Public School Question

Have you had the IEP meeting for next year yet? I would request one. In that meeting bring up your concerns that you think he is ready to be moved out of the special ed classroom and into regular mainstream class. what are their concerns about this? My son is in 8th grade now. he has been in the ED program since first grade. It started out with him in what was called the diagnostic program. he was sever adhd off the charts. he has outgrown that. he was on meds from first thru 7th grade. but as he got older the special class stuff got smaller and smaller. he is now in mainstream everything but he does get a study hall each day. that is the only concession he has now. but you need to work with the school and be ready for them to state their reasons for why or what he needs. you can definitly fight it. but make sure your fighting it for the right reasons for your son. and your son not liking the teacher or her not liking him is not reason to pull your son from a special ed program he may need. Repeating first grade may work and may not. We had our son repeat first grade. He was in speech therapy a lot and missed a lot in the classroom. they wanted to move him to second grade but when I questioned how he would keep up they said "oh we will pull him out for catch up work" when I questioned if the class would sit still and wait for him they said um no" so he would have been behind forever which we didn't want. so he redid 1st grade and has been at level ever since so it was the right choice for us. Good luck. you are your sons best advocate.

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Document everything... not just the emotion part... the actual documentation of how the Teacher does not like your son and how she is demonstrating that and how your son is "suffering" unduly.... and how. ie: physical stress, emotional stress, him crying etc, him hating to go to school AND why.... her behavior w/you or your son, what is inappropriate etc. ANY factual and narrative things, that will SHOW mistreatment or prejudiced or discriminatory behavior/attitudes toward your son.

Then, in addition to just orally saying your displeasure, you have to put it in writing... a formal letter, to the Teacher and cc to the Principal. And keep one copy for yourself.

Then, you request a meeting.... either with the Teacher or the Principal... and lay it all out. Ask your options and tell the Principal the scenario.

If the Teacher then treats your son worse, after complaining to her or the Principal... this is called "retaliation" and is grounds for an assortment of things.
Keep documentation... on this and whatever happens afterwards.

All the best,
Susan

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You have the right to revoke special education services at anytime- however the school does have a right to take you to due process if they feel he continues to need the services (however they never do because the process is horrible). The school does have the right to refuse to retain him and the research is not supportive of retaining children with special education needs. Retaining does not give the student the individualized education they need to advance. Knowing how systems work (I work in special education in an elementary school) the best thing to do is let the principal know your concerns, but also let them know you will be contacting their supervisor or if you have an Elementary Special Education Director that would be who you talk to. Good luck! Remember you are your childs best advocate :)

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I am not sure about repeating 1st grade. But, you can refuse special education services. By doing this, you are refusing anything that comes along with being in a self-contained class, like if he get speech therapy or occupational therapy. If you and the school feel that it is needed later, it can be reinstated by doing another evaluation and starting the IEP process again. If I were you, I would see if there is a way to decrease the amount of time he spends in the self contained room per day to see if he will succeed in the regular classroom for certain subjects. Hope that helps!

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I think you can, depending on what state you're in. You can request a change in his IEP even though we're mid-semester right now. I would mention to the principal that your son and his teacher are not a good fit - maybe there's another self-contained class in the school district where he can finish the semester. If you're in Illinois, go to the Illinois State Board of Ed website & look at Educational Rights & Responsibilities: Understanding Special Education in Illinois. It is long, about 235 pages - I had it mailed to me in CD form through a parents' advocate at Easter Seals.
If you're not in Illinois, call your local Easter Seals office and look online for your state's board of ed website - I would guess they have something similar as far as the rights of special ed parents.

