IEP Confidentiality

[jesscantri]

I'm generally a lurker on the boards, but was hoping someone might be able to help me out. My son has an IEP with early intervention and receives itinerant services at a private preschool (developmental delay) and the center director is requesting a copy of the IEP. When I asked why she says it needs to be on file in the event they get audited by the state. His itinerant teacher has said before that they don't need a copy and I gave her permission to share his goals. I'm just curious if anyone else has any general insight. Am I supposed to share this info with them? I know it's a confidential document and she says it will be filed away safely and not shared with anyone else.

[craftyone]

I've given my son's private Autism school and ABA, ST,OT therapists copies of my son's public school IEP in the past. We were switching from public to private. They did not need it but it was good to know what they were working on etc. Honestly I felt like the private sector did a better job of creating their own "IEP" plans and would only use the public school to have a place to start at.

[jesscantri]

I'm not sure why I'm being kind of stubborn about this, but your response makes me think I might be too rigid.. I don't really see how they can really do much to support him since it is a run of the mill preschool. We've been dealing with his issues since he's been there and they haven't brought any ideas to the table about how to help. I'm not really sure how much of that is there responsibility though.

[auntie]

I would never leave my child, who has ASD, ADHD, SLD and GAD, in the care of any adult who wasn't in the loop.

An IEP should include accommodations for the mainstream which the teacher would be charged with overseeing.

[craftyone]

How old is your son? Is the early intervention through what agency? County? school? I know for our state/county, the EI is through the age of 2 then we transition to the public schools. Even at that, our schools start evals at age 2. So I went through EI to get the process started before my sons turned 2. (I have 3 with delays, 2 on the spectrum) The minute they turned 2 ,I started the process with the public schools. The schools created another IEP after more evaluations and if he meets delayed criteria we have several different options (1/2 or full day preschool, off site therapist who go to a private school X times a week, come into the school for speech/OT X times a week). Once my son had an autism DX we looked at other avenues such as Medicaid waivers, ASD medical mandates we have in our state to pay for ABA therapy which are more one on one.

When my middle son was 2, I pulled him out of the private preschool since they couldn't handle his delays and were under no obligation to do so. I would look up your state/counties guidelines. If anything you can give the school district a call and talk with department that handles special education.

[auntie]

Oct 29, 2014 15:48:10 GMT -5 jesscantri said:

I'm generally a lurker on the boards, but was hoping someone might be able to help me out.


I have a little more time this morning to share my thoughts.


My son has an IEP with early intervention and receives itinerant services at a private preschool (developmental delay) and the center director is requesting a copy of the IEP.


I would share. In education, things go best when parents and educators work as a team. I'm not saying there couldn't be consequences to sharing. Private preschools can exit a child at any time for any reason. It's just best practices for everyone on the team to know what's in an IEP- including the child at some point.


When I asked why she says it needs to be on file in the event they get audited by the state.


If they are getting funding by the district for your DS, then that would be true. It may also be true if service providers visit your son at the school.


His itinerant teacher has said before that they don't need a copy and I gave her permission to share his goals.


I would guess the director of the preschool would be more aware of what paperwork is legally mandated for her school than a teacher would be. Is the special education teacher also his IEP custodian or the chair of the CSE/CST that drafted the IEP?


I'm just curious if anyone else has any general insight. Am I supposed to share this info with them? I know it's a confidential document and she says it will be filed away safely and not shared with anyone else.

I don't see why the need for secrecy beyond the usual confidentiality. Sharing with all the professionals who work with your child but not other parents makes sense.

A lot of times when parents of newly dxd children feel this way, it about them not yet being in a place where they have fully embraced their child's need for special education services. It's a process that can take some time, especially in younger kids where the delays relative to peers can see subtle. They often explain this as not wanted their child treated differently or having their expectations lowered.

As parents we often wear our mommygoogles and don't see our child in the unbiased light a seasoned educator might. There's an old saying among the moms on my ASD forums that "if you do not provide a dx to explain your child's delays and behavior, one will be provided for you". 

[jesscantri]

I am going to share since you guys are right that everyone needs to be involved. Thanks for the additional thoughts, Auntie. I think you hit on most of my concerns. He is receiving district services at a private preschool, so I know they could kick us out at any time. But we've been there for 2.5 years so I hope they wouldn't. From what I've been told he is fine most of the day, it's just a meltdown every once in a while. And yes, just the coping and coming to terms with his needs is hard and feeling like some of what he does is under a microscope.. Right now we are working with the developmental delay diagnosis and I am going to see if the pediatrician thinks we need to explore anything further when we go in for his appointment next month.

[auntie]

wut?