[TexSinginMom]

Hi! I just wanted to share something with you parents that are dealing with school issues. I hope i'm ok in posting here, as I did not see a board specifically for SCHOOL ISSUES.

Today is my 11 yo son's annual ARD meeting or IEP meeting. It has been a trying year for all us. I must admit that they were not prepared for a child like him even though we had previous meetings before he got to the school. I guess no one is really prepared. So today we all sit down (about 20 people) and discuss his educational, behavior, and social plan for the next year when he goes to middle school (shudder).

I decided to pick up a Valentine Cake for the group and of course the one teacher that has been in every meeting this year, I got her a small bouquet of Valentine flowers. I had the bakery to write THANK YOU on the cake, just a way of saying "Hey guys, I'm not as bad as you think."

Sometimes, its just a nice gesture when you have had a year like my little son has, to say "thanks and I appreciate the work you have put into this for my son."

[AAAAA]

TexSinginMom,

Hello and welcome to PC! What a wonderful idea! My eldest son was in the LD program from preschool. My husband was in the Navy and we moved a lot when he was in elementary school. Once my husband left the service and we moved back to our hometown our experience with the LD program was like night and day, he really had some wonderful teachers.

When we moved to Wisconsin we were pleasantly surprised to discover that not only did they have wonderful teachers, but Wisconsin also assigns them a liaison that is in school available to them at all times. That was very comforting after a few years of dodgy programs. But we were to discover that she was wonderfully unnecessary. This school districts LD teachers are beyond words.

Each year we chose special hand blown ornaments for his teachers at Christmas. I will never be able to thank those teachers enough. My son was mainstreamed with adjustments and encountered some less than cooperative mainstream teacher and his LD teachers stood up for him as he was their child. It literally brought tears to my eyes.

One of his teachers had been an LD teacher for 20 years. You did NOT mess with this woman or any of her students. When she said jump they asked how high. One silly home economics teacher made the mistake of complaining at an IEP that my son was not completing the daily assignments in her class (which was one of the adjustments made for that class) but was doing well on the tests (given to him orally by the LD staff). She implied that he was cheating. Before my brain could even formulate a response, Mrs. T was all over her. By the time she was finished the teacher in question apologized to my son, myself and everyone else in the room.

It was so wonderful that I no longer had to be the one fighting for him all of the time. I wish that I would have had the forethought to bring a cake to the meetings.

[Doh2007]

What a nice thing to do. Sometimes we get so caught up in our problems that we forget to say thank you. Thanks for sharing.

I wish you lots of luck with your child's needs. I had been fighting for a full year to get my son into what we call an ISSP meeting similar to the one you are attending for your child. The meeting for my child did not come about until I lost my temper, with only two weeks left to teh school year. I stormed into the Boar of Education and demanded a meeting withe the district head. When I blasted him about the lack of action for my son, I got a phone call the next day from the Principal, the division's Special Services Head and the Counselor's office. The session was between myself, the Principal, the teacher, the counselor, and the education psychologist.

Afterwards, the teacher asked me how I got it going so quickly? She had been fighting since the beginning of the school year to get the help for him and nothing. It turned out that the secretary had never sent the teacher's forms to the Board. She was never reprimanded for the flaw and my son was drilled through a speedy process that ended up with misplaced forms and such. This was in Elementary.

Fortunately, there is a somewhat happy ending. Now, in his first year of high school, they are having him re-assessed and are providing further guidance with a laptop and other services. FINALLY!!! It took a move out of province to get what he needed.

I wish you all the best.

[TexSinginMom]

Hi everyone and thanks for your replies. Well the cake was a success. I was coming into the meeting and the Principal asked me if it would be ok if he ate his lunch in the meeting, I responded...do you mind if I bring cake? Everyone was overwhelmed. We meet every three weeks as a committee as we are wheening my son into the regular school setting. Every three weeks we add more time to his day. The first part of the day he goes to a school for kids with mental disabilities then he goes to his public school. We have been doing thie for three years now. Next year when he goes to middles school, he will spend the first three weeks of school at the other site, then we will start wheening him into the new school...lil by lil...every three weeks.

During the meeting the Behavior Specialist had to run out for a bit. Later on in the meeting he ran out again...this time...another specialist and the prinicipal ran out. I asked, "is there something wrong my son?" They said, oh no it's probably something else. When the men came back,I asked them if it was my son, and they said yes, he was having a melt down in the computer lab. AS we were talking the HELP signal came again, so we all ran out. And of course that was the end of the meeting.

It seems he raised his hand to answer a question but the teacher let the entire class answer and he melted. But all in all, it was a good meeting.

When I got home I had an email from the district Pdoc thanking me again for the cake.

That is excellent news Tex. I am sorry the problem arose during the meeting. I hope thiings continue to proceed for you and your son.



P. S. Happy Valentine's Day!!

[AAAAA]

(((((TexSinginMom))))) I’m sorry that your son had a melt down, hopefully that teacher is more familiar with your son and his needs. It’s a fine line and baby steps go a long way. I wish you and your son the very best of luck and success!

[TexSinginMom]

Thank you all for your sweet responses My son had a good day today. He wrote apology letters to the two teachers and one of them actually wrote him a letter telling him that we all have bad days and she was veryproud of him for turning it around. Tommorrow...school dance...his first...O think i'll be hiding in the bushes outside the school...lol.

Happy Sweethearts Day Everyone! :writing

[AAAAA]

Glad to hear it. Learning to deal with frustration is difficult under the best of circumstances. You must be very proud!

[Zorah]

aaawwwww (((((Tex)))))

so glad the meeting at the school went kinda ok, the teachers sound great especially the one who wrote back to him.