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Post by Claire on May 22, 2008 22:53:21 GMT -5
I need some help with anyone that has done or know someone who has done home schooling with a child with Down syndrome. I have had it with the system,  first school abuses him  :'(and we are still in court with Human Rights with this one, and now this one doesn't abuse him but he is totally wasting his time. I refused to sign the IEP last week as all the goals we're related to him flopping and dropping. No mention of him reading at a grade 2 level or doing grammar at a grade 1 level and also being able to fully operate the computer by himself for typing and such. He even draws on Paint Pad. They are absolutely obcessed with this. They are so worried about the flop and drop issue he barely gets academics done, they actually took him to the pool in his bathing trunk but did not allow him to swim, just sat there with an EA and watched everyone having fun for the full hour. Even the lifeguard supervisor called me, she said it was so sad to see.One life gaurd offered to take him in and was told "Absolutely not" She called tog et my permission in writting so that next week she will be taking him in the water and not the EA or teacher. Their reason was that he flopped and dropped before leaving the school to go swimming. As if??? This is all I have heard from them all year, the flop and drop even thought the behavior team specialist have made suggestions like ignoring the issue. I have also copied and pasted all your previous advice given to me when I posted here last month. This is like taking a 3 year old to Dairy Queen with a bunch of friends and not allowing him to have any ice cream. Then they say he refused to take his trunks off. Am I surprise by this? ::)Maybe he thought he still had to go for a swim. Anyways both of us have had it. The way we look at it, (and I am not lying when I say this) we don't have the behavior at home, if he does flop and drop like most do of our kids seem to do, he is easily redirected. So next fall we are giving the home schooling a try before they frustrate him so much that he is unwilling to cooperate with anything. My husband and I discussed it and we have a meeting set up with the school next week. Any advice is appreciated. PS" Adam is the only child with DS in our community of 5000 population, the others are all over 18, , and we only have 2 English schools, so we are really on our own with this one, except for 2 wonderful retired EA's who are willing to help me out and teach me the ropes. Thank God for Angels. |
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Post by jelanismom on May 23, 2008 6:03:39 GMT -5
Claire, First of all, I'm so sorry to hear this, I'm shocked and appauled that this is happening to your son. And I was nearly in tears reading about the abuse, and what the heII are they doing tormenting the boy by making him "watch" the others swim while he wears swim trunks? grrrr...I want to just pick up the phone and give them a piece of my mind, those %$@@$#! Sorry I have no advice on homeschooling and I'm no beacon of knowledge, ...but what I have are some numbers...I just looked them up and pasted them here for you. I hope that you receive good helpful advice here at Uno and maybe at any one of these groups...and I sincerely wish that you and your son get the help you need and rightly deserve. I have no experience in homeschooling, but I've joked that I was on the verge of it a couple times. But what's been happening to your son is no laughing matter. It's beyond me how anyone in their profession could treat a child this way, in our day and age. They put advances made in Ds back a hundred years. And if I lived closer, I'd march right into that school, but I can't say what I'd do. I'll be praying for you and Adam. hugs Down Syndrome Association of Hamilton
Rt. 7 Brantford
Ontario, N3T 5L9
Halton Down Syndrome Association
Box 93037
Headon Postal Outlet
Burlington, Ontario L7M 4A3
Friends
367 Wellington Street, W.
Chatham, Ontario N7M 1K2
Quinte Down Syndrome Parent Support Group
Box 114, 98 Fourth Street
Desconto, Ontario K0K 1X0 Canada
Nipissing Down Syndrome Society
Box 316
North Bay, Ontario P1B9N4
Parents of Down Syndrome
428 Sundial Drive
Orillia Ontario L3V 4A6
Down Syndrome Association of York Region
1111 Davis Drive, Ste 30-345
Newmarket Ontario, L4C 5Y8
Down Syndrome Association of Ontario
19 Royal Birkdale Lane
Thornhill Ontario, L3T 1V1
Up and Down
2091 W. Grand Court
Windsor, Ontario N9E 1G7 |
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Post by Chris too on May 23, 2008 7:59:00 GMT -5
Claire, I home school my other kids, but Stevie is just starting preschool this fall - in the system. I have picked this, just for preschool, for very different reasons than I picked home for the rest. I plan to teach her at home starting in kindy, but mostly because I hate the speech therapist she'd have at that point - if that changes & may not "bring her home" for school until 1st grade.
Are you looking for help with finding curriculum or with the law? Are you asking how your day proceeds with home school? No matter who you are teaching, the time to pick your curriculum for fall is NOW. That way you have a bit of time to look it all over, order, ship, look it all over again, order more if needed.
