Advice needed - removal of preschool record.
Moms View Message Board: Parenting Children with Special Needs: Advice needed - removal of preschool record.
I am trying to get ready for 2005/2006 school year when ds is going to enter kindergarten.
We might put him in catholic school for kindergarten and we wouldn't want them to see his preschool therapy record, due to natural discrimination and prejudging that this therapy list would ellicit. (ds has got alot of help as a pre k student) Being alittle paranoid but only due to my past experience.
Do I have to hire a lawyer to get rid of this record or does it follow him around.
You might check www.wrightslaw.com where they answer a lot of these types of questions. Was the preschool a public school?
Have you requested a copy of all his records so you can see what is there?
First get a copy of all the records so you see what is there. Then decide if you want to dispute anything and check out the process. Usually there should be a process.
Get a definite statement from them as to what they will send to the Catholic school. You may find that the therapy record won't go, because of privacy/confidentiality issues - just the academic type record.
Feona, with my son I kind of felt the same way. He was in the special needs class, etc. Well we moved and I toyed with not saying anything, but honestly my son still has his moments and it easier to be upfront with the teacher about him and that includes what therapy he had. So that being said, I am glad I didn't do anything, because it would have been hard to be honest with his teacher. However if you still feel that way, I think you can just not disclose where he went to preschool. When asked you can say it wasn't something that was positive and you would rather not say. Or something like that.
Come to think of it, when I put my son into a private school for kindergarten they did not request any preschool records. They just asked where he went and they never contacted the school or asked for a reference from them or anything.
My children were in private preschool, then went to public school starting in K. There were no records sent.
As a former Kindergarten teacher in a Catholic school (in NH) I'll add my two cents. First, I have no idea what the set up is at the Catholic school you have in mind, but there were very few special ed. services offered at the Catholic school I taught in. Yes, students were entitled to special services due to state law, but they had to get them through the public school system. This was usually done after school hours and the parents had to provide transportation. Of course this was not convenient, and often caused students who truly needed special ed. services to transfer into the public school system. Our school was very small. We didn't even have a school nurse or psychologist. No special ed. teachers whatsoever. Volunteers taught P.E., Art, Music and Computers. However, Catholic schools in other states could be totally different!
I'd like to add that I don't think it would be wise to send your DS to a new school without discussing his special needs with them first. Doing so would set everyone, especially your DS, up for failure. If accomodations need to be made the staff needs to know ahead of time.
If I brought ds into the special ed office now, without his history, he wouldn't get a minute of therapy prescribed. he would pass the test (He has past the ot and speech test already)
I don't really think ds has special needs anymore. I think he has a melt down very now and then, which we are working on. His speech is in normal range. His attention is pretty normal for a four year old boy. We are just in the tail ed of years of intense therapy. You get tons of therapy if you have been in the system for years. I am definitely going to let him finish his one more year of intense therapy that the special ed office has graciously allowed him.
I don't want him forced into a special ed class. He is in regular preschool now for a year and a half. He thrives in a regular class.
There is a tremendous pressure for people to see you as you always have been. If you have been in jail, people might always view you are a jailbird. But for a 3 or 4 year old that is rather silly. Of course a three year old or a four year old isn't going to be the same in a year. It is prejudging and discrimination not to allow a child to grow out of the therapy.
I don't think he is going to fail kindergarten since he already knows his letters, counting to 15, shapes and colors. he is more social than 90% of kids. Sounding out 1/2 the letters. Writes his name. His speech is in the normal range. He doesn't even qualify for OT any more but he is still getting the OT. He has another full year before kindergarten to get speech more improved. I don't see how he could fail with his personality and skills.
Now, I wouldn't mind him in an integrated classroom in kindergarten, but since I can't control the special ed system, I am definitley going to make alternative plans if things don't fall the way I think they should. I have a masters degree in education so I think I know something about what is going on.
And yes, we are experience more discrimination and prejudging at the new camp he is in because of his seit. He gets so much services they expect him to be out of control and impossible to manage, which is NOT how he is at all. He is very sweet and well behaved.
So without him doing anything bad, they said he couldn't come on days the seit wasn't here. Prejudging and discrimination again... Terrible bumping into discrimination walls at four year old.
Actually I decide that it was a good idea not to have him at the camp when the seit wasn't there because EVERYTIME I walk into the camp there are one or two kids in time out screaming crying IN ds's classroom. Seems like the head teacher is alittle overwhelmed. (It is a daycare for mostly full time kids with at least one other child who should have a seit but isn't getting it.)
As a former K teacher in the public schools (NYC) and formerly grade one in the catholic schools in Brooklyn, I can honestly say I never once came across a child's preschool record.
I am sorry your son is being treated unfairly and I absolutely understand your wishes to avoid any discrimination. I would absolutely just let him enter K like any other kid and take it from there. Even if he had a meltdown or two, that's entirely normal for any child in a new environment. I wouldn't even discuss his therapy with the teacher unless there is a real need for it.
Let your son start with a clean slate and go from there. You can always volunteer the information if it's needed later on, but you can't take it back once it's given.
You can just leave the preschool line blank on the admission documents.
Good luck.
Ame
I just find if I am not ready for stuff I am on the short end of the stick. For example on the little girls is going into an inclusion class for kindergarten at ds therapy office. We are all scratching our heads because she is absolutely adoreable.
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