SPD and behavioral problems

by Della
(Michigan)

My main problem is educating the teachers in my son's school regarding SPD. My son was diagnosed with lt hemiplegia cerebral palsy and sensory processing disorder. He has hypersensitivity to touch, hyposensivity to oral input, and emotional problems. It has been a difficult road for my family trying to understand and meet his needs.

I am a substitute teacher and finished my masters in special education several years ago. The main reason was to help meet my childs needs at home and at school. I have tried on many occasions to explain that unstructured times in the school setting is what may cause my child to behave inappropriately and this should be taken into consideration and intervention is what needs to be done in order for my child to have positive experiences in school.

We had an incident in school today where another students took something away from my son. He had a pencil in his hand and reached toward the other student to retrieve his toy. during this time, the other student was poked with the pencil, and my son was suspended from school for three days. This happened during snack time (unstructured time) and a new substitute teacher was in the classroom. this teacher had no knowledge of my son and what to look for to prevent an incident like this from occurring. So he was suspended and it is on his record that he assaulted this other student. I am upset, my son is upset and does not understand why he is being suspended. I believe my son, but I don't know how to handle this problem. Do you have any suggestions.