I am wondering how to know what to ask for for my HS son’s ld/add problems on his IEP. Right now I feel like an unskilled person going into a court room trying to compete against a system that has the most skilled lawyer on their side. I have been reading books, posts, etc. and am getting more and more confused and concerned. What I basically want is for someone to go over his last year’s IEP, help me see where there are problems in it, and what I can do to correct them. I feel my son’s IEP is a very general bland statement with no teeth in it. What I dream for, of course, is the most magnificent IEP ever written. Seeing how that is unrealistic, I just need a “good” IEP. I feel like I have been failing him in not obtaining what he needs. I just don’t seem to know where to start in determining what he needs. He doesn’t seem to know either. He just knows that he is struggling. His self esteem is shot, his motivation is gone, and when he asks for something different like copies of notes, he is told “It wouldn’t be fair. I would have to do that for all the students.” I have tried to get in contact with 3 different advocates in our area, but they are very, very expensive and I don’t have the fee. There is an advocacy center about 30 miles away that teaches about the sped process, but they don’t go over the individual IEPs. Any suggestions on where to go to get help?
A good source for help
There is a group of parent-advocates who provide free services to families in dealing with the schools. These are paid advocates who are trained in helping parents with questions such as IEP’s, but do not charge the families for their help. Every state has at least one chapter. Here is the link for all the chapters:
http://www.fcsn.org/ptis/ptilist.htm
Good luck to you!
Actually ,yes. Come to the Net-Haven chat tonight. Weds is the classroom strategies chat. Thurs. is the advocacy chat. This is a chat where we all get together and help one another with this kind of problem. Parents who have been there,is what we are. Sue is a past resource room teacher and is the resident expert on accomodations,strategies and helps with IEP goals. Check us out,you won’t be sorry.
www.net-haven.net