public middle school -- how to carry accommodation tools from room to room?

[Anonymous]

My child with ADHD has had some success with certain items like fidgets and those textured sensory input seats. We're both wondering about how or if she'll be able to use them in middle school, given that she will have 7 different classrooms and they apparently do not permit students to carry backpacks during the day -- just a binder with pens and pencils. Any ideas? The no backpack rule strikes me as slightly insane, as it seems to me that many kids would want to be able to carry things during the day for many reasons. Are the girls all carrying purses with feminine care products in them?

[Anonymous]

Great questions (especially the last one, hadn't thought of that!).

My guess is that your child may not want to be seen with a sensory seat in middle school.Fidgets can be carried in his pocket, unless they are banned.

Is your child medicated for ADHD?

[Anonymous]

Is having access to these items written into the IEP? If so, it's up to the team to figure out how that will happen. Talk with the case manager.

[Anonymous]

Kids use a zip up pencil case type carrier that goes into their binder for any items they need, including personal hygiene items. Perhaps the spinner could go into that "pocket"?

[Anonymous]

And no purses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is having access to these items written into the IEP? If so, it's up to the team to figure out how that will happen. Talk with the case manager.

Yes and no, by law the team has to come up with a solution. But most middle schoolers and high schoolers are picky about these kinds of things, and having the kid suggest, or at least approve of the solution will increase the likelihood that it will work for him.

I agree with most posters here that fidgets can fit into a binder. For cushions, one option is to have the school provide one for each classroom. Another option might be to attach a strap to carry it from place to place. The latter will work better with a wedge cushion than a circular cushion.

-- special ed teacher and parent of a student with similar needs.

[Anonymous]

Wow--no purses? So they expect you to put a pad or two into a pencil holder in your binder? This seems to me totally ridiculous for a twelve year old. And then the girls take their binders into the bathroom stall with them? That's so disgusting!
Yikes. I hate how public schools have become like prisons. I mean, I went to a middle school where there were girls with knives in their boots, but honestly I would take my chances with the girls with knives rather than have to carry pads around in my trapper keeper! And what about things like Kleenex or chapstick?
I also wish all the girls didn't wear leggings or athletic wear....they should wear cargo pants to carry the stuff they would put in the backpack!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow--no purses? So they expect you to put a pad or two into a pencil holder in your binder? This seems to me totally ridiculous for a twelve year old. And then the girls take their binders into the bathroom stall with them? That's so disgusting!
Yikes. I hate how public schools have become like prisons. I mean, I went to a middle school where there were girls with knives in their boots, but honestly I would take my chances with the girls with knives rather than have to carry pads around in my trapper keeper! And what about things like Kleenex or chapstick?
I also wish all the girls didn't wear leggings or athletic wear....they should wear cargo pants to carry the stuff they would put in the backpack!

The no backpacks rule is a practical one. There is not enough room in the halls for kids and backpacks when they are changing classes. No backpacks allow for more room. In HS, they are allowed backpacks. (At least that is the way it went with my children)

[Anonymous]

I agree, no backpacks is awful. How can they have a school without room for backpacks, which are attached to students. This cuts down on locker visits, which clog up the hallway.

Can the student have access to a fidget drawer in each room?

[Anonymous]

Not answering directly, but we found that because of the moving from class to class and the frequent breaks, my son no longer needed the cushion. In fact many of the accommodations changed due to the different environment. I believe we made the changes around the second week of school. But for the first two weeks the cushion was a problem. It's hard to move into MS with so many new kids and have to carry around a special cushion.

We also have the no backpack rule but you can get nice zippered binders at Staples.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow--no purses? So they expect you to put a pad or two into a pencil holder in your binder? This seems to me totally ridiculous for a twelve year old. And then the girls take their binders into the bathroom stall with them? That's so disgusting!
Yikes. I hate how public schools have become like prisons. I mean, I went to a middle school where there were girls with knives in their boots, but honestly I would take my chances with the girls with knives rather than have to carry pads around in my trapper keeper! And what about things like Kleenex or chapstick?
I also wish all the girls didn't wear leggings or athletic wear....they should wear cargo pants to carry the stuff they would put in the backpack!

The no backpacks rule is a practical one. There is not enough room in the halls for kids and backpacks when they are changing classes. No backpacks allow for more room. In HS, they are allowed backpacks. (At least that is the way it went with my children)

That seems like a really stupid rationale. Middle schoolers are smaller than high schoolers, and, unless middle school hallways are appreciably narrower than high school (which ours are not), it would make more sense to ban backpacks for high schoolers. And, to get all back-in-my-day-uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow, we managed the halls of an overcroweded, built-in-the-50s middle school just fine with a backpack. Having to carry all your shit with you in your hands would be more of a pain in the ass, and it wasn't always possible to hit your locker between every class. Our kid also has an assistive technology accommodation, and I do not want the laptop/iPad in his hands in the hallways rather than secured in a backpack. That's just a cracked screen waiting to happen, Otterbox or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, no backpacks is awful. How can they have a school without room for backpacks, which are attached to students. This cuts down on locker visits, which clog up the hallway.

