My son received an educational verification of ASD while
in the Headstart program. He is currently in 3rd grade and I have
actively participated in his IEP meetings, providing information and
making recommendations. In the last few meetings, it had been brought up
that he requires more challenges to keep from being bored. The
recommendation that he be placed in a higher reading group was dismissed
on the basis that he "wouldn't be able to catch up with the grammar". I
was not happy with this, but felt it could be readdressed later.
Additionally,
last year, my son's stimming behavior manifested in destructive clothes
chewing. I personally researched solutions to this problem and
purchased a necklace designed to accommodate chewing and "fiddling" for
ASD persons. The necklace was confiscated at least twice by school staff
because he was chewing and fiddling with it, despite his attempts to
explain. He became paranoid about them taking the necklaces and stopped
taking them to school.
Wednesday, I received a letter
explaining that my son was being suspended indefinitely due to his
"tearing pages from several text and reading books". When I asked him
about this (because that is NOT something he normally does), he said he
gets bored and jittery and tears small pieces out of the corners of
pages. Upon further discussion, he said he would like to have the
necklaces again.
Meanwhile, I have been trying to get a
hold of the school principal to set up the meeting that we have to have
before my son can get back to school. It's Thursday and I am still waiting to find out if I
can (maybe) get a meeting on Monday. I did get the school counselor,
who gave me the run-around and hung up on me when I protested the
school's callousness towards my son's ASD issues. I eventually called
the superintendent, who is trying to get us the late morning meeting on
Monday.
I have tried to explain stimming and the need for challenging material
in my son's IEP meetings several times. I have provided non-invasive
methods for him to deal with his stimming urges and the staff saw fit to
take away his property without the benefit of the doubt. His teacher
and most of the staff seem to be completely ignorant of the idea that he
would need something different than the other students, despite these
same people being responsible for and (often) participating in his IEP
planning meetings. His IEP seems to focus ONLY on activities and such
that pull him from the regular class with NO solid plan or methods for
dealing with him in the regular class. He has a different teacher for
his reading class, who seems to have even less understanding of him.
