K student Out of Control

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how much more expensive it is to put a kid in a small special ed type classroom. That seems like a lot of misery to put everyone through just to try and save some money.

I would think the smaller special ed classroom woukd be cheaper than mainstreaming them and paying for a one on one aide to shadow them.

Makes me wonder if they insist upon this (one on one aide) because they have been sued in the past or had an OCR complaint because a parent wanted their kid mainstreamed with and aide instead of in a small self contained class.

It seems odd that a district would push for the more expensive option (one on one aide/mainstreamed) over the cheaper more logical option (self contained class with a 2:1 to 4:1 student staff ratio).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how much more expensive it is to put a kid in a small special ed type classroom. That seems like a lot of misery to put everyone through just to try and save some money.

I would think the smaller special ed classroom woukd be cheaper than mainstreaming them and paying for a one on one aide to shadow them.

Makes me wonder if they insist upon this (one on one aide) because they have been sued in the past or had an OCR complaint because a parent wanted their kid mainstreamed with and aide instead of in a small self contained class.

It seems odd that a district would push for the more expensive option (one on one aide/mainstreamed) over the cheaper more logical option (self contained class with a 2:1 to 4:1 student staff ratio).

No way. They pay those aides around 10 dollars an hour, no benefits. I interviewed at a FCPS ED center. A small ED class will have a full-time teacher and an instructional aide, and there will be more specialists at that school for speech therapy, a school psychologist, a social worker, a full time teacher to staff the calm down room, its own vice principal etc. Plus the cost of transporting students to the center. $$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since the start of school this child has been out of control to the point the other students in the class don't feel safe (frequently hits, pushes kids, draws blood, leaves marks, attackes with scissors and other objects, throws chairs, hits teacher, etc). The school's solution is to put another adult in the room to help protect the kids. At what point does the safety of the other 22 kids take priority over this child? As parents how can we assure are kids aren't afraid of going to school and getting hurt? How do we get the school to address this problem before a child is seriously hurt? It breaks my heart to see my 5 yr so terrified to go to school because the school is allowing this child to stay in the classroom.

Complain to the principal and superintendent daily. The child needs to be high priority for SPED. Either in a self-contained classroom or on medication to control the impulse behavior. No child, parent, or teacher should be held hostage by a 5 year old. Speak up and speak loudly.

The schools can't force parents to medicate their child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since the start of school this child has been out of control to the point the other students in the class don't feel safe (frequently hits, pushes kids, draws blood, leaves marks, attackes with scissors and other objects, throws chairs, hits teacher, etc). The school's solution is to put another adult in the room to help protect the kids. At what point does the safety of the other 22 kids take priority over this child? As parents how can we assure are kids aren't afraid of going to school and getting hurt? How do we get the school to address this problem before a child is seriously hurt? It breaks my heart to see my 5 yr so terrified to go to school because the school is allowing this child to stay in the classroom.

Complain to the principal and superintendent daily. The child needs to be high priority for SPED. Either in a self-contained classroom or on medication to control the impulse behavior. No child, parent, or teacher should be held hostage by a 5 year old. Speak up and speak loudly.

The schools can't force parents to medicate their child.

No one said they child needed to be forced, however the child obviously has an imbalance and needs to be medicated. If the parents agree to medicate the child then the child can stay in a mainstream classroom if the violent behavior stops. However, the other children should not be in danger of being pummeled by a desk or chair because of one parent's rights to refuse medication.

[Anonymous]

I can relate with the story 9:10 related. Although my DS isn't aggressive, he was in an FCPS special ed preschool starting at age 3. We wanted him held back from K to spend an additional year in the preschool and were informed by the school that his needs would be met through his IEP and he couldn't be held back. Even our high priced, highly regarded advocate ($250/hr) said there was nothing she could do. FCPS had to follow the mandated process. K was an absolute disaster for DS. We were able to mitigate some of issues by documenting immediately reactions and our suggestions as well as providing the $3.5K private evaluations we had done. As 9:10 said, it was a clusterfuck for everyone until we could get DS out of the mainstreamed classroom.

[Anonymous]

Are you all realize the school can't just decide to put a child in a special Ed classroom? That requires a diagnosis or classification of special needs which requires an evaluation that his parents would have to consent to. If the parents feel there's no issue or aren't interested in a self contained class, the school has its hands tied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay for private, OP. Everyone is legally entitled to free access to education, no matter how much you don't like them.

No parent bashing. The parent has legitimate concerns about their child's safety in the classroom. First talk with teacher about concerns. Then talk with principal about concerns. Start there and see, what their response is. If you are still not satisfied, take it up the chain of command to head of schools, super, etc. Children should feel safe in classroom.

I'm not "parent bashing;" otherwise I'd have made fun of her precious "snowflake."

FAPE is the law: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/edlite-FAPE504.html

Children should feel safe in the classroom, but it's not a legal requirement. Allowing a kid access to an education is.

