The school phone call: Can you please come pick up your child?
Parent Tip for this rainy week!
The phone rings and you see ______ School Calling.
Deep Sigh. "Hello, Mrs. So&So? Your son's behavior is terrible (again) today and I'm sorry, you must come pick him up from school!"
Long silence.
This is when most parents do the dance - confused what is going on at school, frustrated, scrambling to leave work, wondering if you will lose your job after the 5th time receiving this same phone call, and panic you are not doing enough to help your child who is obviously struggling at school. When you receive this call, it is time to start saying, "Thank you so much for calling and letting me know his IEP is obviously not meeting his needs and I would like to request the following things: I would like a FBA (Functional Behavior Assessment) to figure out the cause of the problem behaviors, I would like a BCBA to do a classroom observation in order to develop proper goals and behavior interventions, an IEP meeting convening the team to discuss his needs and address these behaviors affecting his day, and I want to implement a BIP (Behavior Intervention Plan) based on the FBA. These are the dates and times I am available, please let me know when you can convene the team for this meeting so we can work collaboratively and help my son! And, as always, I will follow up this conversation with a written letter, as well!" (*email works great, parents - always send your communications in writing - written, or it didn't happen!*)
Happy Friday!