School wants us to admit my 6 year old son to a psychiatric hospital

[Troop1379]

You might be able to start the referral when you are paying out of pocket, so he dont have to go back to school. Glad to hear he is doing better

[shashabell]

Sounds like the parapro is the answer for your son at school. It worked for my son. He was really having serious issues and they gave him a temporary parapro and it helped him tremendously. I was able to get his parapro written in as part of his IEP. If you feel the parapro is what your son needs, push for it at the IEP. If they don't agree, do not sign anything, and call a mediator. If the mediator cannot get them to agree to the parapro then file Due Process with the courts. Usually when you file, the schools give you what you want to avoid court.

[CouponLuv72]

I am so appalled at what the school has been putting you and your child through. It seems to me like he is not a pea in the pod and they just want to sluff him off on someone else rather than do their LEGALLY MANDATED JOB. Meaning create an IEP and follow it completely. Your son is entitled to equal opportunities for an education even if it means someone to work with him on a daily basis part of the day at school.

I have some ideas for you, since our son is special needs and we have had some struggles ourselves with the system.

-your son needs to have more than one Dr/Psych evaluation to make decisions on what to do concerning meds and therapy. I highly suggest this. I also suggest that at least one of those evaluations be done by a Children's Hospital Team. I am sure there is at least one hospital within an hour drive of your home who has a children's behavior evaluation department.

-talk to the school and put your foot down on these suspensions and sending him home. it is ridiculous , he is 6 years old. Sending him home is a reward not a punishment of any kind. To help meet them in the middle I would suggest you or your husband or another family member can be committed to going to the school on difficult days to help work with your son rather than sending him home.

-Ask them if they can arrange a quiet room. Somewhere your son can ask to go if he is getting upset or overstimulated. It takes time for a child to learn how to ask so it would need positive reinforcement to encourage him to gauge his own stress levels. This also might involve you or another family member committing to coming to the school to monitor your child while in the quiet down room or area

I hope some of my suggestions sound like something that might help. You are not alone. I hope it was ok that I allowed my wife to read your post, but I wanted her suggestions for me to post to you.