I don't know the answer to your 1st question but regarding if you have the right to ask if your son can repeat a grade I was told by school officials it's up to the parent. I spoke with the asst principal, the counselor & some other school officials to ask this question about my daughter because my concern was that my daughter will be turning 5 on the day school starts & I wasn't sure she was ready for kindergarten. I asked a lot of specific questions & one was that if I let her start kindergarten & decided at the end of the school year or in the middle of school I felt she was not doing well can I let her repeat kindergarten even if the school felt she was doing well & they all told me yes that in IL it was left to the parent while the child is in elementary school. Hope this helps

Yes, you can refuse special education services. During an IEP, all members of the team must agree in order to put it in place, and that includes you. Don't ever sign an IEP that you are not in agreement with. It is best to communicate before that point to reach an agreement you are happy with that gives your son a free and appropriate education. Look up the special ed. laws and read through them to familiarize yourself with what are legally your rights. Also, you didn't say what the issues are that led your son to be placed in a self-contained special ed classroom. Make sure that you research all of the educational options available to your son before you determine what you think will best meet his needs. It may seem like he would be happier in a regular first grade class next year, but will he do well in a second grade mainstream class the following year, then third, etc.? Second grade is much more taxing than first, and each year is much more difficult than the one before. You need to make sure that mainstreaming is best for him for the long haul. Make sure you are looking at the reasons why he isn't currently in a mainstream first grade class, because holding him back a year is not going to solve any of those problems, unless he just needed a year to mature... otherwise it may work next year but not after that. I feel like I'm not able to say clearly what I am trying to say, so I hope this is coming across as I am trying to... I know you want your child in a regular class. But by repeating first grade in a regular class, you may be putting a bandaid on the problem rather than fixing it. If he has issues that are preventing him from doing well in a mainstream class now, the earlier you can determine what those issues are and the best way to get help for him in these areas, the brighter the future will be for your son. Those problems won't usualy resolve on their own by repeating a year. They will usually only be magnified as time goes on. I'm just speaking from my own experiences with a special needs child, and by the time you get to second/third grade, the difference become much more obvious if there is a problem.

Hi M.,
Here in NM, parents have the right to refuse any and all services available to them through the Special Education programs. A meeting is held, and paperwork is signed. However, this means if a student demonstrates they need extra support, another meeting has to be held to re-institute specific services or classroom modifications. Sometimes, in this state, getting a meeting convened (Outside of the regularly scheduled IEP date) can take up to 3 months.

I don't know the laws about repeating grades in your state, and NM's laws are totally baffling, so I won't explain what we do here.

Good luck!
t

in ok. 17 years ago we had what we called d1 it was in between 1st and second. My son used it. it helped. I would also check into iep I believe it is a nation wide thing. is there another special education teacher you can switch too?? That would be an option if available. One I would suggest. and then see about d1 next year. my oldest son had the same problem with his 5th grade teacher. I made him tough it out cause he is always going to run into people like that in life. but with yours being so young it could make him hate school forever if you don't swap his teachers.

Updated

in ok. 17 years ago we had what we called d1 it was in between 1st and second. My son used it. it helped. I would also check into iep I believe it is a nation wide thing. is there another special education teacher you can switch too?? That would be an option if available. One I would suggest. and then see about d1 next year. my oldest son had the same problem with his 5th grade teacher. I made him tough it out cause he is always going to run into people like that in life. but with yours being so young it could make him hate school forever if you don't swap his teachers.

Updated

in ok. 17 years ago we had what we called d1 it was in between 1st and second. My son used it. it helped. I would also check into iep I believe it is a nation wide thing. is there another special education teacher you can switch too?? That would be an option if available. One I would suggest. and then see about d1 next year. my oldest son had the same problem with his 5th grade teacher. I made him tough it out cause he is always going to run into people like that in life. but with yours being so young it could make him hate school forever if you don't swap his teachers.

Hi M. S.
I am a Special Ed teacher in IL. Without knowing your son and his strengths and weaknesses I can only reall give you an answer to one question. You can refuse Special Education services at any time, but you cannot pick andchoose which services that you want. If you refuses services you refuse all services. That being said, schools should offer a continuum of services. I would ask for an IEP meeting and request the special ed director be there along with the case manager and anyone that has contact with your son especially a general education teacher(art, Music, gym) and discuss the options that you have. You might want to suggest him going out the the mainstream 1st grade class in a subject area that he likes or does well in. In my district very few students get held back, some principals do not allow it to happen. Holding back a student that has special needs and putting them in the general education setting repeating a grade will not necessarily "cure" the disabilty.
Talk to the case manager first to set up a meeting telling her who you want at the meeting and what your concerns are with your son. If she cannot produce the meeting then contact the special education offce in the district and talk to them about setting up the meeting.

