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#1
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Sooooo frustrated
My 12 year old son has attention deficit. He has never had an IEP and
up until now has been able to be successful in school. When he began having difficulty at the beginning of middle school last fall, I visited the assistant principal to talk about an IEP but was discouraged from doing that because it would, in the view of the principal, stigmatize him. Instead, he suggested we rely on informal arrangements with teachers. Most teachers have been helpful. One, however, his science teacher, has been very discouraging. The latest incident with her involves a lost study guide for a test. Papers get lost very easily in the ADD student's world. This is a one-page sheet that basically lists all the facts that will be on the test. It's been very helpful in past tests. Henry lost his study guide and when he asked her for a new one she refused. Assuming that he had misunderstood (taking "not now" to mean "not ever") I e-mailed her to clarify. No, she responded, she will not provide a second copy. I've requested a meeting with the assistant principal who discouraged the IEP last fall. I am going to insist on a formalized IEP. I'm looking for ideas for the types of accommodations I should request, especially as concerns lost papers. Do any of you have ideas? I've never done this before. Things we have in place informally: -Extra copies of all textbooks kept at home so that he does not have to remember to bring books home. -A tacit understanding that when homework loads are heavy, we may elect to allow Henry to dictate his answers to us as we type them into a computer. -At times, we have had teachers checking Henry's planner to ensure he has written down homework assignments correctly. He hates this, as he feels it stigmatizes him, and so we have not insisted on it. What other ideas do you have? Can an IEP help with an uncooperative teacher like this one? Am I overreacting? Thanks in advance, Dawn |
#2
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In article .com, Dawn says...
My 12 year old son has attention deficit. He has never had an IEP and up until now has been able to be successful in school. When he began having difficulty at the beginning of middle school last fall, I visited the assistant principal to talk about an IEP but was discouraged from doing that because it would, in the view of the principal, stigmatize him. Instead, he suggested we rely on informal arrangements with teachers. Most teachers have been helpful. One, however, his science teacher, has been very discouraging. ::Snip:: Things we have in place informally: -Extra copies of all textbooks kept at home so that he does not have to remember to bring books home. -A tacit understanding that when homework loads are heavy, we may elect to allow Henry to dictate his answers to us as we type them into a computer. -At times, we have had teachers checking Henry's planner to ensure he has written down homework assignments correctly. He hates this, as he feels it stigmatizes him, and so we have not insisted on it. What other ideas do you have? Can an IEP help with an uncooperative teacher like this one? Am I overreacting? I can't comment specifically about IEP's. But if you've gotten this much cooperation, and it's only one teacher that's not working with you informally, can you institute a work-around of your own, like having Henry get the list from a friend in the class? Also with my non-ADHD son, sometimes he'll be disorganized (he tends to be messy) or just *claim* to be disorganized, and I'll follow up with checking his planner every day for awhile. If there is a question, he has two or three friends he can call for clarification. Just the action of my checking gets him focussed because he'd rather have Mommy out of it. :-) I know your son has a different problem, but possibly he can double-check things with friends. Surely other students do. Some teachers at our school daily put the assignments on a webpage. Including my son's science teacher (seems his science teacher is his bugaboo this year, too!) That's another resource which helps every kid. Maybe you can encourage that at your school. Banty |
#3
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Hi -- First of all, have you gone in to speak with the teacher? If you schedule a conference (preferably at the start the the semester) to explain the situation and ask what class expectations are, what you can do to help, what accomodations the teacher thinks are reasonable, *most* teachers will do their best to help a child succeed. Second, don't other students in the class have the study guide? Couldn't you take your child over to another child's house, borrow the guide, copy it, return it, and then let your child study from it? Why do you need to go through the teacher for something like that? This is the kind of thing your child will probably be doing all his life -- getting extra copies of lost items -- so he may as well learn how to do it now. I know this doesn't speak directly to the question of an IEP. I'm afradi I have no experience with those. --Beth Kevles http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner. NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would like me to reply. |
#4
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Thanks to everyone so far for the excellent suggestions. Just to
