My daughter’s school is not providing the services they agreed to in the IEP. The IEP specifies 30 minutes 3 times a week (not enough!), but they are only giving her 30 minutes 1 time per week. They sometimes give reasons: the SE teacher was “out” that day, the class took a field trip, the SE teacher was at a meeting or testing another student, or regular classroom activities took precedence over special ed. They don’t ever make up for missed times. Are they supposed to? What are their obligations to the times specified in the IEP?
Thanks for any input.
Re: IEP compliance
Dear Mary:
I thought you asked a very good question. I don’t know if I can answer your question fully, but maybe I can help a little. I did some research in the Federal Register-Part II, which gives rules and guidelines for the Department of Education. I also did some research in, A Guide to the Individualized Education Program. Both of these books are free and you can order them through the internet or through the phone. The internet address is: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html
The telephone number is: 1-877-4ED-Pubs(433-7827).
From what I gathered, from 300.350 from the Federal Register, special education and related services to a child with a disability must be provided in accordance with the child’s IEP!!! This tells me that they are accountable for the time that they put in the IEP. It also says that parents have the right to ask for revisions of the child’s IEP or to invoke due process procedures if the parent feels that the efforts are not being made.
I hope that this helped you somewhat. Good-Luck!
Christy
If you post this over on the Parenting Board you will get a lot of very articulate replies- there are some people there with a huge amount of experience in just your situation.
Briefly though- all your correspondance with the school about this should be in writing. Write a letter detailing your concerns and request a written reply within a certain amount of time. I guess you can start at whatever point in the administrative chain you are comfortable with- SPED teacher, Principal, SPED Coordinator. Don’t sound angry- be really calm and detailed. If you don’t rteceive a satisfactory reply (or any) pull out your copy of the parental rights or check www.wrightslaw.com. That will give you some guidance on how to proceed. And.. as I said, you will get a lot of help from the Parenting a Child With LD Board.
Good luck,
Robin