Qualifying For Extended Year Services

Amber
I’m sorry I cannot answer your question, but am very interested in what the answer is. I am also wondering what Multi-sensory reading tutoring is, as I think it’s what we need. I am trying to write an assessment plan to include developmental vision eval (in order to get vision therapy) and independent reading eval. but don’t know how to write this. Any thoughts?
Karen

Amber I don’t have the answer to the question either. I do know that on 9 May in Naperville there is going to be a conference to discuss the new IEP, Extended school year, and some other topics. I think the message is on the general announcement board. Does you district have summer school available? I know that in my district #90 that they have summer school for those children struggling in basic skills. This summer school is based on teacher recommendation. Have you asked the school if they have such a program? The one in this district is not common knowledge I just found out because I asked a straight forward question. They also have out of district placement for students who require more intense instruction. The out of district placement is determined by the IEP team. Hope some of this information helps. Good luck to you and your child.

I am in NJ and just got turned down for esy. My son meets all the requirements except regression. I am told that since he would not fall back far enough he is not eligible. My son is 10 and has apd along with phonological problems with reading. I was hoping in gettin him some help so that reading would not be such a struggle for him . But no luck. I have not given up yet as I have another meeting to discuss this.

lisa in NJ

I used the web engine yahoo to search using the words “iep goals” and about 4 sites came up. I learned something on each site, and the most comprehensive site was www.geocities.com/~kasmom/samples/goals.html. It had written goals for a variety of areas. Look at all the sites that come up with iep goals for a search. I copied and pasted the goals from the websites into a word document so I would have a draft to work with to modify the goals to fit my son’s areas of development.
I asked each of the specialists my son has been evaluated by and each specialist who is providing outside services to help me by writing goals specific to the areas they are working with him on. No matter what point you are at with your child, I recommend getting an outside evaluation by a psychologist (ask around for good ones), and the psychologist will make recommendations in his/her report as to what other evaluations you should have done. School psychologists are swamped and if the findings/tests qualify within the parameters for the services your child needs they probably will not do testing on their own and accept yours. In addition, contact your insurance company before getting the evaluation because they may require pre-certification (especially if you are going to a child psychiatrist for ADD ADHAD evaluation).
The following are the folks I have on my advocacy team. Feel free to call them and ask for recommendations for where to go in your city/state. At least this should give you a start as to the type of people to have on your team. My son is dyslexic, and being evaluated for ADD (we’ll probably try meds).
Michael McCanna PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Northfield, IL (847) 501-3440 Fax: 847-446-7185 (In his practice is another PhD who specializies in dyslexia testing). They did approx. 8 hours of testing my son.
Zier and Associates , Libertyville, IL (847) 573-9486, OT Therapy (my sonn has issues with bilateral movements, craves vestibular movement.
Dr. Neil Margolis, Prventive/Developmental Optometry ( my son gets vision therapy once a week, he has issues with tracking along a page, number grids are a nightmare for him to follow, we do vision exercises most days with him at home, a baseline evaluation was done and every 6th visit there is an update to his progress).
Sara Mauk, Chicago, IL paralegal, first year law student, mother of two LD kids, her husband has his own law practice, she serves as an advocate (773) 262 2199.
You may want to loop in your pediatrician, sometimes it helps with insurance reimbursement when you have your pediatrician write out a script for therapy.
Raviania Reading Center, Systematic Multisensory Instruction, Holly Shapiro PhD, Orton-Gillingham Fellow„ Highland Park, IL (847) 433-5878 press 0 to get past the prompts. (having reading and math instruction with this group is our number one priority for our son because he needs remediation).
If due process is necessary to get what my son needs we will utilize a lawyer that knows the school systems in my area, Brooke Whitted ESQ (847)564-8662.
We also need to get my son tested for central auditory processing issues, and it takes about 3 months to get an appointment with the best one in the CHicago-are Jeananne Ferre in OakPark, IL.
Hope these thoughts help you!

Yes, there is summer school in my lake County school district.
However, it’s not appropriate for what he needs.
He needs one-on-one , intense remediation in an Orton-Gillingham method.
Just because a child gets qualified for extended services does not mean you have to follow their suggestion of going to summer school.
I know that 2 sessions a week at the Ravinai Reading Center in Highland Park will be more beneficial than the 5 days of summer school curriculum they offer in a group setting.
Thanks for your thoughts.

Thank you

My son would not benefit either from the summer school that the district offers. His team has even said that the “regular” summer school would be more frustrating to him then beneficial. They have recommended an out of district summer school placement for him. My son falls on the autism spectrum and the regular summer school does not have any support services. His IEP team feels that he needs all the special services he receives throughout the school year. The program he will be attending is just in the next town over and they provide transportation. This arrangement will allow him to continue to receive his speech/language therapy, his social skills training, and his direct reading instruction. The area we live in has good services for children who fall on the autism spectrum. The scope of programming is very broad, some kids are serviced in their local school in a mainstream class, the students with the most severe form of the disorder go to Pathfinder school in Belleville or the Illinois School for Autism in Fairview Heights. There are also self contained classrooms in each district for the children who fall in between. When it comes to other forms of learning disabilities though they seem to have a harder time figuring out placement for students but they do try.

Thank you very much for your assistance 2 months ago. My son’s IEP meeting resulted in “the team” qwualifying him for Extended School Year, and he will start at the Cove School in Northbrook, IL for special help with his dyslexia learning disability. My husband and I are thrilled he will get the help he needs! He will be tkaing a 45 minute cab ride out of his regular school district each day. Thanks again for your help!