My child has an accomodation in his IEP to receive a hard copy of all class notes. He is receiving notes for 2 classes and not for the 3 others. He might get the notes the day of the test or sometimes after the test. I spoke with the resource room teacher about this and was told that there isn’t money in the budget to have a teachers assistant in every class therefore my son is the one to suffer due to the school not having funds enough. Can anyone point me in the direction as to any documentation that states that if an accomodation is not being met I can do something about it. I did see surfing the net that if it is a public federally funded school, they must provide the services free of charge to accomodate all services needed as stated on the IEP but can not find it again. Any help would be greatly appreciated. NY state
Re: Child with LD not receiving accomodations
Would tape recording the class work? The most common I’ve heard for class notes is using another student. I am amazed that you got a teacher’s assistant to take notes. I would have trouble with both ,as I would wonder if their notes would cover appropriate points. I am not there yet, but I would rather tape record the class and have my child try to take notes from the recording,so she can build that skill.
Re: Child with LD not receiving accomodations
What grade is this?
A teacher’s assistant to take notes would be a bit on the ineffective-use-of-funds side, when students should be taking notes.
In college settings the note taker is not told who s/he’s taking notes for; this is obviously not as likely to remain anonymous in a K-12 setting but it’s a possibility.
While class isn’t always predictable, the “what’s important enough to show up on a test” often is. A study guide from a teacher might even make the teacher a bit more organized (but it would depend on teacher, class, & all kinds of dynamics).
Tape recording a class can be nervous-making for some teachers (this depends a lot on how college-lecture-like the setting is). Heck, I’d be nervous, though I’d deal wilth it :-) However, going over a lecture with pause button handy is a time-honored way of making sure one’s notes are complete.
If you can, try to keep the whole situation in a “let’s find a solution” mode instead of a “you’re not doing the right thing!” mode. If a teacher feels like s/he’s part of a solution, things tend to be implemented a lot more effectively than when they feel like they’re being given edicts regardless of whether they’re truly appropriate to the situation. (Sadly, though, many teachers don’t really comprehend the situation if they’re of the “if he can’t take notes, he shouldn’t be here” school of thought).
Re: Child with LD not receiving accomodations
Sorry I forgot to put the grade. My son is in eigth grade. He does have to take the notes himself but due to his writting skills the notes he takes are illegable. We tried the tape recorder which the school did provide it was a disaster! It ended up getting smashed by another student. The teaching assistant/ aid was to be a 1:5 that kind of follows the group of ld students to certain classes to help and take notes. I am not angry with anyone I just want what is best for my child and when the cse commitee recommends certain services, I feel that they should provide them or they shouldn’t have offered them in the first place. I have asked if he is in the right placement and they assure me yes he is in the right place he just needs certain accomidations, to be in the LRE but when they are not being met what is a parent to do?
There’s legality and there’s practicality. Since I teach interactively, I don’t know ahead of time what questions will be asked or what difficulties will arise, so I don’t know ahead of time what notes will go on my board. I don’t have pre-packaged pre-digested notes; they simply don’t exist. Possible solutions to this are to have a student with good handwriting use carbon paper to make a copy, or to pair your student with another for photocopying class notes. If you don’t want anyone else to know, there is no simple solution.