I am just at a complete loss what to do with Joey and the inattention he is receiving at Grapeview. Joey had some developmental delays present at birth and had been receiving support services since the time he was two. He attended a wonderful special needs preschool for about a year and then we moved to Grapeview. He attended Grapeveiw preschool for two years, receiving help in speech and language only one day a week and then moved on to Kindergarten for two years, where he continued to receive services in speech and language. Then at the end of second grade, the school exited him out of special education. I called foul and wondered how a child could be 'magically cured?' My complaints were ignored. Joey's pediatrician also could not believe what the school had done and referred us to Glenn Tripp, a world-renowned autism specialist. Joey was diagnosed with aspersers. I took the report to the school, but the school principal questioned the findings. Her words to me, "Joey, really?" However, it was enough to get him retested. The beginning of last year, Ed and I attended a meeting at the school with the school psychologist and special education teacher and his fourth grade teacher and they said he did not qualify for support services, other then the STARS reading program. What could I do?
Fast forward to this year, he is now in the fifth grade, and only reading at the third grade level. The track he is on already at the beginning of the school year makes me think he’s going to be repeating fifth grade. He is NOT ready for middle school. He is the class clown and his teacher has placed him in an isolation desk away from the other students with partitions to keep him focused and away from extra stimuli. Why, I want to know? If he's not a special needs child, why are you treating him different? His pediatrician was floored and told me to sue the school or to get him out of there.
This week he attended outdoor school, a three day environmental curriculum taught at a YMCA camp; however, one day into the camp, I received a phone call from the principal stating Joey was not listening and being disruptive and was 'making the school look bad.’ I swear those were her exact words and she wanted to know what I was going to do about it. Long story short, I agreed to pick him up at the camp. Talking to him on the drive home, he told me another child punched him and when Joey tried to retaliate, he was the one who got in trouble, and a few hours later, he tapped someone on the shoulder, and the boy told Joey to get off him. Then his teacher grabbed him and told him that was it—"you're going home." WTH?
When we got to the camp, his teacher walked Joey to the office and told him he would see him on Monday. I don't think so, if you can't handle him, I will find someone else who can, even if that means me home schooling him. Lord, give me strength!!!!