I am just about at the end of my rope! My nine year old daughter with Aspergers/ Mood Disorder/ Anxiety has had a horrible year in her mainstreamed class. Progressively, she has gotten worse about going to school. She cries, feels nausious, dizzy, headache every morning, having raging meltdowns, scaring my other two children (ages 7 and 3). I've managed to get her there every day, late most of the time. I've had to have help coaxing her out of my van, or peeling her off my arm when we walk into school. The teachers say that she does "fine" once she gets there. She never has meltdowns at school, although does frequently ask to go to the nurse, complaining of "dizziness, overheated, headache, ect." At her recent IEP meeting, I brought my concerns to the table. I had documentation of all her nurse visits, and tardies, also a recommendation letter from the psychiatrist (she currently is not on any medications) that we need to tweak her IEP. Her self esteem has plummetted, she makes statements like "I don't belong here, I am stupid, ect." She meltsdown everyday after school, as soon as she gets home. The school basically feels that it is not a school issue. They said she is no longer eligible for IEP services. They had given her long term sub a pragmatics/social skills questionare to fill out, and my daughter scored just into the normal range. So that along with her good school behavior and average grades they are deeming her ineligible?? Well, I got up and walked out of the meeting and hired an advocate. She met with me and my daughter and we came up with goals for the meeting. We did remeet and they agreed that a full re-evaluation is needed in order to determine her re=-eligilbilty. In the meantime, we've gone from her feeling ill in the morning, to full blown meltdowns, screaming, refusing to go. Last friday, I almost kept her home, simply because I couldn't physically make her go, and I have a feeling it is going to come down to the point where I can not make her go. I've tried everything! We've got a motivational chart. I given her consequences, such as loss of her electronics/ play time, and rewards at the end of week as incentive for good mornings.. nothing is working. What do you do in this situation? The school has implemented "sensory breaks". They gave her earplugs for her lunch time when it's noisy. She hates gym, due to heat intolerance. She hates to write because it "hurts her hand" but she does it and puts up this guard and will NOT tell the teachers what is wrong, she has got this phobia that she will get in trouble or something at school. I've had it. I don't feel that she is in the right environment. Everyone disagrees with me because she holds it in in school, and she does have a few friends, but she always has these misperceptions that kids are mean to her, and I think that is where alot of the stress comes from, along with her sensory issues. She is miserable and states how much she hates it there. I'm worried about her wellbeing, and the past few weeks we have seen a decline in her academic performance. I want her in a different school, bottom line. They have an autism specialist coming to evaluate her in the school setting next Wednesday, but I worry that since she bottles it in, they won't get an accurate assessment. Very stressed.. any suggestions or takes on this?? thanks!
Concerned Mom of three
Concerned Mom of three