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OP, I have been in several IEP meetings and it can feel like you are outnumbered. The largest IEP meeting I had was with 7 school staff & professionals and it lasted 5 1/2 hours. The outcome worked in my son's favor, but it took it's toll on me. Luckily, I live in NJ and overall I have been very pleased.
I'm not sure if this has been said yet but my recommendations to you would be:
1) Bring an advocate if you can. If you can't, ask if you may record it so that you may review the meeting at a time when you are not so overwhelmed.
2) Present in writing all medical and outside diagnosis and recommendations for their consideration.
3) Ask if you could get a draft of the IEP in advance. If they can't, remember that you are NOT required to sign it at the meeting and have a certain amount of time to review it before it takes effect.
4) Any requests you make for specific services, make in writing and insist that they put their denial of these request in writing with their reasons.
5) If after the IEP, you believe their denial of services is detrimental to your child, request in writing that the district hire an objective third party for observation and recommendation.
6) Review your child's goals wisely and spot-check at random intervals, if these goals are in the process of being met. These goals are your child's progress within a given program over the year. If they are not being met, you have the right to request an amendment to the IEP and the district needs to make adjustments to your child's program.
3) Ask if you could get a draft of the IEP in advance. If they can't, remember that you are NOT required to sign it at the meeting and have a certain amount of time to review it before it takes effect.
There should not be a draft of the IEP because it should be developed at the meeting. What one can request is a copy of all the reports and information that will be presented at the IEP meeting. Do that in writing at least a week prior. Hand deliver the letter and have them date a copy for yourself.
It is better to plan not to sign the IEP at the meeting. Just say you need time to review it. That way the can not pressure you. It sounds good just let me read it slowly at home and I'll get back to you.
There should not be a draft of the IEP because it should be developed at the meeting. What one can request is a copy of all the reports and information that will be presented at the IEP meeting. Do that in writing at least a week prior. Hand deliver the letter and have them date a copy for yourself.
It is better to plan not to sign the IEP at the meeting. Just say you need time to review it. That way the can not pressure you. It sounds good just let me read it slowly at home and I'll get back to you.
In a perfect world that would be true. Most districts present the IEP at the meeting in hopes that it will be agreed to and signed. Districts would save a lot of valuable time, if they were able to communicate their intended goals (which have already been written up by staff) in advance and allow parents to come with relevant questions and concerns, instead of spending time watching a parent read it for the first time.
In a perfect world that would be true. Most districts present the IEP at the meeting in hopes that it will be agreed to and signed. Districts would save a lot of valuable time, if they were able to communicate their intended goals (which have already been written up by staff) in advance and allow parents to come with relevant questions and concerns, instead of spending time watching a parent read it for the first time.
The law says that if you request it they have to give you a copy of the assessments in advance. I did and I got it.
[quote=Aconite;14508070]Might I suggest recording the next IEP meeting? (You'll have to notify them in advance so they can also record.) Already do this.4. Then go on to non-academic, but school-related problems. He's faceblind. He wanders. He's being bullied. He's a different kid altogether in PE (for good or ill) because of the switch from mental to physical stim.
5. Then issues after school. Specifically, does he melt down the moment he gets in the door because he's been holding it together all day and simply cannot manage one more second?
Thank you for that lengthy and thoughtful post. I'm not terribly new to IEP's, so I got most of your points. I was curious about how you would proceed with the afterschool issues? You wrote: "Then issues after school. Specifically, does he melt down the moment he gets in the door because he's been holding it together all day and simply cannot manage one more second?"
This is indeed an issue. My child will become non-verbal when it's been an overwhelming day. I have to let him decompress and leave him alone. Then there are the days when he's angry and it takes hours to get him to open up about what happened in his day.
The schools response when I bring this up? "Well, it's not affecting his academic performance at school." They keeep going back to that phrase. I know that IDEA allowed further lattitude in considering non-academic areas, so they are supposed to consider it. How would you handle this issue at the next iep mtg?
The schools response when I bring this up? "Well, it's not affecting his academic performance at school." They keeep going back to that phrase. I know that IDEA allowed further lattitude in considering non-academic areas, so they are supposed to consider it. How would you handle this issue at the next iep mtg?
IDEA means educationally not just academically. It includes social, communication, etc... This is the manual that I use Special Education Rights & Responsibilities (http://www.pai-ca.org/pubs/504001SpecEdIndex.htm - broken link). Somewhere in there there is a page that talks just about how the courts have repeatedly agree that educationally is not only academically. I would bring a copy of that section to the next meeting.
