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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here.  Thanks for the responses (mostly).  I did not intend to seem like I was asking advice for my personal situation.  I was trying to ask a more general question based on trends I see in my child's school and in many other schools as well.  But it seems regardless many of you think a special education designation should be applied for mere behavior problems to minimize disruptions to others and maybe help the offending child too.

But at least a few see things as I do-that special education should be reserved for children who struggle academically due to disability.  After all, if school standards are being raised, extra support and behavior management techniques should be standard for the general education classroom to deal with all the variations of normal.  Children shouldnt be suddenly classified as "disabled" just because Kinder is the new first grade.

As for my personal situation, we will continue working on the issues at home and waiting for maturity to kick in.  If there is not enough improvement by 2nd grade, private school might be our best option.

Food for thought:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kars4kids.org/blog/when-to-keep-your-child-out-of-special-education/amp/

Again, thanks for the different pespectives.

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OP, my child is in the Asperger's program in MCPS.  Academically--he has no issues.  He is above grade level in reading comprehension, his ability to infer meaning, predict outcomes, and can summarize a story very well.  He's in 3rd grade.  Math---consistently above grade level and scored in the 99th percentile on the MAP test last year.  He loves social studies and can make the connections between historical events and current events.  Science is fascinating to him---balls and motion, the solar system, he loves it and understands it.  If all school was was academics, then you're right, he should not have support services.

But---he is easily overwhelmed and can meltdown at the drop of a hat.  Academics come easy to him IF you can get him to engage.  If you can't, well, then he's just disruptive.  He will hide under his desk.  He will refuse to do his work.  He will not line up for specials and follow the class.  He will just sit down in the hall and not move.  There is no way that a teacher in a mainstream classroom could handle him and the rest of the class.  His needs are not academic but behavioral.  He has a low tolerance for frustration, is impulsive, and gets stuck.  Once he's stuck, the only way for him to get unstuck is to go through the meltdown.

He doesn't hit others.  He doesn't throw things.  But if he just decides to sit down in the middle of the line moving from classroom to lunch, that is disruptive to the other students.  The teacher cannot take the other students onto lunch and leave him sitting in the hall.  Mainstream public school is not 1:1 teaching.  It is educating the masses and everyone participating has to do their part.

In the self contained classroom, there is a higher ratio of teachers to students and my sons teacher works closely with his therapeutic team.  They all use the same language with him.  Do you think a mainstream classroom teacher has the time to learn the words that need to be used a child in order to get them unstuck?  She learns the language for each child in her classroom since they all have different therapists and use different words and strategies.  A mainstream private school would not be any better.  An SN private school would be a consideration but the MCPS program (if you can get in) is amazing and since I'm already paying for multiple therapies, any place I can save money is worth it.

As kids get older, children who do not behave according to classroom norms, become the outlier children.  No matter how inclusive our society becomes, children are still learning and for the most part, they don't choose to be friends with the kid who still has a temper tantrum and acts like a 3yr old in 3rd grade.  This become a self esteem issue for the SN child.  My child doesn't want to behave like that and he intellectually knows what he is doing is inappropriate.  But he doesn't have the skills yet to stop.  But in his self contained classroom, he is "normal".  Everyone has similar issues---they may not manifest the same, but everyone in class has issues.  He's just one of the gang.

I am grateful that my child is in the SN program and gets the amazing behavioral support that he needs.  He will grow and develop at a pace that is right for him.  School is about academics but it's also about learning to deal in the world around you.  Right now, academics are the least of my concerns for my child.  He's got that covered.  But if he can't learn to handle the world around him, intelligent or not, he is going to have a very hard life.

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