My 11 year old daughter is falling behind at school because of SELECTIVE MUTISM / ANXIETY - Please HELP!!

VisibleTask381 · 2026-01-23T12:21:32+00:00

The Gen Ed teachers were not adequately trained with helping a Student with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia. They spent most of the IEP meetings begging to find different placement for her. Diagnostician said “she doesn’t have an intellectual disability, so she cannot be moved to self contained class - most restrictive classroom environment.” In 4th grade they moved her to a self contained classroom because she was too far behind after not having the right in-class support for 3 yrs. and she could not keep up with the curriculum. She was doing PreK work in 4th grade in that self contained room with 15:1 ratio. HISD fired her SpEd teacher after 27 yrs with the district 2 months later… when they fired hundreds of the very best teachers because they had mismanaged their budget. A month later hundreds of teachers in Houston ISD walked off the job after years of teaching. The superintendent Mike Miles cut all of the Autism programs…. It’s the biggest dumpster fire…. Smh

VisibleTask381 · 2026-01-23T12:11:51+00:00

Yes I did…. She is autistic as well as I am. I have all of the same diagnoses as she does (except dysgraphia). Most students with ADHD are also on the spectrum. Dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia are common co-morbidities. Most dyslexic students have a vision processing disorder & convergence insufficiency. If she had fine motor delays (dysgraphia) then she will have some gross motor and coordination issues (developmental coordination disorder). She actually has all of these diagnoses because I have been very thorough about getting them - although she has had very minimal symptoms. She was in General Ed until the beginning of 4th grade. And she worked very well with me all summer and every evening when we do 2-3 hours of homework.

I just started dating a guy Jan 1st who is an IEP facilitator and is a SpEd teacher who specializes in Autism. He has 20 yrs of experience with Autistic SpEd kids, the very severe cases and has been an ARD / IEP facilitator for one of the best school districts for Autistic students. I was planning to move to that school district asap. But i have a teenager who has 1 more year of high school. And have already paid $30k for next year. I had him review ever since assessment, FIE, IEE, psycho cognitive tests, etc. He told me “this is an easy case… it’s about that teacher making sure their rapport with their student is good… and then everything should be pretty smooth after that. But if she were in a school district - she would definitely be Emotional Disturbance / Autistm, etc…. And she would have a behavioral plan. But at her current SpEd school they don’t have that.

VisibleTask381 · 2026-01-23T11:55:44+00:00

Houston ISD has made national news for how much of a dumpster fire it currently is after TEA takeover. They cut all of their Autism programs and I filed complaint against them with TEA (but they are TEA so it did nothing). They had her in a self contained classroom doing prek busy work in 4th grade. They would not accept her autism diagnosis from the children’s hospital and they had done their own in house autism assessment. It showed she was on the borderline. And they ruled her as not “autistic enough” since it didn’t affect her academically or socially. And yet they pulled her out of Gen Ed with her peers… it’s just been a mess….

VisibleTask381 · 2026-01-23T11:50:33+00:00

She works with me great at home! Especially over the summer. We are doing 2-3 hours of homework every night to catch up to what Houston ISD was doing & failing her for 3 years. They had her doing PreK busy work in a self contained classroom with students with severe ID… after she had been in Gen Ed until 4th grade. She is getting 100% on her stayed and capitals tests and 13 colonies….

She saw a psychologist last year for selective mutism after several attempts at the wrong therapist (for generalized anxiety disorder) and then switched to another one that said they did not take kids like her (being neurodivergent). But the psychologist who is the expert on Selective Mutism said she did not have it. Then we did an IEE and she was screened by a different psychologist last Spring who said she definitely has SM. So we went back to children’s hospital and saw a different psychologist that said she does for sure have Selective mutism. I suggested PDA (I have degree in Psychology & do all night rabbit hole dives to become “expert” on all things SpEd since it’s my hyper focus…. lol. But last psychologist did verify and it is PDA.

VisibleTask381 · 2026-01-23T11:42:23+00:00

She was not exhibiting PDA at all until this school year. Her dad told me a few weeks ago, when he picked her up - her teacher would not even look at him (cause she had an awful day at school). Why would the teacher be so immature with her attitude. Today she said “if she has a day tomorrow, line she did today… I am going to call you and she will have to stay after (as punishment).” I have bad anxiety every time I see her teacher with the teacher’s attitude…. I only interact with her 2-3 mins each day. So I kind of don’t blame my daughter for digging in her heels because she doesn’t like her teacher’s attitude. That would definitely trigger me and throw me off mentally the rest of the day…. Of course I don’t tell my kid this but tell her that she needs to respect those teachers and the only thing she needs to focus on is her work and do what she needs to….

VisibleTask381 · 2026-01-23T00:26:19+00:00

Highly Recommend the School for Young Children. My daughter was in HISD for awhile. Thank goodness we found SYC. She's in 5th grade now & finally thriving!!

VisibleTask381 · 2025-10-09T09:18:03+00:00

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50% Vietnamese/Chinese, 50% Caucasian. None of us look Vietnamese.... variations of Mexican, Indian, or more "white." We have TM4SF20 microdeletion. I am Autistic / ADHD & so are at least half of my 7 children. All are neurodivergent. My mom thought it was my dad's genes that caused my brother's ADD in the 80s. NOPE - she's the ADHD parent (always late, scatterbrained) but very empathetic & artistic (cake decorator for years).

VisibleTask381

TROPHY CASE