I am having trouble w/ my daughters IEP. She entered Middle School (6th grade) this year. She has multi learning disabilities, and is having difficultys in all her academic classes that are not modified. The IEP problem actually started last year. WE completed her IEP in Nov and listed in the accomidations textbooks on tape and phonic spell checker. I received one excuse after another last year about why we did not receive these items. By spring break, I told the Special Ed teacher just to make sure they were ready for the start of the new year, But no surprise, they were not only NOT there, but she did not find out how to obtain them and lied about what happened. I requested a new IEP on the second day of this school year, I got my IEP meeting about 6 weeks later. We met for several hours, and decided to meet again, we have met once more, but I can’t get anything done!!!! The IEP has no decent goals, the school she is at does not have a regular spled teacher ( the acting one is a high school history teacher) I have left messages, not returned, tried to contact the principle, not returned, and as of today, my daughter officially has NO current IEP. As you can tell im a bit frustrated. Where do I go from here??
Re: Help!! IEP problem ( sorry long)
This may sound mean but stop giving them chances and file a complaint with your state’s Department of Education for non-compliance. The school clearly doesn’t feel they need to do anything that you have listed in her IEP.
I would stop providing them one more opportunity! However, you won’t be making any friends at the school but you will be getting the right services for your daughter.
I would send off one last letter, make sure you say things like “my daughter is not receiving an appropriate education” You need to have documentation showing that you have repeatedly requested services and/or equipment.
Also, I am going to take a stab in the dark and based on your email, say your are from Colorado. If you are try this link:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdesped/download/pdf/spSpecialEducationLawEnglish.pdf
We kept giving the school a thousand chances with my brother. Now he is in high school and reading at a third grade level. If we had just filed for non-compliance in the beginning things wouldn’t have been so bad!
K.
letter writing is the KEY
We had a similar situation this year.
It was agreed at my daughters IEP mtg end of 3rd grade that she would have a computer for use on written assignments in her resource classroom. It was agreed May 2002. In July 2002 I wrote a letter to school saying we would like to come in and confirm that it was in place and operational b4 school started and to contact us immediately if it was not.
No response.
1st day of school (surprise) the computer was not there and their suggestion was for us to provide our home computer.
You must
1) learn the law and nake sure they know you know it
2) learn the art of effective letterwriting
3) confirm every conversation and t/c with a letter and take everything they say and feed it back to them in a letter
4) copy all teachers, everyone at the school board and the state DOE.
5) STAY on them - I think they hope you will give up and go away (most parents will)
Funny how only 38.00 in certified mail got my daughter a laptop in the classrrom. In fact, the school district ESE director called us directly to make sure it was in the classroom.
If you’ve never been on it, www.wrightslaw.com is excellent.
Re: letter writing is the KEY
You are so right on all of your points, Leah. Copious record-keeping of all documentation, conversations, etc., and putting all expectations in writing and copying everybody and their proverbial brother, as well, is very effective.
We had a situation where our third grade son’s IEP stated appropriately that he was to receive the accommodation of extra time, if needed, on all testing, including standardized. Then in a final IEP meeting, several direct service personnel adamantly conveyed to us that the accommodation would not be extended to the CT-Terra Nova (district standardized test given at the end of third grade), as in the view of the central office educrats, the accommodation “skews” the test results. We felt that if our son was not afforded the accommodation, and did poorly on the test, that his self-esteem could be adversely and unncessarily affected.
After a bit of wrangling in the meeting and getting absolutely nowhere, we replied that we would sign the IEP, but would make a notation on the IEP that we disagreed with that particular stipulation. The we left and called the educational rights attorney we had consulted with (just for our own educational purposes) early on in the process. She suggested we draft a “Request for Administrative Review” and send it to the Superintendent and copy it to the Director of Special Services. I spent $9 to send it certified mail, return receipt requested, and within one business day, the director of special services was on the phone with me saying, “NO PROBLEM”.
Some parents take another approach, where they avoid being what they term “adversarial” at all costs. I agree that one should really choose their battles wisely, and not unnecessarily inflame any situation. However, the bottom line is that we are parents are the only ones who can truly, effectively advocate for our precious children, as no one knows or loves them as we do. So I have no problem “going up the ladder”, wading through “the proper channels” or whatever has to be done to see that all three of our sons, one with a disability and the other two with no identified disabilities, get appropriate educations. I don’t call that “adversarial”; I call that “advocacy”.
We’ve been in a very similar situation. If an appropriate private situation existed I would have moved my son there by now. The bad news is that there is nothing in the way of private special ed for preschool age children in my area. The good news is that he will be in elementary school next year and if they don’t do a better job of taking care of my son without making me have to fight them constantly, my son will be old enough for me to look at private options and I’ll sue the school district for lack of compliance with the laws. In the end we have won every battle because the law is on our side but they have made us fight for everything. I have already warned the principal of the elementary school that I will not spend my time in these battles in the future, I will yank my kids out, take the school to court and make them pay. I actually do have hope that our local elementary school will do right by my children. From what I’ve seen so far, they may actually be okay… If not the three hundred pound chip on my shoulder will land on one of their heads.