They talked me into meeting.....UPDATEOn one part called Modifications it says : change how much of the curriculum the student is expected to learn. These changes customize the curriculum and expectations of the students mastery of essential skills. Modifications are substantial changes in what a student is expected to demonstrate in terms of content or performance criteria. CHanges are made to provide meaningful and productive learning experiences based on individual needs and abilities. Is this why they changed his goals sucess percentages? Is this ok or what? Im kind of bothered by it like they are lowering the bar for him. Other Modifications listed are alternative assignments and assesments provided as needed, simplified curriculum, auditory presentation of the reading content in areas in reading class. ....Something that they kept reiteratng is he seems like he is not trying and needs to be prompted to even pick up his pencil or to do everything and said that he needs natural consquences when I protested about him missing recess for not doing his work/fast enough. They said I can think of some alternatives to missing recess (i have no clue but will try to think of somethign) and present it when we meet again. They said he is not developing responsibility and they think hes becoming to dependent on prompting etc. I felt like they were telling me I dont discipline my kid enough or need to discipline him for things that i KNOW hes not doing on purpose. Also I feel like they were saying hes lazy and irresponsible? Maybe i am puting too much into it and being emotional but thats how i felt! I still need to contact his OT because she was not there and they were not informed with alot of the things his OT told me onthe phone that she will be doing with him (like the auditory therapy) and they told me to call her to see if an increase in OT would be a good idea as well as enforcing the wilbarger protocol be done AND some sort of therapy for lunch because he doesnt eat lunch he just tosses his untouched food in the garbage. I know its sensory issues and I asked that the OT work on them so i think i need a whole seperate meeting just with the OT![/QUOTE] First of all, they are definitely lowering the bar for him - and the necessary work for them. Changing language arts to 50% success, is, if you look at letter grades, stating that an "F" is considered a success. Math has just been lowered to a "C-D" standard with their 70% success marker. Modifying his curriculum by changing the amount he is expected to learn to a standard less than his grade-level peers is also lowering the bar. As far as "you coming up with alternatives" for missing recess... that's given you the door you need to request a Functional Behavior Analysis by a qualified behavior therapist so that strategies to motivate and a Behavioral Intervention Plan can be put in place. Use it. They are putting the weight on you to come up with the strategies, and that's their job. They are definitely blaming the student for issues ("developing responsibility") that he is currently unable to do and needs to be taught to do...it is their job to teach him. If functional behavior (i.e., lack of organization, lack of following directions, etc.) is impeding his education, it is their job to develop goals to teach what is necessary. It sounds like you got blind-sided into holding the meeting because they wanted to get you past the IEE issues and get you to agree and sign off on what they want to do, rather than being forced to take apart the situation and trulyl examine it. The OT should not have been excused from the meeting, because obviously what she talked with you about and what was produced at the meeting were two different things. You as the parent can always hold an IEP meeting and amend it, particularly if what you were told or given in writing is different from what the attendees actually said and did. IEP meetings do NOT have to be held only once a year - if the goals need modification, you can call one. If he succeeds at a goal before year-end, you can call one. This is as much your right as it is theirs. Thanks for your replies everyone :) Well today was a VERY stressful day for me at least! I was waiting for the special needs bus to pull up in front of our house to take DS to school and that time came and went. I realized it was late start day (wednesdays are here) so waited and an hour later school was gonna start in like 10 minutes I called the bus place and they said someone called in and said he didnt need transportation this morning! I did NOT call them and tell them this! She asked the other lady who the child was and that lady i heard her say yes it was DSs name. She said they called at either 8:31 or 8:41 (i forget!). I asked was it a man or a woman she said it was a man and i have NO clue who it could have been. I talked to the office staff when i took my son to school an they said theonly thing they could think of is they got mixed up with another kid and wel see who was absent that day if anyone. Ok so i wake DS up (he was sleeping- meds just were upped so makes him more drowsy) and he immediately starts crying for a dessert which im not giving to him. I let him eat an oreo cakester yesterday morning so he thought he could get it every morning! I have to drag him into the car then forcefully buckle him in (and hes stronger then me i think!) We get there and he says hes adamantly NOT going to school. I have to drag him out of the car then into the school (which is on an incline) and by the time we got into the school i felt likei was going to have a heart attack! What upset me is that there was a lady who LOOKED like she worked at the school or somethng and she didnt even