Schooling?

[Entertaining_Angels]

So for those of us with school-aged children with special needs, what type of school does your child attend and how do you feel about it?

My son is in third grade and this is our second year homeschooling him. He has AS and possible Tourettes and what a huge, huge, huge (and I emphasize HUGE) difference homeschooling has made in him. He has such a gentle, sensitive heart and kids can be so cruel. We just couldn't let him withdraw into himself. Since homeschooling, we have seen him come out of his shell again and he just really thrives in a homeschooling environment. We also have services at the public school as well.

 

[Tea]

We also homeschool, as the situation with out daughter was getting more and more complicated each year. As she needed to have medical stuff at school, ie: needles and lancets etc, we were under a whole set of restrictive rules that were beginning to board on the ridiculous. I was atending the school at least three times a day, and if the teacher didn't want to deal with her, she would ring me to come and pick her up.
DD was diagnosed with another auto immune disease late last year, which put her out of action for around 5-6 months. If she had been at school, this would have been lost schooling. As we homeschool, she was able to pick up from where she left off.
I have never regreted for a minute bringing the children home to school.
Tracey

 

[CarrieAg93]

DS is starting kindergarten in a little over a week at the public school. His disabilites are pretty mild so hopefully he'll be ok.

 

[kayd1966]

DS starts starts kindergarten this year. He's pretty excited about riding the bus. I'll probably let him go on the bus but pick him up because his ride home is over an hour. His morning ride is only 10 minutes.

 

[Mayzoo]

We will be/are homeschooling as well. We are hoping to maybe have a small homeschooling group. 3-4 trusted parents and their kids as the group of teachers and students. That way some social interaction occurs, and other parents have a chance to bring different styles of teaching and potential to see weaknesses in the children that might be missed by the parent of the child.

It is an ideal dream right now--one that will be difficult to bring to reality---but well worth my effort. No matter, our daughter will be homeschooled for so many different reasons, I could not begin to list them all here.

Mayzoo

 

[sreno7]

My kids have always gone to public school. The biggest challenge has been my ADD son who is also gifted. HE is a class clown and is not stimulated enough. Because he is not challenged he gets bored and acts out, then he thinks the work is boring and doesn't get it done. The teachers say if he can get the regular work done then they can give him more challenging work.
It is a circle that never ends.
My daughter has had some wonderful support in the elementary schools but hasn't found it in high school. She falls through the cracks, too bright for the handicapped classes but not bright enough for mainstream. I may home school her this year.

 

[If Not For Grace]

Personally I am against mainstreaming. I wish special ed was more geared to mainstream learning, but mainstreaming is usually not fair to the other children plain an simple, nor does it do any good to be the "SPECIAL" child in a room full of others.

I think homeschooling is WRONG on all counts if special ed is available. Homeschool in addition to-- not in place of-- what is available is the road I advocate. (That is not just for special needs kids by the way).

Children need to learn how to interact-that does not mean mainstream--but in the special ed classes they get to be supervised by some adult other than MOM, have a set of rules to follow and interact with others. It is usually a much more structured setting.

Plus it helps to get a professional outsiders take on your situation from time to time. It can give you a support system or at least access to one if you will use it. JMHO

 

[kayd1966]

While preparing my son's home-based program this morning...hhhmmm, lets back-up.

My son has been in an early intervention preschool for two years. He attended the school in the morning. In the afternoon, I run a home-based program. I have a speech therapist, behavior therapist and teacher's aide on staff. During the school year, we match the curriculum so that he's getting group teaching and integration at school, then the concepts are mirrored at home one-on-one.

....now, as I was saying, while preparing this morning I came across a few websites that are amazing and returned to some of the ones I use regularly. So I thought I'd share some of them with you all.

http://www.thevirtualvine.com/

http://www.myfavoritetoys.com/autism_thomas.php

http://www.prekinders.com/

links to many awesome sites http://topoftheclass.top-site-list.com/

My thoughts on education are summed up with:

If they don't learn the way you teach, teach the way they learn.​

 

[Mayzoo]

Dyamn--While I respect your opinion, and have at one time held that opinion....I cannot hold it at this time.

