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  • #31
    Pooka: The district defines a chronic health condition as anything that may cause the student to miss 5 or more school days.

    My daughter is on an accelerated school schedule. She's a sophomore taking junior classes. She'll be graduating a year early if all goes as planned. This would leave her with this year for PE, which is out of the question, and next year. Since school out here starts so darned early, she'd still be in the healing year for the first semester. That would leave the second semester of next year in which she could take PE. Only 1 semester of PE is required in our state.

    Her counselor said if we could obtain a note from her surgeon permanently excusing her from PE that the school would abide by it. I don't think it's going to be a problem obtaining the note. But, I won't know for sure that she'll get the exemption until after I speak with her surgeon at the end of this month.
    Mother to 14 yo Cheyenne. Surgery 8/23/10 Shriners, SLC.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by Gryffindor View Post
      Pooka: The district defines a chronic health condition as anything that may cause the student to miss 5 or more school days.
      Oh wow. That's amazing.

      My daughter is on an accelerated school schedule. She's a sophomore taking junior classes. She'll be graduating a year early if all goes as planned. This would leave her with this year for PE, which is out of the question, and next year. Since school out here starts so darned early, she'd still be in the healing year for the first semester. That would leave the second semester of next year in which she could take PE. Only 1 semester of PE is required in our state.

      Her counselor said if we could obtain a note from her surgeon permanently excusing her from PE that the school would abide by it. I don't think it's going to be a problem obtaining the note. But, I won't know for sure that she'll get the exemption until after I speak with her surgeon at the end of this month.
      Can you post if he writes the note for more than a year?

      This school requires a semester of PE also. It is block scheduling and you need 26 credits to graduate but if you stay four years you end of with 32 credits. A lot of kids graduate early because of this but I need to meet with a university admissions counselor about what is a better strategy... get out earlier or stick around and get more AP classes and AP electives under their belts. I'm going to ask that question of several of them at different schools to see if there is a range of opinion on this.
      Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

      No island of sanity.

      Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
      Answer: Medicine


      "We are all African."

      Comment


      • #33
        Pooka: I'll be happy to let everyone know what happens after the surgery, including whether or not we get the note.

        It sounds like you're beginning what I should have already started in the way of looking into colleges. Our daughter knows where she wants to go to college. It's the same school her father went to (not in our state). I've had her check their admissions requirements vs her graduation requirements.

        We're contemplating moving out of state next year so she will be able to take advantage of in-state tuition vs out of state tuition rates.
        Mother to 14 yo Cheyenne. Surgery 8/23/10 Shriners, SLC.

        Comment


        • #34
          Dear Gryffindor,

          I just wanted to tell you I think you are doing a fantastic job advocating for your daughter. Your written info for the school is very well organized and thorough. Good luck with the upcoming school district meeting. I am sure all will work out ok with them.

          One tiny suggestion about pain at school. Would you consider leaving a bottle of Tylenol with proper dosing instructions? I did this for my 8 y/o daughter, who went back to school 10 days after her vertebral stapling surgery. I felt much better knowing she could go to the office and they would give her a tylenol if needed. By that point she had been off narcotics for 5 days, and if she got sore at all, Tylenol did the trick.

          I realize your daughter's situation is much different, but perhaps by the time she goes back to school, having Tylenol available at school might be helpful. Your daughter of course could decide if she wanted to try a Tylenol, or just be picked up immediately.

          I also wanted to wish you, your daughter and family the very best of luck with her surgery. These last few weeks and days before surgery can be so nerve-wracking, but you sound like you are doing a great job focusing on getting things done. Good for you!

          I will look forward to hearing your updates through surgery and recovery. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

          Gayle
          Gayle, age 50
          Oct 2010 fusion T8-sacrum w/ pelvic fixation
          Feb 2012 lumbar revision for broken rods @ L2-3-4
          Sept 2015 major lumbar A/P revision for broken rods @ L5-S1


          mom of Leah, 15 y/o, Diagnosed '08 with 26* T JIS (age 6)
          2010 VBS Dr Luhmann Shriners St Louis
          2017 curves stable/skeletely mature

          also mom of Torrey, 12 y/o son, 16* T, stable

          Comment


          • #35
            Originally posted by leahdragonfly View Post
            Dear Gryffindor,

            I just wanted to tell you I think you are doing a fantastic job advocating for your daughter. Your written info for the school is very well organized and thorough. Good luck with the upcoming school district meeting. I am sure all will work out ok with them.
            I agree with this. I bet parents will be copying/pasting that to use themselves. Since it is so complete, it might warrant being made a sticky at the top of this section.

