8 yrs. Grade 2

Elementary School

My son has a diagnosis from a psychologist/paediatrician. He has been suspended from his school 34 times. He is only in grade 2. He also does not even do full days at school, because he does not have supports in place, even with documentation saying he needs the supervision. I have had phone calls multiple times saying they have lost him in the school and they cannot find him. The police have been called. I’m not sure what else to do to help my son. I am a single mother of three and have to pay for his education out…

8 yrs. Grade 3

Elementary School

My son has suffered from anxiety toward school since he entered grade 1. In kindergarten, he loved school and was even subtracting numbers and adding numbers from the dice correctly. Soon after entering grade 1, he started to dislike school and say it was hard. His teacher would email daily telling me he was not paying attention or was disrupting the class. I had him privately assessed again and found out he had a learning disability in reading and writing, but also a full-scale IQ of 122. A very difficult and challenging diagnosis. When I addressed the school with the…

10 yrs. Grade 5

Elementary School

Our daughter is very scared of thunderstorms and high winds, and if she thinks there is such weather coming, she says that she will not be going to school. We will do whatever we can to support her, but the fear is real and can incapacitate her. The school has been extremely supportive, and will offer whatever help they can, but really all she wants is mum or dad.

9 yrs. Grade 4

Elementary School

My 9-year-old son has always had a lot of anxiety around school, but this year we have experienced flat-out school refusal where I’ve had to miss work. It’s affecting our income. Now that he’s a “big kid”, I can’t simply make him go or carry him to the car like I used to (while dying inside). I’ve had to look deeper at why this is happening, and what I see is sensory overload, fatigue, and low self-confidence. He is simply shutting down, and I’m not sure why. We need professional help. While he is very bright and a “pleasure to…

8 yrs. Grade 3

Elementary School

While sitting in the principal’s office (school and family relationship has been difficult because school has tried to impose their point of view), the psychologist says, “It takes a village to raise a child,” to which I responded, “You’re NOT part of my village.” Schools need to learn to respect parents’ point of view and to work together, rather than playing the “know-it-all” or the “expert” card! My child is not the only one who does not trust school; I as a parent DO NOT trust schools!

10 yrs. Grade 5

Elementary School

The worst of it started in grade 3; by grade 4, my daughter’s teacher had alienated her from her fellow classmates, and subsequently staff, due to issues with her peers. The school counsellor did nothing but make the problems worse; the principal told the teacher to send her to the office whenever there was an issue, as they believed that when she got upset it was interfering with other kids’ ability to get an education. I took her out of school when it got bad enough that she started getting stomach pains on a regular basis. Grade 5, same thing…

14 yrs. Grade 8

Elementary School

“You can do better than this” was the common message given to our child. Because we are a high-functioning , educated, middle-class family, our child was always overlooked and under-supported. We did the right things as parents in our home to accommodate his needs but the school didn’t attempt to accommodate. Every intervention to support him was a punishment. “Go to the library to finish your work quietly….go sit in the hall because you’re being too disruptive….your child doesn’t know how to control himself in class….your child would have much better grades if only he applied himself”….IF ONLY…. If only…

8 yrs. Grade 3

Elementary School

After many negative experiences with my child’s school staff, the psychologist said to me in one of the meetings, “It takes a village to raise a child.” I responded, “You are not part of my village.” When the school system is not part of the solution, but part of the oppression with aggressive policies, the school system is PART OF THE PROBLEM… therefore, you are not part of my village.

10 yrs. Grade 5

Elementary School

My son has been saying he hates school for 5 years now. It started in grade 1 when he reflected that his whole class seemed selfish and mean. He said no one listens to the teacher and everyone wants to do what they want to do. I knew he was an empathetic and sensitive child from birth, but now hearing him, in grade 1, feel this unease in the classroom was difficult. Apparently, that class had six or seven high-spirited boys and the constant classroom management was stressful for all the kids. He missed 35 days in grade 1. In…

13 yrs. Grade 8

Elementary School

Our son became ill in the early spring of grade 6. He missed 3 weeks of school when we tried to send him back even though he wasn’t completely healthy. We kept getting phone calls to come and pick him up. We decided to just keep him home until the doctors could diagnose his illness. There was little communication from the school, no work sent home for us to complete with him, and no outreach from his class. He felt like no one at the school cared about him. After physical diagnosis and treatment during the summer, he began grade…