Help!

[dj69andjen]

I sent a letter to the School district, requesting a full and initial evaluation. They are turning down my request because my son only has one failing grade. He has behavioral issues in all of his classes though. What is my next step? He has an older brother who is bipolar, currently in residential/day treatment. I dont want his problems to progress as far as they did with his brother. He is currently taking 30 mg of strattera, which we started last week, and is obviously not working? Where do i go from here?

 

[Martie]

Hi,

Do you have written documentation of the the "behavioral issues?" In order to be of any help, I would need to know how old your son is, and other facts. Please do a profile and tell us a bit about him and your family.

It is possible there is nothing you can do since your SD is using the "wait to fail" model; on the other hand, they may be illegally refusing to evaluate if there are documented problems. If you are getting calls to pick him up, or he is spending time in detention, then you MUST document each of these instances so that there will be a "reason" to evaluate.

Martie

 

[dj69andjen]

My son Seth, is 10 years old and in the 5th grade. He has behaviour issues at school that the teachers and I have discussed. He has been placed in the In School Suspension program several times for his behavior. The teachers and I stay in contact daily. He brings home all of his classwork, and we complete is at night, because they cant get him to stay focused and complete the work at school. This is an issue for me. He is doing absolutely nothing there, and i am left teaching him at home. He is an extremely intellegent child, just not capable of paying attention. I would like to stop the behavior issue, before it gets really bad.
My other child is a 14 year old, Samuel, has been in 3 different residential programs, for bipolar,conduct disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder. He is currently taking 60 mg of Geodon, and 15 mg of Remeron at nite. He was taking clozaril, which worked wonderfully, but messed up his white blood count, and we had to take him off. He is somewhat better, has good days and bad days.
I am a full time nursing student. I have an 18 year old son, graduating from National Guard today!!!
I have 2 step children, A 17 yo daughter, with no issues, and a 14 year old step son, with bipolar, currently on abilify 30mg and trileptal. My partner is working hard to support and take care of all of us.
Whew, thats a handful. And now i dont know where to go with the school district. The teachers realize there is a problem, but i guess they want to wait til it gets really bad to start to deal with it.

 

[looking4hope]

Because of your son's behavioral problems, I think the school district is not in compliance when they refused your request. However, you didn't specify exactly what kind of testing / evaluation you wanted done.

I would also call your pediatrician and ask for a referral for an evaluation. A neuropsychologist would be best, but a psychologist would do if that isn't possible. If the psychiatric finds an issue, then you can definitely bring that to the school district to prompt them for an evaluation. I would also see if your local NAMI chapter has an educational advocate they can recommend, to see if your SD is in compliance or not.

Good luck!

 

[Sheila]

Your school district is being non compliant.

He brings home all of his classwork, and we complete is at night, because they cant get him to stay focused and complete the work at school. This is an issue for me. He is doing absolutely nothing there, and i am left teaching him at home. He is an extremely intellegent child, just not capable of paying attention.

I did the same thing you are doing. The more I did, the more the sd wanted me to do. I had to stop so they could see "the need."

Marti is right. They are using "wait to fail."