Ok this is what I have down as far as concerns. I figure if I start out asking for a BCBA and don't get it, we will have negotiation room on making sure his spec. ed teacher is in his gen. ed class for an x amount of time daily until adequate instruction has been provided for the gen. ed teacher and the para. I will at that time also ask for a special training session held outside the classroom where J and I can be in attendance.
I am writing this letter to set forth the concerns that we, as Corbin’s parents would like addressed in Corbin’s upcoming IEP meeting.
Corbin has recently been diagnosed with Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified which is an Autism Spectrum Disorder. He has attended one year of Special Education Pre School and approximately six months of kindergarten where he has been allotted up to 240 minutes a day in the SCI room and spends the rest of the day in a mainstream environment. He currently receives 120 minutes a month of speech and language therapy. My husband and I have found the school system and the instructors involved to be very willing to help try new things with Corbin and we are greatly appreciative of that. We do feel that this is a learning experience for all parties involved both at school and at home.
1.) At this time J and I feel it is critical that a Board Certified Behavior Analyst be brought in to observe Corbin’s behavior and then provide training and consultative services to Jason and I and Corbin’s teachers and para-professionals that work with him. This was included in the list of recommendations from XXX PhD., Director of the
2.) We also feel that to adequately meet Corbin’s current SLP goals and the new goals suggested by the diagnosing clinic that Corbin’s speech and language therapy time will need to be increased. We have also found new discrepancies with Corbin’s speech patterns such as he is now starting sentences with the words “Even it”. i.e. “Even it didn’t spill”, “Even it didn’t break” and so on and so forth. We feel it is important to add social and peer interaction goals and a plan, play, evaluate format to Corbin’s current SLP services.
3.) We would like a visual schedule and a visual rules list to be provided in a place that is highly visible to Corbin throughout the day. Consequences for his actions should be stringently outlined in his Behavior Plan. Since Corbin is not a traditional student, rewards and consequences of behavior that help traditional students are not the best approach for him. Corbin is not going to assume a trip to the principle’s office is a bad thing when most of the time his behavior is being driven by over-stimulation in the classroom environment; noise, lights, peers etc. etc. Putting him into a situation where there is very little stimulation will help calm his behavior but it will not be viewed by him as punishment. While Corbin probably to some extent understands that going to Mr. X’s office is not a good thing he also knows that it is quiet, not chaotic and there is only one person to interact with rather than many.
4.) J and I feel it is necessary at this time to discuss Corbin’s performance in physical education. This was the only area on his report card where he performed worse than last quarter. Some type of plan for Phys. Ed needs to be implemented so Corbin is not receiving poor grades in Phys. Ed. for disorder related behaviors. Phys. Ed is a very loud and chaotic environment for Corbin and his reactions to this type of stimulus must be considered as well as his reactions to forced social interaction.
5.) The final concern we would like to discuss is an event that occurred with Corbin’s para-professional last week. We would not generally address a situation such as this at an IEP meeting but the situation has only recently been brought to our attention and there really is no time for a separate meeting. We were informed by our niece recently that she found Corbin in the hallway of the elementary building crying. He was upset because he did not want to wear his hat and mittens to recess. He was not wearing these items at the time but was carrying them. She returned Corbin to his classroom where Mrs. K was present. She informed Mrs. K of finding Corbin in the hallway and at that time Mrs. K turned to Corbin told him to “Go to recess” and Corbin left again. We are very unhappy with the way this specific situation was handled. Corbin is 5 years old and does not have the reasoning ability of an adult. If he didn’t want to wear his winter garments out he should have simply been told to either wear them or remain indoors. Then when he made his choice if he chose to go outdoors the para should at least offer to assist in putting them on. We live in an area subject to very extreme temperatures and my child’s safety should be of utmost concern at the school. Allowing any child outdoors in 10-20 degree weather without first putting these items on is simply not acceptable. I think it is critical at this time to discuss options of either training the para professional to deal with Corbin’s behavior better or assignment of a new para-professional who has been trained to assist with Corbin’s needs.
We welcome any recommendations and suggestions the other members of the IEP team have on Corbin’s education. We have been very happy with the assistance we have received in the past and hope that this can continue to be a positive learning experience for everyone involved. Thank you for listening and considering our concerns on this matter. We look forward to working with all of you to help further assist in meeting Corbin’s educational needs.
So what do you think?? Too pushy or just pushy enough. I am not a passive person but I don't want to come accross as being to aggressive either.
Thoughts?
