Hello,
We had my daughter IEP meeting yesterday, it lasted 4 hour. We want to put her in a regular kindergartern, but teacher is refusing (she lies about everything). She didn't reach any goals with her in 5 months, i have reached half of them in two weeks and showed her the work at the meeting. Even the speech therapist didn't accomplish anything with him.
Now we do not understand why the meeting was postponed, we didn't want. They are putting pressure on us, go see how a regular kindergarten works. If she goes to a regular kindergarten, she will lose services, might get speech but no more OT. OT is only a service to special education kids.
They are trying to intimidate us and i do not like that. I do not feel they have the child best interest at heart. A real MAFIA.
Thank you
Why is OT only for special ed classes? My son when we tried mainstreaming in Kind rec'd OT and PT w/ an aide in his class. If a child has a disability and an IEP to go along with it, no matter where the child is placed the services should follow. Can you contact an advocate in your area?
Where can i find an advocate in my area???
This is exactly what we asked for: mainstreaming with an aide with OT and ST.
They said they have 2 aides for 5 kindergarten classes. I don't understand what is the difference between an aide for a child with disability and a regular kindergarten aide.
Thank you
Lila,
My son is mainstream in K with 1:1 aide and OT & ST, exactly what you are asking for.
Services should be independent of placement - should be INDIVIDUALIZED.
I'm not sure where exactly to find advocate because haven't needed one, but question has been asked before. Use search capabibility on the forum and search for "advocate" and see what comes up. I have to run to a meeting or I'd look for you. Take care,
I have one more question.
When the child is mainstreamed, who works on his IEP goals with her?
Thank you
You need an advocate, perhaps you can pm Tzoya and ask for a website (there might be one here in an old post). I have been where you are before (the SD refused to accept autism as a diagnosis. Anyway, if your child needs a 1:1 aide, it will not be an education assistant (who is there for the whole classes needs or split between students). IF you have safety concerns (your child is a runner, may hit or bite other students), she will need a 1:1 aide. OT is for everyone and if they want to remove OT, you need to ask them for the testing that shows that she doesn't need it anymore. Key words are LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT, free and APPROPRIATE education. I was reading through my states sp. ed regulations last night (mahalo Tzoya!!) and was fascinated that they are supposed to consider a variety of options for placement (Even other districts and private placement!!!!). We moved states from the evil school district when dd was almost 4. She is currently 6 and repeating kindergarten. She has an ABA program, 1:1 aide, mainstream kinder and pull out to work program. They have been decreasing services, but it has been gradual over the past 3 years. Did they say why they felt that a self contained classroom was the least restrictive (which it might be..see Kristys post).
aloha, Renee
She IS in special education if she has an IEP. SD's cannot keep kids with IEPs out of regular ed classes simply because they have IEPs.ALL that she needs MUST be provided to her. It's imperative for you to get more information about your and your child's rights -- much more than can be provided in an answer to this post. I'd suggest an advocate since time is of the essence. The other thing I'd suggest, which takes longer, is to get FROM EMOTIONS TO ADVOCACY and learn everything it covers. Also, learn all that's contained in IDEA 2004 and your own state's spec. ed. regulations. Unless a parent is willing to pay an advocate to go to every IEP meeting, it's imperative that the parent learn everything about the law and about advocacy. Otherwise, the child will most likely NOT get an appropriate education. That's, unfortunately, how it works.Lila,
The "who works on goals" question you posed is a good one.
My son sees, throughout the week, the following folks: his 1:1 aide, speech therapist, occupational therapist, social worker, school psychologist and learning specialist. The learning specialist is also known as the "resource room" person. All of them work on his goals with him.
Each Monday morning from 8:00 - 8:30, this entire group meets, plus the classroom teacher, plus me & hubby when he can. At least 50% of the time the principal sits in as well. The whole purpose of the meeting is to talk about C: what's working, what's not working, what's coming up this week that might need a social story or an adaptation. I also let them know of anything at home that might impact C's performance at school (i.e. dh being out of town for work, a cold, etc.) While the classroom teacher is aware of C's goals, she does not specifically work on them with him, though she does provide input as to his performance in the classroom and how she sees him doing against the standard kindergarten benchmarks.