The school district I am in will not allow me ANY I repeat ANY access to my daughter's classroom (empty or full), I cannot meet the teacher, I cannot look through a window to observe without causing any distraction, I have been told when I drop her off at the gate--I am not allowed to see her again until I pick her up at the gate. The school will not even tell me if her classroom is carpeted.

I have drawn on all my resources (as yes I know this is illegal), and I even had Texas Schottish Rite legal department call them. The outcome is--this is acceptable until I take them to court. And I just don't have the time for such things right now.

I will not allow my daughter to be in this environment where I have no access to my child, her teacher, her classroom---this is way to many red flags to me.

This has to be decided by the quality of your school district.

Mayzoo

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

I just choose to disagree too but seeing how far my son has come and the confidence he has developed in himself is far more than enough that I can just nod when people are critical of our choices and just move on with our lives as is

 

[kayd1966]

Every school is different, and...EVERY child is different. I can't in good conscience tell another parent what to do for their child, especially when I have never seen the school, met the teacher, met the parent or most important of all...met the child.

Thank you for your imput, you have some valid points, some of them are even valid for my child but my child is not everyone elses child.

Mayzoo...I'd be so stressed, are you still struggling with the schoolboard and school? Praise the Lord, you have been able to homeschool!

 

[Mayzoo]

No, for the time being I have given up the battle with the school. I have only so much emotional fighting energy (all of us know/feel that I bet), and I am choosing my battlefield to be my daughter's medical care.

She is facing two brain surgeries and possible one spinal surgery. Had I merely "relied" on her doctor's to monitor and care for her, rather than being the advocate I am, she would currently be:

1. deaf in one ear--pedi refused to accept something was wrong so I took her to a pedi ent and she had fluid build up such that she could not hear out of that ear.

2. Nearly blind in one eye--doctor wrote for way to high a prescription (-8.50) for one eye, which would have caused that eye to just shut down.

3. Liver damage--due to overdosage of medication on top of already high liver enzyme levels.

I have simple goals right now--get her to adulthood with all her natural organs working. Thank God He made sure I was medically educated before He blessed me with our sweet child. I have seen so many moments and skills in my life that seemed so out of context, until our daughter began her battles---now all those moments God used to teach me, have just fallen into place. I now use almost all of them in her rearing. One of those--"gee, now it all makes sense moments."

I just have enough energy to keep up with her medical care, and the normal care/love/nuturing of a four year old. The battle with the school is just not worth my energy right now. Maybe later, when the surgeries are done.

But, then I worry a bit--how will the school treat my child after I have sued them to force them to provide the care that they are legally responsible to provide anyway?

 

[CarrieAg93]

But, then I worry a bit--how will the school treat my child after I have sued them to force them to provide the care that they are legally responsible to provide anyway?

The people you have been "fighting" with may not be the people who will provide the services for your child. I was a speech pathologist in a school and also the head of the special ed. dept. at my school. There were times when we had to refuse services based on the guidelines set up by the district or the state. When it became a big battle between the parents and the district we weren't involved. It was the policy they were fighting, not us. When services were approved we treated the child as any other. In fact, in some cases we would actually agree with the parents, but had to follow our district's policies. Good luck.

 

[kayd1966]

ok...frustrated with the school today!

I just found out that the person who was suppose to my DS's aide quit two weeks after the ended of school and nobody bothered to tell me.

I've just spent 7 weeks telling and prepping my son for this aide and now I have a week to fix it but I don't even know who the new person is

Sorry...needed to rant...I'm going to go and count to 100 now ...might need to be 1000 Thankfully I can't talk to them till Monday, which will give me time to calm down and get my thoughts together.

 

[sreno7]

wow your kid's get to keep their aid through different grades? Here it is all based on seniority and kids usualy get a different aid every year.

 

[kayd1966]

each child is different. My son is going into Kindergarten this year so the school is new, the teacher is new and his aide is new...we also live in a small community so there are only so many aides available...as a result the aides tend to keep their jobs from year to year, especially when the funding is ongoing.

 

[suzybeezy]

My two youngest sons, both with special needs, attend public school. We are very fortunate to be in a wonderful school district and the school staff has just done a wonderful job integrating my opinions and the boys ongoing needs into the goals and objectives for my boys. I think their needs are well met.

That said, I do believe its important to reaffirm everything they learn at school at home. I think it would be a mistake to just rely on the school for their educational needs, I think it all needs to continue at home.