Obviously, this is a very well-thought-out and well-written "Parent Report," if you will. I would think, though, that it is very long for presentation in a meeting. I would keep it to one page. If you like, you could outline your concerns on a cover page and attach what you have written as details. Also, when you mention home, make SURE you convey that what you are talking about is bringing positive behaviors learned at school into the home. YOu don't ever want it to sound as though the school has responsibility for your parenting at home. They don't. But they DO have a responsibility to teach you to use the techniques that work in school so that your child can generalize his learning at home. This is stated in the law as generalizing "across environments," home being one of the "environments." I think everything you set forth here makes sense and is important. However, it might be better to leave some of the detail to the meeting. Try editing this so that all your salient points fit on that one page (no fair using 10pt. type
BTW -- Is there a general school policy about what temp it has to be outside in order to hold outdoor recess at all? I am certain our Long Island school districts wouldn't let the kids outside in weather that cold.
FIrst of all, if the current special ed consultant is going to continue in that role, I think that a regular schedule of her going to the class is imperative. At this point, she is not supposed to work as a crisis counselor but as a trainer. Have you ever heard of trainings that happen only during crises? How would any of us like it if interns were only supervised by experienced doctors when there was a Code Blue? Training the staff requires regularly meeting with them and asking them to keep logs of what is working and what isn't. Ask for regularly scheduled time in the class for the consultant. If she doesn't have the time, that is when to ask for someone from the outside to come in since the school cannot meet your son's needs with just their on-staff personnel.
About the recess situation. I would IMMEDIATELY call for a conference with the Spec. Ed. director and tell that person EXACTLY what happened. Get this resolved IMMEDIATELY. Frankly, I'd ask for a different para. YOu might need for the consultant teacher to be in the meeting to get a feel from her as to whether this was an isolated incident, or something that may not be isolated but will improve with further training or if this para is not the one for your son. I wouldn't actually let it go until the IEP unless necessary. Then I would bring it up there but not be placated unless and until the team could come up with specific steps they plan on taking to get this para better educated.
The problem the special ed teacher and I are seeing is the gen. ed. teacher and the para both wait until the last minute to call her. Basically when they are at their wits end and have decide oh it is time to involve the principle. So I definately will address that in my written "demands" haha (don't worry I won't make them look like "demands" but sometimes I feel like a hostage taker and I feel like I may as well be asking for a fueled 747 sitting outside the school to take me away from the way they act).
I have some sticky situations with the para and I don't know if I want her working with my son at this point or not and I certainly want her at least spoken to about her behavior. My neice attends the same school however my son is in kindergarten and she is a freshman in high school. She is very intelligent and works as a teacher's aid during her study hall periods in the elementary building. She found my son crying in the hall the other day and calmed him down (thank God Corbin loves her) and returned him to his gen. ed kindergarten room. He was crying because he didn't want to wear his hat and gloves to recess. Well we have temperatures hovering anywhere from 10-20 degrees so he HAS to wear these items. When she took him back to the class the para was there and my neice said "I found Corbin crying in the hallway". The para looked at him and said go to recess. Did not ask what was wrong (which I am sure she knew), didn't offer to help put his hat and mittens on nothing just "go to recess. How should I address this? I am not so sure I wouldn't consider this neglect to a certain extent and I certainly want to make sure it NEVER happens again. Should I simply request a new para or do you think I should just make sure she is trained so something like this doesn't happen again. I don't want to jump the gun here so I am certainly interested in opinions.
Thank you all for your help also. You certainly have made things easier for me. Now I have an idea of what to write out and how to write it. I may get it written up and run it by you before I show it to the full IEP team. Just to see what you all think.
Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it and will try to get it cut down a bit. I am not certain about the temperature thing. I know there probably is some rule but I am not certain if it is enforced at all. I think the teachers decide whether or not the kids will go out or stay in. I think it has to pretty cold though and cold wind chill to make them stay in. Corbin really hates recess when they stay inside then they have like 4-5 grades of children all in the gymnasium. Can you imaging blah! I did speak with Corbin's Spec. Ed teacher a bit more this morning by phone and I will be seeking to get some of the things she said to me today in writing tomorrow. In Iowa we have Area Education Agencies that provide things like speech and language services, physical therapy services, school psychologists and such to the schools because many of the schools don't have the funding to cover these things or hire full time staff to do these jobs. The AEA also has an Autism Resource Team who the SE teacher stated wanted to provide some training to the gen. ed instructors, she also stated they had a number of resources to loan to J and I to educate us more on ASD's which is wonderful. I am going to work hard to get someone from that team onto Corbin's IEP team now.
