I know a good advocate who lives in Connecticut. She lives in Greenwich and I can contact her and pm you if she's taking clients.
However, I want to mention something. As a parent, you can point out what your child's deficits are, you can ask that standardized tests be done to gauge your child's present levels of performance, you can certainly ASK for anything. But you cannot demand a particular proprietary methodology. ABA is not a copyrighted program, it's an approach. RDI is a copyrighted program, so it is not something you can demand. You can demand that the school put goals into your child's IEP that a methodology like RDI would address and you can lobby that RDI be used for your child to REACH those goals, but you cannot demand RDI by name. A Hearing Officer can force the District to use RDI, but it's not at all likely that that would happen unless and until the District completely ignored these needs for quite a while. If the Disrtrict is making efforts to help your child reach these goals using other methods, especially if they can show some success, there is no way that a hearing officer would force them to use RDI. So you have two options. 1. To be nice to the people in your District and try to lure them into using RDI (I haven't actually see any District use it, but a rich District might) or 2. YOu can pay to get the training yourself. RDI is, after all, designed for use by parents (another reason the school might resist). Oh yes, there's a third option. You can simply purchase their book, which is affordable, and try to do it on your own. In the meantime, you can hold the District's feet to the fire about using whatever methods THEY choose to reach the same goals RDI helps parents reach.
I STRONGLY suggest that you do not hold off on the PPT until an RDI assessment has been done. YOu won't have a leg to stand on and the Disrtrict's lawyers will tell them so and they will be free to hold the PPT without you (this is legal if the District can show that they've tried to get you to the table repeatedly and have not been successful). You CAN insist on some sort of social skills assessment and you can bring up all the skills RDI addresses and put those into the IEP as goals. But if you hold out for a particular, copyrighted methodology you will lose. Especially since RDI's stated objective is to help establish a close relationship between the parent/caregiver and the child, not the school and the child. There's nothing that precludes a school from using RDI, but it's very expensive, it was not designed for use by schools and, by law, schools are given the freedom to choose their own methodology.
If you want to know more about RDI, contact Little Bo Peep, one of the forum members.
I appreciate the response and by ALL means please PM me with the advocate's info...it can't hurt.
Where I may have left out some information lies clarity.
I can demand these things because they are programs specifically offered by my son's school. They run the "Smile" ABA program in-house for our kids and an in-house RDI program. If they did not have these classes in-house I know that I could not make any sorts of demands that they staff persons with this specific education/training. However, they are already in place. We are very fortunate in this way and I intend to use it...it is also why our taxes are off the hook. They are flagship programs in my son's school.
I have been looking at Bo Peeps recent posts and videos (awesome) and speaking to sunflowers about reference material.
PS-I am told he was assessed for RDI today
You should be upset, but they still have your son. Just because they are educated people, doesn't mean they may not be stupid. Remember, your son still has to be there at school. Maintain a good working realtionship, even if you are the only one working at it. Definitely do not back down, you are a tax paying parent who deserves the common courtesy of a call back.
My thought would be to use the phone conversation to gather information / learn the facts. Play very cool. If you get "excited" you will likely get less information out of them. Once you get all the facts, put your complaints in writing.
On the phone, you can politely ask if he is receiving speech 3x week. If they say yes, ask for details such as on which days of the week, at what time and with who. Then you can follow up with the ST to see how he is doing. If they say no, you can simply state you are concerned, as his IEP states he will get it 3 times a week. See what they say, sometimes you get more than they should say here (i.e. complaints about finding the right person, etc.) - give them as much rope as they want to hang themselves with.
Then document the entire conversation in a letter, politely calling out where the school is in violation of the IEP.
There are others more knowledgable than me, but I think that if your child is entitled to so many minutes/month and they haven't done it then your child should get make-up sessions.
Ok, yes...I am one to find a great resource like this board and obsess pouring over everything until I am exhausted and then come back for more. I have done this before in my quest to find and do everything that is good and right for my babe and get him everything he is due.
It seems apparent to me that I may have been lax in some of my advocacy efforts and I need a reality check.
When I first realized that my son had "something going on" I hopped on pop and tried to get in with a developmental ped. This appointment would be several months away so I began with the local birth to three program. His DT was terrible and frankly broke some HIPAA regs so I seized the opportunity, had her taken off the case (and hopefully fired) and after telling them that in addition to being a program manager I was the privacy officer for my non-prof. behavioral health organization and I knew that her behavior was "actionable"...I found them open to giving me everything I needed. Ye, I was very strong handed, but I got my son speech three times a week, OT twice a week, PT twice a month and a DT that would lead the crew (though she also kind of stunk). This was done wherever and whenever I wanted-home, daycare...you name it. In four months we saw great progress. Then he turned three...now we are at the mercy of the public school.