Last year, when we made the decision (we being the entire team, which is everyone mentioned above) to put C in mainstream K with all of these supports, we also discussed the self-contained option. At that time we all agreed this would be the best placement. For next year, we all agree a self-contained placement would be better for a variety of reasons.
One thing to note is that while services such as minutes of speech/month and minutes of OT/month should not vary whether a child is in a special class or a mainstream class, the delivery of those services may vary. In a mainstream class, all services tend to be "pull out" - i.e., your child is taken out of the room, away from his peers, to meet with a SLP in a separate room. The benefit is the 1:1 attention, the drawback is that everytime your child is taken out of the classroom he loses opportunities to work on social skills, which are equally critical. In a special education classroom, many of the services tend to be "push in." For example, in the class C will be in next year, the SLP comes into the classroom and works with groups of kids together and the speech is more tightly integrated into the curriculum.
On the aide issue, I'm glad we tried it this year but my son definitely gets too dependent on his aide to keep him on task. He's also pulled out a lot for his services, which is a lot of transitions. This is why we're going self-contained class (w/ mainstream for art, PE, recess & lunch) for 1st grade - we want to see a greater level of independent functioning. We all agree that the self-contained class is actually less restrictive than the mainstream at this time.
I know it's alot to think about. Getting the book Tzoya recommends helps alot. Unfortunately, we're the only ones that we can be sure are putting our child's needs first, and we're forced to become advocates whether it's what we think is right or not. I agree that I'd hire a pro since time is of the essence.
Thank you so much.
Now we have the proof they were trying to manipulate and intimidate us. I am speechless.
I got the book from the library, i have to find the page for the law in florida. I am going to do everything in writing with them. They have to prove to me in writing that she can't be mainstreamed. And if she is mainstreamed, i need in writing from them that she can't get services she is eligible for and also in writing that an 1:1 aide is not necessary.
Do you think i can request all this in writing from them?? So they are responsible for their decision.
Kristys:
I do not understand what self-contained class means. They only other option they offered is something called K1 (all delayed kids in one class). I am in florida, do they have self contained classes here.
My daughter needs a lot of prompts and cues, so we needed an one on one aide to help phase this.
I am just trying to find the best fit for her and honest people really willing to help her. It was not the case with the pre-k class, i never though that adult could be so evil with young kids. She is not suppose to be a teacher at all. But they were all with her against us even when we proved her wrong... SO SAD
Lila - Where in Florida? The reason I ask is - I'm in Florida too...You should get your little one enrolled with CARD (Center for autism and related disabilities) and they can help you find an advocate worthwhile.
Lila,
So sorry you're going through this. (((HUGS)))
I tend to be an optimist and one who always assumes the best of intentions of others until given a reason to doubt. Every time I read a post on this board about some school not doing right be a child it literally makes me sick to my stomach.
Per prior question, we tend to use the term "self contained classroom" as a generic term to refer to special education classrooms where the special needs kids are not mixed in with mainstream kids.
I think you've come to the right place! Tzoya gave you all the key links and it seems that there a quite a few mom's from Florida on this site that know the ropes down there.
Hang in there!
http://nspd.rrfcnetwork.org/search/searcher.php
Here is the link to Florida Special Education regulations. If the book you're referring to getting out of the library is FROM EMOTIONS TO ADVOCACY, it won't have the Florida law in it. It won't even have the full FEDERAL law in it. For that, you need to get SPECIAL EDUCATION LAW from www.wrightslaw.com or to google IDEA 2004. Also, make SURE the copy of FETA you get from the library is the SECOND EDITION. Otherwise, it won't be up to date.
ALL the supports and services your child gets MUST meet her individual needs. They CAN'T say "we don't do that here." It is THEIR job to figure out a way. That's why they get paid big bucks from the taxpayers.
Lots of pros know that PWN is usually useless. I put what I want them to admit to in a very polite letter to them and then ask them to correct me, in writing, if I'm wrong. They do and then I can nail 'em.
Lila, you asked about requesting the proof in writing.
Yes, you should. I would request prior written notice as to why the mainstream kindergarten with a 1:1, OT and PT will not work. Before they try to place your child in a self-contained class, they need to be specific about why the least restrictive environment (mainstream) won't work. I would hold them to that.
