Verifying a couple thoughts

[pipsqueak]

If I request an IEP meeting, the school district is still required to send the meeting notice with the list of attendees prior to the meeting, correct?

I am requesting the IEP meeting because they failed to provide the prior written notice (PWN) so we were unable to have any meaningful discussion regarding placement at the April 2018 IEP meeting. We first saw the PWN a little over a month after the IEP meeting when it was included in the final copy of the IEP. The information on the PWN is so minimal and vague that it doesn't address questions and concerns that came up after we reviewed the IEP and after giving more thought to the placement. Since the school district is not proposing a change in ds's placement - from the April 2018 IEP - We would not be receiving a PWN prior to an August 2018 IEP meeting, correct?

[auntie]

I'm not sure. I've never had a list of actual names on PWN going into the If those invited are included, they tend to be by their title or role at the meeting- IEP custodian, building CSE rep, special education teacher, general education teacher, SLP, etc. Some of these people could be wearing more than one hat; DS's IEP custodian in high school was the building's Autism Program Coordinator who could also sign off as a special education teacher. FTR, DS was not "in" the ASD program not did he ever have her as a classroom teacher as he was fully mainstreamed in high school.

[funchicken]

I'm not sure either. Did they give you the meeting date? Prior to DD being assigned a case manager, the Assistant Principal (she's the special education coordinator at our school) was the person sending me communications. Once DD was assigned a case manager, she was the one sending letters home. She and I ironed out the IEP prior to the actual meeting over 2-3 phone calls and several emails. She sent me a draft about a week before the meeting, and we made additional changes. There were very minimal changes once the team was in the room together.

It's your right to request that the IEP be re-opened, but because those meetings are usually in a time crunch, I would contact the case manager ahead of time to talk on the phone about your concerns, ask for clarification on things, and ask who's attending. If there's someone who you would like to be there who hasn't been invited, ask if they can be invited.

[pipsqueak]

By list of attendees I did mean list of the titles or roles.

If the meeting date and time has been set yet, I have not heard. School starts here on 8/15/18 and according to the last communication I had with the SpEd supervisor, she was going to set up a meeting on 8/13 or 8/14.

[freezorburn]

I’m unclear on this, too, though I will say that communication regarding DS’s IEP management has improved as he has gotten further into the school system.

At the preschool-K levels things were a bit vague and we were still figuring things out. And the focus for him was still very much about social communication. For his latest IEP going into 1st grade, they now have some data to work with as far as how he has adapted to an academic setting. The PWN was via email and we knew that we would have the plan administrator, his main K teacher, and at least one other sped teacher there. We had tossed around the idea of bringing in DS’s BCBA but couldn’t schedule it. We had some back and forth regarding the draft document before the actual meeting. Interestingly at the end of the meeting, the administrator referred to it as a “working document” that we could propose adjustments to at any time.

I’ve heard people say that we have the right to call an IEP meeting at any time, but it’s only required to be revisited at least once a year. This was the first time I ever heard of it referred to as a working document.

[freezorburn]

Also - wondering if you are in touch with any local organizations that can help you navigate this. I often see IEP advocates or IEP parent support discussed on my local ASD moms page. Our local chapter of The Arc gets mentioned a lot, don’t know if there is one in your area?

[pipsqueak]

IDK if this PWN could be less meaningful.

Proposed action: "Pip will attend an alternative curriculum program with OT, PT, and ST. He will attend specials and 15 minutes of centers daily in a Gen Ed classroom."

Explanation of why action proposed: "Pip turns 5 by July 30 and needs to attend a kindergarten classroom."

Other options considered and why rejected: "Pip needs a more restrictive classroom than a Gen Ed Classroom for the entire school day. Pip needs to work on his IEP Goals during the entire school day."

