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My 11 y.o. high functioning autistic daughter will be attending middle school next year. I have an IEP meeting to discuss the plan for next year. I am concerned about PE. Can she change clothes in the restroom? What about the lock for her locker, what if she has trouble with that? She's very bright but emotionally and socially immature. What help can I ask for in PE? Thanks.
She has high anxiety. She uses the school nurse restroom because she's too nervous to use the regular restroom and she has OCD. These are just some examples.
These are issues to bring up during the IEP meeting. I would request that the PE teacher or department head be at part of the meeting so you can speak about your concerns. She is probably not the first student that they've had to make accommodations for regarding locker combinations or keys so I'm sure they have a helpful solution for that. There are usually bathroom stalls in the locker room, perhaps your daughter would be okay with that amount of privacy?
Go to the CSE meeting with as much documentation as possible to back up your request. Ask your daughter's therapist and classroom teachers for letters explaining the need for an accommodation.
Usually the transition to middle school is the hardest for parents. Requesting that the PE teacher attend the meeting is a good idea. He or she can probably allay all your anxiety and help develop a good plan for your daughter.
My 11 y.o. high functioning autistic daughter will be attending middle school next year. I have an IEP meeting to discuss the plan for next year. I am concerned about PE. Can she change clothes in the restroom? What about the lock for her locker, what if she has trouble with that? She's very bright but emotionally and socially immature. What help can I ask for in PE? Thanks.
For the lock, buy a combination lock for her to practice on in the summer. That's what we did with our two. This is important even for NT kids.
Just remember the PE teacher is going to be responsible for 25 - 30 other students as well as your child.
While that is true, appropriate accommodations planned in advance would make it easier for your child to be self sufficient, thus easier for the teacher and the other students.
Our local middle school has at least three ways to accommodate problems with locker combinations. When new shipments of locks come to the school someone takes a quick look through them and sets aside the very easiest combinations, such as 5 - 10 - 15 or 20 - 30 - 40 or something easy to remember. Those locks are saved for children with learning disabilities or other special needs. Some children (cognitively disabled) use similar looking locks but they use keys instead of combinations. Other children have lockers inside the classroom (rather than in the hallway) so they don't even need padlocks.
I am sure that most middle school do something similar.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nana053
For the lock, buy a combination lock for her to practice on in the summer. That's what we did with our two. This is important even for NT kids.
My district sometimes gives the actual padlock to the special ed. teacher in May so that the teacher & child can practice it before school ends.
And, allowing a student to change in the bathroom or behind a curtain or something similar would not cause extra work for the teacher. Most middle schools have some private areas, others have multiple stalls or private areas. At the minimum they all (to my knowledge) have the private bathroom and/or shower area that is designed to be used by the teacher connected to their office.
Of course, some accommodations can be very time consuming or labor intensive or take a lot of time away from the other students but it does not seem like the ones mentioned by the OP would be a problem.
Last edited by germaine2626; 01-19-2016 at 02:47 PM..
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