            Good luck with the surgery.
            Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

            No island of sanity.

            Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
            Answer: Medicine


            "We are all African."

            Comment


            • #36
              leahdragonfly and Pooka: Thank you for the compliments about the school doc.

              Luckily, our district already provides Tylenol or Motrin to a student, provided a parent has turned in a signed consent form. We complete and turn this at the start of every year. It's standard practice and comes with the registration packet for the new school year.
              Mother to 14 yo Cheyenne. Surgery 8/23/10 Shriners, SLC.

              Comment


              • #37
                Sounds like a good plan! Dealing with the school was the most difficult part of DD's recovery for us. She also was in 10th grade, and taking a very full load of classes.

                Please check into Homebound - here it's not a school function, but State. There is an amount of miised school needed - here was 6 weeks before you can get Homebound instruction, and although DD could be back to school anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 weeks surgeon put down the longest and we got it set up. Others have said they weren't helpful, but once you see the amount of paperwork that comes in you'll know it can be overwhelming. The tutor helped by communicating with the teachers and a lot of busy work was removed. Not all tutors are created equal - DD had two. One just for Spanish - the other for most other classes. Even with a tutor she had to drop her science class - there was no help from the teacher to get her caught up.

                You've done a great job with the outline. Keep your Guidance office on spped dial - they can be your best friend through this.

                Good luck
                Dee
                Dee - Mother of two daughters, both with scoliosis KateScoliKid (16yo) 52* Lumbar curve
                Fusion Surgery 2/9/10 T-11->L-3 @CHKD Norfolk VA
                Jes (20yo) T 3 -> L 3 w/ Kyphosis

                Comment


                • #38
                  Tomorrow morning is the meeting with the school. So far I've only received one email from one of her teachers and he won't be able to attend the meeting.

                  I have a feeling there's going to be a number of no-shows.

                  At least I have the doc I typed up for them to go over in their free time.

                  The surgery date is only a week and a half away. It doesn't help matters that the news has been reporting a lot of plane crashes lately. Ugh.

                  We're still not sure where we're going to stay. My extended family has taken up a collection to help us out since that darned water line ate up our savings.

                  So much to do and I'm running out of time..........
                  Mother to 14 yo Cheyenne. Surgery 8/23/10 Shriners, SLC.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Is the counselor arranging the meeting? Sheena's counselor did and she was responsible for getting all the teachers to the meeting, of course, it was during the school year so they were all available.

                    You're flying to the hospital? How long is the flight? We had a 2 hour flight to St. Louis. We've been back and forth 6 times I think. Had a few problems such as flights getting canceled and having to take a detour which landed us in Dallas and no way to get home, but we survived.

                    There was a hotel in the medical complex in St. Louis where we had a room. I stayed the entire time with Sheena but my husband slept in the hotel. We also spent an additional night after she was discharged because she wasn't up to traveling.

                    Best wishes to your daughter and family.

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Duplicate post
                      Last edited by Gryffindor; 08-11-2010, 12:07 PM.
                      Mother to 14 yo Cheyenne. Surgery 8/23/10 Shriners, SLC.

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Originally posted by Sherie View Post
                        Is the counselor arranging the meeting? Sheena's counselor did and she was responsible for getting all the teachers to the meeting, of course, it was during the school year so they were all available.

                        It's the school psychologist that's arranging the meeting. She's in charge of students with 504 and IEP's.

                        You're flying to the hospital? How long is the flight? We had a 2 hour flight to St. Louis. We've been back and forth 6 times I think. Had a few problems such as flights getting canceled and having to take a detour which landed us in Dallas and no way to get home, but we survived.

                        Yes, we have to fly. We're in AZ. The flight is just under 2 hours.
                        I really hope we don't run into a cancellation. The flight to SLC is going to be cutting it very close on the time we have to be at the hospital. They want us there between 1-2 p.m. Our flight doesn't land until 11:40. Then we still have to recover our luggage, find our Shriners driver and make it to the hospital.


                        There was a hotel in the medical complex in St. Louis where we had a room. I stayed the entire time with Sheena but my husband slept in the hotel. We also spent an additional night after she was discharged because she wasn't up to traveling.

                        They sent me a list of hotels they have reduced rates with and that offer shuttle service to the hospital. I looked each one up on hotels.com and the average price appeared to be $80/night. For 10 nights that's $800! I'm hopeful we'll get into the RMD House. That's far more within our budget at only $15/night ($150).

