would this bother you? (school schedule)--UPDATE

[crl]

I think I've lost all perspective on what's appropriate. I've been fighting with DS' preschool all year. He's in a public integrated classroom and they've done things like have an assigned seat with pecs for him for snack and lunch, but not for the typically developing kids (he's never needed that in any other setting) and had a rule that the special education students could not use the computer in the classroom even though the typically developing kids use it all the time (teacher said the spec. ed. kids were supposed to be working on IEP goals instead). The assigned seat was stopped before I found out about it. I put a stop to the computer rule at least as to my son. I've asked repeatedly to be told all the ways in which DS is treated differently from other students.

Today I find out that the special ed kids have a separate art class. Now I knew he has art twice a week, but I did not know that one session is just for the special ed kids. And I found out it is scheduled during his recess time. So he misses recess with the typically developing kids to do this. Then he is returned to the classroom in time to watch a movie!

Ok, so I'm obviously upset. I fundamentally disagree with separating the special education students in this way. I don't think DS should be pulled out for anything except therapy. And this is not in his IEP so I think the practice is in violation of his IEP. And I am really, really angry that they are taking him away from recess--the time that he plays best with the other kids. Not to mention that he is then returned to the classroom just in time for the least interactive possible activity--watching a movie.

But, I really have lost all perspective and it is very possible that I am overreacting. Would this bother you?

Thanks,
Catherine

[LynnS6]

I'd be LIVID.

I think having a separate art class might be OK, especially if the special needs kids are working on different skills (there might be more of a need for fine motor help, for example). The no computer rule is stupid and discriminatory.

BUT pulling them out and then missing recess is completely unacceptable and violating his IEP if working on social skills is part of that.

Showing a movie is NEVER acceptable in a preschool, IMO.

[acannon]

Wow. That's pretty bad. I mean, if it was a higher grade, I could see how they might be more rigid about sticking to the IEP, but this is preschool, for goodness sake! I remember when I was in preschool we would mostly play with toys and listen to stories. I was born in 1988, so this wasn't too terribly long ago. I find it weird that they're pulling them out of recess if they say they're trying to work on the IEP goals, of which socialization should be one of them. That just seems really backwards, not to mention discriminatory. The computer rule is stupid, too. I don't know where they're going with that one. It just further alienates the "special" kids from the "regular" kids and that's how the typically-developing kids are going to see the kids like your son: the "special kids" over there who don't get to have recess and have a separate art class. It seems to me that special education kids are alienated a lot in school from the rest of the population, and I think it's really unfortunate. I tried to make friends with some of the students in the program and I was discouraged from doing so and generally made to feel uncomfortable by the paraprofessionals and the people in charge of the program. I can kind of see where they're going with the assigned seat thing, though. I think they did it to help things be predictable and stable for him. I don't see why they had to pick the seat for him, though, when he could do it on his own, and how they did that just for him and nobody else. That seems like a very weird, goofy school.

[stik]

No child of recess-taking age should ever miss recess. Not as a punishment, and certainly not as a matter of routine.

Would it be OK with you if they scheduled the additional art class during movie time, or do you just not want your son in to participate in the adaptive art class? Either way, your ds should be at recess.

[crl]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm still weighing how I feel about the separate art class. My first instinct is just no. Stop treating my kid like a phariah. But I'm not sure how much of that is my overreaction to the history at this school, you know?

I will say that he made huge OT progress this year. We recently redid his IEP and the whole team agreed to cut his OT back to 1/2 hour in the classroom setting. He only has one fine motor skill goal now--he had actually met all of the previous ones.

By way of contrast, he had only met one of the social skills goals and we added more. So social skills are a much, much bigger part of his IEP now than fine motor.

From that perspective it doesn't make a lot of sense to pull him out of an integrated setting for an art class. . . .

And I am really, really unhappy about the pull-out preventing him from joining in recess. He's already gone before recess on Wednesdays, because it is early release day for our school district. So he's down to just 3 recesses a week. . . .