Proposal is based on: "IEP meetings, MDT Meetings, Observations, and Progress Reports"


I even question the validity of what they're basing this proposal on because he was the only child who was 4 turning 5 in his class. The remaining 8ish students were 3 turning 4 - after we switched him back to the morning class due to all the issues we we're having with transportation in the afternoon. The preschool class was also a segregated special education preschool class with maybe 1-2 non-disabled peer mentors. So given that he has had so little exposure to non-disabled peers how can they legitimately claim he can't be in a class with them? How can they legitimately claim he is unable to behave like a 5 year old (in school) when he's had no exposure to other 5 year olds? I have a bunch of questions such as those for the IEP meeting - my biggest question for them is: What is the school district so afraid that he will learn from the non-disabled students that they refuse to allow him to be in the GenEd classroom?

[auntie]

Jul 28, 2018 22:12:59 GMT -5 pipsqueak said:

IDK if this PWN could be less meaningful.

Time will tell. Sometimes the LEA pulls out a prepackaged IEP for each of the different classifications under IDEA. At times that can be a violation of FAPE in LRE; but it can also be the result of years of experience putting together what works best for a core group of needs. Sometimes school districts are aren't great at thinking outside the box and sometimes parents have very rosy-colored mommy-goggles. 

Proposed action: "Pip will attend an alternative curriculum program with OT, PT, and ST. He will attend specials and 15 minutes of centers daily in a Gen Ed classroom."

That's a kind standard offering which can be a good starting point. It's a lot of services which is good, but does complicate access to mainstream. How often does he get OT, PT and ST each week? Is this full-day kindie? 

Other pieces to this you need to know are with which class will Pip have recess and lunch? Will he be on a regular neighborhood bus? These 3 things are part of the "educational day" and can tip the percentage of time spent in a SpEd vs GenEd setting which should be recorded in the IEP toward the back. DS's elementary did a similar strategy to integrate kids who spent most of their days in the classroom for children with multiple disabilities and closer to half the academic part of the day in resource. This is something to observe to make sure the kids are drawn into the group and that the para who travels with them isn't acting as a barrier between them and their peers.  

The other piece to this is that once a child is pulled for services routinely, they risk becoming a guest in the classroom whether that classroom is a special day class or a garden variety mainstream setting. Sometimes this is just unavoidable. When DS was in 4th-6th grade, the % of time spent in a special education setting was quite high. He did his math and RELA in the resource room because of his learning disabilities even after he caught up to grade level because he needed differentiated reading/writing instruction. He was pulled twice a week for speech services- pragmatics and social thinking. And he was out 30 minutes each week for his trombone lesson and then for his band class. This was as good as we could make it, so we powered through and looked forward to a less restrictive setting in secondary. 



Explanation of why action proposed: "Pip turns 5 by July 30 and needs to attend a kindergarten classroom."


This is his right. SCOTUS has decreed that the age appropriate classroom is LRE for children with disabilities. The school has to go along with this. 

Other options considered and why rejected: "Pip needs a more restrictive classroom than a Gen Ed Classroom for the entire school day. Pip needs to work on his IEP Goals during the entire school day."


I'd want specifics on this in your shoes. What are his IEP goals? Is more inclusion in the mainstream one of them? What specific skills would he need to be included if that is your wish for him?


That said, if Pip has an intellectual disability or learning differences, he might do best with a differentiated curriculum. He might need to learn to read in a more multisensory approach at a different pace than his typical peers. For me, this was a bitter pill to swallow because DS needed access to typically developing peers in order to work on mastery of the social skills goals from the ASD portion of his IEP but his struggles to overcome dyslexia and dyscalculia kept him at arms length. 


The other piece to this that I eventually came to embrace was that I wanted my kid with the most highly qualified teachers possible. In your building, those teachers are likely working in the self contained classroom and should be adept at working his OT, PT and SLT into his day.


Proposal is based on: "IEP meetings, MDT Meetings, Observations, and Progress Reports"


I even question the validity of what they're basing this proposal on because he was the only child who was 4 turning 5 in his class. The remaining 8ish students were 3 turning 4 - after we switched him back to the morning class due to all the issues we we're having with transportation in the afternoon.


I recall your bus issues last year. Ugh. At the time, I was surprised they allowed the switch to a class of younger kids even though it shouldn't make a difference in preschool where the academic piece is less rigid in terms of year end benchmarks. 


The preschool class was also a segregated special education preschool class with maybe 1-2 non-disabled peer mentors.