She also stated that she and the psychologist were trying very hard to outline consequences for Corbin's behavior both positive and negative. It is hard to figure out exactly what to do with him though since regular punishment does not work. Rewards are a little easier thank goodness. I am thinking this could be something else the Autism resource team could help on which is another reason I want them involved.
Thanks for all your help though. I have a lot of work left to get done today. Tomorrow will consist of getting Corbin off to school and the other boys and I ready to go to the sitters and me to the meeting!
Hope the meeting goes well! Ask AEA person and/or the psychologist to do a functional behavioral assessment. It costs nothing but their time and it can be VERY revealing. A good website for info on FBAs as well as positive behavior intervention plans is cecp.air.orgYou might want to take a look at this:
"Ensuring that Your Child's Assessors, Teachers, and Aides Have Appropriate Education, Training and Experience in Autism" http://www.aboutautismlaw.com/sample_chapter.html
Thank you, thank you, thank you, This will help tremendously today.
You all have helped ease my mind a bit on this. I really appreciate all your help. Wish us luck!
Ok as most of you know my son was diagnosed a month ago with PDD-NOS. We are getting ready for an IEP meeting to change his program pretty extensively. I will be requesting for more speech therapy, he will begin receiving occupational therapy, he will also begin a new writing program etc. etc. This is all fine and good and I don't feel that I will have any issues with the school on any of this.
However, we have one very sticky situation. My son is in a special education room for 3 hours a day and in the regular gen ed kindergarten room for the remainder of the day. The para that is assigned to him and the kindergarten teacher have never had any sort of training to work with Autistic children. The special education director can only be down there so much time out of the day she has 5 other grades of special needs children to deal with other than my child. The doctors that diagnosed my son and I both feel it is necessary to have the gen. ed teacher and para have some sort of informal training at the very least. The doctor's said they should meet with a board certified behavior analyst as well as Jason and I so we could discuss the best ways to deal with Corbin's behavior. The gen. ed teacher and para basically are wonderful women but they are clueless when it comes to dealing with Corbin. They think they can punish him like a NT child by sending him to the principle's office etc. Well Corbin thinks going to the principle's office is a special treat, no peers, no chaos, no noise etc. This doesn't work for him. I really to suggest that his teacher's do meet with the behavior analyst and we all use his/her ideas to deal with Corbin's behavior. Is there any way I can make this happen. I don't think the school systems is going to go for it. My thought is they will say if you want someone with training or knowledge he will need to be in special ed all day. That won't do him much good either though as he is verbal and needs to socialize with other children that are peers.
Anyone have any ideas on what I can do here? How do I get them to have that training?
The amount of training the staff has is unrelated to least restrictive environment. In other words, if they try to say if you want more training he needs a special program all day, you simply tell them that according to IDEA your sone does not need to be in a more restrictive environment just to get access to the services he needs.
I think the tactic here is to talk openly with the teacher and ask who you would need to contact in order to request autism specific training for them. It is also worth accessing your state laws and see what they say. Ours says that someone who has expertise and experience in the disability area must be a part of the IEP team. If your state has any similar statements in the law, you can use that as a reason to request training for the staff working with your son- particularly for the teacher.
Finally, collect some research articles on behavioral techniques for students with ASD and bring these with you to the IEP. See if you can get those strategies written into the IEP as accommodations which will then prevent the teachers from using the same discipline they use for everyone else. You don't have to tell the team that you are trying to prevent them from using their discipline techniques. Simply present strategies you would like to "add" as accommodations. Once they are written in the IEP you can go to the team if anyone tries to use other strategies that are not written in the IEP.
First of all, congratulations on putting your finger right on the problem. Untrained teachers and staff, IMHO, are the single greatest reason for disasters in school for ASD kids. Actually, it's not just my humble opinion. New York State has long recognized this as a problem and part of the NY spec. ed. regulations address this by guaranteeing that any child with autism (autism, pdd-nos or Asperger's) who is not in a class ESPECIALLY for the autistic has the right to have a consultant teacher (one specifically with expertise in autism, like a BCBA) on his IEP for the express purpose of providing advice and modeling for the teacher and staff. So far, NY is the only state that provides this, but it shows that there are people in power out there who also recognize this problem. YOu will not be asking for something weird or unknown. However, that doesn't mean it will be easy. I would ask that a functional behavioral assessment be done if your child is already having behavioral problems and ask that the BCBA be brought in to do it. A BCBA will KNOW how to create a POSITIVE behavior intervention plan based on your child's particular needs and motivations and will be able to help the staff implement this BIP. I would make sure the IEP includes up front time to do the FBA but also time as the year progresses to continue to monitor the BIP as well as provide additional training for the staff. To GET this on the IEP will require some good negotiation skills, but rest assured that it is not unheard of to include consutation services as part of and IEP for an ASD child who is at least partially mainstreamed.Well I do know they have done the behavior assessment on Corbin but the plan has not been written into the IEP yet because we haven't had the meeting. I don't know if it was done by a BCBA or not. I know the head of the special ed department at the school does have a Bachelor's degree and is working on her Master's but I don't exactly know what qualifies someone as being a BCBA. I do know she has had training in applied behavior analysis and autism but neither the gen. ed teacher or the para have and honestly I can see how the gen. ed teacher could do well with my son if at least the para or someone in the room at all times had some sort of training. As the system sits now the one person that does have the training has the entire rest of the spec. ed students to worry about also. One person even if she has 5 para pros at her disposal cannot do it all. I guess what I am wanting is someone with at least some training to be with Corbin basically as much as possible whether in special ed or gen. ed. I will be asking that they recieve some sort of training at this meeting but I think I am going to have to find some more evidence to support this as the way to go.
