Ok, Now what.

As a parent you have the right to refuse services at any time. All you have to do is send a letter informing the special education director of your intentions for your son. Special education is totally voluntary and they must accept your decision.

Laurie

Yes, but she is not asking for him to be dismissed, she disagrees with the type of service. That still has to go through the IEP team to be changed.

Linda,

Some of these people amaze me! Obviously consultation service is the least restrictive on the continuum of services. How dare he say they don’t do that? They HAVE to if it is appropriate for a particular child!

I would proabably refuse putting your son through more testing if your intent is to remediate outside the school…which I agree is the best idea. The IEP is good for accommodations and worth keeping for that. But you do not have to test just to chnage the amount of service. We do have to test, I believe, before a child is exited from all services.

Janis

I diagree and would just withdraw from special ed. services; consult doesn’t exist in my district, and I think it sounds useless. If things go down hill, then write a letter requesting an eval. and meeting at that time. Regular ed. is full of accomodations, there’s a huge range of kids in regular ed. from slow learners to very bright. Unless your child is facing the SATs and needs documentation of Ld for accomodations, I’d refuse testing too.

I know they do have children who are in regular ed classes and on an IEP. She kind of backed herself into a corner on that one and said, “We are not here to discuss other children let’s discuss your son.” I said I don’t want information on any other particular child I just want to know if it is done. She has this uncanny way of not answering me when I back her into a corner.

I honestly believe they are trying to fix this teacher through my son’s situation. They are forever meeting with her to discuss issues as the come up but they won’t take him away from her.

Is my next step asking for an IEP meeting and writing on the IEP that Parent’s refuse all services except for consultation. I also would like to write on there that they stop modifying the curriculum unless it is specicfly agreed upon in the IEP. I believe what they are doing is in violation of the IEP.

I get the impression that this teacher presents a one size fits all modification of the curriculum. One thing she does is to rewrite the math questions in his math book to make the language more simplistic. This child scored in the 96% for vocabulary. He doesn’t need simplified language.

I would like him retested after I have exhausted all the remediation available. This testing will be his last and I want it to show his abilities once all of his deficits have been addressed through all of the scientificly available options.

I am considering PACE or audiblox.

Also, she mentioned something about looking at his writing skills by assessing a sample of his in class work. The in class work is terrible. He is a nervous wreck with this teacher who he feels always rushes him to get going while he is trying to collect his thoughts.

Is anyone aware of an objective measure of writing skills?

What you really needed to do was to call an IEP to discuss a possible change of placement. They have 30 days in which to reconve the IEP team. The Pysch. 90 days to test for exit which is not what your asking for. It might still be worth rephrasing your request.

Helen

SAR,

The underlying purpose of consultation is to keep the testing accommodations. Maybe you are not in a state with mandatory high stakes testing, but we are! A person would be a fool to exit an IEP that allowed their child extended time, read aloud, etc. if the child needed those accommodations. (Because if you exit and they need them later they might not qualify!). If someone says “Consultation service does not exist in my district”, I’d say, “Better be hiring a lawyer…you’ll win”. Service ranges from consultation to self-contained (and then special schools). It might be hard to get a self-contained placement for a mildly disabled child, but it shouldn’t be hard at all to get consultation…it costs the district precious little money but keeps the child on their funding list.

Janis

Linda,

Helen pretty much answered this but I’ll confirm what she said. You do want an IEP team meeting to review the IEP. If it were me, I’d just make this the annual review and start over since you are wanting several changes. It doesn’t matter if your child is the very first one, but he CAN be put on consultation. You don’t refuse anything. You start out and say what he DOES need. You do have to have some kind of goal whcih you intend to be met in the regular classroom with at least some accommodations. Otherwise, if there is no goal and no accommodations, then you really couldn’t justify keeping the IEP. Make sure you put the accommodation of extended time for in class writing assignements so that she can’t rush him like that. If he has to finish for homework, so be it.

I’m sorry I am not familiar with many writing tests. Our system uses the WJ-III for all the achievement testing including writing. Plus, we have a state test for writing in fourth and seventh grade.

Janis

The Test of Written Language (I think they are on version 2 or 3 now) is a commonly used measure of writing skills.

My 4th grade daughter has never been on anything but 15 min consult. She was evaluated privately at the end of 1st/beginning of 2nd. She left school early 2x wkly to attend private LMB and OT. We were TOLD at the beginning that we had to be in special ed to get an IEP and services (OTat school). Fortunately, my evaluator told me about 15 min consult only and “parent declines all other services at this time”. I wrote that on the IEP when I signed. That means I ONLY wanted 15 min consult but left it open to change and get more services later, if needed.

