Image courtesy of gabrielle_c on Pixabay.com
I’ve written before about some of the run-ins I’ve had with the local school district. Click Here and Here for some of the previous posts.
I wish I could say this was a small, ignorant district. It’s not small. It’s one of the largest districts in the United States. I’m beginning to think these patterns of really bad behavior on the part of the schools and the district are features and not bugs.
This most recent story was relayed to me by a COTA I share a couple of clients with. We cotreat with two clients just about every week. We’re about the same age. She knows I’m in the process of applying to law school as part of a larger plan to shift gears over the next several years. She and I have talked about the fact that, at some point, we’re not going to want to sit on the floor with kids anymore but neither of us want to work with adult clients.
She told me she has a young child with Down syndrome on her caseload. He’s non-verbal and “spunky” (her word). He started school this year. She told me that just before winter break his mom got a call from her son’s school. The teacher reported that there had been an incident in the classroom involving her son and they were going to have to discipline him. His mom asked when the incident had happened and was told that day, the same day as the teacher called her.
Here’s the kicker…
The child was absent from school that day. He had been home all day that day because he was sick.
Are you outraged? You should be. But, let me make it worse.
This was the second time the teacher and/or school had called the child’s mom to report something like this. Both times the child was absent from school and the absence had already been documented by his mother.
Put yourself in this family’s shoes for a moment. Your young, non-verbal child with Down syndrome is placed in a program with 7 or 8 other Kindergarten to second grade children with special needs. You have to rely on the adults involved with the program to let you know what happens for the 6 hours a day your child is under their care. Yet, you’ve gotten calls twice now that your child is being blamed for behavior in the classroom when he wasn’t even in school. How much confidence would you have in the care and attention your child is receiving, to say nothing of what is or is not going on educationally?
Per the COTA, the child’s mom asked about changing her son’s placement after the first incident this year. Per the COTA, she was told there was nothing else available and nothing that could be done.
Sadly, I have no reason to doubt the COTA’s story. I also have no reason to doubt that this child’s family was told nothing could be done because families I work with are told the same thing. But, that’s not true. There is plenty that could be done – starting with better supervision of special education teachers where families have complained about inaccurate reports of their children being involved in behavioral or medical incidents. Like special education teachers who insist on going against medical orders when a non-verbal boy with severe autism develops a bladder infection due to the toilet training regimen used in the classroom. Or adults who do not offer an explanation for why a non-verbal child comes home absolutely covered in permanent marker – literally from head to toe and down to his diaper (which had not been changed all day; I observed the child get off the bus that day). Or when a parent of a preschool-age child with a severe seizure disorder arrives to pick up her child, finds her in the middle of an active seizure, and is told it has been going on for 45 minutes (the child was hospitalized for 2 days and has not returned to the district-provided program). In case you don’t know, standard seizure protocols is this – longer than 5 minutes and you call 911 and the family, in that order. The district can and should have a zero tolerance policy for behavior like this from adults. That would be a good start.
You can understand why many families of kids with severe special needs actively seek options outside of this district. But, charter schools are not able to provide the full-day specialized instruction many of these kids need. Private schools don’t have to provide special education services at all. Many families choose to withdraw their children from the district. I have seen for myself where kids with special needs are withdrawn from district-provided programs and remain out of school for years. Years. There is no attempt by the district to follow up with these families, no attempt to try to address their needs or the reason(s) why they left in the first place.
I suppose it’s something that the district has finally acknowledged they have an issue with chronic absenteeism in general. The first step in dealing with a problem is acknowledging you have one.
I know there are some wonderful individual special education teachers and programs in the district. I’ve seen some of them. I’ve worked with families who are really happy with their child’s placement within this district. But, I’ve worked with many more families who have just given up on their child’s education. One mom said earlier this week she couldn’t wait for this school year to be over because her son would finally be able to “get away from” the teacher he’s had for the last 2 1/2 years.
And that’s when I have to ask the adults who are supposed in charge, seriously people? If you were in these families’ shoes, is what you do every day what you would want for your own child?
As always, thanks for reading!
Outside The Box 