This is pretty typical. It's very expensive to provide typically developing peer models where there is no universal preschool so most districts don't.


So given that he has had so little exposure to non-disabled peers how can they legitimately claim he can't be in a class with them? How can they legitimately claim he is unable to behave like a 5 year old (in school) when he's had no exposure to other 5 year olds?


Can you present data from other activities that support the idea that he can successfully participate with other fives? Say from a mainstream day care or even Sunday School? Is there a plan to include more time in GenEd if he does, in fact, demonstrate that he can hold his own among same-aged peers?


They can legitimately look at his behavior and social-emotional development based on aged-norms. There are developmental tests that can tease out- BASC and Vineland are 2 such tests. 


I have a bunch of questions such as those for the IEP meeting - my biggest question for them is: What is the school district so afraid that he will learn from the non-disabled students that they refuse to allow him to be in the GenEd classroom?



I don't think the district is worried about what he'll learn from them. They're probably more concerned that he won't thrive in a large mainstream class or that his maturity level/behaviors/pull-outs for services could be a barrier to meaningful inclusion at this time. 


I hope you get some answers and can come up with a plan that serves Pip well. Good luck.

[pipsqueak]

Jul 29, 2018 7:11:49 GMT -5 auntie said:

Jul 28, 2018 22:12:59 GMT -5 pipsqueak said:

IDK if this PWN could be less meaningful.

Time will tell. Sometimes the LEA pulls out a prepackaged IEP for each of the different classifications under IDEA. At times that can be a violation of FAPE in LRE; but it can also be the result of years of experience putting together what works best for a core group of needs. Sometimes school districts are aren't great at thinking outside the box and sometimes parents have very rosy-colored mommy-goggles. 

Proposed action: "Pip will attend an alternative curriculum program with OT, PT, and ST. He will attend specials and 15 minutes of centers daily in a Gen Ed classroom."

That's a kind standard offering which can be a good starting point. It's a lot of services which is good, but does complicate access to mainstream. How often does he get OT, PT and ST each week? *It's impossible to tell based on the IEP. During preschool the IEP said 4 per year for OT and PT but reality was he got 1x per month in a coaching based model. Supposedly this is a computer issue that has never been fixed.* Ishis full-day kindie? *Yes, full day 830ish to 405*

Other pieces to this you need to know are with which class will Pip have recess and lunch? *Not currently specified in his IEP* Will he be on a regular neighborhood bus? *We live 0.23 miles from this school so we will be walking.* These 3 things are part of the "educational day" and can tip the percentage of time spent in a SpEd vs GenEd setting which should be recorded in the IEP toward the back. DS's elementary did a similar strategy to integrate kids who spent most of their days in the classroom for children with multiple disabilities and closer to half the academic part of the day in resource. This is something to observe to make sure the kids are drawn into the group and that the para who travels with them isn't acting as a barrier between them and their peers.  

The other piece to this is that once a child is pulled for services routinely, they risk becoming a guest in the classroom whether that classroom is a special day class or a garden variety mainstream setting. Sometimes this is just unavoidable. When DS was in 4th-6th grade, the % of time spent in a special education setting was quite high. He did his math and RELA in the resource room because of his learning disabilities even after he caught up to grade level because he needed differentiated reading/writing instruction. He was pulled twice a week for speech services- pragmatics and social thinking. And he was out 30 minutes each week for his trombone lesson and then for his band class. This was as good as we could make it, so we powered through and looked forward to a less restrictive setting in secondary. 



Explanation of why action proposed: "Pip turns 5 by July 30 and needs to attend a kindergarten classroom."


This is his right.*was included to show lack of information - it doesn't say why the more restrictive classroom was recommended.* SCOTUS has decreed that the age appropriate classroom is LRE for children with disabilities. The school has to go along with this. 

Other options considered and why rejected: "Pip needs a more restrictive classroom than a Gen Ed Classroom for the entire school day. Pip needs to work on his IEP Goals during the entire school day."


