hshbmom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9478
posted
Hi lymies,
My dd has missed 3 weeks of school. I don't anticipate her going back to school for at least another week. She has her first LLMD appointment on Monday and several medical tests next week.
How do you get a homebound teacher? Do I have to push for this? I talked to the principal, school nurse, and attendance secretary. They just want me to keep sending in her completed homework and bring her medical excuses.
Dd has joint aches & pain, and moderate to severe abdominal pain of unknown origin. She's been having a problem with constipation for 3 weeks, but no one can tell me why. I suspect vagal nerve paralysis or partial paralysis of the gut.
They keep sending her homework, but she's missing so much. She's not finished 1/4 of the work they have sent. She's been too miserable.
Nancy
Posts: 1672 | From AL/WV/OH | Registered: Jun 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think you have to have a dr's statement that she will be out longer than X amount of time....it probably varies from school distr to sch district.
I had a homebound teacher when I was a teen. It was fairly simple to get...I thought.
Maybe get someone else to call the Special Education dept and ask what the rules are....if you think they are just putting you off.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96227 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Do you believe your daughter has a long term disability because of Lyme? Then she needs an IEP under the category of Other Health Impaired. She will get whatever services she needs once the IEP is written.
If you think your daughter will only miss periods of time in school and is not disabled, you have a Doctor write a note for her need for home hospital.
You need to look into the laws in your state, but the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act is a federal law.
-------------------- Jeff Posts: 533 | From CA | Registered: Mar 2006
| IP: Logged |
lymednva
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9098
posted
In my county if a child misses more than ten consecutive days of school s/he is removed from the rolls and automatically will qualify for home-bound if desired.
I recall a girl in our neighborhood who had cancer and she missed a lot of school during the year and a half she had it. She was on and off the rolls, but was bright enough not to need to do more than make up the work.
She attended school when she could, spent a lot of time in the hospital. She was in third and fourth grade during all this. Then she died right before the beginning of fifth grade.
I would suggest you conntact someone at the administrative level about what it takes to qualify for home-bound. My son's MIL teaches it in FL. I'm sure it's different in every district.
-------------------- Lymednva Posts: 2407 | From over the river and through the woods | Registered: Apr 2006
| IP: Logged |
char
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8315
posted
My children went thru similar situation.
A search here should give you acsess to a lot of excellant advice that I received last year.
My advice is to request an IEP immediately in writing. The school district by law must begin procedings within a month.
Most districts are loathe to provide homebound services because of the extra expense. This is not to be allowed by federal law....
We got a 504 plan for kids which gives them accomadations such as extended due dates and shortened assignments. This sounds good, but I found that there was not a specific person responsible for compliance so I spent tons of time talking to so many teachers, counselors, principals that was time wasted. With IEP, special ed dept is accountable for the student to meet agreed upon goals.
Our school gave us hard time over the need for homebound services as typical duration is 6wks for injury, suspension, or pregnancy.
In end my 7th grader and 9th grader recieved 3hrs per week instruction from school. Ridiculous, but truth is they were so sick, not up to getting a lot done, but still not right.
Look for an advocate. We amazingly found a lady who advised us and accompanied us to meeting at no cost to us.
We moved away from this school district partly to keep me from burning the school down.
posted
Look up the state ed law for homebound. Your child is entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education when ill or disabled.
You should be able to get homebound right away if the doctor prescribes it. The school should have told you that by now. Pay no attention to "District policy" claims - ask to see a copy of it if they pull that - likely, there is none, or if there is - state law trumps it if it is not in line with state ed regs. Federal law trumps state.
A note with diagnosis, symptoms, and that she requires homebound instruction with an outside date as best guess (I would do one month at a time, she can always return sooner if she is able.)
State law for homebound usually only requires a Doc letter, and she should be getting ten hours a week, if she can tolerate that much medically.
Then go for the IEP if you believe she will be struggling with disability long term due to her medical situation. The homebound you should be able to get right away, and even with a 504 plan to back that up. It is not OK that they are not supporting her absence and her re-entry by offering no instruction. She should not be penalized educationally for being ill.
You would need to research and have an advocate to get the IEP done right (and it is far better than 504 for long term disability) and understand the law and the school's obligations, and the documentation you would need from medical professionals.
See the post by Maureen S - I posted a long reply there about IEP / classification under IDEA, to give you an idea.
Mo
Posts: 8337 | From the other shore | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I was a registered nurse who took care of special needs children at home. The child I took care of had an IEP: Individual education plan. Doctor in charge of the case wrote a letter then submitted to the school,IEP was written and the child received homebound services in winter time to accomodate her needs. I would contact educational services in the district to get specifics on an IEP or 504 plan and how to proceed in getting it started.good luck!!! Posts: 719 | From Delaware | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
hsh said..
"How do you get a homebound teacher?"
My guess would be drive past the school at closing time... grab one on the way out to their car ... and hog tie them or bribe them with ice cream.
The LDA site should have some good information about schooling.
I hope your little one is feeling MUCH better... real soon.
posted
Do not get a 504. The IEP carries a lot more weight than a 504. When my daughter was in 2nd grade she had a 504 and her teacher was the biggest witch to my daughter. If it had not been so late in the year, I would've hired a lawyer and gone after her.
Getting the doc to write the note ASAP is crucial. There's no reason you can't get home bound care for your daughter.
