Tuesday, March 30, 2010

School Frustrations

We got up late yesterday and forgot to give Tristan's medication. Whoa, mama, was it obvious when he came home. I figured he had enough medication in his system that one morning wouldn't make a difference, but I was so wrong.

He came home from school and proceeded to turn somersaults in the living room and flip backwards over the couch for two hours. No matter how much I yelled, he just couldn't help himself. My couch is feeling the pain and I think I'm going to get a new one when we move in September. Any time I asked him to bring his toys upstairs, he attempted to get his sister to go with him. Since he often behaves inappropriately towards her if he thinks I'm not watching, that didn't fly.

I ended up giving him the medication so he could go to baseball without too much trouble. He had a good practice so it must have worked.

I had a meeting with his teachers this morning as to what the plan is if he has another tactile hallucination. Basically, the plan is; talk to him, if that doesn't work, remove him from the room. If he strips off his clothing, he goes to the nurse and I get a phone call. That's what they do already, but now it's written down so all of his teachers are on the same page. I personally think they are supposed to be redoing his IEP and 504 because his bipolar disorder is now affecting him in school, but they made sure to reiterate that the meeting this morning is NOT an IEP meeting.

I don't get these people. Tristan is hearing impaired AND has a language processing disorder, but his speech pathologist refuses to teach him any signing to help him out, saying he's "too vocal" and they don't want him to be reliant on signing. Instead they're teaching him things like "above, below, before." Those words will really help him when he's frustrated because he can't express himself. *insert eye roll here*

I've battled them since last year to provide services inhome because of his bipolar. The insurance doesn't cover it, saying it's the responsibility of the school. The school says since it doesn't affect him in school, it's not their responsibility. I don't care who does it, but someone needs to step up and help my kid out. No wonder the Hawaiian school system is notorious for being full of fail. I would fight with them, but school is over in a month and we're moving before Tristan will start second grade, so it isn't worth it in my case.

Last year, I requested a new IEP twice from Tristan's care coordinator due to the fact that he was diagnosed as hearing impaired and now wore a hearing aid. I was told twice that "it's not needed." When he was admitted to the hospital, they told me not to take "no" for an answer and to submit my request in writing and send a copy to the superintendent of the school. I did that and what do you know, we got a new IEP meeting very quickly.

I feel terrible for parents who don't know their rights. The school system does not want to help people who genuinely need their assistance. Handling people a little green booklet full of legal jargon does not help the average people understand their rights.

Don't worry, folks! I'll be working on a "Knowing Your Rights" posting and will put it up as soon as it's finished.

No comments:

Post a Comment