I'd want specifics on this in your shoes. What are his IEP goals? *His goals are currently things like hanging coat in locker, transitioning safely, developing a functional grasp and being able to make pre-writing strokes, throwing and catching a ball, learning the alphabet (which he knows) and concepts such as rhyming (and others that I can't think of at the moment, learning numbers sense and counting, and speech related goals* Isore inclusion in the mainstream one of them? What specific skills would he need to be included if that is your wish for him?


That said, if Pip has an intellectual disability or learning differences, he might do best with a differentiated curriculum. He might need to learn to read in a more multisensory approach at a different pace than his typical peers. For me, this was a bitter pill to swallow because DS needed access to typically developing peers in order to work on mastery of the social skills goals from the ASD portion of his IEP but his struggles to overcome dyslexia and dyscalculia kept him at arms length. 


The other piece to this that I eventually came to embrace was that I wanted my kid with the most highly qualified teachers possible. In your building, those teachers are likely working in the self contained classroom and should be adept at working his OT, PT and SLT into his day.


Proposal is based on: "IEP meetings, MDT Meetings, Observations, and Progress Reports"


I even question the validity of what they're basing this proposal on because he was the only child who was 4 turning 5 in his class. The remaining 8ish students were 3 turning 4 - after we switched him back to the morning class due to all the issues we we're having with transportation in the afternoon.


I recall your bus issues last year. Ugh. At the time, I was surprised they allowed the switch to a class of younger kids even though it shouldn't make a difference in preschool where the academic piece is less rigid in terms of year end benchmarks. *I talked to the preschool teacher during summer school (since they allowed him to transfer programs for that). She sounded rather surprised that we were told that Pip couldn't attend her preschool class because it was different from the program he had been in. Incidentally, some of the things that were noted as issues during his IEP (behavioral related but no FBA was done) resolved simply through having age appropriate behaviors modeled by the others in the class.* 


The preschool class was also a segregated special education preschool class with maybe 1-2 non-disabled peer mentors.


This is pretty typical. It's very expensive to provide typically developing peer models where there is no universal preschool so most districts don't.


So given that he has had so little exposure to non-disabled peers how can they legitimately claim he can't be in a class with them? How can they legitimately claim he is unable to behave like a 5 year old (in school) when he's had no exposure to other 5 year olds?


Can you present data from other activities that support the idea that he can successfully participate with other fives? *Only the improvement noted when he was in summer school. There's also no data that says he cannot successfully participate with other fives.* Say from a mainstream day care or even Sunday School? Is there a plan to include more time in GenEd if he does, in fact, demonstrate that he can hold his own among same-aged peers?


They can legitimately look at his behavior and social-emotional development based on aged-norms. There are developmental tests that can tease out- BASC and Vineland are 2 such tests. 


I have a bunch of questions such as those for the IEP meeting - my biggest question for them is: What is the school district so afraid that he will learn from the non-disabled students that they refuse to allow him to be in the GenEd classroom?



I don't think the district is worried about what he'll learn from them. They're probably more concerned that he won't thrive in a large mainstream class or that his maturity level/behaviors/pull-outs for services could be a barrier to meaningful inclusion at this time. 


I hope you get some answers and can come up with a plan that serves Pip well. Good luck.

I had a friend who has been an elementary level teacher in a different state for around 25 years review his full IEP with me. I was asking her what I was missing that explained why the more restrictive environment was appropriate. Her response was "They're setting him up for failure, for behavioral issues down the road." There currently is NOTHING in there to explain why that environment has been recommended. There is NOTHING in any of the goals that cannot be worked on in a GenEd classroom. No information on WHY has been provided to us in any other document. That's our biggest objection: If there exists a valid reason for this placement it has not been provided to us. Our second biggest objection is the number of times they ignored our input. I kept telling them academically he knows numbers 1-10 and all 26 letters. He just cannot say the names of all letters and numbers correctly, and he cannot make all of the letter sounds - but he demonstrates through other means of communication that he knows the letters and their sounds - yet they insist that his goals include learning the letters and sounds, learning numbers 1-10.

I added responses between * * in the quoted portion as well.

