Parents of children with special needs?

Question

Please tell me about your child and how you feel about the education your child receives. How good are the programs that the public school offers? Please tell everything you can think of.

Answer 1

My child is 9 yrs old, she has CP, Turner's Syndrome, and Lennox Gastaut. She attends a regular elementary school with special education support for her entire day, from 8am to 1 pm.

I fought hard to keep her at her current placement, the school wanted me to send her to a segregated school. I would not sign for the placement change so they took me to a due process hearing.  With a great amount of research, paper trails, friends help, and God's grace.. I was able to keep her in the placement I wanted for her.

The programs are suppose to be good (if the laws are followed) however tooo many schools try to skip out on their responsibilities for the money issues. You have to be willing to do your own research, push for what your child needs, and don't take no for an answer!

Answer 2

one of my children has severe CP and attends public school. in VA they have a Regional Program for children with multiple disorders that teach more from a cognitive standpoint vs. the traditional standards of learning guidelines. the children are actually exempt from some (or all-depending on the accomodation needs of the child) of the SOL guidelines, and are entitiled to receive educational services until the age of 21. through his IEP plan we are expanding his school experience to continue until either his 21st birthday or until an opening surfaces in an adult daycare center for special needs persons.

schools are very accomdating with services that branch from modified scheduling to home school services. IDEA gurantees that for our children. you can look up the modifications on the net - read about ADA educational accommodations. our children can have a very happy and successful school experience-you just have to educate yourself to leanr, know and advocate your child's rights, and be part of a team at the school that are like-minded.

best wishes!

Answer 3

it depends on the state. Here in Florida it is terrible. No matter how many IEP's we do, after three weeks it is almost forgotten by the staff. My child is treated as a second class citizen by teachers and students. By not teaching tolerance the "normal" children transcend into cold adults. It is a rarity that you find caring and compassionate people within the ESE program down here. The director in our area of ESE personifies the problem with ESE, and a good majority emulates his uncaring attitude. If the director of any ESE program wants to make a positive impact on ESE he or she must lead by example.

Answer 4

My sister has downs syndrome and she is 17. She attends a special national school, although she was in mainstream education up until the age of 10 or so. I think a special school is more efficient as the children get the attention that they need- my sister has come on in leaps and bounds since she started there. She has lots of friends and loves going to school, refusing to stay home even if she's sick! She's about to play Mary in the school nativity play. Her teachers are fantastic and she also takes part in many extra curricular activites, such as swimming, special olympics bowling and a social club which has many different social outings (such as to the cinema, restaurants) and skill developement sessions.(Like cooking, personal hygiene, make-up skills)

When she leaves school in 2008, she has a job lined up in a special workshop. She'll have a proper graduation from her school and we're all so proud of her.

From what I gather, you are trying to make the best decisions for a child of your own, and I wish you all the best.

Answer 5

My child has Epilepsy, Aspergers and OCD.  He graduated from a Vocational School in his area.  The local High school could do nothing to help him.  They also did not protect him from bullies and even punished him for all the trouble.

I took my other three children out of the public schools and put them in a private christian school.  There they are doing well.  It is worth the 500 a month that I had to get a second job to afford.  I will never subject my children to another Public School.   I wish the same for other parents.    I hope the Government allows vochers in my area soon, so that I can get out from under all this educational debt. .    Other areas about one hour away gets to send their children to the school of their choice.  But the state Government decided to only allow it in the Big cities for now.  

They put it in areas that already had more funding for their schools than the poor country schools do.  Oh well that is the Government for ya.  

I have five children and the school system wanted IEP's for them all.  I guess in their minds one bad apple spoils the whole bunch    Right"?     Well that theory is wrong as well.

I refused help for my second son.  And God  sent one teacher in that whole public school that enjoyed her job, pulled out the phonics, and got my son the help he needed.

He graduated with honors and now is a US  Marine

Not bad for a kid they said was LD and had a very low IQ.

Which by the way the IQ testing in public schools is a joke.

Good luck everyone.  I will stick with my Christian School.

Answer 6

well...my brother has a son who is special needs, (autism) and he's doing great...hes attending a great public  school in houston and is really improving in his weak areas..and the school really does care and puts a lot of effort into making them improve and be like everyone else

Answer 7

The LSD was not providing my child with what she needed and the way she needed the help to succeed. Any and every idea I proposed was not accepted or noted on the IEP. I even went so far as to quote IDEA codes to the crossed T and dotted I, the LSD refused to do them!  (I later found out...you can write a letter and request the letter noting your suggestions and reasons or lack thereof for refusal, be added on the permanent file under IDEA, 504, etc.) The programs were not offered. Besides, they were bad programs, so I guess God was watching over us.

I decided to put all my wasted efferts, emotions and energy directly into my child and stop wasting them on a school system who obviously cares nothing for children or the laws our men and women fight for, willing to and some even have given their lives for the freedoms we have.

In the state of GA, pulling my child, with exceptional needs, out to home school, qualifies our home study program as a private school!

I home school and put GOD first, back into our curriculum. (We are part of a local christian home school group.)  

That's what our forfathers wanted and paid dearly for us to have. It is a free country, no one holds you here against your will, not allowing you to leave to become a citizen of another country, if you so choose. So, if you don't like what USA was founded upon, LEAVE, go to another country and see if you can have all the rights and freedoms we take for granted, like removing God, whom we founded this nation upon.

Answer 8

I am in Nashville TN, and have an 14 year-old autistic son in the public school system here.Because the city has several schools, they can have one or two special ed classrooms per school that are each tailored to specific disabilities. The special ed classes try to "mainstream" the students into regular classes, or work toward developing a skill that can make them productive members of society. For most cases this works pretty well. However,since my son is completely unable to talk, we have decided that mainstreaming is not an option for him. He has been moved to another school that will concentrate on developing his communication skills.

Answer 9

It was awful, after five years of fighting them for a good IEP, and then fighting to get them to follow the IEP they agreed to, we pulled both of our kids with autism out of school and homeschooled.

They wouldn't even provide the home bound teaching because we couldn't prove that they weren't following the IEP and we didn't have thousands of dollars for a lawyer.

:Homeschool has been the best thing that's happened to our family. Our disabled children are learning faster and better than ever, and are much happier.