So starting the second week, my class received a new student. The poor guy had a rough first day. He crawled around the floor and was being extremely disruptive. I was able to sit down and talk with him when he was asking to sit in the "break chair" to ask him what was up. He told me that he was scared to be in this new school. I told him that if he needed to take a break or talk he was welcome to ask any adult in the class and that we were so happy to have him class. This seemed to make him feel better for about 20 minutes and then we went back to similar behavior of being disruptive. My co-teacher came find out that his brother acted the same way but only worse in his 4th grade classroom. As the week when on, we learned that in fact that this student is actually always like this. My co-teacher was curious about how he acted in his other school so she contacted his previous principal was able to get a better of idea of what this student was actually like. Turn out that this student was the exact same way at his old as he was here. They were in the beginning stages of getting him tested for an EBD but decided not to once they heard he was going to be moving. Their mother was also not supportive of getting him tested because she thought the school was being racist toward her sons, they are both of mixed race. The old school also hoped that a new school and environment would "straighten him out." Well clearly it didn't work. This past Thursday, the student's brother had an episode in his class to the point he had to be restrained and suspended from school, his mother then decided that because his brother was leaving so was he and was also not going to be in school while his brother wasn't either. I found this situation to be quite frustrating. The student in my class can be such a great kid sometimes that its just hard for me to understand what goes through his mind. Does anyone else have that problem?
--Nicole Laferriere
I am sure that this boy you are talking about and his brother are great students 100% of the time. The problem comes from not giving the students the support they need. This can be due to the school system or the parents. In this case, and I could be wrong, but were the boys transferred in order to prevent them from the EBD screening process? When it is the school failing the child, the parent can go through due process in order to go through the screening steps, but unfortunately when parents fail to comply, the education system must find ways to work around it.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that restraining the student may have seemed necessary, but suspension is a hard "necessary" disciplinary action. Students who are suspended have a harder time making up for the school curricula that they miss thus falling behind.
I am sorry that you are in this situation. I would love to ask some of my peers in my special education safe guards class advice for you? Or even my professor who has more years of experience?
Wow that's too bad. Hope it gets better for them!
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry that you had to be put in that situation! I hope that everything was able to work out for you!
ReplyDeleteI work at True Friends which is a camp for Special Needs. I witness several behaviors while working. Usually it's because those individuals are overstimulated and very anxious. There is just simply too much going on for them to process, and I'm sure going to a new school with new people didn't help.
I hope that the school district helps him get tested for EBD and find a way to fully accommodate to this students needs!