[pipsqueak]

auntie what is the appropriate response when in addition to all this other stuff, I found out today that the PLAAFP references "Teaching Strategies Gold, April 2018" (that's the full extent of the reference and information in the IEP related to it from what I can tell) and a print out/copy with Pip's performance and achievement levels is not provided to us at the IEP meeting nor is it included as an attachment to the IEP, and it is not found in his permanent record in the administration building? The contents of it were not discussed at the IEP meeting either.

I'm not even sure I know what this Teaching Strategies Gold is.

[auntie]

Grrr. GBCN just ate my reply.


pipsqueak ,-

Is there any chance you could sit down with the school psychologist or assessor to see the raw data and have their interpretation explained to you?

It looks like Teaching Strategies Gold is a early childhood ed assessment tool for the classroom that is considered appropriate for a range of little ones- those typically developing, those who are ELL and those with special needs. I wouldn't expect this to be in the LEA office, but at the school-level or potentially IU/county level here. 

It's great that you have a good friend who can advise you, but understand that sometimes good friends take our sides and tell us what we want to hear.  I don't doubt that Pip could be well served in a mainstream classroom in the primary grades especially but it doesn't seem like your district is on board with that. 


The letters and numbers thing is a problem. This is sometimes an issue with kids on spectrum, too. They know something but can not demonstrate mastery because of anxiety, select mutism, dysgraphia, or being non-verbal. In some cases, an IEP will dictate an acceptable alternate means of demonstrating proficiency- like an oral report with the teacher alone or a slide show. There are also those educators who don't consider material mastered until it can be regurgitated in the expected manner across multiple situations. How does Pip demonstrate that he knows his number and letters? How much prompting is involved? Is he pointing to a letter if you ask? Or can he draw it if asked? Or tell you which picture has the letter as it's first sound? For numbers, does he know ordination? If he saw a pair of objects- say and apple for each of you- would he understand the correspondence of "2" and that there weren't enough for you, him and his dad?  


Unless you live in a community with universal preschool, I would not be too excited about whether a kid knows his letters and sounds they make. There will be kiddos who have been home with a grandparent rather than a preschool embedded day care who won't be up to speed. Kindies should be used to differentiating for the kid who is already reading chapter books and the kid whose family speaks only Chinese or Russian at home. 


Maybe it would be useful to communicate how you envision inclusion to work for Pip. What are the actual logistics for meeting his goals. Is he working with any support person? Is that person a teacher? A para? A classmate? Are the OTs and PTs coming into the classroom during instructional time?

[pipsqueak]

Aug 3, 2018 9:01:48 GMT -5 auntie said:

Grrr. GBCN just ate my reply.


pipsqueak ,-

Is there any chance you could sit down with the school psychologist or assessor to see the raw data and have their interpretation explained to you?

It looks like Teaching Strategies Gold is a early childhood ed assessment tool for the classroom that is considered appropriate for a range of little ones- those typically developing, those who are ELL and those with special needs. I wouldn't expect this to be in the LEA office, but at the school-level or potentially IU/county level here. 

*Would you expect a hard copy to be attached to the IEP if it's referenced in the PLAAFP - or at least have information from it transcribed into the PLAAFP?*


It's great that you have a good friend who can advise you, but understand that sometimes good friends take our sides and tell us what we want to hear.  I don't doubt that Pip could be well served in a mainstream classroom in the primary grades especially but it doesn't seem like your district is on board with that. 

*I put a little more weight on my friend's opinion because I had only asked if I had missed something that provided the justification/explanation for the amount of time he was to spend in the ACP classroom. Her comment was her own independent conclusion and resulted in me giving the IEP a harder look than I had been doing previously*

The letters and numbers thing is a problem. This is sometimes an issue with kids on spectrum, too. They know something but can not demonstrate mastery because of anxiety, select mutism, dysgraphia, or being non-verbal. In some cases, an IEP will dictate an acceptable alternate means of demonstrating proficiency- like an oral report with the teacher alone or a slide show. There are also those educators who don't consider material mastered until it can be regurgitated in the expected manner across multiple situations. How does Pip demonstrate that he knows his number and letters? How much prompting is involved? Is he pointing to a letter if you ask? Or can he draw it if asked? Or tell you which picture has the letter as it's first sound? For numbers, does he know ordination? If he saw a pair of objects- say and apple for each of you- would he understand the correspondence of "2" and that there weren't enough for you, him and his dad?  


