What that poor child had to go through because of some awful, ignorant, abusive people. There are some more words I'd like to use but I wont. I give a lot of credit to the parents of the child. What a horrifying experience.
I've had my own issues regarding school administrators labeling my children. In fact, if I didn't threaten district administrators, in one case, and a private school's owners, in a different situation, with litigation my then 18 year olds would have been thrown out of school, denied graduation, with one missing out on a full free ride to a very good college and the other losing admission to a school with a leading journalist program.
I am not at all surprised about the content of the attached article. I pity the poor child who doesn't have parents as educated, involved and in possession of the resources of the couple in the article. Those are the kids that are destroyed through the ignorance of these so called "educators".
For my money, its not the teachers that are the problem in schools, its the administrators. Give them an ounce of power and they'll turn it into a ten ton hammer.
that school psychologist gig years ago. Administrations are largely ignorant and just horrible to deal with. I had a free ride for my masters degree, at that time. And I turned it down because I did not want to deal with the unethical school administrations.
From the very beginning, the author wants to blame someone else. He professes to be a PhD acquainted with the issue, but didn't figure out his kid had movement issues as a 5 year old. Every paragraph of the article read 'there was a new shock' about the child and how he was being treated. How about you take some responsibility and observe your child and ensure that the school is aware of his disabilities in advance, not some constant dance of reaction to whatever they're doing?
That doesn't excuse the school's actions, but I barely made it a portion of the way through the article without wanting to smack the author around.
as an OT it's tough, but not un-expected to read a story like this
you should be careful though when you get one side of the story. Not saying this nonsense doesn't go on in the schools, it does all the time. I just think with stories like this you need to get both sides to really hear the whole story. Sensory processing disorders and apraxia are so poorly understood it's really sad. Not to mention the school districts want nothing to do with dealing with them. This is because the very nature of them is so nebulous that it's near impossible to back up results and interventions with data studies. Schools rely on data for everything.
My son had some sensory issues as a young child that manifested in different ways, but the teachers and the school brought us in, we all discussed the problem and worked together to get him some physical therapy and they performed evaluations with respect for my son and us as parents.
This wasn't a major disability, so I'm very sympathetic to parents who are dealing with bigger issues and not getting help they need from their school systems, but not every system is broken.
The judge concurs that the school is full of crap...she incorporated the parents' account of the facts in their entirety, noting that the school's allegations and characterizations of the child's behavior were based on "data" gathered by individuals with no professional qualifications to gather, appropriately evaluate or characterize such information.
In contrast, as soon as the parents became aware of the allegations raised by the school, they immediately enrolled the child in therapy and had the child privately evaluated by a psychiatrist, as well as the child's pediatrician...AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE.
The judge clearly credits the professionals hired by the child's parents over the school aid and teachers who were NOT QUALIFIED in such data gathering and evaluations.
In short...the school, the teachers and the principal were absolutely and utterly FULL OF SHIT.
Frankly, it's extremely concerning that the first conclusion the aid, teacher and principal jumped to was that the 6-year-old child's behavior was sexual in nature.
One would think it judicious, upon the declaration of such a potentially outrageous and slanderous conclusion by NON-QUALIFIED personnel, the principal or guidance counselor would immediately recommend evaluation by QUALIFIED professionals to determine whether such conclusions were actually warranted or accurate...or whether there was not some other more cause.
The judge concurs that the school is full of crap...she incorporated the parents' account of the facts in their entirety, noting that the school's allegations and characterizations of the child's behavior were based on "data" gathered by individuals with no professional qualifications to gather, appropriately evaluate or characterize such information.
In contrast, as soon as the parents became aware of the allegations raised by the school, they immediately enrolled the child in therapy and had the child privately evaluated by a psychiatrist, as well as the child's pediatrician...AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE.
The judge clearly credits the professionals hired by the child's parents over the school aid and teachers who were NOT QUALIFIED in such data gathering and evaluations.
