parent in the need of some help!

You DO have options. Tell them that it is not an appropriate placement, and refuse to sign off on it. They can’t place her there if you won’t agree. In the meanwhile see if you can find an Educational Consultant who knows both the law and the schools in your area. If you insist/refuse, they have to leave her in your home school. Good Luck. It’s a battle worth fighting. You know your child and you are her best advocate.

According to IDEA and your child’s rights there MUST be other options,”to meet the individual needs of the student” I believe is how it goes.

I would get your independent evaluators reccomendation to NOT place her here in writing,and make sure it becomes part of her ed file. I would then request the principal or whoever is telling you there is no other options to please put there statements in writing.

Where these the statement of having no other options in the arena of an IEP meeting? Or placement meeting? Did you request another placement option?
If yes,then your procedural right is to recieve Prior written notice.
For any propose change in placement or refusal to change placement, there must be prior written notice given to the parent who is an EQUAL participant of the IEP team..

Once the district is held accountable for there statements by requesting them in writing,things start changing and other options are remembered.

Good luck,you do have rights,your child has rights.

As Socks has stated, get it in writing from both the independent evaluator and from the district. Make it perfectly clear that you disagree with the district about this placement option. There is a legal term called “stay put”, which both parent and district will have to hold to. This means the last agreed upon placement is where the child stays until the dispute is resolved; typically this will mean thru mediation and due process. You will need to research and find a good advocate/consultant who knows what they are talking about, but do not leave all the knowledge up to that person. Do not hire the first one you meet, look around and interview at least a few. What the principal is telling you is contrary to the law on multiple levels. Your child’s placement cannot be unilatteraly changed by the school district without an IEP meeting and agreement from you. The district cannot simply make one alternate option available and tell you that is it. It may very well be the district’s only available option from their perspective, but the law is not written in this manner, nor was it intended to be implemented as it was offered to you. A written paper trail and documentation on your part will be very important, so take that seriously and start tracking what is going on. Keep a log book of phone calls, conversations etc., any thing that you question should be followed up with a letter to the person, requesting clarification of what you understood from the conversation, requesting a written response. Keep a separate notebook of all written correspondences etc… Don’t panic, or make any quick moves or decisions, you will need to keep your wits about you, and it will work out ok. Keep asking questions and follow your gut instinct.

Best regards,

Andy

As a member of the IEP team, you have a right to discuss/suggest goals and objectives for your daughter’s IEP that would be more appropriate than a functional skills class.

Call your the organization that assists parents—or call your Protection & Advocacy unit when it gets past the IEP stage.

What state are you in?

http://www.iser.com/CAadvocacy.html

http://www.protectionandadvocacy.com/

http://www.copaa.net/

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/advo.parent.sherrett.htm

There are tons more but this was all I had time for at the moment.

Just an an anecdotal story here -

When my twins were in a college sponsored
co-op preschool we tried a two year experiment
with the school district’s developmental preschool.

We paired the college’s kids with the district’s kids
in a combined preschool. The district’s children ranged
from Down’s Syndrome to cerebral palsy to speech
disabled and one profoundly disabled boy in a wheel
chair who didn’t speak or have any motor skills.

The kids fell together in one happy bunch. They
would walk by their classmate in the wheelchair
and give him a cheery hello.

Overall the teachers saw a real improvement in the
developmental children. They enjoyed our informal
open center setting and thrived in the freedom.

Unfortunately the head teacher couldn’t handle it.
She found the setting too disruptive and couldn’t
get all her IEP goals met. Which I could see how
that would be a problem

And the more active children made her very nervous
and she actually yelled at and scared several children to
‘calm’ them down. We never yelled at children to
change behaviour and this freaked some of the mothers
out. I remember her trying to lift my son off his chair by his hands
so she could haul him into the bathroom and she could wash them after fingerpainting…..

So the program stopped. With a different teacher it
might have gone on.