*For the letters, he has an alphabet puzzle with plastic letters. He will say the sounds of the letters if he is able as he is putting the pieces in their spots. In this case, I am just observing and not prompting at all. Other times, when I ask him for the pieces (not in alphabetical order) as I say the sounds he will hand me the correct letters. Sometimes he will say the sounds for the letters when he sees the letters (as a word on someone's shirt for example). He's getting closer to being able to make all age appropriate sounds. The same is true with the names of the letters. I have not tried working with him on beginning sounds, rhyming etc too much. Those are in the 1/3 of the reading goal that I know has not yet been met*




Unless you live in a community with universal preschool, I would not be too excited about whether a kid knows his letters and sounds they make. There will be kiddos who have been home with a grandparent rather than a preschool embedded day care who won't be up to speed. Kindies should be used to differentiating for the kid who is already reading chapter books and the kid whose family speaks only Chinese or Russian at home. 


Maybe it would be useful to communicate how you envision inclusion to work for Pip. What are the actual logistics for meeting his goals. Is he working with any support person? Is that person a teacher? A para? A classmate? Are the OTs and PTs coming into the classroom during instructional time?

Added responses between **

[auntie]

pipsqueak, said:


*I put a little more weight on my friend's opinion because I had only asked if I had missed something that provided the justification/explanation for the amount of time he was to spend in the ACP classroom. Her comment was her own independent conclusion and resulted in me giving the IEP a harder look than I had been doing previously*



It's great that she caused you to go over the IEP again. I am always amazed when I ask a question about a kid's IEP and the parents has no idea what's in the document they signed. Like how can you not know how many speech sessions your child gets or whether they're classified under Autism or Intellectual Disability?

Did your friend have any nuts & bolts suggestions around how to have Pip's IEP serviced in a mainstream setting? Sometimes when a district comes at you with "we've always done it this way", you have to bring practical solutions to the IEP table. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is by participating in writing goals that would lead to service delivery in the gen ed setting. 




*For the letters, he has an alphabet puzzle with plastic letters. He will say the sounds of the letters if he is able as he is putting the pieces in their spots. In this case, I am just observing and not prompting at all. Other times, when I ask him for the pieces (not in alphabetical order) as I say the sounds he will hand me the correct letters. Sometimes he will say the sounds for the letters when he sees the letters (as a word on someone's shirt for example). He's getting closer to being able to make all age appropriate sounds. The same is true with the names of the letters. I have not tried working with him on beginning sounds, rhyming etc too much. Those are in the 1/3 of the reading goal that I know has not yet been met*




So the puzzle is a visual prompt. And the pieces serve as a manipulative. This is good stuff. He should probably get his RELA in the form of a multisensory curriculum with a heavy phonics piece. Does he know which letter his name stats with? What if you were to ask him to write that letter from memory?


It might make sense to bring a short video clip of this letter identification play to the IEP table if the school has never seen the behavior. 

[pipsqueak]

It's great that she caused you to go over the IEP again. I am always amazed when I ask a question about a kid's IEP and the parents has no idea what's in the document they signed. Like how can you not know how many speech sessions your child gets or whether they're classified under Autism or Intellectual Disability?



In this school district, they give you a draft IEP with the PLAAFP section filled in with their information....then they add whatever they want to of the parent input (or so it feels). The rest of the IEP is pre-completed with their ideas and how much it gets modified depends on the meeting itself. Everyone signs only as attending. There is no signing for agreement. I had to fight in April to be given a copy of the working draft that they were using to implement the IEP. Then I had to hound the district to send a final copy of the IEP. Otherwise from the IEP meeting until the final copy is received the only document that can be reviewed is the draft copy received at the IEP meeting. We received the final copy of the April IEP a couple days before the last day of school in late May.

The section that details the frequency of services etc supposedly defaults to 4 per year and the computer will not permit it to be changed. I requested that the information be spelled out in another area or added as an attachment but that request was ignored as a result I honestly have no idea how often ds is supposed to be receiving ST, OT, or PT.

