You want to do away with PE just so your child can learn to swim after school?

Thank you for your time. My child is not asking for this, I am. Perhaps due to experiences with another school system, I have higher expectations of a school than "I don't care if this is a very bad fit for your child with special needs, we refuse to be flexible." What I expect of an IEP team is team work to try to address real problems and developmental goals. That is education. My goal is for my pre-teen to learn how to swim. I can't imagine a PE teacher's ego is so fragile that s/he couldn't understand that water safety and targeted 1-1 OT-informed special needs fitness instruction might be more useful and important at this point in my child's development than 2 class periods of a chaotic PE class with 30+ students that is generally an exercise in humiliation and failure due to a disbability. I have an economy of time and stress to manage or learning in all subjects can be compromised when stress gets too high. This is not about trying to opt my child "out of every activity that makes him uncomfortable." I assure there are challenges to coping throughout the day.

My post, perhaps not stated clearly enough, is about how best to go about inquiring with a school about substituting 2 periods a week of privately paid special needs PE instruction for 2 periods out of 5 of ill-fitting (for my child) PE instruction. I have heard of people doing this in MCPS and am hoping someone who has done this will share their experience.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I want to reduce the number of days of PE because PE is not a productive period, is stressful, chaotic, and leaves him tired for important targeted skill-building activities like swimming lessons after school. My child already looks different due to coordination difficulties and some of the behaviors that that environment elicits. Has anyone gotten permission to get "credit" for outside fitness as a replacement for some PE during the week? If so, please share how you went about arranging this.

OP, PE is stressful and chaotic and tires many children. It's considered a part of the curriculum like any course in school and having an alternative outside activity for your child is not a reason to allow him to opt out of it, which is essentially what you are asking to do. It's kind of an insult to his PE teacher, who is a teacher, not some sort of volunteer or day care worker, for you to say that your child's swimming activity is more important than an educational activity and that your child deserves "credit" over a part of the curriculum. I think you need to rethink this carefully.

The fact that your child looks/act differently means three things: (1) your child may need or deserve accommodations in an IEP for PE, and (2) bullying needs to be addressed by the school and teacher; and (3) you need to work with your child about how to handle teasing and how he is going to handle his differences. Opting out of activities he doesn't like, finds stressful, or that make him feel different is not a life strategy. He can't opt out of every activity that makes him feel uncomfortable, and you shouldn't let him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I want to reduce the number of days of PE because PE is not a productive period, is stressful, chaotic, and leaves him tired for important targeted skill-building activities like swimming lessons after school. My child already looks different due to coordination difficulties and some of the behaviors that that environment elicits. Has anyone gotten permission to get "credit" for outside fitness as a replacement for some PE during the week? If so, please share how you went about arranging this.

This forum is for kids with actual special needs, not special snowflake needs.

OP here: Well, my child is a little bit like some of these: https://www.google.com/search?q=snowflakes&client=firefox-a&hs=nWJ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=DqHrU6eWOsS3yAS90oLgCw&ved=0CCEQsAQ&biw=1068&bih=615#channel=sb&q=real%20snowflakes&revid=1943360354&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&imgdii=_

He is beautiful, sensitive, complex, shines under the right conditions, and can melt down when stressed. In my world, we try to reduce unnecessary stressors to save energy for the inevitable other stresses and challenges that come from having special needs. I am ultimately responsible for my child's development and it's up to me to decide which battles to pick and what is important.

This forum is for parents of kids with special needs. If you don't have an answer to my question, and if you lack the imagination even to know there might be situations you haven't experienced or don't understand, there is really no need to respond.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I want to reduce the number of days of PE because PE is not a productive period, is stressful, chaotic, and leaves him tired for important targeted skill-building activities like swimming lessons after school. My child already looks different due to coordination difficulties and some of the behaviors that that environment elicits. Has anyone gotten permission to get "credit" for outside fitness as a replacement for some PE during the week? If so, please share how you went about arranging this.

This forum is for kids with actual special needs, not special snowflake needs.

What does this mean?

Does your son have a diagnosed special need or an IEP? Answers may vary depending on this.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I want to reduce the number of days of PE because PE is not a productive period, is stressful, chaotic, and leaves him tired for important targeted skill-building activities like swimming lessons after school. My child already looks different due to coordination difficulties and some of the behaviors that that environment elicits. Has anyone gotten permission to get "credit" for outside fitness as a replacement for some PE during the week? If so, please share how you went about arranging this.

My understanding is that most PE teachers see PE as an opportunity to develop knowledge about specific sports, and related topics. For example, students learn the rules of basketball, or they learn specific strategies for teamwork, or they learn about human anatomy and the ways that various muscle groups work during a unit on weight training. Because it's more than just fitness, MCPS does not allow students who play on their own varsity teams to waive PE requirements.

Having said that, when my son had health issues that were both impacting his attendance, and his ability to participate in PE, the school did approve him being pulled from PE for make up tests and assignments.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I want to reduce the number of days of PE because PE is not a productive period, is stressful, chaotic, and leaves him tired for important targeted skill-building activities like swimming lessons after school. My child already looks different due to coordination difficulties and some of the behaviors that that environment elicits. Has anyone gotten permission to get "credit" for outside fitness as a replacement for some PE during the week? If so, please share how you went about arranging this.

This forum is for kids with actual special needs, not special snowflake needs.

OP here. I want to reduce the number of days of PE because PE is not a productive period, is stressful, chaotic, and leaves him tired for important targeted skill-building activities like swimming lessons after school. My child already looks different due to coordination difficulties and some of the behaviors that that environment elicits. Has anyone gotten permission to get "credit" for outside fitness as a replacement for some PE during the week? If so, please share how you went about arranging this.

Anonymous wrote:Just have the physical activity on a different day that PT. Honestly, if it's a pull-out in the public school it probably doesn't last longer than 20 minutes.

They "graduated" my kid with DCD from PT by kindergarten. I wouldn't forego any service if they're actually willing to provide it.

Sorry, OP, I misread PE for PT. I need glasses!

My daughter does PE and PT on the same day she has private PT, and she is severely disabled. If she runs out of energy, she stops. She also has, per her IEP, activities tailored to her energy and ability level.

I would also tell you that for a child with Special Needs, pulling them out of class, exempting them from certain (possibly unpopular classes) and making them different from all the other kids can really be the kiss of death or make them even more excluded and "other." Is this really the direction you want to go?

In MS, PE is a full period every day of the week for three of the four quarters. It's not a pull out. During the fourth quarter, kids take health.

Just have the physical activity on a different day that PT. Honestly, if it's a pull-out in the public school it probably doesn't last longer than 20 minutes.

They "graduated" my kid with DCD from PT by kindergarten. I wouldn't forego any service if they're actually willing to provide it.

Why would you do that? I think the reason and the disability would be what MCPS considers in making its decisions.

I am considering asking my son's middle school to allow him out of some of his PE lessons if he is doing physical activity after school. Has anyone done this? I have heard of people doing it in MCPS but I don't know how response the school will be.