bother to help when i was trying to drag him up into the school building or call someone (i was thinking about calling the school and requesting they send someone out because I was about to faint by that time). So i get in and we make it to his class and he wont go into the foyer area i drag him in then he wont go into the class. He is yelling at a few kids who walked past him into the class to "stop looking at me!" I try talking to him for a few minutes and i dont want to pick him up and throw him into the classroom in front of his classmates so i poked my head in since the teacher hadnt come out to see what was going on and i said hes doesnt want to come into class. I thot thank God shel come outand help me but nope! Im trying to reason with him and tll him he has to go to school and hed been telling me he misses me at school and schools hard and the teachers yell at him :( So anyway I hear the teacher shuffle up behind me and i figured finally shes here! But no she closed the door to the class! I he was disrupting them but soooorry! So anyway i open the door 5 minutes later and think im just going to carry him in like i used to do in kindergarten when wed have these similar issues. So i open the door and try to get him to come in and STILL no teacher! I look over and shes by another students desk talking to the student about paperwork. So i pick DS up and put him in hes crying and yelling he doesnt want to see anyone thenhe runs back out of the class. At that point i waslike SCREW this! We walk back to the office and I tell the office peolple he is not going into class and the office lady asks me "Do you want to just take him home?" Whaaaaaaaat!? I was speechless and thought id heard wrong! I stuttered not knowing what to say then she said she can call the resource officer i said ok, then she said but the resource officeers investigating some incident it will be awhile. I ask her to talk with his sp ed teacher who she calls and takes forever to come so we just wait on the bench and i felt like losing it and crying so me and DS can wallow in our pity together but i managed not to! Finally his teacher and talked to him and asked him questions about school and why he doesnt want to go into his class is the teacher mean? Is the work hard? Is there too much people in there? etc. He kept saying Yes and she said Hes just saying Yes to everything do you notice? I think he was telling the truth tho not just saying yes to everything. She asked if he wanted to go into her class cuz its smaller and he said NO. SHe eventualy talked him into it and he went with her. Thank God for her cuz i dont know (and apparently no one else did either!) what the heck to do if she wasnt there He came home from school extreeemely happy! He had shopping day (to cash in his earned tokens/monies) and he said he played recess. Tho he was VERY happy he actually told me he cried today during computers because he missed me alot :( thats all i could get from him because he hates questions and gets grumpy when i try to ask for more details He is always sayiinghe wants school to be HIS way with only recess and a little bit work lol I think every kid wishes that! But i think the work is really stressing him out! But anyway i hope they wernt looking at me like "C you should not have brought him in late this situation would have been avoided!" U know! The teachers didnt know some strange person called and said my son didnt need transportation that morning! And DS has an appointment tomorrow morning with a psychologist which social security set up for him so hel be late AGAIN! I wish he didnt have to go to that dumb appointment! AND the whole reason my son rides the special needs bus is because our days in kindergarten was like this practically every morning! We had the princpal meeting us at the front of his old schools building to take him in which he still cries and resisted and someone just HAD to cancell his transportation today! Now that ive rambled about our day i can respond to you all :) I got the GARS in the mail but it was supposed to be the GARS-2 so i callled the sp ed secretary and she got me the correct one. I cant do and compare the GARS with the GARS-2 which i did last year cuz they have different scoring systems (the reg. GARS looks like the cutoff for autism is alot higher so its harder to qualify with it... i hope it wasnt sent to me on purpose for that reason but im prob just being paranoid right?) He had a 504 in kindy before he got his IEP at the end of kindy which i had to fight like hell forso they better not exit him to that. His sp needs teacher said he will need alot of help next year so im ASSUMING they are not thinking aboutthat at least not YET He already has a token economy in his pullouts resource room but not in his gen ed classroom. I requested an FBA yesterday so should hear back from them soon hopefully. Can i legally request a BCBA do the FBA? Thanks for the suggestions for the GADS AND ASDS tests. Do you think I should ask for those tests now or wait and see what the CARS and GARS-2 say? Thats horrible that they took Library away from your son! Im glad you got that straightened out! I dont think they should take library esp but even recess away from kids! If they dont have anything to look forward to id think thier progress will drop significatnly too and i think thats part of the prob with my son when they were taking his recesses away! And even tho they say he is becomign more antisocial in group situations maybe thats why! I taked to his OT a couple days ago and she went over the diff things she will try doing with DS like the auditory therapy and working with him during lunchtime to eat his food but she also said shed set up a wilbarger