Can the student have access to a fidget drawer in each room?

OUr MS has doubled in size (numbers of students, since it was built) and the main hallways are impossible when classes change. WHen they add classrooms, they don't widen the main hallways despite the need for more students to access them between classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow--no purses? So they expect you to put a pad or two into a pencil holder in your binder? This seems to me totally ridiculous for a twelve year old. And then the girls take their binders into the bathroom stall with them? That's so disgusting!
Yikes. I hate how public schools have become like prisons. I mean, I went to a middle school where there were girls with knives in their boots, but honestly I would take my chances with the girls with knives rather than have to carry pads around in my trapper keeper! And what about things like Kleenex or chapstick?
I also wish all the girls didn't wear leggings or athletic wear....they should wear cargo pants to carry the stuff they would put in the backpack!

The no backpacks rule is a practical one. There is not enough room in the halls for kids and backpacks when they are changing classes. No backpacks allow for more room. In HS, they are allowed backpacks. (At least that is the way it went with my children)

That seems like a really stupid rationale. Middle schoolers are smaller than high schoolers, and, unless middle school hallways are appreciably narrower than high school (which ours are not), it would make more sense to ban backpacks for high schoolers. And, to get all back-in-my-day-uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow, we managed the halls of an overcroweded, built-in-the-50s middle school just fine with a backpack. Having to carry all your shit with you in your hands would be more of a pain in the ass, and it wasn't always possible to hit your locker between every class. Our kid also has an assistive technology accommodation, and I do not want the laptop/iPad in his hands in the hallways rather than secured in a backpack. That's just a cracked screen waiting to happen, Otterbox or not.

For whatever reason, the middle schools were built smaller and ours has more students per grade than the matriculating HS (it is an AAP Center).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, no backpacks is awful. How can they have a school without room for backpacks, which are attached to students. This cuts down on locker visits, which clog up the hallway.

Can the student have access to a fidget drawer in each room?

OUr MS has doubled in size (numbers of students, since it was built) and the main hallways are impossible when classes change. WHen they add classrooms, they don't widen the main hallways despite the need for more students to access them between classes.

This is the reason. The backpack rule is about crowding and safety. The kids learn to pare down what they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow--no purses? So they expect you to put a pad or two into a pencil holder in your binder? This seems to me totally ridiculous for a twelve year old. And then the girls take their binders into the bathroom stall with them? That's so disgusting!
Yikes. I hate how public schools have become like prisons. I mean, I went to a middle school where there were girls with knives in their boots, but honestly I would take my chances with the girls with knives rather than have to carry pads around in my trapper keeper! And what about things like Kleenex or chapstick?
I also wish all the girls didn't wear leggings or athletic wear....they should wear cargo pants to carry the stuff they would put in the backpack!

The no backpacks rule is a practical one. There is not enough room in the halls for kids and backpacks when they are changing classes. No backpacks allow for more room. In HS, they are allowed backpacks. (At least that is the way it went with my children)

That seems like a really stupid rationale. Middle schoolers are smaller than high schoolers, and, unless middle school hallways are appreciably narrower than high school (which ours are not), it would make more sense to ban backpacks for high schoolers. And, to get all back-in-my-day-uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow, we managed the halls of an overcroweded, built-in-the-50s middle school just fine with a backpack. Having to carry all your shit with you in your hands would be more of a pain in the ass, and it wasn't always possible to hit your locker between every class. Our kid also has an assistive technology accommodation, and I do not want the laptop/iPad in his hands in the hallways rather than secured in a backpack. That's just a cracked screen waiting to happen, Otterbox or not.

I agree it seems like BS. My junior high and high school back in the day were seriously overcrowded -- like 40 kids per class, lots of classes in portables, using the autobody classroom for math classes overcrowded. They actually had to double the passing period because the halls were so crowded that it was not uncommon to just stand for several minutes in a total traffic jam. But they still let us have backpacks. And I can't think of anyone that got hurt by one. (And this was in a school with a Molotov cocktail thrown into the principal's office, fairly regular bomb threats called in, lockers lit on fire at least a couple times a year, very occasional stabbings, one fatal shooting, fairly regular ODs in the bathroom.....but no backpack related injuries that I can recall!). For those of us from sh*t states that never put any money into public education, this overcrowding thing is old hat.