kerry: My son has autism, severe dysgraphia among other things. He is in a full time sdc in high school and has a1:1 aide/scribe. Son also has no control over gas. Can’t feel it. Only knows when he hears it. Today in math he farted. Scribe told him she wouldn’t scribe if he was going to fart and walked away. Son was left to write on his own and then had a meltdown in class because he didn’t understand the lesson and couldn’t keep up with the writing. School thinks he has control of gas. He doesn’t. What to do? This is ongoing issue.
Like Kerry my son also has no control over gas. Only know it when he hears it. Today in class he passed gas which annoyed the teacher. The teacher gave him four days of detention and then he was suspended for a week for passing gas in class. School told me he could not be on campus for the whole week. During his suspension i received an email from his teacher stating that it was nice to not have deal with him for a whole week. Then I received a letter from the school stating that he could not come back. Please help. This is a public school.
A public school cannot just kick your son out for this. He is not violent or a threat. He has an issue with gas. What I would do is get documentation from your doctor that states your son issues with gas. This also sounds like even if he goes back there will still be issues. You can file a complaint with OCR or request for a private placement at the districts expense.
Gastrointestinal problems is one of the most common co-occurring issues in children with autism. Autism Speaks reports children with ASD are almost 8 times more likely that peers to have GI problems. There are dozens of peer reviewed studies related to GI issues that are easily found on the web. I have read that up to 60% of ASD children may suffer from GI issues – many can’t or don’t report the pain that this causes them.
It’s also not just caused by eating habits, medication etc – it could be part of their physiology and rooted in autism itself.
Any marginally curious school official should know it’s an uncontrollable problem and be able to communicate that to their staff.
Marcus is right. Start with your doctor. If it was me I’d be looking for a civil rights attorney too.
You need to request an IEP meeting to discuss the issues going on with your son. Either bring a note from the doctor or get the doctor on the phone to confirm your son’s issues with gas. I would even talk with the AIDE/SCRIBE and explain to her that he has no control over gas. You could even request for a new AIDE to help assists your son with his needs do this at the meeting.
A letter from your son’s Doctor should be good enough. Might request an IEP meeting with the school nurse to talk about the issue.