My 15 yr. old son has just been classified OHI because of ADHD inattentive type on December 2. We discussed the IEP draft December 20, 2002 the last day before winter vacation. I had many concerns. At that meeting I asked where were the independent learning consultant’s recommendations (the team accepted her report in September) When I listened to the tape of our meeting they just changed the subject when I asked where the recommendations were.
I received their final copy on Jan 10. And again no learning consultant recommendations.Their plan is to put him in 2 classes with special education in class support. (9 or the 20 plus students in the class are classified). There is a regular education teacher and a special ed teacher.
I have been told that in NJ the team does not have to give goals and objectives because he is in the general curriculum with in class support. They only have to write goals and objectives if he is in a self contained class. They describe his weaknesses using the test results from the (Wechlser, Woodcock Johnson, etc)
that were part of the independent evaluation I had performed when the school refused to test him. I asked if they would administer these tests (Woodcock Johnson, Wechsler etc) again to determine if he has made progress. I am told of course not - they will measure his progress using the regular 2-semester report card.
I called the NJ State office of Special Education and spoke to a mediator. He stated that the district is correct. No goals and objectives are required for a student in the general curriculum. He said the general curriculum has it’s own goals and if my son does not meet them we will know because of his grades. The county child study team supervisor said that our district is curriculum based and progress will depend on his grades in the curriculum.
I have written them saying that I will not sign the document and they had better plan another IEP meeting. His case manager uses a computer program that gives modifications in the regular classroom in three or four word phrases such as “emphasize study/organizational skills” or “check often for understanding review”.
His psychologist says he needs to be “taught” compensatory learning strategies not just have someone emphasize them. I told his case manager that these terms are too ambiguous and that I wanted them clarified in complete sentences. I asked for the who, what, when, where, and how of all these modifications. I am expecting a big problem with the team. It is interesting that the only place in the report that mentions the negative impact of his ADHD is in the section that exempts him from the statewide graduation requirement exam. They state “attention difficulties may impact on his ability to attain a score which eflects an accurate representation of his academic performance.”
Their position is that since we started the process - officially since July 2002 he is now on medication for ADHD, receiving private tutoring for Algebra and seeing an independent psychologist for social anxiety disorder, his grades are no longer dropping and therefore there is currently “no adverse academic impact”. He has not “achieved failure.”
What is my recourse if we can not come to a consensus? Any advice is welcome. Thanks!
Re: No goals/objectives in NJ IEP (long)
A couple of things. My 13 yr old son is qualified OHI, included in all reg. classes. He is doing all the same work as the other kids. He also has goals and objectives on his IEP. I actually copied the whole thing on this website, it is on the teaching math bulletin board. You can do a search for my name and you should be able to find it. Maybe it would help to see it?
Also it is your right to call another IEP meeting if you see a need. The fact that they sidestepped your question about the recommendations looks like reason enough to me.
About using the diagnostic tests again to measure progress, I have read that there is a required amount of time that must go by before they can be retaken otherwise the scores are invalidated. There are other ways of testing for progress though, just a couple of examples are the WJ reading mastery test, Key math, Test of Written Language (towl). Lots of good info on this site, lots of experienced parents and teachers. Sometimes it helps to browse the past posts.
Hope this helps some, I am sure others with more expertise will jump on too.
Best wishes.
Amy
He won’t achieve failure in that two teacher class. How do I know? Because my son was in a class exactly like that.(We are also in New Jersey.) The way they helped him was to provide him with a dumbed down curriculum. He felt demoralized because it was plainly obvious that other kids in the class were getting completely different work. It was like a self contained class without walls where the kids who are sped get to see every day that they are different from the regular ed kids. Your story is very familiar. I really got the feeling sped was more about just grouping kids by disability than really providing any individual help.
My so did very poorly in that class. He lived down to their expectations. The teacher did not seem to differentiate him for his abilities but seemed rather to just group all the kids assuming similar abilities.
I moved my son out of that class and he is thriving in a regular ed class. It was the best thing I ever did for him. I do alot outside of school to get him the help he needs and that has worked for us. If I had left him in that class he would have lost a year.