IEP and Special Education Class

Kim I am fighting with my daughter school about my daughters placement too. And the first suggestion I got was to conntact an advocy group for her. This is helping a lot. The advocate I was assigned has helped me to understand her iep and is helping me with the problems at school. This is a place to start. Also just so you know your child will pick up other children’s behavior good and bad no matter where he is placed.

You have a long fight here.

Look for old posts on this website by socks —she works with this kind of thing and knows what she is talking about.

There is a website called Wrightslaw that tells you everything you need to know about your legal rights (assuming you are in the USA.)

There is an official legal policy (in the USA) that your child should be in the Least Restrictive Environment. This means that if he is capable of working in a regular classroom, the school CANNOT shuffle him off to a self-contained special ed class all day. Unfortunately, some school boards get away with a lot of illegal moves because parents don’t know what’s going on until too late.

You also have a right to get him tested, and to have it done within a reasonable amount of time. The time starts after you send a written request to the school.

Keep copies of all letters to and from the school, and get EVERYTHING in writing. Your school has already proved that they are dishonest and untrustworthy and not interested in your son’s progress, so don’t take anything else from them on faith, period. Try to work with them on an adult and responsible and professional level, but don’t let them put you down either.

While you are fighting for rights, your child also needs to be taught the material he has missed, first and most important reading, and then math skills.
Once you get your feet on the ground, email me for info on how to teach reading effectively.

My email is [email protected] — save it for future reference.

…these kinds of posts (from Kim) are exactly why I originally posted my first message: “scared about evaluation”. This poor woman sounds like her child has been mislabeled and given inappropriate, even detrimental services…and you said it all when you said there was “a long fight ahead.”

I am just beginning the process with my school, and it sounds like I can not just relax and let the school “professionals” do their job (which they should, in theory. Imagine hiring a CPA to do your taxes: you would expect to have him/her do it correctly & well without your constant checking and intervention .)

Furthermore, the parent is outnumbered (my evaluation and planning meeting will have myself “versus” 6 school employees. I have since arranged to bring a well-spoken advocate with me, so they don’t pull a “Kim” on me.) :) :)

Judy.

Education is a state and local issue and posts like this are upsetting because they contain few details like diagnosis of the student(LD, MR or other), age of the student, and state and city of residence. What applies in one state and for one student may not apply to your child. In my town/state(in central Mass.), there are no resource rooms…they use full inclusion for all but the most severely multiply handicapped students and there is also no gifted program, so all students of all levels are in class together. To get the most useful responses, try posting as “looking for help from other parents in Ohio(or wherever)”. Good luck.

Thank you for all the replys. My son is in LD in a MS and MSS class. He is 8 years old we live in Dallas, Georgia. He was introduced to reading this year,because they did not write it in his IEP like they did not write that he should be in half regular class and half special ed. Not this time I’m going to make sure I get things in writing. I think they evaluated him before he took the vision test and got his glasses. I know that he will pick up behaviors where ever he is, but these behaviors can effort the way he thinks he is suppose to be. We can correct his behavior if he hits some one or says things he should not, but that’s not what he is doing. My son does not have down sydrome and I don’t want him to start thinking he does. There are seven children in this class 5 of the children have down sydrome, one is mildly retarted and then there’s my son. I have had blinders on all this time, but no more. I found out that if your child is being evaluated by the school and does not pass the hearing and vision test they are to pay for you to take him to a doctor outside the school system. That’s a federal law. I also found out that I can bring a recorder to our meetings, which I’m going to do. That I do not have to sign the evaluation papers that day, that I can take them home and look them over. If there’s something on it that we do not like and want to change then we can go back to the school and have them change it. I’ve learned that it’s good to do your own evaluation of your child before the meeting. I do not understand IEP’s the words that they use in the IEP meetings. I want some help in finding out what the law is on IEP’s how to get what we want for our child, to make sure that it’s in writing this time too. There’s a program called Parents To Parents which has helped me more than anything I have called on with the state. They assign a parent to you that calls you and helps you. So far I’ve been missing my Parent to Parent, but I’m going to try him again tonight. I was told that it was a good idea to get my son’s school records and compair old IEP with the new ones. I’m trying to learn everything I can so I can go in there with both burrels. I read some of Socks comment as recommend. I have tried the advocate office they just gave me advise and sent me a booklet. The booklet has been informative. I hope I cleared some things up for everybody. I just need help to know how to help my son. I feel really helpless and dum. It’s really hard because I’ve just been diagnose with heart problems, so I’m in the middle of that too. I need to get that settled, because my son needs me. We as parents is all our children have, because it sure does not look like the teacher or school board want to help our children. Which is really sad. I’m not the only parent in my son’s school that is dealing with this. I respect teacher, because there are some who go the extra mile for their student not because it’s their job just because they care about the children doing better and learning what they need to know. That’s why they became teachers.
Thank you for helping if anybody else has any ideas, knowledge, sites that can help me please write me.
Kim

