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Post by cade387 on Jul 13, 2020 2:40:39 GMT
I agree with the article. I also know that my DH and I will lose our jobs if we have the kids at home. I don’t know what to do. Our school is supposed to put out their plan end of July. I feel for you. What has your employer said about its plans to keep employees safe by increasing teleworking options? What if one of you could work and the other could be temporarily laid off and draw unemployment? I really hope that employers (and our government, where it's not logistically possible for employers to do so) will step up and ease the burden on working families rather than expecting the public schools to solve this problem for them. I had to go back early June Because our boss isn’t supportive of working from home. Unfortunately due to our kids being young one parent can’t manage school and work, especially with the way our school is doing it. One of us makes the income and one has solid benefits. Either way, one of us losing our job is going to destroy our lives. I know many folks who have it a lot worse so I’m trying to be positive and just wait until they make the announcement.
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Country Ham
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,313
Jun 25, 2014 19:32:08 GMT
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Post by Country Ham on Jul 13, 2020 13:11:43 GMT
One of us makes the income and one has solid benefits. Either way, one of us losing our job is going to destroy our lives. I know many folks who have it a lot worse so I’m trying to be positive and just wait until they make the announcement. Cade I am just quoting you because you're the most recent post, many are saying similar things, and many are in your boat.So when I say "you" it's for anyone in your position, How do you handle the 3 month school break? If they are old enough to stay home alone. Can you do school in the evenings? Online 'ususally' takes way less time. My children did all theirs after supper in March through May. If too young then can you use your summer child care person to help with some of the schooling?
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Post by elaine on Jul 13, 2020 14:06:18 GMT
I wish she had addressed Special Education in her response and how those children are positively being basically abandoned by school systems because approximately 90+% their special education needs cannot be met by online education. Elaine do you have any ideas on what can be done to still meet the needs of students such as yours while keeping safety in mind? I think the special needs population has been underrepresented in discussions about what the next steps should be. But if we are all Virtual what do you think might work for your family or other families? I wanted to get back to you, shescrafty, and I’m sitting at the car dealership waiting on my oil change and service, so actually have some time. 😀 I don’t think that we will ever meet the needs of kids moderate to severe special needs in an all virtual environment. Attempting to only plug them into a computer screen doesn’t address PT, OT, Social, and Behavior and Behavior Mod issues/IEP goals. The computer environment is fine for academic goals - reading, counting, recognizing and counting change, etc. - but it cannot effectively address life skills which are a part of many moderate to severe children/young adults. My son’s teacher asks the kids to share what task they are going to do around the house that day, but there is no actual supervision, etc., from anyone other than the parents. And, to an even greater degree than neurotypical children, they respond much better to people other than their parents when asked to “work.” At school, each day, he engaged in a number of activities that are life skills related - helping to run a “cafe” that sells coffee and snacks to the bus drivers and staff, delivering paper messages from the office to various classrooms, filing in the classroom, etc. Since he is now a senior in high school, most of the school day in non-pandemic times was spent on life skills - there was some review of the basic academics I mentioned, but that is not the focus at this point in his education. The reason why moderate to severe special needs children who can’t achieve a high school diploma attend public school until they are 22 is to learn life skills, rather than only academic subjects. In some important ways, it is a very different population than neurotypical kids. As a parent, I am not qualified to design what his education should entail in these times. Teachers, PTs, OTs, BCBAs, SLPs, office staff, etc., who actually work in the schools are the ones who need to have the loudest voices in the planning of what education should look like in these days. I’m not comfortable dictating that all those people should do things that they are not comfortable with and which put them at risk. At the same time, I loathe discussions about education and opening the schools that ignore the real fact that special needs children and their parents are honestly struggling and being left behind and abandoned in a way that neurotypical children aren’t. I shared on another thread that my son’s IEP specifies 40 hours per week of Special Ed services, divided amongst several specialty areas and he currently is being offered 5 hours per week of online synchronous education. The issues around this are that synchronous is the only type of online education that will work - my son and his classmates (4 others) - cannot independently complete academic assignments on the computer (not that academics are even the focus any more) that a asynchronous environment demands. However, as I mentioned before, it is hit-or-miss as to whether at exactly 10 am he is in a psychological state where he can actually sit at the computer for the online class for 45 minutes. The same for all of his classmates. I recognize that there are no easy answers/solutions. I am grateful that our school district is offering 2 days per week of in-person learning, because my son desperately needs it in a way that many neurotypical child don’t. I have been his advocate since he entered the school system at the age of 3. It is my job to have a voice in his IEP - the goals set and the services that he should receive. It is also my responsibility to advocate for him when those goals aren’t being met, nor services being offered. It is an exhausting job that any parent of a child with moderate to severe special needs knows all too well. We aren’t self-centered selfish twits when we speak up about how important in-person education is for our children. As I mentioned in an earlier post, even some acknowledgment in these discussions of how truly severely negatively our children are being impacted by schools being closed for in-person learning would be helpful and give a more accurate picture of what is actually happening. In my school district alone, there are 27,000 children with IEPs, so it is a sizable number of children and their caregivers that we are talking about. Vilifying them when they voice a desire for their children’s IEP goals and services be met isn’t constructive, nor is lumping them in with “all parents of school-aged children.” (I’m not saying at all that you are doing that, I’m speaking about these articles and discussions in general). Phew! For those of you that have read so far, thanks and I’ll get off of my soapbox now.
