7th IEP meeting this year!I don't think you're over-reacting. It sounds like school is misreable for your son. You have to try to help. It sounds like the school is just not able to provide what he needs. Maybe he needs 1:1 teaching. Having the school pay out the nose for a private placement sounds like a pretty good solution. If it were me, I'd probably want that. Sorry to read about your situation, it sounds really tough. I would start looking around for a better school if at all possible. Sounds like it couldn't be any tougher on your son to change schools as he already seems so reluctant to go the current one ? I'm sure you will find something better out there with more support, all the best.I had yet another IEP meeting this week, and it was a disaster. The consultant, the district hired to do his FBA and oversee it, got angry at the meeting and lashed out. The teacher (who I have made numerous complaints about) has not been implementing his BIP. She claims he doesn't "want to do it," WTF?? She is the teacher, it's her JOB. She basically gave up after 3 weeks, and it was very obvious as the behavior consultant had her using a documentation notebook, which was almost empty, and I had already told the principal about this when it started happening. I'm in the classroom a couple times a week volunteering and checking to see what she is doing for him, which is basically nothing. I also complained again about him not receiving any sensory OT, it's also in his IEP, as consult to the teacher, they are too cheap to provide direct services. She doesn't request the consult though, last year the OT brought in an air cushion, visual schedule and other devices, she put them away after a week, she claims he deflated the cushion a couple times and she "wasn't going to reinflate it again." She wouldn't give me an answer about the other stuff. I stated that it was HER job to implement and teach him how to properly use the items, the room fell silent, and the meeting got even more tense and akward after that. I went on to describe, not for the first, or even third time, about how he is in the classroom rolling around on the floor, mouthing objects like glue bottles, desks, chairs, ect. I stated it's very obvious just by observing him that he has a great need for sensory OT, and asked why nothing has happened all year long to take care of this, and whose job is it to follow up on this? I got no answer, once again. I asked why, during every meeting do they "brainstorm" ideas for this and never implement anything? No answer. I asked yet again what is being planned to help him transition into first grade, which was supposed to be finally explained in this meeting. No answer, instead I was told that this would be addressed in the next meeting, which is to take place next school year! I have brought up several times his anxiety related to school, his fear of the multi-stall bathrooms, him crying himself to sleep on school nights, taking 2 to 4 hours to fall asleep on school nights, telling me every night and morning he is "too sick to go to school today", not eating all day at school, bedwetting on school nights only-not during vacations or weekends, having accidents at school, grinding his teeth at school, ect. Here is the real kicker though: my ed consultant was in this meeting, and all the others. He basically sat there and said almost nothing. I'm starting to wonder who he is working for, it feels to me like he is way too friendly with the district people and not doing enough to help my son. I left him a message the next day and gave him a list of issues I wanted resolved, and told him if this mess is not taken care of before school starts, my son would not be there, and that the district will be forced to pay out the nose for a special placement for him as a result. I told him I am beyond frustrated with the situation, that anything that is discussed I want put in writing, and that I am not going to put up with it anymore, and that if I need to hire another consultant I already have a recommendation in my wallet from his therapist. He says he is going to schedule a meeting with the principal, and I stressed that any solutions they promise HAVE to be put in writing from now on. I'm tired of being nice to everyone, it's not working, and I feel like it's his job to fght for my son, and he is dropping the ball. The therapist told me that it's very common for the district to try and move the meeting along fast to get out of there without adding anything to the IEP, when I brought this up to him, he said that is simply not true. I asked a friend who teaches in another district, and he said that it happens that way a lot, that he has been in a lot of meetings where that happens. Am I over reacting? I feel like I have been too patient with this whole process and all the players. I'm worried that it would be hard on him to go to a different school next year, but I'm also concerned about keeping him there as well. Transition plan should be in place before he starts next year. See if they can meet in summer? maybe push for that. Also it probably would not hurt to check out other consultants in your area, think of it as a second opinion. Check your procedural safeguards for your district and check out wrightslaw.com about your rights about this matter. I understand why you are upset about this, I would be to. Our district meets in the summer but, you have to push for it.OMG what an EXHAUSTING year you have had! That just sounds .... terrible. I thought mine was a bit rough ... yours trumps it easily. I would not think twice before getting him outta there. It sounds awful. If you don't mind me asking, what is the current placement that your son is in?What is it with these people who don't want to help our children????  How can anyone be so uncompassionate? (is that a word?) If one can't handle teaching all children, then tha t person should not be in teaching. I understand teachers don't necessarily have special education training, but if they are given a plan to follow, there is no excuse to not implement it. Special needs children are integrating more and more, and it is the responsibilities of school districts to make sure their employees are properly trained and given the necesary tools to work with special needs children, and from what it sounds like, your child's teacher had everything needed. No excuse!