It also sounds as if they don't want to spend the money on a 1:1, but that's just MHO.
I want to thank all of you for the generous help, honest opinions. Thank you for all caring about my child as much as I do.
kristys
Thank you so much for your input and for sharing your experience
Payne's Mom
Thank you so much. I found a CARD site and a lot of info that are going to be very helpful and support anything I do in writing.
Maria1
Exactly what I was going to do, everything in writing to make sure they can't manipulate me anymore. I will write everything and request everything in writing.
tzoya
Thank you so much for the site. I need your knowledge on this. Do they have the right to write something in the IEP were are completing denying and against. The teacher says that my daughter flaps her hands, she never mentioned this to us before and believe me she doesn't miss any opportunity to complain. She came up with this idea at the meeting to cover up for her imcompetence. Now we did put in writing a letter stating that our daughter was evaluated many times for consecutive hours and nobody ever noticed that and we as parents never saw her do that.
We refused to have "hand flapping written on her IEP", but the team said that if the teacher observed this they have to write it. But the teacher lies about everything and we proved that in the meeting in front of everybody. We do not want a big lie to be in her IEP. She is delayed enough and doesn't need her teacher's evil imagination to harm her.
Please help me on this one.
Thank you so much
Sorry i don't mean to post different messages one after the other, but i am just trying to cover up all the issues that came up at the meeting that didn't make sense to us but couldn't argue:
1)They told me to go visit my neighborhood school to see what they offer and if they will accept my child in a regular K and that each school is different and has different rules.
My question is aren't all the schools in the same district suppose to obey to the same law.
2)I attended a meeting in February, where everybody agreed to re-evaluate (prior evaluation was done in november) the child. I agreed and signed. At the IEP meeting they said that they didn't find it necessary to re-evaluate her, because she was going to be evaluated before she turns 6 years old. Then they say she can't go to regular K because she needs to be evaluated first. I don't get it, i gave my consent and they didn't do it.
Thank you for your help, i am trying to be as strong as I can for the coming meeting.
Thank you
Just a warning:
Thank you so much.
I was able to find help in my area. Wish me good luck.
I'll let you know what happens.
If you live down towards Weston/Miami I would DEFINATELY contact the Dan Marino Foundation...they are VERY helpful whenever I've emailed for info.FIrst of all, placement is BASED on the IEP, so the IEP has to be written first before placement is made. That said, it's great to go LOOK at ALL the possible placements ahead of time. Yes, every school in every district in this country has to obey the law, but that doesn't make every class the same. Even classes that look the same on paper differ quite a bit in reality.
If you signed papers to have an eval done, they have to do it. You probably don't have enough time at this point to get up to speed on advocacy in time for the IEP meeting. If I were in your shoes, I'd try to get advice from a local advocate.
Lila,
One thing to keep in mind for the IEP is don't let the team discuss placement until you have the goals (IEP) in place. This year we spent the entire IEP meeting setting his goals and defining the services (minutes speech/month, minutes OT/month, etc.) that he would need as support. Then we discussed placement options. Then we requested to view all placement options so that we could be informed participants in the decision. We ended that meeting and set a followup for 3 weeks later. During those 3 weeks we viewed each of the options (90 minutes visits, with kids in the class, as observers). Then, and only, then, did we have a placement discussion and make a decision.
Don't let the school personnel start going on about placement until you have the goals defined. The placement options should be viewed in light of which alternative will be the least restrictive environment that will enable him to meet his goals within the course of the school year.
Your right as a parent is to be an equal member of the decision making team. This means you need to be informed participants, which means you need acess to the same information that everyone else on the team has. If, in the meeting, they discuss evaluations / results. Ask to see a copy. They should give you everything in advance. If they don't, it's your choice whether to proceed. In my case, I usually ask to see it right there in the meeting. And then I politely say that I need a few minutes to look it over. And then I read it right there in the meeting, being nice but taking my time. My team picked up pretty quickly that if they didn't give me stuff in advance that our meetings could go on a LONG time. Some with placement. If they discuss placement options that they have all seen and you haven't, you need to request to see the options so that you can help make an informed decision.
I agree you need to talk to a local advocate if you can. This is just my brain dump of key things to think about for the IEP from my perspective. I know it's a lot.
Good luck!