Moving this back up for Ash meeting is this afternoon anyone else have any help or ideas for her?
Becky
Sounds to me like you are getting a serious run-around! The advice from AndrewsMommy is right on.
Well I will start off by saying I have a 5yr old son who is in Kindergarten. The school wants to retain him because of lack of progress. He currently has Apraxia of speech, SID and low muscle tone. We are working on getting him evaluated for possible Autism.
The school has denied him for OT and Special Ed support of any kid. I asked verbally at the beginning of the year for an OT evaluation. I just asked about a Special Ed evaluation in March while on the phone with the principal. At that point I was told they couldn't give him another one until December 2007 because they already did one. I am about 100% positive I never signed anything authorizing it. I had no knowledge of it being done and never received a report for that or the OT evaluation. He does currently receive speech but they cut him back a great deal from what he had been receiving the last two years. This is the only year (he started speech at age 2) that there has been no progress.
The reasons they want to retain him are all directly associated with his disabilities. We have tried to get them to realize that all school year and they haven't done anything at all about it. They just now are deciding that something might be going on. He has been in school through the school for three years now (1 kindergarten and 2 preschool) and he still does not recognize his alphabet or numbers up to 10. We have researched and decided that it would be in his (and my older son who has ADD) best interest to homeschool them. We are going to give it a trial run over the summer. We have set up private OT and he is currently leaving school for that. He will also be getting private speech starting as soon as school is out.
Now I have a question, hopefully someone will know the answer!
We have a meeting with the school on May 3rd to discuss why they want him retained and other issues that is going on. I have no idea what to expect. They are not calling it an IEP meeting either, just a meeting. It is not going to be in the normal place we have IEP's. During this meeting we will also receive his records we have been trying to obtain. We have tried to get them a few times now and they have told us the correct person was not around. We will get them when we get their with no chance to look at them before hand. I know they will also want us to sign the forum to hold him back and they do not know that we have plans to homeschool. We were told not to give them that heads up. Should I sign the paper or what should we say or do? I don't want to let them trap up in any way.
Thanks,
Ashleigh
Dear Ashleigh,
Okay, if you are not already doing so, document every contact, phonecall, meeting, discussion, etc. that occurs between you and anyone at the school. Don't forget dates, times, and details...Start today by writing down everything you can remember in chronological order...
Regarding your situation...Write a formal typed letter to the school and address it to the principal, teacher, therapists, special ed contact, psychologist, and anyone else on the IEP team. Make sure each person receives a hand delivered copy or a copy in the mail. Keep a copy for your files. In the letter, detail your concerns in a clear concise way. No emotions, just the facts. State that you do not recall signing permission for or receiving a copy of your child's OT eval. Write that you expect a copy of this report before your next meeting on Thursday May 3 if it has indeed been done. Better yet, respectfully request that the meeting be postponed unless they can provide you with a copy of all reports and a valid IEP prior to the day of the meeting. Request that the meeting be changed to a meeting for the modification of your child's current IEP. List what you want (for example):
For more information regarding your legal rights, go to www.wrightslaw.com . The book "From Emotions To Advocacy..." is also an excellent resource. I would do a title search for it on these boards.
I'm really tired, so I hope this helps and makes some sense. Hopefully Tzoya will answer too. she's our resident expert.
Good luck and God Bless!
Well it will not help today, but I would definitely research MDs in your area and get a clinical diagnosis. The school does not have to implement anything in the eval, but they MUST "consider" it ...