Suspended; Need Suggestions and Support
September 11, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
A mother just commented about her 5-year-old autistic son getting suspended from school for the day. He is, she writes, able to keep up academically—-support and suggestions?
Firstly, she should press for a statement in writing why the suspenson is in place.
Should that not be there within 14 days, a no warning request from a lawyer should follow.
Upon refusal to comply, the school should then be challenged in a court of law to provide evidence supporting its practce, AND be made to allow pre-trial discovery of documents to the mother’s side.
Upon failyure of the school to do that, I’d say: go public.
And pull absolutely NO punches.
Make the bastards shit their pants.
Ok, first off everything needs to be in writing. You need to get access to your state’s printed publication on Special Needs Rights. You can’t have an IEP every week. Screw the other parents and their concerns because it has nothing to do with your child. What has happened is that the school was caught off guard because they may not have been aware of your child’s diagnosis, that is my guess. Find a special education attorney in Columbia SC. Allow the school system to evaluate him. Most likely, the school system will have an educational psychologist recommend self contained. This isn’t always the worst thing. If they insist on it, you can do one of two things. You can resist it and fight it which will cost you money, a lot of money. Or, you can agree to it with a detailed IEP, with goals that must be MEASURABLE. You want to make sure that as part of the goals your son has the standard kindergarten acheivement requirements. Ask for an inclusion program. ABA folks are crap and won’t help. They are there to sale you a service and often times know very little on how to work the school system.
If they insist on self contained, ask for an IEP every week, that is probably your right in SC. Hold them to the goals. If they don’t meet the goals, change the IEP. Let them know you are not a disconnected parent and that you intend on being very involved in your child’s education. They are counting on you to give up, but never never give up.
Get everything in writing. Find out your schools behavior policy for students which may differ from school to school. If your child has a disability, they cannot punish your child for issues that occur because of that disability, but you have to go through the assessments first.
Ok, what I wrote about IEP every week is a bit contradictory. I would not object to an IEP every week, in fact insist upon it. They will tire of this and more likely give you what your son needs, which is most likely a 1 on 1 aide.
What CS says is actually good: in Finland we call it ‘paperisota’ – a paper war!
Make them have it.
Seriously.
And also a tape recorder during the meetings.
Ask for a functional behavioral analysis (FBA), which will result in the development of a behavioral intervention plan (BIP). The BIP should use positive behavioral supports, not punishments, and should make suspensions unnecessary – and counter to the IEP. If a behavior occurs which is not covered by the BIP, insist that the BIP be modified to cover the behavior.
As CS pointed out, schools cannot punish for behavior that is a direct result of a disability. If that is what they are doing, request a manifestation hearing.
How can a five-year-old get suspended, anyway? I thought kindergarten was optional. This is a little kid, dammit! Leave him out of formal school for a few years, and teach him at home, and I betcha he’ll get huge scores on the SAT and the ACT, and get preferential admission to serious institutions of higher education.
Am not sure if homeschooling is an option due to the family’s situation but, yes, bet he’d get a lot more understanding and learning done…..
Of the list of three peoples’ graves I’d love to piss on (William T. Sherman, Bruno Bettelheim, and Emmanuel Celler) I’ll now add the grave of John Dewey, who deliberately dumbed down our education system to produce employee-drones, in the Prussian model.
I’m sorry, I had a couple of grumpy old wimmin for Latin teachers, and they seem to have made me right skeptical about modern fads.
I know in our district this can’t happen unless the student is a physical threat to others. She definitely needs to ask more questions.
She also needs to look at contacting both local level education board and state to file a grievance stating that to date, no assessments, no FAA (in california, different in other states), or BIP have been performed. As well as apprising herself thoroughly of IDEA, to know her Federal rights.
Oh my. This is a big issue. Lots of children with special needs get suspended. Never ceases to amaze me. All parents should purchase the book
From Emotions to Advocacy by Pam and Pete Wright.