I would put in an email asking for my child to be moved because of concern for her physical safety and copy the person above the principal. When things get put in writing, they will figure out a solution to avoid potential liability for inaction in the event something happens and there's a lawsuit.

+1
So much the better if this email includes dates and details of any episodes involving your child, and even better if those episodes were already addressed in emails or other communication that can be included as attachment(s).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you all realize the school can't just decide to put a child in a special Ed classroom? That requires a diagnosis or classification of special needs which requires an evaluation that his parents would have to consent to. If the parents feel there's no issue or aren't interested in a self contained class, the school has its hands tied.

They can force the issue without parental consent but it is a long drawn out process.

As far as medications for aggressive five years olds, my understanding is that there are a few adult medications used off-label for small children, but it is risky, untested and they all have pretty terrible side effects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can relate with the story 9:10 related. Although my DS isn't aggressive, he was in an FCPS special ed preschool starting at age 3. We wanted him held back from K to spend an additional year in the preschool and were informed by the school that his needs would be met through his IEP and he couldn't be held back. Even our high priced, highly regarded advocate ($250/hr) said there was nothing she could do. FCPS had to follow the mandated process. K was an absolute disaster for DS. We were able to mitigate some of issues by documenting immediately reactions and our suggestions as well as providing the $3.5K private evaluations we had done. As 9:10 said, it was a clusterfuck for everyone until we could get DS out of the mainstreamed classroom.

It sounds like FCPS has a one size fits all process where dc from the special ed preschools are put right into general ed kindergartens. This doesn't really make sense to me-at least some of the kids who needed a special ed preschool are not going to do well in the regular K classes (or they wouldn't have needed a special ed preschool in the first place).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you all realize the school can't just decide to put a child in a special Ed classroom? That requires a diagnosis or classification of special needs which requires an evaluation that his parents would have to consent to. If the parents feel there's no issue or aren't interested in a self contained class, the school has its hands tied.

Then if the school can't put the child in a special ed classroom, they should be able to suspend the child for attacking people with scissors. I wonder how long an inner city kid who attacked someone with scissors would be coddled and not suspended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you all realize the school can't just decide to put a child in a special Ed classroom? That requires a diagnosis or classification of special needs which requires an evaluation that his parents would have to consent to. If the parents feel there's no issue or aren't interested in a self contained class, the school has its hands tied.

Of course we realize that. That is why we said they need to get the kid on the list immediately for intervention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since the start of school this child has been out of control to the point the other students in the class don't feel safe (frequently hits, pushes kids, draws blood, leaves marks, attackes with scissors and other objects, throws chairs, hits teacher, etc). The school's solution is to put another adult in the room to help protect the kids. At what point does the safety of the other 22 kids take priority over this child? As parents how can we assure are kids aren't afraid of going to school and getting hurt? How do we get the school to address this problem before a child is seriously hurt? It breaks my heart to see my 5 yr so terrified to go to school because the school is allowing this child to stay in the classroom.

Complain to the principal and superintendent daily. The child needs to be high priority for SPED. Either in a self-contained classroom or on medication to control the impulse behavior. No child, parent, or teacher should be held hostage by a 5 year old. Speak up and speak loudly.

The schools can't force parents to medicate their child.

No one said they child needed to be forced, however the child obviously has an imbalance and needs to be medicated. If the parents agree to medicate the child then the child can stay in a mainstream classroom if the violent behavior stops. However, the other children should not be in danger of being pummeled by a desk or chair because of one parent's rights to refuse medication.

HAHAHAHAHA! Nope. There's no way to tell the parents that they have to medicate the kid in order for him/her to stay. That's not legal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you all realize the school can't just decide to put a child in a special Ed classroom? That requires a diagnosis or classification of special needs which requires an evaluation that his parents would have to consent to. If the parents feel there's no issue or aren't interested in a self contained class, the school has its hands tied.

Of course we realize that. That is why we said they need to get the kid on the list immediately for intervention.

They have an intervention in place -- the additional adult in the room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can relate with the story 9:10 related. Although my DS isn't aggressive, he was in an FCPS special ed preschool starting at age 3. We wanted him held back from K to spend an additional year in the preschool and were informed by the school that his needs would be met through his IEP and he couldn't be held back. Even our high priced, highly regarded advocate ($250/hr) said there was nothing she could do. FCPS had to follow the mandated process. K was an absolute disaster for DS. We were able to mitigate some of issues by documenting immediately reactions and our suggestions as well as providing the $3.5K private evaluations we had done. As 9:10 said, it was a clusterfuck for everyone until we could get DS out of the mainstreamed classroom.

It sounds like FCPS has a one size fits all process where dc from the special ed preschools are put right into general ed kindergartens. This doesn't really make sense to me-at least some of the kids who needed a special ed preschool are not going to do well in the regular K classes (or they wouldn't have needed a special ed preschool in the first place).

The whole reason why the child gets special ed preschool is to help them to transition into K.

[Anonymous]

No, that is not the reason special Ed preschool exists.