[MESA12]

hi
I'm the mother of an 8 yr old girl with several learning dissabilities and will be moving to lakeland next year. I want to know if anyone has had any good or "bad" experiences with this in the schools in the area. where I live there are not enough services. she is supposed to be in third grade but is doing first grade work, she can't read or write. the school she is attending now is a regular school but they give her a lot of love thou not many services.she need a lot of personal attenion, can anyone recomend a school?? any help would be very appreciated
thanks

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by MESA12

hi
I'm the mother of an 8 yr old girl with several learning dissabilities and will be moving to lakeland next year. I want to know if anyone has had any good or "bad" experiences with this in the schools in the area. where I live there are not enough services. she is supposed to be in third grade but is doing first grade work, she can't read or write. the school she is attending now is a regular school but they give her a lot of love thou not many services.she need a lot of personal attenion, can anyone recomend a school?? any help would be very appreciated
thanks

Hi - I don't know of a specific school, but maybe this page from the local online paper, The Ledger will be of some help:

Polk Education | The Ledger: Lakeland, Polk County, Florida

[Floridamom1970]

We do not live in Lakeland , we are in Marion County. I realize that this may not be an option, but have you ever considered homeschooling her?
I ask this because I have a ten year old daughter who is severely autistic with the verbal ability of a three year old who is doing Kindergarten and first grade level work when she is supposed to be in fifth grade. I was so angry at the public schools last year that I took her out and began homeschooling and it has made a huge difference both academically and verbally. I love homeschooling her so much I wish I had done it a lot sooner. I also work 12 hour shifts on the weekends. People will tell you that you cannot do it if you work full time but there are parents who do. There are also single parents who homeschool.If you work durring the day or if she is not a "morning"person (like my girl) then you can do your schooling at night like we do.

BTW, my daughter no longer gets ANY services from the school system. I pay for her curriculum out of my own pocket but it is so worth it not to have to answer to the public schools anymore.

[gypsychic]

There is a school in Lake Wales (about 30 mi. from Lakeland give or take) called the Vanguard School. Here is a link to the page about the applicants, although your child might be a little too young.

The Vanguard School > Admissions > About Our Applicants

[AArnoldMS]

I wanted to share with you that Crossroads Lakeland ( www.crossroadslakeland.com ) is a school that specializes in services for students with learning disabilities. The small class sizes and specially trained, professional staff make up the warm, family environment. Check us out on the web or call us at 863-682-5730. Just ask for me, the director, Amy Arnold, if I can help you in any way!

[Retiredcoach]

Your child has an IEP, a powerful federal document to insure his/her optimal education . You would be amazed at the number of school districts who rely upon parental naivety to limit the quality of this educational plan. The IEP must be formulated to emulate the needs of the child, not the budget excuses ruminated by many school administrators. Yes, it may cost a school more money to educate your child, but it will cost them significantly more if found in violation of IDEA & your child's civil rights. Wherever you enroll your child, know the strength of your position and become active in formulating that IEP. Include language within it that insures compliance with the law and best meets your child's needs. The school is agreeing to a contract to provide an educational plan.... advocate for your child... you will guarantee a difference.

Some of the other posters who advocate a special school or homeschooling, do not seem to realize the hard battles fought to guarantee your child a free and appropriate public education. Do not allow anyone to tell you that segregating your child is a solution.... it's not. If you do not feel comfortable attending your child's IEP with just your knowledge of your child's specific needs, bring an advocate or an attorney. These are critical years in your child's life; he/she is entitled to the education matching the needs.

[Floridamom1970]

Originally Posted by Retiredcoach

Your child has an IEP, a powerful federal document to insure his/her optimal education . You would be amazed at the number of school districts who rely upon parental naivety to limit the quality of this educational plan. The IEP must be formulated to emulate the needs of the child, not the budget excuses ruminated by many school administrators. Yes, it may cost a school more money to educate your child, but it will cost them significantly more if found in violation of IDEA & your child's civil rights. Wherever you enroll your child, know the strength of your position and become active in formulating that IEP. Include language within it that insures compliance with the law and best meets your child's needs. The school is agreeing to a contract to provide an educational plan.... advocate for your child... you will guarantee a difference.

Some of the other posters who advocate a special school or homeschooling, do not seem to realize the hard battles fought to guarantee your child a free and appropriate public education. Do not allow anyone to tell you that segregating your child is a solution.... it's not. If you do not feel comfortable attending your child's IEP with just your knowledge of your child's specific needs, bring an advocate or an attorney. These are critical years in your child's life; he/she is entitled to the education matching the needs.

Most of the parents of special needs kids that I have met are aware of how powerfull the IEP is. However, it seems that (from what I have been reading) there are now many families who are opting for either homeschooling or placing the children in specialized private schools.

I recently relocated to Oklahoma City from Marion County Florida, which is where my special blessing attended public school.Her sensory integration issues that go along with her low functioining autism had escalated to the point where she could no longer tolerate riding the school bus for two hours a day (we were in a rural area and none of the local schools could accept her at the time). When she is under stress she has a tendency to indulge in sef- injurous behavior. The school officials did not believe us when we told them this and stated that they belived that she was just trying to get her way and not go to school, which we knew was not true. They were going to "force the issue" with her and they made sure we knew that.

Anyway, we started homeschooling her offficially the very next week and have never looked back. In fact my fourteen year old is also homeschooling this year and will be given a choice about wether or not to return to public school next school year.

Our lives have had a lot less stress since we started homeschooling. The school bus issue was just the tip of the iceburg. We had had issues with her school for over two years over various things and it finally just became too much for us to deal with anymore.

