Flat out frustrated

For 2 days this week, it is my assignment to proctor a state mandated (pure garbage in my opinion) test to a 4th grader who was diagnosed with OSA a few months ago. We started today. He nearly slept through the instructions that I was required to read to him. The instructions had to be repeated several times before he could remember them because he was so sleepy. I know the feeling well. His nose is bruised and he's been on therapy for a couple of months, but it's either not effective or he's still recovering from the years of sleeplessness. I so wanted to tell him that he needs to see his doctor, but I have to stay out of this. He's not even a student in my room. I printed some of the pictures of the hose management thread from a few years back. He looked at them for a long time. The other kids were told that this little boy and I were in a club that they couldn't join. (And I hope they never have to.) Tomorrow, we'll be in another room, a small one, all day for the Reading portion of the test. I really hope that he will be alert enough to get through this tough assignment. OSA is hard enough on an adult, but it's tougher on a child who can't describe his problem or seek another mask and who doesn't appear to be getting better yet.

It sounds like the parents need educating if he is still so sleepy after 2 months of therapy.

I hope you will be able to get more details of his therapy without treading on anyones toes, but even so........

Subtle intervention can be more difficult than overt intervention. The hard line would be to refuse to test him because his medical condition was not healthy enough, and that needed to be addressed first. Maybe the school nurse or doctor can help there.

I wish you good thinking in working out this problem.

cheers

Mars

Rough place to be, feeling you may be able to help a child yet have to measure your steps. I'm with Mars on wondering if your observations of his condition could be reported in relationship to the testing. Seems that could be viewed as fulfilling an obligation rather than stepping out of bounds. I certainly don't know the technicalities of your situation, but I can see where your heart is in regards to this. Surely your heart and mind will somehow come together and figure out how to best handle things.

A part of me says, "Well, he's under a doctor's care" but another part of me says, "So? So were you as you were crashing with ineffective treatment." Knowing what we know about cpap treatment seems at times to be both a blessing and a burden. yet, I am grateful to carry that one, because ignorance sure wasn't bliss. Let us know if anything else happens in your situation. Don't envy you right now.

Oh cripes.... I so feel for you!!!!!

Yes, I'd be tempted to send some info home for the parents. Maybe offer to meet with them privately after hours?

How frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEST OF LUCK!!!!!!!
B.

i feel for you. stuck between the provebial rock and a hard place.

is there a protocol for reporting issues to the administration staff? this is probably your only recourse , and hope that they will actually do something.

best wishes for you both

I really appreciate the responses. Today, we finished the awful, education robbing state tests, at least for the 4th grade. As far as getting more help for the boy,there's not much that we can do because the parents did take the help given to them and the boy is sleeping with his machine. It just was hard for me emotionally because of the test coupled with the boy's problem. I don't think it would be ethical for me to mention too many details, but at this point, there's not much more we can do except to try to be helpful. I'm thinking about asking his teacher to set up a friendly conference with his parents and me. I'll get another teacher who is much more fluent in Spanish than I to translate for us and just gently tell them about changing masks, maybe loosening the straps. He said his machine has a card, but who knows when the doctor will see him again to check the results. I did print a few pictures of the much beloved Laryssa and he really enjoyed those. I let him know that he wasn't the only child who sleeps with a machine. Before I took him off to our little room for his test, I waved the pictures in front of the other kids and teased them that they couldn't see them because the boy and I were in a club and they couldn't join. My purpose was to just let him know that he's not alone.

Oh no LANGUAGE BARRIER! aaack..... And no doubt a fear on the part of the parents that they will be reported to Immigration for not taking good care of their children.

Sigh... Unfortunately, we see SO VERY MUCH OF THIS in my school district. It's great they got him this far, however. So maybe it won't be such a hurdle as I'm anticipating.

Honestly, being a wimp, I prefer to do things in writing. I wonder if you could write up something for them, like a little tip sheet, and ask to have it translated? Some districts offer this service through their Student Services Department at the District Administration Office. Tell them you've identified that this child has a life-threatening illness, that you also have, and that you've noticed he is not getting 100% effective therapy, and that you can help him and you'd like to offer the parents some tips. I'll bet they'll pay for it.

Add that to your face-to-face, and I'll bet it might help.

If you can pinpoint a Spanish speaker on this forum, it might be helpful to put them in touch, too.

Of course, and this is just my jaded sensibilities talking here, that all begs the question whether they are literate in Spanish. I'm convinced many of my families are NOT literate in Spanish, and I wonder about translating forms and sending them home, sometimes. Of course, many of my Native English speaking families don't do anything with the forms I send home to them, either.

Definitely want to request an interpreter for the face to face. If it was ME, I'd pay for it in a heartbeat. I'm the gal who orders interpreters and translations for my district.

I remember some French speakers joining the forum recently. Anyone remember any Spanish speakers joining the forum?

BIG GIANT CYBER HUG!!!!
B.

The school nurse is going to contact the parents about the boy's continued problems. In my class, all of my children speak Spanish. I have certification in bilingual education, meaning that I speak Spanish. However, I am not comfortable discussing medical issues in that language. I'm just glad that the nurse is going to help. BTW, do you think I should delete my messages in this thread? Have I given out too much information?

Oh goodie!!!!! You speak Spanish! WHEW!!

No. You haven't identified your town, school, state, NOTHIN'! You're fine.

But if you worry, feel free to delete, and I'll do the same. Anything to make you feel better.

Cheers,
B.

I so feel for you, I've seen situations like this in the 28 years I've been with public schools. You should have a Child Study Team (CST) in your school, if not you should at least have a school Psycholgist, or Social Worker that along with the teacher should be able to talk with the Parents. While they should be commended for seeking treatment for their child, they should most definately be aware that it is not working properly.
With you in the service of Children

Babs and Whatdreams, thanks for replying. I'm not going to delete at this time. I'm definitely going to try to help. There's just no one else around who knows anything about this little boy's treatment. It's heartbreaking because it's a pretty dangerous start to such a young life. We do have a social worker, but at our school, the nurse will be the one to start with. We'll see what happens.

BTW.....

HAPPY NATIONAL TEACHER DAY!!!!!

And they think all you teachers do is grade tests....

Cyber hug,
Barbara

Thanks for being you and getting involved instead of standing back and doing nothing.

NEEDSTOSLEEP wrote:Thanks for being you and getting involved instead of standing back and doing nothing.

Aw, shucks! Perhaps I'm just a busybody.

In all honesty, one of the members of this forum has privately offered to help me. I've not mentioned that factor for fear of causing a stampede to that person's front door. There really are a lot of caring people around this place.

I was quite apprehensive about going back to teaching after a 20+ year leave. The idea of the public schools is so negative. And there are a lot of things that anger me, but on the other hand, I've run into a lot of caring, sensitive people. This just causes such mixed feelings.

NEEDSTOSLEEP wrote:Thanks for being you and getting involved instead of standing back and doing nothing.

Amen to that! Sure do hope things work out well for the boy.

You're a good teacher and a good person, gasparama.