Thanks for the info and I will look and see what else I can find.
If the special ed teacher has had some training in Autism, that's great. Some don't even have that. So they will probably say that since she is trained, she serves as the person with knowledge on the IEP team and as the consult teacher. But what you are wanting is for her to "train" (which would be informal training) these other two teachers on techniques. Just make sure that they don't tell you that since she has training and is available to help that is enough. Keep pushing for the school to set aside a time for training where the regular ed teacher and the para are trained by someone, even if it is the special ed teacher. They need to be free from distractions, so this training doesn't need to be all included in the classroom while instruction is going on. Hands on training with the teacher there to advise during real situations is a great training strategy, but training should also include a time for the teacher to present some type of presentation with some materials for the reg ed teacher and para to read and a time to ask questions. It is not unreasonable to ask for this, even though they can handle this through several options.
You just need to stand your ground and don't stop telling them that what you are requesting is training for the reg ed teacher and para, not just support, so that they are able to handle your son and his special needs when the teacher is not available for support.
The training doesn't have to be by a BCBA, and the special ed teacher is probably not certified in this anyway. Undergrad degrees and Master's don't certify you for that. But she has probably had some good training on Autism and some experience. So her doing the the training would be fine if you feel she is knowledgable. Sometimes parents have to ask for the sp ed teacher to get training in Autism. So it's a good thing this sp ed teacher does have that training.
Make your request in writing and just simply state that you are glad to know that the special ed teacher is trained and that she is available to be a support teacher while your son is in regular ed. Be positive about those points. But then make it your formal request that the others have training and put in writing that you would like to know within 10 school days how they plan to handle that. However they plan to handle that, make sure it gets written in the IEP. Something like a day of professional development spent on Autism and then 1/2 day of hands on training with the sp ed teacher in the classroom. Whatever, that was just an example. You can even ask to sit in on that training. But if you put this in writing they can not ignore it and have to address it. Also, as part of the profile, they have to include parent comments/concerns and should directly address you about this. Whatever you say, they have to write on there and then they have to address those concerns. When they address you about this, this is another good place to include that you are concerned that the reg ed teacher and para don't have training and would like to see that happen.
Good luck and let us know how it goes. There is no one way to do a meeting and no one right way to make requests. But whatever happens, just make sure you get a chance to voice everything you want to. THis is where a list of things you want discussed comes in handy.
DOn't be surprised if they didn't do one. Definitely go to the previously cited sources and bone up on FBA. Keeping excellent data on the BIP is a way to SEE if this technique will work. Anectodal evidence is just editorializing, IMHO. Tell them to "show you the data." In this world, data is like money in the bank.I kind of thought myself it seemed "excessively negative" but I thought we have tried pretty much everything at this point it deserves at least a shot. Believe me though it will be watched closely just like everything else. I am not afraid of the school, the personell, the principle (who hates me for sure now) so if I think it is not working I will be the first to raise a stink. You did bring something to my attention though I did not get a copy of the FBA that was performed on Corbin. AT least I don't remember getting that document. We did discuss what caused his negative behaviors but I don't remember ever actually getting a "report' per se. I will have to look through my papers and see. If I didn't get one I will be requesting a copy of it be sent home with Corbin on Monday.This is terrific. Looks like you got an IEP with real teeth. My only caution is the behavior plan. It is a completely negative plan. Negative plans tend to totally backfire with ASD kids. Also, a plan like this forces the adults in the room to focus on the negative so they know when to take a token away and when not to. It's bad training for them. Frankly, this part of the IEP stinks and I think it has a chance of INCREASING negative behaviors. Is it based on the results of a Functional Behavioral Assessment? Any given behavior can be done for a variety of reasons. It's important to know the REASON for the behavior in order to come up with an effective behavior plan. Of course, you've just agreed to this behavior plan so it might make sense to give it a go. But I'd keep a VERY close eye on it and ask that someone in the classroom keep data on your son's behaviors (even the ones he doesn't get punished for) and graph them weekly. If you don't see an improvement in a month or, worse, you see a deterioration, ask for an FBA to be performed and a new behavior plan to be developed. A good book to guide you and the staff is Why Johnny Can't Behave.
