Public School will only give 2hrs a day HELP

Post Reply New Topic

My child, who is 10 years old with Aspergers, is only in public school 2 hours a day. Its a long story how we got to this point. Last year I pulled him out of public school because he was coming home with marks on his arms due to being restrained. They did not have him in an Aspergers program. They had him in the special education room with children who have learning disabilites. He is very smart and is not learning disabled. After a "private" school could not be found for our son we requested he be put back into public school with an Aspergers Program. With the help of our doctor we were able to get him accepted back to public school. They had him on home bound most of last year. For the last two months he was going to the school for 42 minute session with a teacher. I was homeschooling him the rest of the time. In May the school came up with a plan to bring our son back into public school, slowly. They started him out 2 hours a day with a one on one teacher session. The plan was increase his day, add an Aid for when he would be with mainstream children. We are now being told they do not have the staff to bring him back full time. They are only offering to add a 1/2 hour to his day. Our son is very isolated and after many requested to have him involved with other children (recess, lunch, gym) we have been denied this as well. Our family is in dire financial straits since I had to quit my job a year ago. I planned to go back to work parttime this year once our son was back in school. We are at a loss as to what to do now. I can't go back to work, our son is not getting the education he is entitled to, I can't afford to hire an Advocate or attorney. Is this even legal for them to deny my child a proper education? Does anyone have any advice/help for our family.

I'm sorry to hear what you're going through. As a 26 year old Aspie, who's been through the Special Ed program, I've decided that really Special Education is nothing more than a dumping ground for every child considered needing something more than the standard public education. Most of the people who run these programs, are very ignorant in understanding that not all conditions are the same, and shouldn't be treated in the same way.

As far as restraining goes, I really don't understand it at all. It seems like another case of, schools having their own laws separate from society. You restrain a person who doesn't want to be restrained, you go to jail. In schools, if the teacher restrains a student who doesn't want to be restrained, it's called discipline.

This website:

http://community-2.webtv.net/CIBRA/CIBRA/

Is a website against the use of restraints and aversives in schools. Perhaps they may have some resources that can help you, or at least help you feel less alone in your situation. Even though I'd suggest against reading other parents stories, cause as you can imagine, they're very very sad.

There's a scene in the horror film Texas Chainsaw Massacre where these guys have a girl tied to a chair, and she's screaming her head off, and they're just staring and laughing at her. That's how I view restraining in public schooling. Maybe, if you were to be so inclined, you could find a copy of the movie and show that scene to the teachers and ask them "Do you really feel that is appropriate to do to a child?" Although, I'm sure they'd come up with some reasoning or excuse as to what they're doing, isn't at all what is portrayed in the film.

MrsMommie,

You haven't said where you live, so it's impossible for anyone to give you any help about what is or isn't legal. The laws vary widely from country to country. If you can tell us what region (country, section of a country) you live in, perhaps someone from that area can help guide you concerning your and your child's rights.

if you live in the states, does he have an IEP ? .......if he does, then you should be looking at it very carefully to see if what they are doing is in violation of his IEP. also, look into FAPE & IDEA

Why can't he be in a regular class? Something is missing from this story.

Your son should be in a regular class unless he has extreme sensory issues that cannot be mitigated when there are 20-30 other children around. Whether or not he needs an aid for this will depend.

So, my questions:

What sorts of sensory issues does he have?
Has he ever been in regular class and how did he fare?
Does he have meltdowns at school, or are they worried he will?

Some AS children simply can never thrive in school because the sensory overload is too much. However, these are not the norm. Must AS kids are fine as long as they have a teacher who understands and respects their sensory problems. It isn't a walk in the park for anyone (the child, the teachers, the special education professionals, the parents) but it CAN be done. I've SEEN it done.

Unfortunately, many districts and teachers remain woefully ignorant of what it takes for an AS child to succeed in school. And they don't WANT to learn, because they would simply rather you either teach your child at home, or enroll him elsewhere.

But the law DEMANDS that they learn, at least here in the US, because the school must provide, at minimum, an "appropriate education." A special education classroom that isn't much more than babysitting is NOT an "appropriate education" for 99.9% of AS kids. Our kids are far too smart for that.

Where are you located? This obviously makes a difference, and will help the posters here decide if they know of any specific advice to help you.