If I ever just want to be depressed all I have to do is check my son's grades.

[liberal_at_heart]

Just checked my autistic son's grades. 3 D's. God I hate the public school system. Tonight he hands me a permission slip for him to spend three hours in the library to take some World History test. The permission slip says nothing about what kind of test. I'm guessing some stupid ass state standardized test. I told him I was not signing it until I found out more about this test.

[JDPriestly]

1. Do you belong to a support group of parents of austistic children?

[liberal_at_heart]

3. Ironically I suffer from a social anxiety disorder so I've always avoided parent groups.

Probably would do me some good, and I would probably like it after I got over the initial anxiety. Most of the time I don't let the school system bother me. It's just that I know he is smart. He comes home and talks about things he has learned in biology and in history, but he has D's in both of those classes. Both classes are general education classes and he does not have teacher assistants in either class. Parent-teacher conferences are coming up in three weeks. They will definitely be hearing from me.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Do I recall correctly that we chatted about this a while ago?

Was your son able to get an IEP?

Sorry to hear things are not going well!

[liberal_at_heart]

4. He does have an IEP. The only teachers who really follow it are the special education teachers.

At the beginning of the History class he received a syllabus. The teacher stated that if you are an IEP student she can extend deadlines and even has alternative material but you have to ask her for these alternative materials and deadlines. My son is autistic. He is not going to go up to his teachers and ask for alternative material or an extension on a deadline. Maybe if he had a teacher's assistant in that class they could help and make sure those things were requested, but he doesn't have teacher's assistants in any of his general education classes. I will be emailing his teachers after seeing his grades tonight, and will be having a detailed discussion with them when parent teacher conferences come up in three weeks. I can't help but wonder if he would do better at the district's alternative school where he would receive more personalized attention.

[madfloridian]

5. That is the goal of this administration. I don't think they make exceptions anymore.

Arne even said that if we challenge special ed kids enough they can do IB classes and pass all the tests. In my mind there's a special place in hell for people who would do that to special ed kids. I despise that man and his arrogance.

[liberal_at_heart]

7. Usually when disabled kids get mistreated there is outrage. Apparently it's okay to bully

the disabled in the name of education and in order to protect the reputation of a democratic politician.

[pnwmom]

6. Are the teachers ignoring the IEP? They are supposed to be individually written,

so a teacher shouldn't have a general policy about what she will do for IEP's.

If the school won't meet his needs, they can be required to educate him elsewhere.

Why is it that you're not considering the alternative school, if you think he'd be better served there?

http://www.specialeducationadvisor.com/what-is-compensatory-education/

[Control-Z]

8. Has he had an IEP yet?

If he's doing that poorly in public school a private school should be made available. At least in California that's how they do it.

I understand the depressing thoughts. Good luck to you and your son. PM me is you'd like. I've been through it. I had to go through hell first to get the help my son needed. Different disability, but learning disability nevertheless.

[SheilaT]

9. Unfortunately, you have to be far more pro-active about your son's

education than you ought to have to be, or in your case should need to be.

My oldest son has Asperger's, and he's actually quite high functioning, but all during k-12 it was a huge struggle. In the public school he had an IEP but I'm not sure it was followed correctly, and I didn't realize how much I needed to step in on his behalf. By sixth grade he was being ostracized at lunch time to the point where the school counselor had him eat lunch in her office. We had the good fortune to be able to move him to a private school.

He was, like so many Aspies, very very smart. But in the (excellent, I must point out) public school, smart wasn't valued. Sports were, and he was small for his age and not interested in sports, plus his parents weren't at all interested in sports. At the private school, while sports still mattered, academics were also valued. My son thrived there. He was on the Knowledge Bowl and the Science Bowl teams all through high school, and (in all honesty mainly because of him) his team went to the National Science Bowl his junior and senior years, and this was in the largest local competition in the country, so large in fact that they send two teams to nationals from that competition, not just one. Somewhat more to the point, at the competitive schools in that competition, Science Bowl is a club where the kids train for the competition. At my son's school it was much more casual, and they still did very well.

Okay, enough about that. You are right not to sign until you find out more. You must overcome your own reluctance to deal with the teachers, and do so. Good luck to you.

[Trillo]

10. Remember that the poor grades are equally hard on him.

Unfortunately, compulsory schools, public or private, are essentially hostile workplaces, with no promises of payment, ever, in return for all the work required or punishment suffered (in this case, poor grades).