In short...the school, the teachers and the principal were absolutely and utterly FULL OF SHIT.
Frankly, it's extremely concerning that the first conclusion the aid, teacher and principal jumped to was that the 6-year-old child's behavior was sexual in nature.
One would think it judicious, upon the declaration of such a potentially outrageous and slanderous conclusion by NON-QUALIFIED personnel, the principal or guidance counselor would immediately recommend evaluation by QUALIFIED professionals to determine whether such conclusions were actually warranted or accurate...or whether there was not some other more cause.
The administration's intransigence is all the more outrageous because it was based upon evaluations made by individuals entirely unqualified to make or reach such conclusions.
Frankly, the aids and teachers in the case are in need of further education and training to remedy their ignorance on the challenged and potential disabilities among special needs students, and the principal of the school is in need of a swift and colossal beating.
not had the resources to do that, they would have gotten steam rolled by the system and that kid would have been damaged in ways too varied to quantify.
That the alternative is to abandon the available public education entirely. Most parents do not have that option.
The public school system in the town we grew up in, a suburb of Rochester, was absolutely outstanding. The teachers and services were fantastic. There were excellent resources for both special needs as well as gifted students.
The abandonment of public education by those with the resources to send their kids to private school or to home school, means that the rest of the kids left behind really suffer...because the parents and families most likely to keep the pressure on the school administrations to do right by the kids are no longer invested.
Every child should enjoy the caliber of public education that the kids from our school district were lucky to be able to take for granted.
if these parents had homeschooled their child, the child would not be getting the care he needs. They were oblivious to their childs needs until the school brought it to their attention.
how the school brought it to these two 'professional' occupation parents' attention. The school fell down in that regards, but really, no consternation that the parents were completely oblivious?
I agree to the extent that I shouldn't receive and type of tax break by choosing not to use the public school and that we should have to foot all the expense of doing it ourselves. But every parent should be able to determine what is best for their own children. I am lucky that my wife was a public school teacher herself plus we have the benefit of having a couple a great local homeschool co-op's available in our area.
I do feel bad for families stuck in a poor situation with no good alternative options available or affordable to them.
My son has shown a lot of similar symptoms and has had an IEP since pre-K. He is now in 4th grade. Now, my second son is getting ready for Kindergarten next year and also has an IEP for similar issues. After reading this, I am so grateful that we are in a wonderful school (and public) that offers OT, PT, therapy, etc.
While there are still some deficiencies in the system, overall, this school and NYC in general, is trying to be progressive in their handling of the special ed. and special needs populations.
I find your response way off base. It is certainly possible the author's reaction(s) is clouded or exaggerated by being a concerned party. However, regardless of your level of training in these matters, it is very easy to miss certain signs. At 5, especially, there is a very blurred and fine line about what is age appropriate and what is the result of a special need, disorder, etc.
I can speak from personal experience on this. It is also important to note that the author mentioned many of the movements and behaviors were not displayed at home. Again, from personal experience, this is very common. We have been on the opposite end where some behaviors and symptoms have manifested themselves at home, but not at school. That makes it difficult to address the issue(s) through mandated services sometimes.
In the case of the article, though, the behaviors were displayed in the classroom. This should have made it easier to address at the school/administrative level, especially when corroborated by outside professionals. From the evidence presented, this family (parents and child alike) is the victim and the administration at the school and the district were negligent and criminal.
I fully understand why school professionals are considered mandatory reporters for abuse. The reasons for this probably save a ton of kids. However, cases like this point out how administrators who abuse this process can do irreparable damage. Again, I am speaking from personal experience.
I'm not sure home schooling would have been the appropriate answer here either. The child's behavior manifested itself under very specific circumstances in the formal classroom environment. It is very likely home schooling would have resulted in the apraxia going unnoticed for a longer period of time.
I know, in my situation, my wife and I sometimes joke that we'd be better off home schooling our kids. But, we recognize the reality that this would probably deprive our kids of most of the services and care they require.
