Re: IEP meeting

[Guest guest]

You appear to be hesitant with going into the IEP without help. You could delay it while you get the information you think he needs re: appropriate testing, modifications, accommodations, transportation requirements, staffing ratios etc. You could contact an advocate: Child Find ( or Ysela) (free) or an attorney/advocate (you pay) either Elle Furlong or Melody Zamir. Melody is out of town till the middle of september. Good Luck.

Just a correction...Stacey and Ysela both work for Family Network On Disabilities of Broward County. Yes, please give me a call at the office if you need our help.

Robin LevineIntake CoordinatorFamily Network on Disabilitiesof Broward County, Inc.100 South s AvenueFt. Lauderdale, FL 33301Phone: Fax: 1-

[Guest guest]

You appear to be hesitant with going into the IEP without help. You could delay it while you get the information you think he needs re: appropriate testing, modifications, accommodations, transportation requirements, staffing ratios etc. You could contact an advocate: Child Find ( or Ysela) (free) or an attorney/advocate (you pay) either Elle Furlong or Melody Zamir. Melody is out of town till the middle of september. Good Luck.

To: deniseslist Sent: Wed, September 1, 2010 2:15:36 PMSubject: IEP meeting

Hello all! I have been diligently reading all the emails, and figured this was the best venue to air my concerns.

My son, who is in 5th grade, has returned back to Public school after leaving two years ago to attend a private school. We realized, a week before this school year, that he would be best served in the system. We come with a complete academic evaluation and recommendations that were performed in May, as well as a social evaluation done through his camp (Child Provider Services), and a diagnosis of Aspergers, PDD, and a Learning Disability.

We have worked with CARD, as well as a private tutor over these past two years. My concern is this...it seems that I will be attending this IEP meeting alone, and from experience with this, I am not well equiped in recommending the necessary accomodations for my son. Although I am bringing those recomendations from the psychologist and from the personnel from CARD who observed my son at school, I still feel "unarmed."

When we left this school two years ago, it was not amicable. There has been more evidence of Adam's disabilities and it is quite clear that he needs help. The school admitted that when I showed them examples of his work from the summer. I am still quite concerned.

As a group, I ask for your advice. Would you seek to an advocate to bring with you, or are the recommendations and the work enough to help figure out which accomodations that are needed? This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 7th. I have yet to return the paperwork stating that I would like for them to reevaluate him, or his IEP (and PSSP, from the Private school.)

Thank you all for your time. This has really been a trying time, and I am looking forward to being able to take a slight step back when all the necessary details are put into place.

Debbie Marcus

[Guest guest]

Re: accommodations: the good thing about Broward schools is that students can have all possible accommodations cited in an iep, whereas in Dade, the team determines which accomodations are appropriate. Each method has pros and cons. Sent from my iPhone

Hello all! I have been diligently reading all the emails, and figured this was the best venue to air my concerns.

My son, who is in 5th grade, has returned back to Public school after leaving two years ago to attend a private school. We realized, a week before this school year, that he would be best served in the system. We come with a complete academic evaluation and recommendations that were performed in May, as well as a social evaluation done through his camp (Child Provider Services), and a diagnosis of Aspergers, PDD, and a Learning Disability.

We have worked with CARD, as well as a private tutor over these past two years. My concern is this...it seems that I will be attending this IEP meeting alone, and from experience with this, I am not well equiped in recommending the necessary accomodations for my son. Although I am bringing those recomendations from the psychologist and from the personnel from CARD who observed my son at school, I still feel "unarmed."

When we left this school two years ago, it was not amicable. There has been more evidence of Adam's disabilities and it is quite clear that he needs help. The school admitted that when I showed them examples of his work from the summer. I am still quite concerned.

As a group, I ask for your advice. Would you seek to an advocate to bring with you, or are the recommendations and the work enough to help figure out which accomodations that are needed? This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 7th. I have yet to return the paperwork stating that I would like for them to reevaluate him, or his IEP (and PSSP, from the Private school.)

Thank you all for your time. This has really been a trying time, and I am looking forward to being able to take a slight step back when all the necessary details are put into place.

Debbie Marcus

[Guest guest]

You could seek an advocate, but you could also contact Family Network on Disabilities. They don't cost anything and they are very knowledgeable. There is the FND in Broward - contact them. You shouldn't go alone and if you need to postpone the meeting do so. http://www.fndfl.org/

Hello all! I have been diligently reading all the emails, and figured this was the best venue to air my concerns.

My son, who is in 5th grade, has returned back to Public school after leaving two years ago to attend a private school. We realized, a week before this school year, that he would be best served in the system. We come with a complete academic evaluation and recommendations that were performed in May, as well as a social evaluation done through his camp (Child Provider Services), and a diagnosis of Aspergers, PDD, and a Learning Disability.

We have worked with CARD, as well as a private tutor over these past two years. My concern is this...it seems that I will be attending this IEP meeting alone, and from experience with this, I am not well equiped in recommending the necessary accomodations for my son. Although I am bringing those recomendations from the psychologist and from the personnel from CARD who observed my son at school, I still feel "unarmed."

