what type of class is your child in at school?

[roys mommy]

just curious....

i live in classic suburbia. a town of about 50,000, probably 75% is single family homes. we have 10 grammar school, 3 middle schools and two high schools. in fact, we moved to this town because of the school system when my oldest was a tot.

my son who is adhd is in a class for behavioral disorders. this year is a rare year as there are only 4 kids in the class. he has two teachers and the 4 of them move back and forth from speech, Occupational Therapist (OT), counseling, mainstream class etc. based on their iep.
my middle son attends preschool disabilities for a language delay, located in the same school (as is a high iq class)

i attend classes at a teaching college for my oldest and have finally gotten to meet other adhd parents. i was shocked to find that my town is the only one with this type of class and the other kids either had resource room or occasional help from an aid in a mainstream class. are we the odd ones out (or should i say lucky dogs?)

i am curious what type of class your child is in.

like i said, just curious whats out there,
thanks,
roys mommy

 

[busywend]

I think the goal these days is to mainstream kids into the normal classroom and provide a resource in the room with them. This is so the child is not pointed out as 'Special Education' I believe.

My SD has done away with the BD classrooms.

 

[Stella Johnson]

My daughter started out mainstreamed. Then added resource for half the day. Then the whole day. When that didn't work, she is now in a behavioral class. It has worked wonders with her.

Steph

 

[OTE]

I'm a bit south of you in NJ. My SD has a self-contained class (which is what you're describing) though HS. Many districts do, it depends largely on the size of the district. Most also have self-contained Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) classes now as well which didn't exist 7 yrs ago when my Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) kid was diagnosis.

My ADHD kid who has a bunch of other LDs as well was in self-contained though 5th. Then in middle school they try to move them out. By that time there was only one other kid left in his grade in the self-contained so they moved them both into what they call resource room classes. The only difference being that they have an extra teacher in the room who is a Special Education teacher. If she feels her "resource room" kids are needing extra help she'll pull some or all of them into another room for extra help during that class.

I also moved here for the SD 8 yrs ago. And I have to say that my SD Special Education program does try to be flexible. But within their definition of what their classes are. So we've had our disagreements over the years.

You're in a relatively large SD so chances are there will be more classes than in a smaller SD. Also- you're in a "rich" (by Abbott definition anyway) SD so you will get better Special Education services.

OOPS... missed that you said it's an EBD class. My SD does NOT have an EBD class. Had this discussion with superintendent of schools. They don't want the EBD kids in-district. Makes the building look bad or something, puts the other kids at risk,...etc. So they pay a fortune to send them out of district to EBD schools. Which are hard to come by in elementary ages. Even middle schools for EBD - there aren't many. There is one "rich" SD in my county that has a separate building for all EBD kids and takes out of district kids.

You'll find a lot of the EBD kids from "rich" SDs in the county educational services commission schools.

But there is an exception to every rule... I was surprised to find that a friend has her daughter in a middle school self-contained EBD class and their HS has a self-contained EBD class. Good SD too. It's all the politics of SDs as to whether they should have an in-district program or send them out and pay a lot more money.

 

[Carla0318]

My difficult child is in a SBH class and "regular" classrooms in Science, Social Studies and Homeroom. I guess this day and age they are trying to call it SED "Severely Emotional Distrubed" classroom. I just hate these labels! :mad:

 

[NicoleP]

I didn't want my son labeled BD or ED for a medical disorder, so we got OHI. He is in an Learning Disability (LD) classroom half a day, then mainstreamed the rest. He does better in the Learning Disability (LD) class of only 8 kids and is not with BD/Ed kids, which I feel teachers automatically think of as "bad" or "poorly parented" kids, regardless of diagnsos. I would not have signed BD or ED and they knew that in advance, but I still thought I'd have to fight for OHI. We didn't; they agreed. We are all on the same page then---son is medically ill, being treated with medicaton, and his strange behavior at times (much less now) is due to this medical disorder, not being a "bad boy." I did a lot of research before i signed his IEP, and took it home to show hub and to show friends of mine (inlcuding a teacher) before I signed by the X. Our school couldn't be better. My son has gained in academics by leaps and bounds, in spite of being unable to take ADHD medications and having a short attention span, although is medications have calmed him down a lot WITHOUT ADHD medications. My daughter is in his Learning Disability (LD) class---the only kind of pain in the butt. Not fun when they walk in the door, pointing fingers at each other, saying, "In school HE said..." "In school SHE said...." But it's worth it to me. I dont like the preconceived notions about kids and parents that the ED/BD label seems to bring. We had that label once and won't ever use it again. This is just my own experiences and .02