What I will say, that schnitzie alluded to, is the ability of parents with means to go outside the system. This is not isolated to just a public vs. private school debate. In fact, in many cases private schools are actually more archaic when administering special education. But, at least here in NYC, there are other options. For example, you can receive an RSA to have mandated services administered outside the school environment, at the DOEs expense. This is something I am exploring for my older son for this summer.
Also, there is a good reason they didn't notice their son's handwriting because he didn't write much at home. By itself, this is a very easy behavior to overlook. there could be a variety of reasons why not. Also, at the age of 5, poor handwriting is very easily dismissed by parents and professionals alike because there is a level of age appropriateness involved.
we disagree.
The author simply comes off as blaming the school, while failing to take appropriate action. By the author's own admission, he was repeatedly warned by the school, but did nothing until his child was suspended. It's made worse by the author's contention that they work in the psychological field, but still missed all the warning signs.
I fully understand the blind eye syndrome where a parent fails to recognize stuff going on with their own child. Almost every parent I've ever met has this issue to some extent.
Sounds to me like the system worked. school noted an issue and acted on it. Parent reacted and got treatment for their child. At this point, the school system broke down. The first half of the issue went exactly as it should have (except for the parental blind eye oblivious thing, but the school made up for that).
I certainly understand and support your decision. But, do you ever wonder if maybe by accepting the position you could have made a difference for a child or children? Please do not mistake this as me questioning your decision. I am not doing that!. I am asking out of curiosity. also because I know my wife and I made some decisions about our son that in the moment seemed correct, but looking back with hindsight were absolutely the wrong choices.
that school psychologist gig years ago. Administrations are largely ignorant and just horrible to deal with. I had a free ride for my masters degree, at that time. And I turned it down because I did not want to deal with the unethical school administrations.
My wife would agree with you 100%! Man, does she have some stories. Just brutal.
Not exactly. According the article, the parents pursued OT for handwriting, but were denied. When presented with the "inapropriate behavior" they had their son in therapy at their own expense long before the suspension. They pursued options on their own and followed through.
Where there was a breakdown was in the school and district. This child should have been the recipient of a formal evaluation by qualified professionals provided by the district. This never happened and as a result the child never received a formal IEP or 504 plan. Either would surely have resulted in the child receiving at least some of the services he required by the school.
The parents may have missed the initial behavior either as a result of a blind eye or the child not displaying signs at home or both. Either way, it seems the school was very lax in initially reporting any irregularities to the parents. These parents seemed to be very attentitve to the situation as new evidence was presented. They also happened to be very fortunate they had the means to provide their son with private therapies. Another family would very likely have been crushed by this.
Again, from personal experience, as we waited for our son's formal evaluation process when we first noticed extreme behavior we brought him to a private speech therapist and pathologist at the recommendation of our pediatrician. These sessions were not initially covered by insurance and she didn't accept insurance any way. If we had to continue these sessions for the 6 years that followed, we would be screwed. We also hired an education consultant to help us with the IEP process as we explored our options for Kindergarten. This also nearly drowned us. We would have trouble doing the same again.
my wife and I have been very attentive to our sons' needs. We have also been very strong advocates. But, even still, things can go unnoticed. Please see my thread linked below.
We have been fighting for continued OT and PT for our son. Now, an innocent inquiry about pigeon toed walking has us going for genetic testing for a disorder neither of us ever heard of or read about and may render the very services we fought for relatively useless. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - ( New Window )
Also, there is a good reason they didn't notice their son's handwriting because he didn't write much at home.
Yes in this case but if homeschooled he would have had to write a lot at home so everything might have unfolded entirely different. They just might have discovered and had it diagnosed much earlier and placed him in the proper setting without him having endured any of what he went through.
I agree with you however that if a child has special needs it would be difficult for most parents to properly deal with that. My original comment was directed more at the attitudes of and the intrusiveness of the school system not at the needs of this specific child. I didn't mean to imply otherwise.
