Reply to Please help...DC is falling apart in school and we don't know what to do

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Reply to "Please help...DC is falling apart in school and we don't know what to do"

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[quote=Anonymous]OP--

I am a career special educator and now work as an advocate.  Kudos to you for trying to access private resources and specialists to help your child.

If you are in a public school, the school should also be taking steps to determine the cause of this behavior and to implement effective strategies.  This behavior is not typical of a child in first grade and could be an indicator of an underlying but as of yet unidentified learning or emotional disability.  If the school is not moving in this direction, the first step would be for you to formally request an evaluation.  You can do this in a dated letter or an email to your child's teacher or the school's special education coordinator.  I would recommend cc-ing the principal, and remember to request a "read" receipt on the email so you can tell when it was opened and read.   You should reference the documented behavior concerns so far this school year and the need for repeated staffing changes, as well as the recent diagnosis of anxiety.  The school is not allowed to repeatedly send your child home without also accessing their own resources to explore and address the behavior.

Your request for an evaluation counts as a "referral," which will start the special education timeline.  Schools are required to meet with you to discuss your child's case, review data, and determine whether they have enough data to decide whether there is a disability impacting performance, or that they need to conduct additional or targeted assessments to gather more information.  These may be standardized assessments, observations, or rating scales that you and the student's teachers complete.  There are specific criteria that must be met in order to be found eligible for special education.  However, the school could conduct a Functional Behavioral Assessment and develop a Behavioral Intervention Plan right now--that process is available to any student who is demonstrating consistently challenging or interfering behaviors in the school setting.

Again, these federally mandated policies only apply to public schools and public charter schools.  Private schools are not required to conduct evaluations or provide special education services (though some try).

Best of luck.[/quote]

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