Do you have a Behavioral Intervention Plan? IDEA 2004 requires behavioral problems be addressed with redirection and positive interventions that address behavior, by teaching approiate behavior. Google, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports(PBIS). Also Functional Behavioral Assessment(FBA). You write into the IEP positive supports and modifications to address the forgetfulness...ect related to the disability so the teachers know how to provide approiate supports and modification for your son,(and required to do it). The FBA, each teacher fills out forms that lists any issues related to non-performance of accademics, not focussing, forgetting work, disorganization, or behavioral problems. Parent also provides their list of issues related to childs difficuilties that are impeading childs ability to learn and any commentary to provide support for the IEP team, helping them to understand childs needs. You can request all your sons teachers come to the IEP so everyone is on the same page, working together to assure your son suscess at school. Things you can consider doing are. You can contact your State Department of Education and ask who is the person that is director of their PBIS Program and ask the Director to mail you information about the program. Ask when the next training conference is and you would like to attend. Also ask who is the Director of Focused Monitoring, name, e-mail, phone #. You can write a letter like this one and ask that your distric be monitored for non-compliance and not providing FAPE,(you might not want to do this unless your distric refuses to fix the problem.) You can take a class for free called Wrights Law, you can contact your Disability Law Office in your state and ask when the next class is. It is a required course for all Special Education Teachers. Parents of children with disabilities can register to attend class for free and get free books. You can contact your Parent Center, they are listed online in every state in USA. Tell them what your problem is and if you like, can sign a form saying they can talk to school and you give them copys of IEP. They provide training classses for parents to educate about disability laws so we can advocate for our children.
It is very sad that a Teacher would treat any children this way! But we have disability laws that protect children with IEP's. I would definately use the disability card. Regular Education teachers often need support from parents and Special Education Teacher to understand how to provide approiate services for our children with IEP's. I shared with my principal, teachers who yell and use punitive types of discpline cause all children to become anxious and stressed. Also it lowers their self esteme. When children are stressed it impairs higher order thinking and long term memory retention, according to scientific research studies. Which is counter productive to the schools goals of meeting required high testing scores on Core Curriculum Testing, to be in compliance with NCLB. You're shooting yourself in the foot. But as he is aware, for children with disabilities, it violates their civil rights, when a teacher is punitive, verbally abusive, using public humulation as a educational tool and punishing the child for issues related to the disability. I mentioned, I was sure he would like to know so he could talk to the teacher and address the issue through professional development, possibly PBIS training for all the schools teachers. Schoolwide PBIS training would help raise the distric scores and improve parent, school, community relations. Parent involvement also has been proven to raise children's accademic scores and emotional well being. I expressed my appreciation for him being so kind and helpful when adressing problems at school. The principal addressed the issue by talking to the teacher and it changed the way the teacher teaches all the children now.
If you intend on addressing your concerns of how the teacher is teaching all the children, you had a very convincing argument on why the teachers methodology on teaching were counter productive to the children learning the missing skills. Due to funding cuts, many schools are not hireing teachers back or letting teachers go. Your persuasive way you addressed the issue may be instrumental in influnceing the school boards decisions. Parents that provide input to school districs in positive constructive ways are appreciated as a asset to the school and the community.
You can request the School Psychologist do testing to determine degree of impairment of memory, short term?, long term?, what percentle is your son.(ask for full battery of tests in all areas of functioning, in writting to school distric). Often children with high IQ's are disorganized and have memory problems that require supports and training to develop compensatory skills to be functional as adult. When you chart the accademic scores and scores on functioning on bell curve, it is a visual tool to show to teachers so it helps them to understand how uniquely designed your son is. Highlighting areas of weakness with yellow and red, color coding chart green in all high scoring areas provides a visual presentation easy for all teachers to understand. Have you identified your sons learning style and documented it in the IEP? Providing information about learning style written into the IEP helps the regular education teacher to provide approiate modifications and supports.
Hope something mentioned may be of help! Wishing you the best!
