My son is currently on an IEP. A little background. He started school in a different district and I fought tooth and nail to get him an IEP, for two years it was fighting that school system. We moved to a different district and amazing things happened. My son was placed in a special program called "Blast" and went from having very difficult behaviors to being completely mainstreamed with the help of accommodations. Now we start 5th grade and we had to change his school because of a move and the new school offered his 'Blast' program (This is the only district that offers this and it is ABA based). At any rate his new school was late (6 weeks into school and they didn't have his IEP! and I called an IEP meeting due to some issues, which I included my son in the meeting as I want him to advocate for himself). Now I have had several meetings with the assistant principal, we are having major behavioral issues, but not only that recently my son has been having an increase in medical issues. I have asked what to do in reference to this and I am told he doesn't need to be on a health plan, but now he is telling me that he is being punished for falling asleep in class when he is tired (Which he can't help as he is iron deficient at this time and we are in the discovery phases of things). Not only that but now they are increasing his services at school because they feel that he needs more than what he was getting. Though I know at his other school he used to put his head down when he was stressed and at this school he is being punished.
Basically, what I am asking is because of his medical conditions (Right now he has a team of 4 specialist. Pulmonologist, Immunology, GI, and we have recently added a hematologist due to his low ferritan levels). Should I see about getting him on a health plan and having this added to his IEP? I am ok with getting notes, but I'm not okay with them taking away his recess and making him sit on a bench because he falls asleep during class. Especially considering his current medical issues.
The other thing I wanted to ask about is he has verbalized that he isn't being given reduced classwork as well as allowing extra time to complete homework assignments (They don't give him any homework) in class. That he is being made to do it all. We talked about doing odds/evens one or the other with the goal to complete the entire worksheets.
I'm honestly not sure what to do. I believe my son is having issues and I am advocating and listening to what he is saying, but I also know that at times he does like to blame others for his shortcomings and not take responsibility for his own behaviors that might lead to some of his issues.
How do I handle this situation and what are some things that I can do, considering that his IEP has been changed a 3rd time this school year to include additional services and to me that is indicative that something is obviously going on. At this time he has complete refusal to going to a specific classroom that he tells me he is simply tired of dealing with the teacher as well as with the students in that class. He has expressed to me that this specific teacher used to call him out in class and ask him if he wants to "Go to the blast room." Basically, embarrassing him in front of his peers and calling him out. At this time, it appears that has stopped and instead she simply ask another student to walk down to the blast program to go get the teacher so then he can be removed from the classroom. Right now I am to the point of asking for a 1:1 to be placed in the classroom with him for redirection and to help with techniques so that he isn't pulled out of the classroom. My son does have issues with other students and we have dealt with some fights this year, some of his own doing because he has a difficult time understanding that his words can hurt others. He does get social skills for such things and appears to understand that things like that can cause issues.
He is diagnosed with Autism and ADHD is on an IEP for OHI.
I need to know how to proceed on both fronts. The physical health issues are a recent development as we recently got answers on that in December 2022, to which has led to reaching out to other doctors to rule out possible causes for the GI issue that he has. We again are still at a discovery phase and working out a treatment plan. He has a rare GI issue called Collagenous Gastritis which causes stomach cramps, anemia, nausea and vomiting. It makes eating difficult and for a little over a year I have watched him lose weight slowly and go back and forth from eating like he should be to barely eating anything because of how bad the nausea of this illness.
Well we all know that when we don't eat well and get the nutrients that our body needs how it can physically affect us.
Any thoughts or considerations and any information regarding health plans would be appreciated. If it is important to know I am in Tennessee.
