Thread: Update on son/principal/school situation

I missed the first part of what was going on but I'm glad you got him moved. From what I gather from this post that his situation was not good at all.

Anxiety about the move is natural. Anything new in the middle of the year will produce anxiety. He'll adjust quickly with the help of his new teachers.

Have you met his teachers? Do they know the reason for the move? Have they heard that reason from you or from the principal or from the other teachers? I think it's important that they hear it from you.

Let us know how his day goes tomorrow.

a volatile teacher who increased his anxiety.

Hmm...this sounds like a useful skill to learn Sorry to hear you are having difficulties. Hope it works out better.

wow... did you have to fight for an entire semester for the change?

I hope your son is able to relax and enjoy his new setting. One of my main goals is to not put pressure on my students. I hope to encourage them to surpass what they think they can do but never with harshness or fussiness.
(I looked up fussiness--that is the correct spelling!)

Great News kds!

I can't believe it took this long or these lengths, but now is a new beginning.

Glad to hear you finally got some action. I hope this will be a better situation for him. I'm sorry he's feeling more anxious right now. Hopefully that will lessen tomorrow.

Good luck!

Well, he's finally in bed. Fell asleep in my room, and I just got him moved. Has anyone ever tried melatonin as a sleep aid? That's what the md suggested that he take for a few weeks until the anxiety medicine kicks in to take the edge off the anxiety. The melatonin seems to usually knock him out, or at least make him groggy. I think some people use it to regulate their sleep.

This will be a test to my techo-impaired techno-skills to do the quote thing, but I'll try
Leslie said:

Have you met his teachers? Do they know the reason for the move? Have they heard that reason from you or from the principal or from the other teachers? I think it's important that they hear it from you.

Yep. They were at the meeting this afternoon, although his psychologist recommended being careful about not telling them too much. We don't want him stigmatized or teachers thinking they have to act a certain way, etc. We tried to keep it positive - I think I phrased it as, yes, he has anxiety, but a class with mutual respect as the basic atmosphere, along with calm consistency would be great for him, like it would for any kid. I also didn't feel comfortable doing what the principal asked me to do (AGAIN) of giving the new teachers examples of what the volatile teacher had done to cause anxiety. It is known that the volatile teacher is a screamer whose classroom management style is sarcasm and humiliation.

Mouse said:

wow... did you have to fight for an entire semester for the change?

Since November. We only found out about the severity of his anxiety in mid-November. Have been trying to get him moved since late Nov, early Dec., and principal kept stalling and putting up roadblocks. He is a principal who states loud and proud that he "never moves a child", so to move one I guess he thinks he loses face. Pride. Power.

BBB said:

never with harshness

Or at least not with sarcasm and humiliation, yes, BBB! Of course! I don't mean never to get strict or to have high expectations for behavior. But there is a way to teach and reach kids without belittling them. Good for you, BBB. And I can't believe you looked up fussiness! (I would have just spelled it wrong and let it go).

Linda/WA and Bitsy - I hope so too! (new beginning and anxiety will lesson after tomorrow).

John Boy, very funny. :lol:

Thank you all so much for your support and caring. It helps to have people to bounce these things off of (and hubby has heard an earful for months now!)

kds

The latest in the continuing saga of son:

He is enjoying his new team and it is much better for him. Psychiatrist upped his Lexapro dosage and this dosage seems to really be working. He seems much evened out as far as his anxiety goes. Now we just need to get him off the melatonin in another week and see if his anxiety really is enough better to allow him to sleep at night.

BUUUUT, now other issues that psychologist was thinking were there are actually coming to the forefront now that the severe anxiety is more under control. She did in-depth attention testing on him and results were "significant attention deficits". Hubs and I are filling out Conners rating scales each and having 2 of his teachers do the same. Psychologist wants to try non-med interventions first (like we haven't been trying this stuff for years, but ok, I'll take anything at this point), and it looks like we may end up doing a trial run of ADHD/ADD meds this spring.

Sigh. Brain chemistry is a tricky thing. At least we have the anxiety somewhat under control. So now we tackle the next thing. We'll get that boy functional one way or the other!

Originally Posted by kds

Sigh. Brain chemistry is a tricky thing. At least we have the anxiety somewhat under control. So now we tackle the next thing. We'll get that boy functional one way or the other!

When the brain chemistry is off, as well as hormonal issues, look out! I am speakin gpersonally here.

Hope all goes well for your son!