protocol schedule. I will ask her about a quiet area tho. He had one in kindy and it helped him alot. Thanks Gavinsmom, its nice to know sometimes that someones going thru the exact same thing! Tho im not happy that you are! :) Thanks Ana, for putting it that way that passing for him would be an F. I will use that when i tell them i do not like that change to his IEP. His OT is MUCH more open minded to trying diff techniques and actually tackling problems I bring up or she brings up hes having diff with. I dont think the school likes that much and she is contracted out so maybe thats why shes more open minded and willing to give him extra help in this and that. They kept saying "THats not what were seeing"-about the auditory hypersensitivity causing distractions- then theyd add "But I do have a much smaller class when hes with me just a few kids". They also said that what the OT wrote is diff then what i was telling them the OT put in the report which was not true she wrote all the new things shes going to try and the problems hes having! The only thing that I had written down from my convo with the OT that was not in their meeting notes was that he has more difficulty tracking from a certain direction. I dont understand schools! I was going to ask for more OT time since shes added alot of new things shes going to work with him on (and he hasnt met his original goals yet) but i figure ill wait a little bit give her a chance to see if the sensory diet/wilbarger prot and auditory therapy helps him any. If not then i will ask formore OT minuts, or maybe ill ask for them when the testing results are read at the next meeting. Yes I feel they did want to get up and over that IEE hump and get that out of the way and i feel crappy letting them do it but I had them add that id request an IEE if i was not satisfied with their testing anyway. Thanks everyone and sorry so long! Im still recuperating after our stressful morning tho DSs unfazed! He used to behave in this manner every morning in kindergarten so it really got to me this is the first horrible mornign of this magnitude this year. Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble! God Bless you Hyden123 - I just went through almost the same thing, from the regression/not progressing to the 4hr looooong iep meeting. I hope everything works out for the best! I have no advice to offer, as I am plyaing this out by ear...but I do understand the daunting task. ok, sorry I meantt 143hayden, not hayden123 - I don't know where I got that. I have about 40 more posts until I work up to my "edit" button! LOL, so I can't fix it, just add this addendum :)Dad2luke, I got teh CARS today and have to fill it out. I researched and seen that lots of kids with pdd-nos or other forms of asd have fallen below the 30 point cutoff for an autism eligibility but this is when they are evaluated from a doctor. I wonder how a school will view it if he is below the 30 points? Prob will not qualify im sure. O well i will fill it out later and see how it goes! His meeting was 4 hours looong! Ack! I caved in to the academic testing which they are not going to do but will monitor his progress for a few months more to see if academic testing is really needed. He is getting another speech eval and getting tested for autism again from the SCHOOL. I had them add into the meeting notes that if I disagree with thier results I will be seeking an IEE so wel see.One thing i forgot to ask is that a diff speech evaluator evaluate him then the same one who evaluated his speech the last 2 times. We re-did his IEP with the following changes. He now gets 225 minutes of math pullouts monthly as well as 225 minutes in reading pullouts. His OT minutes have not changed but I requested it be increased due to overstimulations and auditory sensory dysfunction he is experiences told to me by his OT (who was not there). She is going to be doing some sort of auditory therapy which introduces him to sounds and adds sounds 1 by 1 so he can discriminate and get used to them without getting overwhelmed etc. He will get the wilbarger protocol and joint compressions, use of headphones, social stories, quiet area in the classroom etc. when needed. Hel get books on tape 3x weekly and the use of manipulatives and an abc and number line daily. He also still receives curb to curb transportation on the special needs bus. And he also is qualified for ESY because of regression and recoupment factors. He gets an 'aide' to facilitate transfer from one authorized adult to another (i guess from the bus to the school and vice versa). His accomodations are provide consistent routine, preferential seating, seat near student whos helpful, minimize distractions in classroom, adjust level of questioning, teach him strategies to aid in retention of information, make sure he understands directions, provide multi sensory experiences, recap or summarize main points in lecture, use manipulatives, read aloud to him, allow more time to complete assignments, allow ample response time, reduce writing demands, provide alternative assignments that require less reading and writing, permit him to dictate responses for assignments, limit amount of required reading, break down assignments into smaller parts, frequently moniter independent work, keep expectations consistent with ability level, give oral directions slowly, avoiding unnnecessary words, do drills orally, use visual aids, use short, one concept sentences, provide visual cues, permit students to dictate responses for test, allow extra test time, use alternative evaluation methods, adminiter tests individually and allow provision for physical movement. So i guess we will be seeing if speech will be added to his IEP when the