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Post by cade387 on Jul 13, 2020 14:36:14 GMT
One of us makes the income and one has solid benefits. Either way, one of us losing our job is going to destroy our lives. I know many folks who have it a lot worse so I’m trying to be positive and just wait until they make the announcement. Cade I am just quoting you because you're the most recent post, many are saying similar things, and many are in your boat.So when I say "you" it's for anyone in your position, How do you handle the 3 month school break? If they are old enough to stay home alone. Can you do school in the evenings? Online 'ususally' takes way less time. My children did all theirs after supper in March through May. If too young then can you use your summer child care person to help with some of the schooling? My kids normally would go to a summer camp which was cancelled. Right now they are basically living on electronics. We don’t have any help over the summer that would be able to help with schooling. When we were home before my DS in K had 18-2 assignments a day. My DS in 3rd grade had 8-10. He is able to do work more on his own but had no motivation so needed support to keep on task. My K was not able to get each assignment pulled up on their own. There is a high schooler that we have used to help here and there in the last couple of weeks but once school starts she won’t be available as she will be in school. My kids go to bed at 7:30. There isn’t time to do schooling at night, nor did they have the focus or stamina when we tried that.
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Post by Merge on Jul 13, 2020 15:20:02 GMT
Elaine do you have any ideas on what can be done to still meet the needs of students such as yours while keeping safety in mind? I think the special needs population has been underrepresented in discussions about what the next steps should be. But if we are all Virtual what do you think might work for your family or other families? I wanted to get back to you, shescrafty, and I’m sitting at the car dealership waiting on my oil change and service, so actually have some time. 😀 I don’t think that we will ever meet the needs of kids moderate to severe special needs in an all virtual environment. Attempting to only plug them into a computer screen doesn’t address PT, OT, Social, and Behavior and Behavior Mod issues/IEP goals. The computer environment is fine for academic goals - reading, counting, recognizing and counting change, etc. - but it cannot effectively address life skills which are a part of many moderate to severe children/young adults. My son’s teacher asks the kids to share what task they are going to do around the house that day, but there is no actual supervision, etc., from anyone other than the parents. And, to an even greater degree than neurotypical children, they respond much better to people other than their parents when asked to “work.” At school, each day, he engaged in a number of activities that are life skills related - helping to run a “cafe” that sells coffee and snacks to the bus drivers and staff, delivering paper messages from the office to various classrooms, filing in the classroom, etc. Since he is now a senior in high school, most of the school day in non-pandemic times was spent on life skills - there was some review of the basic academics I mentioned, but that is not the focus at this point in his education. The reason why moderate to severe special needs children who can’t achieve a high school diploma attend public school until they are 22 is to learn life skills, rather than only academic subjects. In some important ways, it is a very different population than neurotypical kids. As a parent, I am not qualified to design what his education should entail in these times. Teachers, PTs, OTs, BCBAs, SLPs, office staff, etc., who actually work in the schools are the ones who need to have the loudest voices in the planning of what education should look like in these days. I’m not comfortable dictating that all those people should do things that they are not comfortable with and which put them at risk. At the same time, I loathe discussions about education and opening the schools that ignore the real fact that special needs children and their parents are honestly struggling and being left behind and abandoned in a way that neurotypical children aren’t. I shared on another thread that my son’s IEP specifies 40 hours per week of Special Ed services, divided amongst several specialty areas and he currently is being offered 5 hours per week of online synchronous education. The issues around this are that synchronous is the only type of online education that will work - my son and his classmates (4 others) - cannot independently complete academic assignments on the computer (not that academics are even the focus any more) that a asynchronous environment demands. However, as I mentioned before, it is hit-or-miss as to whether at exactly 10 am he is in a psychological state where he can actually sit at the computer for the online class for 45 minutes. The same for all of his classmates. I recognize that there are no easy answers/solutions. I am grateful that our school district is offering 2 days per week of in-person learning, because my son desperately needs it in a way that many neurotypical child don’t. I have been his advocate since he entered the school system at the age of 3. It is my job