proceeding with IEE | Autism PDD

Well ... I heard from the director of sp serv today, and she did inform me that the district is not bound to honor the results of an IEE (i knew that, from here and wrightslaw, already!).  I told her I still wanted to proceed.

She was gracious and diplomatic and is emailing me more info ... I will keep the forum apprised of our progress!

daniel's mom ... it is their budget, their staffing, and their time.

But in our case, it was actually the woman who DID THE ASSESSMENT, who would have provided the therapy to him!

I could not (hardly!) consider her a disinterested party.  You cannot tell me there is no tailoring of her caseload, going on ...

But if I am not mistaken, I believe that is written into the federal IDEA, they must "consider" the IEE.  But nothing says they must act on it. 

He starts Kindergarten in August.  I at the least want the SLP who gets him then to have a record of our EFFORTS to get him earlier therapy.

Good Luck!Thank you for the update.. I hope all goeds well with the IEE.. That is bull if they don't have to listen to another point of view. Then why should we Listen who tsets the kid at school. I wouldn't listen to the school test result. We Mom's know them best. That get's me

Not sure I would go to a due process hearing, but maybe ... and surely should plan for it. 

Scary the evaluator DROPPED you!  Creepy, outright.

While it is only necessary for an IEP Team to CONSIDER any evaluation (their own, your own, an IEE, etc.), it would look darned foolish in a Hearing if an evaluation they paid for was completely ignored.  If the eval does not come out the way you expect, you can certainly get ANOTHER outside evaluation at your own expense.  If the outside doctors BOTH contradict what the original eval says, the District would be foolish to let the whole thing to go Due Process.  They'd lose, most likely.  Remember, and IEE is from someone of YOUR choosing. The District MUST give you a list, but you don't have to follow the list.  You have to choose someone whose credentials are equal to the credentials of the original evaluator and the District can impose some reasonable cost and geographic parameters, but they have to be REASONABLE.  Otherwise, you get to pick and they get to pay. [QUOTE=foxl]

Not sure I would go to a due process hearing, but maybe ... and surely should plan for it. 

Scary the evaluator DROPPED you!  Creepy, outright.

[/QUOTE]

I would think that if the SD knew that you would not go to due process then they do something truly nasty to your child.  I'm sorry to say that, and I know that any educators reading this will get PO'd.  But that has been my experience.  Keep in mind that I draw a distinction between the folks who actually teach children - who are as honest as possible consistent with staying employed - and administrators, who have said in an IEP meeting (after seeing a video of my son's class) "That reminds me how glad I am that I no longer teach."

My thought here is that maybe you won't go to due process.  But act as if you will.  I'd hope that acting as if you might will head off needing to.


Dad2Luke&Alan39369.943900463IMHO the IEE is the only way to get an unbiased evaluation.  However, given that your SD has pretty much said that they plan to ignore it, you should plan for the due process hearing, and try to head it off.

In my state the office that holds hearing publishes on the web their decisions.  An hour or so reading those let us know who the hearing officers considered credible witnesses, so we choose our evaluator(s) from that list.  (It also told us which lawyers have a good track record, we choose from that list as well.)  There is no point is choosing someone who is so kid friendly that the SD knows that in a hearing they will be able to have the evaluation ignored.   We are hoping that by being having a defensible evaluation that the SD won't go to due process.

Incidentally after we choose one of our evaluators, the SD asked for the contact info and then the evaluator dropped us half-way through the evaluation and stopped returning our calls.  So if you can stomach the financial risk, I'd get the evaluations first and then ask the SD for reimbursement, so the SD cannot interfere.  But you probably should be up-front about the fact that a due process hearing is likely.

What sucks is that none of these considerations lead to better evaluations, only a chance that the evaluation will be listened to.

I figure it does ... we are putting out feelers for advocates and attorneys in our area, too.

 

Well, the other thing is that if you have to take them to due process - you can use the results of the IEE against them (that is, if it goes your way). I suppose they could do the same if the IEE went more their way as well.

I think it's to your benefit to do the IEE - it definitely gives you more ammunition...

YOW!   What a rotten, tactless person.

I am already worried b/c my daughter with autism could be a potential target of vindictiveness by admins.

I sure would ACT like I would go that far (due process) until I decide otherwise.  It would nullify all my efforts, otherwise!

[QUOTE=tzoya]While it is only necessary for an IEP Team to CONSIDER any evaluation (their own, your own, an IEE, etc.), it would look darned foolish in a Hearing if an evaluation they paid for was completely ignored.  If the eval does not come out the way you expect, you can certainly get ANOTHER outside evaluation at your own expense.  If the outside doctors BOTH contradict what the original eval says, the District would be foolish to let the whole thing to go Due Process.  They'd lose, most likely.  Remember, and IEE is from someone of YOUR choosing. The District MUST give you a list, but you don't have to follow the list.  You have to choose someone whose credentials are equal to the credentials of the original evaluator and the District can impose some reasonable cost and geographic parameters, but they have to be REASONABLE.  Otherwise, you get to pick and they get to pay.[/QUOTE]

Tzoya -- this is just for speech so the eval would be by an SLP.  But I agree, they are paying for this,  Iam sure they will consider it seriously.

I do have another question -- if I got him private therapy after he was denied by the school ... and the IEE overturns the initial denial, is it reimbursable? (NOT making a decision, based on the certainty of reimbrusement, obviously ... jsut thinkin').

[QUOTE=foxl]

I am already worried b/c my daughter with autism could be a potential target of vindictiveness by admins.

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I don't view it as its vindictiveness.  I don't view individual parents as important enough in the admins' world view to rate that much effort.  I believe that the admins' goal is a balanced budget and they will take the easiest route to that goal.

The reason I believe this is that I have been told so by other parents who have been around the system for much longer than I have.  Who in turn were pretty much told this by their case workers (when the child was exiting the system).
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