My 8 year old was diagnosed two years ago with SPD, she seeks a lot of sensory input especially in the tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive systems. We have been living abroad and my daughter had been at a great international school for over 3 years with lots of learning support but she was always challenging and has struggled lots with writing. She finds writing uncomfortable both to write itself despite lots of OT support and often refuses to work at school when having to write. She also struggles to put together sentences, both orally and in writing. It takes a while and is hard work for her. She tires easily. We moved last April and we thought a private school would be best as there were small class sizes and a good individual needs team. We fully informed the school about all of my daughter's needs and provided OT reports, school reports and she spent a taster day at the school where she carried out tests. She was then offered a school place and all went well for a term. We were told that she was taking up a lot of the teacher's time and that in her new class there would be no teaching assistant so as parents we might have to fund one for her. September ... school term started and we were told that there were enough TAs in school so they would be used when she needed. A review meeting was scheduled for 3 weeks into the new term as there was a headmaster, new to the school and my daughter's class teacher, also new to the school. I walked into that meeting to talk about how my daughter was doing and what support might be needed going forward ..... we were at week 2 of a new ALERT programme with \OT coming into school, once a week and had received an email, a week before saying that my daughter was hiding under her desk.... and when I talked to her, she said it was because she was being asked to write all the time. Shock of shocks, this was not a review meeting.... the headmaster told me that straight off .... we needed to find a new school for her as she was being too disruptive, not fulfilling the curriculum and that she didn't respond well to TA support. At this meeting, I was in such shock, I said nothing. As I got home, I realised the craziness of this. So I have spent the last 2 weeks complaining, saying that there must be more interventions that would work but the school just says that nothing works. The class teacher now emails me every day with issues but to me they are exaggerated and should be manageable. One day, I am told that she bit a child. I talk to my child and find she did not bite a child, but put the clothing of another child in her mouth. Another day, I am told that she ripped posters in the classroom, I talk to my chid and she tore a tiny corner from one poster of a band that she doesn't like ... she thought it was funny. I am told that she shouted out Father Christmas during choir practice, shouted at a TA (my daughter struggles with voice modulation), and then yesterday she was pulled out of harvest festival because she was moving her feet too loudly during a song!!! I am at a loss as to how to persuade this school that excluding my kid is ludicrous, they just need to 1. accept her as she is to some extent and 2. keep trying. My kid loves her new school - its been very hard for her moving to a new school last April, has lots of friends, gets invited to parties etc so her peers seem to accept her but the headmaster just tells me that she should go to a special needs school. She is not entitled to do this.... so it just means we have to move her to another school, down the road with a much bigger class. My daughter has no idea that she will have to move schools and I know will be devastated, she talks all the time about future events there and what she will be studying next etc. How do I persuade her current school that she really is not that bad and her SPD can be managed but they are doing a really poor job and my daughter is behaving as she is, because of it.
Is there any way you can prove the teacher is being discriminatory? Is there a different class in the school with a more understanding teacher? It sounds to me like the teacher is impatient and not very understanding.
Also, it seems like the main problem is her not wanting to handwrite. Does she know how to type on a computer? Is there any way she could use a laptop for notes instead of writing by hand? I learned to type when I was 8, I loved it.
I remember note-taking being a nightmare in school. There were too many notes to take in too little time and I could never write neatly even if I took my time writing, so when I tried to keep up with the teacher's notes I couldn't read anything later, eventually I just started pretending to take notes but was really doodling because I knew there was no point. I could either take the time to make the writing legible and miss some of the notes because of being too slow, or I could try to write them as fast as possible and not be able to read them later rendering the notes useless in either situation. Lucky I was smart enough to pass without studying, but I wish I'd had some help to be able to get the grades I could have.
Unless you can find a new class in the same school with a different teacher or find a way to prove that the teacher is actually the one who needs to be assessed, not your child, then it may be best in the end to find a new school. If she has to go to a new school she still may be able to keep in touch with some of the new friends she has made.
Also, if you can convince the school to give her another chance, talking to your daughter about the fact that she may have to leave the school she likes unless a solution is found, might help her to realize that she can control her life more if she can control herself, sometimes incentive is more useful than anything else. Also might be a good time to talk about the behaviors that the teacher has issue with and brainstorm some possible solutions.
