Melissa: Son has an IEP in place. He has a FAPE, not sure. Already suspended once for hurting his teacher. Just received a phone call that today my son decided to throw chairs!! across the room and hit another student. So now he is suspended for Mon-Tue. This is EXACTLY what he wants…. What now? I’m livid that it escalated to this point and now my child is the monster.. What can I do?
Melissa –
There are two things I encourage you to do.
#1 Ask for a Team meeting *asap.* It’s clear that your son’s behavior is impacting his education – it’s keeping him from even accessing his education at this point. Ask that the Team come up with a plan to address his behavior and prevent all this from happening again.
#2 Ask the school to reevaluate him. This evaluation should most definitely include a behavioral piece (i.e. an FBA and a behavioral summary). Also ask for them to evaluate other areas where he may be struggling – social/pragmatic language skills, academics, etc. You suggest that his behavior is escapist, so what is he escaping from? The evaluation should help figure this out.
You can request that the school develop a behavior intervention plan (BIP) based on a functional behavior assessment (FBA). You can also request that positive behavioral supports & interventions be put in place. It is best to put this in writing to the principal & sp ed director.