My feeling is that as the highest functioning child in
the group your daughter’s horizons would be limited.

good luck,
Anne

I’ve seen some great stuff in pre-schools; however, they were inclusionary—having kids w/out disabilities in the mix along w/physically, emotionally, and cognitively challenged students. Some would later be diagnosed w/LD. My son, too, attended such a program and we loved it.

However, we are not talking about an early childhood experience with this mom—unless I misread something or am thinking of the wrong post again. I guess, though, my point is still the same: unless you have children w/out disabilities in the mix, the learning is skewed away from a real-world atmosphere. People with mild to moderate disabilities are not generally stuffed away in some institution for their adult lives unless there is some very, very good reason for it—or someone has made a grave error. We shouldn’t hide them away in school, either. We pull for learning groups in order to meet IEP goals and objectives—and curriculum objectives for the district. We pull when a student is disruptive to others’ learning in the regular classroom. Immediately.

I am a broken record on this one: IEP goals, by law, should drive placement and services…Anything else is a violation of IDEA.

There are also lots of IDEA violations out there that go completely unnoticed. Some are noticed by parents but they don’t know what to do about them. Some are noticed by teachers who hope no one else notices….

Request regular education with daily resource support, don’t back down. She should hang in there, esp. with modifications, etc.

In January we found out she was mildly M.R. The school told us that they didnt have the resources to teach her, that she should go to this living skills class. The teacher of this class was there and I set up a time to go visit this classroom and see the school .We did keep an open mind and went to visit this class and the school.
In june we went for the I.E.P. meeting. The I.E.P. was written up for this class. But, I told them that I wasn’t going to sign anything until the independant evaluation was complete. They said this was fine. I didnt’t have to sign it anyway. I thought this was kinda funny because I had to sign all the other I.E.P.’s
I live in Missouri. The doctor did tell me I should call the State Board of Education in Jefferson City and see what can be done. The doctor has also offered to call and talk to the special education director and explain to her that this will not be good placement. But, did I screw up by letting them draw up an I.E.P. instead of waiting for the independant results?
Also, the conversation I had with the special education director was over the telephone and I have kept notes of the date and times that I have spoken to her and the principal of our home school.

http://www.ptimpact.com/ Missouri Parents Act
http://www.dese.state.mo.us/ Our state department of education

MPACT can also give you a list of for-hire parent advocates. There are some very good ones out there. Some have their disability specialties. I know many of them because I once a parent advocate in Missouri.

When you “sign the IEP” (in Missouri), you are really just signing that you were present and received/were offered the Procedural Safeguards information. You are never giving approval of the IEP. A parent always has Due Process rights, regardless of what one signs at a meeting. Don’t let anyone give you that jazz. Also, you can call an IEP meeting anytime you need one to request changes, etc. That once a year thing is only the minimum…

There are some excellent resources in the St. Louis area—I think you are closest to that area. No?

The journey begins…You seem to have a good case. Go for it!

Could you tell me more about her diagnosis? What was her IQ? Can she read? Also, in many counties, the mild and moderate mentally challenged are in the same class as the LD kids if it is deemed an APPROPRIATE placement. I had two mildly MR kids in my 11th grade English class last year and except having some social issues, they did great academically. They even turned a 3 page research paper at the end of the year. LD classes can be appropriate placements for many of the mild MR. You say she was just diagnosed, what kind of classes was she in for the first 4 years? MRs are usually diagnosed earlier than that. Give me more history on her. What test did they give for adapted behaviors. Is she a problem socially?

