Good evening coaches,
My son has been having a hard time transitioning into his new school environment. He is coming from a Montessori background and is currently in a kindergarten 12:1:1 classroom in a public school. There are a total of 5 paras in the classroom. Every day the teacher informs me of something my son has done. However when I respond or provide a strategy she never responds. All of the behaviors she complains about are listed in his IEP (I also told her more than once he gets triggered by crying ). He is fortunate to have a private ABA therapist most days of the week but when she isn’t there his behaviors appear to be worst. I’m at my wits end and I’m contemplating removing him but I also know she’s not really doing her job and I want to advocate for my boy.
Here is a copy of an email sent today:
Good morning mom.
Caz is struggling to keep his hands to himself, play comparatively and he is unaware of danger. Yesterday at 8:59am, we transitioned to the classroom safely as a group. When I was going over the daily routines, Caz saw the open door, and he ran out of the classroom. The behavior interrupts the learning progress. At 10:21am a friend was crying and Caz walked up to the friend and struck the friend in the face.
Today, at 10:45am a friend was crying and Caz struck the friend in the face. He physically hurt others. The behavior is not accepted in school. Please teach Caz to keep his hands and feet to himself. Caz and I had a conversation and we worked on keeping our hands and feet to ourself. Please read social stories about hitting others. The behavior hurts the student . At 11:25 am during playtime, he grabbed a toy from a friend and the friends was crying. He positioned himself to hit the friend and the para stopped him. He had to sit out playing for 5 minutes. The behavior interrupts the learning process.
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Answer:
Hey there, I'm sorry you're going through this, I know this all to well, but glad you reached out for support. So I wouldn't remove him just yet until you had a backup plan in place. Some things.. you say he is in a 12:1:1 but there are 5 paras, this placement is 12 students, 1 teacher, 1 aid. Are the 5 Paras actually 1:1's for other children or are meant to help all children? Backup plan could be what if he had 40hrs of ABA in your home? A more restrictive classroom environment like a 6:1:4, etc.
What I would do is have a conversation with your ABA Therapist, get their read on this teacher and how she runs her classroom. Then I would send an email to the teacher and the head of the school saying you would like to have new IEP meeting as soon as possible, so you can discuss your concerns. You should attach all email correspondence from this teacher as well as your unanswered responses. If he's more then she can handle, we might need a different placement. We don't want this email to feel confrontational just from a concerned mom. i would also call as soon as you send it and speak to the principal or director of the school. Let me know how this shakes out and we are here for you.
Hey there, I’m sorry you’re going through this, I know this all to well, but glad you reached out for support. So I wouldn’t remove him just yet until you had a backup plan in place. Some things.. you say he is in a 12:1:1 but there are 5 paras, this placement is 12 students, 1 teacher, 1 aid. Are the 5 Paras actually 1:1’s for other children or are meant to help all children? Backup plan could be what if he had 40hrs of ABA in your home? A more restrictive classroom environment like a 6:1:4, etc.
What I would do is have a conversation with your ABA Therapist, get their read on this teacher and how she runs her classroom. Then I would send an email to the teacher and the head of the school saying you would like to have new IEP meeting as soon as possible, so you can discuss your concerns. You should attach all email correspondence from this teacher as well as your unanswered responses. If he’s more then she can handle, we might need a different placement. We don’t want this email to feel confrontational just from a concerned mom. i would also call as soon as you send it and speak to the principal or director of the school. Let me know how this shakes out and we are here for you.
The additional paras are 1:1 for the other students. The therapist says the teacher doesn’t seem to implement adequate strategies to assist the students. She also said he is not the most “problematic” student there, but she doesn’t really deal with the other student because he has a 1:1. I’m going to forward the emails to the school psychologist and request a meeting with both of them.
Ok so that makes sense, those assistants are assigned to the other children so it’s really a placement where they hope 1 assistant can help the rest of the students who dont have a para.
I think this is a good idea but I would also bring the principal /director of the school into the conversation and request a new IEP meeting as soon as possible.
That can take up to 30 days to schedule so from what you’ve shared it seems like your son would benefit from either a more restrictive placement like a 6:1:4 or we need another classroom, or and this is what I assume all will lean towards, getting this teacher on board to do better by him. Keep me posted.
Thank a bunch. Will keep you posted!