Hi…I’m real new to all this, even though my daughter has been in special Ed for a year. I guess I just got tired of playing a Dickens character asking, “Can I have some more please, sir?” So, I got educated with a crash course in parent advocacy. This letter is a result of all that, and I hope it might help somebody else in our same situation. It’s fairly self-explanatory and not too long. Pass it along if you know of any folks that could make use of it. I figure why reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. I’ve spent probably three sleepless nights in the last week and printed four reams of paper to find the nuggets I needed in the first place, but hey, I really did want to know about IEP’s, FBA’s, ITP’s, IDEA, 504, FAPE, and god, my brain hurts.
Bonita
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Date:
To: The District Director of Special Education Services
CC: The District Superintendent; High School Principal; High School Counselor; Special Education Services Teacher
From: Parents
Subject: Request For Intermittent Homebound and Hospital Bedside Tutorial Services
According to the Texas Education Code, Chapter 25.085., Compulsory School Attendance, if a child is exempted under 25.086., then the rule does not apply. Our daughter is specifically exempted under provision 25.086.(a)(3), which states:
“A child is exempt from the requirements of compulsory school attendance if the child:
Has a physical or mental condition of a temporary and remediable nature that makes the child’s attendance infeasible and holds a certificate from a qualified physician specifying the temporary condition, indicating the treatment prescribed to remedy the temporary condition, and covering the anticipated period of the child’s absence from school for the purpose of receiving and recuperating from that remedial treatment.”
Further it states in Chapter 25.086(b) that:
“This section does not relieve a school district in which a child eligible to participate in the district’s special education program resides of its fiscal and administrative responsibilities under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, or of its responsibility to provide a free appropriate public education to a child with a disability.”
Given the severity of our daughter’s mental illness and her periodic but frequent absences due to manic-depressive episodes with or without medication instability and necessary short-term hospitalizations, it is harming her IEP goals achievement to deny her the right to intermittent homebound or hospital bedside tutorial services.
We have requested these services from the very beginning of her initial evaluation up to the present day and have provided the necessary documentation (see enclosure) dated 03/09/01 in which the doctor attests and is witnessed by her therapist that our daughter has a qualifying OHI (Other Health Impairment) namely Bipolar Disorder of a severe type and is expected to be absent for a period of over six weeks in the school year, not necessarily consecutive.
Our daughter has maintained passing grades in all her classes despite these absences and shows remarkable spirit and maturity in trying to achieve good academic results by immediately making up her missed assignments. The point is that she shouldn’t be ‘missing’ any instruction or experiencing breaks in her education. The lapses occurring are due primarily to the absence of having a teacher instruct her on a continuing basis. Intermittent homebound and hospital bedside tutorial services would greatly relieve this educational deficit in view of the fact that her neurological condition makes it unrealistic for her to attend school as regularly as other non-disabled students.
Our daughter has proven her personal commitment to learning. Is it too much to ask that the school district demonstrate its own plan to educate her, as her mental illness requires?
Enc: OHI statement dated 03/09/01
Additional and current statement from her psychiatrist
Supporting statement from her psychologist
Chronology of hospitalizations
Re: requesting intermittent homebound tutoring services in T
Very kewl, and thank you…good point. No, this is a first draft after so much research. Maybe I’m feeling over-confident about this letter, but it so seems to have them ‘dead to rights’. We’ll see what happens at the next ARD.
After printing out reams and reading til my eyes water, to finally stumble onto the codes I needed to quote just felt like such a relief. I hope I’m not being too naive, but hey, rejoice while one can, eh?
Little victories, sustained over time, reachable requests, attainable and measurable goals…this is what I’m shooting for now.
Just wait until a month after this ARD when I hit them with a request to honestly prepare transition services with help filling out grants and funding requests or waiting lists to get her on!
Step by step…they won’t even know what hit them. Guess I’ve got to be sneaky to navigate this thing…but why not? They are too!
Keep the advice coming…I’m a human sponge for parent advocacy now.
Bonita
Re: requesting intermittent homebound tutoring services in T
No way you have every right to feel confident this is great stuff! It struck me also that if after you specificly request these services and they drag their feet,it ,the letter,will make a very good state complaint. The only thing you would have to do is put, they are in violation of,before every state rule you quoted!:-) Not to mention the documentation you attached.
Having been there and done that,I have learned to be very specific and never giving them a window of opportunity to ignore my correspondence. I always recap,by stating in conclusion I am requesting such and such,in a timely manner,and a response to this letter within 5 business days. These administrators like to play dumb,maybe they need help, I say give it them.
Re: requesting intermittent homebound tutoring services in T
Wow!
I wish I could have seen your letter last year!
My daughter is a disabled student, doing fine
right now, thank goodness -
I remember sitting in a meeting where one of
the attendees remarked that ‘the neighboring
school district treats ill students SO much
better than we do, what our district does
just stinks’.
Fotunately we stumbled upon treatment the
very next week which allowed her to return
to school - after missing two months of 8th
grade and two months of 9th grade.
If she gets sick again I’m using your letter
as a template!
Anne
Did this letter result in obtaining services? It is great letter,the only thing I would add, in the conclusion you stated “Is it too much to ask for my daughter to recieve an education”,or something like that. This can pose a problem.There is no question in regards to her legal right to recieve services,why ask a question?
Instead I would state that you expect services to start without delay in a specific time frame. Otherwise these school district administrators will answer your question,stating why yes,she deserves it,but will be left feeling like this is all they must do. Do NOT give them any reason to not respond to your request. Know what I am saying? Tell them what you want.