Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have written once before in regards to my granddaughter's CPSE meeting with her school district. Well, it went terribly. The meetingwas tabled by my daughter and they will now go forward with an impartial hearing.
To sum up the issue: My granddaughter had PDD, most likely Aspergers, and was in an integrated classroom at an alternative school. She was also receiving 5 hours of SEIT services for the community. The school reported she was doing very well academically, however needed prompting for social participation and the like. My granddaughter is extremely high functioning. So much so, that you wouldn't really notice anything unless you had a conversation with her and noticed that her context is off, and then you recognize that there are some quirks. She will also observe and recall classmates' names but not engage unless prompted. She does enjoy going to school and playing on the playground, but it is usually by herself. My daughter decided to place her in a private preschool for various reasons, one of them being that they felt she would be more successful with a traditional academic program b/c she is so intelligent. That being said, my daughter requested 10 additional hours of SEIT for my granddaughter, in order to accompany her to preschool. This was flat out denied, despite my daughter, her husband, the SEIT, the preschool director and one of the district teachers recommending additional SEIT services. The meeting was tabled, and I now assume it is only going to get worse.
Can somone please tell me what this will cost in legal fees? Has anyone heard of this before? Why would the chair of the department override so many people at this meeting if the purpose of these meetings is to make a group decision in the best interest of the child??????
Your daughter is asking for the district to pay a huge amount of additional money for one child at a time when programs for other students are being slashed because of budget constraints. You need to look at this from their point of view. That extra money could go to save a program that might benefit as many as twenty children.
That being said, you would probably be able to find legal services that would work in just this kind of situation (pro bono). Cordova & Associates is one.
__________________ ******************
People may not recall what you said to them, but they will always remember how you made them feel .
Last edited by nancy thereader; 03-26-2009 at 10:50 AM..
Unfortunately, There are fiscal cuts. What school district is your granddaughter in?
We just had our CPSE meeting---our son has minimal issues but we put up a solid front and fortunately got what we needed out of the meeting. That being said, we know that we have a very generous school district despite fiscal cuts.
Getting a lawyer involved may be just the answer you need. HAving another meeting and a lawyer simply being present may be enough of an emphasis to get your services.
The other point I want to stress is that you should never stop fighting for these services. You and your daughter are her best advocate. Worst case scenario you get denied services and then have her tested again in six months. And maybe you have to pay for some private tutors in the mean time.
Ok, I went to a cpse meeting last week for a friend of mine. Her son is in parochial school with my son and they are very good friends. So not alone does the parent pay huge property taxes, she also pays for parochial school.
The district said that his problems were behavioral and not education so they recommended he be places in public school where he would get a team together that would help him. Now the parochial school is in a different school district so she would have to go back to her home district and begin the process all over again ; they dont necessarily take one districts word over another.
I understand that it is a budget issue. It always is a budget issue. But do you hear anyone saying ; wait a minute, we are saving money from the parochial/private students who do not attend public school so lets give the services to those few who need it from those schools!!! No way. It is always a one way street. ; Put the child in public school and they will get services.
A lawyer maybe the case at this stage. How can the school board be unbiased!!
In my experience in education, it is very difficult to get public school districts to pay for many services of children that attend private school. They need to hire additional people, when the public schools already have the resources there. In a time of school budget cuts, i very much doubt the school will be generous.
Also, schools tend to look at what they must legally provide, not what is desired by the parent. If the student doesn't absolutely need all of those hours (even if they are beneficial to your grandaughter) the district won't provide them. (Although I am sure this is not the case with you, I have seen parents request every possible accomidation when it wasn't alway necessary). The district can't spend so many resources on one child, especially not in public school.
I wish you luck, but I don't know how much of a case you have. Unfortuantely money is many times the bottom line, not the best interests of the child.
It could cost you an insane amount of money to sue for these services. You almost may be better paying for them out of pocket or getting by with the hours they do provide.