There are curricula that you can buy whole or in parts from publishers like Abekka or Rod & Staff, but they are filled with -- well, filler & are rather expensive. I personally like to pick things in an a-la-carte, eclectic way. I choose what works for each child. One that works for all is Math U See. I highly recommend it. For grammar & prefer Rod & Staff, but we didn't discover this until last year, so 3rd grade is the lowest we've looked at. For history, science, and "enrichment," we use the 4H program, festivals, museums, zoos, "wilderness adventures" - we have fun! We sometimes get those great National Geographic science kits for making candy, volcanoes, dinosaurs, etc. For reading - read aloud every day, being picky about pronunciation & correct reading (no skipping or substituting) just a little above their level. Spelling Power is good for spelling - you just do what you can according to what they have mastered until you've completed the whole 5000 word list of commonly used & misspelled words, with lots of appropriate repetition & more sensible "rules." I have taken issue with the number of words in a set that don't follow the rule that they are listed under, but not until about halfway through. I also like the Critical Thinking Press series on reading comprehension called Reading Detective, but it doesn't start until they are reading at about 3rd grade level. They also have some fun books on grammar, history, problem solving, math, etc. Most of their stuff, though is for 3rd grade and up. An invaluable tool that is very cheap is a membership to EnchantedLearning.com - $20 per year - gobs of worksheets for all elementary & most middle-school levels, in just about any subject you want.
I hope that you are not letting your anger choose this path for you, because you can have loads of fun with it if you don't stress out over how they are doing. I have found that with my approach, my kids are sometimes behind the public schools for a few years, but when they catch up, they zoom forward and have a level of mastery that is unparalleled in typical publicly schooled kids. So I take a relaxed pace - even my 8th-grader takes only 2-3 hours to complete her work each day & has fun doing it, but She's halfway through her first year of Algebra (was "behind" until 7th grade), and is writing speeches above her grade level. She's studying entomology (bugs - a subset of biology), and is assembling a bug collection. She's reading The Lord of The Rings, so age-appropriate, has better-than-average grammar, but needs more work on punctuation & capitalization (laziness I think). We need to hit the history a bit more next year & get in more government. I could tell you about the others, but you get the idea.
Stevie will be taking dance classes with her siblings starting this summer, and she will continue with that or swimming, or track forever. That will be her "adaptive PE." I expect that with 3 more years of speech therapy in preschool (at ages 3, 4, and 5 - June birthday in Indiana!!) she will need only quarterly or monthly checks on pronunciation, because she does well with speech. She should be writing pretty well & I can help her get better - I have some fun games for that. I can adapt any curriculum - or better yet, buy what suits her without regard to stated "grade levels." So I think I have a plan...
I hope all of this helped.
Chris too
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Post by Googsmom aka Jennifer on May 23, 2008 9:46:37 GMT -5
That makes me sad not letting him swim  Grrrrr...... Chris has helped me out in this area too. She is very smart  My oldest is in public school but I have to make sure she is always "learning" or "reviewing" or she will loose what she has learned rather quickly. I use eveyone of the sights she has mentioned. I hope you find they help you too. Good luck to you and here's a big (((((((HUG)))))) |
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Post by katiesmom on May 23, 2008 10:19:20 GMT -5
Hi Claire,
We homeschooled Katie this year for kindergarten and plan on homeschooling next year for 1st grade. The school was very accomodating to us....I take Katie over for OT, PT, and Speech twice a week and we have use of their library. We still meet with the therapists once a year to come up with goals for OT, PT, and ST. We had a great time this year and were free to spend more time on topics that Katie really liked.
This year we just used a mish-mash of things, no real curriculum, but next year I'll be using a real curriculum and adding/subtracting what is or isn't appropriate for her abilities.
Good luck! Keep us posted.
Deane
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Post by Valerie on May 23, 2008 14:11:09 GMT -5
If anyone dared take Nicholas to a pool and he had to just sit and watch the rest have fun, I'd be SOOOOOOO FURIOUS! That alone would set me off, let alone the rest that you've had to deal with!
I have no advice on the home schooling, but just wanted to say I hope things turn around for both of you very soon!
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Post by CC on May 23, 2008 20:54:51 GMT -5
I don't know a thing about your area, do you guys have advocates to help you with the school issues??
BEST of Luck to you.
CC ~ |
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Post by jelanismom on May 23, 2008 21:26:49 GMT -5
Hi again Claire, Found this for you... Homeschooling and Down Syndrome Discussion list for families who are homeschooling or want to homeschool their child with Down Syndrome. To Join: Send a blank message to homeschoolinganddownsyndrome-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or subscribe online at: health.groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschoolinganddownsyndrome/ |
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Post by faithhope on May 24, 2008 16:39:35 GMT -5
Dearest Claire, ((((((((((((((((HUGS TO YOU))))))))))))))))))))) I am so so sorry that you are going through this. I am in tears, that is so sad. I am disgusted with the abuse. Your child like all children do not deserve this. He deserve love. I was amazed to see you post this, because I was also going to ask if anyone has homeschooled their kids ( Ds and not). This is something I am seriously considering doing. I just don't trust that Noah will be treated good. It is too easy I think for people to take advantage and hurt our kids.
I will be praying for you and I think Homeschooling is a great option.
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first school abuses him 
:'(and we are still in court with Human Rights with this one, and now this one doesn't abuse him but he is totally wasting his time. I refused to sign the IEP last week as all the goals we're related to him flopping and dropping. No mention of him reading at a grade 2 level or doing grammar at a grade 1 level and also being able to fully operate the computer by himself for typing and such. He even draws on Paint Pad. They are absolutely obcessed with this. 
Grrrrr......
My oldest is in public school but I have to make sure she is always "learning" or "reviewing" or she will loose what she has learned rather quickly. I use eveyone of the sights she has mentioned. I hope you find they help you too. Good luck to you and here's a big (((((((HUG))))))