                        Our plan is for my husband to spend the night before surgery with our daughter at the hospital and I'll get us situated at the hotel/RMDH. She's likely going to have a rough night the night after the surgery and I want to make sure I'm there. We're going to trade off back and forth so at least every other night one of us is getting a decent nights rest on a decent bed. The hospital only has those fold out chair/recliners. If I spend too much time in those MY back will go out.
                        Best wishes to your daughter and family.

                        Sherie: Thank you so much for your well wishes. Also, I wanted to thank you for posting the pics of your daughter. Those have helped my daughter and I prepare for the surgery. This way we know approximately how big the incision will be. Your daughter's surgeon did a fantastic job! Your daughter's x-rays look like she got pretty close to 0 on the curvatures. I only hope our outcome is as great as yours was.

                        Well, the meeting at school is in 1/2 hour. I'll post later and let everyone know the outcome.
                        Mother to 14 yo Cheyenne. Surgery 8/23/10 Shriners, SLC.

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          School Meeting Today

                          Ever walk into a meeting and feel like everyone there is against you?

                          Well, that was my meeting with my daughter's school this morning. What a mess.

                          The only teacher to show was her Algebra teacher. The Vice Principal attended along with two other ladies that I did not catch their names nor titles.
                          The school psychologist and her guidance counselor were there.

                          The ONLY one on our side was the school psychologist. If she hadn't been there things would have been much worse. The guidance counselor sat there looking frightened of the whole procedure and really didn't say much and certainly did not advocate on behalf of my daughter.

                          The meeting started off with the VP introducing himself and going out of his way to mention several times about how my daughter need this time to heal. He had no clue of what procedure she was having done. To hear him speak it was as if she was having a brain tumor removed, or something that would impair her cognitive abilities. Ugh.

                          I got the feeling from the get go that they were going to ask me to hold my daughter out of school this semester. As soon as they did make that recommendation, I shot it down with the requirements under federal law, state law and school district policy (thank god I had done my homework!).

                          The VP and math teacher then proceeded to tell me how my daughter could not take Biology nor Algebra II as part of the homework request program. Biology I could understand as there are labs that she would be missing. I did ask if she would be given the opportunity to take those labs once she returned to school and was given a "maybe".

                          As for algebra II the math teacher flat out rejected helping us at all saying that 20% of the work wasn't going to be in the textbook. When questioned about the 20% I asked if it was going to be in the way of handouts or class lectures or a combination of both. I was not given an answer other than "this is a new class that the state just changed the curriculum on and I don't even know what I have to teach yet." My reply was, (which I probably shouldn't have said, "And this is my problem how?". It's not my nor my child's fault that you are unprepared. To me it's unbelievable that a math class, which my daughter excels at could not be administered while she's out of school! It's math! It's not like it's something brand new that they just came up with. It's math! If I sound frustrated, I am.

                          We were then told they would move the Biology class and Algebra II class to the next semester and that we needed to pick two electives. Did they think to look up what electives would fit in those time slots? NO. Did they offer any constructive classes that would work towards graduation and college. NO. Finally I asked about Psychology or Sociology. I was told those classes had pre-req's of World History. What on Earth does World History have to do with Psychology? At this point the school psychologist stepped in for us and repeated that and asked for the pre-req to be waived. They weren't going to budge but she demanded.

                          I then asked my daughter if she'd be comfortable in taking French III (since she was an A student in the two previous classes and we both like the teacher a lot). She said that would be fine. We were met with some resistance due to French II having a "speaking" requirement but they were going to check on it.

                          So, one of the ladies that I didn't catch the name of dashed out the door to ask the teachers for Psychology and French III if they would accept my daughter into their classes. They both agreed!

                          Remarkably, both classes fit perfectly into the vacant slots on her schedule.

                          I'm waiting on the other unnamed lady to email me a copy of the 504 they're coming up with. They're using my template. All of them were very impressed with it (mostly because it's going to save them a ton of time).

                          So, for those of you who have a surgery scheduled while school is in session, be forewarned. Read up on the federal disability acts, state disability acts....especially those in regards to children with a chronic health condition, and lastly the school district's own policy. If you can throw this back at them to show you will not be walked all over and that you are being a strong advocate for your child you will make much better headway.

                          I probably came across as being an overbearing parent but that's my job!
                          Mother to 14 yo Cheyenne. Surgery 8/23/10 Shriners, SLC.