[QUOTE=teacherintx]If you don't mind me asking, what is the current placement that your son is in? He is mainstreamed, he gets pulled out for speech twice a week, and adapted p.e. He doesn't have academic problems, and they aren't giving him social skills, even though it's in the IEP...With all of the budget cuts going on around here, switching districts would be pointless, but his therapist thinks I should push for a special dayclass so he has more support. I think it sucks that the only choice is one extreme to another, I would keep him in the current placement if they would offer more support and give him what's in his current IEP... [QUOTE=Loki]Transition plan should be in place before he starts next year. See if they can meet in summer? maybe push for that. Also it probably would not hurt to check out other consultants in your area, think of it as a second opinion. Check your procedural safeguards for your district and check out wrightslaw.com about your rights about this matter. I understand why you are upset about this, I would be to. Our district meets in the summer but, you have to push for it. [/QUOTE] I was reading the procedural safeguards, and I think I will request an independent evaluation, and the therapist said I should take them to mediation, I definately need to do more. I kept requesting a transition plan, and they aren't doing anything...they don't meet in the summer, and because of budget cuts they don't even have summer school now. That's nice that your district meets in the summer, wish ours did... [QUOTE=foxl]OMG what an EXHAUSTING year you have had! That just sounds .... terrible. I thought mine was a bit rough ... yours trumps it easily. I would not think twice before getting him outta there. It sounds awful. [/QUOTE] Thanks! I tried to talk to him about maybe going to a new school next year, he started sobbing and saying he didn't want a new school if he couldn't have his a.p.e. teacher there...he just loves her, he looks forward to p.e. His speech guy is also awesome, but his teacher is a real pain in the neck. [QUOTE=WNYgirl]What is it with these people who don't want to help our children???? I agree completely, there are some who just don't belong in a classroom. Wish they saw things your way! Thank you! I'm going to order the book, and work on this during the summer break, since I can't get anything to happen before school ends. Thanks for all of the information. I thought having an ed consultant was supposed to make things a little easier, instead he has created more of a problem for me.It's obvious this has been extremely frustrating for you, and has hit the stage where it will be extremely difficult to get back on a decent footing and everyone moving forward to help your son. In order to begin that process, I suggest the following: Get the book Emotions to Advocacy and study it - it is THE guide on how to organize your documents, deal with the district, stay on top of your and your child's rights and be an effective part of the IEP team. You mention that you want everything in writing - it should have been in writing from the beginning. If it isn't in writing, it didn't happen - and you can't prove it did. Document, document, document. All those concerns you mention - You need to list them item by item. Your son's behaviors in the classroom, his sensory issues, his communication issues, literally everything that you feel needs to be addressed for him to be successful in the classroom setting. It needs to be in a parent addendum that is put as part of the IEP. If a behavior comes up down the road that causes a problem because they didn't address it, you then have the paper trail pointing back to it to say "I told you HERE it needed to be addressed, and it wasn't." At that point, you have the evidence in writing they dropped the ball. Find the agency in your state that is mandated by the IDEA to teach parents how to advocate for their children - each state has one, and your school district knows exactly who that is and has to supply you the information if you ask. Obviously, they rarely volunteer it, but they are supposed to mention it when you are given your procedural safeguards...usually they put it in fine print somewhere on a back page of "who to contact". Find the agency, get a list of their workshops/seminars - they should be free to parents - and then get yourself there. You'll get current information, strategies, and the ability to network with other parents dealing with similar issues. Most agencies provide parent mentors - another parent well-versed in the system that can help you gain the skills you need to advocate for your child. They will also have a list of paid advocates in the area whom you can hire to assist you. One of the harshest lessons we learn in this journey is that we cannot rely on