One of the advantages to homeschooling is that we have more opportunities to get her out in the community learning to live among others. I am currently teaching her to do simple shopping and will soon be joining a new autism support group. We plan to have the teenager join a homeschool group and a youth group. Hopefully, we can find something for my autistic girl to do in the homeschool group too.

A friend of mine back in Florida was able to place her two kids in a private school for autistic children. Her kids are as severe as mine and she is as happy as can be with their school. This school has "life skills "classes as well as shopping trips and even church for the students. They teach the students to do laundry, wash dishes ect. They have academics too. I can only speak for the area I know but there are no public schools in that area that do that much for the special needs/autism students. The school was too far away and had no transport so it was not an option for my girl to go there.

I really do not think that public schools are as prepared as they need to be in order to properly integrate students with severe special needs like low functioning autism into society. I think that I am also proof positive that there are some families who are better off homeschooling their special kids than living in a constant state of extreme stress, afraid to let their kid leave the house to go to school with a hair out of place. Yes, that was one of the issues we had with the teacher/school.

[Retiredcoach]

Originally Posted by Floridamom1970

Most of the parents of special needs kids that I have met are aware of how powerfull the IEP is. However, it seems that (from what I have been reading) there are now many families who are opting for either homeschooling or placing the children in specialized private schools.

I recently relocated to Oklahoma City from Marion County Florida, which is where my special blessing attended public school.Her sensory integration issues that go along with her low functioining autism had escalated to the point where she could no longer tolerate riding the school bus for two hours a day (we were in a rural area and none of the local schools could accept her at the time). When she is under stress she has a tendency to indulge in sef- injurous behavior. The school officials did not believe us when we told them this and stated that they belived that she was just trying to get her way and not go to school, which we knew was not true. They were going to "force the issue" with her and they made sure we knew that.

Anyway, we started homeschooling her offficially the very next week and have never looked back. In fact my fourteen year old is also homeschooling this year and will be given a choice about wether or not to return to public school next school year.

Our lives have had a lot less stress since we started homeschooling. The school bus issue was just the tip of thee iceburg. We had had issues with her school for over two years over various things and it finally just became too much for us to deal with anymore.

One of the advantages to homeschooling is that we have more opportunities to get her out in the community learning to live among others. I am currently teaching her to do simple shopping and will soon be joining a new autism support group. We plan to have the teenager join a homeschool group and a youth group. Hopefully, we can find something for my autistic girl to do in the homeschool group too.

A friend of mine back in Florida was able to place her two kids in a private school for autistic children. Her kids are as severe as mine and she is as happy as can be with their school. This school has "life skills "classes as well as shopping trips and even church for the students. They teach the students to do laundry, wash dishes ect. They have academics too. I can only speak for the area I know but there are no public schools in that area that do that much for the special needs/autism students. The school was too far away and had no transport so it was not an option for my girl to go there.

I really do not think that public schools are as prepared as they need to be in order to properly integrate students with severe special needs like low functioning autism into society.

You can dwell upon the perceived limitations of your school experiences, but by law, the public schools MUST find the means to meet the needs of each and every child. Segregation sanctioned by well-meaning parents will never solve the problem of their children needing to be prepared for society. Home schooling and/or specially segregated schools are ill-conceived and cruel solutions for parents wanting to hide their offspring's needs from the world around them. Bottom line.... you are preventing your child from exercising his/her civil rights for your sake, not his/hers.

[Floridamom1970]

Originally Posted by Retiredcoach

You can dwell upon the perceived limitations of your school experiences, but by law, the public schools MUST find the means to meet the needs of each and every child. Segregation sanctioned by well-meaning parents will never solve the problem of their children needing to be prepared for society. Home schooling and/or specially segregated schools are ill-conceived and cruel solutions for parents wanting to hide their offspring's needs from the world around them. Bottom line.... you are preventing your child from exercising his/her civil rights for your sake, not his/hers.

How is it cruel? My girls are not segregated. Even if I wanted to I could never hide her autism, she is just too severe. Anyone looking at her for more than two seconds can see that. Inclusion at school is not the answer for every child. What was cruel was the way her old school treated us as her parents. Every step of the way they tried to push us into doing what they wanted and if we dared to object or voice our concerns we were either dismissed or they dug in their heels and pushed even harder.Our concerns were never even given consideration. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that home/private schooling WORKS for autistic children.My own child is thriving and doing better than she ever did in public school. School did not get her reading I did. They never tought her simple basic math. I am doing that and she is learning. These are just a few of the skills she will need in order to function in society. In truth I really had no idea what my daughter was capable of learning until I put her in private therapy and began working with her one on one. Our progress is slow but certain and our stress level has decreased dramatically. School did not take her out to a store and do simple shopping either. Oh sure I could have tried to do all this after school hours but she was always too tired for me to work with her then since she had to be woken up at 5 am to get ready for an hour long bus ride and then not get back home till 4.

Now we have a new life in a new state and are planning to continue homeschooling both girls even though I work full time.

[daniellefort]

From the parent of a blind child who has been in the FL regular school system for 9 years, I don't think FL has the best schools for my child. I just moved back to a small town in NH and the schools here are actually teaching my daughter. The schools in FL had her in a classroom of only 5 kids with 2 aids in the room and they played games more often than they did work. Yes, she had an IEP. Here in NH, she's in a regular classroom with 18 kids and her aid and she's actually learning history and Reading/writing skills that she didn't really have in FL. In my opinion, too many kids in a school is not good. She had 1500 kids in FL and only 550 here in NH and i think the smaller the school, sometimes the more time teachers have with these special needs children. Yes, by law the schools do have to provide the necessary aids for children but if you don't have the teachers to back up the teaching part of it, it's really not doing any good for the children.