I just received my letter on Sat. for the date of our IEP meeting, which is April 25 (Nothing like cutting it close. ) Anyway, at every IEP there has been a limited amount of people attending, myself, husband, school counselor, principal and/or VP, general education teacher, speech teacher (who has always been the teacher of record) and the resource room teacher (also the autism consultant). As I was looking over the form two things jumped out at me
1. The extreme increase in the number of participants. Usually there are 5 - 6 school personel and then husband and self. For the next meeting there are going to be 13 school personel and then husband and self. For this one his current principal and VP will be there plus the principal and VP from the middle school. On top of that there will his current counselor, middle school counselor, a new teacher of record, his current teacher of record, his general ed teacher, the dirctor of the regional special ed co-op, a new autism consultant, someone who's just listed as "Evaluation Team Member" and the middle school special ed teacher. Exactly what is this "Evaluation Team Member" and why have they never been there before?
2. The second thing that jumped out whas the inclusion of a special ed teacher. My son has always been mainstreamed with pullout 2x a week for speech. He has never received any teaching from the current special ed teacher and other than her adminstering some tests over the years, the only thing she'd done has been being the autism consultant. So why this time, is there going to be an autism consultant in addition to the special ed teacher? Are they going to try to get me to place him in special education instead of mainstreaming him? I really don't want to do this. In our system, once they're in special ed, they are pretty much there for the long haul and don't usually receive a diploma on completion of high school, but instead they get a certificate of completion. Now, my son has struggles and certain subjects can be extremely frustarting for him, but even with all of his problems and doing the EXACT same work as his classmates, he has managed to be on the honor roll 2x this year and came close another 9 week grading period this year. Is it possible they are going to try to get me to have be in the resource room all day? This is something I REALLY do not want. Not at this time when he's proven he can do the work. Yes, he has trouble, but he can and does do it.
This is what they plan on going over this time; Psych. tests, academic achievement, IEP, speech info, language info, behavioral info (he has had some issues this year, but I believe his teacher has been part of the problem) and observations ( whatever that is exactly. It's never been marked on our forms before)
[QUOTE=Adamsmom]
I was told by my advocate to never go into the meeting with your claws out.
[/QUOTE]
I know, it's just we have had so many more problems this year as far as school goes than at any other time. I think when I saw the form and the people listed, I was feeling so overwhelmed that I just instinctively thought the worse.
Also, get the book FROM EMOTIONS TO ADVOCACY. The fastest way to ruin things for your child is to let emotions get in the way. Knowing the FACT (like the legal IEP Team members) is the way to beat the SD at its own game. No parent who walks into an IEP meeting without knowing the basics of the law is perpared to properly advocate for his or her child. If you don't know the law yet, don't go without an advocate. If you're not prepared for the meeting, ask that it be postponed. You only have to have the new IEP by the start of school next year, so this meeting can actually be held any time between now and the end of the summer. In the meantime, find out about all the reports that will be given on your child, visit potential MS placements, speak to those who will be contributing to making the decision about next year and lean all you can about using state and Federal law to make SURE your child will be getting a Free Appropriate Public Education.