 

[NicoleP]

If you don't like the SED label, Carol, get rid of it. I'm serious. They can't force you to accept a label. Things like ADHD, bipolar, schizphrenia and not emotional disturbances (insinuating that they are caused by poor environment or life experiences). They are hereidtary, medical disorders. This is your choice, but I'd never allow my son be have that label due tot he connotations it brings up. Not criticizing you AT ALL, trying to give an option /importthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

 

[Tyna]

My son attends a special day school that runs from k-12 grade. The classrooms have two to three aids and one teacher. There is a room on campus called a support room, for when the child needs one on one. Therapist on hand one for each (sometime more) elementary, middle and high school. There are several SW on campus, a school nurse (although medications are dispensed in the classroom). Classroom size is about 8-10 kids at the most. Each child has their own desk and chiar which is seperated by boards or apart from each other, depending on the classroom size itself. There is a safe area int he classsroom and each has their own bathroom. Everything is contained int he classroom. Fences with locks, so kids can't bolt. And they have the local police department at their disposal if needed.


This is where my son goes to school. (Of course the sw and therapist believe one thing about him, and the teacher believes another)(such as the school has no problem giving soda and candy to the children where the teacher does nto believe it). School believes the problem is the parents and have filed several complaints and put in his school file that the parents still have custody of the kid and they are shocked about it. But these are battle that we have to deal with.

 

[Kim]

difficult child 1 is in a program with other Aspies wherein the start off in one classroom together, then go out to their classes (however many they can handle) and meet back in "their" room at the end of the day for group, etc. This is the best thing we've had since.....well, forever!

difficult child 2 is mainstreamed with MAC (mastery a-something c-something/contect?). He doesn't use MAC as much as he could but that's a good thing....so they tell me. According to his teachers, we should be happy with 70s "since they are his own work." No mention of pull the kid aside, use his services and help him learn more. It's time for more testing, so maybe they will find something new and service him better.

I used to be more for mainstream but after the torture difficult child 1 went thru, I vote for put them in the place where they can be most successful.

 

[Elise]

Mainstreaming did not work for my difficult child either. He is now in a private Therapeutic Day School, 95% of the kids there are on the autism spectrum. difficult child is in a class of 7 students with 4 teachers. Kids are ages 10 - 13, grade levels 1 - 5. Most academics are taught one on one at the level of the child.

They have music, band, art, gym, Occupational Therapist (OT), computers, swimming, weekly outings, Scouts and individual and group therapy.

The school provides behavior management in the home, individual and marriage therapy, sibling and parent support groups, and year round school. All at no cost to us.

Best school placement difficult child has ever had! :laugh:

Elise

 

[roys mommy]

wow! sounds like everyone is all over the place.
like i said, just curious!

thanks everyone

 

[karatemom]

difficult child is in a BD classroom with a miximum class size of 12 and 2 teachers. The students have a mainstream homeroom teacher and everything but they have to earn going to their "regular" class. and can be sent back to BD class at any time during the day. the goal is to get them completely mainstreamed.

 

[Carla0318]

What is OHI?

 

[Elise]

OHI stands for Other Health Impaired. It's sort of a catch all category when a child does not fall into any other category.

Elise

 

[SRL]

My difficult child is in a regular first grade classroom of 14 students. He goes to speech twice a week and has minimal classroom accomodations. His class size will likely double next year due to budget cuts.

 

[wincha]

my son was not identified for an iep until his mental status got so bad. he was in an emotional support program where he went to this support class ect.. but this did not work.

he is now in a theraputic private school that is college prep.

younger son with speech issues is in an integrated early childhood class. next year will be our battle. class now is 12(I only have seen 8) 1 teacher, 2 aides, 1 Speech Language Pathologist (SLP), 1 Occupational Therapist (OT) that he does not use. next year they want to move him general ed 23;1. we will push for another year of preschool since he makes the cut off by 5 days or a small language class (he is in one now but he only has speech and they say he just benefits from being in it). so they might not qualify him for the small language class next year