Jr. High for Special Ed

Savannah is now in her 6th week of Jr. High and let me tell you, it's a whole new world. The days of the goals being discussed and evaluated are over. The days of her being graded on those goals, are over. What I didn't know, and what most parents are most likely not told is this;

Remember in grade school you would get a progress report based on your child's IEP goals? Nope!! Not anymore. Now they get the A-F grades. If they are in regular ed classes, they will get an F. I would strongly suggest you hold in IEP meeting the first week of school and go over the new rules, cause the school is not going to tell you these rules.

I searched the Internet for Jr. High rules for the disabled and found nothing. So I I figured I would post them here.

Independence is the new keyword. In Jr. High they want to do as little as possible, so that means more Independence for your child.

Grades. That's right, your child will actually get graded. I have heard nothing about the goals in the IEP and how the teachers are working on them. (time for an IEP)

No more aids. You will have demand an aid to go with your child into the regular ed class, they will not provide on as they did in Grade school and more than likely it will be a student aid, not a certified teacher or adult aid. (your judgement on this one parents)

If your child was like mine and wanted a locker, good luck. You will have to request one and more than not, you probably won't get one. Here in Nevada they are doing away with lockers. So good luck.

Now my daughter is Autistic. She has no physical handicaps, so I cannot speak as to that. But with the Autism class here in Las Vegas at Hyde Park, they will not walk the kids to the buss. They walk the kids to the gate and then let them go. Remember when the teacher would walk them out and put them on the buss. Nope. I guess that's how one little girl ended up dropped off in the middle of some no name Jr. High and left there to get heat stroke this year. Wrong buss.

In conclusion, if you are not familiar with fighting the district and demanding what is needed, get an advocate. They are free in some cases. Call an IEP meeting and have all the new rules outlined to you.

Please post back here about the rules for Jr. High and High School in your area, I would be interested to know if it's the same elsewhere.