the districts to do what they are mandated by law to do unless we, as the child's parent, educate ourselves to know what the law requires and remain consistent in holding the districts accountable for following those laws and providing the services they are required to. [QUOTE=gmom9203]I had yet another IEP meeting this week, and it was a disaster. The consultant, the district hired to do his FBA and oversee it, got angry at the meeting and lashed out. The teacher (who I have made numerous complaints about) has not been implementing his BIP. She claims he doesn't "want to do it," WTF?? She is the teacher, it's her JOB. She basically gave up after 3 weeks, and it was very obvious as the behavior consultant had her using a documentation notebook, which was almost empty, and I had already told the principal about this when it started happening. I'm in the classroom a couple times a week volunteering and checking to see what she is doing for him, which is basically nothing. I also complained again about him not receiving any sensory OT, it's also in his IEP, as consult to the teacher, they are too cheap to provide direct services. She doesn't request the consult though, last year the OT brought in an air cushion, visual schedule and other devices, she put them away after a week, she claims he deflated the cushion a couple times and she "wasn't going to reinflate it again." She wouldn't give me an answer about the other stuff. I stated that it was HER job to implement and teach him how to properly use the items, the room fell silent, and the meeting got even more tense and akward after that. I went on to describe, not for the first, or even third time, about how he is in the classroom rolling around on the floor, mouthing objects like glue bottles, desks, chairs, ect. I stated it's very obvious just by observing him that he has a great need for sensory OT, and asked why nothing has happened all year long to take care of this, and whose job is it to follow up on this? I got no answer, once again. I asked why, during every meeting do they "brainstorm" ideas for this and never implement anything? No answer. I asked yet again what is being planned to help him transition into first grade, which was supposed to be finally explained in this meeting. No answer, instead I was told that this would be addressed in the next meeting, which is to take place next school year! I have brought up several times his anxiety related to school, his fear of the multi-stall bathrooms, him crying himself to sleep on school nights, taking 2 to 4 hours to fall asleep on school nights, telling me every night and morning he is "too sick to go to school today", not eating all day at school, bedwetting on school nights only-not during vacations or weekends, having accidents at school, grinding his teeth at school, ect. Here is the real kicker though: my ed consultant was in this meeting, and all the others. He basically sat there and said almost nothing. I'm starting to wonder who he is working for, it feels to me like he is way too friendly with the district people and not doing enough to help my son. I left him a message the next day and gave him a list of issues I wanted resolved, and told him if this mess is not taken care of before school starts, my son would not be there, and that the district will be forced to pay out the nose for a special placement for him as a result. I told him I am beyond frustrated with the situation, that anything that is discussed I want put in writing, and that I am not going to put up with it anymore, and that if I need to hire another consultant I already have a recommendation in my wallet from his therapist. He says he is going to schedule a meeting with the principal, and I stressed that any solutions they promise HAVE to be put in writing from now on. I'm tired of being nice to everyone, it's not working, and I feel like it's his job to fght for my son, and he is dropping the ball. The therapist told me that it's very common for the district to try and move the meeting along fast to get out of there without adding anything to the IEP, when I brought this up to him, he said that is simply not true. I asked a friend who teaches in another district, and he said that it happens that way a lot, that he has been in a lot of meetings where that happens. Am I over reacting? I feel like I have been too patient with this whole process and all the players. I'm worried that it would be hard on him to go to a different school next year, but I'm also concerned about keeping him there as well. [/QUOTE]
