A Question for teachers?

I will say honestly that I never know what to expect until I meet the student. BP is so unique to individuals. Much also depends on structure in the child’s life. Even then, some cycles can produce some intense behaviors.

Like other disorders, BP can be mild, moderate, or severe. Who knows what is best for that student until we meet him/her and conference with parent/team?

I do know that there is prejudice out there against people with mental disorders. Much of it is fear of the unknown, as with any prejudice. I have worked with enough kids with emotional disorders to just take each day and child as they are presented.

Truthfully, this IEP sounds corny. No one can teach all core subjects in one hour per day.

Is this a high school student? High school resource programs are notorious for dumping students into the resource room to work on whatever, then you end up with 8 students there for 5 different classes, and almost an hour to teach everyone.

Bi-polar students are as different as any other group. Each child has to be taken individually.

No this is his reg ed teacher who teaches all core subjects his resorce roon teacher insrturcts him in Spelling,phonics,writing for an hour.I am not too worried about her she had him before and knows he is very intelligent and she says she really dont know how to handle him since his IQ is so high and he is higher functioning than her other styudents.

Having lived with a bipolar relative most of my life, no, I wouldn’t be feel scared about working with a child who has a bopolar disorder.

While I agree that academically there’s a wide variety of learning styles and abilities among bipolar as well as non-bipolar individuals, it IS helpful to know how to recognize, interpret, and deal with the possible mood swings that may come to the front in someone with B/PD. The meds don’t always solve the problem completely.

I really like the book “The Explosive Child” by Ross W. Greene. It’s very useful in helping someone, esp. a child, with any brain disorder know how to express themselves. It helps the adult know how to interpret what’s being said and how to respond in a way that acknowledges and empathizes with the feelings, yet pulls the person back to the limits set or agreed upon.

Although that book wasn’t intended specifically for people with mental disorders, or even for people without bouts of explosiveness, I’ve found it to be very helpful in a variety of situations.

If I didn’t have the information I would have no opportunity to be prepared with the sort of knowledge that would help me make good decisions about management. This isn’t fair to me or to your son- or to the other students in the class. The teacher needs to know- and to be able to communicate with you about anything which may (or may not) arise.

Robin

Are you trying to decide whether to keep references to his bipolar diagnosis out of the IEP and other paperwork? I have worked with teachers who cannot get past the “label”— i.e. “if he’s bipolar he needs to be in a ED class”— so I can see where you might be hesitant to share this information. The IEP should focus on how this disorder impacts him— what are his strengths, weaknesses, educational needs, etc. I see from your later post that the teacher already knows him— that’s a plus, she knows he is not unmanageable. But she is saying that she doesn’t know how to teach him— that’s where you need to focus. Who is going to help her learn what she needs to know to educate your son, and how are they going to do it? Get it in writing!

Having spent a life in behavior disorders I would be far more fearful of having to teach a gifted young student everything he/she needs in life in only an hour a day than I would be of any label. I know bipolar is one bear of a label, but until I meet the child - the label was only a medical person’s means of achieving a payment.

My question is, why is he in self-contained classes. I had a student just this year with Bi-polar and we had a great time. We really got along well and he did great in my English class. He received and A and I don’t water down my class. Why do you ask this question?

he is not ina self contained class he was just dx BP he is in resource room for some LA subjescts he is severly dyslexic and dysgraphic.However he is BP too and has a anxiety disorder.he is int he reg classroom most of the day he has pull out 3 times a week for speech ,2 times a week for OT, and everyday for resource room.He does get lots of writing modifications and has his work read to him.his comphrehension is way above his grade level.
I am just worried if I let the school know he is dx with BP they would hold that against him and not let him exceeed in school he is not a behavior problem yet but his anxieties do get in his way and his organization skills are real bad

My experience is as a pediatric nurse, but sad as it may be I have seen coworkers shudder and prepare for the worst when assigned to a child with some sort of mental or behavior disorder. After seeing that the child was no different from any other, they would relax and treat him as any other child. Could you let the new teachers meet your child first and then tell them along with an explaination of what being bipolar means? This could relieve any aniety related to the dx

I can only speak for myself and not for other special ed. teachers. No, I
would not be afraid. First of all, I never make any judgements about any of
my students until I get to know them. Secondly, I would research all that I could about your son’s difficulties so that I would have a better understanding
and be able to address his needs more effectively. I honestly would not be upset.
PS. I tutored a boy with bipolar among other things for 4 years. Despite his highs and lows, I was the constant he could always depend on. It was one of my greatest learning experiences.
Good luck to your son and to you,
Lisa

Only one hour a day and the teacher teaches four subjects?????? Bi-polar is diagnosed a lot these days and many of the kids are properly medicated and behave great. No preconceived notions should be present. I have more issues dealing with gifted/ld students. I hate to admit this but these are my least favorite kids to work with. However, it has been more of a problem with the parents unwillingness to want to recognize the LD issues. I have not had very good experiences trying to work in these situations. sorry, I’m sure you will be great!