Her IQ is 68. Yes she can read . At the end of 3rd grade she was reading at almost a 3rd grade level, now at the end of 4th grade she is at a 2nd grade level. She was diagnosed with learning disabilities in kindergarden. In the 1st grade she was in the resource room for reading, math and speech. In 2nd and 3rd grade they started inclusion where the sp. ed. teacher came in the classroom but, still went to the resource room for 1 hour for reading, 1 hour for math, and 30 minutes of speech. In the 4th grade she had a different sp.ed. teacher. She also went to the resource room for 1 hour for reading and 1 for math. I did not get along with this years sp. ed. teacher. She told my husband and I straight to our face that my daughter can’t do math so she just gave up on teaching it to her because she would never learn it anyway. She also told us that she had to move my daughter to the back of the room away from her and the other kids because she depended on her and them to much to do her work.We couldn’t change teachers because she was the only one there. I think last years problems was a teacher problem. I had mentioned this to the school but all I got was” oh no she is a great teacher”. Needless to say she retired and won’t be there next year.
She was given the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale classroom edition her score was 69 but, they didnt have me fill in the living skills domain, the teacher did and she scored low on it .
Is she a problem socially, no not really. She is a bit inmature than her peers but she gets along with other kids. She is overweight, so she has to deal with that along with the learning differences which is hard for her sometimes. For the most part she does fine.

If she has speech and language issues she would score lower on IQ tests as they are loaded with language. Have you had her hearing checked and her vision? What kind of services did she get with speech? What were her deficits and were they remediated with speech therapy? Does she have any other physical issues that could impact her learning, like hydrocephaly or anything else that we haven’t thought of?? I know I am asking a lot of questions but that is how we can help you by knowing what the facts are and how to resolve the IEP issues in your daughter’s best interests..

What did the independent evaluation give as her diagnosis? The dx of MR is made on dev. history, IQ and adaptive behavior. It sounds like Wendy accepts the dx of MR, the issue is placement. For many students with mild MR their needs can be met in reg. ed. with support for elementary school, but middle school(with increasing academic demands, changing classes many times, etc.) is when many students with MR attend resource rooms.

>>There are also lots of IDEA violations out there that go completely unnoticed. Some are noticed by parents but they don’t know what to do about them. Some are noticed by teachers who hope no one else notices….<<

Been there, done that ;-)

And it was the sped teacher who drew it to my attention.
Wonderful woman, who had both my boys in elementary
school.

Anne

You can totally refuse this placement. Mention the words “due process” if they have any questions. On the other hand if your child is identified as mildly retarded and doesn’t have a program within which to work, she will have a very difficult time academically, socially, and eventually it will be come an emotional problem. Schools are not obligated to develop a program for an individual child if the cost of that program would take away from the larger group. That’s not to say you would not provided services but probably not what is needed by your child. Tough call.

no parental consent - no IEP! It could be used for firewood. Not to worry!

A 68 is certainly not a severe score. I would think that a resource setting for some academics is appropriate. IQ is suppose to be a measure of potential and that means there will be a limit to academic skill development and other skills will need to be introduced if she is going to be an independent functioning adult. I have worked with a mild MR student that really can not “do” math. Anything related to numbers or numerical reasoning are a complete void. I don’t know if your daughter has any of these types of deficits but it is possible. This particular student did well in many other areas. We could have spent valuable time trying to teach him something that cognitively would not have occured or we could build on his strengths to provide as much as possible in his short educational time. We have chosen the later, with the parents support.

This placement is for just one year and then she will go to middle school. I don’t see why they want to put her in a new school for one year and then she will go to middle school.I think this placement will do more harm than good at this point. If she was in 2-3 grade I would not have as much of a problem with the placement but, it is just for one year.I also think that if she had a good teacher in the first place they wouldn’t be wanting to move her to a different school.
As for the accepting the M.R. I am having a hard time.I don’t see it in her. I have cried, screamed, threw things,and cried some more. You name it I have done it. But, that still doesn’t change the test scores and what it shows. I can fight it all I want to but, it is only going to hurt her in the long run. I just want a proper education and she is entitled to it. I just need to know how to go about doing it. I know the school is going to fight me on this. They have told me that I have no options unless I can homeschool and that is not an option for us .I know whith this diagnosis alot of doors open for her and I as a parent need to make sure we go through the proper ones. Sorry I am just rambling but, I have no where else to get these feelings out, none to really talk to about all this.