Posts: 738 | From Colorado | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think the time allowance varies. In my county, the child has to be out for 4 weeks to qualify!My daughter had complicated back surgery and it was still like pulling teeth to get her a homebound tutor. When we finally got the OK it went very smoothly.We went through her school counselor. Cindy
-------------------- Cindy Posts: 227 | From VA | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
mlkeen
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1260
posted
While an IEP has teeth and can be better in the long run, they take forever to get.
A 504 is quick to get, but is hard to impliment.
You can do both.
I finally got action when I took the 504 to the superintentant of schools and negotiated my son's returnng to public school from a cyber charter.
He missed a lot of school the year before the cyber charter, he was basically homeschooled at the states' expense.
The good news is that while his test scores were not good and he had family help completing homework, the education was being absorbed.
After one year back in regular school he is taking AP courses and has been accepted to college.
Remember, testing and homework are only teachers ways of assessing what the student know, not what the child has really learned. If the student is impaired he can't spit back the knowledge in the form asked for by teachers.
We did lots of educational TV when my son was home.
Posts: 1572 | From Pa | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged |
hshbmom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9478
posted
Thank you all for your replies. It's nice to hear from those who have BTDT. We're seeing a tiny improvement in her.
My sister is a teacher of LD children. She recommended getting the homebound thing first, then try to get a 504 when she's about ready to go back to school.
Does the 504 apply to homebound education? Will they reduce her assignments? She always has several hours of homework a night. My boys are a couple of years ahead of her & rarely have homework. Life isn't fair!
How old were your children when you had to get homebound education? My dd is almost 14.
The new LLMD gave her a prescription for homebound ed. until the end of this year. I was shocked!
Does this mean he thinks it could be that long before she see's significant improvement?
One option we have is to homeschool. I used to homeschool all my children, but it got to be too much. It is difficult to teach my dd; she gets irritated easily, and becomes angry when she doesn't understand something. She vents her anger on me.
This is the main reason homebound education is appealing. She wouldn't act that way to a different teacher...and I dont' want to invite the government into the privacy of my home. We're considered odd-balls anyway because we have a large family & this is the first year the children have been in public school.
I don't know how many hours she could stand "school" because of her pain level.
It's definately affected her brain (seizure-like thing?? and multiple nuicance (sp?) problems), but I don't think she developed a learning disability. ...she hasn't done much of her missed homework due to pain, not comprehension. She feels her brain is dull or numb sometimes. She said she can't think anymore. I know that feeling.
I can't find her seizure medicine; she's been off it for a while & has been having the seizure-like movement episodes several times a day. I was given several refills by the ER neurologist, but my pharmacist wouldn't attempt to get the presciption because it was from out of state. Is that legal?
I'll call the local neurologist and get a refill today.
This is her 4th week out of school...or is it the 3rd??? I'm losing track of time. I am absolutely exhausted emotionally & physically. I have Lyme too; I don't need the stress either.
My dh & sons have no compassion or comprehension of how we feel. They just think we're lazy & I'm emotionally damaging dd by allowing her to stay out of school each day. It's as if they blames her (us) for getting sick. Who'd choose that????
I read "You don't look sick!" I'll tell them to read it.
Dd's pain level and functioning of her intestinal tract have improved a teensy bit the past couple of days. She has been on flagyl and amoxi for almost 2 weeks. It's the treatment for H. pylori, but happens to be effective for LD too. I think it's helping.
She has to have some bloodwork today; after we get the results she'll start official Lyme treatment. Getting a diagnosis been the biggest obstacles so far. I think we're over the hump.
Dd has a cardiology appointment today...hope they don't find any damage. She supposedly has MVP, migraines, and IBS. We'll see if the MVP is causing a problem. My dh may have accidentally cancelled her appointment. We cancelled the ID duck appointment for today.
She has a gastric emtying test tomorrow. She hates eggs; do they offer anything else? I HATE the idea that she has to eat something radioactive. That's idiocy (sp?).
Dd must feel like a freak...no one else in our family has ever had real medical problems. My Lyme isn't as disseminated or as intense. I'm going to let her on the Lyme chat for teenagers. I think it would help her feel less isolated & freakish.
Do any of you have a teenage dd that might correspond with my dd? ...or do any of your children go on the teenager's Lyme chat?
Thanks again for your encouragement & helpful information. I really appreciate it.
Nancy
Posts: 1672 | From AL/WV/OH | Registered: Jun 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hi! Hope things are going better now for you and your daughter. Did you get the homebound thing set up? My 17 yr dd did get her assignments reduced actually before becoming homebound, but still needed homebound. Each tutor worked with her to teach her in the method she needed and to tailor her reduced assignments to her abilities. They did not "give" her anything but found the best ways for her to learn each subject. Sometimes it was trial and error. Some assignments she was able to turn in via email, and one male tutor did not want to meet at our house, his choice, so they met at the library, at school before, after, or on his off period, at a coffee shop and at a deli. I'm sure they don't "have" to come to your house, just they have to if your child actually is bedridden at home. The only problem we had was to tutor an AP class the tutor had to be AP certified! To get credit for the AP classes she did have to meet stricter curriculum requirements. Looks like you are in Alabama. A friend goes to a lldr in Mobile. Do you have a lldr in AL?
Posts: 242 | From Mississippi | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[lol]](graemlins/lol.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic