Anonymous wrote:In defense of 11:55, "top of his class" does not necessarily mean "better grades than anyone else in every subject." We have heard the same wording and took it to believe DC was simply one of the best students.

"Top of his class" does mean the child is performing well above the rest. It doesn't mean he's the most organized kid. It doesn't mean he's the kindest kid. It means he's the brightest. And true, teachers are not supposed to tell parents this but sometimes teachers slip up and do. My son's teacher said the same about him and my child has ADHD and takes up some more time too.

I'm not certain why taking up so much of the teacher's time angers other parents. There's an assumption that if the attention were devoted instead to your child, your child would be achieving even more. I highly doubt that that extra time, even if devoted solely to your child, would result in significantly higher grades anyway.

In defense of 11:55, "top of his class" does not necessarily mean "better grades than anyone else in every subject." We have heard the same wording and took it to believe DC was simply one of the best students.

I am the PP you are asking. I specifically asked at a 504 meeting of they felt the ADHD symptoms were exacerbated by the AAP curriculum. The teacher, in a roomful of other specialists said " it is the right fit, he is at the top of his class" and went on to discuss his DRA, grades, answer). She of course did not discuss the grades of others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is in AAP. While he has ADHD/504 (not sure anyone knows this, so you may be making assumptions about students you "think" have ADHD) his teacher has mentioned on numerous occasions that he is performing at the top of his class. Yes, he can get distracted, and need a repetition of directions, yes he can be disorganized. These are all things we are working on through numerous avenues. (medication, organization assistance). My child has a disability, diagnosed by a developmental pediatrician. The attention issues, and chronic disorganization are hallmarks of his disability. He deserves to be in AAP just as much as the children of the PP's who have "perfect" attention and behavior. Our teachers work hard to be sure that any distracting behaviors are minimized, so that others are not affected, or affected as little as possible, but this is not a perfect world.

^^^ well ih he's "at the top of his class" it can't be much of a problem now is it?
I'd jus be intereste din how you know this. Specifically I mean.

sorry I may have misread this. The teacher has told you your DC is performing at the top of his class? Hmmm, I didn't think they did that. Theyll tekk you how your kid is doing but usually not how well relative to everyone else.

Anonymous wrote:My son is in AAP. While he has ADHD/504 (not sure anyone knows this, so you may be making assumptions about students you "think" have ADHD) his teacher has mentioned on numerous occasions that he is performing at the top of his class. Yes, he can get distracted, and need a repetition of directions, yes he can be disorganized. These are all things we are working on through numerous avenues. (medication, organization assistance). My child has a disability, diagnosed by a developmental pediatrician. The attention issues, and chronic disorganization are hallmarks of his disability. He deserves to be in AAP just as much as the children of the PP's who have "perfect" attention and behavior. Our teachers work hard to be sure that any distracting behaviors are minimized, so that others are not affected, or affected as little as possible, but this is not a perfect world.

^^^ well ih he's "at the top of his class" it can't be much of a problem now is it?
I'd jus be intereste din how you know this. Specifically I mean.

My son is in AAP. While he has ADHD/504 (not sure anyone knows this, so you may be making assumptions about students you "think" have ADHD) his teacher has mentioned on numerous occasions that he is performing at the top of his class. Yes, he can get distracted, and need a repetition of directions, yes he can be disorganized. These are all things we are working on through numerous avenues. (medication, organization assistance). My child has a disability, diagnosed by a developmental pediatrician. The attention issues, and chronic disorganization are hallmarks of his disability. He deserves to be in AAP just as much as the children of the PP's who have "perfect" attention and behavior. Our teachers work hard to be sure that any distracting behaviors are minimized, so that others are not affected, or affected as little as possible, but this is not a perfect world.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience has been that the ADHD kids have taken away time from other children that the teacher has to remind the 1 or 2 kids to stop doing soemthing or focus more. I don't think the kids just learn to deal with it. I know in my DD class many of the kids have asked to be seated away from the child and can't stand the kid because he is so disruptive. I think that alot of the AAP kids are more mature and serious about their studies and the distractions annoy them more. Just 1 experience.

Same experience.
Yes, the kids are learning tolerance, but they don't have the tolerance of an adult yet. My dd actually had one difficult quarter last year while she was seated next to a very distracting child who had difficulty controlling his behavior. She had lower grades on tests that quarter and even some unfinished work. She had a hard time concentrating while this child was constantly [insert constant distracting behavior that would be very identifying here].
You would typically find no more than one child like this in a general ed classroom, but this particular AAP classroom had 3 very noticably ADHD boys and one over the top ADHD girl. The teacher was overwhelmed and so were the students.

Yes, but in AAP there are very few kids who can barely speak English like there are in general ed (at least at our base school). Those kids take up extra time, too (and that's understandable and fine by me). The teacher's time will always be drawn to the kids that have the greater need. That's just the way it is. In AAP, it happens to be the 2E kids and in general ed, it's generally the kids with weaker English skills and kids with learning differences. If you don;t feel your child is getting enough attention, perhaps you should go to private school where the ratio is lower.

