I REALLY didn't know where to post this on here so if i posted in the wrong place please forgive me My name is Donna and i live in Jamestown NY that is in Chautauqua county i have a 11 year old son who is low functioning autism now for 6 years he has gone to the same Elemtary school then at the beginning of 2005 they told me that 2005/2006 would be his last year at his school because he has outgrowen it so he would be going to the middle school well a few days before the 2006/2007 school year started i was sent a letter saying my son was not going to go to that middle school he would be going to a different one in are area because the other one was getting remodeled ok no problem this one is closer to where we live and my oldest son goes there so maybe Gerald would feel better knowing his oldest brother was with him :wink: boy was i ever wrong :cry: Gerald's first day started out so sad when the bus stopped in front of my house to get him there was no aide on the bus for him luckly my oldest son rides the same bus as the bus driver had no idea that Gerald needed a aide he didn't even know he had autism when they got to the school the driver was just going to let Gerald off the bus till my oldest son said no he could go by him self my 12 year old son took Gerald by the hand and walked him into the school and when they got to the office the lady there started talking to Gerald and asking him questions and when he didn't answer she looked at my oldest son who told her that Gerald has autism she said oh i didn't know well Gerald's first week at this middle school was sad they had no aid to work with him it was a different person everyday then his second week of school his aid that would be working with him came and her and Gerald hit it right off which Gerald normally does not take to people he does not know well a few days later Gerald started having these bad fits as the school calls them so they called a IEP meeting with me and i was told this school was not working out for him and he needed a placement someplace else they said Chautauqua county Boces well i told them i wanted to look at this school before i agree to send my child there so i went and looked at the school and i was shocked to see they wanted to place my child in a class room with children that are severly mentally retarted :mad: my son has autism he shows signs of autism he slaps his self but in a different way then these kids was doing my son is learning to talk no no no i was not agreeing and i told the school this which turned into a big fight with them telling me they would pick my son up and take him to BOCES with or without my consent i told them if my child went to anyother school besides jamestown i would have somebody arrested for kidnapping well a few words later i won round one and gerald was allowed to stay at washington but yesterday there was another IEP meeting and now they have two more schools for me to look at one is in Falconer ny about 5 miles or more away from where i live and the high school here in jamestown same class as the one he is in now but bigger class what i'm fighting for is when my son was at rogers he had 12 other kids in his class that had autism some of these kids was moved to Boces one was moved on to the high school and it was so much of a change for him he is now in a state hospital and the rest of the children only God knows where they are my question is if this school can spend money to send my child to another school why can't they use that same money to open a classroom for children with autism i want to fight for this but i don't know where to start there are some big shots at the school that agree with me but they don't dare to say anything because of their jobs please somebody out there help me help my son.
please format your post in some way to make it readable. Punctuation is there for a reason, you know...
This sounds difficult--maybe some of the parents can give you good advice (I'm not a parent).
I REALLY didn't know where to post this on here so if i posted in the wrong place please forgive me
My name is Donna and i live in Jamestown NY that is in Chautauqua county i have a 11 year old son who is low functioning autism
now for 6 years he has gone to the same Elemtary school then at the beginning of 2005 they told me that 2005/2006 would be his last year at his school because he has outgrowen it so he would be going to the middle school
well a few days before the 2006/2007 school year started i was sent a letter saying my son was not going to go to that middle school he would be going to a different one in are [our] area because the other one was getting remodeled
ok no problem this one is closer to where we live and my oldest son goes there so maybe Gerald would feel better knowing his oldest brother was with him :wink:
boy was i ever wrong :cry: Gerald's first day started out so sad when the bus stopped in front of my house to get him there was no aide on the bus for him luckly my oldest son rides the same bus as the bus driver had no idea that Gerald needed a aide he didn't even know he had autism when they got to the school the driver was just going to let Gerald off the bus till my oldest son said no he could go by him self my 12 year old son took Gerald by the hand and walked him into the school and when they got to the office the lady there started talking to Gerald and asking him questions and when he didn't answer she looked at my oldest son who told her that Gerald has autism she said oh i didn't know
well Gerald's first week at this middle school was sad they had no aid to work with him it was a different person everyday then his second week of school his aid that would be working with him came and her and Gerald hit it right off which Gerald normally does not take to people he does not know
well a few days later Gerald started having these bad fits as the school calls them so they called a IEP meeting with me and i was told this school was not working out for him and he needed a placement someplace else they said Chautauqua county Boces well i told them i wanted to look at this school before i agree to send my child there
so i went and looked at the school and i was shocked to see they wanted to place my child in a class room with children that are severly mentally retarted :mad: my son has autism he shows signs of autism he slaps his self but in a different way then these kids was doing my son is learning to talk
no no no i was not agreeing and i told the school this which turned into a big fight with them telling me they would pick my son up and take him to BOCES with or without my consent i told them if my child went to anyother school besides jamestown i would have somebody arrested for kidnapping
well a few words later i won round one and gerald was allowed to stay at washington but yesterday there was another IEP meeting and now they have two more schools for me to look at one is in Falconer ny about 5 miles or more away from where i live and the high school here in jamestown same class as the one he is in now but bigger class
what i'm fighting for is when my son was at rogers he had 12 other kids in his class that had autism some of these kids was moved to Boces one was moved on to the high school and it was so much of a change for him he is now in a state hospital and the rest of the children only God knows where they
are my question is if this school can spend money to send my child to another school why can't they use that same money to open a classroom for children with autism i want to fight for this but i don't know where to start there are some big shots at the school that agree with me but they don't dare to say anything because of their jobs please somebody out there help me help my son.
