Question:
My daughter has just recently changed schools. i expect her to have to adjust. However, this is awful. Alex had issues in her old school and shuts down and sometimes refuses to work or shuts down. But her teacher always helped her through it. I do not like this new teacher. the class room is dingy and the aides are as dull as the teacher. She will sit in the hallways for hours instead of go to class. Has anyone else had this problem? I am not the only parent that feels this way. Can anyone give me some advice?
Answer:
My younger brother had a similar problem, he got a new teacher at school and almost immediately he changed.
He didn't want to go to school, and he would come home with a change of clothes because he had soiled his during school.
My parents had a feeling it had something to do with the new teacher. I can't remember if this was around the same time or not, but one day he came home with a plaster on his finger and he had injured it somehow, but there was no explaination as to how this had happened.
In the end my parents went in to the school and had a talk to the headmaster.
I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I know the teacher was changed again (not sure if the previous one was fired), and soon he was back to normal.
My advice would be to talk to someone senior at the school and explain your concerns. If as you say other parents have concerns as well, they will have to look into it to find out what the problem is.
Answer:
Poor Old Alex , kids with downs don't like change all that much and od have problems with transitioning.
You need to get to the rrot of why she is staying in the hall way. Is it because she just is bored ?? Does not like the kids teachers or aides ?? Maybe the work is getting harder and she is expected to sit for long periods and work hard.
If Alex has had problems in the past with "shutting down " then I think this needs to recognised for what it is . This is Alex telling you she needs a brak from what she is doing. So if I were you I would insist that breaks or changes in activities are written in to IEP. Understanding why she does somthing you change or work around this behaviour.
Is her day in school varied enough ?? How is her understanding ??
If you insisted that lesson she likes are mingled in lessons she does not like then this could help. Also if the teacher makes a visual schedule so that Alex can se what is comiung next and that boring or harder lessons will actually be ending and nicer stuff is on the horizon . Also her mini breaks s could be put on the schedule. A lot of breaks inital then slowly cutting them back to just one or two ( over time ). YOU need in the first instance talk to the teacher and aides and see what they think is the problem is. Just make sure Alex is aware of what is going on so that she knows what is expected of her. Also recognise she needs breaks and that she can cut down the amount over the next few weeks but give her a lot of leeway initally in order to get her to go to class. I dont have a lot of info on Alex , I dont her age or what her levl of communication is so I am not sure if any of this helps . Just make sur e also she is not being bullied !! Best of luck