I'll be eager to see how it goes too. It just makes me furious that all that
energy that should be put into providing services and focusing on the kid
gets wasted in tatics and what-can-we-get-away-with. And if they play
that game with you Tzoya, what chance do the rest of us mortals have.
[QUOTE=micki]I'll be eager to see how it goes too. It just makes me furious that all that
energy that should be put into providing services and focusing on the kid
gets wasted in tatics and what-can-we-get-away-with. And if they play
that game with you Tzoya, what chance do the rest of us mortals have.[/QUOTE]
micki.. I was thinking the same thing. My son is only in Kindergarten so I have a long road ahead.
Tzoya,The thing is all about money/time to schools. When are son was still in school many times their wasn't even ST at times. Here the problem is a poor countey coop with fiew therapists to work with SE kids. Not the kids/parent's problem this is there problem. Remeember this also private services are not the same as school therapies. My experience is they hate people like me who demanded what Daniel needed. I could careless that is his legal right. I could sew here Daniel never progressed until last year in all day SE. He went from 2.8 in reading to 5 th grade in reading.How with LEXIA learning cd program. Yes it's available for home.Lexia learning .com they also have cognetive software also.
school therapies is to improve education
Private therapies are to improve daily life.
Daniel had both types is how we know this.
Sadly now cause of poor iep's until last year Daniel hates education now thanks to them. He has complete meltdowns daily again since school has started. He's at home now but still hurting over the past events. He still has the 6 years more before he should graduate. If he homeschools it will be later than this. I am trying to catch him up to level if at all possible. I might still have to go to a hearing. However, once they get the 10 day letter, many times they just cave. That's because if the parents get the child the intervention and the intervention is shown to work when nothing the school did worked and the school promised to do it in writing anyway, they really can't get out of reimbursing you. And the parents usually have to pay a higher rate since schools often have contracts with providers. This means that, in the end the school ends up paying more because they have to pay for the provider the parents chose at the parents' rate. Of course, it's all a gamble. But at least the child gets the service in a timely manner. If my husband and I choose to pay for the service ourselves, we will be paying out about 0 per week -- way more than my measly part-time paycheck. So I have to think about this. Still, I'd rather pay it to a provider than to a lawyer. And I've been told that a Hearing Request that is put in by parents is not seen as having teeth, no matter who the parents are. I don't really want to pay a lawyer to write a hearing request I'm capable of writing myself, but I don't have the credentials to make the District quake in its boots, even if I have the skill. It's a dilemma.Won't you still have to go to a hearing to seek reimbursement? This is all so complicated.Why do schools make things so difficult? Is it a $$ thing, or what! This is so frustrating for so many people.Oh I see. I certainly hope they do the right thing. For goodness sake they are here to help not hurt. Please let us know how it goes.
tzoya - Ever thought that by giving you the run-around that the SD denies someone else of your time and services. It might be a cost savings for them....I do not do advocacy work for anyone else in my District. Not when I was working as a private advocate and not now that I'm working on the payroll. I long ago realized that I didn't want my District to see me as an advocate for anyone but my own son.
But you are right that they are saving money, at least in the short run.
I believe I am having difficulty because the current administrator used to work in NYC. NYC uses the stall tactic every single day with every single parent. During my practicum there, it was typical for parents to ask repeatedly for MONTHS (in writing) for an ordinary IEP meeting. I wrote several Hearing Requests for parents simply asking that the Hearing Officer order the District to hold a normal IEP meeting!
I cultivated my relationship with my district for a decade and suddenly, two years ago, all the administrators in our Special Ed Dept. left. The same year! I have no idea if this was coincidental or if there was something political going on. But the result was I ended up with no equity with anyone and had no clue about how this new administrator would act. She's very calm and apparently nice on the outside but then simply does what she wants. It took a while to figure this out because, of course, I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Wrong move.
