klmno
Active Member
I didn't want to hi-jack someone else's thread, but I thought SW used a good example about her son shutting down and needing support in school as a result. In difficult child's school, they would look at that (and have in the past) as him needing motivation (rewards and consequences, even though we don't use a behavior contract with him). They do the same about hypomania- which came up this past week. I had told the case manager that difficult child had been hypomanic the past couple of weeks so I was not shocked that he received many praises from PE class and Independent Living class for participation, effort, helping other students, etc., nor when the report comes from the learning strategies teacher that he didn't want to sit down and focus on classwork, he wanted to look out the window, look up stuff on his computer, talk to other kids, etc. This is when I suggested that they talk to 2 teachers difficult child had last year to see exactly how they got difficult child reeled back in. she said that could step on people's toes.
so, I tried to explain to her this is why I thought we need an iep meeting as soon as possible- that they need to understand what is going on with him and so things don't go in a bad direction this school year. She didn't want to hear of it- she said she's changing him to her learning strategies class, that she just wants him to "buy into it" (one of my least favorite phrases), she has ideas to keep him motivated, she's been teaching Special Education kids so many years, she thinks she can handle this. I shouldn't worry because no one is upset about his behavior at this point. I tried again to explain that this isn't about bad behavior (as in willful) and that the problem isn't a lack of motivation and that I was worried about more than whether or not he gets fussed at over the behavior- he needs help and support to learn to redirect what he can, prevent what he can, get reeled back in so he can concentrate and learn something, etc. I didn't even get to the point of saying that if they handle it in a certain way, it can trigger mania, but it can and has in the past.
It was all falling on deaf ears. She just said she needed to extend the iep and wanted to extend it another 5-6 weeks. I said we could extend it a couple of weeks, but that's all. (It is for a typical IEP review) Anyway, it took almost 2 years to get some people at the school (maybe half the iep team) to understand that we're talking about more here than a behavior problem so by the end of last year, we actually had productive iep meeting and were really getting somewhere with ideas to help difficult child. This iep was written right at the end of the school year just as a basis for him to start with this year, but it states that it is to be reviewed by Sept. 28, and that was done so that we could give this year's team a background and make a smooth transition, but still incoporate some more accommodations for some things discussed last year before we get too far into the school year. This woman does not get that, apparently. And she seems to be doing a whole lot more than just being a case manager- it's like she wants to direct the iep herself.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas about how to educate her about mood cycling? I took the pamplet about educating the BiPolar (BP) child to the principal and Special Education director last year- I can take that to this new cm, along with a copy of some portions out of TEC. Any other ideas about how to word things when you're describing mood cycling and explaining why it isn't a motivation problem that needs him "buying into" a solution? Can something as specific as "when difficult child is acting hyper, say things 'this way' instead of 'that way'"? we already have it in there to send him to a "safe place" if they can't reel him back in, but they have never used it- they tell me they can't guarantee a certain place or person to be available.
All i could think of was to push the classification issue- if they are convinced that ED means behavior that can be changed merely through rewards and consequences and getting the kid to buy into it, then I figured proving that BiPolar (BP) qualifies as OHI might get them to see that there is more to it and difficult child needs more than that. I can't believe they think I would have my kid on mood stabilizers if this was a discipline issue.
Sorry so long...you guys are great for advice though, so thanks in advance!
so, I tried to explain to her this is why I thought we need an iep meeting as soon as possible- that they need to understand what is going on with him and so things don't go in a bad direction this school year. She didn't want to hear of it- she said she's changing him to her learning strategies class, that she just wants him to "buy into it" (one of my least favorite phrases), she has ideas to keep him motivated, she's been teaching Special Education kids so many years, she thinks she can handle this. I shouldn't worry because no one is upset about his behavior at this point. I tried again to explain that this isn't about bad behavior (as in willful) and that the problem isn't a lack of motivation and that I was worried about more than whether or not he gets fussed at over the behavior- he needs help and support to learn to redirect what he can, prevent what he can, get reeled back in so he can concentrate and learn something, etc. I didn't even get to the point of saying that if they handle it in a certain way, it can trigger mania, but it can and has in the past.
It was all falling on deaf ears. She just said she needed to extend the iep and wanted to extend it another 5-6 weeks. I said we could extend it a couple of weeks, but that's all. (It is for a typical IEP review) Anyway, it took almost 2 years to get some people at the school (maybe half the iep team) to understand that we're talking about more here than a behavior problem so by the end of last year, we actually had productive iep meeting and were really getting somewhere with ideas to help difficult child. This iep was written right at the end of the school year just as a basis for him to start with this year, but it states that it is to be reviewed by Sept. 28, and that was done so that we could give this year's team a background and make a smooth transition, but still incoporate some more accommodations for some things discussed last year before we get too far into the school year. This woman does not get that, apparently. And she seems to be doing a whole lot more than just being a case manager- it's like she wants to direct the iep herself.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas about how to educate her about mood cycling? I took the pamplet about educating the BiPolar (BP) child to the principal and Special Education director last year- I can take that to this new cm, along with a copy of some portions out of TEC. Any other ideas about how to word things when you're describing mood cycling and explaining why it isn't a motivation problem that needs him "buying into" a solution? Can something as specific as "when difficult child is acting hyper, say things 'this way' instead of 'that way'"? we already have it in there to send him to a "safe place" if they can't reel him back in, but they have never used it- they tell me they can't guarantee a certain place or person to be available.
All i could think of was to push the classification issue- if they are convinced that ED means behavior that can be changed merely through rewards and consequences and getting the kid to buy into it, then I figured proving that BiPolar (BP) qualifies as OHI might get them to see that there is more to it and difficult child needs more than that. I can't believe they think I would have my kid on mood stabilizers if this was a discipline issue.
Sorry so long...you guys are great for advice though, so thanks in advance!
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