Understood. But, my point was also that if being homeschooled the exact circumstances may never have triggered his reaction to writing. That doesn't mean the underlying issue wouldn't have existed. but, perhaps the way the parents dealt with his writing wouldn't cause such anxiety.
I am not at all surprised about the content of the attached article. I pity the poor child who doesn't have parents as educated, involved and in possession of the resources of the couple in the article. Those are the kids that are destroyed through the ignorance of these so called "educators".
For my money, its not the teachers that are the problem in schools, its the administrators. Give them an ounce of power and they'll turn it into a ten ton hammer.
Bastards.
That doesn't excuse the school's actions, but I barely made it a portion of the way through the article without wanting to smack the author around.
This wasn't a major disability, so I'm very sympathetic to parents who are dealing with bigger issues and not getting help they need from their school systems, but not every system is broken.
http://njlaw.rutgers.edu/collections/oal/html/initial/eds4813-13_1.html
The judge concurs that the school is full of crap...she incorporated the parents' account of the facts in their entirety, noting that the school's allegations and characterizations of the child's behavior were based on "data" gathered by individuals with no professional qualifications to gather, appropriately evaluate or characterize such information.
In contrast, as soon as the parents became aware of the allegations raised by the school, they immediately enrolled the child in therapy and had the child privately evaluated by a psychiatrist, as well as the child's pediatrician...AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE.
The judge clearly credits the professionals hired by the child's parents over the school aid and teachers who were NOT QUALIFIED in such data gathering and evaluations.
In short...the school, the teachers and the principal were absolutely and utterly FULL OF SHIT.
Frankly, it's extremely concerning that the first conclusion the aid, teacher and principal jumped to was that the 6-year-old child's behavior was sexual in nature.
One would think it judicious, upon the declaration of such a potentially outrageous and slanderous conclusion by NON-QUALIFIED personnel, the principal or guidance counselor would immediately recommend evaluation by QUALIFIED professionals to determine whether such conclusions were actually warranted or accurate...or whether there was not some other more cause.
T
http://njlaw.rutgers.edu/collections/oal/html/initial/eds4813-13_1.html
The judge concurs that the school is full of crap...she incorporated the parents' account of the facts in their entirety, noting that the school's allegations and characterizations of the child's behavior were based on "data" gathered by individuals with no professional qualifications to gather, appropriately evaluate or characterize such information.
In contrast, as soon as the parents became aware of the allegations raised by the school, they immediately enrolled the child in therapy and had the child privately evaluated by a psychiatrist, as well as the child's pediatrician...AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE.
The judge clearly credits the professionals hired by the child's parents over the school aid and teachers who were NOT QUALIFIED in such data gathering and evaluations.
In short...the school, the teachers and the principal were absolutely and utterly FULL OF SHIT.
Frankly, it's extremely concerning that the first conclusion the aid, teacher and principal jumped to was that the 6-year-old child's behavior was sexual in nature.
One would think it judicious, upon the declaration of such a potentially outrageous and slanderous conclusion by NON-QUALIFIED personnel, the principal or guidance counselor would immediately recommend evaluation by QUALIFIED professionals to determine whether such conclusions were actually warranted or accurate...or whether there was not some other more cause.
The administration's intransigence is all the more outrageous because it was based upon evaluations made by individuals entirely unqualified to make or reach such conclusions.
Frankly, the aids and teachers in the case are in need of further education and training to remedy their ignorance on the challenged and potential disabilities among special needs students, and the principal of the school is in need of a swift and colossal beating.
That's the way things work today.
The public school system in the town we grew up in, a suburb of Rochester, was absolutely outstanding. The teachers and services were fantastic. There were excellent resources for both special needs as well as gifted students.
The abandonment of public education by those with the resources to send their kids to private school or to home school, means that the rest of the kids left behind really suffer...because the parents and families most likely to keep the pressure on the school administrations to do right by the kids are no longer invested.
