I’ll post this to parenting ADHD too.
Had an IEP meeting for dd end of May. Rejected what they proposed and have another one coming up. DD is classified OHI for ADHD - originally on language-based issues (phonological processing deficits then writing). All scores look fabulous now, she has come so far.
Here’s where it gets dicey:
The school wants declassification with support (originally they proposed preferential seating only as support!!!). This year her official status was ‘classified’ but they had ‘transitional indirect services 1X/month’ listed on the IEP.
The last three school years in addition to all of the substantial early intervention (school and private) she has been on meds. This was her first school year w/ no reading/math pull-outs or RR. We now have to change meds and to date few beyond the one she is on has worked - so am potentially facing no meds. As many of you may have figured by my posts, I am very much pro-meds, but if in mine and her doctor’s judgement, meds may not be viable for her I want her protected - my/her business not the school’s but could very much affect her in school. This is an extremely dicey area.
To date, our strategy with her has been aggressive early intervention, ensure positive supportive environment and err on the side of caution with the legalities of sp ed.
But I am always *banging* my head against the wall with the sp ed committee. For example, just had to argue to retain her spelling mods (for a remediated dyslexic ADHD’er!) - her private tutor and even the principal were in disbelief. So three years of scarring from battling the committee, I have baggage which I am putting aside but yup it’s in the back of my mind.
I think all the modifications will be OK. But am concerned about protection for the what if’s. Bearing in mind the amount of head banging involved, I’m trying to weigh the benefits of:
- Keeping her on ‘transition’ for one more year. This will be an uphill battle with them. Her tutor said the school messed up last year and should have more clearly stated transition in the classifcation status on the IEP form. She suggested keeping transition one more year just to be sure - to her a ‘no brainer’ and reasonable, to my school it will be a major.
or
- Accepting declassification.
Any comments?
Re: Sp Ed 'Transition'/ADHD Legal?
In answer to your question is it legal.
In essence yes. Anything that is determined in an IEP meeting is a team decision. This includes you. I believe that you have a very good handle on why you feel concerned about declassifying. As you stated above, explain this to the team. No reason that the team couldn’t agree to disagree. Possibly develop a interim IEP for the first two months of school or a full school term etc. This way if there are problems developing you will be able to make a determination on what she might need.
Just a thought,on how you could do it.
Now with that being said,no reason you couldn’t develop an IEP for OHI and retain resource on a consult basis. Another way to do it. Again it would be a team decision,so be prepared to sell your ideas.
Re: Sp Ed 'Transition'/ADHD Legal?
At any time you can as for a new team meeting to discuss how your daughter is doing. It is not written in stone. If you find after a few weeks that more is needed or less. Request a new team meeting.
I really feel teachers are there for a period of time. You have to educate them yearly — it gets exhausting, but it must be done.
Honestly, my solution to this problem was a flexible teacher in a regular ed environment.
The sped people in my school got more wrong than they got right. We have had a wonderful, self esteem boosting experience in a regular class with no written accomodations and a flexible teacher. She doesn’t mark off for spelling or transposed numbers and gives partial credit if he understood the word problem even if the calculations were wrong.
I have made my case (rather stongly) with all the decision makers for the same type of teacher next year.
I am prepared to home school if things go awry again.
This may not be a solution for you but it worked for us. I think it also helped that we remediated his deficits outside of school.