I am polishing my Hearing Request this morning and hope to send it off to Albany early this week. It's actually something of a relief to finally be forcing everyone to get their cards on the table. I'm hoping that the mere submission of the request will get them to come into compliance with their own IEP. If we actually have to go to a HEARING, I will probably get a lawyer. But I don't want to pay a thou or more for someone to write the Hearing Request. However, if the District think I don't have a lawyer, they may push to go to a Hearing, so it's something of a risk to be submitting the request myself. Still, I'm going to go that way. I'll keep you all updated.
Tzoya--Good luck!Thanks...I've actually talked to some people and they say I'd be better off sending a 10-day letter to the District and then going out and paying for the service myself and then seeking reimbursement. Will keep you all updated.I, myself, am dealing with this right now and have been since last year. Our school district legally owes my son hundreds of hours of compensatory service (long story), has agreed to it in writing in his IEP, we have agreed to how the first 120 hours will be spent (10 hours a week of a particular reading program) and this, too, is in writing and has been since March 2007. My son has gotten not one minute of this time so far, despite all my advocating and the fact that they KNOW I'm a professional advocate and know how to write a Hearing Request and invoke Due Process. It has become CLEAR that they are playing chicken with me and WANT me to submit a Due Process request. I think they want to punish me by forcing me to pay a lawyer. Well, this week I'm actually going to submit that request, but I am going to do this "pro se," which means on my own. All I want to do is to ask the Hearing Officer to tell the District to enforce their own IEP. If your district is doing the same to you, take it from one who has waited and been nice for far too long. Submit a hearing request contending that your District is out of compliance. Your Procedural Safeguards notice will tell you how.What NY Yahoo site? Can you post the link?[QUOTE=tzoya]I posted about my current experience BECAUSE I wanted to let everyone know that implementation issues happen to advocates, too. Getting the "perfect" IEP can sometimes be just the first step. Of course, most district do try to implement. It's not all bad out there. But I have problems just like everyone else.
[/QUOTE]
Speak to Gary French Tzoya on the NY Yahoo site ... he is a wealth of help and information.
I posted about my current experience BECAUSE I wanted to let everyone know that implementation issues happen to advocates, too. Getting the "perfect" IEP can sometimes be just the first step. Of course, most district do try to implement. It's not all bad out there. But I have problems just like everyone else.
How frustrating! I'm sorry you're having to deal with this.
http://www.copaa.org/find/index.php - find an advocate or attorney
http://www.nichcy.org/states.htm - find state ed dept.
You might also be interested in this IEP goal matrix, which charts out the child's school day/week, and which IEP goals get covered when.
http://www.spannj.org/BasicRights/appendix_c.htm
The IEP is a legal document. If the school is not following it they are violationg your son's legal rights to FAPE. Write them a letter and tell them that they are out of compliance and that you will file a complaint to your state Dept. of ED. You could ask for mediation and use an advocate instead of a lawyer. There is no excuse for not implenting the IEP, especially this far into the school year. They are being nice and agreable in hopes it will keep you from complaining.
I have a few suggestions and am sure there will be more to come. Yes 7 weeks is long enough for the School to get started with your child services. Send a letter about your concerns to the Administration Office and to the Spec Ed director. This will be your paper trail. Make copy's and date all material's including when each was sent. You might want it to be hand stamped by postal service too. Tell them IEP is not being implemented as it is written. You also can write to your state's Spec Ed Office, there was a post about how to find them a long time ago, you can use your search button at top to try and find it. IF you cannot get a lawyer maybe you can find an advocate to help get the ball rolling. I feel you are in a situation where the School will not take you seriously until you get the hire- ups involved. A letter can also be sent to your School if you have not already tried this. Make your letter nice but firm, Don't put blame on one person, but state the facts. Get your procedural safe guards papers out and read up on what you can do,and get your hands on Writeslaw Book on Spec. Ed and call anyone you can think of to help you find an advocate. We used our sons Therapist , she would come to IEP meeting for a fee, but it was not as much money compared to a Lawyer. I hope this helps I have been told by patents of special needs kids before that I live in a