An IEP gone south (vent) | Autism PDD
It is complicated..but the State is running out of money and they have been seriously threatened by the district (3 day meeting 2 weeks ago and I am sure that they were told that they have to cut back). For example..Right now they hire skills trainers and IISC (behavioralists) from private agencies; however, they are trying to change everything over to in house so they won't have to pay so much. Anyway, my daughter is doing well academically...it just the language and behaviors. She already had done a year of sped preschool. They have a sp-ed resource room for kinder-3rd..but I think the teacher is wacked (she is the one that I had the most problems with at the meeting) so I would be happy if she wasn't in that room too much. Sp-ed preschool could be an option (but no peer models, filled with 2 1/2 to 3 year olds and not LEAST RESTRICTIVE). I have an escape clause built into the IEP and if there isn't any improvement in 4 weeks, then we reassess placement and after school sklls trners. IT ws just funny that I wasn't really disappointed over the services offered because I wasn't really expecting more, but I walked away feeling totally violated. I just want people to know that it might be helpful to have an advocate or a tape recorder even if you think things are hunky dory..esp if you hear rumors of cut backs.
We had Katie's IEP on Friday and though the end results were not unexpected..it was the attitude throughout that threw me off.
Now I realize that we have it pretty good here. My daughter currently receives sp-ed preschool at the public school with a full time skills trainer and some sort of behavioral program based on discrete trials. She has 30 minutes of OT a week and 1 hour of speech. We couldn't get the district to hire anyone after school, so we hired a skills trainer for an additional 2 hours after school 3 days a week. Katie has made steady progress this year.
Katie is 4 1/2 diagnosed with PDD-NOS and they are starting her in reg. kindergarten with a skills trainer this fall. The cut off for Kinder where we live is Dec. 31. I don't think she is really ready, but they threatened us with losing services *ie, the skills trainer that she already has had this year. We felt that kindergarten would have some benefits like reg. dev. peers, but she would definitely need some after school time to work on drills that didn't get done during the day. The school district didn't agree with us and we were expecting that. We weren't expecting them to DECREASE our extended school year (it's a joke..we end up losing like 3 days a year). What really crushed me is the attitude that everyone had. They were so petty and I never felt that they had Katie's needs at heart. I wish I had brought a tape recorder, but I had never expected such negativity. So my word of warning is that EVEN if you THINK that everything is o.k.,,,it may not be the case. Don't be blindsided like we were. They were taking credit for EVERYTHING that Katie was doing (although most of the work was done by the skills trainer at home). I loved it when the OT took full credit (I don't think so in 30 minutes a week). Unfortunately, our skills trainer at home has to leave us this summer;however, we will go out of our way to do something else at home. As my husband so aptly pointed out...you really don't want them (at the school in charge of her Entire Future. )
Michelle, thank you so much for all the information....although things didn't work out this time (life is still good) and I am better prepared and informed for the next one.
Aloha to all, Renee
Renee I am so sorry things didnt go well. and sending a few links for info was no problem Im gla dto help as much as I can
This is the same type of problems I have also had with our schools (they not acknowleging the need for help or services) and I am in the process of learning exactly how to fight back. Have you considered getting an advocate involved? I'm so sorry to hear about the attitudes! The school my ds goes to is the exact same and tried to downplay some things and enhance things they feel are important (ie, disruptive to rest of class). I am just curious as to how they can threaten you with losing the trainer? Are they not required to provide one if it is deemed necessary... if she is eligable in one grade, I do not understand why not in another? I actually have had an advocate before, but didn't expect any resistance this meeting. As I said I already had a skills trainer in the class and last year they had mentioned that we would probably get one after school too when she transitioned into kinder.hmm... The only thing that changed was the district coming down HARD on this particular school because they felt it was skills trainer heavy. So the odd thing wasn't that they denied services, it was the way in which they did it. The IISC (behavioralist) said that it was the weirdest IEP he had ever been too. I guess next time I will definitely bring a tape recorder. Thanks again Michelle for all your help! Aloha, Renee Enikkibaby..... Ohio really is terrible for services... I had to get an advocate involved and we are fighing the school now ot help my son. A skills trainer (and I could be wrong) I believe is like an aid someone to help the child learn skills they are delayed in... social skills math skills reading skill and so on.... its just called different things in different states. Maybe this link to Ohio Yellow oages will help http://www.yellowpagesforkids.com/help/oh.htm Like in Minnesota it is called a one to one aid. Gabe had that for two years. But of course I had to have the principal, director of special ed of the district, his neuro, social worker and me at the meeting. Now in my case it was unusual because generally they tell you they will let you know. But after seeing how Gabe was that morning, and the teacher did say it was typical, the director of special ed gave it (the one to one aide), to Gabe on the spot. Tammy The term that I heard thrown around alot was ' educationally relevant'. In our case it was, holding pencilas, accessing supplies, physically functioning in the classroom, not foaming at the mouth, etc. I amso sorry that you had a run-in with bad attitudes. It may be that the attitudes had nothing to do with you or your daughter, but with weary, fatigued staff realling from the news that they are losing funds and services all over the place. I've been inthat postion as a faculty member. It is really hard to conduct IEPs at the end of the year when you don't know what is really going to happen to whom. Plus teachers are a little buggy right now. It's so hard to stay clear-headed about right now. Janet Skills trainers are called different things in different states. Here they are college educated and run ABA programs so they are different than an EA (ed. assist.) I have had skills trainers called paras, whatever. So a behavioralist (usually PHD or Masters level) writes the behavioral program (usually ABA based or discrete trials of some sort) and the Skills trainers are trained to carry out the program. So sklls trainers are therapists..their level of training and their level $$ is higher than an Education Assistant. And yes..I feel blessed that we are getting the level of services we are; but I felt that the teachers and different people at the table were making very inappropriate comments. Yes Janet-bens moms..End of the year is this Friday..they are out there and stressed out (combined with the district chastising them..they were so proud that they were about to change her ESY and take away 3 or 4 days a year). There are a lot of parents of very young children on this board that haven't had to live through a DOE IEP and the world of the DOE is usually VERY different than an early intervention program. Thanks for hearing me vent..I feel better
God Bless, Renee
Oh well, we all have learned to deal with what we have, haven't we? I
am now going to go look over that sight some more! Thanks again! And
thank you Nene, for the insights on IEPs. We all have to be super
prepared, I guess. I will know next time, thanks you all of your guys'
great insights!
Unfortunatley, it usually does come down to the almighty dollar and that's just plain sad. No child left behind just means their kids won't be left behind, ours, well they'll just have to fend for themselves now won't they. it's times like these that weneed to call our local branches of government, get involved with the local school committees and PTOs. I'm sure there is nothing worse than being blindsided and it's not on just a local budget, the nation is cutting what seems like all of the educational, medical and financial tools that we need. it makes me sick
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