The schools in our community are fantastic and they are equipped to handle cases such as my son's in fact they are set up to do so. We had our initial meeting and the assessment took place. We wrote the IEP and since then, late March, we have seen little in the way of interventions and/or therapies that were addressed in his IEP.
I am fuming. So I call my wife to discuss this with her before I call and she asks me not to get too heavy with these people as she has heard that if we alienate them they will really do nothing for our son. I was not planning on being overly heavy, but I am upset. I do as she asks (and she notes that we have a PPT on May 1st where we can address issues), but I call and I leave a message stating very calmly..."Hi, I am [insert name], [insert name]'s Father. I wanted to speak with the school psych or the ST about my son's treatment plan..." They were not in at the moment so I left a message asking that when they call me back tomorrow I was simply curious if he has been receiving ST 3x a week as we had planned. Has he been assessed for the RDI program? How about the
Do I chew on someone's face tomorrow when they call or do I totally keep my cool? When I eat them whole I can do so diplomatically. With my background I know how to work the system and have done so effectively many times for clients, self and family alike.
How hard do I push...
I appreciate the responses.
I have cooled down a bit since the initial post.
I just hope they call today.
I found that if I emailed my concerns for Sarah about IEP plans and needed a some information on how it was going and what was being done ect...I got a more positive response and got my answers without losing my cool. It lets them know I am on top of things and monitoring them without being in their face questioning them...less threatening.
They always wrote me back and I save all my emails
I have been working the special ed system for 14 years now and have recently become a professional special education advocate. So many questions posted on this board can really only get cursory answers here. A good advocacy foundation has to be built. Pete Wright, the author of the book and the owner of the website, is dyslexic himself and the parent of a classified child (now an adult). He's BTDT and has coupled his parental experience with his profession of lawyer and has become the best education lawyer in the US (IMHO), with REAL practical experience on both sides of the table. His best advice is to never let your emotions inadvertantly defeat you but use them to get info that will help you prevail against your District if it comes to that. Also, his advice helps you work WITH your District so impasses happen less often. Pete Wright and his "wrightings" are sacred at our house.
Totally agree with Shelley and Foxl. I use email ALL the time. I find the responses are better, it creates a paper trail and it give me time to THINK so that I am less likely to let my emotions rule the day.
[QUOTE=ShelleyR]
I found that if I emailed my concerns for Sarah about IEP plans and needed a some information on how it was going and what was being done ect...I got a more positive response and got my answers without losing my cool. It lets them know I am on top of things and monitoring them without being in their face questioning them...less threatening.
They always wrote me back and I save all my emails
[/QUOTE]
Yes I have had terrific success with email ... and of course you have so much better control of what TONE you convey ... and it can be responded to on their time!
Plus ...
It also lets me make sure that I have put all of my thoughts out there ina coherent fashion and given that it is written down...demands an answer.
Problem is that we only have one email address and that is for his teacher. I need the one for the school psychologist, the SW, ST, OT, PT etc...
They called today (The Social Worker) and told me that things were underway. I asked about the assessment for RDI and was told that she was not aware of this only ABA. Mind you, she spoke to my wife earlier in the morning and she claims that she conveyed the RDI assessment portion along with everything else. I told them that if the assessment for RDI has not been done that I want to put the PPT off and not have it on the 1st of May. In addition, I reiterated that the IEP stated my son would receive three individual out of class speech therapy sessions and that we were only aware of one or two (the notes for which were unintelligible, but according to the support group I attended last night...this is the norm). I was assured that if it is in the IEP then my son is getting 3x per week, but...his teacher has only noted it one time! So...is he simply transporting out of class from under their noses and then back?! I THINK NOT!
Beam THIS up Scotty!
I live in Connecticut. Our school system is one of the best in the nation. We chose our town because it has one of the best systems in the state. Our taxes are off the hook for a reason. I am willing to pay them. Now SHOW ME SOMETHING.
Sorry to rant and rave like a lunatic, but I am so worked up right now. I am also sick of people channeling St. Thomas Aquinas with the "This too shall pass" crap. Nothing passes. I am an existentialist at heart (hence my screenname) and believe that purpose is as action dictates. My purpose is to make sure my son gets everything and more that he needs to be truly thrive. (An existential BuJew...how do you like them apples?!
Today when my wife picked up or son she was told by the teacher that he was in group ST today as well as pulled out for an individual ST session AND that he was assessed for OT, PT and ABA. (RDI was not on the list). Funny though how all of these things happened today. Why so long? It took my call? I'll sleep on their stoop if need be.
When she drops him off tomorrow she will ask about the RDI assessment. If it has not been done we will put off the PPT until it has. I know my rights well enough to know that this they can and will do.