I’m scared to death. We have our IEP meeting this week. My son is going into middle school next year and his reading is at a third grade level. Spelling is even worse, 2.1. I have read and re-read chapters 10 and 11 in Peter Wrights book”From Emotions to Advocacy” I’ve learned all about converting standard scores to percentile ranks, made great charts and graphs to show the regression. Organized my file and binder, and have questions ready.
I should be ready for this meeting! Instead I feel physically ill.
In the first couple of years of IEP meetings I was ignorant. I believed the school knew what they were talking about and were going to help my son “catch up” to his peers. How wrong I was.
What I’m afraid of is not being taken seriously. I have in the past asked
for certain things (extended school year) and have been told it’s just not available here. Any suggestions on how to make sure FAPE is upheld?
And how to keep it all together??
Re: IEP Meeting this week-HELP
Have you had the meeeting yet??
(By the way, there’s often real depression after a meeting, even really good meetings - they’re just such intense experiences, *and* there’s such focus on the negatives, even tho’ to do the meeting right you almost have to do thatl
Re: IEP Meeting this week-HELP
We had our meeting yesterday. I’m still in a daze from it.
First of all, I had spent alot of time going over all the test scores, understanding them and converting SS over to percentile ranks. So I was pretty confident in the numbers and what they said about the level my son is at. The school Psychologist started by going over the testing (WASI and Woodcock Johnson) It was her opinion that he has made progress. And that we should be happy. I said that I had to disagree, he had dropped from the 18th percentile to 2% in one subject on the KTEA testing. She said well that is not really very much, in terms of percent. She also went on to say that we really need to just look at the SS and not PR’s or G.E.’s. That, they were too broad. I said the fact is my son is significantly below grade level, how do you intend to address this. They really didn’t have a responce. I asked what other programs they have available and they said in the middle school there isn’t a program. WHAT??? I said. They said they just don’t have the funding and that I would need to go to the school board.
When asked for extended school year I was referred to someone not at the meeting. So I didn’t sign the IEP and we are trying to decide what the next step is for us.
Re: IEP Meeting this week-HELP
They can’t tell you they don’t have the funding. IEP services do not just stop because a child enters middle school.
However, as I said the first time, I’d concentrate on getting the accommodations your child needs and find the remediation elsewhere, because he probably would not get what he needs in a resource room at this point anyway. And there can be self-esteem issues in going to a special class at that age, too.
I’d try to see if you can find a Phono-Graphix tutor (www.readamerica.net) , or if you want to tutor him yourself, I’d recommend ABeCeDarian (www.abcdrp.com).
I think it is great that you have used the Wright’s Law site to better understand your child’s scores! I think few parents understand about regression. They only see the little gains in achievement level and do not see the decline in percentile that often happens when effective remediation is not used.
About the only thing I think you can hope for at this point is to tell them that since they obviously do not know how to teach your child, that you intend to locate private services that will, and you have no choice but to seek a special ed. attorney to try to force the district to pay for it. You may or may not choose to do this, because it is risky in that it becomes adversarial. There is no guarantee you would win either, and you could be stuck with lawyer fees. The meeting would be easier if you take an advocate with you.
I think it is very unlikely that your child will get remediation at this point at school, especially not in middle school. You really need to seek a private tutor or try to learn to do it yourself. He needs one-on-one intensive instruction in a method that is effective. I’d be lining it up for the summer for sure. Something like the Lindamood-Bell clinic intensive program would be good. You have no time to lose. Good luck!