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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am familiar with a similar situation from the family's perspective.

A close friend of mine had a child in FCPS who had also been in special ed preschool through the county. They had meetings that spring and summer before K with the parents requesting a small classroom, a different school, options other than being in the mainstream K class. My friend had taken her dc for a very expensive evaluation (several thousands of dollars, all out of pocket) and the psychologist said the child couldn't handle being placed in a large class. The school insisted they had to try the "least restrictive" classroom first--a mainstream K class that ended up with 28 students with time in the "resource room" when the child got overwhelmed.

Well, guess what? The whole first half of the year was a clusterfuck. The child was completely overwhelmed and had many, many meltdowns. The school suspended the child several times (this kind of blows my mind still--when they insisted the child be mainstreamed in the first place?). The child (who was 5) also ran away from school and they lost sight of him and had to call the police to find him in the neighborhood. He was found over a mile away. My friend eventually hired a special ed liaison (not sure if this is the right term) who charged hundreds of dollars per hour to review their situation and attend meetings with them, etc.

The child ended up placed eventually at another FCPS school in a very small special ed only class. This was a few years ago, and he is doing really well and spends a lot of the day "mainstreamed" with the general ed class.

The real bummer is the kid is a neighborhood pariah because all the kids and families he started K with want nothing to do with him. He somehow can never be placed on the neighborhood teams for rec sports through the local leagues the family has to drive really far for practices. The swim team in their development wouldn't let him join because they had heard he had issues.

If the school had not tried to do the cheapest option first, the kid could have started in the small (expensive to educate) class and gained skills, and eventually attended the neighborhood school and made friends through activities, etc.

They are putting their house up for sale this spring because my friend feels like this boy's younger brother is also now getting excluded from playdates, parties, activities because of his older brother. There was "no room" for little brother on the neighborhood soccer team this fall, etc. They want to start over in a new neighborhood where they won't feel shunned.[/quote]

Wow how awful! Moving sounds like the best solution, but also important to point out that deliberately excluding a kid from a team on the basis of a disability or perceived disability is illegal. [/quote]

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