It's official - extended schoold day
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| Mon, 08-06-2007 - 10:47am |
Hi all. We just got back from a relatively successful vacation to FL to visit my family. It rained all but one day but we did get to go to the water park which Sam loved. He enjoyed the lazy river and didn't seem worried about getting his head wet at all.....he practised swimming underwater alot! And was even brave enough to go down a water slide by the end of the day. He watched way too much tv and played more video games then ever. He and his older cousin (also AS) got along pretty well. They at least interacted through the games. We're still getting back to the every day routine at home though. Sam hates being held accountable by the routine. He loves thinking he can do whatever he wants.
We found out that his elementary school will be officially implementing their plans to have an extended school day from 730am - 330pm. We haven't heard anything from the school directly yet.....only found out by checking the local newspaper's website. I have no idea how I will get him up in the morning. He does not like being woken up. I have tried everything to help this kid get the motivation and self discipline to decide it's time to wake up and just do it but it's a battle every morning. We've done several different schedules, reinforcers (food, tv time, game time...etc.) positive behavior charts....etc. The reward systems work for a week and then he doesn't care anymore. He hates being woken and there's no convincing him. He often gets up about the same time during vacation days so I know it's not a sleep issue. I end up pretty much dragging him out of bed every school morning. Once he's up and dressed and eating breakfast he's fine. But until then I get an earful and he fights me tooth and nail. I refuse to dress him - he's 8 - but I think that is what he'd like to happen. I have to have him dress in the dining room so he isn't distracted by his toys in his room. I still have to remind him every 2 min. that he's supposed to be getting dressed and not sitting there complaining about getting up. I doesn't matter how understanding I am or what angle I come from attitude-wise. This kid doesn't want to get dressed and I end up barking orders at him like a drill sargeant to get him to get dressed.
I can't imagine homework getting done. He's just going to be too tired after such a long day to get anything out of homework. And I'll be trying to get an aide for him at least part time to take some of the edge off during the day. I don't have high hopes about that one though, honestly. I'm not sure what will happen when I refuse to sign the IEP/placement. I had an advocate through ARC that worked with me pro bono on a meeting last year. But she stopped returning my calls. I think I need to find another. We're not in a great place financially right now. I feel pretty powerless. We can't afford to live in a better school district. And Sam can come off so typical to most people. If they don't understand what's really going on, he looks like a behavior issue with maybe some attention impairment. And that's pretty much what most of the staff in his school thinks too. And so far they don't seem to want to learn or understand more about the diagnosis. And I get the feeling that they think we don't do enough with him at home. They don't ever get to see him negate, berate and shoot down any word that comes out of my mouth, of course. The only school type activity that I can get him to do with me is flashcards, some out loud reading and arts and crafts projects. He does unschooling activities really well - like baking and science stuff which is fun for both of us.
Has anyone here been through mediation/due process? What should I expect? What can I do now to prepare? I'm trying not to totally flip out or cry constantly. It's not the end of the world and Sam might do ok especially if he can have more support or more down time. It could really help his reading to be in school more, if he can hold it together.
Thanks for listening......
Chrystee


Chrystee,
I posted a long response to this last night and killed my web session in the process, so here goes a shorter version.
I think you are right to try and fight ths for Sam if you feel it will really be too much for him.
However, it is unlikely that you will win any concessions before the start
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