Behaviors Affectng Progress

[Christy]

I homeschooled difficult child this past year. The reason we did this was that he was not learning anything in school. He had an iep and a bip and was in a self-contained ED classroom but he had frequent tantrums and often ended up in the support room or the quiet room. The end result, he lost considerable ground academically. Despite the small class size (6-8) and the classroom assistant, someone was always have behavior issues and little teaching took place.

For the last two terms of his 2ng grade year and for all 4 terms of his third grade year, it was indicated on his report card that he was not making sufficient progress on his iep goals and then the box that says, behavior affecting progress was checked. I am not arguing that he has behavior problems but can this be an excuse for not teaching him?

Working one on one this year, we made significant progress on his academic goals. Has it been easy? NO! In fact, we are getting to a point where we are add odds far too often for it to be effective and it is too hard to be in both the role of mom and teacher so we are thinking of putting him back in school next year.

Now finally my question, in the age of no child left behind, can the school use behavior as an excuse for a child not making progress or does the school have to take steps to see that the student learns (provide one to one support, tutoring services, a special school placement, etc...)?

Christy

 

[Sheila]

It's very difficult to teach a student if they are not stable. However, if difficult child made progress while being home-schooled, it sounds as if his placement wasn't appropriate.

IEP = Individual Education Program, so yes, they should "provide one to one support, tutoring services, a special school placement, etc..."

 

[Christy]

Thanks Shelia.

I feel like everytime I ask for something to help my son academically (like allowing him to participate in the mainstream class for reading group), his behaviors are brought up as a reason this can't happen. They won't provide him a one-to-one aide because they dont think it will help his behaviors. I want him to have an aide so that he can do his work. His ADHD sympoms are not treatable due to bad reaction to stimulent medications and he can't stay focused on his own. He is not easy to teach but he can learn.

Christy

 

[momtoagreatkid]

"For the last two terms of his 2ng grade year and for all 4 terms of his third grade year, it was indicated on his report card that he was not making sufficient progress on his iep goals and then the box that says, behavior affecting progress was checked. I am not arguing that he has behavior problems but can this be an excuse for not teaching him?"

I don't believe that checking the box about behavior is a bad thing in your son's case because he qualified for SPED due to behavior issues, correct? Checking the box, therefore, only supports the SPED placement. When you withdrew your son from school, did you withdraw him from SPED, as well?

 

[Martie]

I agree with Momotagreatkid. If that box were not checked, your child would not qualify for special education services under EBD because there would be "no negative educational impact."

You should expect academic progress regardless of behavior, but if a child is very unstable or distracted, less progress will be made.

Best to you,

Martie

 

[Christy]

Actually my son was already receiving sped services due to specch and language, ADHD, and learning disabilities. My issue with the school is that they use his behavior as an excuse for not teaching him. He did not receive the same learning opportunities in the ED classroom in which he was placed as in the regular ed classroom. I know this for a fact as I was a teacher in the same school district and very familiar with the curriculum. I know my son can learn and I gave up my job so that I could homeschool him. He has made significant progress over the past year with the one on one support. Unfortunately, being both mom and teacher to a difficult child is putting a strain on our relationship and I need to step back into just the mom role. NO, I don't expect the school district to provide him with a one on one teacher; however, I am trying to make the point that he will benefit greatly from an instructional assistant even if class size in the ED room is small already. I feel the school needs to find a way to teach him despite his behavior difficulties. Am I wrong?

 

[jal]

No you are not wrong. My son also needed classroom assistance because his behavior was interferring with his ability to learn. We are fortunate to have an understanding IEP team and a SD that worked with us. The classroom was originally set up with a teacher and a para to assist the whole class. They assigned that para to my son and had to hire another to be the class para. My son would not have made it without her. She watched over him behaviorally, assisted him when needed at his work stations, she made sure he stayed his allotted time. Stations were 10 min. In the beginning of the year he would stay 2 min, by the end of the year it was 7-10 (they had a clock that they used for him). This para will be following him into first grade (thank you know who because I do not know how this kid is going to make it a full day sitting in a seat).

Our difficult child's behavior does affect progress. He should at least be labeled as Other Health Impairment which would qualify him for IEP services.

Good luck!

 

[Christy]

jal,
That is exactly what my son needs. In the end of kindergarten and 1st grade he was in the mainstream with a one to one aide. He learned more this way. The difficulty was that the school did not have supports in place for when he was tantruming (quiet room, support room etc...). His ED school --within a school has these supports but they do not feel he needs the one to one because he is in a small calssroom with an aide but I am arguing that academically he does need it so we will have a county iep this summer and I will bring an advocate and hope for the best.