Thank you for stopping by this blog, may you find something valuable here that you won't learn anywhere else, other than experiencing it yourself, firsthand, as I have. You may wonder why I named this blog as I have, it is because if you are curious about La France Elementary School in South Carolina I would like for you to know a few things about their treatment of autistic children, such as my son, before you consider putting your child in this school.
My son went to the special needs classroom and as you will see by the evidence that I present, that he was mistreated and punished for being autistic/having autistic behaviors, for having sensory processing issues, and that the teacher was NOT qualified to teach autistic children.
You might think that because you do not have a special needs child that this doesn't apply to you but you will find that, after reading more information that I provide, the principal and even at the district level I was in fact bullied and intimidated to take an entry off of my other blog that was a perfectly legal and justifiable entry. It was the assistant superintendent who admitted to me that she told the principal to tell me to take the entry off of my blog in which that had NO right to tell me or to even suggest that I take something off that the first amendment gives me the right to publish. I believe that after you hear my stories that you will agree that these people who are getting government funding for having my child in the classroom when he is not even there anymore. I even had a lawyer tell me that, "You can bet that this school is still getting the government funding even though your son is not even in the classroom this year." I am sure that they are which should concern all of us since that is OUR tax money and nobody is even checking into it.
Perhaps you will just take a look at the evidence and information that I present because the papers that I scan are the actual ones that the teacher sent home with my child and it is apparent that she is making him stay out of recess, sit in time out for 20 minutes, and missing his regular education classes just for acting autistic and doing things that practically ALL autistic children do.
We moved from Anchorage, Alaska 2 years ago and the education and level of understanding was far beyond stellar and it has been nothing but hell since he set foot in La France Elementary. I was denied an I.E.P for months and never got the Behavior Intervention Plan in place during the IEP that I did get even though the teacher repeatedly reported nothing but negative comments about my son nearly every single day. I want to go ahead and publish the report right now so that you can see it and let me know what you think about how she had NO knowledge of how to deal with an autistic child. I am outraged and I will keep this blog forever and never give up trying to get justice for what has been done to my child. Not only does my son have disabilities but so do I and I feel that I have been mistreated and taken advantage of by these people. They took advantage of the fact that I was terrified of retaliation while he was in the school and now that he is attending school at home and never will be in the SC public school system ever again, I will speak out and teach people what has been going on there!!!!!
Please read on:
In reference to the paper up above which is a report sent home by the teacher concerning my son. Keep in mind that it is the teacher's own policy that if the child gets a "red" light then there is a parent/teacher conference about the child's behavior and how to best deal with it, I imagine to make sure that everyone is on the same page. NOT once was there a conference with the teacher, she never even mentioned it and even though I did, she never would respond to me.
Although she comments that she is concerned about his "defiant behavior" she does not sit down and talk to me about it, she does not answer my e-mail messages, my phone messages, or the notes that I put in my son's backpack that went to school with him. I was left in the dark the entire time my child was in that classroom without any explanation whatsoever!
She mentions that he is not getting along with his peers.........................DAH!!!! Anyone who even remotely knows anything about autism knows that they do not have social skills and do not understand how to relate to their peers, this is a major factor in the diagnosis of autism! This is a common theme for her and she often punishes him for not "getting along with his peers". This is WRONG people! The other behaviors that he displayed was caused by ??????? If there had been a discussion about it perhaps I could have figured out why he was doing those things. All I know is that he does not do those things at home or out in public with me or with my relatives who watch over him. I have lots of ideas of what could have caused them from being bored with the curriculum (his IQ was in the 81st percentile, he is exceptionally intelligent and needs to be challenged). He may have been ignored and needed help and didn't know how to ask for help, if there was too much commotion going on in the classroom he could have been having sensory overload. There are so many things that could have been going on with him and I do not believe that he should have been punished for acting out when the teacher should have known how to deal with it other than trying to keep him still in time out for a whopping 20 minutes................which is insane! I just wonder how she kept him still for so long especially if he was so upset. I could go on but I will save it for later in order to move on.
Once again, he was probably yelling and taking things from classmates because he has absolutely NO social skills, he doesn't know what sharing means or how to carry it out and frankly doesn't care, he has no concern for his peers whatsoever!
It simply sounds to me like he had a major meltdown and that nothing was done about it, nobody tried to calm him down, to redirect him, or to even bother asking him what was bothering him so much................instead all he got was discipline for actions that he had little to no control over.
She mentioned that "he thinks he is and wants to be the boss". Well, for starters he has no clue what that means, not in the least, and he has no idea what "being the boss" is and how to manipulate adults in such a manner. What he does do is to get extremely upset when he loses control and doesn't know what to do, what to say, and how to ask for help. So, if the teacher and all the adults in the classroom are not helping him to maintain control of himself and to regain control when he loses it, then of course he is going to be what is considered to be "rude". Most of all he will tell you what he doesn't want to do because it is most likely the source of all of his frustration or it is too much expected of him while he is having a meltdown. I explained to her over and over and over for many many months, that he has sensory issues, as all autistic children do, and that if he does not have those issues addressed then he will act out and ultimately have a meltdown and sometimes it is then too late to even get him to calm down so that you can talk to him. If he has some means of self-regulating and is left alone for awhile to get himself calmed down (and he is closely watched so that he doesn't hurt himself) then after quite some time then he will at least stop lashing out at those who are overwhelming him and expecting too much of him.
The teacher would never listen to me, no matter how sweet and kind I was and it didn't matter what kind of approach I took, she absolutely refused to work with me and to help out my child. I recently went to an advocacy group who told me that many federal laws have been broken and that I should carry through with litigation but I will keep you posted on that.
Please, after reading this, I do hope that you have some understanding about what my son has been through and how the school refused to work with me and my son. I will be posting new reports often so keep checking back from time to time. I just want you all to be aware of all that goes on there and that you should always be pro-active with your child and keep track of what he/she is being punished for and if the teacher is even communicating with you about how to help your child and to work with you so that everyone is on the same page, whether your child is a special needs child or not.
Thank you for stopping by, please feel free to leave comments and let me know what your opinion or feelings are on this situation.........or you can definitely ask me questions that I will be more than glad to answer. BTW, I must add that my child's SLP (Speech and Language Pathologist) was an angel and seemed to understand him better than anyone, if only they had all been that way! So, if she reads this I wish to thank her for all the wonderful work that she has done because it is evident that he has learned a great deal from her! I must mention that his teacher at Pendleton Elementary was also an angel and I am grateful for the time that she spent with him. She has a special needs child so she knew how to love him unconditionally as she has done with so many students in her care.
Oh yes, I forgot to add.................so what if my child chooses to talk to himself?????????? What is the big deal and what kind of point was she trying to prove by writing that down on his report? Is that meant to be derogatory or what? There a millions of people who talk to themselves on a regular basis..................does that mean that he is being punished for that as well? Or did she think that I was going to think that my child was mentally ill or something because he "talks to himself"? For heaven's sake...........he is only 6 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And is he being punished for whining in his speech class (I truly doubt that his SLP expected him to be punished for whining)? I frankly do not know many children around that age, and even older, who do not whine when they are faced with something that they do not want to do......................for that matter I know just as many adults who whine about everything!
MORE TO COME SO STAY TUNED. Have a wonderful day and may you make all the appropriate choices for your child's education and well being.
