8 yr old Hitting the teacher | ADHD Information

Hi all, we go to court on Monday.  I am hoping that the judge will say he should go back to the public school.  The school still wants him to go out of district.  I would like to give it another chance or at least let him finish the year at this school.  My attorney is optimistic. Jeffrey wants to go back and I think he learned his lesson.I guess I worded that wrong! Thanks for clarifying that.

He is expelled for the school year? I'm pretty sure in my state that a child w/a disability cannot be expelled if the offense is related to the disability. Is this unheard of in other states? I'm sorry to hear about this. It must be tough. Please keep us updated!

Yes, a child with a disability cannot be expelled from school unless it is determined that the action was NOT related to his disability --- this is Manifest Determination. If he's in a self-contained class, then he has an IEP and has these rights. My 8 yr old son was recently expelled from school because he hit his teacher.  We had a meeting prior to this where she told me that Jeffrey is excellent in her class (self contained) but in his mainstream 3 rd grade class he has a lot of anxiety.  He told me earlier in the year that the kids pretend that they don't see him.  He does have 4 friends that he plays with on a regular basis but none of them were in his class.  I know he crossed the line but I feel they should let him back in his class.  I am very afraid of some of the out of district schools because I worry that he will learn worse things from these kids.  I also worry that he will not learn as much, I was told academically he has made a lot of progress this year.  Any suggestions ?

Is he on meds?  Does he have an IEP?

Personally, coming from someone who has worked with kids, I would not want him back until he is under control.

They must have a Manifest Determination meeting to determine whether the behavior was due to his disability. They cannot merely recomend alternate placement. It just doesn't work like that. I suggest that you hire an advocate yesterday. And, go the www.schwablearning.org and www.wrightslaw.com and search Manifest Determination. Knowledge is power.We have gone to several out of district schools and the closest one is 15 miles away.  The majority of kids also live far from us.  We didn't see any that we were all that thrilled with so far.  My son also has an aide that follows him around at his home school.  I just feel more should have been done sooner for him from the school.  I had to hire an attorney 1.5 yrs ago to get and FBA implemented and the school psychologist did a real half assed one.  My attorney wrote a letter tearing it apart and nothing was done.  If I could find and out of district school that I would like it would be OK. My daughter did the same thing .

Back then she was not on anything ( This is when i found out she had ADHD,Today she is on 54 Mg of Concerta )

When she was in Pre-K , They were on a field trip at the Fire Dept. Her teacher had to hold my daughter due to her running away from the class .When the Fire men was explaining about the fire truck and what it does . My daughter was trying to get the Teacher's Attention, But her teacher was into listening to the fire men . So my daughter slapped her .

   When I came to school that day ,And found out what she had done . I was so mad at her . I have taught all my daughters that we dont put our hands on people .

With her ,There is not much you can do to punish her ( we have tried ) it dont work . So i made her apologize to her teacher . And when we got home that night, I made her write 5 time , I will not hit anyone.Palmer39467.7145601852

Just to show you how clueless people could be, when he threw the scissor the child who it almost hit happened to be african american and by chance so was the principal he hit, and the school psychologist, who was also african american thought my son had racial issues and that is why he did it!  That was the most absurd thing ever!

And a few years later a similar situation.  He was in religous school and didn't want to sit for services and a girl teen helper tried to restrain him and make him sit so he slapped her and because he was sitting and she was standing, he slapped her on the tush and the parents and the school tried to say my son had sexual harrassment issues (at age 8 no less)

Ahhh the frustration I felt at these clueless adults!

The other thing I have to say was good about the out of district school is that honestly in public school I felt the teachers didn't like him (after all, he was the wildcard) and almost singled him out waiting for him to do something wrong.  In the out of district school, it was the opposite.  The teachers LOVED him, and believe me, he noticed and it made his self esteem improve tremendously.  It was a breath of fresh air to me to go to school conferences and hear about all the GREAT things my son does.

 

my son is on adderall at 20 mg. in the morning but by mid afternoon it has worn off does this happen to your kid.

Don't rule out out of district schools.  There are many kinds.   My son had a similar thing happen.  He was in k and in art he got so frustrated he threw a scissor which by chance almost hit a kid in the eye, so they decided to take him to the office kicking and screaming (cause his throwing the scissor was not to hurt anyone, but just his frustration with the art project) and he got so angry he hit the principal. 

They told me he'd either need an aide or go to an out of district school so I went to look at out of district schools.  Some were for kids who had real serious behavior issues but we found one that was awesome, for kids with adhd, very academic, nice kids, great teacher to staff ratio.  In the end, he spent 5 years there and he made friends, had better self esteem and was picked for stuff (like student council, etc) that he wouldn't have been chosen for in the regular school.

Meanwhile, he's back in public middle school now and doing fine.

So before you make any decisions check out the out of district schools in your area.  Also your son may be entitled to extended year education.  The school my son went to had a summer/camp type program that the district paid for.

Thankyou all so much for your support.  I called an education attorney today and it looks pretty good about getting him back in at his home school.  The school would like him to go out of district.  I feel he has been doing sooo good this year academically that I want him back in his home school.  He takes adderall and this happened at 2:30 so it could have been that his meds were waring off and that made him more impulsive.  I cried when they told me they want him to go out of district.