(no subject)

[Guest guest]

I was at an IEP training last night put on by the parent advocacy group

in our state. She said our school's have to provide a FAPE--free and

appropriate public education; not necessarily the best education. Of

course it is our jobs as parents to want the best education for our

kids, but the school doesn't necessarily have to provide it. I can't

say that I agree with her, but it is what the law says.

I'm preparing myself to " do battle " . My 5 y.o. with high functioning

autism, ADHD, and allergies/asthma (particularly mold) is due for an IEP

review in about a week. Since the IEP was written last spring, we have

" independent evaluation results " that have not been discussed as a

team. These results speak to his need for a one-on-one teaching

assistant (para) and intensive speech and language therapy, neither of

which the school thinks he needs. This year he is in Head Start in the

morning with one-on-one support that I provided through his waiver, and

attends ECSE in the afternoon (5 kids, 2 adults--all kids on IEP's,

which they claim meets his need for socialization with typically

developing peers--another story and why he is in Head Start.) Any way,

when the school sees him in the setting they see him in, they do not see

the need for these services. Thing is, he'll go to kindergarten next

spring.

This is where it gets complicated. We live in a very small town which

has a very small school district with very old--and moldy--schools. I

take my kids to a bigger neighboring town, partly because of the mold

issues, partly because that's where I work and related transportation

issues. If I would send him to the school district we reside in, he

would probably get the para, but would be going to school in a building

that would make him sick (not to mention the transportation

inconveniences it would cause). If I keep him in the school he is in,

they do not see the need for him to have these services. At the IEP

meeting shortly before the outside eval they had cut his speech from 45

minutes a week to 10 minutes a month because " speech is provided

everyday in the ECSE setting by the teacher and her assistants " . But

next year he won't have an assistant and schools do not like to give

services back.

At the training I mentioned above, I asked questions pertaining to this

and she said that he has to go into the setting and fail, then I can go

back and ask for a para. We know this child has a disability, he

experiences failure daily without being set up for it.

What is everybody else's experience on getting one-on-one para's for

their child at school? Any advice?