Thinking ahead to high school

[pdx]

The end of the first school quarter is tomorrow, and 8th grade is going really well for E so far. After missing several days in September, she has had perfect attendance for October.

The first high school info meetings are coming up next month, which has gotten me thinking more about next year. The first issue is school start time. Her middle school starts at 9:15, and we live just 5 minutes away. Her high school will start at 8:15, and it's about 30 minutes away by bus. She often doesn't sleep well and often doesn't feel great in the morning, so the early start time worries me. Maya--I know you mentioned that your daughter had study hall first period to help with this. Has anyone ever had their child skip first period completely? E will have a few high school credits from this year, so I think there wouldn't be a problem of credits, but it might limit her elective choices.

Next, I'm wondering what you all think about PE class. High school freshman here are required to take 90 minutes of PE every other day. I think that will probably be too much for her, especially on days when her joints or stomach are bothering her. Has anyone gotten the PE requirement excused on their child's 504? I would be fine with substituting some other form of physical activity; I'm just not sure that a 90 minute PE class is the ideal exercise for her right now.

Anything else I should be thinking about for high school? We have to redo E's 504 in March, so that would be a good time to add accommodations that apply specifically to high school.

 

[CarolinAlaska]

It's good to be thinking ahead. I don't have much to offer because my daughter goes to a small private school and they are very supportive without all the forms.

 

[Maya142]

M has always had issues in the morning - morning stiffness makes it very hard for her to move and she's in a lot of pain in the morning. We only thought of making her study hall in the morning for junior and senior year, but I really wish we had thought of it earlier!!

She was then able to skip first period without worrying. She often did have skip it, depending on how bad her AS was, and sophomore year, she had 22 absences in chemistry! So it was a BIG help to have study hall first period. Her guidance counselor helped her set it up.

For freshman and sophomore year, she did modified PE - she was allowed to sit out when she wasn't feeling well, for part of the class or all of the class.

Junior and senior year, her pediatric rheumatologist decided it would be best to exempt her from PE, so she was allowed to go the library during her PE class. This accommodation was specifically for her arthritis, but I'm sure a GI could include it in E's 504.

The other high school specific thing is standardized tests. For the SAT and AP's you have to get accommodations from College Board and it has to be done 6 weeks (possibly more, definitely check!) in advance of the test. M was allowed extra breaks (stop the clock), to bring food into the exam room, separate testing location (in a small group, so that it was easier for her to get up and take a break) and unlimited bathroom use (again, they had to stop the clock for that too). She also got use of a computer, but that was specifically because she has arthritis in her hands and elbows. Her guidance counselor helped her through the process of getting these accommodations.

I think that's it, but if I think of something else that was different from middle school, I'll let you know.

 

[Maya142]

The another thing would be to get the school to work with you on absences. M missed a LOT of school junior and senior year. I emailed her teachers at the beginning of the year, telling them about her conditions. They also received her 504 of course.

M was hospitalized 5 or 6 times in the last two years (I've lost count) so the school really did have to work with us. Her teachers emailed work every day and let her do only the important assignments. M is good at teaching herself, so it mostly wasn't an issue but we did need to get a tutor for AP Calculus so that she didn't fall too far behind. They also did give her extensions when needed. We made sure to document every absence with a note, so we were never bothered about attendance, so you might have to do that.

We also did do hospital/homebound and had a teacher come home for about a month when her AS was completely out of control.

Wanted to add -- two sets of textbooks! This was more for her arthritis, so she didn't have to carry heavy textbooks around, but it was VERY useful to always have her textbooks with us so she could take them to hospital, or just do her work at home.

 

[pdx]

Thanks, Maya. I didn't realize that your daughter was in the hospital so much over the past few years. It's inspiring that she managed to keep up with everything (including calculus!). I hope that the doctors she is seeing this fall can help her get to a place where she can go to university and just concentrate on her studies and social life, rather than her IBD and AS.

 

[Jmrogers4]

Freshman year was a tough one Crohn's wise for my kiddo. He had Geometry 1st period and we had talked to his counselor about switching his schedule around so he had an easier class 1st period. He was tardy nearly every day 1st semester but lucky he had a great teacher who really worked with him and a small class so he didn't want to switch.
He is a teacher aide this year 1st period so it allows for anything, if he's late, we also schedule his remi infusions first thing because it's an easy class to miss.
But if it's an option to have an open period or study hall I think that's a great idea.
We're working on getting Jack's college board accommodations now as he will have SAT's in the spring and we have to schedule ACT as well

 

[FrozenGirl]

One accommodation I have is online textbooks. This makes it so I can use software ( provided by my school) that reads the textbook out loud to me. Avoids carrying heavy textbooks and good for high pain days when I need to lie down. ( I'm in uni but I think it's also applicable to high school)

 

[Jmrogers4]

Yes a set of textbooks at home.

 

[Mehita]

This year DS has gym first period every day for 55 minutes. Not too bad of a class to miss or be tardy for. Last year he had Honors English first period and that was tough, especially on the days he wasn't feeling well. Art or band might also be options? A class that doesn't necessarily build on the previous day like math does.

We have it in his 504 that he can self monitor and pull himself out of gym on days he's not feeling well due to Crohn's. It's a good thing too because he wasn't feeling well just prior to his last infusion and was scheduled to run the mile. He was given an exemption instead and it didn't affect his grade. Ninety minutes might seem like a lot, but I'd let your daughter give it a try at least - assuming she's not playing sports for 2 hours after school?

