I am seeking information regarding my 6 year old daughter. I am looking for some direction or suggestions on what to do with my situation.
My daughter attends a Baltimore County elementary school and in the first grade. She did not attend this school for kindergarten. A month into the school year she received her initial IEP team meeting that I attended. This was initiated by her homeroom teacher who felt that she showed signs of ADD, emotional problems and cognitive deficiencies. This was a total shock to me because in kindergarten she pretty much behaved like the other students and she scored over 94% on her Ohio Basic Skills Test. The initial IEP team meeting decided that we would start a daily time on task chart and give things more time since it was only one month into the school year, especially since the school was new to her.
In November, during conference day her homeroom teacher told me that she was considering retaining her because of her inability to comprehend first grade curriculum. I immediately asked what could we do proactively. I requested tutoring, one on one and other ways to help her. I was simply told that their were no funds at the time to offer tutoring and that there was not enough staff to provide one on one. She was already placed in a lower level reading class that she was doing well in, but that there is no lower level math class to offer her.
After the conference, I took her to her pediatrician for possible assessment and medication in hopes that this was the answer. She is currently taking 5 mg of Adderall to help her with focusing on her lessons.
In January I received a summary of another IEP meeting that took place in the beginning of January that I was not informed of. This summary stated that she was being recommended for psychological testing by the school and that possible retention was also recommended. The testing is to take place at the end of March. I contacted several persons within the school system, one being the special education department with no success. They all pretty much suggested I wait until she is tested.
In the mean time I have already had her privately tested psychologically and they found her to be emotionally fine, however, I am scheduling her for a private educational/coginitve test next week.
My fear in all of this is that time is slipping away in the current school year and that she is not receiving what she needs to help her succeed in school. It seems as if I am teaching her at night and that she is going to school for nothing in the day because of their mind sets of retention.
I am desperately seeking advice on where to go or who to talk to with this problem. It pains me to see her falling behind when she could be getting help and moving on with the rest of her classmates. I fear that they will ultimately hold her back because of their lack of modified instruction.
Any direction that you could turn me in would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time in reading my story.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Johnson
Re: New to this site with much needed advice
Cynthia,
I am simply stunned at your story! I hope more knowlegable people chime in here as I’m rather a novice myself.
First off, know your legal rights…it is illegal and unethical to hold an IEP meeting without you. This is such a funamental flaw that I question every thing else you were told.
YOU determine if she is retained or not. Read up on the studies….I beleive (but not by first hand knowledge or study, only what others have told me) that retention only works well if there is a specif set of cercumstances…ie your daughter is not LD and is immature for her age. Some poor schools use this as an effective bandaid to push the issues off for a year.
Secondly, at the IEP meeting the team (which MUST include a parent or guidian to be legal) determines what is necessary. The school is REQUIRED to provide a tutor is this is what the team decides. It is the school districts problem to find the money, not yours. (As an aside, if your daughter has an IEP the state is recieving extra money to educate her. I just read a sad but amusing article at Wrightslaw.com about how much money each state returned to the federal govenment as unused. I will never feel guilty about the extra cost of educating my child again!)
You are entitled to (by law) a free advocate. The district is required (by law) to inform you of this fact. Some states have very weak free programs while others have wonderful ones. My “parent advocate” is worth her weight in gold! To access your areas “parent advocate center” please consider going to Scwablearning.org. When you enter the site it has four tabs across the top. The advocate centers are listed under the “resourses” tab. Their bulletin board (which is wonderful!) is listed under the “connecting” tab.
I recommend you purchase Peter and Pan Wrights Book—From Emotions to Advocaty: A Special Education Survival Guide. It is avaliable from the Wright site mentioned above. This is an excellant “first” book…it goes into testing, how to understand the results, the law, and has sample letters that one might need to send. It doesn’t go into detail with any one disablity or need…as a said, a good first general book.
Do have the school evaluate but know that some (most?) schools do a poor job and tend to only find what they go in looking for. That is why it is so important to understand the tests and how to read the results. If the school does a poor job you can request an independant one (at school expense) or pay for your own. I found it better to just pay for it but it is pricely to get a good one, as you know. A complete eval runs about $1,500 here. Some insurances will cover some of the cost…but discussing this is putting the horse before the cart.
Well, I’m sorry I wrote a novel…I hope at least some of it helps. (Also, I hope its readable. I’m dyslexic myself and don’t have access to a word processing program this morning!)
Take care,
don't rely on the district to do the remedation..
Find yourself an excellent private educational therapist to help you unravel this mess or put her in a different educational setting that would better suit her needs.
Re: New to this site with much needed advice
One thing I would check into is; if your child has an IEP, the school may not be able to retain her.
Get a private educational psychologist to do a complete evaluation of your child, do not rely on the school district. It may be only partialy covered by your insurance company, but it is well worth it. You may even find out that that once your school district has tested her, you may have her tested by a doctor of your choice, at district expense.
The school spychologist tried to tell us that our daughter had ADHD. They also tried to tell us our daughter was depressed. She has NVLD and CAPD and 2 language disorders, but no one who talks to her would ever guess. ANd the psychologist we talked to said she was definetly NOT depressed.
Once we found out what exactly was wrong, we found an advocate, who is free, and scheduled an IEP meeting. Since our daughter has had her IEP in place, she has gone from D’s to A’s, B’s, and C’s. 4-5 hours of homework daily to having most of it done in resource room during school.
You will stil have to stay on top of the school as they will probably try to get away with whatever they can. Let them know that you are in charge.
Good Luck! :) Let us know what happens.
Re: New to this site with much needed advice
i was quite upset when i read the part of your letter that stated that they held an iep meeting without you! i currently have a copy of “a parents guide - the educational rights of students with disabilities” i live in illinois (different state) but it states that the participants involved in an iep meeting include….parent (unless they choose not to attend, in writing). they can’t (in illinois) hold the meeting without you!! i received this guide from the illinois state board of education. it follows the Individual with Disability Education Act (IDEA). i suggest you contact your state board of education and request anything they have in writing containing YOUR (and your daughters ) rights!
unfortunately i question some of the information they have given you. it is the schools responsibility - with funds or without- to educate your child. and she has very specific rights if they have implemented an iep.
contact your state board of education and know your rights! and make sure THEY know YOU know!!
good luck!!
Cynthia,
The good thing is your daughter is young and you are already taking steps to deal with the problems she is experiencing. Kids who get early help (by first or second grade) are the ones with best chance for ultimately becoming successful, happy students. Once you have a very thorough evaluation done, you will have a better idea what she needs to accomplish that. The bad thing is, your daughter is unlikely to receive all the help she needs from her school. You are going to have to take steps on your own, as soon as her evaluation is complete and you have a better understanding of her difficulties, to provide support and remediation. You may well get some help from the school, but in my experience, and that of many parents who visit here, it isn’t going to be enough. You can spend money fighting with the school about it, or you can spend money doing something about it on your own. Totally unfair, I know, but you are the person in the best position to see that your child gets ALL the help she needs. You are definitely on the right track here. You are already visiting boards like these and you are pursuing your own evaluation. Keep it up!