Donna, I have put spaces into your post to help those who cannot read a run-on paragraph easily.
I am also putting a copy of this post into the parents' forum. I hope someone there can help you.
Please punctuate your wall of text, indent so that the wall os split into seperate paragraphs, and people will be able to read it.
Please punctuate your wall of text, indent so that the wall os split into seperate paragraphs, and people will be able to read it.
I did that for her already... Get over it, people, and answer her something useful.
Not everyone is an expert typist or compositionist, or has the time and energy to worry about stuff like that when they are in a crisis of a higher priority.
Strange. Can you convince them that you are the parent, and that you are the second person who really knows what Gerald needs? (The first one being the Prime Subject, Gerald.)
I miss the reality were you can simply say "Mind Your Own Buisness" to an institution interfering with the education of an autistic.
If they try and transport your son to another school without your permission, wouldn't that become a police matter? Maybe things are different in the US, but here in Australia parents have to sign all sorts of consent forms before the school teachers can take the children anywhere out of the school eg. to plays, sports meets and so.
I definitely think the people in this school are way out of line and that what they are proposing is quite illegal.
If they try and transport your son to another school without your permission, wouldn't that become a police matter? Maybe things are different in the US, but here in Australia parents have to sign all sorts of consent forms before the school teachers can take the children anywhere out of the school eg. to plays, sports meets and so.
I definitely think the people in this school are way out of line and that what they are proposing is quite illegal.
Yeah. I teach college in USA and I can't give a student a ride without filling out a form! If the student were under 18 I think it would have to be a parental consent form.
So surely the police could be called in if the school staff tried to pull any tricks like moving the boy to another school?
Of course, I don't know how seriously the police would take the issue but surely it would be a clear cut case of kidnapping if the parents didn't give their consent and in fact said quite plainly that they wouldn't give consent.
not that im aware of ther arent many autistic schools about in Northern Ireland or for people that have aspergers which i feel is a pain. I'm not a parent but as a support worker for 3 men that have autism i feel that there is not enough in todays society to help.
One of the boys sometimes barks like a dog an people just tend to stare because they see itas not normal without even considering the reason behind it.
Our boys just attend a daycare although i would love a school for them to attend as it would give them a brilliant opportunity to see an get to know the better side of life. I'm disgusted at the way the school reacted.
And what about when people get drunk? They sometimes do things like bark and make strange noises and nobody much seems to worry about that.
Donna,
I am sorry you have had to deal with a situation like that. As the parent you have tons of rights. I am the mother of a 6 year old autistic boy, and I was a special education teacher who worked with children with aspergers (until this year - I'm now home).
I live in pennsylvania, and where I live the parents run the show. In my area we have the ARC organization - which is Association for *** Citizens. I know that children with autism are not ***, but this organization is for all children with disabilities. Parents can get an advocate free of charge from this organization. An advocate is someone who knows the state special education laws and can help you get you son what he is legally entitled to. I don't know what NY has - I don't know if there is an ARC organization there. My advice is to start looking online for an advocate service in your area.
Also I would look at the other schools in the area who work with autistic children. I know you would prefer for the school to start an inhouse program, but until that happens you may want to consider an outside placement. For me I'd rather have my son in a private autistic school then be in a school full of ignorance and unable to meet his needs.
I don't know if any of this has helped. My biggest piece of advice is find an advocate.
Gretchen
o i went and looked at the school and i was shocked to see they wanted to place my child in a class room with children that are severly mentally retarted my son has autism he shows signs of autism he slaps his self but in a different way then these kids was doing my son is learning to talk
Donna,
Is the school only for mentally *** kids? You said other autistics from your son's old school were sent there. Does the school have the capacity to care for autistics, or were they sent there because they are/act *** or there's no where else for them?
If the school has the ability to care for and teach your son properly, I would say send him, regardless of what they school claims to be 'for'. The only question is, where will your son be treated best? And obviously where he is now is not that place.