You are on the right track. Try to stay calm. If you get upset at the school they write you off as hysterical, so it doesn’t do any good. And your child does need you. Take it easy and one step at a time.

Of course you want help for him now, and of course the sooner the better. But he is young, and you do have time. Just keep working on it bit by bit.

Try to get in touch with socks of you can — she is very knowledgeable about just this kind of thing.

Your Parent to Parent setup sounds useful — keep trying on that, and if you don’t get through, try to get assigned to another person.

Remember there are always options. One is switching schools. If you don’t have money for a private school, as most of us don’t, there is the serious but often effective option of moving to a better district.

I agree totally that a class with five Down’s syndrome and one other MR kid is probably not the place for an LD kid. The teacher also probably just doesn’t have time or facilities to deal with your son.

Remember that the goal is to get him learning. It’s easy to lose sight of that goal in all the political wrangling. Over the summer, you or a tutor can teach him to read using effective methods and solve that problem at least. Get in touch with me later about how.

Curious as to how the special needs children fare. Would you please share?

hey Kim:-)

I am really sorry for being tardy,had the hardest time getting on this board the last couple of days?

Sounds like the school system has been putting you and your kid through the mill.

You are sooo smart for getting involved with parent to parent. I also know an advocate in the Atlanta area.

We were told by a neulogist that nothing was wrong with our son, but he had a speech delay. We went to the school dictrict before he started school for help that was recommended to us by a friend. They put him in a special education class said that he has MID.

Did the Neurologist do an evaluation? Do not get me wrong,but a LOT of physicians have the very same ignorance when it comes to kids having a learning disability,that other people do. It is possible he needs help ,but not a closed setting.Seems like if they don’t know what the heck is going on,they just can’t come out and say that,know what I mean?( I am a nurse,I’m allowed to say this!)
What does MID stand for?

He is in a class room with children who have down sydrome, and retardation. We feel like this is hurting him more, but can not get the school system or teacher to see it. He is picking up chartactized from these children and acting like this at home, but not at school.

He has the right under IDEA to be educated in the least restrictive enviorment possible.AND educated along side their nondisabled peers as much as possible,not the other way around! If they didn’t put this in his IEP,then they actually violated IEP procedures,because IDEA also says they must put in the IEP how many hours he will be with disabled peers and how many hours he will be with nondisabled peers. If they didn’t put this in the IEP then they screwed up.

I don’t understand or can not read his IEP’s We were told when they first put him in special ed that he would do half of the day in regular class and half in special ed, but found out this year for the last 3 years he has only been doing 45 minutes of regular class. They kept him back in kindergarden said he was not ready. He is in first grade this year, but have not seen any first grade lessons come home. Have gone to watch him during class he gets done before the other children and sits there looking bord wanting to help the other children to get done and eager to get to the next project. His teacher said she has never notices that, but was busy helpping other children a long with her assitance.

