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I taught for many years. Although, we had tentative class lists before school ended, often there was numerous changes over the summer, with families moving in and families moving out of the district.
The teachers in my district did not get their "official" class lists until a week before school started and often there were changes right up to when they were posted for the parents a day or so later.
I taught for many years. Although, we had tentative class lists before school ended, often there was numerous changes over the summer, with families moving in and families moving out of the district.
The teachers in my district did not get their "official" class lists until a week before school started and often there were changes right up to when they were posted for the parents a day or so later.
The problem is not changes, but with an autistic child, it is important that he knows what is going to happen before the first day of school. For this year and next year, he will know a week in advance, but in 7th and 8th grade they don't find out until the first day of school. That is very hard on him. In k-4, since he was in the same school and knew all the teachers, it did not matter at much except for kindergarten, but this year is 5th grade - new school, new teachers and they move around from class to class for all subjects, not just specials as he did in k-4. Yes, he is getting older and more mature, but his anxiety may be getting worse, not better.
PS. for students with special needs there are often many modifications or adaptations made to the general rules. It is very common to allow students with autism to get their schedule in advance and even to arrange to walk the path between classes and meet each teacher.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nana053
The problem is not changes, but with an autistic child, it is important that he knows what is going to happen before the first day of school. For this year and next year, he will know a week in advance, but in 7th and 8th grade they don't find out until the first day of school. That is very hard on him. In k-4, since he was in the same school and knew all the teachers, it did not matter at much except for kindergarten, but this year is 5th grade - new school, new teachers and they move around from class to class for all subjects, not just specials as he did in k-4. Yes, he is getting older and more mature, but his anxiety may be getting worse, not better.
As I mentioned earlier, in my school district, if a child in special education needed special modifications they would receive their class schedule in advance. It is also not unusual for it to be written in the IEP, perhaps as Extended School Year, "attend school for one hour per day for the week before school starts, being shown and practicing the route between classes" (or whatever is appropriate for that child).
We have had children with autism, go to school for two hours a week, every week of the summer or attend two or three half days a week for the last three weeks of summer or make one tour of the new school or many other different combinations of services needed for that particular child.
Is it possible that they do make special arrangements for kids, with autism, going into 7th and 8th grade but they just haven't mentioned them because he is not yet in those grades?
As I mentioned earlier, in my school district, if a child in special education needed special modifications they would receive their class schedule in advance. It is also not unusual for it to be written in the IEP, perhaps as Extended School Year, "attend school for one hour per day for the week before school starts, being shown and practicing the route between classes" (or whatever is appropriate for that child).
We have had children with autism, go to school for two hours a week, every week of the summer or attend two or three half days a week for the last three weeks of summer or make one tour of the new school or many other different combinations of services needed for that particular child.
He does not qualify for extended school year here because he has never regressed over the summer. It is two 3 week sessions here and not held at the home school so that would not tell him anything about who his teachers would be. He went one year and it was worthless for him because they did not work on his IEP goals so we never requested it again.
He would not really need to attend for an hour a day, just to get the teachers names and meet them once and perhaps have a picture of them before school starts.
My nephew is autism and his mom just found out what school he was going to (wrong placement) never mind the class or teacher. But my son is in catholic school so i know from the year before. There are only two kindergarden teachers. They told me in june though which class he would be in though.
He would not really need to attend for an hour a day, just to get the teachers names and meet them once and perhaps have a picture of them before school starts.
If that would be something that would help his transition to a new school be more successful than I would request that it be put in his IEP/behavior plan/academic support plan/or whatever as an accommodation. Again, in my district, when transferring to a new level, they would have the classes and the names of the teachers before the end of the previous school year. However, if a teacher leaves the district or changes classes the child may get a different teacher and sometimes that can be more upsetting to a child expecting Mrs. Smith for Math and he or she is now having Mr. Jones.
In fact, in my district (and I believe in all of the districts near me), the elementary or MS special ed. teacher always takes each student (sometimes 1 to 1 and sometimes in a small group) right before school ends to the new school to meet their new special ed. teacher and other teachers and to see the school. They often spend most of the day, usually having lunch in the new school's cafeteria. Doesn't your grandson's special education teacher do something like that?
Again, in my district, and in the districts around my area, it would be a very reasonable accommodation (to have the child meet each teacher, see their classroom, and (maybe) have a picture of them) right before school starts.
Why do you think that the district will not be able to do that when he is going into 7th and 8th grade?
Last edited by germaine2626; 08-16-2015 at 03:47 PM..
If that would be something that would help his transition to a new school be more successful than I would request that it be put in his IEP/behavior plan/academic support plan/or whatever as an accommodation. Again, in my district, when transferring to a new level, they would have the classes and the names of the teachers before the end of the previous school year. However, if a teacher leaves the district or changes classes the child may get a different teacher and sometimes that can be more upsetting to a child expecting Mrs. Smith for Math and he or she is now having Mr. Jones.
In fact, in my district (and I believe in all of the districts near me), the elementary or MS special ed. teacher always takes each student (sometimes 1 to 1 and sometimes in a small group) right before school ends to the new school to meet their new special ed. teacher and other teachers and to see the school. They often spend most of the day, usually having lunch in the new school's cafeteria. Doesn't your grandson's special education teacher do something like that?
Again, in my district, and in the districts around my area, it would be a very reasonable accommodation (to have the child meet each teacher, see their classroom, and (maybe) have a picture of them) right before school starts.
Why do you think that the district will not be able to do that when he is going into 7th and 8th grade?
Because even this year, they didn't want to do it. They are going to on the Friday before school starts because I asked his homeroom teacher who we found out on Wednesday and she said it was fine, but not to bother going through administration. We had asked the councilor to set it up and she never got back to us.
This is just a very messy district though they have been good about his IEPs. We don't usually have to fight with them.
I think if we get it put in his IEP, then they may be willing in 7th grade, but let me tell you what happened to his sister in 5th grade. She was in gifted classes and she has a 504 not an IEP. She has ADHD and Aspergers and has never really needed much except for teachers who can figure out how to help her cope. Well, she came back from winter break and two of her teachers had left (one retired and we all thought she would be there until June and the other followed her husband to a new job which was totally unexpected). The school new before break. If they had told us, we could have prepared her, but they did not tell anyone. Both of the teachers who came in were brand new to teaching and knew absolutely nothing about aspergers. We were told we would need to change her team which we agreed to, but it did mean moving down from gifted to advanced. Since she was struggling in Reading and English at this time and since they won't do two different levels in 5th grade, this worked out for the best, but in theory, we could have fought this since she is gt in math and science. Now she is a year behind where she would be in math and science due to this placement. They do not do twice exceptional kids well, imo.
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