What to do when inclusion isn’t enough, though your child scores out between grade level and college into some areas. At one time she was behind but was outplaced and made up over six years of work in two. I haven’t seen a public school with a program with small class for bright children with NO physical diabilities or behavior problems that can’t learn in inclusion. All small classes are remedial or teaching life skills, my child is beyond that. My child has expressive language difficulties, severe audiotry processing issues, ADD, delayed processing, word retrival difficulties, visual intergation difficulites and such. When you meet her she’s just seems like a normal kids and thats all she wants to be, but school is very important to her and has normal ed friends. She doesn’t fit in resource classes available and can’t learn in inclusion. What esle is left except a small private school? The school systems skill challenges this? I’m fighting for a change in outplacement to a more challenging, but still supportive school and the public school is trying to pull her back. I’ve no other option than to fight it while placing her privatley. She is doing well in her new school, where the classes aren’t larger than 8 students and she doesn’t have to feel outcasted by being in seperate classes.
Re: Inclusion isn't enough?
Isn’t it unfortunate that the IDEA laws don’t require us to “maximize” a child’s educational potential…just that they receive *some* educational benefit in order to have received a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). Almost any program, no matter how insignificant the gains, can prove that they give some benefit.
Grades? Learning?
Having taught at a private school such as Michelle describes, yes, there are students who fail in larger classes, sheer sensory overload being a large part of it but also the tendency for these classes to be less structured and for teachers not to be prepared to teach to students who learn differently.
Re: Inclusion isn't enough?
If she is doing well in her new school, the proof is in the pudding then. It’s certainly true that no school, private or public, is the right school for every child. The unique needs of a child may not be well met with existing programs.
I do think smaller is often better and wish every school were able to provide smaller class sizes. I think it’s easier for any child to learn in a smaller class size.
Your district will always fight this and it might win. The courts are not always friendly to this issue as it opens a Pandora’s box filled with other dissatisfied parents of children in public school who would be happy to explore other placement options if the district were found to be responsible for the tuition.
Good luck.
Re: Inclusion isn't enough?
If the pulic school system could and would invested the money and the resources from the beginning, there would be a major decline in the need for outplacements. It would still be much less in the long run verses a private school. It just doesn’t work for everyone. I know if I wasn’t a parent of a LD I would be outraged myself, for I wouldn’t understand. That’s one of the major problems is that parents with child without difficulties don’t have the exposure or in some cases unwilling to listen.
Re: Inclusion isn't enough?
I, my self fought the courts twice for my son and was put through hell. Each time the battle lasted over two years, but it was worth it.
Re: Inclusion isn't enough?
Also, my child only has two years left, that one of the major reason whey I find this whole situation even more fustrating. Why can’t they just let her be? It would be different she was younger, where I could see more reason to fight it. I know theres the issue of money, but think how much money is spent of lawyers frees and specialists.
Michelle,
I don’t understand that she “can’t learn in inclusion”. You mean her grades are failing?