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.
Status:
" Charleston South Carolina"
(set 1 day ago)
Location: home...finally, home .
8,814 posts, read 21,271,680 times
Reputation: 20102
Advertisements
An IEP is only as good as its implementor (the teacher and the school). You can have a great-sounding document that is not really being followed through properly.
Become familiar with section 504 of the ADA. FAPE is spelled out and you do have rights. This is a FEDERAL law. If the school continues to give you grief, tell them that your attorney will advocate on your behave for an IEP.
The testing does not have to be done at your expense. Every child has a right to a Fair and Appropriate Publice Education, regardless of physical, emotional, or mental disabilities. Every public school district is responsible to provide the FAPE to every child residing with-in that district from birth to 18 years of age.
IEP does work. My son, who witnessed his father's death from a vehicular accident, has benifited greatly. You, as parent, must keep an extremely open line of communication with the school. You must also be ready to accept many people into your life, counselors, social workers, administrators, etc.
My child was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder after the car accident. He struggled for about three years dispite the grief counseling. At which point I was at my ropes end with his behavior and failing grades. He was tested, an IEP implemented, and he will graduate high school with his class next year. He has been in choir for 4 years and made varsity choir this year. His grades are A's and B's. He is growing into a young man both he and I can be proud of, as would his father be if he were still here. Enough proof for me to be an IEP supporter.
Much luck to you and much courage and strength as well. Trust me, you will need all three.
My son's school here in TX flat out refused to help him unless he was literally failing. How can you fail kindergarten? Kindergarten was a joke to my son. His behavior was out of control the entire year and that wasn't enough to make them do something. I couldn't find any way to get him tested without having to pay $2,000 that I don't have right now. I pulled him out of school and I'm praying that after we move in February that his new school will be more cooperative. Word of advice....be prepared for a fight. The only reason I didn't fight harder is because we're leaving in a couple months and it's not worth going through all the problems right now just to turn around and leave. I'm storing it up for the new place.
ANy one with experience in this and if it's helped out - I'm thinking of requesting one for my Asperger son.
It can be a bit of a dance trying to get everything... mostly it comes down to insurance (and a big thank you to the money grubbing private insurances!). I'll bet folks in Canada don't get handed $1,200 bills for helping their child avoid a life of hardship & failure.
If the school says there is a disability, then they have to pay for the testing so they will dance all around it if possible.
Also, once the number of kids with a disability rises past 12% (which is much more common than it seems), all the additional costs come out of general funds and thus disenfranchise the remaining students so students "on the bubble" are not always served (Asperger's should be a pretty easy qualification though).
It isn't that the schools don't want to help, it is just that they are in a tough spot.... Cruise on over to the Education forum and take a peek at how often they are slammed for "wasting" money... I know, it is not a waste at all, but most folks tend to think that anything that doesn't directly benefit them is a waste (like all the folks who want to quit paying taxes for schools once their kids graduate).
Remember, if they ever pass a "school voucher program", these types of problems will only get worse.
BTW, what school district are you in? (I am a native east-sider)
Has he officially been diagnosed? Is he failing...I don't mean grades dropped to a "C", but is he failing?
At the school where I am at, we cannot make a request for testing until a child is failing. I hate that...I would love to get testing BEFORE the child is in the black....but then again...that would mean tons and tons more children would get tested if they're not failing...I have had 4 children tested. One did have a learning disablitlity...we found out the other had a very low IQ-I don't know how low you have to be to be mildly retarted, but she was very low...but since everythign she tested for was in her low IQ range, it was normal-for HER...and the other 2 just showed they were "slow learners"....but there was nothing 'wrong' with them and they didn't qualify for anything.
He's definately not failing - he's getting "Straight A's" acedmically. The teacher requested he be tested to enter the gifted program.
His problem is socially - and also he needs to be challenged WAY more. They have put him in Advance Reading and Advanced Math - but he's still blowing by the other kids at light speed which gives him too much extra time to play around!!
He's definately not failing - he's getting "Straight A's" acedmically. The teacher requested he be tested to enter the gifted program.
His problem is socially - and also he needs to be challenged WAY more. They have put him in Advance Reading and Advanced Math - but he's still blowing by the other kids at light speed which gives him too much extra time to play around!!
My son's the same way. I brought him home to homeschool him because the school here refused to offer any help because he was doing so well academically. He's blown through half of first grade and it's only been 3 months, plus gotten halfway through second grade math since May of this year. His problems are in his social behaviors. As I understand it, Asperger's really is a fairly new diagnosis and so the schools haven't really caught up to that so we parents have to fight extremely hard to get what our kids need. I'll end up footing the bill myself after we move for my son's evaluation and then come to the new school district armed and ready to go.
I would strongly encourage you to get an IEP for your son if you are able. I placed my daughter on one 2 years ago and we've had very good results with it. Like another poster stated, you definitely have to have the right teachers who will go along with it tho. Last year (her first year in middle school) she had all inclusion classes and her teachers were great. You may have to push the issue with your sons school, but it is definitely worth the battle if you can get one in place. It was explained to me that if your child does have an up to date IEP in place, they can carry it all the way through to college.
Good luck.
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.