Please do not take this as a rebuttal, rather an attempt to understand why your daughters request was rejected. From 10,000 feet I can udertand the grounds of the rejection. The decision maker certainly reviewed reports of how well the child was doing academically in public school with the 5 hours of SEIT resources provided. Removing the child from the school and asking for triple the SEIT resources and expense certainly would raise eyebrows. Hopefully an impartial hearing will bring you to a common ground.
Please don't give any undue weight to my layman's observations, perhaps understanding and repsecting the position of the board will help in your fight. Best of luck.
Please do not take this as a rebuttal, rather an attempt to understand why your daughters request was rejected. From 10,000 feet I can udertand the grounds of the rejection. The decision maker certainly reviewed reports of how well the child was doing academically in public school with the 5 hours of SEIT resources provided. Removing the child from the school and asking for triple the SEIT resources and expense certainly would raise eyebrows. Hopefully an impartial hearing will bring you to a common ground.
Please don't give any undue weight to my layman's observations, perhaps understanding and repsecting the position of the board will help in your fight. Best of luck.
As an outsider I also agree with this. From your post it appears she is thriving academically, but not socially. A SEIT seems like the wrong discipline if she is advanced academically. Maybe an inclusion aide, ABA therapist , or group social skill class would be seen as more appropriate for your grandaughter's needs.
She does not need ABA, she is completely verbal and not behavioral. Inclusion classes in special ed schools do not allow for inclusion aides. SEIT is exactly what she needs b/c she truly needs someone to "shadow" her and correct her socially and prompt when needed. That is what SEIT does. People are misunderstanding...the school district did not pull her out of a special program, they thought she needed the special program b/c of the social issues, but the special ed teacher wasn't catching the little social problems and therefore the child was not being helped. So the parents saved the SD money by pulling her out of the special ed school. She does have a label; therefore, according to NYS law, is most certainly entitled to SEIT services. Doing well academically is only a piece of the puzzle...what good is thriving academically if the child has problems communicating or socializing? I think I was more or less addressing parents of special needs children in this forum, not really people who don't deal with this or have an understanding of spectrum disorders and special ed law, no offense to anyone. But the last thing you need to hear is how these services take from budgets and raise taxes. BY law, my granddaughter could get SEIT services for 40 hours/week if they fought for it; however, they are not trying to take advantage and rape the system, they are trying to do what is right for their child. Well, if my daughter is paying taxes like everyone else, and her daughter need help, she is entitled to it by law. School districts get more budget for special needs children, so do not be fooled. The SD gets extra money from the state b/c my granddaughter is labeled, and shame on the SD for keeping those fund instead of allocating them to my granddaughter.
She does not need ABA, she is completely verbal and not behavioral. Inclusion classes in special ed schools do not allow for inclusion aides. SEIT is exactly what she needs b/c she truly needs someone to "shadow" her and correct her socially and prompt when needed. That is what SEIT does. People are misunderstanding...the school district did not pull her out of a special program, they thought she needed the special program b/c of the social issues, but the special ed teacher wasn't catching the little social problems and therefore the child was not being helped. So the parents saved the SD money by pulling her out of the special ed school. She does have a label; therefore, according to NYS law, is most certainly entitled to SEIT services. Doing well academically is only a piece of the puzzle...what good is thriving academically if the child has problems communicating or socializing? I think I was more or less addressing parents of special needs children in this forum, not really people who don't deal with this or have an understanding of spectrum disorders and special ed law, no offense to anyone. But the last thing you need to hear is how these services take from budgets and raise taxes. BY law, my granddaughter could get SEIT services for 40 hours/week if they fought for it; however, they are not trying to take advantage and rape the system, they are trying to do what is right for their child. Well, if my daughter is paying taxes like everyone else, and her daughter need help, she is entitled to it by law. School districts get more budget for special needs children, so do not be fooled. The SD gets extra money from the state b/c my granddaughter is labeled, and shame on the SD for keeping those fund instead of allocating them to my granddaughter.
Which SD is this? I know first hand that some SDs are easier to work with than others for special needs children.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