Thank you all again he is in the reg. class most of the day .his BP has not interferred that much yert in school.Yes the school has problmes dealing with his LD gifted.They really dont know how to do it.i am not afraid of admitting my son had both I see it all too well a child has a IQ of 150 but cant read but at a beginning 2 nd grade level at 10 and writes letters backwards still even in his own name.

I have worked with a number of bipolar teenagers in my self-contained/
resource class. Each individual is unique, and this is especially true with
bipolar individuals. I DO stay consistent in my dealings with the student,
keeping to a set system of rewards/consequences tailored to the bipolar
student’s needs. Some may require a time away in another section of the room
upon a rule violation……some may simply need a few moments at their desk
where they can stop working without consequence until they can “re-group”.
There are simply no basic set of techniques you use with every b/p student.
The one constant is to be consistent in whatever management system you use.
Too many parents/teachers are afraid to apply a consequence immediately
for a behavior violation; too many forget to give a consistent reward. In
addition, there are many issues of medicating these students that are too many
to go into here.

Look a couple of pages back for that study skills book. It looks good, esp. if you work with teens/pre-teens.

Ashley, saw your response re: the gifted/LD child. Wondered what you found most challenging - or is it primarily the parents in denial? I have a gifted/VERY LD daughter and I am extremely aware of her deficits. Honestly, I had no idea she was gifted.

Just wondered what other challenges are present specific to the LD/gifted child. Just plain curiousity. I have found that I am more likely to limit her than she is to limit herself.

I think I would handle it this way: set up a meeting with that regular teacher at thebeginning of the year. OFten the regular teachers *don’t* know all the ins and outs in those sped files; you might even sort of hint that hey, you just want to meet with her so she doesn’t have to wade through it all.
Then I’d talk about specifics and leave the BP dx out of it at first — see how the teacher feels about dealing with behaviors, and whether she feels like the suggestion that there are ways to de-escalate things are somehow a threat to her authority or not.

This is the major population I deal with in tutoring.

There’s no single recipe, but in general, the first rule is to look at strengths and not weaknesses.
American society does have this ambivalent attitude about intelligence. Consider an analogy: suppose your child was LD in reading, passable in math, and highly gifted physically — say for example a pre-Olympic-level figure skater or hockey player. Now, what education would be recommended? The kid would be in coaching for the athletics four hours a day, tutoring for the reading a couple of hours, and enough math to keep to grade level. Everybody would be handing out awards and trophies for the skating, and if the question of reading came up, it would be quite acceptable to say “well, I’m not a great reader but I’m working to improve it.” Nobody would even consider cutting out the skating (the success area) in order to spend more time on the failure area in reading.

OK, let’s look at a parallel for the gifted/LD reading child. Yes, he should be working on it and getting *effective* forms of reading tutoring, certainly a couple of hours a day. See the Teaching Reading board for lots and lots of info. He should be working on math up to his level, and the parents may have to put in the time until he reads well enough. Then he should be working hard and developing the other skills where he is really good four four hours or so. He sould NOT be shut down and bored to death as a punishment. Now, it is very difficult to provide enough interest and challenge to a gifted child without reading, but it’s worth working on as much as possible. You can read aloud, use video, make museum visits, and provide lots of hands-on work. This has to be done by the parents as much as the teacher — the teacher has limited time and facilities and it is not unwillingness but lack of four hands and thirty-hour days thatn frustrates the teacher as much as you.

Just some general thoughts here — ask me particular questions any time.

The most challenging aspect of a LD/Gifted student, for me, was convincing the parents that the academic problems, this case was written language, was something he needed to work on to get better so he could be successful with the next level of education. Instead they wanted the system to modify everything and the student to do nothing. As a result there is not remediation and he will leave school with the same skills he walked in with, unfortunately. My district folded because the parents made threats, we are not doing what’s best for the child. I have written off responsibility for any academic skill development. I believe just because it is hard to do doesn’t mean you don’t do it, you just have more time to get it done.

Ashley, boy do I agree with you. I have found the opposite to be true. Especially with the inclusion class. They wanted to accommodate my gifted/LD daughter to death and not make her responsible for anything. I, on other hand, think like you do. Okay, it’s hard, I accept that, but use that brain of yours to come up with some compensation techniques.