Posted by Elaine Austin

In Reply to: School insists on treating bright girl with ADHD as lazy instead of disabled posted by Jackie M. Botala

jackie:

If your child has been identified as LD because of this disability I
would highly suggest that you ask the IEP team to take responsibility
for this disability - By this I mean, that it isn't the child's
responsibility to ask for help when things aren't going well, and if the
child spends two hours doing a project, that is the responsibly of the
school - not the kid.

Social issues are a big thing. If they are labeled emotional etc. -
self advocacy, organization, and study skills are good categories of an
IEP. A school that labels a child emotional and a behavior problem does
not recognize the critical importance of a child learning appropriate
social skills to adapt to the disability. For example - My son is often
criticized when they change aides on him (three times since March) he
has told the teacher the last two times that the new on treats him like
a baby (connoting to me they are not properly trained) - But they come
back to me and define HIM as resistant. My son does not have
personality difficulties with people whose personalities aren't
difficult - so in further research I find that him telling the aide he
wants to do something for himself is met with resistance and he gets mad
- I defend his position and make sure they understand these are SOCIAL
SKILLS of self advocacy - NOT behavior problems. I still shake my head
in awe!

Also keep in mind that public education is the responsibility of the
school. If your children are tested with an IQ of greater than average
- that should be the target performance for your child. I have spent
many yrs watching my son with an IQ of 115 bring home F's and D's - when
I throw a fit, they try to calm me into understanding that "he IS LD,
after all". NO! LD is not synonymous with mediocre. I finally got the
IEP written such that the school is responsible for aiding my kid to an
80% competency level. As far as I am concerned, if he fails it is THEIR
responsibility - NOT HIS, and NOT MINE.

I hope some of this helps. Good luck.

Elaine

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