I have mixed feeling about sending my difficult child back to school but ultimately decided to do it so we had the county iep meeting this week.
In the past, he attended a special, self-contained program for children with emotional/behavioral issues. The class size is small (average of about 7) with a teacher and an assistant. Before going to this program, in the mainstream classroom difficult child had a one-to-one. He made much more academic progress this way but the specialized program is better able to handle the behaviors that arise. Because he wasn't making academic progress, I tried for two years to get him an assistant in the special program. I was not successful and difficult child was falling significantly behind so I kept him home and taught him myself for a year. This has helped a lot educationally, I feel much more comfortable with his current reading level, but the social aspects and support services provided by the school are also important so now it's back to school for the upcoming year.
So at the meeting, I represented both his parent and his teacher. I had to provide a summary of academic performance as well current emotional issues. I then outlined a list of my recomendations based on this information. I finally managed to convince them that difficult child would not be successful without one-to-one support!!!!! I feel very good about this. I still expect problems to arise but this is difficult child's best chance at success.
Christy
In the past, he attended a special, self-contained program for children with emotional/behavioral issues. The class size is small (average of about 7) with a teacher and an assistant. Before going to this program, in the mainstream classroom difficult child had a one-to-one. He made much more academic progress this way but the specialized program is better able to handle the behaviors that arise. Because he wasn't making academic progress, I tried for two years to get him an assistant in the special program. I was not successful and difficult child was falling significantly behind so I kept him home and taught him myself for a year. This has helped a lot educationally, I feel much more comfortable with his current reading level, but the social aspects and support services provided by the school are also important so now it's back to school for the upcoming year.
So at the meeting, I represented both his parent and his teacher. I had to provide a summary of academic performance as well current emotional issues. I then outlined a list of my recomendations based on this information. I finally managed to convince them that difficult child would not be successful without one-to-one support!!!!! I feel very good about this. I still expect problems to arise but this is difficult child's best chance at success.
Christy
