Has anyone had a k student who was suspended over and over again? This student cannot handle a regular classroom setting. He makes distracting, loud noises in whole group and refuses to transition from one activity to another. Today, he was directed to a center during reading and refused to go, crossed his arms, made an angry face, then proceeded to go into my supply cabinet, then grab papers off my desk and strew them across the floor. He rarely gets in more than two hours a day and is then sent home. He has also put his hands on me before too.
I did, last year. Did everything you said, plus, he was kicked out of Afterschool and showed his privates on the bus (kicked off there too). He was even suspended in Pre-k!
Not yet but my partner has one that told us at registration that he was kicked out of Headstart! I can see why. He is very disruptive and disrespectful.
I have a student kind of like that, not quite as severe, but pretty close. He too cannot handle being in a group setting and is constantly disrupting my class.He is very defiant and has a huge problem keeping his hands to himself. He's in a chair by himself when we have group time during the carpet, but when we are in groups for centers, in line, and anywhere else, it is a huge problem.I have had at least three parents call to complain about this child messing with their children. I have documented everything and spoke to my principal about the situation, but I guess nothing can be done. No support from home..mom was receptive at the beginning of the year to my phone calls that he was having problems, but when I called her about a month ago to say the hands on others was still a problem, I got yelled and screamed at..made sure my principal would be able to sit in on that parent conference...never showed up, and has not responded to my effort to reschedule..I too wasn't sure what the criteria was for a kindergartener being suspended..I guess it does happen.
I have a very similar student. He is extremely disruptive and violent too. It is unfortunate because the school does not want to test him for any special needs because they don't want to "label" him too early. It is quite infuriating! What is your school's policy on suspensions? How many does a child get before an expulsion? Perhaps you should talk to the mother about the possibility of an expulsion to get her listening...
update on my one K..he mooned another child and got a 2 day in suspension...he'll be back in class tomorrow and will be put on a behavior plan..if he can't follow the plan, my p said, he would go down to half day kindergarten (I teach full day)..will see what happen
Had one last year, not in my class but in the school... 2 of them, actually... both of them had major idfficulties handling being appropriate in the classroom, and had many of the above behaviors (one took down our SW, and she's a big-boned lady!)... one wouled cry, loudly, for no apparent reason aside from getting out of the classroom (and, since it was a disruption, they didn't have a choice)... both of them spent significant time off and on working 1:1 with an aide in the conference room, because they couldn't be safe around the other K kids. After that happened several times, they ended up hiring an additional teacher for k, who had those two boys and another one... they were able to do some things with the other K classes, and the better their behavior, the more time they earned with their friends. I know at least one of those boys was outplaced this year for 1st, at least one has a 1:1, I'm not sure about the third. I worked with another K last year whose behaviors got him suspended several times...
Sounds a little like my own son, although he is not usually directly violent. He has thrown things at other students, but not hit or kicked. He can be very disruptive in class on a bad day. Kinder was really the first time I realized how much of a problem it was going to be in the classroom setting. Since then, he has been diagnosed on the autism spectrum and is medicated with ADHD type med. Works beautifully 99% of the time. Still, he is very immature for his age, so this year he is repeating 1st grade at a new school that is very strict. These kids can do very well in a rigid classroom. An open-type room is not best for them. Forget the problem with labeling. He needs help and wants so badly to be a good boy. Any label now that gets him help will be better than the label he is sure to earn if left untreated - a drug-addicted drop out.
These are the type of children I teach in my classroom and I tell anyone who will listen that if you see these types of behaviors in a child that young, they need to be assessed for services. It is so much better to get them help to change their behaviors when they are little than waiting until the behaviors are so ingrained that it is almost impossible to change. Also, the longer a child like this is allowed to misbehave, the lower their self esteem plummets because they know how other people feel about them. Most of these children know they are not behaving correctly, but they can't verbalize how they are feeling and don't know how to change the behaviors on their own.
Since the child is unable to function in a classroom setting, he or she needs a behavior plan that goes beyond the norm. It will need to be a team effort involving you, parents, other teachers, admon or staff who can support you by providing a time-out in their room (or other consequences deemed appropriate). And don't forget that Mom is probably suffering from being judged and blamed. Have mercy on her.
My own child was suspended a lot in K. Then we changed schools. It turned out to be the best thing ever because he escalated from there and they documented and all that got him put into a special ED program and from there it was a 180 degree difference. Yes, sometimes labeling can help them get services they won't receive in a regular classroom. I also admit that most of this was bewildering to us. Our child does a few things at home but 90% of it was happening at school and there was absolutely nothing we could do about that. We were asking for extra services but there wasn't enough on the books to get it. Things weren't clear enough. Silmarienne is right. The mom is probably used to being judged. I know there were times when I was just fed up because I didn't understand what was going on. The child was fine (relatively) at home and I couldn't see why it was so dramatic at school. There were times when I knew the staff escalated it. You don't, for example, corner and approach an acting out child who is in a safe place in a room without other students and then call me when something happens. There were times in the beginning when I wondered what the teacher was doing and since she was relatively new I had to wonder about her classroom management. It was a trying time for us. I still worry because we will be moving soon and have to go through this all over again.
I also have a very disruptive student; yells out, cannot sit for any length of time and other times is just defiant, smiling and refusing to comply, pushing tables, chairs etc. I have had him removed several times from my class but I have found that this is exactly what he wants. Do you think this student wants to be suspended? Have you brought him up to a "Child Study Team Meeting"? Here is a hug . My student is a work in process at this time but I don't have much hope. My little guy has no Mom, and a Dad that is nonresponsive to my messages.
