators. Every county is different. Also, for what they pay the people who work w/ individual students, they are not going to attract people w/ the skills, knowledge, etc to be able to deal w/ complex behaviors, social interactions, etc. In my classroom, they hired a student's mom to work w/ my student. I think the pay was slightly above minimum wage, no benefits. There was little or no training provided. We (the parents and I) fought very hard to get a one-on-one for this particular student and I don't think people were lining up at the door for the job. |
Anonymous
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I understand what you're saying 23:06. But, this child is physically harming another child. That CANNOT be allowed to happen. And, if calling the police is the only way to get the school to take this matter seriously, then I would do it in a second.
I've got no problem with mainstreaming and I feel for the parents of the child with autism. But, kids with disabilities or other issues do not get a pass to assault other kids. And, the school needs to address the situation and deal with this child and his/her parents in a manner that resolves the issue. |
Anonymous
| Please don't call the police. The child could be taken away in handcuffs. Can you imagine? If you could call the police on the school, I would advise picking up the phone right now. I'm curious why the student has not been suspended after so many incidents. I'd ask about that. I'd explore the range of options. This sounds like a dangerous situation. It's disruptive and upsetting, too. Also on a practical level doesn't the student's paraeducator have to eat, etc.? How can one person always be with anyone? I'm sorry about your son. Good luck. Please keep us posted. |
Anonymous
| OP I hope you will let us know how the meeting went. |
Anonymous
Absolutely. I have been in an eerily similar situation and after several children had been assaulted with no action from the school administration, another child was assaulted and that parent filed a police report. Only then was the issue seriously addressed. I also support mainstreaming, but IME in my local schools (Fairfax County) it is really failing all of the children. You can not make these situations successful without funding adequate staffing. Sadly, I do not see this situation changing anytime soon. |
Anonymous
| Well I hope the parents give the school fair warning that that's what they will do if there is another incident and no action is taken. I had no idea this was a problem, it's shocking to me that the school is being this passive after eight incidents. |
Anonymous
| that's what they will do = get the police involved |
Anonymous
No action after 8 incidents - fair warning. The school administrator is negligent and should be brought to task on this. |
Anonymous
| 14:18 Sorry but I strongly disagree. It's not the SN student's fault that the school has legal and political considerations. I'm sorry but if no one spoke up or took action before the OP, what does that say about the situation, could it be that dire for it to take eight incidents before someone wanted a meeting? Moreover, I bet a threat of police involvement would be as effective as police involvement. |
Anonymous
| This is OP here. Our meeting is tomorrow. Thanks for all your inputs. To clarify, the school did not notify the parents of these incidents. I found out from my son and pieced together four examples. Only after I sent an email to the other students who were struck did most of these parents understand what was going on in the classroom. We now have 12 parents going in tomorrow - mothers AND fathers - to discuss this with the principal. Since I started this thread, there have been other choking and hitting incidents, and the parents of the students accosted have not been informed by the school. |
Anonymous
| I'm really surprised that parents are not being notified if the school is aware of the incidents. Sometimes things occur on the playground and no one but the kids know. But when things are brought to the teacher's or principal's attention at our school, I've been called. |
Anonymous
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OP: Good luck to you. I still hope police involvement is not the next step but if the school does not present a clear plan of action and remedy I would put it (police involvement) out there. It is surprising that the school isn't notifying parents. That would never have happened at my son's DCPS school. We were told when there were minor tussles.
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Anonymous
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Let us know how it goes!
Like the PP my child also attends a DC school, albeit a charter. They write up an incident report if she falls and skins her knee... |
Anonymous
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You want to know what is scary? Day care programs (this includes summer camps) are required by licensing to notify a parent if a child is hurt at all (a skinned knee, a splinter, a bump on the playground, etc.). In addition, they must have a written report documenting the incident that must be signed by two staff members or a staff member and a parent. However, schools are not required to let parents know when a child has been hit or involved in an incident. Simply because schools do not fall under the same licensing requirements these other programs do. |