Do you get reports from teacher?

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-09-2005
Do you get reports from teacher?
10
Sat, 05-06-2006 - 6:55pm

My AS son moved from homeschooling to public school last month. I am used to having so much control over his education and it is frustrating that now I have no idea what is going on. I do see the special ed teacher regularly when I pick my son up from school, but I get no interaction with his regular ed teacher. I am now realizing I should have had this written into the IEP. At the IEP meeting when I asked how I will find out what is going on, his teacher just said that she sends out a Friday class newsletter (but I have yet to receive one in his 4 weeks of school.) She said there is a weekly behaviour report, but we only recieved one for his first week, and it was a check the box form where the answers were "great" "so-so" and "needs work." It seems this is a form sent home for all the kids and not specific to my son's needs.

I was wondering if anyone has teacher interaction written into the IEP? Are the reports daily? Weekly? Are they about behaviour, academics, or both? What format do they follow?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 05-06-2006 - 7:43pm

What grade level? It can be harder to get stuff from teachers of older kids but there are some things you can do. Currently I have 2 kids. one in middle school who is mainstreamed for academics and one in 4th grade who is in a special day class and mainstreamed about an hour per day.

For my older daughter the email system works well. The mainstream teacher say they will reply to email but it isn't always the case. I get the most information and contact with her AS support teacher. She also has an aide in class with her so I can get lots of info on how class is going that way.

In the past I have found volunteering in class (if an option) was the best way to keep up on what was going on. I was able to get to know the teachers and have a better relationship with them. They saw me once a week so when something came up they were more likely to tell me. I was more comfortable with asking on a regular basis and I was able to see myself how things were going. I have had systems in teh past where it was in Cait's IEP to have notes written home at least weekly and even then it didn't work out with that teacher. She didn't send home any information that I felt was adequate at all or even accurate sometimes.

With Mike I have a communication notebook in his backpack. We both check it daily and write in it as needed, often daily, for anything. There is also a daily behavior sheet that all kids have in his class that lets me know about behavior. I don't get much info from the general ed teacher at all because he is only there an hour. He has his aide with him so if anything comes up in mainstreaming I know about it anyway.

In the past when he was mainstreamed there was one teacher with whom I had the daily communication book as well. She started it and it was great. There was an aide in that class as well that mike shared with another boy. She often did the regular reporting. Then Mike got his own aide and that aide wrote and the teacher wrote if she had something she wanted to tell me herself.

Renee

Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-09-2005
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 5:53am
Sorry Renee- I forgot to say that my son is a 2nd grader right now. He started going to school part-time after spring break. He is there for 3 hours of instruction (I'm not counting the first 15 minutes if morning greeting stuff.) He is in specials (without the reg ed teacher along) for 45 minutes and the special ed classroom for 45 minutes and with the reg ed teacher for the rest of the time (1.5 hrs.) Supposedly he has a sp ed aide in the reg ed classroom who is shared with another student, but I have no idea who she is. I really don't know why the reg ed teacher doesn't have communication with me (and I haven't really asked her for it) but I am trying to be patient because ds is only there a few hours a day and not full time, and it is the end of the year so a hard stage for him to enter the class. I would love to volunteer and said so on a questionnare, but once again it might be hard to jump in at the end of the school year. I am giving them all sorts of excuses, aren't I?!? I am trying to figure out the best way to go about getting the info I need when the new school year starts. Thanks for your input!
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 7:16am

We used a notebook in kindergarten for my son -- every day we rec'd a note back from Adam's aide but rarely from his regular ed teacher -- let me tell you we heard about every little thing that happened with Adam -- was a downer. In first grade same thing a daily journal that lasted until around March or so -- not one note from his reg ed teacher but always from the aide. Rarely did we hear about a good day -- about 90% of the reports were what horrible things my son did (which BTW were typical boy stuff in most cases and others were doing). In second grade we went to a printed form called a behavior chart -- it had a frown, straight face, and smile face -- we got one daily and most of the time it was straight -- a few comments might be mentioned on the sheet, but rarely. The teacher tried to have Adam fill it out -- without success. Towards the middle of the year we became immune to the sheet -- again a total downer. Now that Adam is in third grade we don't see reports at all -- we have the dialogue with Adam on a daily basis to ask what kind of day he had. My husband picks him up at school and if it is a horrible day the teacher will walk him down and chat with my husband. I call in bi-weekly to the teacher and discuss how he is doing. We also have bi-monthly meetings with his consultant teacher and it seems to be a lot better. We don't seem so stressed out this year like in previous years -- We know about the things that we need to know about and don't sweat the small stuff that we used to. Honestly, I love our system we have going now -- works better for everyone.

But being that your son is new to the public school system, I would have a one-on-one conversation with the teacher and get their thoughts -- come up with a plan that will work for all three of you. Work with the special ed director at your school and see what thoughts they have on the manner -- I am sure that you can work with the school to offer you the communication you want and need.

Good luck to you!

Amy

Amy
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 9:28am

Hi and welcome!