Try to find out if it's even legal for them to kick her out like that, it doesn't sound like she's done anything to justify expulsion and it sounds like a failure on their part that they can't provide the support she needs. Maybe the teacher needs to have some specialized training, like on empathy, and special needs kids.
Good luck.
Would they allow her to try a laptop or tablet at school? There are some recent studies that indicate people with reading and writing disabilities function better in a learning environment if they can use a computer. Regarding the behavioral challenges, we recently discovered a book by Dr. Robert Melillo about the two hemispheres of the brain not communicating because one is deficient. We signed our daughter up for the treatment and are hopeful it will help in many of the same areas. If you're interested, the book is Disconnected Kids.
I am sorry you are having these issues. Right now, I'm re-thinking trying to keep my toddler with SPD in the lower cost, but quality day care he and his twin brother attend. I would like to place him in an Easter Seals Child Care Center that I think could better serve him, but it will be a great financial drain on our family, coming just as I got some very bad news that will affect our financial situation. I would not be surprised if I get asked to find a new day care for my son with SPD, and I am dreading that possibility, though they have been very patient.
Anyway, if you're not in the U.S., I think it's a given that you have fewer rights and the school feels less obligation to work with a special needs child. It might be better for your daughter to find a school that can better meet her needs if this school isn't very interested in working with her. If you were in the States, you might have more leverage. Is it an option to fund a TA for her? One that you choose? Might that placate the administration?
Wishing you all the best!
Maggie
(10-19-2013, 07:47 AM)Fiona29 Wrote: [ -> ]My 8 year old was diagnosed two years ago with SPD, she seeks a lot of sensory input especially in the tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive systems. We have been living abroad and my daughter had been at a great international school for over 3 years with lots of learning support but she was always challenging and has struggled lots with writing. She finds writing uncomfortable both to write itself despite lots of OT support and often refuses to work at school when having to write. She also struggles to put together sentences, both orally and in writing. It takes a while and is hard work for her. She tires easily. We moved last April and we thought a private school would be best as there were small class sizes and a good individual needs team. We fully informed the school about all of my daughter's needs and provided OT reports, school reports and she spent a taster day at the school where she carried out tests. She was then offered a school place and all went well for a term. We were told that she was taking up a lot of the teacher's time and that in her new class there would be no teaching assistant so as parents we might have to fund one for her. September ... school term started and we were told that there were enough TAs in school so they would be used when she needed. A review meeting was scheduled for 3 weeks into the new term as there was a headmaster, new to the school and my daughter's class teacher, also new to the school. I walked into that meeting to talk about how my daughter was doing and what support might be needed going forward ..... we were at week 2 of a new ALERT programme with \OT coming into school, once a week and had received an email, a week before saying that my daughter was hiding under her desk.... and when I talked to her, she said it was because she was being asked to write all the time. Shock of shocks, this was not a review meeting.... the headmaster told me that straight off .... we needed to find a new school for her as she was being too disruptive, not fulfilling the curriculum and that she didn't respond well to TA support. At this meeting, I was in such shock, I said nothing. As I got home, I realised the craziness of this. So I have spent the last 2 weeks complaining, saying that there must be more interventions that would work but the school just says that nothing works. The class teacher now emails me every day with issues but to me they are exaggerated and should be manageable. One day, I am told that she bit a child. I talk to my child and find she did not bite a child, but put the clothing of another child in her mouth. Another day, I am told that she ripped posters in the classroom, I talk to my chid and she tore a tiny corner from one poster of a band that she doesn't like ... she thought it was funny. I am told that she shouted out Father Christmas during choir practice, shouted at a TA (my daughter struggles with voice modulation), and then yesterday she was pulled out of harvest festival because she was moving her feet too loudly during a song!!! I am at a loss as to how to persuade this school that excluding my kid is ludicrous, they just need to 1. accept her as she is to some extent and 2. keep trying. My kid loves her new school - its been very hard for her moving to a new school last April, has lots of friends, gets invited to parties etc so her peers seem to accept her but the headmaster just tells me that she should go to a special needs school. She is not entitled to do this.... so it just means we have to move her to another school, down the road with a much bigger class. My daughter has no idea that she will have to move schools and I know will be devastated, she talks all the time about future events there and what she will be studying next etc. How do I persuade her current school that she really is not that bad and her SPD can be managed but they are doing a really poor job and my daughter is behaving as she is, because of it.