They freaked out at school when I did this - I think the 15 min consult is one of their best kept secrets. Personally, I believe it is the way to go. The gen ed and spec ed teachers meet for 15 min 1x/wkly to discuss how my daughter is doing. I provide private one on one tutoring and she is doing great. She gets several accommodations in the classroom. They pull her for the important testing and she remains in the general ed classroom. I’m hoping we’ll stay on 15 min consult through high school.

Yes, exactly what I was talking about, Leah!

I will say that sometimes it is out of pure ignorance that school districts say they “don’t offer” something. A few years ago, academically gifted category was under the special ed. umbrella in our state. My son was in it and was unhappy. Since I did not feel the program was good, I asked for a meeting to take him out of the AG class and place him on consultation instead. That way he could maintain the AG status while not wasting time in an ineffective program. Believe it or not, the AG resource teacher had NEVER heard of consultation placement. Always before, parents had just pulled their kids out of the program altogether because they knew of no other option. So my son was the first (and possibly only) student to maintain AG classification while being served on a consultation basis in our system. Now let me emphasize that the teacher was not trying to deny us this consultation service…she just had to find out that it was possible. It pays to know the rules!

Janis

In Mass. we do have state tests but they are largely untimed. In Mass. you qualify for an IEP and special ed. if: you meet the fed. definition, aren’t making progress in reg. ed. because of the disability and NEED special ed. services. Special ed. isn’t supposed to be a life sentence, students can and do leave.Consultation from the reading teacher,or psych are part of reg. ed.

SAR, I also agree with your points. Bottom line, if a child is remediated and on grade level and no longer needs any accommodations, then there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to remain on an IEP. So only Linda can answer that question…does he need extended time on tests, study guides, or any other accommodation to stay on grade level and make progress? If she wants no accommodations, then she should exit him with the realization that he may never requalify if he has a difficult high school course where he would need accommodations. If she thinks he would need testing or other classroom accommodations, then he needs to remain on the IEP. I was making an assumption from reading her post that the direct special ed. service was worthless, but he might still need accommodations (not modifications).

Technically, special ed. consultation would involve the special ed. teacher making sure the teachers were aware of the accommodations and that the child was progressing in the regular classroom using them. She should also make recommendations of additional accommodations as situations arise or at least give suggestions as to how the child might be more successful in class. That is different from casual consultation provided by just any staff member.

That is very interesting that the Mass. are untimed. I don’t see how in the world they manage that! Ours are all timed.

Janis

nt

You’re right, but sometimes it gets so tiring trying to do my job and the school’s job too!

Our daughter blazed a frontier like your child, in that she was one of the one dyslexic children who attended the gifted program. They try to tell most parents you have to be one or the other (at least in our county). She attends gifted resource (unfortunately only 1 day a week), and loves it. She uses a computer, etc.. It was unheard of and they actually tried to “encourage” us to leave in 2nd grade “…because you know, she can’t copy from the board either…”. I raised a stink and am glad I did.

Hi Linda,
I don’t have much to add (there’s a lot of good information already in these posts), but you’ve given me a lot to think about.

We have an IEP meeting in two weeks and from the posts here I’m now realizing how important it is to be really aware of the programs that that school has and how effective they may be (as if that’s easy to do!).

Thanks for sharing this. I wish you luck in getting the situation resolved.

Linda,

Your child has the right to what is called a Continium of services. That is from the least restrictive enviroment possible to the most restrictive enviroment possible. As a matter of fact YOUR local educational agency has agreed to offer this in return for funds. Funds given from YOUR state educational agency,who agreed to provide this in order to recieve funds from YOUR federal government.

An IEP DOES NOT mean a Individual educational plan.It MEANS an individual educational PROGRAM. A program that offers whatever specialized instruction,accomodations,or SERVICES needed. If one of those services happens to be consultation for 15 minutes daily with the sped teacher,then this is a DECISION made by the IEP TEAM.
The school psych DOES NOT have the authority to deny your child ANYTHING. This is a decision to be made by the IEP team. YOU,YOU,YOU are an equal participent of the IEP team. For this person to tell you they do not offer this is denying you the opportunity to be an equal participent. I would request IN WRITING this statement made by the school psych. I would not agree to allow any evaluations to be done. This has NOTHING to do with what services the IEP TEAM determines is appropriate for your child.

