Interesting meeting

[Wiped Out]

Yesterday we had a mini iep meeting for difficult child. For the most part it went very well. They agree we need to add transportation to difficult child's iep. He just isn't able to navigate the buses and could either bully or more likely be bullied. He also could very easily sleep through a stop.

We also discussed behavior. They seem to have a good grasp on how to calm him down, overall. The only thing that worried me is they wanted to take out of the iep that he be exempt from the regular behavior code. They said that there were times he might need to be suspended. This sent up a red flag for me. I brought up all his past suspensions and how they weren't all warranted and that how even though he is now in middle school his emotional age is much younger. I also said that a lot is due to his disability which means he shouldn't be suspended.

I think we have a plan in place. She (the principal who I really like) did say that she would never suspend him with-o discussing with us. For now the plan is that they do a mini version of an iss if warranted.

They seem really willing and knowledgable on how to work with him but I do not want to go back to suspensions as we worked so hard proving that so much is due to his disability. He definitely needs consequences but suspension (out of school) isn't one that is effective nor fair for him.

I was really impressed that they want to meet once a month for awhile as we work on fine tuning the iep for middle school. That is pretty much unheard of.

 

[tonime]

in my opinion at home suspensions really don't work for most kids
what about "in school" suspensions? It separates them from others--if his behavior is disruptive--?

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Sharon,

sounds like a good meeting and a principal that is willing to work with you. That's 85% of the battle right there!

In regards to the suspension issue, you didn't say if it was left in or not?

Sharon

 

[klmno]

That sounds great! I didn't even know you could get it in the iep to not use the regular discipline policies. At least, if you really believe that something he does is related to his issues, can you call a meeting for a manifestation determination at any time? Hopefully, it won't get to that point!

 

[TerryJ2]

Interesting, indeed.
I would worry about the suspensions, too. Do you think they are suggesting it just to give themselves a breather? Sounds like it's for them, not him. Just a thought.

 

[Wiped Out]

Tonime-We also suggested the ISS. They just feel that there are certain times he may need to go home. They also realize how difficult ISS would be for them to handle with difficult child but they did note that would be their problem to figure out. Most kids at ISS sit quietly. No way, no how my difficult child can do that for more than 5 minutes at a time.

Sharon-I agree it was a good meeting overall. As for the suspension part, I'm not really sure. We were talking about it and then went on to problem solving and what their plan is will be when he needs iss they will give him lunch detentions if it happened in the morning and give him and hour at the end of the day in ISS if it happens in the afternoon.

KLMNO-I don't think you can call a manifestation determination at any point, not until there are more than 10 suspensions in a year. The reason it was put in to begin with was he was getting so many out of school suspensions that were related directly to his disability, we have dr notes saying this is so. I'm hoping we won't need to go down that road again.

Terry-I'm not sure. I think it's more of the feeling that there are times he should be out of school due to the fact that the behaviors at middle school should just not be accepted-kind of a no tolerance. While I understand this and want him to receive consequequences for his actions, I don't think out of school suspensions for him are fair.

 

[klmno]

Sharon, you've probably already thought of this and I might be wishing for more then can happen, but it sounds like the best thing is that when he's that sympommatic, he needs to be on homebound. But I don't have a clue how to get any sd to agree to that.

 

[timer lady]

Sharon,

Sorry I missed this - interesting meeting indeed. As kt has been suspended 3x in the last week & a half, our mental health CM went to her school & pointed out the ADA & the fact that school has to find other options rather than auto suspension because of kt's disability. (On the other hand, kt needs to learn consequences for her choices.)

Let me know how that works our for your difficult child.