I understand completely what you going thru. My son in Pre-k and i had to withdraw him yesterday from school. and now it seems that his PEECH teacher is complaining about everyday when i go and pick him up. All she can say is " I think he need medication". I went thru a tough for the first two months on school I'm so scard when he get in kindergarden, I'm thinking about changing his doctor. His doctor put him on 3 tablespoon of Methylin twice aday and it doesn't work. I really don't know what to do. One of the harshest lessons we learn in this journey is that we cannot rely on the districts to do what they are mandated by law to do unless we, as the child's parent, educate ourselves to know what the law requires and remain consistent in holding the districts accountable for following those laws and providing the services they are required to. [/QUOTE]Unfortunately, schools are underfunded and the staff tries to get the best return of investment in balancing the budget. Unfortunately, from what I have seen, one of the best ROI appears to be denying services to uninformed parents. The second best appears to be doing whatever possible to ensure a steady supply of uninformed parents. Keep everything in writing, make copies of everything, ask your consultant of copies from everything(you can also ask the school for copies of every meeting and his educational file). Schools go the way of least resistance: I can guarantee you that they are hoping that you will pull him out. It is a win-win for them. Without some very sound documentation the district will not have to pay for any alternative placement.If you are hoping for them to pay for an alternate/private placement you pretty much need that as an agreement in place before you place him anywhere else.You need to prove that no placement in the district is able to provide an appropriate education for your son -if your ds is doing okay academically that will be next to impossible to prove.Even with solid documentation it is more likely that the district will say that this is prove that he needs a more restrictive environment for his 'behavior issues' and will put him whatever more restrictive setting they have like CDC or EBD. The trick (apart from documenting everything) is to make yourself just of enough pain in the butt to have it be less work for them to implement the IEP but not enough to put all their energy into sabotaging you left and right (like daily calls to pick your ds up, reports to CP....) However since it seems you have prove that the IEP has not been implemented your next call should be to the director of special ed to talk about how he could help the school implement your son's IEP and how the district ensures accountability. If that yields no results filing a complaint with the state might be the next step. General ed teachers can and have been held accountable for not following IEPs. The state will review the file and if it is a decent state they will breathe down the districts neck and impose a fine. That might help motivate them. The squieky wheel... I went right to the superintendent of the school district in June, got my transition meeting that same week. They were doing a lot of restructuring within the district at that time and they picked a fabulous teacher and brought her over to his school, she attended the meeting, came another day just to meet him and had him give her a tour of the school. They made social stories for him about the transition, he helped the new teacher set up the classroom the week before school started. They caved on ESY and he got speech all summer. He got a new case manager at school, and new SLP who upped his speech to 3 times a week after I got private evaluations for speech and OT. He all sorts of accommodations this year and the teacher follows through on everything, it's so fantastic, a complete turnaround from last year. I got everything I wanted at the annual IEP this year, it's been a great year so far, just having a different teacher has made a tremendous difference, the team works together so much better now, no tension like last year.Great Job Mom! so happy things are getting better for your child and you.Better than 1000 days of diligent study, is one day with a great teacher. Good news is always welcome! So glad to hear there was a turnaround and that he is on track this year. You're quite right that a good teacher can make all the difference. So can a well-educated parent :) Stay on top of what's happening, continue to list any new concerns that need to be addressed IN WRITING, and continue to document, document, document. This is the start of a 12-year (or more) journey, and laying the ground work is important. Treat the IEP as a fluid document - which is what it is. It's designed to serve him as he continues to grow and move through the school system. If you need to make changes mid-year, do so. You're the engine that drives it all - don't wait for a teacher or therapist to voice something you may already be seeing. Congratulations on such positive changes! |
||
|
Copyright Autism-PDD.net |
