Anyone remember my student "S?"

[jodifla]

I never wanted to diagnose anything. I have no vested interest in what the diagnosis turned out to be. I was in a situation with a child that couldn't function without one on one help that wasn't available because there was no extra money for the child because no testing had been done. All I wanted to do was help, but had no guidance whatsoever on what was wrong or what steps to take. With absolutely no information I did my best based on what it looked like. What else could I do? I had to look somewhere for ideas on how to best help this child succeed. I read as much as I could and tried things until something seemed to work.

With absolutely no clear picture of what the problem was, what would have liked me to do? What would your solution have been? Really, I'm not being sarcastic, what should I have done?

As to bullying, with no funding for a TA, he would have wound up in the behavior classroom. That is just the way it is. He may still depending if his diagnosis qualifies him for a TA next year. None of that is my choice, though I hope he stays in the regular classroom. Now that the teacher knows what's wrong he/she can use the information to work with him.

I DO agree that this child needed testing and an IEP so you could get the proper support in your classroom. And the parents were wrong to not help you get that help.

But if you want to get parents' cooperation, threatening is not a good way to do it. Nor is pre-guessing what the child might be dealing with. A classroom observation by the parents might have been the most eye-opening thing for them, (if of course you didn't do this already). Or a video of the behavior. Or simple documentation.

For your reading, may I suggest Right Brain Children in a Left Brained world, which deals with ADHD and gives specific teaching examples, and The Child with Special Needs by Stanley Greenspan.

 

[Ember]

nevermind

 

[Mickey's Minion]

Are you serious?
It's not like she mentioned the kids name and what school she teaches at. How many times do people mention things about their kid's teacher or their kid's friends?

That's great parenting. I won't get my child the help they need because I'm afraid that they are going to anonymously post about it on a message board.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, it is very easy to find links and clues to where and what people post. It is not as anonymous as we like to think.

I know how easy it is as I inadvertently figured out one of my kid's teachers posting on a message board. One of my friends on facebook posted a recommendation for the board and very innocently the teacher "liked" it. It was easy to figure out who she was from there.

While I applaud Ember for her efforts with this child, she really does share an awful lot of privacy information about the kids she teaches.

And now, she could have potentially put her school in jeopardy by broadcasting on a public chat board, the very illegal thing they did of siphoning off funds from other students.

However, I do know how difficult it is to teach kids with special needs and kudos for trying to get help and for making sure this kid didn't fall through the cracks!

 

[RitaE]

To tell you the truth I am just as disturbed by a Teacher and School District who will choose "Sit in a chair by the school secretary" and "steal funding from other students" over the Behavioral classroom as I am by a family who resists testing. Heck -- at least in the Behavioral Classroom his behavior issues might be addressed.

So I guess my answer would be, given those set of circumstances if my only viable choice to keep him learning was the Behavioral Classroom, then I would begin the process to move him there. It isn't jail and it is certainly a better learning environment than the School Office.

 

[punkin]

I DO agree that this child needed testing and an IEP so you could get the proper support in your classroom. And the parents were wrong to not help you get that help.

But if you want to get parents' cooperation, threatening is not a good way to do it. Nor is pre-guessing what the child might be dealing with. A classroom observation by the parents might have been the most eye-opening thing for them, (if of course you didn't do this already). Or a video of the behavior. Or simple documentation.

For your reading, may I suggest Right Brain Children in a Left Brained world, which deals with ADHD and gives specific teaching examples, and The Child with Special Needs by Stanley Greenspan.

I can just imagine the conversations with the parents. If someone tried to diagnose my child with autism with no credentials and no medical mackground, I would fight tooth and nail too.

To tell you the truth I am just as disturbed by a Teacher and School District who will choose "Sit in a chair by the school secretary" and "steal funding from other students" over the Behavioral classroom as I am by a family who resists testing. Heck -- at least in the Behavioral Classroom his behavior issues might be addressed.

So I guess my answer would be, given those set of circumstances if my only viable choice to keep him learning was the Behavioral Classroom, then I would begin the process to move him there. It isn't jail and it is certainly a better learning environment than the School Office.