to have a voice in his IEP - the goals set and the services that he should receive. It is also my responsibility to advocate for him when those goals aren’t being met, nor services being offered. It is an exhausting job that any parent of a child with moderate to severe special needs knows all too well. We aren’t self-centered selfish twits when we speak up about how important in-person education is for our children. As I mentioned in an earlier post, even some acknowledgment in these discussions of how truly severely negatively our children are being impacted by schools being closed for in-person learning would be helpful and give a more accurate picture of what is actually happening. In my school district alone, there are 27,000 children with IEPs, so it is a sizable number of children and their caregivers that we are talking about. Vilifying them when they voice a desire for their children’s IEP goals and services be met isn’t constructive, nor is lumping them in with “all parents of school-aged children.” (I’m not saying at all that you are doing that, I’m speaking about these articles and discussions in general). Phew! For those of you that have read so far, thanks and I’ll get off of my soapbox now. I hear you and totally understand and agree with what you are saying. I hope I haven’t come across as vilifying the parents of any special needs child for speaking the truth about what their kids are missing. My only thing all along has been that we cannot force in-person instruction where there is significant risk of people (teachers or students) being infected. If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where the virus is well controlled, some return to in-person school may be possible. I would no more want your son to get very ill or even die from this virus than I would want his teacher to do so. To me, the safety issue supersedes the educational one at the moment, but that doesn’t take anything away from the dire and desperate situation many families are facing. I’m sorry and I wish I had better answers.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Jul 13, 2020 15:25:30 GMT
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Post by Merge on Jul 13, 2020 15:29:02 GMT
Cade I am just quoting you because you're the most recent post, many are saying similar things, and many are in your boat.So when I say "you" it's for anyone in your position, How do you handle the 3 month school break? If they are old enough to stay home alone. Can you do school in the evenings? Online 'ususally' takes way less time. My children did all theirs after supper in March through May. If too young then can you use your summer child care person to help with some of the schooling? My kids normally would go to a summer camp which was cancelled. Right now they are basically living on electronics. We don’t have any help over the summer that would be able to help with schooling. When we were home before my DS in K had 18-2 assignments a day. My DS in 3rd grade had 8-10. He is able to do work more on his own but had no motivation so needed support to keep on task. My K was not able to get each assignment pulled up on their own. There is a high schooler that we have used to help here and there in the last couple of weeks but once school starts she won’t be available as she will be in school. My kids go to bed at 7:30. There isn’t time to do schooling at night, nor did they have the focus or stamina when we tried that. I am so sorry. This sounds very difficult and I know many families are in similar difficulty. Something that some families have done here is to create a “pod” of families where parents take turns staying home with all the families’ kids and overseeing distance learning work. Alternatively, they sometimes hire a retired teacher or college student to oversee it. The families/caregiver agree to isolate themselves as much as possible, and take similar precautions with masks and such. It’s not perfect, but keeping to a small group of people who agree to take all possible precautions is probably a lot safer than a school environment where we can’t force people to stay home and limit contact with others when they’re not at school. Long term, what sticks out to me here is that universal healthcare and an emergency universal basic income would go a long way towards alleviating suffering and keeping people safe the next time this happens. That doesn’t help you now, of course, and it won’t happen during this administration, but I really hope it’s something we embrace in the future.
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Post by refugeepea on Jul 13, 2020 17:29:37 GMT
(((Hugs)))) I’m nursing 2 cracked ribs that mine gave me 2 weeks ago and we had 3 days last week that he woke up at 4 am, so I am also on low-sleep mode, but not as sleep deprived as you. I am so sorry! I can't imagine trying to deal with 2 cracked ribs and just dealing with daily stuff.
And they've said that running the air conditioning is bad because it spreads the virus That's another thing. Our schools do not have air conditioning. At the beginning of the school year they make an exception and let all kids have water bottles until the temperatures go down. I KNOW most kids could adjust to wearing a mask, but we can't ignore the fact that it is significantly hotter when you wear one. So, they wear a mask, they get even more hot, and they need to take their mask off to get a drink of water.
