Reply to Bethesda Today: Behavioral issues, lack of support creating unsafe classrooms

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[quote=Anonymous]Jumping in here a little late. As a parent to an SESES child, I think it's helpful to share our story with the hope it provides context for the type of challenges that these kids and families have.

For starters, LO has been flipping over tables since LO was 2/3 years old. At a very early age, LO had intense emotions and was very difficult to soothe even for minor issues. As parents, it's taken us a long time to figure out LO's needs. We pleaded with many providers to conduct assessments at an early age, but no one would until they were at least 4 years old, at which point we could get on a waitlist that was 12-24 months long. Meanwhile we were trying to survive at home and navigate multiple issues in preschool, including two terminated enrollments. Only after getting an neuropsych assessment were we able to determine and agree to a treatment plan. Beforehand, we dealt with many family members who continued to offer endless amounts of advice about being stricter and serving up more consequences, which for us, just made things worse.

By the time LO arrived in kindergarten, LO already had this history of difficulty at school (2 terminated enrollments, behavioral issues, eloping, etc.), a medical diagnosis, medication, and specialists. We actively engaged the school to share our story and explore what resources may be available. All this was good for was to start the conversation on a 504 plan with his home school.

LO is a very sweet, social, and active child. LO has also had significant behavior issues at school. When LO becomes upset, the executive function part of LO's brain shuts off. This would happen frequently as LO would lose focus in the class (ADHD diagnosis) and leave the group. Educators would bring the LO back to the group, with some educators being more strict than others about demands and requirements. This would frequently escalate the situation with LO and contribute to LO's dysregulation. In these moments, LO is unable to use words and just starts to lash out. This would happen frequently during the daily 2-hour blocks of ELA instruction.

In our experience, there is a significant shortage of resources available for these children. We are fortunate that we have had the financial resources to attain private specialists services for our LO. Despite these resources, and the number of interventions introduced at home, we have still ended up with a number of crisis center referrals. At these places we're told that we're doing the right things and that we're much better off than a lot of families who are unable to attain specialist services. I can't help but feel like we're still underwater.

I read the Bethesda Magazine article and empathize with both sides. Children should never feel unsafe in school. Children with special needs often need alternative programming, services, and resources than mainstream peers. Getting programming, services, and resources in short supply is very time intensive and honorous. We're hopeful to make progress as quickly as we can to attain the services our LO needs to thrive. [/quote]

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