He's also doing a zero hour health class which means he's at school by 7am two days a week instead of 8am. Big mistake. He did it to free up his schedule for later, but I think he's regretting it. He struggles to wake up, struggles to eat breakfast and struggles to poop on those days and it's been tough. I know it's hard to do during the summer, but if you can get your daughter to wake up as if she is going to school and get her body into that routine, it might help.

And like Maya mentioned, plan ahead for the ACT, SAT, and PSAT tests. DS' guidance counselor told me he needed to submit things to the testing boards three months in advance. Also, since IBD is so unpredictable, submit the paperwork even if your kiddo is in solid remission... because you never know how they'll be feeling at testing time.

Something that sort of frustrates me about our high school is that everything, and I mean everything, goes through the kids. If I call the guidance counselor with a question, instead of calling me back, he'll pull DS out of class and tell him the answer. That's fine if DS and I had a chance to discuss the issue, but that's not always the case. I understand why they do this, but being the mom of a chronically ill child, I often feel like I'm always saying, "Yes, but...". They do annual 504 changes through the kids too.

Last, if AP classes are offered at your school, really think about how your daughter will handle them if something IBD-ish comes up. Try to avoid AP first hour, ask what will happen if she misses too many days of school... would she have to drop to a regular class? Sometimes there isn't an equivalent class to drop too (i.e. at our school Calculus is only offered as AP), and just in general, give some thought to balancing her schedule each year so she can actually enjoy high school.

Good luck!

 

[Maya142]

Our high school was the same - everything was through the kids pretty much (unless the kid was in the hospital, then they'd talk to me!). At the time, I thought it was annoying but now, I'm so glad they taught my daughter to deal with everything by herself.

When M went to college this year - she dealt with absolutely everything by herself. She made an appt. with the director of disability services, talked to all her professors, stayed in touch with her class dean, advisor, the dean of studies and the director of health services.

She decided to take the semester off by herself and did all the paperwork by herself. And all of this was while she was dealing with tube infections, no sleep, severe chronic pain, diarrhea from the antibiotics, swollen joints etc.

None of it was easy but she did manage by herself. The fact that she was able to manage things by herself even when she was so sick, gave her confidence (and made me feel a lot better!) and I'm sure when she goes back to school in the spring that she'll have no trouble.

I agree with the AP thing - my daughter took 5 AP's her senior year which was totally crazy. She probably would have been fine if she'd been feeling well, but she spent the whole year sick so it was struggle. I wish she had planned better - unfortunately, they have to plan realistically, and not plan for the best possibly scenario (i.e. "I'll be absolutely fine").

 

[Tesscorm]

I strongly 'encouraged' my kids take a summer credit each year. While I initiated this before S was diagnosed and my intent had only been to keep them busy - didn't want them sitting around doing nothing for almost three months (almost impossible to find jobs at 14, 15...), it ended up having other benefits too.

By earning an extra credit during July (our summer program ran 4 weeks for a credit), it ended up giving them flexibility re course/credit requirements. Although they were not too pleased in grades 9 and 10, by 11 and 12 they were actually grateful as they found their course load was easier then their friends because some of their demanding courses (ie university required) had been staggered into the earlier grades (ie if they took grade 10 math during the summer after grade 9, they were able to take grade 11 math during grade 10 year, and so on), leaving them with less stress in grades 11 and 12.

They've actually said they were glad I pushed them to do this! (Not often do you get acknowledgement from your teens! :lol

So, my point is, if your teen is willing, feels well and if it's possible with your school system, see if you can stagger one of the more demanding courses during the summers (when they can focus on that one course only). The extra/early credits might give them necessary breathing room later on.

Oh, and to sweeten the pot for them... I 'paid' them as if they were working a summer job. I offered a restroactive $1 or $2 per percentage mark per week, so if they earned a 75% at the end of the course, I (back) paid them $75-$150 for each week of the course. (I thought that was a fair trade as I didn't expect them to work over the summer if they were going to school during the day.)

 

[pdx]

Thanks, everyone, for all the great advice.

All the public high schools in Portland are on a block schedule, with an alternating schedule of 4 90-minute classes a day. So there's actually two "first period" classes, which complicates things a little. Having one of those be PE might be a good compromise, as long as we can work out an opt out plan for days that she's not feeling good. And having the other be art or band, as Mehita suggested, is a good idea.

And keeping her schedule balanced each year between hard and easy classes is a good idea too. She's a pretty bright kid, but she's also anxious, so it probably would have been good advice even without the Crohn's.

I think I should have her come with me to talk to the school counselor too, since it sounds like a good idea for her to start taking more control over the decision-making about everything.

 

[pdx]

Just saw your reply, Tesscorm. Summer classes are a great idea!

 

[Jmrogers4]

We've done the extra credit thing as well. It's worked well as Jack really only needs 3 classes to graduate next year. We decided against AP classes this year since junior year seems to be so stressful anyway. He is planning on going to an in state college and already meets their entrance requirements. Like Mehita Jack's school only offers AP Calculus which Jack will be in next year. We may stick with that as his only AP class but if he decides to add more we can shorten his day and instead of 7 periods he can do 5-6 and have plenty of time to work on homework and still do his part-time job and social life.