Hope that helps a little! Good luck!

I am a SPec. Ed Assistant in Wi. I also have a child in Spec. Ed. If your son is in a self containted room, here that means soemthing is pretty severe. If it is not academics it is behavior. The Law says "Least restrictive behavior" so there must be reason. In our school we have no fully self contaitned kids. They all go to a regular class for something.

I would suggest you look at the Wrights Law Website and call the DPI and ask for an Advocate. Talk to them and find out what is allowed.

Nprmally you do not fail a Sped kid. There work can be modified so that they can do 1st grade work in a 2nd grade class. The idea is they are behind, which is why they need services and fail them is not going ot cathc them up.

Hello, I am a Sp. Ed teacher and in order to give you an answer I need to know your childs disability. Also the school district should have give you a parents rights book. You can refuse services but that is usually done before they are put into the self contained classroom. I really can't give you any advice without know your childs disability.

I would go on your board of education web site and ask about the special ed part. You as the parent have the right to hold back your child in any grade, so put him next year in reg 1st grade. I held back my son in Kinder, he was on the young side of the scale and it made a world of difference. He is in 1st grade now and at grade level for everything. Also here in NY you don't have to accept a special ed course if you don't think your child needs it. The only problem you have is if your son needs too much attention from the teacher the school could force you to make a decision about changing schools or classes. Just go in and w/out emotion tell the principal that your son is unhappy in the class and hates school. Also tell her it has been proven that pre-k to 1st grade is when a child decides if they like school or not and that then effects them through out their educational life. So since school is over in about 3 months, they won't move him, tell them you want to put him in a reg 1st grade next year and see how he does. You keep up with him during the summer with activities like reading to help him remember what he did learn. The only way I see this not going your way is if the principal says she has no room in the 1st grade due to earlier registration plus the size of the current kinder classes. Stay strong state your case. Most schools encourage parent participation in their childrens learning.

Hi M. S.,
I think Heidi S. and Heather F. hit it right on the head. I also work in SPED in IL. You should have a been given a copy of your parent's rights (it's supposed to be distributed to all parents of SPED students at least once a year). If you don't have that document, request it from his casemanager (which may be his self contained teacher. If you don't want to contact her, maybe contact the School Social Worker or School Psychologist to ask for it). Or you can contact me and I'll send it to you. But to reiterate what others have said, pulling out of services might not be the best answer for your son. Repeating grades has not been found to be an effective intervention.

Good luck!

Dear M. S:
If your child is in a special ed class in a public school and you find that the work they are doing isn't hard for him, then I would say yes he can definetly repeat that year as a catch up for him. As for the teacher not being fond of your son, that doesn't surprise me. My own son in grade 7 had a teacher that for some reason just did not like my son. She would call me constantly telling me stories of what my son did. One afternoon I just happened to have a nap and woke up to the phone. Well guess who it was. I said to her point blank "you dont' like my son do you" she said "I didn't say that" I said "no, because you can't". I said to her how do you expect my son to like you when he can see that you don't like him, bullying him all the time, detentions etc. She had no answer to that. The following year in grade 8, a whole new teacher, he won the Highest Achievement Award". So teachers are definetly not perfect. I am finding more nowadays that those who are working as teachers, nurses' etc. you get my jist, they are only in it for the money and thats it. I don't mean them all. You can refuse any type of schooling that you don't want your child into. The only way that they could say that he cannot do his first grade in a regular class is the fact that there is "no room" but I believe that to be highly unlikely.
I would go and speak to the principle at your sons' school, prior to this I would see his physician and ask him if he thinks that your son could do the work without him coming home in tears that he doesn't understand. Take his advice first and foremost.
I wish you the best of luck in the future and I do hope that your son is accepted into a regular class this up and coming year. Stick to your guns!!