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Please help. My friend's son was diagnosed ADHD but is not behind academically. He has been suspended six times this year for violence against other children in his class. The school has just implemented a BIP but hasn't done an FBA. Nothing is really working to stem his behavior issues. His self esteem is in the toilet and he now hates going to school. He started the year in K, was moved to first bc he reads on a fourth grade level, but. Is now constantly suspended.
is the school system violating IDEA by not giving him an IEP or maybe 504? WWYD? |
| If I had a kindergarten age child who was suspended six times in the first half of the school year for violence, I would be seeing my child's doctor for strategies - does he need medication, does he need therapy, what interventions are going to help get this behavior under control. That is simply not sustainable in a regular class and he is going to end up on the ED program if it doesn't improve. |
| So the school suspends 5 yr olds? What did he do to get suspended 6 times in K/1st grade? |
| This is the OP... He is seeing mental health professionals and just started meds. What is an ED program? I just don't even know what the options are in this situation. Clearly, there is a big problem here. |
| ED = Emotionally Disturbed |
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You can qualify for an IEP based on behavioral problems/ADHD even for academically advanced kids.
Schools will suspend kids who have IEPs. How did they do a BIP without conducting an FBA? |
In MCPS you can't. We were denied an IEP twice becauae we couldn't show "academic impact" since grades were all good. 504 was given easily, but impossible to get IEP. |
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I would say yes. They are unable to move him to a more restrictive environment unless he has an IEP, so it seems strange that they would deny one. An ED center is a smaller classroom with a higher teacher/student ratio that works on behavior problems. However, at least in mcps, you must have an IEP for at least 15 hrs/week to even be considered for the program. Are you sure that they are not just first doing the BIP to gather the data to get the process started?
My child only has behavioral concerns and is also above grade level, but has been able to maintain his IEP due to just the behaviors interfering with him being available for learning- and it certainly seems that 6 suspensions proves that his disability is having an educational impact (I am assuming since you said that they are working with professionals that he has been fully tested and has a diagnosis?) I think there is more to the story that you do not know. |
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My friend's child was suspended in K for over 10 days in Fairfax and she had an IEP the whole time.
Is this in a local system? I think its weird they moved him to 1st. |
Not OP but schools do this all the time. Nothing worse than a BIP from a person who does not know what they are doing. Can make the problems worse, not better. Happen to us. Insist that the FBA is done by a qualified behaviorist who is trained in doing a FBA to come up with a BIP. |
Not that this helps OP, but my son who has ADHD and is working above grade level does have an IEP. We are able to show an academic impact even though his grades are excellent. We are in MCPS. |
They may have done this bc the teachers think the kid is acting out out of "boredom". If you have a kid who is above grade level who has behavioral issues, "boredom" is considered one of the first culprits for misbehavior and it's not only by parents. |
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OP here - I agree that six suspensions = educational impact. Maybe they are using the BIp to get info for eventually doing an IEP. It's a hair-raising situation. This friend just moved out of the area and is struggling greatly as a single, working mom with a son with serious mental health issues. The docs now think he may be bipolar. It just shocks me how little her school system is doing.
It seems like the school wants to see this as bad behavior instead of a disability. |
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Behavior that extreme sounds anxiety-driven to me. Not bipolar. Really advanced academics + poor social skills and extreme meltdowns reads like high functioning autism to me.
Did they perform a full educational evaluation? |
Wow.
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