[Erin]

right2fight,

I was at one point a 7 year old with diabetes, and then later a 7th grader with diabetes, and am currently a 1st grade ctt (collaborative team teaching) general education teacher. I work closely with my special ed partner, and 8 special education and 15 general education students daily.

I OFTEN ask students to speak to me privately regarding their questions about other children's disabilities. The teacher may have been advocating for your son. I obviously do not go into depth about the other child's problem, but I do tell the student "different people need different things to help them learn best... how do you think _______ feels hearing you ask that? Do you feel like he might think you were making fun of him?"

I understand how it must have felt to your son... but think about this from his teacher's perspective. She was trying to get the spotlight OFF of your son when others were questioning his needs publicly. He had NO way of knowing what she would have said after class. THEN he starts standing up for himself (I assume loudly, and again publicly?) and you fault her for feeling backed up to a wall??? All she was trying to do was get the class to STOP talking about your son, and START doing the classwork that they all needed to do.

Then instead of having an honest discussion about what happened with her and your son, and figuring it all out, you went directly to the DOJ... not even the Principal of the school?

And you wonder why she's on the defensive, and may be acting in a retaliatory way towards your son? Teachers are PEOPLE, and they make mistakes even when they are trying in every way possible to act in the best interest of their students.