Except for the behavior plan, you now have an amazingly good IEP. Congratulations!
Just an update. The IEP went really well. It took a long time 3 hours but we completely re wrote Corbin's IEP. We started with OT Corbin will begin OT and will be allowed 30 minutes for OT once a week. His OT goal is to be able to write a 4-5 word sentance legibly in 36 weeks. milestones are 5-07 all 52 upper and lower case letters, 2 word phrases by 5-07 also, 3 word pharses by 11-07 and 4-5 word sentances by 1-08. This will keep him on track with the rest of his Kindergarten class.
SLP was increased to 160 minutes a month baseline on wh was 70-80% acccuracy, irregular past tense verbs 11/20, and irregular plural nouns 8/16. In 32 weeks these should all be at 100%. March wh 80%, grammar structures at 70%. May wh 80-85%, grammar structures 70-80%, October wh 85-90%, grammar structures 80-90%, and december wh 90%+, grammar structures 90%+. SLP continued. Corbin will initiate play and use turn taking skills in age appropriate conversation. Base line is 50%, march 60-70, may 70-80. october 80-90, december 90+.
The behavior plan was reviewed and went well. We have chosen a token currency economy to work on behaviors with Corbin. He has been given a set of rules/PECS that is laminated and fixed to his desk in special ed and gen. ed at all times. He begins each hour and 1/2 period with 5 tokens. Every time he breaks a small rule (stomping, growling, crying, shouting, making excuses to not do work, or using mean talk he will lose one token. The token is worth 5 minutes of free time in the special ed room where he will choose an activity he enjoys. For the first few days things will be a bit lenient just to show Corbin if he keeps his tokens he gets to pick his own activity.
Serious offenses including hitting, pinching, pushing and kicking will be dealt with a bit differently. These happen rarely at school thank goodness. When it does happen Corbin will be given two PECS pictures to color one that shows an injury and one with a sad crying fact. He will color these pictures and glue them to a sheet of paper. On that paper he will write. I am sorry. I shouldn't have "insert offense here" you. and his name on the last line. He will then have to present this sheet to whoever he harmed. He will also be given a social story to cut out arrange and paste to a paper and this will be read to him by the teacher.
I am pretty happy with this system. While Corbin will be "being punished" per se the punishment will help him work on one of his biggest weaknesses which is fine motor skills. Plus him striking or physically harming someone at school is rare so it won't be something that happens every day thank goodness. I am THRILLED that we finally have the same set of rules for the entire building and no more these are the outside rules, these are the inside rules, these are the spec. ed room rules, these are the k class rules. That was not working. He also has goals here as to how many tokens he will keep coinciding with the quarters of the year.
His writing system will be changed to handwriting without tears. As far as training there will be an inservice held with the AEA Autism Resource Team held for all teachers and paras for K-3rd grade on Autism and characteristics of an individual with Autism and how to deal with behaviors etc. This will also include Phys. Ed. and Music instructors. The Autism Resource Team will also come watch Corbin in his classroom and then speak to teachers on how to deal with certain behaviors when they occur. This will happen both in and out of the classroom setting. They will also be sending Jason and I resources such as videos etc. for our knowledge.
He will receive extended school year services for transitioning to first grade. WE will be starting a communication notebook between school and home. He will have a daily schedule in PECS secured to his desk.
The only thing we didn't really get much done with is the P. E. thing and we all need more information on the specific problem in that situation so I will be contacting his Phys. Ed. teacher tomorrow. I think I got it all but I could be wrong. Dh and I are fairly happy with the outcome of the whole thing. I didn't even have to pull out my big guns. Though the principle got pretty crabby when I remembered to bring up the training issue. However, at that point we had been in there nearly 3 hours. I think they thought I would forget about it. I am extremely thrilled though as far as acedemics (aside from handwriting) Corbin is excelling in reading and math and we have chosen to remove those things from his IEP and they will not be put back on unless we begin to see a problem in those areas.
And woo hoo after 3 IEP meetings this year I think, hope, we are finally done until next fall where we will regroup with his new instructor!