Behavior and Schools, Part II

Pete Wright has a nice article at: http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/ltrs/behavior_obligate.htm that fully explains the schools obligations.

And yet another explanation of the Functional Behavior Assessment and process:
http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/discipl.fab.starin.htm

Schools need to stop moving the problem (aka child with behavior) around and get to the root. It's what we've had to do as parents. And since we cannot be in the school to do this for them, they need to live up to the obligations of teaching our children.

Special Education and the High Functioning child

Some recent posts to my online support networks and conversations with other parents have driven me to write today. Addressing the child with the non learning disability is problematic. Schools generally have two theories on a child's capabilities.

On one hand, there is the child who is age appropriate verbal. The school typically attempts to include or mainstream. However, they sometimes attempt to state the child "does not need specially designed instruction". These children may or may not receive a 504 accommodation plan. When the disability does finally show through (usually through undesirable behavior), the schools don't seem to understand how a child this "high functioning" could display this behavior. These children sometimes fall through the cracks or worse, get labeled with a Behavioral problem and moved to inappropriate placements.

On the other hand, the child that has a verbal disability may be intelligent, but schools tend to lump them into a category of needing special classrooms with a variety of verbally challenged children and a lower curriculum than what is provided in the typical classrooms.

The truth of the matter is, intelligence and verbal skills do not negate a child's need for special education. Nor does the lack of verbal skills mean this child is incapable the general education curriculum or being included in a regular classroom. Getting this point across to schools is yet another challenge.

The key to providing FAPE (free appropriate public education) to a child with a disability is truly "individualized". There are no cookie cutter or skeleton programs that will address each child's needs.

It is this parent's opinion that every child with a neurological disability be given an Individualized Educational Program (IEP). In addition, inclusive practices should always be tried first, especially for those children that are not academically impaired. However, it seems that the opposite holds true in our schools. The most restrictive environment appears to be where these children end up because of lack of school supports.

We need to start demanding that schools live up to IDEA 2004 and Gaskin Case law. Our children should "not be left behind" because the school doesn't have a ready made "fit" for them.

Organizing it all...

Whoever thought we lived in the electronic age has never had a child in Special Education. More trees have died for our kids than we will ever know. The paper trail is excessive and complicated.

Here's what you need to get started organizing:

• A 3 hole punch
• A binder (large) with front clear view (put a pic of your child in here)
• A 3 hole pencil case (soft that fits into your binder)
• Pens, Pencils and a highlighter to keep in above case
• Post-it style stickies - keep in pencil case or a pocket of the binder
• Tabbed dividers (with pockets are nice)

Start organizing by Date and separate ALL paperwork with Tabbed dividers in a way that will make sense to you.

So now when you need to reference a document at home or an IEP meeting, its at your fingertips. Take this binder with whenever you meet with the school.

Organizing CAN be done :)

Behavior and Discipline - The school's responsibilities

I keep reading over and over again the same story. School labels child as a discipline problem yet fails to identify the cause of the behaviors. In other words, they blame the parents for lack of discipline or they blame nature and say this child is just inherently bad.

Schools need to address problem behaviors by completing Functional Behavior Assessments.

Taken from: http://cecp.air.org/fba/problembehavior2/rationale2.htm
When a student’s behavior disrupts classroom instruction, teachers often address the problem by manipulating events that follow the misbehavior (e.g., verbal reprimands, isolation, detention, suspension). Experience has shown that this approach fails to teach the student acceptable replacement behaviors (i.e., behaviors that are expected under certain circumstances).

The logic behind functional behavioral assessment is that practically all behavior occurs within a particular context and serves a specific purpose. Students learn to behave (or misbehave) in ways that satisfy a need or results in a desired outcome. Students will change their behavior only when it is clear that a different response will more effectively and efficiently result in the same outcome. Identifying the purpose of problem behaviors or more specifically, what the student "gets" or "avoids" through those behaviors) can provide information that is essential to developing instructional strategies and supports to reduce or eliminate behaviors that interfere with successful classroom performance or participation

If your child falls under one of these "disciplinary problem" labels, contact your school in writing and request a Functional Behavior Assessment. Only then, can everyone involved get to the root of the behavior and then give the child the tools he needs to stop (or start, in some cases) the behaviors in question.