evals are done and if he will get autism as his classification. There are some things i DONT like tho like his language arts goals was changed from meeting with 90 percent success to 50 percent success and another in math was changed down to 70 percent! His OT goals are all still at 90 percent sucess. On one part called Modifications it says : change how much of the curriculum the student is expected to learn. These changes customize the curriculum and expectations of the students mastery of essential skills. Modifications are substantial changes in what a student is expected to demonstrate in terms of content or performance criteria. CHanges are made to provide meaningful and productive learning experiences based on individual needs and abilities. Is this why they changed his goals sucess percentages? Is this ok or what? Im kind of bothered by it like they are lowering the bar for him. Other Modifications listed are alternative assignments and assesments provided as needed, simplified curriculum, auditory presentation of the reading content in areas in reading class. Accomodations for District assesments are more breaks and or several shorter sessions, repeat the scripted directions included in test administrations directions, place marker use and familiar test administrator. Anyway, they said his progress has plateaued and they dont know why. They said after christmas break he hasnt progressed I guess. O and they are going to add a picture of his folder on his desk as a reminder to turn in his folder because he continually forget. I am going to mark a spot at home as well wherehe has to put his folder at every day after school so that this transfers over and gets him in the habit. Something that they kept reiteratng is he seems like he is not trying and needs to be prompted to even pick up his pencil or to do everything and said that he needs natural consquences when I protested about him missing recess for not doing his work/fast enough. They said I can think of some alternatives to missing recess (i have no clue but will try to think of somethign) and present it when we meet again. They said he is not developing responsibility and they think hes becoming to dependent on prompting etc. I felt like they were telling me I dont discipline my kid enough or need to discipline him for things that i KNOW hes not doing on purpose. Also I feel like they were saying hes lazy and irresponsible? Maybe i am puting too much into it and being emotional but thats how i felt! I still need to contact his OT because she was not there and they were not informed with alot of the things his OT told me onthe phone that she will be doing with him (like the auditory therapy) and they told me to call her to see if an increase in OT would be a good idea as well as enforcing the wilbarger protocol be done AND some sort of therapy for lunch because he doesnt eat lunch he just tosses his untouched food in the garbage. I know its sensory issues and I asked that the OT work on them so i think i need a whole seperate meeting just with the OT! Anyway, any thoughts? I feel ok about this tho I didnt push for the IEE for academics I have mixed feelings about that. [QUOTE=143hayden]Dad2luke, I got teh CARS today and have to fill it out. I researched and seen that lots of kids with pdd-nos or other forms of asd have fallen below the 30 point cutoff for an autism eligibility but this is when they are evaluated from a doctor. I wonder how a school will view it if he is below the 30 points? Prob will not qualify im sure. O well i will fill it out later and see how it goes![/QUOTE]Recollection (vague at this point) was that our PDD/NOS son had trouble with the CARS and they used it to rule him ineligible. You might see if it scores PDD/NOS kids inaccurately. Possibly it rules out autism (which they are (strictly speaking) not) but does not rule in PDD/NOS. The cynic in me says that they are setting you up to be exited to a 504 plan since these could be done under a 504. [QUOTE=143hayden]On one part called Modifications it says : change how much of the curriculum the student is expected to learn. These changes customize the curriculum and expectations of the students mastery of essential skills. Modifications are substantial changes in what a student is expected to demonstrate in terms of content or performance criteria. CHanges are made to provide meaningful and productive learning experiences based on individual needs and abilities. Is this why they changed his goals sucess percentages? Is this ok or what? Im kind of bothered by it like they are lowering the bar for him.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=143hayden]Something that they kept reiteratng is he seems like he is not trying and needs to be prompted to even pick up his pencil or to do everything and said that he needs natural consquences when I protested about him missing recess for not doing his work/fast enough. They said I can think of some alternatives to missing recess (i have no clue but will try to think of somethign) and present it when we meet again.