Yeah, that doesn't work. :( Figuring out why a student does things, or doesn't do them, is important. When classroom teachers want to use behavior plans just to bitch to parents about what their kid did wrong today, I try to get them to see that it isn't helpful, because a) The parent is not at school, you are, teach…

I have very rarely seen them used with positive incentives, just as a form of tattling to parents who are then expected to punish the child at home. There is usually no attempt to look at causes of behavior and no involvement of anyone other than the classroom teacher and administrator in charge of discipline. Of…

I don't know much about how classroom teachers use behavior contracts, but I agree that I have seen them done badly.

I have yet to meet a mental health professional, parent or child who thought daily behavior reports were a good thing. Teachers think they are great because they sometimes cause behavior change at school. They don't have to see the anxiety, embarrassment and pleas to stay home that these stupid reports cause. It's the…

Really? Someone talked to her daughter and told her that you aren't supposed to point crayons at people and say pew pew. Then they showed her a piece of paper that she *didn't even understand* and which I'm pretty sure was 0% harmful. If I had to guess, they told her, "This says that we promise to follow the school…

Omg, as a lawyer I really doubt it. My first reaction was, "obviously this person thinks this will somehow decrease liability but they have no understanding of contracts whatsoever."

Yeah, I think we were doing the thing where you get into a fight even though you basically agree with someone.

Right. You have an initial evaluation for an IEP and an evaluation every three years after that. That is what is meant by psychological testing at school. This wasn't testing. That's all I'm saying. I'm a resource specialist, so I do a lot of testing. :)

I don't agree with how the school handled this incident, but schools generally carry out psychological testing as it relates to the student's academic achievement, to see if they qualify for special education. They test the student's general cognitive ability or IQ, their visual and auditory processing, and other…

Okay, I'm going to stop trying to explain things and try to actually help you.

We are firmly stuck in the land of "what if" with him right now, and more than a few rambling stories have started with "what if I had a death ray" or "what if I had a giant laser beam".

There are a lot of little kids who come to school with baggage from home. It's heart breaking.

At six my son asked for a death ray for Christmas. I told him the elves didn't know how to make those, so he would need to figure it out himself.

I'm 24 and I say hi to every single dog I see. And sometimes squirrels. I thought was a sign of being delightfully whimsical.

This is foolish, especially the part about how they want her to see a counselor. It's not unusual, though. My child told another one "You are getting on my nerves." She's six. The teacher spoke to me about Empathy Training. ::eyeroll:: I told my child, "That was rude. That person has feelings. Don't do that again."…

In an hour of playing tinker-toys last night, my 6 year old created a "head smasher", a "mega-chopper", and a "double spiker bow and arrow". If this kid needs therapy, mine must need an institution.

Clearly your daughter is a high-functioning psychopath. If she'd chosen a softer fruit to emulate, I'd say she's fine, but pineapples are a textbook early indicator.

Jesus these administrators are so fucking stupid. Everyone knows you say "pew pew" when you're playing games and "bang bang" when you really mean business.

This is just too much. Do these schools employ people that merely walked past a child development book, let alone read one? The little girl is 5. I have a 5 year old. He recently accused his 2 year old sister of being a murderer because she hit him. Should I have a profiler come by and assess my toddler daughter (who…

Depression is an increasing problem in young children. It is entirely possible for kids 5 or even younger to be suicidal. However, saying "pew pew" is not a symptom and there is such a thing as age-appropriate screening for kids. It's like they downloaded some poorly written screening tool designed for high school…