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a behavior plan to address this behavior. Needless to say, she has one now.

I provided the District Attorney's office with the report and with a Physician's Statement that allowed us to remove her from the program legally. I assured the District Attorney, that the student will not be returning to the public school and that we had filed for a hearing and were confident that the student will be attending a private day placement to address her academic, social/emotional disabilities in an environment of her peers.

The District Attorney dropped the charges. The clerk magistrate contacted the parent and advised the only reason the charges were dropped was because she was not going back to the public school.

Many children who are suffering from psychological issues, autism, developmental delay, etc. have behavior disorders. These behaviors can be eliminated or decreased if the student is provided the appropriate services, but in many instances, the school district does not provide for behavior plans until the student has violated the code of conduct by using physical and/or verbal aggression.

Don't be afraid of the label, be afraid that your child is not getting the services. If your child is physical, i.e. hands on, throwing items, or exhibiting self-injurious behaviors, you should be afraid that your child may violently and/or fatally injure another human being and not understand how it happened or why, but just because they may not understand what they had done is not an excuse with respect to the general laws, especially if they understand what they did is wrong, then they could be sent to prison or juvenile hall. So, to me, as an advocate, there is not a danger of labeling a child, but there is a danger if you don't. Protect your child don't worry about the label. Get the services.

Learn more about this author, Tami Joia.
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