I completely agree with this as well. What is so wrong with the behavioral classroom? Maybe there they would address his behavior problems instead of trying to diagnose him with an illness he doesn't have.

OP's assumption that teachers and schools know better than the parents and the parents are deliberately trying to impede the child if they don't 100% agree with the teachers and follow directions is a bit simplistic.

 

[Acklander]

Maybe the parents were hesitant to disclose medical information because they knew it was going to be discussed on a public message board by the teacher.

This.

 

[TwinsinCA]

The school year is nearly over. Why wasn't the behavior classroom used a LONG time ago if this child was such a disruption?

 

[OceanAnnie]

The school year is nearly over. Why wasn't the behavior classroom used a LONG time ago if this child was such a disruption?

I can't remember exactly, but I *think* the student has to have a dx before going into a behavioral classroom.

The OP was between a rock and a hard place. There weren't any easy answers. She had it tough, not knowing what was wrong, trying to help, getting nowhere, not getting cooperation from the parents to get to the bottom of the problem. Even the administration underestimated the challenges she faced.

I think some posters are being really hard on her. She genuinely wanted to help this student.

ETA- I don't know how she did it. I don't know how she managed a classroom of students with the needs this one student has.

 

[Acklander]

I think some posters are being really hard on her. She genuinely wanted to help this student.

I understand that she genuinely wants to help the student. I remember when she originally posted and was venting about her frustration in the situation but I don't think there was any reason to be posting their diagnosis here on the dis boards. It appears that the parents are having a hard time accepting that their child has challenges, but are coming around. Posting about another child's challenges, a child with whom the OP has an ethical responsibility to respect the family's privacy, on a Disney message board crosses the line IMHO, others may feel differently but if it was my child being talked about this way, I would be upset.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Mickey's Minion, why would you seek information about the OP and post it? I think that crosses the line.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

Mickey's Minion, why would you seek information about the OP and post it? I think that crosses the line.

It is in her DIS profile, that anybody here can click on. I didn't seek any information out, it is info that she has in her profile herself.

There is much more revealing info that would cross the line if it was posted.

Click on her name, click view PUBLIC profile, and boom, the info comes up front and center. We are not, either purposely or inadvertently, as anonymous as we think we are.

I would never post info that the OP did not have in her own profile.

 

[TwinsinCA]

I can't remember exactly, but I *think* the student has to have a dx before going into a behavioral classroom.

Which makes sense.

I just wonder why the "threat" of sending the kid there was now suddenly what prompted the parents to get the kid tested. Why wasn't that used long before now to force the issue

 

[OceanAnnie]

I understand that she genuinely wants to help the student. I remember when she originally posted and was venting about her frustration in the situation but I don't think there was any reason to be posting their diagnosis here on the dis boards. It appears that the parents are having a hard time accepting that their child has challenges, but are coming around. Posting about another child's challenges, a child with whom the OP has an ethical responsibility to respect the family's privacy, on a Disney message board crosses the line IMHO, others may feel differently but if it was my child being talked about this way, I would be upset.

It was posted anonymously. No names mentioned. I can see where someone could be upset if they stumbled across the information and put it all together.

It is in her DIS profile, that anybody here can click on. I didn't seek any information out, it is info that she has in her profile herself.

There is much more revealing info that would cross the line if it was posted.

Click on her name, click view PUBLIC profile, and boom, the info comes up front and center. We are not, either purposely or inadvertently, as anonymous as we think we are.

I would never post info that the OP did not have in her own profile.

The profile is not the first thing you see when looking at a thread. IMO if you were concerned about privacy for the student, you probably wouldn't have posted it. Seems to be peeling the onion to prove a point. But at who's expense? I'll just agree to disagree with you.

Which makes sense.

I just wonder why the "threat" of sending the kid there was now suddenly what prompted the parents to get the kid tested. Why wasn't that used long before now to force the issue

There are prior posts about the year that would explain it better than I could.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

The profile is not the first thing you see when looking at a thread. IMO if you were concerned about privacy for the student, you probably wouldn't have posted it. Seems to be peeling the onion to prove a point. But at who's expense? I'll just agree to disagree with you

No, but it is one click away on the left hand side every time you read a post.

