Once again I am here to ask questions from this stellar fountain of knowledge:
From this website, I learned that if a school identifies a child with special needs, there are legal and procedural steps the school must take. However, from this website, I have also learned that if parents don't arm themselves with knowledge, the school can run right over them. My step daughter in law has a 5 yo in kindergarten. The school is bullying her into sending him to special education classes. However, his special needs are for gifted/talented students NOT the special education classes they are trying to send him to. The school is given Federal Title V funds for these issues. My daughter in law and her husband live in __County, NJ and their child attends kindergarten in __school district. The area is economically depressed (except during summer tourist season). There is a lot of federal money for food stamps and welfare but I really don't know what they do with the federal education money. The school has not offered anything to my daughter in law other than to tell her her son is ADD and needs Special Education. OK, I might give them the benefit of the doubt and take him immediately for evaluation except for my personal experiences and those of several of my friends. When our kids were 5 to 6 yo (10 years ago) we were told our kids were ADD, needed medications, and needed Special Education. We emotionally handled it differently, but the end result was that our children were gifted/talented and they were JUST BORED (one of the boys is now waiting to hear if he is accepted to the Naval Academy). daughter in law's 5 yo can read, write, add and subtract. His vocabulary is fantastic. He is engaged, interested, and has opinions! I think the issue is that this little boy is BORED and they are not meeting his needs.
Could someone give us some direction on what to ask the school? I learned at this website to ask for an IEP to be completed. What else should she ask the school? Is he too young to be tested for gifted/talented? Is he too young to be diagnosis'd with ADD and medicated? They gave him some type of IQ test and told her he is at 99. Whatever skills testing they do in kindergarten, he is either at the top of the percentile or solidly in the middle.
Because my daughter in law thought she was showing up for a parent-teacher meeting, her husband did not go with her and she was ambushed by a 'panel.' This next meeting her husband, my husband (her father) and his ex (her mother) are all attending and I would like to arm them with knowledge and questions for the 'panel.'
Please realize that the rural, non-tourist areas of the county are basically 1970 with all the attitudes, prejudices, and ignorance most of the US has shed. This area is tiny, little in-bred towns (I am NOT exaggerating) that will use the Division of Youth and Family Services (NJ's CPS) as a (subtle) club. My daughter in law is not yet intimidated but she knows that if she goes against the grain, she will not find assistance but threats. I know this sounds melo-dramatic but it is real and cuts across all racial lines. She and husband are a young couple starting out and struggling like other young couples. I don't want the school to take advantage of them and just shuffle off their son. I want to arm her with hard, factual, legal knowledge. And if that doesn't work, my husband and I have the means to engage outside assistance.
Thank you all for any suggestions you give us. AND, all of you guys rock! You have always given me good advice.
From this website, I learned that if a school identifies a child with special needs, there are legal and procedural steps the school must take. However, from this website, I have also learned that if parents don't arm themselves with knowledge, the school can run right over them. My step daughter in law has a 5 yo in kindergarten. The school is bullying her into sending him to special education classes. However, his special needs are for gifted/talented students NOT the special education classes they are trying to send him to. The school is given Federal Title V funds for these issues. My daughter in law and her husband live in __County, NJ and their child attends kindergarten in __school district. The area is economically depressed (except during summer tourist season). There is a lot of federal money for food stamps and welfare but I really don't know what they do with the federal education money. The school has not offered anything to my daughter in law other than to tell her her son is ADD and needs Special Education. OK, I might give them the benefit of the doubt and take him immediately for evaluation except for my personal experiences and those of several of my friends. When our kids were 5 to 6 yo (10 years ago) we were told our kids were ADD, needed medications, and needed Special Education. We emotionally handled it differently, but the end result was that our children were gifted/talented and they were JUST BORED (one of the boys is now waiting to hear if he is accepted to the Naval Academy). daughter in law's 5 yo can read, write, add and subtract. His vocabulary is fantastic. He is engaged, interested, and has opinions! I think the issue is that this little boy is BORED and they are not meeting his needs.
Could someone give us some direction on what to ask the school? I learned at this website to ask for an IEP to be completed. What else should she ask the school? Is he too young to be tested for gifted/talented? Is he too young to be diagnosis'd with ADD and medicated? They gave him some type of IQ test and told her he is at 99. Whatever skills testing they do in kindergarten, he is either at the top of the percentile or solidly in the middle.
Because my daughter in law thought she was showing up for a parent-teacher meeting, her husband did not go with her and she was ambushed by a 'panel.' This next meeting her husband, my husband (her father) and his ex (her mother) are all attending and I would like to arm them with knowledge and questions for the 'panel.'
Please realize that the rural, non-tourist areas of the county are basically 1970 with all the attitudes, prejudices, and ignorance most of the US has shed. This area is tiny, little in-bred towns (I am NOT exaggerating) that will use the Division of Youth and Family Services (NJ's CPS) as a (subtle) club. My daughter in law is not yet intimidated but she knows that if she goes against the grain, she will not find assistance but threats. I know this sounds melo-dramatic but it is real and cuts across all racial lines. She and husband are a young couple starting out and struggling like other young couples. I don't want the school to take advantage of them and just shuffle off their son. I want to arm her with hard, factual, legal knowledge. And if that doesn't work, my husband and I have the means to engage outside assistance.
Thank you all for any suggestions you give us. AND, all of you guys rock! You have always given me good advice.
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