[crl]

I just wanted to update. I called the school and found out that the separate art class was instituted in January. (Before that both art classes were the entire class.) The separate art class includes a very small number of typically developing peers, so I suppose it is technically integrated.

I made the point that I wish I had been told when the change was instituted. I said for the 1000th time that we strongly prefer that our kid not be singled out any more than necessary. And I pointed out that missing recess was a bad idea, especially for a sensory seeking child who is working on social skills. I also pointed out that he is returned to the classroom just in time for a movie, the least interactive and least educational activity possible.

The administrator offered to simply have DS go to recess from now on instead of art class. I said please do that.

So, that's how it got resolved.

Thank you for your thoughts!
Catherine

[Kristine233]

Originally Posted by crl

I just wanted to update. I called the school and found out that the separate art class was instituted in January. (Before that both art classes were the entire class.) The separate art class includes a very small number of typically developing peers, so I suppose it is technically integrated.

I made the point that I wish I had been told when the change was instituted. I said for the 1000th time that we strongly prefer that our kid not be singled out any more than necessary. And I pointed out that missing recess was a bad idea, especially for a sensory seeking child who is working on social skills. I also pointed out that he is returned to the classroom just in time for a movie, the least interactive and least educational activity possible.

The administrator offered to simply have DS go to recess from now on instead of art class. I said please do that.

So, that's how it got resolved.

Thank you for your thoughts!
Catherine

Thats great that she is willing to make the change.

My guess is they don't want to do the one-on-one necessary to have all the spec ed kids outside at recess. That blows. Because if they really were that concerned with meeting the kids' needs you'd think it would be obvious to allow the kids outside for recess and do the extra art during movie time. To me its like "duh". Ya know?

As far as computers... what a stupid rule! Heck, in our school DS's Spec Ed class has 4 computers (and 4 fulltime Spec Ed students) and the regular classrooms have no student computers. And both groups go to computer lab as well. My DS loves the computer and its something he looks forward to every day at school.

[Individuation]

OK, I agree with you and would be furious.

But...

I really, really, really want you to read this. It gave me a very different perspective on integration and such. It's kind of long, but really worth it.

All the best to you and the little guy, though, and the school sounds really irritating.

[crl]

At this point I've called so many meetings, etc, etc (and both DH and I are lawyers) that I'd be very surprised if they didn't just do what I want if it is possible and legal.

I don't know why they didn't schedule the art class during movie time. I don't think it is an issue of staff to supervise on the playground, because they did it for the first half of the year before they started the separate art class. My best guess is that the art teacher's schedule doesn't allow for it. She goes to more than one school.

Individuation, that is a very interesting blog. The transracial adoption analogy is particularly meaningful for me. And I would agree that integration at all times at all costs is probably not best for many kids.

For our particular kid at this point, he did really well in an integrated classroom last year (we moved so had to change schools). And I mean that mostly in terms of having friends and enjoying school, which is what I think preschoolers ought to be doing. And in that setting the teachers did virtually nothing to distinguish the special ed kids.

In this setting they seem to distinguish between the kids for no reason, except perhaps convenience to the special education teacher to be able to treat all the special education kids the same (interestingly exactly the opposite of what the blogger describes as special education treating kids as individuals and exactly the opposition of the intent of an Individual Education Plan). And it happens while the special ed kids are in the same room as the typically developing peers, which seems like the worst of all worlds to me. If it weren't for that background, I would probably not have been so upset about the art class.

So the background, combined with the reality that DS LOVES recess and he was missing it, and a chance to socialize, to work on the area where he least needs help at this point (OT), just made it all seem wrong for DS.

I do have it in mind though that at some point, integration may not best serve DS' needs. What we do then will be very difficult. Because of the push for integration, self-contained classrooms around here would likely not meet his needs (mostly those classes have kids who are quite far behind grade level and who may never live independently). There are some very expensive, supposedly very good, special education schools around here. The very expensive part would be problematic if we need to go there. . . .

Anyway, sorry to ramble, but I wanted you know that I did read the blog and find it quite interesting. It taps into some things I've been thinking about for the future.

Catherine