Have your children ever had an extremely disruptive child in elementary class?

[Anonymous]

PP here - I'm wondering how everyone feels about a mainstreamed kid with special needs who has no significant behavioral issues but requires a bit more attention from the teacher to learn the material? Is the feeling the same - that they shouldn't be in the mainstream classroom?

[Anonymous]

Remember a child with an Iep is entitled to and will always be placed in a classroom with the least restrictive setting. It is that child's right and yes, children with Iep's actually have a ton of legal rights. What should be happening is differentiation within the classroom and that child should have a special Ed teacher working to modify the curriculum or spend that extra time with the student. Special Ed is a set of services, not a classroom.

[Anonymous]

No, the feeling is not the same. That is the entire point of mainstreaming.!!! Do you realize how
Discriminatory that sounds?

If you do not want a child with an Iep in your child's class, pay for private school.

[Anonymous]

This is exactly why there is often a large exodus of kids out of public schools into privates after third grade. Start with 1-3 extremely disruptive children in elementary school, add to that the fact that the issues with these kids don't improve over several years, sprinkle in a few parents in total denial, and top it off with teachers doing their very best but at the end of their rope because large class sizes only make the situation worse. Voila- it's a receipe for disaster.

[Anonymous]

Here's my take. I find myself having a great deal more tolerance for a child who needs attention due to learning disabilities rather than behavioral issues. It may not be fair, because it's entirely possible that both issues may stem from physiological/neurological causes that are beyond the child's or parent's control, but that is my gut reaction. The teachers at my school seem to take differentiation for lots of different academic levels in stride. Kids that are advanced, kids that are behind, kids that are in the middle. The teacher finds ways (sometimes with specialists "pushed in" or kids "pulled out") for students to get the appropriate academic challenge out of their school day. On the other hand, when volunteering at the school, I've seen one teacher comforting another teacher out in the hall, because the first teacher was at her wits end and practically in tears from having to deal with a kid with behavioral problems. Kids at different learning levels can all be working at the same time in a classroom. One kid in that classroom who is yelling, getting physical, etc. stops EVERYTHING for EVERYBODY. I'm all for kids having rights, including Special Ed kids (I actually volunteer with an organization that services folks with Intellectual Disabilities) but when you have a persistent behavioral problem that takes up the bulk of the teachers time, I start to advocate for the "rights" of the other 25 kids in the class. Sometimes mainstreaming does more harm than good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm just wondering--at what extent do the disruptions become too much and the child is placed elsewhere? One of our children has a classmate who tantrums, kicks teachers, throws things, screams and runs out of the classroom (regularly). This has been going on all year with no improvement (I volunteer frequently in the classroom and so does a neighbor. The neighbor told me that other parents have complained to the principal but doesn't know what they were told). The child seems to be quite bright and social when not misbehaving.

Yes. DD gets seated next to the disruptive kids all the time b/c she's well-mannered and even-tempered and thus believed to be a "good" or "calming" influence on the problem child.

One year she was seated next to a boy from the projects who would regale her with explicit stories about what happened in his neighborhood. He demonstrated how people are arrested, how women sell sex, how crack and marijuana are sold. Eventually this boy was moved from one of Alexandria's better schools to another one because he also was a real behavior problem. He was a 9 yo first grader btw. Fun times.

[Anonymous]

One student in DC's class lst year was very disruptive: kicking, jumping on furniture, running arouund, tearing books, making it very difficult for others to learn. Child was eventually removed and placed in a different school. Agree with PP that behavior issues are tougher than learning readiness; most teachers are quite skilled with differentiation and adapting material/lessons.

While I support IDEA and its least restrictive environment in theory, in practice there is often not enough support (extra staff, aides, teacher training on ED) to make it a success for all. The one student benefits from the least restrictive environment, but at what cost to others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here - I'm wondering how everyone feels about a mainstreamed kid with special needs who has no significant behavioral issues but requires a bit more attention from the teacher to learn the material? Is the feeling the same - that they shouldn't be in the mainstream classroom?

I'm the one who was glad the kid was placed in a more restrictive environment. I hope you weren't referring to my post. When I said "restrictive" I didn't mean "self-contained" but rather a different school for seriously disturbed kids. He'd tried to choke my child.

[Anonymous]

I hit send too soon.

Kids like you describe: fairly easy, and truly just need "a bit" and not "undivided attention for hours on end"... mainstreaming doesn't bother me a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, the feeling is not the same. That is the entire point of mainstreaming.!!! Do you realize how
Discriminatory that sounds?

If you do not want a child with an Iep in your child's class, pay for private school.

PP here - I wasn't trying to be discriminating. My child has an IEP and will start K in the fall.

[Anonymous]

mainstreaming should be illegal. It is not fair to the 24 kids in class to have a child that sucks up so much effort from the teacher. Jeez, they get their own assistant. Give them a class, and let the learning begin. For all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:mainstreaming should be illegal. It is not fair to the 24 kids in class to have a child that sucks up so much effort from the teacher. Jeez, they get their own assistant. Give them a class, and let the learning begin. For all.

Boo hoo hoo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:mainstreaming should be illegal. It is not fair to the 24 kids in class to have a child that sucks up so much effort from the teacher. Jeez, they get their own assistant. Give them a class, and let the learning begin. For all.

Right! Kid's should never learn to adjust to a mainstreamed environment! Put those outliers in a cage and let's hope they never come back to disrupt the mainstream!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:mainstreaming should be illegal. It is not fair to the 24 kids in class to have a child that sucks up so much effort from the teacher. Jeez, they get their own assistant. Give them a class, and let the learning begin. For all.

I agree! My special needs daughter has no behavioral problems, and gets her good conduct points every week. But there are certain kids in her class (without IEPs) who are disruptive and constantly talk out of turn, or cut up and take up the teacher's time and act like babies. They should be placed in a special program, so her learning can begin! I suggest their parents consider private school for them, or home-schooling. Mainstreaming is just not for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:mainstreaming should be illegal. It is not fair to the 24 kids in class to have a child that sucks up so much effort from the teacher. Jeez, they get their own assistant. Give them a class, and let the learning begin. For all.

I agree! My special needs daughter has no behavioral problems, and gets her good conduct points every week. But there are certain kids in her class (without IEPs) who are disruptive and constantly talk out of turn, or cut up and take up the teacher's time and act like babies. They should be placed in a special program, so her learning can begin! I suggest their parents consider private school for them, or home-schooling. Mainstreaming is just not for them.

I totally agree. My first grader was just punched in the nose by a 'normal' kid yesterday. He wanted something she had (it did not belong to him) and told her he was going to punch her in the nose if she didn't give them to him, and he did. It's a small school, I've got 2 other kids with IEPs (my first grader does NOT) so I pretty much know all the kids in the early elementary years that have IEPs since they get services with my other kids. This kid does not have an IEP but is repeatedly disruptive and aggresive with other kids.