Discipline at school and IEP

garrison

New Member
Hi,
I have requested an IEP evaluation. for my grandson (I have custody). I am wondering about the discipline at school. My grand has some pretty rocking ADHD and is currently unmedicated due to health issues. (increased heart rate-and other things)
He has zero impulse control. I am concerned that he will be diciplined for not listening or what ever when he really can't sit still. The school gave us some leway on this, the last month. But over spring break it was decided that he will not be back on medications before school is out for summer. At this point we don't know if he will ever be able to take the medications.

Does anyone address discipline in an IEP? It's not his fault that he is having these medical issues and I don't want him broken down by behavior expectations that are unrealistic at this point. On the other hand he does need to learn to behave in society.

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas?


Thanks, Garrison
 

DaisyFace

Love me...Love me not
Garrison--

I'm wondering what kind of impulsitivity issues he is currently being disciplined for? I am sure that the school can give plenty of leeway if, for example, your son is not staying in his seat or is not staning in line properly. But - if the implusivity is making him a danger to other children....THAT's gonna be the tricky / sticky point. Is he hitting? pushing? throwing things? or if the issues are that he is bullying or stealing - again, that's going to be hard to argue on his behalf...
 

Giulia

New Member
Hello,
My two cents about discipline and ADHD.

What you can request in the IEP about discipline is a safe place your grandson can go when things are escalating. Like the principal's desk, to the nurse etc etc... A place where he can ask to go for a cooling timeout. It must be a place your grandson can ask to go when he feels unwell.

The secret here, as he has no impulse control at all, is being proactive instead of reactive.
List in a IEP what are the signs for an imminent explosion, and how to redirect it before something dangerous is done. When your grandson is exploding, it's too late.
With such a step, you can make the school avoid the most dangerous behaviors most of the time.
The key is prevention, not reaction.

For his inability to stay in line, to sit still.... as it does not endanger anyone, you can ask in the IEP to include steps to redirect this behavior.
Like he can sit on a balloon, he can be the teacher's helper, being at the end of the line.... Whatever works for your grandson.

Your grandson won't make the link between a spanking and a misbehavior. He will remember only the spanking, not what caused the spanking.
So when he endangers someone, ask the school to intervene with low expression emotion. The more the adults express an emotion, the more it fuels the unacceptable and dangerous behavior.
Ask the school to address the behavior, not your grandson. Sentences like "Hitting is unacceptable because it's dangerous" are much more productive than "you're a nasty and dangerous boy".
Punishment has to have a direct link with the misbehavior. Like having to write an essay about hitting and danger etc etc....
Suspension has to be the shortest possible : no more than two to three days.


Don't be afraid of using the tips for behavior management which work for children with Prader-Willi syndrome and FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder).
I know that your grandson does not have these pathologies, but the tips for behavior management used for persons with these disabilities can be extremely useful also for your grandson.

If you feel your grandson unable to manage his impulse control at school, don't fear of homeschooling him.
I can understand that you can be afraid about socialization, but the most important is his health. If his ADHD is too instable because he is unable to take medicines, making him go to school is a nonsense : he will have to deal with much more than he can handle.
Stress is a common factor of unstability, it holds true also for ADHD.
If school is too much right now for him, it's too much right now for him. Better to learn well with homeschooling than setting up a misery situation at school. Better socializing little but positive than letting him being bullied because of his disability. Also, even unstable, he will learn better at home than at school : if he goes to school but does not learn anything because he struggles with his ADHD, what is the sense of it ?
More is not necessarily better, instead, more often than not, "less is more".
So, if you see that your grandson cannot handle school right now, better pulling him out of school until he can resume his medicines.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
BIP - behavior intervention plan. Some kids need this even WITH medications... it's about learning what works to manage the kid, and then teaching the kid how to manage themselves... I don't know the steps to get it (haven't gone down that road)
 
T

TeDo

Guest
Did you put the request for Special Education evaluations in writing? If not, you NEED to do that and you can put in the same request that they do a Functional Behavior Analysis(FBA). If you've already sent the written request, you can send a separate request for the FBA now while they should be doing the evaluations. There are federal guidelines about how many times he can be suspended from school but not for discipline in general, UNLESS they use certain procedures that are illegal or controlled. An FBA will lead to the development of the behavior plan as part of his IEP. Until he is approved for an IEP and one is developed, discipline is in the school's hands.

If they've given you some leeway, you might be one of the lucky ones that has a cooperative school district. THAT would be great. Don't look for trouble but it IS wise to be prepared for it. Check out Wright's Law (website) and you'll find many answers there.
 

buddy

New Member
yes, behavior is absolutely addressed in the IEP. As others have said, depends on the kinds of behaviors how it will be addressed but it should intially be addressed in terms of development of skills (through IEP GOALS) to do the correct behaviors (completing work, staying in the room, whatever the issues are). If the issues involve aggression or other behaviors that interfere with his learning or the learning of other kids, you need to ask for another kind of assessment (functional behavior assessment) to look at each behavior of concern, and then a Positive Behavior Intervention Plan is written to help him to do the correct things or turn around trick moments and receive praise for doing so. You then are able to start to use consequences at the level that he is at and he will have support to do the behaviors not just be expected to do the right thing all by himself (OR ELSE....etc.).

Look on Writeslaw.com and enter positive behavior plan and also functional behavior analysis (actually if you google these words you will get lots of good info too...

Just make sure you are reading about Special Education. IEP behavor plans....there is another postive behavior plan/approach that is used in schools in general where they give tickets randomly when they catch kids being kind or "good" etc.
 
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