I would STOP talking,I would insist on a written response,PERIOD. What they are telling you is violating your child’s rights and yours.

Now,with that being said,I know how you feel about who and where the intensive remediation for your child should take place. I KNOW you feel that you should provide this at home. I KNOW you feel sped hasn’t given your kid dittly so far. Guess what my friend,it hasn’t, and it won’t as long as we parents let it go,let them do as they wish. If you do not do this for your kid,do it for the kid sitting next to him who doesn’t have the Mom yours does. I understand why you are asking for reg ed placement,I think you should pursue this,but in the same breath I think you should be asking,IN WRITING why,and when are they going to hold the special education system in your school, accountable for the lack of appropriate expectations,appropriate services,appropriate remedial efforts,an APPROPRIATE edu-freakin-cation!!!! Okay,I feel better now.

Request an IEP meeting,request regular ed placement,be VERY clear as to why you are asking for this,show documentation of what your child is missing and having to deal with,if they tell you this is NOT possible,that they don’t offer this,then INSIST they provide you with a WRITTEN explantion…
I would also request IN WRITING, why the need for another evaluation.

////

He is in third grade. We have not yet endured the state tests. This is the main reason I want to keep him classified for now.
He tests well on short tests, like spelling tests and short math tests. He did great on the test of math facts because it was a page of all addition then another page of all subtraction etc. He gets 100 on every spelling test with about 10 minutes of study time.

He does poorly on tests that involve alot of information. He got a 56 on the math placement test that was done in the beginning of the year. They are basing all his modifications on that grade. When I saw the test, I knew he knew most of the answers. This was evident also, because he got hard questions like 3 digit addition right and easier single digit questions wrong.

So, I do think he will need some accomodations during the state tests. He needs to have less information on each page and he needs to have some tests read to him. He needs more time. I might even ask that he be tested over several different intervals because he does really well on short tests.

Thing is, he doesn’t need modifications to the curriculum and he doesn’t need more reteaching of things he knows just because he got an answer wrong on a test. I think any thinking person who really looked at all his work and spent 5 minutes talking to him about what he knew would see that.

The word rigid comes to mind.

Janis, thanks for helping me to see how he might be affected when it comes time for the state tests. Thanks to everyone. You people are the best!

Thanks Helen. That is exactly what I plan to do. I am also writing on the IEP that modifications to the curriculum should not be used unless specified in the IEP. There is a line in his IEP that says, “Teacher may modify curriculum as needed.”
I will hand deliver the letter requesting the IEP tomorrow.
I plan to take the IEP and write on it that parents are refusing sped services except for 15 minute consult and occupational therapy during the meeting. (Anyone want to be a fly on the wall for that.)

I also plan on telling her that she may do a gray oral reading test and test his writing suggesting the test Rover suggested. (Thanks by the way.) I will also ask her to assess his math abilities by reading him the placement test that was done in the beginning of the year. I want them to really ascertain his true abilities. I don’t think this particular sped teacher is capable of assessing his abilities. ( Not that I would ever say that.)
I will state that I refuse any testing that will put his IEP in jeopardy and explain that he will need accomodations in the future related to his visual motor deficits. I will also supply information I found that explains that children with visual motor deficits do not test well and methods available for accomodating this weakness.

I will be sure to cc her boss and her bosses boss.

One other thing. I will write in tomorrow’s letter that I want to clarify our conversation where she refused to take him out of in class support despite my request. I worked in the highly litigous medical field. My boss told me early on to clarify conversations in writing when there is any possiblity of liability. It was good advice. You would be surprised at the number of people who changed their tune when they were confronted with a paper trail that could be referred to at a later date.

Thanks again everyone.

Socks,

Good advice! I plan on clarifying our conversation in writing. The original request went to her her boss and her bosses boss. She may not know the law but I am quite sure one of these people will wake up when they get my clarification about what she said to me and tell her she CAN’T DO THAT. I will ask her to clarify this in writing to me so that I have it on record what was actually said.

I am glad you mentioned the part about this type of decision being made by the IEP team. She should not refuse without the input of the entire IEP team.

Ok, what if the IEP team does not agree. Oh, wise one of sped laws, then what do I do. Do I ask for mediation? Is that the next step? If I refuse services do they have to take me to court or I them.
If I write on the IEP that I refuse services do they have to honor it.

I agree about them getting there act together, for all the kids, not just mine.

I talk to other Moms and they seem to have no idea what is going on. I spoke to a Mom today at my son’s football game who is in another class. She didn’t have any idea what is going on.
I think she has a better teacher. I think even in a district that does not uphold the law, the right teacher can make all the difference.