YOU are an equal member of the IEP team. In order for you to participate equally they MUST make sure you understand EVERYTHING. If nothing else the IDEA is very clear on this. If they have to stay twenty days and twenty nights on the IEP meeting in order to do this ,then by god they MUST.( I sometimes tell parents to tell them you don’t undertand,if you do not agree with the IEP,because this is the ONLY reason they can not legally continue,if the parent doesn’t understand!)

How can my child go to the next level of school if he is not being taught what he needs to know for the grade he is in?

Damn good question Mom.. I believe I would ask the school this one.

Where can I go to find out about IEP’s understanding them, getting help for my son to bring him up to the grade level, if this school eviroment is not right, how to get him into another classroom,

This board is a great place to start. I have a webpage you might be interested in http://expage.com/socksandfriends

They can’t legally change his placement without your signature

The very first thing I would do is request a full complete copy of his educational records. I would look real close at the eval. I would be asking the school to show you were he has made progress,and if they cant do this then I would be asking them to start looking for a more appropriate educational placement,because you will be calling an IEP meeting to discuss other educational placements for your son. If the eval is fresh,I would then request an Independent evaluation at the school districts expense. They can not deny your request verbally,through a letter,or any other means,unless they take you to court,so do not allow them to tell you otherwise. They want the specific regulation on that, we’ll be glad to give it to them:-) Basicly it is much cheaper to pay for your private eval,then it is to go to court,so as long as you hold strong they will go ahead and pay for it.

Hang in there,we’re loaded for bear,and your among friends. Got to go get my heathens from school now. Feel free to email mehow far is Dallas from the Florida line? I am in Tampa.

Nawakwa,

I replied to you on your e-mail, but I don’t think it went though. What I see with my son and hear with other parents Special Ed children do not fare very well most of the time. If you have a child who is going to need special ed I recommend you to read up on IDEA, the law, IEP’s, evaluation. Keep writing to this site. Talk to Socks. Every state is different, but it also has to go by federal law too. It upsets me to know how these children are done. If the state, federal government, and city did their all for the disability wheather children or adult that might have found that they were the ones they needed to fix a problem or come up with a solution. Holding these children back holds back what ever possiblities they have. I believe everyone is here for a reason if we do not help each other especially children we are missing out on great things. I have gone 3 years with trusting the school system and teacher to find out that they are not doing a THING to help or improve my son. Well honey, no more. I want my son to have the best he deserves to be able to do whatever any child can do and do it better. My son is smart everyone who knows him will tell you the same, but the school does not want to see that. Why? I have no idea. I hope I have helped you.

I’m sorry I have been replying back to all of you on your e-mail addresses. Socks, I would really like to know about the advocate you know in Atlanta. It may be to late for the meeting, because it’s this coming Friday. In the evaluation that determined his placement said that his IQ score was 60 the one that they just did said it was 54. I wish I could sent you these papers. I looked though his last years IEP and this years. He is still doing things that they said he mastered last year, but this year he is not. I have read alot of things I hope I will remember them. That’s what I’m doing today is going back and making notes. I read where they can let him go to summer school. But last year I was told he did not qualify for summer school. I’m going to suggest that this year. I think he needs some more help with regular school studies. I’m taking a recorder to the meeting to record everything said. This meeting the asst. principal, the director of special education along with the ones who usually come. I must have upsetted someone for these two people to come. They never have before. We printed out this studen profile to do on our son. I hope I am ready for this. I’m just afraid of making things worse for my son. Several people have suggested instead of moving to another district just to put him in another school in our county. We are seriously thinking about doing that. My husband and I have decided that we are not signing anythng until we understand what we are signing and that’s it’s right for our son. If anyone has any suggestion or help PLEASE let me know. I’m sorry about not writing my replys on this site. I hope the ones that I wrote to did get my replys. You all have been wonderful and I look forward to talking to you more. Have a wonderful day.
Kim