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Originally posted by Gryffindor View Post
                            I probably came across as being an overbearing parent but that's my job!
                            Absolutely, you have to be your dd's advocate. I was very firm about my expectations, but I didn't have any of the problems you describe. I suspect it may be because it was at the end of the semester, she'd already been in those classes and missed a total of 4 weeks of instruction. I found her teachers to be compassionate and understanding (with one exception) but the process for us was very smooth. I notified all her teachers right at the beginning of the semester and had complete cooperation from all of them. I'm very surprised at the attitude you're encountering. Is it that the school is small and not used to dealing with these kinds of issues?

                            I have a degree in psychology and never heard of history being a prereq. for any psych class. Sheena took an honors class in high school and never had any prereqs for it either. It almost sounds like they're making things up as they go! Sheena was also in honors biology that semester, her teacher never said a thing about making up labs. She just did the written work and tests and did fine. I know they can make exceptions for any given situation.

                            I found that school was one of the least of my worries when it was all said and done, and I'm certain it will all work out for your daughter too.

                            Take care.

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Wow very sorry how that went down. Remarkable.

                              Originally posted by Gryffindor View Post
                              I got the feeling from the get go that they were going to ask me to hold my daughter out of school this semester. As soon as they did make that recommendation, I shot it down with the requirements under federal law, state law and school district policy (thank god I had done my homework!).
                              What? How many weeks does the surgeon think she will miss??? As I mentioned, we have block scheduling here so one week is two weeks but nobody said one peep about dropping all the classes for the semester! To read that, it sounds like you are being filmed for Candid Camera.

                              The VP and math teacher then proceeded to tell me how my daughter could not take Biology nor Algebra II as part of the homework request program. Biology I could understand as there are labs that she would be missing. I did ask if she would be given the opportunity to take those labs once she returned to school and was given a "maybe".
                              My kid was in Honors Bio and she made up some of hte labs and just did the work for some others IIRC.

                              As for algebra II the math teacher flat out rejected helping us at all saying that 20% of the work wasn't going to be in the textbook. When questioned about the 20% I asked if it was going to be in the way of handouts or class lectures or a combination of both. I was not given an answer other than "this is a new class that the state just changed the curriculum on and I don't even know what I have to teach yet." My reply was, (which I probably shouldn't have said, "And this is my problem how?". It's not my nor my child's fault that you are unprepared. To me it's unbelievable that a math class, which my daughter excels at could not be administered while she's out of school! It's math! It's not like it's something brand new that they just came up with. It's math! If I sound frustrated, I am.
                              This is more Candid Camera fodder. My kid was in Geometry and just did the work at home with only a little bit of help.

                              Finally I asked about Psychology or Sociology. I was told those classes had pre-req's of World History. What on Earth does World History have to do with Psychology? At this point the school psychologist stepped in for us and repeated that and asked for the pre-req to be waived. They weren't going to budge but she demanded.
                              Okay here I have some vague recollection of this being true at our school but I think might it apply only for the honors Psych classes. Don't know if they offer Soc. I don't have a good grasp of the Social Sciences and Humanities and their internal machinations as taught at the high school level.

                              Remarkably, both classes fit perfectly into the vacant slots on her schedule.
                              Great win there. You saved the semester I think.

                              So, for those of you who have a surgery scheduled while school is in session, be forewarned. Read up on the federal disability acts, state disability acts....especially those in regards to children with a chronic health condition, and lastly the school district's own policy. If you can throw this back at them to show you will not be walked all over and that you are being a strong advocate for your child you will make much better headway.
                              My one kid was in 7th grade so that doesn't compare to the other who was in 9th for this surgery. But the one who was in 9th certainly didn't have to deal with any of that nonsense. I am very sorry you and your daughter do.

                              I probably came across as being an overbearing parent but that's my job!
                              Hey, you were hitting resistance and who else can advocate for her? You pulled it out so congratulations.
                              Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

                              No island of sanity.

                              Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
                              Answer: Medicine


                              "We are all African."

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Oh I forgot to mention that when the school immediately pulled my daughter from PE when I told them of her upcoming surgery, they just placed her in Creative Writing without asking. She was okay with that. It may have even been on her electives list, I don't know.

                                So nobody discussed that with me though they may have asked her if she wanted that class.
                                Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

                                No island of sanity.

                                Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
                                Answer: Medicine


                                "We are all African."

                                Comment

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