On Thursday of last week they began letting my daughter stay in regular science classes. Today I recieved a letter from the teacher saying she is hitting the other children in class, and nothing she has tried has helped. I went to the school and watched from outside the room, I stood there for about 10-15 minutes before anyone saw me. The class was playing a game called seven- up. Towards the end of the game the teacher started pulling a child aside and telling them to pick Staci. I could see this up-set the child being told to do this and in picking her they actual hit her. After this happend a couple times, I stepped into the room. I know the teacher is just trying to make sure my daughter feels included, but the kids tell her that they were made to pick her, and she told me that it hurt her hand when they hit her. The teacher doesn’t feel that this is an issue, I feel that the children are not going to get any better at accepting my daughter, when being forced to include her. And her frustration at hearing from them that the teacher makes them “pick her” is part of the problem with the hitting going on. On the playground all the children play together fine, they are with an aide not the teacher. Staci normally only plays with one to two other children and seems happy. What if anything sould I do about the class room play?
Re: how do I know
sorry- one more thing- whe a small hard turd wacked your kid in the head, was the teacher doing anything other than picking her nose? how about- “that’s not okay johnny-and you know what i mean” (accompanied by devil glint in eye)
cheers
Re: how do I know
I know this sounds weird and reactionary, but how about trying to get the teacher to teach some science in the class? And any game, whether supposedly a learning game or not, should not involve physical contact — slapping and poking is not appropriate as a school activity, ever. No wonder the kids are hopeless — the adults are not giving any guidance.
Write up your note above as a formal complaint to the principal and copy to the school board. Don’t say that you deliberately listened; just say you were going to see the teacher and happened to overhear. Ask forcefully for the class time to be spent more appropriately on teaching and learning activities. Say that you do not want your child forcibly included, that force is not what inclusion is about. Suggest that the teacher find other, positive ways to include your child, or leave her to find her own way. And say that you find it totally inappropriate for slapping to be part of a class activity, even hand-slapping.
Formal complaints to the principal and the board usually get results. If not, go directly to your school board member, then to the superintendent. The final step if things are really bad is the state government education office. Sooner or later the heat gets to be too much.
One side note — I have been on the other side of this, as a teacher trying very hard to run an organized and academic class, and parents snuck in when I was out and went behind my back to the principal to complain that things were not the way they liked them. They didn’t like the way the workbooks were marked, never mind that their kid had mastered five times as much as in the previous year (which is why I can never keep up, a fault of progress); they didn’t like the way I was teaching writing, never mind that their kid had progressed two years in six months, last year’s work was neater and prettier, never mind that the kid was behind grade level, it was neat and pretty; they didn’t like the fact that I left the kids’ work in their own desks and not on my own (I believe you progress more if you own your own work, and the kids’ progress showed it), they didn’t like the way I was teaching science (I was following the discovery-based curriculum, something the previous teacher never bothered to do, and the parents preferred the old worksheets), and they thought I had organized the classroom “the wrong way”. Yes, these complaints to the principal got attention. Lots of attention. I was driven into a state of nerves constantly having to justify every move I made, and that didn’t help the classroom atmosphere, especially when the same parents told their kids to defy me because they thought I was wrong. So yes, this is an effective method, and yes, you can drive a teacher out of the school if you work on it. So, please, before you bring out the big guns in this way, double-check exactly what you are complaining about — change is not necessarily bad, it may be just what you need. (Not in the case of the child being hurt above, but in general, think twice)
Re: how do I know
My daughter Staci is 7y and 11m old. In the secound grade. The comment about the science class is due to the fact that sincecshe started this new school they have had her in no regualar class , and finally agreed to try her in science.
Re: how do I know
I’m sorry - she’s so little and has such a mean ol’ teacher- classroom games ougt to be fun for everyone- but it sounds like not with this teacher. better luck next year!
Re: how do I know
Geez, I am so sorry that this is happening to your family! no one should be hitting anyone in a class room. I have to agree with the lady above, about getting the princlpal involved. maybe you can ask for another meeting of the IEP team. One of the things I have learned over the years is that often there is no communication between the resource rm. and regular class rooms. It is frightening how many excellent and well meaning teacher are abolutely unprepared to understand and teach a special needs child.
ugh! a few questions- how old is Stacy? I would assume she is in elementary school but the science class comment- i’m not sure.and,WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT NASTY B#TCH OF A TEACHER?- why hasn’t she read her class the riot act about being respectful, inclusive, kind, etc ,etc? (i.e acting like decent litte human beings rather than small hard turds). I am sorry for your daughter, and apologize on behalf of that wicked witch and those mean kids. I reckon the best thing to do now would be to do some good snooping for a , well, nicer teacher for next year.
good luck
sandy