As someone who has worked in education, I’ve found two things to be true: Students aren’t always reliable narrators, and teachers and administrators are inured to poor behavior.

I’d keep track of your child’s reports over the next 3-4 weeks. Note especially when he is working independently. Then go back to the teacher and administrator with your data.

I agree with voicing your concerns. Just wanted to add that in high school, even team taught, there have been major behavior issues where the teachers were unable to manage the class-sometimes with kids who don't have IEPs.

Self contained is where you go if you need more support than can be provided in team taught. And kids certainly do have self contained for 1 or 2 classes and not others.

I’m a teacher and I can confidently say we don’t put kids in SC just because we have a space there. That’s insane.

OP, definitely voice your concerns again. It may be that the teacher has been voicing concerns about the disruptive student’s placement to the administration and just can’t tell you.

Anonymous wrote:Look at it in reverse.

Self-contained is for kids who cannot learn anything in the gen ed environment. It is HUGE step down in opportunity and expectations from gen ed.

Self-contained is not where you go because you need reading and writing support.

I'm shocked that your school recommended self-contained, unless they were doing it for staffing reasons (SC had room for another kid, cheaper than getting a coteacher for gen ed)
Is your kid unable to learn in gen ed?

This is not at all true. It is very common for middle and high schoolers to have self-contained classes for academic areas of difficulty. Unless I’m misunderstanding, this student spends most of the time in gen Ed classes and is in learning support for a couple subjects? “Self contained” in this sense doesn’t mean that the entire school day is separate, just specific class periods.

Send in an educational consultant for a formal observation and ask for a written report. Or a private psychologist if your son is working with one.

Right now it's your son's word vs staff word on the level of disruption. You may need to do a couple of observations since the staff will claim it was an off day if there is disruption.

The idea is to get written evidence from a qualified professional who is not working for the school district. Also write down direct quotes from your child with a date regarding disruptions.

If your child is unable to do some work - whatever it looks like - class notes, quiz, etc. write it down and save or photograph unfinished work.

The idea is to build up a record in order to lobby for smth different for your child. But you also need to research and understand what your end game is - what type of setting or placement you're looking for, from the menu that exists. "Give me something else" is not a strategic goal.

You need to escalate this to the procedural support liaison (PSL) and the region superintendent if the situation doesn’t improve. It doesn’t make sense that your kid needs SC for only some classes, unless he’s very delayed there. The school also needs to call Behavior Intervention Services for help in those classes, which you can ask about. Keep written records.

Look at it in reverse.

Self-contained is for kids who cannot learn anything in the gen ed environment. It is HUGE step down in opportunity and expectations from gen ed.

Self-contained is not where you go because you need reading and writing support.

I'm shocked that your school recommended self-contained, unless they were doing it for staffing reasons (SC had room for another kid, cheaper than getting a coteacher for gen ed)
Is your kid unable to learn in gen ed?

I would keep reporting it to create the paper trail. It may be what they need to add more staff and claim funding.

If he can do team taught for some subjects he can do them for all. There’s some BS on the school’s part here, probably the classroom size is an issue.

Anonymous wrote:Seems like it would be better for him to try the team teaching and if he can’t do it, then go to the self contained. I can’t see history being that different from science.

First PP here. Having a kid who fails into services it’s its own hell, especially at that age. And if the spot fills up, the hell can be prolonged. It’s not an easy decision.

Keep an eye on this. The new LRE guidelines mean there’s often only one section of self contained. Sometimes that’s fine but sometimes it means the disruptive students take a lot away from everyone else.
I would start keeping notes on what your child is reporting. A principal’s observation of the class is probably not representative of how the students are acting on a regular basis. A class of 12 students that’s evacuated twice weekly or where there’s one fight per week needs to either be split into two sections or there needs to be an additional IA in the room. The school will have a harder time pushing back on this if you have documentation to support the loss of instruction due to disruptions.

Seems like it would be better for him to try the team teaching and if he can’t do it, then go to the self contained. I can’t see history being that different from science.

Why can't he try the team taught and see how he does?

Did not do self contained until HS. IME, there was an adjustment period. It was also my experience that if my kid couldn’t keep up in the mainstream class, there aren’t lots of alternatives. Failing is its only different kind of bad and can be worse than success in a somewhat disruptive environment.

DS (Autism and ADHD) is 13 and is in 7th grade at an FCPS middle school. his biggest academic deficit is writing and reading comprehensive. He has no behavior issues in school
During our bridge meeting the school strongly recommended self-contained for history and english and team taught for math and science. Since school started, he has been complaining about disruptive behavior of other students in the self-contained class. He mentioned that there is one disruptive student in math but made it seem like that one student did not impact the learning of the entire class. However, each day he has history he comes home and tells me how much he hates it because of 4 students who are always hyperactive and not listening. There are 12 students in his history class. Our son says that he is barely learning anything and is spending most of the class doing independent work because the teacher is so focused on controlling the disruptions. He loves math and science and lights up when he talks about what occurred in those classrooms.

We brought this up with the school this week in a meeting. The teacher downplayed the situation stating that there is only one disruptive child who is having adjustment issues because he came from an autism program. She made it seem like the child is under control now. They discouraged us from moving DS into a team-taught class because they were concerned that he would not be able to keep up with the pace.
The principal agreed to do a classroom observation and provide us her feedback.

We are new to middle school special education. To all the parents out there is disruptive behavior in these classrooms a way of life and we just have to accept that they will be par for the course?