Discussing a child's diagnosis without parental permission is completely different than sharing information voluntarily about yourself in your profile.

But you are correct that it inadvertently can lead to the school and thus the child's identity, so I will remove it.

 

[OceanAnnie]

No, but it is one click away on the left hand side every time you read a post.

Discussing a child's diagnosis without parental permission is completely different than sharing information voluntarily about yourself in your profile.

But you are correct that it inadvertently can lead to the school and thus the child's identity, so I will remove it.

I'm glad. Thanks.

I've been here a long time. Longer than my register date (glitch issues on this site). It took me awhile to find out about all that's available here. And maybe it's the same for others. That's all I'm saying.

 

[dawnball]

I don't get parents not testing and not sharing info. DS9 has an IEP, he has ADHD. I would never think of not sharing all medical info with the school and teachers. As parents we want our child to succeed in school and we are advocates for him. How can we do that if we are not being open about his issues and get him the help he needs.

I know lots of parents do that here too. I just dont get it. To me it is a form of child abuse.

Sometimes being an advocate and helping your child succeed involves keeping your mouth closed. Or not subjecting them to unnecessary testing.

My daughter's teacher wanted a $600 handwriting evaluation. And I said "So is her handwriting below standards?" "Well, no, but it's not as good as I think it should be." "What have you tried?" "Oh, we tried this thing, and it helped, but then we stopped. And we tried this other thing, and it helped, but we don't do it all the time. And her handwriting is good in this situation and bad in that one."

So we wrote down all the strategies that worked, and they started using those techniques all the time. You wouldn't believe how much her handwriting improved. $600 and half a day in a therapist's office (which my DD would find highly stressful) would have been wasted. All they needed to do was what they already knew how to do.

 

[haley123]

We finally have a diagnosis for him. We convinced his parents to agree to testing by threatening to put him in the behavior classroom. The papers were submitted in November and he went for two days of testing last week.

It's been a crazy year for him, as he came in from kindergarten with no TA help, we fought for 1/2 time support and he spent half his day in the office and then we finally got a full time TA with him in December. Because there was no testing and no diagnosis there was also no funding, so every penny was a fight. In the end, we ended up siphoning off the funding of other students - the ethics of which I'm still not comfortable with, but we really were between a rock and hard place and the decision wasn't mine but the administrations.

Anyway, he went for the assessment and after a bit of a time convincing the parents to release the results (they weren't going to share them with us ) it turns out he isn't on the autism spectrum but is instead extremely ADHD, with emphasis on the "extremely." So now I'm reading as much as I can as quickly as I can to put together a transition plan for him for next year. I know there was nothing I could do, but had I known this in September I could have been working on strategies all year to help him...

I'm glad that he'll now be able to receive help, even if it isn't me who will be able to provide it. I just thought I'd update after all the help the people here gave as I struggled with this at the beginning of the year.

Parents are not required to share any medical information with the school that they don't want to disclose. The children are protected by confidentiality laws. Also at least where I am it's a huge no no to share any personal information about a child with anybody.

 

[Wishing on a star]

OOPS! Double post ?????

 

[Wishing on a star]

Again, while I offer KUDO's to any teacher who sees a child that is struggling, and will make an effort to do the right thing.

I have to agree with those who feel that there is absolutely no need for the amount of comment and information shared by the OP here on a public Disney general chatboard. Assumptions (incorrect assumptions) and undue negative judgement calls have been made. Several times now by the OP... Lines have definitely been crossed.

 

[dimimi]

Many of us refuse school testing because a lot of it is done only for FUNDING reasons by people who don't have the qualifications to actually do proper testing. This has led to the alleged "epidemic" of ADHD and autism.

I refuse to let the school test my child because it's clear they have an agenda. I got my own testing done instead, and of course shared that info so he could get the proper help and support.

Now, that didn't stop one school district from illegally bringing in an assessor and testing our child behind our backs. Of course, when the tests their person did failed to bring up the result they wanted, they kept quiet.

I have taught in many districts and I have never seen them test students for funding? Most of the time the parent requests the testing and the schools have to provide it. You must have had a bad experience.