What kind of services are at her present school? Can she be in pull-out for her academics and mainstream for other things? I can’t believe they mentioned that you homeschool - what a dumb thing for them to say. You might want to contact the director of your sped program. They might want to know about this.

Why do they think she will be successful at the middle school? Do they have services there that better meet her needs? This seems rather strange to me.

The special ed director is the one that mentioned homeschooling to me . I told her that is not an option for us . I have 1 year old twins at home that take up ALOT of time. Yes, I believe she can be pulled out for academics and mainstream the rest of the time and that really all I’m asking for. This child is not disruptive or cause problems .She had always loved school up until the middle of last year.I feel she needs to be around her own age peers reguardless of her academic abilities. As for the the services at the middle school, I don’t know anything about them.
But, I will be checking it out this year before school is out.

One must be sure that they can speak the law as applied through each state’s plan before saying things like this. Like this parent, I am in Missouri. I have a pretty good feel for IEP law in this state as an ex-parent advocate, past President of a parent sped organization, and now-sped teacher. Firewood would not be my choice of terms.

Parent: get an advocate or lawyer. Be sure you’re doing what needs to be done. I’d go for the advocate first and punch that around a bit.

I need to go back and read this stuff about homeschool I’m so tired of schools using that as a cop-out when the don’t want to negotiate a decent IEP.

Statistically speaking, on another day, your daughter might score two points higher and not even be categorized as EMH. It’s just hairsplitting. Your daughter is very educable and can also grow up to be a happy, productive member of society who is a life-time learner. This just isn’t the same as a kid who scores a 50.

There are some terrific advocates out there for children. Please call MPACT. If you get no response, let me know privately. I’ll help you find someone.

The issue of diagnosis is separate from the appropriate program; as you know, diagnosis of MR is more than IQ - developmental history and adaptive behavior need to be assessed. In fact if these were not present and IQ was a bit higher, this student would get no services, as slow learners whose achievement is similar to their IQs are not served as a category under special ed. law(although many schools serve them as LD, then disappoint parents as no “catch up” occurs).

IDEA supercedes any state statue. Parental rights and regs. are clearly listed. Individual states can “increase” the teeth of IDEA but IDEA is the lead.

Yes indeed, it is so interesting and sad because parents are so pleased that their child is finally getting the help they felt they needed and then when academic performance doesn’t improve they climb our case. If LD kids were all we worked with, we could remediate. Unfortunately, these poor slow learners don’t make the progress they think will occur and the parents set unreasonable goals for them to attain. This is probably my greatest frustration - the system not telling the parents the truth about their childs abilities. If you have a slow learner IQ you will need to consider other options other then the college route. Why would we want to set a kid up to fail? I’m sorry, but this is the reality of life and their are many other things they can do that don’t require them to do what is nearly impossible. I deal with so many parents with unrealistic expectations for their children and the kids are the ones who will suffer.

What I understood was that the independent evaluator didn’t agree with the district findings. My own daughter tested in the very low range 71 on verbal when she was younger due to a hearing impairment and poor language skills. That was what I was wanting to clarify to see if something else was overlooked. I have worked with kids in special day classes who had low IQ’s but they weren’t functioning poorly, they were sharp as tacks…and they wanted to learn more than what was being offered to them.

Each state files a plan for federal approval. Every detail is in it. The fed’s say, yea or nay to the plan meeting IDEA. Due process varies state-by-state. Yet, the IDEA law is the umbrella over all. It is just not very simple when one considers every state in the nation.

Some years ago, parents thought if they signed the IEP—school personnel asked for agreement with a signature—that they had “signed away” their rights to disagree. That is not true and neither is the converse. The IEP team may be convened one day later and the battle can begin again. The parent is *one* member of the team. The *team* must agree—but not every member must agree in order for the IEP to be implemented. If the parent is the one disagreeing, due process is offered. Most states also offer mediation.

right,and once a parent decides to file for due process,or mediation the stay put provision can be used. This is the only way to make sure your child’s educational placement remains the previous placement until you can fight it out,on what would be the best placement.This is NOT the initial placement,this would be a change in placement.

