my daughter and school

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i have a few concerns with the school my 6 year old goes to.she developed epilepsy a year ago and we have now started treating it about a month and ahalf ago.Anyways when i told the teacher about it she acted like she was scared and now i am having problems with my daughter not wanting to do her work at least thats what the teacher says and when i went to do a follow up on how she was doing in school the teacher said that she is so behind and that in different words she shouldn't be in grade one.I found out from my daughter that the teacher yells at her then puts her in the hall.The teacher told me that she had enough and can't deal with her anymore.My daughter seizers have gotten better but not totally gone yet but the wierd thing is when she comes home with homework i would tell her that its time to do it and she gets right to it.I feel that she is doing well but the teacher thinks different.Do you think that the teacher has a problem with her epilepsy?She doesn't know anything about epilepsy either though.Any advise please

Comments

Re: Re: Re: my daughter and school

Submitted by ekoorb on Wed, 2006-11-01 - 22:02

You need to go above the teacher. My 5 year old daugther (soon to be six) was diagnosed with E in February. I would not stand for the teacher's behavior for a second. That is not to say you want to be confrontational because she still is your child's teacher but I would go through the appropriate person at school to set up an IEP for her. At our school that is an Independent Education Plan. We have a vice principal who is the head of IEPs. There must be someone who can help you in similiar position to figure out what services are available to your daugther to accomodate whatever problems she is having in school. Does she have absence seizures? Is that why she is behind? Is she having trouble adjusting to her new meds which are affecting her ability to function and behave in school. You (and I am sure you already know this) have to be her advocate and you have to assert yourself to make sure she has all the services that may be available to her. The teacher's comments and behavior are offensive and it does not seem you will be able to get through to her without the help of the school. Take care and please keep me posted.

Re: my daughter and school

Submitted by ScottM on Thu, 2006-11-02 - 12:19

scaredmom, good afternoon. Im scott. my daughter has E and she just went through the VNS surgery. plus my wife of going on 15 yrs now is a middle school teacher. She teaches spl ed / resource self contained etc etc. now there are several things you can do. 1. not sure what state your in but all should be the same. talk with the Guidance Counselor about setting up a 504 plan. DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT let them talk you into putting her into resource. a 504 plan you will meet with an administor, her teacher(s) and guidance counselor, and school nurse. in this 504 plan you may place things like, retake failing tests, larger test can be broken up into two parts half on one day and then the next day. this can be done before or after school. if she is forgetting things in class and blanks out for a few seconds (not sure what kind of seizures she has) make sure you have in the 504 that the teacher signs an agenda every day for her homework. you can also place in there that she is allowed to bring class work that did not get finished home to finish it. the 504 and resource are so similar in what they can do. but the big thing is that your little girl will not be labed as spl ed. dont get me wrong now thats not a bad thing but alot of these 1,2,3,4,5 grade teachers dont know how to deal with kids that are not NORMAL. 2. talk with your E. doctor so that he/she can give you some info on this to give to the school. find out what kind of seizures she has go onto the internet and research it and print docs. out to give to the school so that they know what it is and what to look for. 3. also put in the 504 plan that you have weekly comms with the teacher(s) for things like the next week of spelling words etc. etc. that way it wont be such of a big or deal for her. (let her review the words over the weekend) that will give her a heads up. 4. also place in there that you wil not stand for the teacher yelling at your daughter. if she is doing something then the school is to call you immeditaley (not sure if your a stay at home mom or work) but that way it wont be late in the day when you find out she was sent to the hall. as i said my daughter has a 504 and im on them like white on rice with it. if she gets a zero for something i go back to see if they signed her homework agenda (the sad part is shes in 9th grade) and if they didnt then the zero is taken off the books. like it was never there. again as before teachers that are not sure of something really do not want to deal with things such as this. If you want you may email me at mahansc@bellsouth.net with any and all questions concerning seizers or the 504 plan. take care. scott

Re: Re: my daughter and school

Submitted by scaredmom on Thu, 2006-11-02 - 19:40

Thank you again.I am not sure if we have that 504 plan here in canada.I contaced the epilepsy society today trying to get info on E for the school.I found out today that the teachers had taken a picture of her going through a siezer and one when she isn't and they have it posted in the staff lounge that says this is Ravyn going through a siezer and the other says this is what she normally looks like if she gets bad call 911 i never even new about it.