d in conduct
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d in conduct
| Fri, 06-23-2006 - 9:00am |
son (8) finished 3rd grade wednesday. i met his teacher outside the school with flowers. she told me she gave son a "D" in conduct.His subject grade are all A's. He is disrespectful to her, answers back,speak out of turn,disorganized. He is bored in class eg.shoves paper into his ears, cuts his hair. Teacher and i spoke on a weekly basis about his behavior. She attended the core evaluation a month ago and the knows about the aspergers.I felt that he deserved better.
Son was very upset on sidewalk.Teacher called me at work later that day and said only subject grade are given to new school not conduct and effort. At the evaluation, son was eligible for a 504 to be written at the new school. When i called the new school to introduce myself the spec ed coordinator said i should have never left the core evaluation table without a written plan. With the testing done, i thought it would be okay for the new school to see son in action, then write a plan accordingly. September
will give him a new start.
Son was very upset on sidewalk.Teacher called me at work later that day and said only subject grade are given to new school not conduct and effort. At the evaluation, son was eligible for a 504 to be written at the new school. When i called the new school to introduce myself the spec ed coordinator said i should have never left the core evaluation table without a written plan. With the testing done, i thought it would be okay for the new school to see son in action, then write a plan accordingly. September
will give him a new start.

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I don't know. This teacher and school needed to be working on a behavioral plan rather than just letting him get a "D" and then handing him off to a new school without help or a plan. He will have the same behavioral problems at new school if he has to start with a "clean slate" because they come from his disability. The new school knowing about the "D" would actually be more helpful than the clean slate in this case. He will need modifications and accomodations so that he can function and behave and ultimately be successful. You son will need to be taught how to behave, and how to handle the anxiety and confusion that is causing the behaviors. And the teacher will need to know how to prevent these problems as well. Disability means that he cannot just "get it". Shame on that teacher...
The information that this teacher should have been gathering and then using to formulate a behavioral plan could still be helpful. It would be good to let the new school know in advance where he has specific problems behaviorally and how they can manifest so that they can prepare. He should not have to fail again in order to get information by placing him in a classroom where the teacher knows nothing about him. This will not help to fit him into a new school, make friends and be able to be successful. Just knowing about ASD in a general does not say how that impacts your particular child.
And I suspect you really want him on an IEP, as a 504 plan isn't enough protection for ASD modifications. You may want to swing by the IEP Board here at iVillage and ask for advice on this transition and how to prepare, write goals and modifications based on specific difficulties, etc. Has he been thoroughly tested, OT, Speech, etc.? Was a Functional Behavior Analysis done? I think I would get those things started at the new school way in advance.
Just my thoughts...
Sara
ilovemalcolm
That is a real bummer. But there is one good part. That year is done. oh well, mistakes were made and learned from as they always are made and hopefully are learned from. Now you can start over fresh at new school and a new year.
Have a wonderful enjoyable summer in the mean time and try not to think about the teacher in the past other than to use it as a learning experience.
Renee
ps. you may want to use with your son the thing I use with my kids. All I care about is if I know they tried. If they tried thier best that is all I can ask and I am darn proud of them for trying. Letter grades mean nothing to me, what I want to know is they are trying thier best and learning. Sometimes they just can't compete with NT kids on the NT type scales (like report cards).
Renee
I do apologize for coming on a little strong in my previous post. I know so little about your complete story and I was out of line to write in such a judgemental way, although that was not my intent at bottom.
We have had to retool my son's (age 9, PDD-NOS) behavioral plan often, and with lots and lots of help, he is currently doing very well in developing appropriate school behavior and social skills. We also know because we are close with families with older ASD kids that this retooling may need to be constant as they age.
The insolent, oppositional behavior is very very common with our kids -- my son has struggled with it -- and so I got angry at the idea of your son being penalized with a "D" for behavior that is part and parcil with his disability. Basically, I think what this teacher did is exactly like giving a child in a wheelchair a failing grade in gym class. Also, I feel very sad that your child must know he received a "D' for behavior he cannot yet control, and is very likely already upset at his inability. Not being able to behave is harder on our kids than those around them...
I also know that case law now has upheld that an IEP IS more appropropriate for a child with (particularly) Asperger's even if their grades and testing shows progress, because social and behavioral difficulties also must be considered for an IEP. I've been reading up on several cases this past year where children who had been denied IEPs in similar ways to your son were then granted them by the courts. But again, those IEP goddesses here on iVillage know a great more than I do about this.
Sara
ilovemalcolm