Buddy, I cant give informative advice re the school system....
Their is a few things my mommyheart and gut is wondering about:
1. is the main reason for the shift your fear that they will victimize Q in his current school? Why I ask this.....does Q feel bullied or victimized by the staff or children? Because sometimes our issues with the staff luckily dont spill over to their relationship with our child? Yes, this IS part of it. I should not have to worry about it, he should be safe at school, but I am not the only one who thinks (four others) and the principal has said he is going to tell his staff to press charges or go to hr to claim an unsafe work environment, (lawyer says to let them because none of what he does rises to the level of severe bodily harm... it is mostly words and ripping the notebooks that I provide and there is too much documentation that this is a manifestation of his disability but do I want to go through that stress??? Do I want him to go through that???)
2. Is Q happy in his current school? Q likes his routine. Happy would be an overstatement. He is sad about not being with his friends, not being in his mainstream (not even the homeroom time anymore) etc. He loves one girl who acts as a mentor and he calls a friend but she is a friend to him like she is to the kids in the wheel chairs that she goes to help. She is from the EBD class for anxiety disorder. A very kind hearted girl.
3. In worry about the effect the lower functioning kids in new school will have on Q? This would upset my son alot? Yes, I think it will bother him if he thinks that he is part of their program, but there are kids even lower functioning (kids with severe medical conditions and NO language not even pecs or anything) in his school right now along with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and many other special needs kids so it would not be NEW to him to see them. Down the other end of the hall is a full school of kids who similar to his level and higher in the EBD classes. He has been kind to kids who are very much lower than he is and only would get upset about their noises...and he imitates their stereotyped behaviors like hand flapping, verbal sounds, etc...and he keeps these forever as far as how things have gone so far.... He never flapped hands or did that until he was in music or adapted sports where they were mixed together. In this situaiton they do not mix the kids, they would only see each other in the halls. The rooms are very very thick brick walls and heavy doors and I did appreciate that when closed you could not hear outside of the room because he is so bothered by others talking and noise.
4. Is Q reaching his accademic goals in his current school? Because this is the main reason he is in school?No, never has. Not in any school. He makes progress usually but last year they said he didn't make any after telling me at conferences and in emails that he was working...they wrote his periodic review which is the inbetween report on the IEP goals that he was not making any progress. This last meeting the ironic thing is that they all reported he was doing more work and doing it well, each and every teacher... but that took about five minutes and the rest of the two hours was people reading lists of words he says repeatedly and how rude he is. then the principal threatening etc... I have always said that a private teacher for one hour would probably get more done with Quinton on average (he has days when he does amazingly all day so it is not always this way) if we only needed to work on academics. So it is a no brainer that he will likely do better academically but he is not going to ever do the school full curriculum so that to be honest is not a concern as much....he does make progress and learns and it is despite what they do I feel.
5. I worry about the staffs answer regarding what the children see outside the window? She said that the kids are nonverbal and to low functioning to realize whats going on......I dont like her assumptions! How does she know what they feel?I hear you, it was not really like that... it is just that there are two sides of that wing, one side has windows that look out onto the front of the school and so you can see people coming and going which is normally no biggie. But if there were to be a situation, then the kids who are more aware see that and get anxious and upset. I saw the other kids, I promise you, they are in their swing spinning, or being squished in the sensory room, they have more than an 1:1 staff ratio and the windows dont open so it is not that they can hear any of it. They are adding film etc. for better privacy but still allowing light too. the rooms are equal, they, especially if Q comes because a window where he can sit and count planes and buses etc. (hey it is right next to the bus gargage!), said that they felt it would be a good thing to just put the east side class on the west side and the west side class on the east.... If I was a kid that severely disabled, THIS would be the place I would want to be. I saw one of the girls walk down the hall on her knees and then up to the director who is not her teacher obviously knew her and just hugged and could not let go.... she was so happy to see her.
6. I am also wondering about the few professional therapists at the new school.....this can lead to teachers playing therapist.....! How well and what training do they have? They have the same and more as what he has in his current school. And the director is a psychologist who has worked with our beloved home psychologist so I will get his take on her. He will be honest. All of the teachers are Master's degreed in this SUN program. They all have extra Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) certification. The one in SUN2 though, is getting married and is marrying a guy in the service and they will be moved this year so she is gone. No clue who will be there and THAT is a huge worry. If the teeny tiny teacher with the BIG knowledge that I talked to in the other class were to switch I would move him in a second. The Occupational Therapist (OT)'s go between schools and this school would increase if it was in the IEP of course, but as of now they only need the 1.5 days because when you are an autism specialist your class is often set up AS a complete sensory room... and these rooms are like that. In fact even the EBD side is like that. ALL of the kids, EBD andASD have sensory throughout the day. they have bouncy balls instead of chairs (for those who want it) and alternative lighting, and they practice with the kids how to move to the other areas of classes when NO ONE is having issues so it becomes routine if one of them is having a hard day. I actually saw two classes turn lights out, they had their lamps on etc.
7. What type of criteria do they use to decide what and where the children fit? It is 100% individualized in the SUN program. All of the kids have to have been in a level 3 (like Q is in now, a placement in a gen ed school and there have to be several trials of other plans before the district will allow the child to be placed in this school) It is of concern that one reason they want to build this school up is to bring the kids who are being placed out of the district now (so more expensive) back to this school so it will grow over the next four years. That could be an issue. A BIG issue. It is exactly why we moved from our other district after his third grade year.
8. The current school sets an example of what is expected in society....so kids need to know what is acceptable behaviour.....not being allowed to behave the way they want....if they are expected to function in open market and not sheltered employment one day.... Yes, but this school is not a school with kids who have developmental delays except for the SUN ! class, and of course some of them have learning issues but are not overall delayed. The two kids with Q's side are ahead of him academically. I do not want to seemlike I have Q in a pigeon hole but he is not likely to ever be in an unsupported work environment. Same for living environment. His brain injury is too severe. I think he will reach a point where he wont need constant visual supervision, but check ins for sure... These kids are not allowed to just behave the way they want, but of course are corrected on the basis of their individual plans and since there are are so many para's and teachers and specialists, there is not as much of the inappropriate methods like being sent to the principal, suspensions which many of them LOVE etc.
9. I would think of shifting to a new school if the current school is doing more harm than good? could be a huge problem, he is freaking out as he has since last year that they would send him away. He is not doing great there, true, but will this traumatize him and make it so that if we do want him there, he will not ever adjust? He can really have some deep obsessive fears and anger than lasts years so it could blow our only chance to move him at a natural break. Is this the case? And also if my child is really not coping withthe social demands in current school, but then just look for mainstreem with smaller classes? My wish exactly, and they have not done their jobs in this respect. They just bow to political pressure to keep those words away from the other kids.
10. Is their a way you could contact some of the parents to ask how they feel about the school service?That is a great thing to add to my list. I would love to talk to other parents and of course they always pick the ones who like the school but I can at least ask questions.
Sorry if I sound so negative, but I do think you might need to go and have a few more visits at this school because we tend to see things differently when the initial emotions is out of the way?
And of course, there is still the issue that he will see more behaviors and so he will likely pick up even more awful things. It does seem like they are separated pretty well but in the halls, that was where I saw 5 serious behaviors that, while handled beautifully, for Q would be triggers. That is a huge huge huge concern. I will say that the SUN kids were NO WHERE around that. Their schedules do not follow a bell or anything so they were not in the halls when the other kids were transitioning. So I am planning to pay attention to see if that is really the case.
Plenty of hugs being send your way!
