Looking for any one that has Dracut High school Sped student.?

Question

My 17 year old is in sped as of 2 years ago. Still failing. he is on a iep. Working with Childrens hospital adhd clinic.He was retained in 9th grade.Yaa 9th grade. How pathetic, as i wanted him retained in 3rd grade but they refused to retain him. Now he is suffering tremensly. He was diagnosed with adhd exectutive funtion disorder any reading and lanuage delays.I have had many many team meetings and its always the same. He is lazy and clue less.His self esteem has gone from bad to worce over these constant failing grades, I am afraid he will walk out some day.My next step is to get councel but its too expensive as i am a single mom.My heart goes out to him. I need some answers so he can graduate with dignaty!!

Answer 1

Are they following his IEP??!  Next, what's in it?

I'm not in Dracut, but in the Boston area...and have not had the easiest time with our school either. My son is out-of-district in a school that works for him & happily learning.

There should be an organization goal in the IEP where someone works with him to teach him how to organize his work & time, AND until he's able to do it himself, does it for him. They have great organizer notebooks where teachers can fill in assignments, both short & long term.

There should also be something in there for a weekly phone call or email between a school liason (teacher) & home (say on Tues. or Wed.) to go over weekly assignments, so that you know what needs to be done.

An accommodation should be that he has a 2nd set of books for every class at home. (That way he doesn't have to remember to bring them home.)

BTW, his diagnosis sounds a bit like Aspergers Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning Disability. Has anyone at Children's ever suggested that?

For the reading/language delays, you can have books on tape, text to speech & speech to text software, which are both amazing. They help kids hear what they've written & make writing assignments so much easier.

That's off the top of my head. I'm not sure the exact nature of the reading/language delays, so there may be other things you can get in the IEP.

To find an advocate (many will work on a sliding scale) you can contact the local ARC, look under educational advocates in the phone book, or go online to Aspergers Assoc. of N.E. (they can give you a list of advocates). You may need one to get the school to do the right thing -- advocates are worth their weight in gold! Ours is like our educational pit bull -- she knows the law backwards & forwards, and how to get my son what he needs.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have, one mom to another.  

Answer 2

What you are going thru is normal all over the USA. Schools are VERY corrupt with special education.

The best bet would be to get him out, get GED, go to private, get help yourself and don't involve the school, etc.

If he has to stay in school, you can get an advocate to help you for free.

Call your state dept of education, the special ed department, and ask for info on the ''federally funded special education parent advocacy agency''   They help parents for FREE.

Here's a message board where you can get GREAT help --

http://www.millermom.proboards107.com/in...