Mykidsmom and I have been struggling to figure out what to do about Avi’s schooling. Right now, Avi is in first grade at The Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley in East Brunswick, NJ. He is mostly happy here but things have been difficult. He is very defiant and sometimes will sit in class and do nothing, or even worse disrupt the class. Avi started his school career in pre-school at the Gan Yeladeem Learning Center at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick. Things were ok at the start, but after a while he was becoming more and more defiant and difficult to deal with. The director suggested that we look into what our services our town could provide. Our town’s public school evaluated Avi and determined that he did not qualify for services. After another 6 months, the pre-school director told us that she was close to asking us to take him out. So we went back to the public schools, this time with some ammo. A friend who is a special ed teacher, a friend who is a psychologist specializing in Asperger syndrome etc. Avi then qualified for services and after 6 months improved so much that for his last year of pre-school he was back at Gan Yeladeem in the am and in the public school in the pm. A difficult day for sure, but Avi did very well.
So then the two declassified him and he had a great Kindergarten year at SSDSRV. Things deteriorated this year is first grade which is why we had private testing done and the final diagnosis of ADHD, ODD and a learning disability. So we decided that we should have SSDSRV ask the county to evaluate Avi and hopefully come up with an IEP that will allow us to move forward.
Well, Monday we had our meeting with his teachers and the county and it was determined that Avi does not qualify for services. So now we are back at square one. Although the ADHD medication has been helping, Avi still has difficulties in class and the professionals are just telling us, wait and see what happens with the meds and the therapy.
Avi is a bright kid, and when I sit with him to help him with his homework, he clearly has learned the material. I just wish we could find a way to help him act appropriately in school. We don’t have all the answers and I don’t know when and if we will but I can only pray that we can help Avi to achieve his fullest potential.
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weird question, and i mean no offense in any way. would the county provide services if Avi were in public school? just wondering. a friends here has learning disabilities, and because she is in the local catholic school, the public school won’t provide services.
a friend’s son also has asperger’s, but he is in public school in LI i think. i can ask if that would help.
hang in there!
The reason the county does not want to provide services is because they feel he is testing in the “normal” range. If we went to the public schools, we would have to deal with our town rather than the county. At the moment Avi is starting to move in a good direction at school which I am sure is due to the meds. In NJ, the local towns provide services for the public schools and the county provides for the private schools. They actually DO provide some services, but not a lot.
I should post an update in a day or two.
And Wreke, thanks for the comments. I know some people have been reading the blog as I can look at the stats, but it is nice to have some comments. I made the change you suggested and I often comment on other’s blogs so hopefully it will drive traffic my way. I find writing the blog very helpful in getting through the day.
I can relate to your dilemma. My oldest was diagnosed with ADHD, my second with ADD, and my nephew has Apsberger syndrome. One year I homeschooled them all along with my daughter who is ‘normal’.
It can be very frustrating in the early years to know what to do and how to educate. I can tell you, now that they are all in high school and middle school, my oldest in college – each of them felt the time homeschooling was the most beneficial. They were able to learn at the pace they needed and I could individualize for their disabilities. Of course, it’s not for everyone, but the stress was much less, knowing they were in a safe, loving and noncompetitive environment.
Just some thoughts…