I just came back from an IEP meeting after a combative year with the Special Ed. Coordinator. The staff took their cue from her and my son has learned very few 'hard skills' this year.
This meeting (after we raised HE**) was attended by a bunch of staff as well as the principal and our advocate.
No matter what the outcome, you always feel like crap. You feel like your kid is a damn weirdo by the time they are done running him down or 'analyzing' his shortcomings.
Everyone has good intentions...right. All we want is the best education for our son.
This is the second district in the second state we have been in and soon to be in a new one 'somewhere.'
Might I suggest recording the next IEP meeting? (You'll have to notify them in advance so they can also record.) Already do this.4. Then go on to non-academic, but school-related problems. He's faceblind. He wanders. He's being bullied. He's a different kid altogether in PE (for good or ill) because of the switch from mental to physical stim.
5. Then issues after school. Specifically, does he melt down the moment he gets in the door because he's been holding it together all day and simply cannot manage one more second?
Thank you for that lengthy and thoughtful post. I'm not terribly new to IEP's, so I got most of your points. I was curious about how you would proceed with the afterschool issues? You wrote: "Then issues after school. Specifically, does he melt down the moment he gets in the door because he's been holding it together all day and simply cannot manage one more second?"
This is indeed an issue. My child will become non-verbal when it's been an overwhelming day. I have to let him decompress and leave him alone. Then there are the days when he's angry and it takes hours to get him to open up about what happened in his day.
The schools response when I bring this up? "Well, it's not affecting his academic performance at school." They keeep going back to that phrase. I know that IDEA allowed further lattitude in considering non-academic areas, so they are supposed to consider it. How would you handle this issue at the next iep mtg?
Thanks for any input.
Indeed it does affect his schooling. Note I did not say "academic performance"; federal district court case law determined that schooling encompasses more than just letter grades-- it encompasses social, emotional and adjustment issues as well. Additionally, if he's unable to deal with anything school related once he gets home it affects his homework, future extracurricular participation, and his attitude toward schooling.
How I have handled that in the future is to use the "as you know Bob" approach: as you know, Bob (and Carol and Alice), the school experience includes a range of things from Q to Y. Junior has been experiencing difficulties with R and S, and I'm interested to know what supports you had in mind to address that sort of thing. Here are my thoughts: ___".
In this district it helps if you have a copy of the pertinent legal decisions prominently labeled and copiously highlighted on the table in front of you, but I'll assume that need isn't universal.
It's horrible the way kids with learning disabilities are swept under the rug. Keep fighting. Unfortunately, I believed in my son's teachers and guidance counselor when they told me nothing was wrong for 4 years, I finally forced the testing and it was found that he had a reading comprehension and writing problem that the district's tests did not reveal and we had to fight even then to get him in the IEP in his 5th year of high school. Way too late for any real help and now he's graduated (of course state gave him an exception so he didn't have to pass reading FCAT) and can read at 6th grad level. I am looking for a special education attorney to sue, but it's very difficult and not many take these cases.
I'm a parent with a special needs child. I have to say that I'm pretty appalled at what goes on inside an iep meeting. The whole process is horrible. I am outnumbered and I'm only fighting for basic services--not the moon. Not striving for perfection. It's shocking, I think, how many blatant lies I catch staff and teachers in. All in an effort to deliver the most minimal amount of services by some pretty poorly trained staff.
Why am I upset? I've got local assessments from medical professionals and I'm fighting tooth and nail for its consideration into the iep. Not the entire document, but relevant parts. Staff keeps saying, "But we don't see that" or we don't see that enough to warrant putting it in the iep. Had my child come home from taking the SOL's to tell me that it was a bad day. Later, when I finally got my child to talk about it, I found out that the teacher made my child change answers on the SOL. Pretty bad, huh? Becasue it will be my child's word agaisnt the teacher's there's really nothing I can do about it. I could go on with more examples, but I don't see the point in airing all the dirty laundry. So, have any of you ever stood up against what, "the team" says if you don't agree? I would like to see what that looks like someday at an iep meeting.
You can't make this blatant an accusation about IEP meetings. I have taken part in many IEP meetings and there are no lies told and we meet as a group to try to help the student. The reason that there are so many people is not to "outnumber" you in any way but each person there is there for a specific reason- the guidance counselor, the special ed teacher, a general ed teacher, the school psychologist, etc.
In my school we will make sure that the child is receiving whatever is possible to help that child. Maybe it just happens to be with your district but the sweeping generalizations are not founded.
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