The few boys that are placed with my son are as follows; 2 boys who are extremely disruptive, one has been known to be physically violent the other steals things, another boy whose lives in a welfare hotel and whose working mom can barely scrape the resources to feed her child never mind worry about his IEP. This boy is very sweet. He breaks my heart whenever I see him.

I think they know this teacher is a problem. I think they are using my situation to fix her. (I am micromanaging everything and I think they think that is just great. I actually sat next to her in a meeting and calmly told her not to yell at my son.)
I think they chose the children in her class very carefully. I think that is one of the reasons they don’t want a change.

Linda,

If they seem to be disagreeing with your placement recommendation, very kindly tell them that you know they all want to help your child and you are glad they care about him, but as his mom, you strongly feel that since you are helping him at home, you would very much like to try consultation service at this time. It is not necessary to write “parent refuses other services”. I see no need to put something negative like that in there. The document is to tell what services the child WILL receive. That statement is only appropriate, in my opinion, when the parent wishes to remove a child from special education entirely and the committee disagrees. Then the committee would want it documented that the parent made the choice to remove the child from services.

If they still disagree and refuse to budge (which I have almost NEVER seen happen in a case where the parent is asking for LESS service), then very kindly say you are very sad but you will have to speak to your attorney about due process. That usually will take care of it. But I’d be very surprised if they give you trouble. It’s when parents ask for too much that they have a hard time! Please let us know what happens!

Janis

Linda,

Sounds good except for the following “I will state that I refuse any testing that will put his IEP in jeopardy”. I don’t think you want to say that because it is their job to assess if he has a descrepancy or not and to not do the tests they think they need to do would go against IDEA. It is better for you to specify test like the TOWL that will show his areas of disability. When my younger son was in 4th grade I asked for the TOWL and a test that picked up his problem with reversals showing a big, big deficit. Had I not asked for the TOWL they might have wanted to push him out. I fought that battle in 5th and now in 9th he is still in. At this point I like having a case manager who is responsible for trouble shoting accommodations rather then my having to do it.

Also give thought to accommodations. If the Spec. Ed. teacher has been doing modifications do you have a clear idea how he would perform without the modifications? Give this some thought. You can always call another IEP to add additional accommodations if needed.

Helen

Janis,

I have said exactly that several times and written it once. I honestly think that it is possible that this psych doesn’t know the law. I think she thinks that in order to take him out of in class support he needs to be tested. She keeps saying that.

I will clarify my position again in writing and clarify what I believe her position was based on her conversation. I think when the higher ups get wind of what is going on they will tell her to back down.

Even if she may be enjoying our almost constant tit for tat, I am quite sure the sped director, head of pupil service and principal don’t want to be constantly reminded of this little issue.

PS. I have been extremely respectful, and professional. I intend to remain that way. I refuse to be seen as the crazy emotional Mom. I have a goal and damn it I will make it happen.

She doesn’t realize the caliber of people I have had to deal with in my past profession. I was pretty good at outsmarting some pretty smart people.

I think he will do fine without modifications but with certain accomodations. He is actually a very quick study. His biggest deficit is in expressing what he knows in written form. He also has some difficulty with visual skills. An example of this is if you ask him where the capitals go, he will tell you without hesitation. When he writes, he rarely uses capitals. He doesn’t need to be taught, again, where the captals go. He needs to be taught to self correct. This is a hard skill to teach when the teacher modifies everything and helps you with way too much. (He is the one that says she helps him too much.)
He can do math problems in his head and when the same problems are presented on the page he gets them wrong. I think accomodations that allow him to be tested under circumstances that will allow him to truely express his abilities, ie oral tests, tests with less information on the page etc will meet his needs.

The modifications have been really low. He was doing harder things last year with ease. The way this goes, is that if he continues to get these modifications, his skill and confidence level will move to the point where he will actually need them.

I think the part I don’t understand is what role this psychologist plays at this school. Ours tests. Period. I do not even understand placement discussions with the psychologist. They are not educators. Their job is to test and explain the results. It is up to the team: administrator, regular ed. teacher, special ed. teacher(s), and parent to determine what services the child needs. If it were me, I’d never have another discussion with this person alone. Obviously, she/he doesn’t know what he is talking about in relation to the continuum of placements or rules regarding testing. We have to re-test if we want to change category (ex: developmentally delayed to LD) or if we want to exit from special ed. The other time to discuss testing is prior to the third year re-eval date and the team decides whether any formal tests are necessary. A child can certainly change from self-contained to resource, or resource to consultation, etc. without re-testing. The goals each year inititate the discussion as to what is the least restrictive placement that can best help the goal be achieved. As I’m sure Socks also said, this person has no authority to do anything alone. All you have to do is request the IEP team meeting and discuss the change in placement. Surely someone knows about LRE better than this psychologist! (Do you have to go through the psychologist to request a meeting? Is that the problem?)

