public school and special ed services

[Guest guest]

In answer to your question.....yes, my son Micah goes to a public school and in

this state the therapy and services can only be provided tohomeschooled kids at

the discretion of the school....if we decide to homeschool one thought I had

would be to tell them it is in their best interests to give them what he needs

as at any time I can put him back into the public school and the better he is

doing when I do, the better for them. I am very much for President Bush's idea

of vouchers to go to any school we want......right now we have to pay the taxes

for the public school but there is literally no-one to truly hold them

accountable for quality services: here is an example: this whole year we have

been struggling with our public school for them to provide the INDIVIDUAL

occupational therapy that was written into his IEP in JUne, 2001 which was in

the amount of 2 1/2 hrs. (everyone agreed at that time that getting a half hr.

each day before the three hour kindergarten session would be best as he was a

year older than others in the class and this would be least restrictive). We

negotiated and compromised until the end of the second term when we realized

some of his goals hadn't even been started on and the OT said she didn't have

time to get to all of them.....we had tried " co-treatment " and " in the class

treatment " to make up the 2 1/2 hrs. We requested in writing that the district

pay for private OT and mileage (we live at least 1/2 hr. from anything) at the

end of the second term....they still have not responded to this request....after

a month I complained formally to the state....we waited over two months from the

State to make a " decision " on whether we were right or they were in terms of if

the IEP had been fulfilled or not. The big investigative report from the STATE

OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, DEPT. OF EDUCATION didn't even get the allegation

right!!!!!!!!!!! They didn't even address the question of " individual " therapy

and whether " co-treatment " or " in class treatment " counted as " individual "

therapy.....didn't even address it all!!!!!!! THIS is the body that is

supposed to be holding the schools accountable??????? Talk about an

incredible waste of tax payers money! They can't even get the QUESTION

right?????? Never mind the decision or investigation...totally irrelevant since

they aren't addressing the question to begin with!!!! So now, an evaluation at

the end of the school year shows my son ONE AND A HALF YEARS behind in motor

skills......of course this can't POSSIBLY be related to not following the agreed

upon plan on what was best for him this year, can it? no....it is just that he

has special needs Mrs. Holt....you can't expect him to keep up as the work gets

harder. PUH LEASE!!!!! I have only been getting this kid treatment and

closely following his progress since he was SIX MONTHS OLD!!! But as Deborah is

fond of saying: I am only a hysterical MOTHER....completely irrational, in

denial, over protective, etc. etc. etc. We ARE such a BAD LOT, aren't

we???????? His slow down in progress couldn't possibly be due to a failure of

the school and therapist to provide the treatment agreed upon, could it????

My HUGE mistake in advocating for my son last year was not to get the TIME of

the therapy schedule into the IEP.....I trusted them to do what was verbally

agreed upon...instead I didn't even get what WAS in writing!!!! Can you all

tell I am STEAMING?????? When customers are dissatisfied with service they

take their business elsewhere.....I believe that when we are dissatisfied with

our child's education we should be able to take our portion of the designated

taxes to somewhere else....then it isn't only the RICH that get to choose!!!!

Right now we are trapped...and to tell you the truth, feeling trapped when you

are already dealing with some kind of disability in your child, makes it feel

all the worse! You can't imagine how many times I wish to jump over into the

" denial " area of thought and just PRETEND there is NOTHING wrong with my kid,

that he is absolutely functioning like any other average kid. But I refuse to

do that. I also refuse to believe that because the school has failed us, they

have failed to " cure " my son....it is not their job to cure .....it is simply

their job to TEACH (and in the process not to demean or devalue the worth of my

precious kid! if in the process of teaching they fail to use techniques that

are known and proven to help and my kid doesn't learn what he is able to then he

will get further behind than necessary and it WILL affect his self-esteem in a

negative way)...time to make pancakes for breakfast! Onward with the struggle,

Carol