clarify, we already have taken each of the steps suggested. He did try to get the study guide from another student, but we weren't able to locate anyone -- it's complicated, but this particular class is not in his regular "group" and he doesn't know many kids from the class -- and wasn't able to contact the few he did know. I check his planner every day, period. That's the kind of thing you absolutely have to do with an ADD kids. I was told at orientation that every class's homework would be on the website -- that has only been true for one of his four teachers consistently. When the assignments are online, the actual worksheets are not. So in this case I knew the study guide was due but couldn't access the study guide. Lastly, we met with all the teachers at the beginning of the year and twice since then. This one has also refused to let him to go the nurse to get needed medication for migraine headaches. It's my personal opinion that she has just decided not to like him for who-knows-what reason. She's been rude to me in person and in e-mail. I'm not willing to schedule another conference, it's time to take this to her superior in my view. Hence, the IEP question. For his good, I need some assurance that we're not just going to rely on the kindness of teachers (as wonderful as that is when it happens). -Dawn |
#5
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Dawn wrote:
Thanks to everyone so far for the excellent suggestions. Just to clarify, we already have taken each of the steps suggested. He did try to get the study guide from another student, but we weren't able to locate anyone -- it's complicated, but this particular class is not in his regular "group" and he doesn't know many kids from the class -- and wasn't able to contact the few he did know. I check his planner every day, period. That's the kind of thing you absolutely have to do with an ADD kids. I was told at orientation that every class's homework would be on the website -- that has only been true for one of his four teachers consistently. When the assignments are online, the actual worksheets are not. So in this case I knew the study guide was due but couldn't access the study guide. Lastly, we met with all the teachers at the beginning of the year and twice since then. This one has also refused to let him to go the nurse to get needed medication for migraine headaches. It's my personal opinion that she has just decided not to like him for who-knows-what reason. She's been rude to me in person and in e-mail. I'm not willing to schedule another conference, it's time to take this to her superior in my view. Hence, the IEP question. For his good, I need some assurance that we're not just going to rely on the kindness of teachers (as wonderful as that is when it happens). -Dawn Dawn, this sounds very frustrating, and what unprofessional behavior on the part of the teacher! Yikes! It sounds like you've done all you can, and it's absolutely time to go up the food chain. I think I'd be doing the same thing, were I in your shoes. Scott, DD 11 and DS 9, in cold and blustery WI (but did DD wear a coat today? Oh nooooo!!) |
#6
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In article .com,
Dawn wrote: What other ideas do you have? Can an IEP help with an uncooperative teacher like this one? Am I overreacting? My instinct would be that it will not help with an uncooperative teacher, or that she will "get back at him" in other ways for having to "put up with it". Since he has been getting along well overall without the IEP, I might be tempted to look for other options. For example, does he have a friend in science class whose papers he (you) might be photocopy in the case of lost papers? Good luck!! --Robyn .. |
#7
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In article .com,
Dawn wrote: I was told at orientation that every class's homework would be on the website -- that has only been true for one of his four teachers consistently. When the assignments are online, the actual worksheets are not. So in this case I knew the study guide was due but couldn't access the study guide. Lastly, we met with all the teachers at the beginning of the year and twice since then. This one has also refused to let him to go the nurse to get needed medication for migraine headaches. It's my personal opinion that she has just decided not to like him for who-knows-what reason. She's been rude to me in person and in e-mail. I'm not willing to schedule another conference, it's time to take this to her superior in my view. Hence, the IEP question. For his good, I need some assurance that we're not just going to rely on the kindness of teachers (as wonderful as that is when it happens). What a terrible situation you have with this teacher! Have you been able to do anything about the medication situation? I think I would tell my child to walk right out of class in a situation like that, though that would certainly exacerbate the situation I definitely agree that it's time to go over her head. However, I'm not sure if an IEP is the route you necessarily want/need to take. The problems with this teacher aren't really limited to to issues related to your son's ADD anyhow. I might start with the website -- apparently it is school policy that assignements be listed, yet they are not being listed. Perhaps you could approach this issue first, as well as suggesting/requesting that supporting materials (worksheets, etc.) be made available there as well. At least around here, the IEP process is a major pain. They are required to do very thorough testing of the student before developing an IEP, even if something like ADD has already been diagnosed, and even if everyone in attendance agrees on the child's issues and the desired goals and accomodations. This I know from experience (email me offline if you want to hear details). We got what we wanted/needed, but it took, literally, months to get there. Also, a child is only entitled to an IEP if you can prove that the child's differences prevent them from performing at grade level in school without the required services/accomodations. Since your son has been doing fine thus far, that might be hard to prove, though a cooperative team can usually find a standard or two that your child is failing at to get you past that "gate". All this to say that, you might want to meet with the vice principal just for a conference, not necessarily to request an IEP, at least at first, and see if that doesn't gain you enough ground. You may indeed need to go the IEP route since you have one teacher who is a major hard-@$$, but it's probably worth investigating other less-formal approaches first. Good luck!! --Robyn .. |