The computer environment is fine for academic goals - reading, counting, recognizing and counting change, etc. - but it cannot effectively address life skills which are a part of many moderate to severe children/young adults. My son’s teacher asks the kids to share what task they are going to do around the house that day, but there is no actual supervision, etc., from anyone other than the parents. And, to an even greater degree than neurotypical children, they respond much better to people other than their parents when asked to “work.” This, a 1000 time this! I felt like my son was at about 10% on getting one of his assignments right. When I asked his teacher his accuracy, she said probably 60%.
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Post by shescrafty on Jul 13, 2020 19:24:45 GMT
Elaine do you have any ideas on what can be done to still meet the needs of students such as yours while keeping safety in mind? I think the special needs population has been underrepresented in discussions about what the next steps should be. But if we are all Virtual what do you think might work for your family or other families? I wanted to get back to you, shescrafty, and I’m sitting at the car dealership waiting on my oil change and service, so actually have some time. 😀 I don’t think that we will ever meet the needs of kids moderate to severe special needs in an all virtual environment. Attempting to only plug them into a computer screen doesn’t address PT, OT, Social, and Behavior and Behavior Mod issues/IEP goals. The computer environment is fine for academic goals - reading, counting, recognizing and counting change, etc. - but it cannot effectively address life skills which are a part of many moderate to severe children/young adults. My son’s teacher asks the kids to share what task they are going to do around the house that day, but there is no actual supervision, etc., from anyone other than the parents. And, to an even greater degree than neurotypical children, they respond much better to people other than their parents when asked to “work.” At school, each day, he engaged in a number of activities that are life skills related - helping to run a “cafe” that sells coffee and snacks to the bus drivers and staff, delivering paper messages from the office to various classrooms, filing in the classroom, etc. Since he is now a senior in high school, most of the school day in non-pandemic times was spent on life skills - there was some review of the basic academics I mentioned, but that is not the focus at this point in his education. The reason why moderate to severe special needs children who can’t achieve a high school diploma attend public school until they are 22 is to learn life skills, rather than only academic subjects. In some important ways, it is a very different population than neurotypical kids. As a parent, I am not qualified to design what his education should entail in these times. Teachers, PTs, OTs, BCBAs, SLPs, office staff, etc., who actually work in the schools are the ones who need to have the loudest voices in the planning of what education should look like in these days. I’m not comfortable dictating that all those people should do things that they are not comfortable with and which put them at risk. At the same time, I loathe discussions about education and opening the schools that ignore the real fact that special needs children and their parents are honestly struggling and being left behind and abandoned in a way that neurotypical children aren’t. I shared on another thread that my son’s IEP specifies 40 hours per week of Special Ed services, divided amongst several specialty areas and he currently is being offered 5 hours per week of online synchronous education. The issues around this are that synchronous is the only type of online education that will work - my son and his classmates (4 others) - cannot independently complete academic assignments on the computer (not that academics are even the focus any more) that a asynchronous environment demands. However, as I mentioned before, it is hit-or-miss as to whether at exactly 10 am he is in a psychological state where he can actually sit at the computer for the online class for 45 minutes. The same for all of his classmates. I recognize that there are no easy answers/solutions. I am grateful that our school district is offering 2 days per week of in-person learning, because my son desperately needs it in a way that many neurotypical child don’t. I have been his advocate since he entered the school system at the age of 3. It is my job to have a voice in his IEP - the goals set and the services that he should receive. It is also my responsibility to advocate for him when those goals aren’t being met, nor services being offered. It is an exhausting job that any parent of a child with moderate to severe special needs knows all too well. We aren’t self-centered selfish twits when we speak up about how important in-person education is for our children. As I mentioned in an earlier post, even some acknowledgment in these discussions of how truly severely negatively our children are being impacted by schools being closed for in-person learning would be helpful and give a more accurate picture of what is actually happening. In my school district alone, there are 27,000 children with IEPs, so it is a sizable number of children and their caregivers that we are talking about. Vilifying them when they voice a desire for their children’s IEP goals and services be met isn’t constructive, nor is lumping them in with “all parents of school-aged children.” (I’m not saying at all that you are doing that, I’m speaking about these articles and discussions in general). Phew! For those of you that have read so far, thanks and I’ll get off of my soapbox now. Thank you for responding. I hope you are feeling okay and your car is all fixed up. I wish I had good answers. I teach K. I don’t know how I will able to teach kids to write correctly if we can’t do hand over hand. My mornings are spent leaning over my sweet kiddos and holding their hands as they begun to write. For students Such as yours it is so hands on for everyone. I wonder how this will all work. 😞
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