It is hard to say exactly what to do–we don’t really have enough information. If the child is in a mainstream kindergarten without an aide, I would probably not let the district move to self-contained before exploring the idea that the child might be fine in mainstream with an aide. One of the problems with self-contained that we saw at the early grade-school level is that there aren’t many that are suitable for kids that aren’t behind academically. The ones the school recommended for my son were teaching skills in kindergarten that my son had mastered at age 2 or 3. A functional behavioral assessment should certainly be requested. And do make sure that any day the child is sent home, it is documented, as the district can’t do this more than 10 days without taking some steps to remedy the problem.
Ok, my heart breaks when I read this. My Elf (8 now) was continually locked in a closet and suspended. Things are so much better now that he’s homeschooled! I hate to think of people being forced into choices like “homeschool, get a lawyer or move” though. But that sometimes is what it comes down to. If the family is willing, please update this as you hear more, Kristina.
Will for sure—-but Mrs. C, locked in a closet???!!!???
My gut tightens up every time I read one of these stories. Mostly because it’s extremely similar to what happened to us when Buddy Boy was in Kindergarten.
Try to avoid having your child being expelled or arrested as much as you can, as both of these records will follow him throughout his educational career.
Other than that, I think you’ve gotten excellent advice above (go to wrightslaw.com, record meetings, get an advocate, get a lawyer if you need one/can afford one, write a good BIP-you write one and then approve their amendments, don’t let them shove an inadequate one down your throat, and never give up).
Joe
Actually my dad was suspended from kindergarten once when he was 4. For using up all the drawing paper to draw flaming red firetrucks. Sometimes people are just petty.
Yep, Kristina, it’s called a “safe room.” I think I’ve shared the link before?
http://homeschoolnetc.blogspot.com/2008/05/this-is-what-public-school-did-to-my.html
I just get so stinkin’ steamed when I read stories like this lady’s going through because unless you really know what you’re doing, the school will manage to do all kinds of wrong things to you and your children. Not all of us are able to advocate for ourselves well or work the system. I personally got to the point where I knew I would never win, and they were hurting my child in the process.
And I’m not alone!! Sigh.
Sigh yes but I wish I had been in contact with all of you when Charlie was having so much trouble at school a couple of years ago. Knowing you’re not alone is such a huge support.
#1 put all of your requests in writing, #2 tape record all meetings, and let them know you are doing so 24 hours in advance – it will make them more accountable.
If you do end-up having your child go into self contained at least for the time being: Insist on visiting the classroom and meeting the teacher prior to the move. It must be a class with teachers trained AND experienced in High Functioning Autism – not just Autism., and not an Emotionally Disturbed Class. They must have a Transition Education Plan to enable him to return to the mainstream or inclusion classroom. Be very ware of ABA type Behavior Interventions. They generally are not successful for HFA children with higher cognitive ability and can backfire. Insist on immediate evaluations in all areas of his disability including Sensory Integration which is in many cases what makes it so difficult for children with otherwise good academic ability to function in a large numbered noisy classroom. Insist on detailed explanations of the test results and what they mean in parent terms. Without these comprehensive evaluations there is no way to tell if simply adding a one on one aide is sufficient support. He may need a Sensory Diet. He may need Visual Aides, use manipulatives instead of worksheets, assistive technology, modified assignments, etc.
And Yes, they probably are suspending him so that they can make their case to place him in Self Contained which they can do once he has been suspended 10 days. Spare your son by son the trauma and humiliation, by placing yourself in the control seat. Schools get more funding for ED classes than they do for Autism from the FED GOV. so unless parents refuse to give in, this is where they will send him, because it’s better for their budget.
Autism Speaks and other Awareness Programs need to do more to Advocate and Provide Awareness for the Higher Funtioning Population as well – Many Educators do not understand that a child can be verbal and do well academically or even excell and still have Autism.
Yes we’ve been there too!!!!
Long before David was verbal, even before he went for intervention, I spent a lot of time teaching him not to be violent in any way, even if someone was picking on him. It was a terrible choice. But if David was to be integrated, then he had to learn not to be violent.
@Ed, were there techniques etc. that you found especially helpful in this?