Auntie

PipSqueak0313

Bringing the conversation over here from tbe homeschool board since this board felt more appropriate.

You are right, I do know I can request an IEP meeting at anytime.

One problem I have run into that I havent found a solution to is HOW do we accomodate the problem regarding turning in homework while teaching ds to be able to do this independently?

Actually, the last part is the bigger piece, how to teach ds the skills related to completing a task on time and following through with submission. Everything so far has been along the lines of removing the consequence for late submission and that is no longer acceptable to me at this point but I dont know of any alternative solutions to request or try.

We will be meeting with the private school to see if there is any way they can work with us on the tuition just so we can keep ds in competitive speech since that has been one unexpected item that has helped him more than anything we had on his IEP and for as large as the public school is at about 2400ish students, it and the other high schools in the district do not offer competitive speech.

Regarding the public school, we live in a city that has a gang problem. It is nothing new, been here for decades. When I asked the school about gangs in the school they claimed there wasnt a gang problem in the school. To me it is hard to believe the school when it is located near a high gang area. Granted the stereotypical gang member wouldnt be in high school.

PipSqueak0313

Unfortunately, we started with ds at a disadvantage in that my ex forbid having ds evaluated for an ASD even though I kept thinking that anyone watching ds play would think he was autistic. I started thinking that back when ds was about 3 or 4. It was not until ds was 12 that I realized ex wasnt around to punish us if I persued it since we had gotten divorced and moved halfway across the country a few months earlier.

After you mentioned the executive functioning deficits in a previous post, I googled it to see what you were talking about. Makes a lot of sense of ds behaviors and problems in school and I find it interesting that it has never been brought up in ds IEP meetings.....other than me asking about his problem with homework and the school automatically removing the consequence for late homework. At the same time it really doesnt surprise me since the sped director at the school ds attended for 6 through 8th grade once made the comment "What difference does the diagnosis make?" in relation to a 504 for dd and it was the district that I filed a formal complaint with the state on.

The private school ds was attending is a church based school so the biggest difference between it and the public school besides the cost and the religion classes is that it does not have to accept all students therefore it is easier for the school to remove bullies from the class.

I dont know how much help the school can provide since during the time for applying for financial aid we thought we were going to be moving to a different state so we didnt do so. I thought that since we missed the fin aid deadlines we were SOL regarding it but then the president of the school offered to meet with us to see what if anything could be done to enable ds to return.

When we first moved back to this city after ds 8th grade year, and I was discussing sending ds to the public school, I remember someone telling me that there are two types of students at this school: the A students and the F students. But other than that, I dont know who I could ask that would be able to provide unbiased info on the culteral environment at the public school.

The other $64k question is do I request an eval and IEP meeting for ds at this point if he isnt attending the public school?

PipSqueak0313

Yeah ds was in public schools for all but three quarters of his 4th grade year and second semester of his 7th grade year before high school. He was quiet enough that for the most part he slipped under the teachers radar is the only reason I can figure why no one questioned if he had an ASD before I requested testing and even then the teacher didnt think the results were right.

All I know regarding ds and bullying is that the public middle school blamed ds because he was being bullied and at least one sped teacher bullied him as well. In two years at the private school, he has never complained about being bullied. Heard a story from another parent that a senior witnessed a freshman "bookcheck" another student and the senior grabbed the freshman by the collar and said "We dont do that here." So the culture in the private school is definately different than most schools.

Tuition is as "low" as it is because it gets subsidies from the local churches and it has a strong alumni group that raises lots of money for the school for the purpose of keeping tuition for all students down. If I remember correctly, about five teachers are alumni and about 40 percent of the faculty has been there for over 20 years. So the school is doing something right for its faculty and staff.

When ds had an IEP with ST on it during his freshman year the public schools bused him to a high school a quarter mile from the private school and the public school maintained the legal responsibility for providing services such as ST.

I havent had a chance yet to check out the books you recommended but it is on my to do list for Wednesday.