Janis

A couple of things;

They can not change placement without your consent. They can not evaluate without your consent.

If you sign that you disagree with the services,they can go ahead and provide them and you would have to file either due process or mediation to envoke what is called a stay put provision,which means no change would take place until a judge decided what would be best for your child. ( legally the school is obligated to provide services,and provide them without the parents wishes if they feel the parent is wrong,this is because if they didn’t this would be a denial of FAPE) ( I know it sounds crazy,it is)

BUT the school,the IEP team is obligated to MAKE sure you understand why they want to do what they want to do,or the IEP process,SOOOO if you kept saying,”okay so explain to me again?”, Why does my son have to remain in a more restrictive setting?,Please provide to me in writing why this is so? Provide to me data,classroom assignments,teacher data,yadda yadda yadda.
In other words the way to outsmart them is to act dumb. I don’t understand,I am just a parent,you must make sure I understand,in order for me to be an equal member. Document them to death,keep asking for explanation,keep the IEP unfinnished,until they finally give up and give you what you want. Think about it, how stupid would it be,like Janis says above, to provide more then what the parent wants? It would never make it to due process.

Hey you asked about the sped laws,I’m just giving them to you..

The best way to advocate for your kid is to require documentation,proof that what they are doing is better then what you want them to do. However you want to do this,go for it,there is obviously more then one way to skin a cat.

Keep talking to these parents,explain exactly why you are getting your kid out,the TRUTH is never wrong,even if someone accuses you of being a crazy and emotional parent.

We ran into a psychologist who felt it was his business to do Freudian analysis on my daughter. It was not the job he was asked to do, but it was what his training had taught him and he had an urge to feel useful. We had quite a fight against this and she had a rough year working against the teacher who was obeying the psychologist’s dictate to separate her from me. Yes, it’s wrong, and yes, it happens.

She is his case manager. The last IEP meeting consisted of her, the teachers, my husband and myself.

I think I will make sure that the next IEP meeting consists of people who have a clue. I will ask the sped director to attend and the head of pupil services. It has been my experience that the principal stays out of sped issues.

I think the dirty secret that I am uncovering is that they run inclusive classrooms as though they are 2 classes. A sped class and a reg class; there just are no walls. My son has very little to do with the regular ed teacher, even though he really connects with her when he does deal with her. I think she is a gem of a teacher. She is kind, and really knows her stuff.

The sped teacher said my son was a sight reader. I guess she wasn’t aware that I drilled him in phonographix for 6 months until he had perfect phonemic awareness. She really struck me as someone who did not understand children. She does surprise inspections of the kids desks, if they are not neat and tidy they get a punative coin placed on their desk like a scarlet letter.

I will absolutely ask them why they are denying him a less restrictive setting. I will let them know that I can’t see any indication that he needs it from anything that was presented especially when he verbalizes that he doesn’t want it.

I like the tact of putting them in a position to prove rather than the position they are trying to push which is that he needs to test out, to get out.
Thanks.

Boy George,I think she’s got it! Good Luck my friend ,and keep me posted:-)

In my state, if you don’t qualify for special ed. because you don’t need services, but you have a handicapping condition, you can get a 504. What is the advantage of staying in special ed. if you don’t need or want services?

I think he may or may not be remediated to the point where, based on testing, he may not qualify.

The problem lies in the fact that he does not test well. He understands way more than he can communicate on paper. This is of concern because we are about to experience mandated state tests for the first time this year. I am concerned that he would not test well and some administrator would see that as as a reason to hold him back. This would be devastating.

Depending on the type of testing that was done and the testers slant on things, (remember the tester is the same person who I have been having a hard time with. I think she has an incentive to get him off an IEP because she knows I know my rights and may not want to deal with this anymore.) he may not qualify. We have done alot of hard work to get him to this level but, he needs a few more things. He is on the border. I think the first step is to have him move to the regular ed class and experience the regular curriculum without modifications but keep certain accomodations such as untimed tests etc. If he does well there, then tests well on the state mandated tests I am all for having him completely removed from sped.