School system not helping Asperger's child

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How do you handle a school system that will not help, or does not seem to want to help your child when they throw temper trantrums at school.

I get a call at least five times a month if not more, to come get my son, because he is upset over something, and the school does not want to deal with him.

I also feel that he is not getting the best education from that school and if they had their way they would just pass him through. I get so upset when someone tells me he is stupid just because he has Asperger's, I want to scream.

Does anyone have any ideas, or a similar experience?

Call an IEP meeting to set up a Behavior Intervention Plan to deal with the tantrums. You have the right to make this request and inform them that taking him out of school 5x/month is not considered an equal education. While waiting for the meeting, you may want to go over the IEP goals to see if they are appropriate for you son's abilities.

Hi, we've recently experienced similar problems with our son. He is in 3d grade. A couple months ago he began being very aggressive at school -- hitting, pushing, biting -- and throwing tantrums. We went through a period of almost daily calls from the school to come get him, or to try to help calm him down. However, by law the school is required to work with you and your son. (Are you in the USA?)

Does the school have an IEP and a Behavior Intervention Plan in place for your son?

You should request (in writing, by certified mail) an emergency IEP meeting to discuss this matter.

This website may help: http://www.wrightslaw.com/

I am in Alabama. I feel that they are not giving him the education he derserves, just because they do not want to deal with him. In 3rd grade he was doing multiplecation tables, and in fourth grade they had him doing 1 + 1 again. When asked why they said they did not want to upset him. He is four grade levels behind the rest of his class in math. I know he is smart, I just wish they would see that and work with us.

Ckay, they HAVE to work with you . Please check out the Wrightslaw site and familiarize yourself with your rights. It doesn't sound as if they're remotely providing him with an appropriate education.

You might do well to discuss your situation with an advocate. Here are a couple more sources for you:

http://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/help/al.htm
http://www.autism-pdd.net/advocacy.html

Push, push, and push.

It isn't the subject matter that is upsetting your son at school, it is something about the way they are handling it with your child. It could be the sensory input in the classroom environment; time pressure; any number of things.

If your instincts are telling that they are dropping the ball with him, listen to your instincts.

Other posters have already shared the appropriate legal and advocate information, so I'll add this: If you can't get the school to work with you, seriously consider moving your child to another school. Anyway you can; make it happen; just DO IT. Our kids CAN be happy and successful in school; if your child is not, then something is wrong, and that something is most likely NOT your child. The most wonderful school in the world could turn out to be the wrong school for any one child; you need to find the right fit, and that is going to be unique to the individual.

Also check out

www.wrightslaw.com

This is a good legal resource, and their book "From Emotions to Advocacy" is a really good reference book for anything from writing good goals to busting through the "gatekeeper". It will help you with fighting the school by giving you information about how they work and how to advocate for services. Aspergers is hard to get services for here also. My son had a PDD diagnosis and they wouldn't even discuss it. They only gave him speech, but it was painfully obvious that he needed that.

Good Luck!

Like DW_a_mom said..push, push, push.

I know that moving to a different school, or even a different state, is not always possible -- but if you try to work things out, and they aren't complying with your reasonable requests, then it's time to move. We did it, and we have never been unhappy that we made it happen. The difference between states was AMAZING.

Ckay, I dunno if you're still out there, but this article made me think of your situation:

http://www.wrightslaw.com/heath/dont.care.iep.htm

Has there been any movement in your situation?

Things get better. I took my son out of school for the last year of primary education, but he's now back in mainstream school. There are still some real problems (a few teachers are just obtuse... because he's very bright and verbal they forget he has AS and tear shreds of him when he behaves like an asperger's kid) but most of them are okay, and I do think they are doing better.

I'm having issues with my son's school. He is in middle school. I have tried to get him IEP's or 504's before however I was told that it wasn't effecting his grades so he didn't need one. Well he went from having A's and B's to D's and F's. One teacher even told me I should just let him fail. That he was doing this for attention. He is capable of doing the work and the teachers know this because he tests very high. We have issues with getting homework and classwork done. I can't make him do homework he doesn't bring home. I finally went to the board of education. I feel like I'm at his school constantly. We now have extra copies of all his books and are attempting a way to get his homework papers home.

If you feel the school is not listening to you and you are not being heard, go to the board. They always say you get more bees with honey than vingar. I think sometimes you can get things done because they get sick of see and or hearing from you.