Every child should enjoy the caliber of public education that the kids from our school district were lucky to be able to take for granted.
I do feel bad for families stuck in a poor situation with no good alternative options available or affordable to them.
While there are still some deficiencies in the system, overall, this school and NYC in general, is trying to be progressive in their handling of the special ed. and special needs populations.
I can speak from personal experience on this. It is also important to note that the author mentioned many of the movements and behaviors were not displayed at home. Again, from personal experience, this is very common. We have been on the opposite end where some behaviors and symptoms have manifested themselves at home, but not at school. That makes it difficult to address the issue(s) through mandated services sometimes.
In the case of the article, though, the behaviors were displayed in the classroom. This should have made it easier to address at the school/administrative level, especially when corroborated by outside professionals. From the evidence presented, this family (parents and child alike) is the victim and the administration at the school and the district were negligent and criminal.
I fully understand why school professionals are considered mandatory reporters for abuse. The reasons for this probably save a ton of kids. However, cases like this point out how administrators who abuse this process can do irreparable damage. Again, I am speaking from personal experience.
I know, in my situation, my wife and I sometimes joke that we'd be better off home schooling our kids. But, we recognize the reality that this would probably deprive our kids of most of the services and care they require.
What I will say, that schnitzie alluded to, is the ability of parents with means to go outside the system. This is not isolated to just a public vs. private school debate. In fact, in many cases private schools are actually more archaic when administering special education. But, at least here in NYC, there are other options. For example, you can receive an RSA to have mandated services administered outside the school environment, at the DOEs expense. This is something I am exploring for my older son for this summer.
The author simply comes off as blaming the school, while failing to take appropriate action. By the author's own admission, he was repeatedly warned by the school, but did nothing until his child was suspended. It's made worse by the author's contention that they work in the psychological field, but still missed all the warning signs.
I fully understand the blind eye syndrome where a parent fails to recognize stuff going on with their own child. Almost every parent I've ever met has this issue to some extent.
Sounds to me like the system worked. school noted an issue and acted on it. Parent reacted and got treatment for their child. At this point, the school system broke down. The first half of the issue went exactly as it should have (except for the parental blind eye oblivious thing, but the school made up for that).
My wife would agree with you 100%! Man, does she have some stories. Just brutal.
Where there was a breakdown was in the school and district. This child should have been the recipient of a formal evaluation by qualified professionals provided by the district. This never happened and as a result the child never received a formal IEP or 504 plan. Either would surely have resulted in the child receiving at least some of the services he required by the school.
The parents may have missed the initial behavior either as a result of a blind eye or the child not displaying signs at home or both. Either way, it seems the school was very lax in initially reporting any irregularities to the parents. These parents seemed to be very attentitve to the situation as new evidence was presented. They also happened to be very fortunate they had the means to provide their son with private therapies. Another family would very likely have been crushed by this.
Again, from personal experience, as we waited for our son's formal evaluation process when we first noticed extreme behavior we brought him to a private speech therapist and pathologist at the recommendation of our pediatrician. These sessions were not initially covered by insurance and she didn't accept insurance any way. If we had to continue these sessions for the 6 years that followed, we would be screwed. We also hired an education consultant to help us with the IEP process as we explored our options for Kindergarten. This also nearly drowned us. We would have trouble doing the same again.
We have been fighting for continued OT and PT for our son. Now, an innocent inquiry about pigeon toed walking has us going for genetic testing for a disorder neither of us ever heard of or read about and may render the very services we fought for relatively useless.
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - ( New Window )
Yes in this case but if homeschooled he would have had to write a lot at home so everything might have unfolded entirely different. They just might have discovered and had it diagnosed much earlier and placed him in the proper setting without him having endured any of what he went through.
I agree with you however that if a child has special needs it would be difficult for most parents to properly deal with that. My original comment was directed more at the attitudes of and the intrusiveness of the school system not at the needs of this specific child. I didn't mean to imply otherwise.