Can they make a child that doesn't eat stay a whole day?

[Andrea Grymes]

My 5 year old son is diagnosed with Autism. He's has a vocabulary of about 30 words, and on his last assessment he scored on and in some cases below 18 mos old.

He is in the special Education program at the nearby public school here in Louisiana. Where it's mandatory for all children to have a full day beginning in kindergarten. My son is currently in kindergarten but was given special permission to have a half day because he didn't cope well with a whole day. All this was done on the condition that we slowly try to integrate him to a full day.

His I.E.P. Is up for renewal in about a week. His teacher and guidance counselor are pushing to start beginning full days. My problem is this. My son refuses to eat at school. He will not eat Breakfast or lunch even if I pack his favorites from home. He has refused even with different tactics and therapies. So far this hasn't been a problem because I've been feeding him breakfast at home before school and feeding him lunch at home After picking him up at 12:30.

Can the school make a full day mandatory for a child who will not eat lunch there? While I know it won't kill him to skip lunch. I know it's not healthy for him. Clearly he stressed enough there that he loses his appetite. How healthy can he be if he's skipping a whole meals worth of calories and nutrition? Sometimes 2 meals as I can't always get him to eat breakfast in the mornings.

I might be able to hold off putting him in for a whole day for the rest of the kindergarten year if I'm stubborn enough. But at his last I.E.P. After an awkward argument with the school boards special education coordinator i barely got my way about the half day. And that was with a note from my sons therapist saying that in her opinion My son could not cope with a whole day. After the SpEd coordinator consented to the half day she added ominously that next year they would make no exceptions for my son and that he would attend for a full day as it is mandatory.

To be honest I'm surprised his teacher would push for a whole day. It's not like she doesn't know about his refusal to eat. Shes been trying different ways to get him too.

I'm not sure what to do here? I'm hoping for some help. I'd like to know if there's a rule against this or if i can get an exception?

 

[midlife aspie]

You may have to resort to legal counsel. The school system does not know what is best for your child. You may have to fight, unfortunately. There might be other parents in this predicament in your area, perhaps you can form an 'action group'. I personally would not be told what is best for my child by anyone other than those whom I choose. If I were in your situation, and without other recourse, I would 'push it'. The court of public opinion would likely not be kind to the school.

 

[Andrea Grymes]

Thank you, I was thinking the same thing about the legal counsel. I didn't want to resort to fighting about it. But I am prepared too!

 

[midlife aspie]

Perhaps you can try raising this issue at a schoolboard meeting?

 

[Warmheart]

You may want to contact The Arc. They have locations in LA, and some have an Autism NOW Center within them. The Arc is the agency who has been helping me. My support staff comes from
The Arc. They will have professionals who may be able to support you and your son.

Best of luck!

 

[Andrea Grymes]

Thankyou! I've never heard of the Arc but I'm going to look them up now!

 

[Andrea Grymes]

Today I tried to observe my sons class. Like I said before my child's IEP meeting is coming up. So I wanted to observe see if there is anything I didn't agree with going on. They kicked me out of the school saying that me being there violated the privacy of the other children and thier parents! I just found out that that's not true. In fact everything that I've been reading since says that administrators saying that should raise red flags.