In the case of the April IEP, they included the information for preschool but omitted it for school age. Some of the information for kindergarten is mixed in with information for preschool and therefore more difficult to sort.

Dh and I have agreed that this IEP will not be implemented until the school district provides additional information. We would allow them to place Pip in the ACP classroom IF they can provide the data to support that placement. I also want the services spelled out - how often he's to receive what, etc. Until such time as the school district corrects the IEP or provides the information requested IN WRITING, we are keeping Pip home and/or looking into options for leaving this school district. As it is, school starts in about 1.5 weeks (8/15) and I have yet to receive contact to set up the IEP meeting I requested in June during summer school.

[freezorburn]

pipsqueak any update?

[pipsqueak]

Aug 12, 2018 11:26:52 GMT -5 freezorburn said:

pipsqueak any update?

IEP meeting scheduled for 815 tomorrow morning.

We called the supervisor on Tuesday (8/7) and she said the meeting notice was sent for mailing on 8/2. It arrived on Wednesday 8/8 with a postmark of 8/6. I sent an email asking if the supervisor was attending or if the school principal would be signing as the LEA on Thursday but received no response.

I've concluded that independent of the IEP meeting tomorrow, we need to file a formal, written complaint with the state on the April IEP. I started pulling out all drafts and final copies from his first IEP in March 2016 to present. The March 2016 IEP was written primarily by the EI team that wrote all of his IFSPs and there are no issues with it. The Feb 2017, February 2018, and April 2018 IEPs were written by the preschool team and I didn't catch it in February but there are so few changes that the 3 IEPs (and their respective drafts) are substantially all one document. Two of the goals are practically identical on all 3 IEPs - with just minor changes like updating the dates. The PLAAFP has areas that are identical with just an updating sentence or two added. The April IEP is supposed to be the kindergarten IEP and yet it's virtually the same as the IEP for his second year of preschool.

In organizing documents for tomorrow, I also realized that progress reports for 4th quarter of the 16-17 school year and 4th quarter of the 17-18 school year were never provided. Neither dh nor I can recall if we were provided with the progress report for 3rd quarter of the 17-18 school year (we only recall leaving the parent teacher conference feeling under attack by the SLP for parenting decisions - that's when we were told the only reason Pip wasn't potty trained was because we had him in cloth diapers and didn't want to potty train him). Either way, I do not have a copy of the 3rd quarter progress report in my files. Also found out that the "contact summaries" from the OT stopped coming home as the last one we have is dated 1/18/18. The ones from the PT were emailed to us by the PT.

Add in the issue with the meeting notice and the Prior Written Notice......is it possible to have more violations in 1 IEP?

[pipsqueak]

We did not re-write the IEP YET. We did get questions answered that we couldn't get answered at the April IEP meeting so that part was good.

Since Pip is due for the 3 year evaluation in second semester anyway and because it's a whole different team and none of them have any knowledge/experience with Pip we decided that we are going to leave him in the current placement (mostly in the self contained classroom) for the first quarter. During that time, they will do the 3 year evaluations and do their own assessments of where he's at academically, socially, and developmentally plus whatever else they check, then we will have an MDT meeting/IEP meeting to write a whole new IEP from scratch.

[auntie]

Aug 12, 2018 22:24:48 GMT -5 pipsqueak said:

Aug 12, 2018 11:26:52 GMT -5 freezorburn said:

Since Pip is due for the 3 year evaluation in second semester anyway and because it's a whole different team and none of them have any knowledge/experience with Pip we decided that we are going to leave him in the current placement (mostly in the self contained classroom) for the first quarter. During that time, they will do the 3 year evaluations and do their own assessments of where he's at academically, socially, and developmentally plus whatever else they check, then we will have an MDT meeting/IEP meeting to write a whole new IEP from scratch.


This is a great plan. IME, the teams in K-12 are stronger than they ones in preschool ages. Because Pip is older it will be easier for the school psych, teachers and the rest of the team to get a sense of his strengths and challenges. At around 6, a whole set of new scales are available for evaluations.