GED for difficult child with learning disabilities??

ahhhlife

New Member
Does anyone have any experience helping a difficult child with learning disabilities get their GED. Mine is 16 and it is not going well in highschool his father and I are to the point of pulling him out. Today he called me from school he said they had change his schedule and was putting him in the resource room with the 7th and 8th graders. He is in 10th grade already has a very low self esteem. No one even contacted us about this. I had his grandmother pick him up he was so upset. The reason was he has been giving the teacher a hard time. He told me yesterday she told him to shutup he came back to her with "that wasnt very professional If I said that to you I would get sent to the office".
 

SnowAngel

New Member
I don't have experience in that department. I was wondering if your area has a night school. Some community colleges hold classes to prepare for the GED. Also some school districts have high schools that are designed for special kids, pregnant teens, teens with discipline issues...etc. You might see if they do and what they offer. My high school had one of these "continue ed" schools that offered GED prep classes.

An organization that hires special needs might know, like Goodwill..I love that store. Also most states have a JOBS SERVICES or WORKFORCE SERVICES (part of the welfare program to help people get on their feet) and they would have these resources for people with disabilities, you dont need to be on welfare for them to answer some questions on where your difficult child can obtain help.

I am so sorry I cant offer any real solutions, but maybe one of my suggestions can. Good luck & keep us updated.
 

Sara PA

New Member
My son got his GED through the local community college. There was no way he was going to go to the program administered by the same people who ran the school district. He didn't need any classwork but he did need accomodations for taking the tests for his anxiety disorder. GED programs have to abide by the ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act from which IDEA stems.

by the way, does your son have an IEP? Was he in regular classes or an older grade resource room? Changing his placement without an IEP meeting is against the regulations.
 

Steely

Active Member
Sara,

I have been scouring the earth looking for the answer to the question you just provided about ADA and GED. Most people I ask here in Dallas, even the C.Colleges and Texas Rehab Commission are "not sure" if accommodations can be made. He had an IEP and BIP in elementary school, and has dyslexia and dysgraphia, which I am afraid will keep him from passing certain portions of the GED.

Where can I get more information on this, so that I can enforce this with whatever class he is in??

Great question ahhhhlife. Thanks.
 

Sheila

Moderator
Hi ahhhlife

As someone mentioned, if your child has an IEP, they can not just change the placement. Changing placement requires an IEP meeting. As the parent, you are part of the team and should be invited and participate in all decisions of this type.

WeepingWillow: There are no IEPs in college, however, colleges are subject to Section 504 regarding accommodations and disabilities, etc. http://disability.tamu.edu/ is by Texas A&M, however, the 504 info should be pertinent to any college in Texas.

You might check out other college sites also : http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Texas+colleges+504+plans&btnG=Google+Search .
 

ahhhlife

New Member
Yes he has a IEP just two weeks ago we had a meeting this was mentioned briefly he was not for it then I was under the impression the other teacher was ninth grade. He said they totally changed his schedule. Our school has adult ed in one part of the school. Also it is connected to the university also. I am going to meet with the superintendent next week. His father and I cant take much more of this it is effecting our relationship and our family. I almost feel like I am being harrased as much as the VP calls me difficult child is doing this difficult child isnt doing this ugh and what he does isnt really that bad it is just disrupting the class. I homeschooled him in 7th grade and he really needs alot of guidance. I was wondering if it may be too difficult for him to go for his ged if his reading and writing delayed. Thanks I feel so much better since I have found this board.
 

Sara PA

New Member
Our community college staff was wonderful and about as supportive and helpful (both for son and mom) as could be. I hope they are the norm but I fear we were lucky. I thought I would have to make some waves to get my son accommodations but they were right on top of things, offering supports we never expected.

This is the real GED site: http://www.gedtestingservice.com/ged-testing-service

And this is the part about asking for accommodations in taking the test: http://www.acenet.edu

Try the search option and look for other articles about disabilities.

Now, my son could go to a community college at 16 because of a program that PA has which awards high school diplomas for completing community college courses. Not all states have that. He wasn't able to take the GED until he turned 18 because of the rules for GEDs. As it turned out, he wasn't able because of his anxiety to either finish the college courses he started or take the GED until he happened to be 18, so that wasn't an issue in the end. But they did tell us when he tried to go to community college that colleges are covered by ADA and must make pretty much the same sort of accomodations that school districts are required to make under IDEA. My son doesn't have any learning disabilities and did a lot of learning on his own so he was able to take the test and pass the first time with no prep courses. But our community college would have worked with him had he needed help with classes.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
I think your school stinks.

My son just turned 17. He did GREAT in school the last time he was there. He was in self-contained classes and got along with the students. It was one of the first times in his life that we had him behave at school - no calls, no leaving work, it was very nice. Despite that he was in and out of Residential Treatment Center (RTC)'s for years.

The Residential Treatment Center (RTC)'s we sent him to did not have accredited schools, hence no Carnegy units. I'm in SC here they have to have so many of the Carnegy units to graduate. This meant at 17 he would start off as a sophomore and graduate at 21. They (school district) went back over his IEP and decided to send him to that alternative adult ed school 3 days a week and some nights. In this process he took a test to see where he was in the GED spectrum of things. He did great in English, poor in math. The teacher at adult ed said she would work with him on his math to get him to get a GED certificate.

In the mean time, he did a crime, got arrested and spent time in Juvenille Hall. There he went to class also for GED related subjects. When he got out, he couldn't live with us, so we sent him to live at a group home. The small town didn't want "those types" of kids in their highschool. Basically meaning my son the jail bird. For two months I hounded someone about it. Then our caseworker got on the wagon and low and behold - a new school / class was formed, run by that school district but for kid basically no one wants. His teacher even called me to tell me he did well on the test. (I nearly fainted) no teacher ever called to tell me he's doing good. Always ALWAYS calls for bad.

I would start with your sons IEP and find out how in the world they pulled this off without him being suspended or going to self contained classes. Under the laws of most states he / and you have an obligation for him to be going to school or you can both go to jail for truancy. In my sons case it's part of his probation ordered by a very bloated judge.Bloated or constipated maybe, not sure.

IN any event every school district has a person that is in charge of the special education kids. You need to find out who that is and call them, make an appointment and get involved with figuring out what to do with your son.

There is a place for him, maybe not in your district, but MAKE them help you. That's what that IEP is for. If they are not meeting and maintaining the goals set forth by the IEP - they are at fault. Let them shoulder some of this responsibility and find out who you need to talk with.

Hope this helps.
I have hopes that from GED he will go on to some type of tech school or college.
 
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