Susan is absolutely correct in saying the parents signature only means you were in attendance at the meeting.
BUT,the two things that must have a parental consent before moving forward is evaluation and placement.INITIAL evaluation and placement.

Initial placement can not be completed without a parents consent. In fact the only thing the school can do is file Due process against the parent.

IDEA actually says that the school is accountable to provide FAPE,free and appropriate education, which means if THEY feel the services are needed,and the parent disagrees or refuses to sign permission they MUST by IDEA file due process to protect the child.Which ultimately is the top priority anyway.

three issues:
(1) rights
(2) abilities
(3) *appropriate* placement

Other people have gone into the rights issue — your school system is playing games with you. Don’t take it lying down. Go to the local resources you have been given, check out getting an advocate, and refuse any IEP that does not fit her needs and abilities. You do have the final say, and they cannot say this class or we kick her out.

Abilities: she is educable but will have limits. She *can* read; however from what you said, she regressed this year — this can be bad teaching or bad curriculum or both. Many kids memorize up to a Grade 3 level in a bad memorization-based program, and then fall apart when vocabulary increases past the ability to do it by rote. If this is the case, and it is very common, most kids have to be essentially taught reading all over again. If your daughter is really MR, this will be a long process. But she certainly should be able, with appropriate help, to get up to middle-school reading level and be able to function in society. She is probably not college-bound, and you will want to look at her other abilities and interests and help her find appropriate career training when she is sixteen or eighteen. But that is then and this is now.
I said *if* she is really MR. Considering the incompetence and illegal pressures already shown you, the quality of the testing needs to be questioned too. You should have her checked by experts, not just a general screening, for things like CAPD, vision problems, etc. She MAY (obviously no guarantees) be able to function on a somewhat higher level if some other problems are correctable.

Appropriate placement: the kind of life skills class you mentioned, especially if she is to be the highest-functioning child there, is basically giving up — we can’t teach you academics so we will fill in your time with chores and games. There are some children for whom learning to dress themselves is a real feat, and they do need help. Your daughter is above this level and this classes as a warehousing placement for her. It is totally inappropriate, and being inappropriate, it isn’t legal. (Always assuming you have given us all the facts here! If she has other problems, maybe this is what the tester is using as a guide.) On the other hand, pushing her ahead in an academic curriculum is not going to work; in Grade 6 with a Grade 2 reading level and slow processing, she will be lost. The teacher will be equally frustrated, having to think of the other 25 or 30 students as well. The suggestion given, having pullout a couple of hours a day for academics and then being integrated with the class for other activities, is a reasonable compromise. And in the academics, she should have a known effective reading program; for this age level Wilson is often suggested, although I don’t know it personally. A “more of the same” program copying the ineffective methods of the past five years, especially more memorization, is also not appropriate.
In middle school, there should be LD or adapted classes available — since middle schools draw from a larger population, they can offer more options. If you fight this problem to a standstill this year, then she can go into mkiddle school not being in the dead-end life skills class. You’ll still have fights, but more options.

Another little “ploy” is to label a placement diagnostic or interim. Then stay-put is not in place and it reverts to prior placement.

I’m impressed with your knowledge, socks! Glad you stepped in here.

This parent could get a lot of legal help for free because they wish for a more inclusive placement. I do hope they contact Missouri Protection & Advocacy…

Well thank you Susan. I am equally impressed:-)

Come chat with us at Nethaven:-) We do advocacy on Sunday nights,but we also have a seperate room these days. My states P&A tends to only deal with large groups of students,it’s unfortunate because we need lots of help!

Was the IQ you mentioned the overall IQ or was it only the language IQ versus the performance/visual IQ. My son has a language IQ of 70 but a visual IQ of 110. He has LD, global/finemotor/oral apraxia and ADD.