[/QUOTE] Also a POSITIVE BEHAVIOR PLAN might help. My son would love not to go to recess, so what your school is doing would back-fire on them. It also gives your child a reason t not like school. If the school takes away all the good stuff that your son likes, it's like a dead man walking scenario. My sons school took away library time from him because he wasn't getting his work all done in study hall, well it takes my son a long, long time to get anything done, because of his LD's and AS. My son started to refuse to go back to school because there was nothing for him to look forward to and he knew what they were asking of him was impossible. I called a meeting and we got that resolved by my son getting a reward at the end of the day if he worked hard in study hall but, did not have to complete all of it, and he has Library time during study hall on Fridays no exceptions. In other words they cannot deny him his Library time, that non exceptional kids get. He might need to be rewarded for little things he is doing right at first, then next year you maybe can move on to a reward at end of school day or on Fridays, also does he have a sensory diet or a break during the day when he can get his thoughts together, something he likes that gives him time to be relaxed. Your doing good, don't let them get you down. You can check out the CARS here. I believe that one of my sons was given it. Recollection is that it is a short questionnaire to be filled out by someone familiar with your child. My sons been regressing in school and I just cancelled his upcoming IEP meeting because i had requested an IEE but hadnt heard anything about it except I had a phone call with the bheaviorist explaining away the diff proibolems my sons experienceing so I just cancelled cuz i dont have an advocate lined up to go with me and I want to know thier decision bout the IEE before going cuz i dont feel like being baraged or ganged up on. I had to pick my son up from school early because he was sick and when i got there the nurse said his resource room teacher wanted to talk to me. She came n talked to me and said that she was on the phone withthe behaviorist and she said that they wanted to have the IEP meeting anyway because they need to rewrite his IEP in order for him to continue to receive an education! She also said that the behaviorist wants to perform an autism test on him. I asked her if it was the GARS-2 cuz he was already given the GARS-2 last year(and didnt pass). She said she doesnt know she thinks its the CARS test. Isnt the CARS for preschool ages children? She said if its ok can they still meet? I said YES! Ugh it was prob a mistake but maybe i should just go and hear them out? If it is getting too ridiculous I can always table the meeting and i dont have to sign anythign right? I asked his teacher if she knew anything about his IEE i had requested andshe said no she hadnt heard a thing! Maybe she didnt cuz there are many people on his IEP team. BUT what bothers me is theyr going to rewrite his IEP on his OLD testing? Does that even make sense?? And why are they so concerned (esp the behaviorist who made all kinds of exscuses at to why my son was regressing!) now? His OT just called me andsaid she wont be able to make it to his meeting and if i coud sign a paper exscusing her. She went over things with me and Im kind of bothered by what im hearing. This is what she said. Theyre working on the same things/goals. Still cant do cross overs without moderate visual prompting. If she shows him a new motion its hard for him he needs alot of visuals and prompting to do them. His letter recognition s much better andhes beginning to write his full name just recently. He has trouble forming letters A,Y,N,E,R- segmented and bottom to top. Visual tracking in all areas he needs minimal phsysical and moderate verbal prompts and has worse trouble with tracking to the right. Hes having alot of trouble with auditory sounds and is hypersensitive to input and constantly says "what is that?" and wants explanations of whtever everything is. He cant filter sounds like the lights buzzing bothers him etc. He needs moderate visual prompting to ignore noises. Has trouble with 2 and 3 word requests-she wants to slowly have him repeat what hes heard and follow directions etc. From classroom observation and input from his gen ed teacher he gets easily overhwlmed and lost in the classroom and doesnt know whats next and is easily overstimulated/on sensory overloadl She said his goals are the same but are revamped. He will cross midline w/out promts and w/out hesitation independently. Will write letters efficiently with use of strokes consistently. Will visually track w/good isolation and head motion. Will demonstrate appropriate response to auditory input in teh classroom and will engage for 3 minutes at a time. She said she will use a sound machine(?) that will get him used to diff sounds while working and listening to instructions at the same time and she will add a noise by noise to it. He will discriminate volume sounds- loud and soft He will folow 2 step verbal instructions w/visual cues/gestures. He will do 3 word verbal requsts/repeat back what was told to him. Shes going to work alot with his vestibular and auditory system together (she said they are interlinked with eachother) to get them to work together and turn (?) a certain way.She was trying to explain something to me i dont really understand it tho. She said she is recommending his services continue with what they are. They are only 30 minutes 1x a week. Should i ask for more? I asked if she is going to include everything she told me in his file and have it included in the meeting tomorrow and she siad yes it is alreay in IEP pro and in the MET report/notes. Im feeling really nervous.They keep switching on me from being very concerned to dismissing things then back to being very concerned! ugh You mean request more time for the meeting or more OT time? My son is high functioning do you think the CARS will catch his autism? What about the ADOS? He was given the GARS-2 already in kindy by his teacher and I and scored as not having autism (My part scored him as having autism but his teachers part scored him as NOT having autism-except possibly in communication), should I ask that he be tested with the GARS-2 again? |
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