#8
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Robyn Kozierok wrote:
snip I might start with the website -- apparently it is school policy that assignements be listed, yet they are not being listed. Perhaps you could approach this issue first, as well as suggesting/requesting that supporting materials (worksheets, etc.) be made available there as well. snip That's probably not legal. Some textbook companies allow teachers to photocopy worksheets for in-classroom use (many require consumable workbooks be purchased, and no material be reproduced by the school), but putting them up on a website will probably get the school stormed by the DMCA Nazis, unless, of course, the worksheets were put together by the teachers themselves, and can not be shown to in any way to be a derivative work of the textbook (a sticky legal matter I won't even go near). Unless the teachers write all their own materials, putting worksheets and such up on a web site is probably begging for textbook companies to sue the school. Sad but true. Susan |
#9
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In article .com,
Dawn wrote: I was told at orientation that every class's homework would be on the website -- that has only been true for one of his four teachers consistently. When the assignments are online, the actual worksheets are not. So in this case I knew the study guide was due but couldn't access the study guide. Lastly, we met with all the teachers at the beginning of the year and twice since then. This one has also refused to let him to go the nurse to get needed medication for migraine headaches. It's my personal opinion that she has just decided not to like him for who-knows-what reason. She's been rude to me in person and in e-mail. I'm not willing to schedule another conference, it's time to take this to her superior in my view. Hence, the IEP question. For his good, I need some assurance that we're not just going to rely on the kindness of teachers (as wonderful as that is when it happens). Since I used to be a science teacher and I would not behave like that I was kind of upset that it was a science teacher that was doing it. I also agree that an IEP isn't really the way to go. What you have to deal with is not Henry so much as this particular teacher and that could be the possibility with anyone. It happened a couple of times to mine. It sounds like he's coping fine without an ISP in general, and I agree with the principal on this - it will be another strike against him, and it IS a major PITA. Is there no possibility whatever that Henry can transfer to another class? It sounds to me that anything would be better than this teacher even if it creates a less optimum learning experience. I would rather even see him in a study hall than in this toxic environment. Is she a new teacher, and thus slightly incompetent or uncomfortable or overwhelmed? Or is she trained in some other field and has to teach science because there's a shortage (like elementary trained where they are considered able to teach 'anything') and she is not really comfortable with it? Is she an old teacher who is set in her ways? Is she perhaps prejudiced against Henry because of his race and perhaps you because he is a different race? I ask these questions because I think that in order to find any satisfactory solution (since asking nicely has not worked) it will be necessary to know where she's coming from. Prejudice will not be easy to deal with. A new teacher without tenure can be fired. An insecure teacher can perhaps be helped. So what I would do - I would approach the principal first of all on the medication question. He ought to be able to make her let him out of class to get it and also give Henry a blanket permission to walk out of her class to get it if he needs to. If he is a good principal, he will defend his teacher, but if he was a good principal this would not be happening. But even before that, I'd inquire about the possibility of a transfer and see how he (the principal) feels about that. If a transfer is not available, I'd ask him why this teacher is not following policy about assignments website. If he doesn't appear interested in enforcing the policy, then you need to get the roll and the phone numbers of some other students in the class. Or, as much as I hate to suggest it, just tell Henry not to worry about science, and if he gets poor grades document your complaints with the school and strongly suggest (especially if he gets good grades elsewhere) that this teacher is incompetent, and that maybe the school board should be informed. Have your complaints recorded and put into his record, although the 'permanent record' business is WAY over-rated as a threat. As for that particular lost paper, I wasn't clear if it was an assignment that he lost or just a study aid for a test or both. If it is a study aid, it might help Henry to brainstorm what might grandma Rosalie |
#10
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In article ,
illecebra wrote: Unless the teachers write all their own materials, putting worksheets and such up on a web site is probably begging for textbook companies to sue the school. Sad but true. That's a good point. I was assuming they were generated by the teachers, but that's probably not a fair assumption, at least not all of the time. If the worksheets are coming from a text/wookbook, though, perhaps Dawn can purchase a copy to have at home for her son. --Robyn .. |
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