Anonymous wrote:give me a break

If you don't like it there's always private school.

give me a break

Anonymous wrote:My experience has been that the ADHD kids have taken away time from other children that the teacher has to remind the 1 or 2 kids to stop doing soemthing or focus more. I don't think the kids just learn to deal with it. I know in my DD class many of the kids have asked to be seated away from the child and can't stand the kid because he is so disruptive. I think that alot of the AAP kids are more mature and serious about their studies and the distractions annoy them more. Just 1 experience.

Children who are in AAP class have the ability to learn tolerance and compassion for people with disabilities and likely a far greater ability than maybe other children. Because they should GET the concept that children with disabilities are born with these problems, they don't cause them. Besides, they will always see, hear, or be around people with disabilities. Business are 'burdened' because of disabled people. They are required to install ramps, rails, and make many costly accommodations for the disabled. The business owners must inevitably pass these charges on to consumers. Elderly people take a significant percentage of our society and are supported by tax payers in many ways. So what do you parents of neurotpyical AAP children suggest we do with all these disabled and / or elderly people in our world, kill them off? No, it is imperative that our children learn to tolerate and feel compassion for people with disabilities.

As for taking more time away from the teacher, yes, that may be true. But what other children from children with disabilities is an intangible but very real benefit: they learn about humanity, civility, leadership, compassion, and above all, the ability to expand their mind and think flexibly. The ability to be open minded and think flexibly is a very important skill in the job market. CEO's, Presidents, famous inventors, scientists, and top government and business officers often have this quality. It is rarely something one is born with; it is nurtured and honed over a person's lifetime.

So don't think for one minute that children with disabilities are taking up too much air and space in your precious children's AAP classrooms. They are providing the fertile ground for nurturing flexible thinking in your children. Without them in the classroom your children's classroom would be very cookie cutter and deprived of the qualities to nurture this kind of thinking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By far the brightest child in my child's AAP class has an IEP for some kind of psychiatric problem. I would guess she is bipolar or maybe severe ADHD. I have known the family for years. This kid is off-the-charts brilliant and exactly the kind of kid who needs the AAP class (but can be hugely distracting to the other kids).

this is just sad. what about the other 29 kids in the class. that child takes time away from all of their learning. the kid might be smart but his education doesn't have to come at the cost of everyone elses.

Where do you think a brilliant child with a mental illness should be educated? In a self-contained classroom? Not your problem, right? If you don't like inclusion, shell out for private school.

Anonymous wrote:My experience has been that the ADHD kids have taken away time from other children that the teacher has to remind the 1 or 2 kids to stop doing soemthing or focus more. I don't think the kids just learn to deal with it. I know in my DD class many of the kids have asked to be seated away from the child and can't stand the kid because he is so disruptive. I think that alot of the AAP kids are more mature and serious about their studies and the distractions annoy them more. Just 1 experience.

If they are so mature and motivated, they should be even better equipped to deal with kids with issues.

AAP is allegedly for those with different styles of learning, not a special fairyland to keep your kid away from disruptive children. I have children in Gen Ed who deal with extremely disruptive students in class. Are you saying they don't get annoyed by the distractions? Or that they deserve it because they're "only" in Gen Ed?

Anonymous wrote:My experience has been that the ADHD kids have taken away time from other children that the teacher has to remind the 1 or 2 kids to stop doing soemthing or focus more. I don't think the kids just learn to deal with it. I know in my DD class many of the kids have asked to be seated away from the child and can't stand the kid because he is so disruptive. I think that alot of the AAP kids are more mature and serious about their studies and the distractions annoy them more. Just 1 experience.

Same experience.
Yes, the kids are learning tolerance, but they don't have the tolerance of an adult yet. My dd actually had one difficult quarter last year while she was seated next to a very distracting child who had difficulty controlling his behavior. She had lower grades on tests that quarter and even some unfinished work. She had a hard time concentrating while this child was constantly [insert constant distracting behavior that would be very identifying here].
You would typically find no more than one child like this in a general ed classroom, but this particular AAP classroom had 3 very noticably ADHD boys and one over the top ADHD girl. The teacher was overwhelmed and so were the students.

My experience has been that the ADHD kids have taken away time from other children that the teacher has to remind the 1 or 2 kids to stop doing soemthing or focus more. I don't think the kids just learn to deal with it. I know in my DD class many of the kids have asked to be seated away from the child and can't stand the kid because he is so disruptive. I think that alot of the AAP kids are more mature and serious about their studies and the distractions annoy them more. Just 1 experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By far the brightest child in my child's AAP class has an IEP for some kind of psychiatric problem. I would guess she is bipolar or maybe severe ADHD. I have known the family for years. This kid is off-the-charts brilliant and exactly the kind of kid who needs the AAP class (but can be hugely distracting to the other kids).

this is just sad. what about the other 29 kids in the class. that child takes time away from all of their learning. the kid might be smart but his education doesn't have to come at the cost of everyone elses.

The other kids learn to deal with it, that's what happens. Just like in life. It's good for them to realize that they cannot always be the center of attention. I've found that the AAP centers (at least ours) is very well equipped to deal with 2E kids -- much mores than the general education classes. I would venture to guess that the 2E kids are LESS disruptive in an AAP class than they would be in GE because they are not bored and the teachers know what to do with them. Also, from what I can tell from my kid's AAP experience, the kids in the class seem to help each other and they learn to deal with the kids that are different or need more attention. Get over yourself!