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EdD in Education & Leadership, Vanderbilt University (Graduated 1995)10h
Not much. It would be similar to being in a hospital in a room next to someone crying or screaming or in an office situation with a colleague with a bad temper or having neighbors that scream and argue a lot. Public schools are a microcosm of the real world. A part of the hidden curriculum, or unplanned curriculum, is learning to be tolerant and functioning with all kinds of people.
A child with an IEP has special protocols regarding academic work. It sounds like you are describing a student who may have one but also has behavioral issues. S/he is probably a special neeeds student, as well, which is a more legal issue. I hear lots of stories like this. They are nightmares for most teachers. Yet, in our democracy, we pledge to live together in tolerance, if not peace, and we guarantee an education to every child, regardless of their behavior, learning ability, etc. As a former teacher, I can tell you our mission is full of hope for the best for each student. A child who is constantly disruptive either has a medical problem or emotional problems out of his or her control. Often times, as cornet or cliche as it may sound, the love of a teacher and peers is their only hope.
You can request that your child be moved to another classroom, but frankly, I suspect most of the other parents in the class feel as you do. The administration is going to be reluctant to move your child as that opens the door for all of the others to do the same. If you can prove, with teachers’ references, a doctor’s report, etc. that your child is being harmed emotionally, you might have a good case.
Of course, the ultimate suggestion, which not many folks are willing to do, is move to another district or attendance zone. However, there’s no guarantee you won’t encounter the same there. There’s also the option to approach the situation with the attitude that “this, too, will pass.”
Learning disability problems require separating those children from the general population to receive education together with their peers. These children, just a different perception of “normal”. Yes the children without learning disabilities, different and much more common than the learning disability children. Nonetheless, the learning disability children also qualify as “normal” based upon their unique perspective!
Herding such children with peers like themselves permits these children to develop their own “social pecking order” based upon their perspectives and needs. My daughter has CF. As a child we raised her with a completely different diet than non CF children. She had to eat disgusting food like spirulina or moringa shakes.
An herbalist organized a bunch of herbs into a liquid based tincture, we rejected standard western “medicines”, had her inhale a 9% saline solution which i made myself and reduced as much as possible sugar in her diet. The word “medicine” placed in “Apartheid”. We emphasized that she endured a “normal” condition unique to her body. That she did not have a disease nor some sickness. That CF, normal for her genetics.
She had dyslexia as well. Sent her to a regular school and did home schooling when she returned. Good Cop Bad Cop: my wife the Good Cop. I encouraged her to reject any and all attempts by “authorities” to put her into some social box. Nothing wrong with a bit of “social misbehavior”.
Adhd, hyper focused on a subject followed by a crash defines her personality. Rejected any notion of the “blue book” social “psych” “expert” drug pushers. Giving children drugs, while convenient for non-specialized teachers not good for young children. If my daughter wanted ritalin, she could readily get some from her peers! Her choice not some stranger who never even personally met her, but willing to prescribe drugs based upon teacher gossip. She’s 24 now, in good health, and happy about herself and her life.
Personally experienced wins and losses with this approach. Obviously raising such a child exposed flaws in my personal development as a first-time parent. Had I a second chance to do it over again, most definitely would make modifications in my approach to “managing” the problem.
But my personal problems fall outside of the scope of this discussion. Clearly took the social Bad Cop to an extreme. But at the time felt it important for my daughter to set emotional boundaries within the parameters established by our Good Cop Bad Cop education of our learning disability child. We continually emphasize “cooking” defining and maturing our emotional development. My wife, her emotional maturity, served (so to speak) as god and i served as the devil.
Emotional meditation fear anger grief shame worry countered with dominance, tranquility, joy, victory, don’t give a damn. Breathing in as contrasted by breathing out. We affixed these emotions to fingers and toes. A diagonal right hand left foot, left hand right foot served as the foundation of meditation on a specific emotional attribute and its opposite.
Feeling a specific emotional pulse “charge” in a specific affixed finger, followed by feeling the opposite emotional pulse “charge” in a specific affixed opposing toe. The inhale contrasted with the exhale breath. The thumb lines up with the oppose little toe etc. A 5 minute meditation focus on feeling the “emotional pulse”, “electric charge” in the affixed emotional finger followed by a 5 minute meditation focus on feeling the “emotional pulse”, “electric charge” in the affixed emotional toe.
Based upon the theory that the 10 major internal organs produce simple emotions. The reflex arc between the spinal cord and these internal organs. The brain stem functions as the so-to-speak orchestra maestro conductor which organizes simple emotions into complex emotions. We likewise affix a target emotion to any of the 10 internal organs. The affixed choice depends how one feels at the moment.
The next stage of the meditation focus transforms two targeted internal organs into a bi-polar battery to meditate to raise ADP – low energy – to ATP – high energy – produced by the mitochondria within the cells of the internal organs. Chinese medicine calls this energy Chi. Place the fingers of one hand upon one “battery pole” designated internal organ and the fingers of the other hand upon the contrasting “battery pole” internal organ. Meditation feeling the pulse charge (in-hale) one internal organ, exhale feeling the pulse charge (ex-hale) of the contrasting opposing internal organ.
Usually this meditation lasts about 10 minutes. But again the meditation length not defined by some pre-determined time but rather how one feels at the moment. This meditation technique makes feeling the pulse charge the axis of focus upon breathing. Clearly in my daughter’s case the lungs served always as one of the internal organ poles.
When my wife developed, over the years, 3 cancers, we focused upon the heart, most damaged by the chemo-therapy drugs as the primary internal organ pole. Despite the heart considered in Japanese medicine as taboo.
Conflict Resolution 