I would let the teacher know you need more communication than the Friday chart you have never yet received, and that moving forward, this will be even more important. Ask the teacher which method will work best for her, email or a communication notebook. If this teacher really isn't interested in more communication (!), ask for a team meeting with regular ed teacher, special ed director, autism specialist, etc., then maybe add to IEP. They can be changed anytime, IEPs, you just have to request meeting. I think they can even be changed without a full meeting if all parties are in agreement... I also think just after 4 weeks sounds like a good time for a team meeting anyways, JMHO. We had one at about that timeline recently because ds changed schools, new team.

At our son's school, the teachers also have a voicemail box, so I actually pester them just a bit --- by which I mean I write or call every few days and ask questions. The questions can be about homework, upcoming school trips, whatever. I also might give a head's up on things ds said or did recently relevant to something they are studying, etc. I ask for updates on how he is doing, how are things are playground, etc.

The current teacher responds by writing in the notebook, and I do hear from her about both good and more difficult moments. If there is a big incident, she will call and leave a more detailed message on my phone machine, easier than writing it out.

Good luck to you. Building a team relationahip with teachers and therapists and such is an important part of raising a spectrum child... I hope this teacher is willing to work with you.

Sara
ilovemalcolm

Avatar for kathy_in_ga
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 11:11am

This is my philosophy, if I don't hear from the school, he has had a good day....If they have a problem they know how to contact me.


I get very little out of my son about school. SO I ask a few questions like... Did someone make everyone laugh today. What did you learn about in science today? Or more specific questions if I know something is going to happen, like career day.


We do have a behavior chart made up by his psychoeducational school. He goes there 1/2 a day in AM

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2006
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 11:31am

Hi there, it is a real challenge for us to get reports from Darby's EA. We agreed at the beginning of the year that we would have a communication book, where we would write daily reports to each other. It's also written into his IEP - but we haven't seen one since before Christmas.

I find it really difficult to keep on top of this, and we have to have drop-ins to the school as well as schedule meetings (which are often re-scheduled by the school). We have also thrown around the idea of home schooling Darby...If you haven't already written in another post, may I ask why you decided to have your son go to public school?

I'm sorry I'm not much help here - I think it takes alot of diligence, nagging and communication with the teachers to keep this in place.

Good luck...

Amanda

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 1:33pm

How about a communication book that you child fills out with assistance from the aide/teacher at the end of the day? It can have board maker like pics on it, and your child can stamp what things he did, so that you can ask him about it. There can be a space for the teacher to fill out stuff too. They are very common with many of the kids I've worked with.

Personally I think it's important, especially at this age, to have lots of communication.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-09-2005
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 4:54pm

Thanks for your input. So it sounds like daily communication is not too excessive to request. The sp ed teacher wants me to ask ds every day about what he did. This is hard work for him and me because he doesn't like answering such questions. I agree with her that it is important to question him like this and I will continue to do it, however I don't think that this should be the means for me to discover what is going on with him academically and socially. I might get information from him that he went to music and they listened to jazz, but that is not a report on how he is doing. In some ways I think that I should just let the next 6 weeks slide and just prepare a good IEP for 3rd grade, however our original idea was to send him part time for the last quarter to assess whether to continue with public school or to homeschool, so I would like some input. I guess I need to learn the art of pestering!! I did plan to arrange a conference in May to get their opinions. I think it is important not only because he is AS, but because I am part time homeschooling and I would like to coordinate academics with the school, but they have not listened to this argument and I suppose they don't take my homeschooling seriously..... I guess they don't often encounter parents like me....

Ds was diagnosed last summer. I will write more about it later, but our reasons for sending ds to public school rather than continue with homeschooling is so that he could get special ed services (specifically social and self-help skills.) We are happy with the sp ed teacher, but just found out that she will not continue with his age group next year.....

Avatar for insideout418
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 9:23pm

Hey, this is actually a great idea.


I'm not sure I will ask for daily communication with how ds is doing, but I do enjoy daily communication with WHAT they are doing.

Follow me
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 11:41pm

We had alot of trouble getting our kids to talk about thier day. Still do but it is getting better. There are many Aspie type reasons why it is hard for them to do it. From living so in the moment that the past is just gone unless something brings up the memory, to just really bad communication skills and not understanding questions.

I have found that it helps if I ask very specific questions and make it a routine. I got into a thing where I would ask x number of questions after school. When they answered those, mom would get out of thier hair, lol. It was the same ones at first, then I expanded. Some questions I have used are "what was the best thing that happened today?" "What was the worst thing that happened today?", Prior to that I may ask them to tell me "one thing that made them happy" and "one thing that frustrated them". That way I was more likely to hear if something came up that I should know about. It took a while but they did get used to answering the questions. Now typically, Cait will usually tell me if something happened good or bad. Mike will probably about half the time.

If you can get info about the day that will help guide your questions as well. Often what I hear from Mike is just what happened at the very end of the day. The rest just is gone to him. He could have been sent to the principals office at lunch, but if he was joking with someone at the end of the day then he had a great day. Same way the opposite, he could have made student of the month and got and ice cream, but if he had to wait too long for me at the end then it was a horrible day.

Renee

Photobucket