When we left this school two years ago, it was not amicable. There has been more evidence of Adam's disabilities and it is quite clear that he needs help. The school admitted that when I showed them examples of his work from the summer. I am still quite concerned.

As a group, I ask for your advice. Would you seek to an advocate to bring with you, or are the recommendations and the work enough to help figure out which accomodations that are needed? This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 7th. I have yet to return the paperwork stating that I would like for them to reevaluate him, or his IEP (and PSSP, from the Private school.)

Thank you all for your time. This has really been a trying time, and I am looking forward to being able to take a slight step back when all the necessary details are put into place.

Debbie Marcus

[Guest guest]

Be careful not to recommend any advocates that does not

believe inclusion works in Broward County.

[Guest guest]

Be wary of advocates in general who may be working through their own issues rather than addressing those of your child. Sent from my iPhone

Be careful not to recommend any advocates that does not

believe inclusion works in Broward County.

[Guest guest]

Tina, do you have any idea how to identify those issues?

From: sList

[mailto:sList ] On Behalf Of Tina Terri Austin

Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 1:33 PM

To: sList

Subject: Re: Re: IEP meeting

Be wary of advocates in general who may be working through

their own issues rather than addressing those of your child.

Sent from my iPhone

Be careful not to recommend

any advocates that does not believe inclusion works in Broward County.

[Guest guest]

Oh geez, I just wrote this ridiculously long post to someone else who asked about that similar topic.

What we want are people who are willing to teach us to advocate for our child based on our individual child's needs. This is not about us, or the advocate but about what is truly best for our child. We all come to this current place with our past baggage and our own personal issues and we are likely drawn to others who have similar issues or who are the opposite of our issues so we have a chance to work through them.

If an advocate makes you feel badly for payment, If an advocate talks incessantly about their own child, If an advocate constantly brings up their own child, If an advocate costs an exorbitant/unreasonable amount of money, If an advocate starts boosting your already frustrated feelings with the school system, If an advocate has an adversarial relationship with any school and puts down others who work for the school system, if an advocate consistently cancels IEP scheduled meetings in an effort to wait for it to expire to cite the school system, if an advocate does not offer any ideas or brain storm ways to help the child during your meeting with them or during an IEP meeting but only cites how it is wrong. Pay attention to name calling, which to me indicates an adversarial relationship. We ultimately want what is best for our kids. Remember, we also have issues. Our children's social issues in first or third grade or middle school are NOT our issues from when we were in first, third or middle school. We need to be careful not to project our issues onto them.

Ask the advocate about their own child. Ask where the child is today and how they are doing, how the parent feels about how the child is doing or what they are doing. I would want to know if by me hiring an advocate, are they using me as a pawn to get back at the school system for their child's experience. Do they feel guilty as a parent?

I'd be wary of those that are court happy, wanting to sue the district, etc. I say that because I'm seeing people bringing cases to the district when they should be going for the entire department of education. Guess that needs to start with the district. I also see people suing for things like horse therapy. C'mon. It's the school system; taking advantage of IDEA is not the way to go. We are still responsible as parents to do our jobs as well. They are there to educate our kids.

I believe I want a positive cooperative relationship with my son's school. I've worked to build these relationships and I've let my son build his own relationships. I've tried to keep my own issues in check to the best of my ability so that they do not spill out all over him. He's got his own stuff to deal with. He certainly doesn't need my unresolved crap too.

I need to go. I'm sure I ruffled some feathers. Sorry! This is only my opinion.

From: Heifferon

Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 3:08 PM

To: sList

Subject: RE: Re: IEP meeting

Tina, do you have any idea how to identify those issues?

From: sList [mailto:sList ] On Behalf Of Tina Terri AustinSent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 1:33 PMTo: sList Subject: Re: Re: IEP meeting

Be wary of advocates in general who may be working through their own issues rather than addressing those of your child. Sent from my iPhone

Be careful not to recommend any advocates that does not believe inclusion works in Broward County.

[Guest guest]

You can call for free services at United Cerebral Palsy of South Florida - Advocacy at or . We can help you. Omayra Matamoros, MHSA, JDAdvocate SpecialistSend from MacTo: sList Sent: Wed, September 1,

2010 8:09:26 PMSubject: Re: IEP meeting

You could seek an advocate, but you could also contact Family Network on Disabilities. They don't cost anything and they are very knowledgeable. There is the FND in Broward - contact them. You shouldn't go alone and if you need to postpone the meeting do so. http://www.fndfl.org/

Hello all! I have been diligently reading all the emails, and figured this was the best venue to air my concerns.

My son, who is in 5th grade, has returned back to Public school after leaving two years ago to attend a private school. We realized, a week before this school year, that he would be best served in the system. We come with a complete academic evaluation and recommendations that were performed in May, as well as a social evaluation done through his camp (Child Provider Services), and a diagnosis of Aspergers, PDD, and a Learning Disability.

We have worked with CARD, as well as a private tutor over these past two years. My concern is this...it seems that I will be attending this IEP meeting alone, and from experience with this, I am not well equiped in recommending the necessary accomodations for my son. Although I am bringing those recomendations from the psychologist and from the personnel from CARD who observed my son at school, I still feel "unarmed."

When we left this school two years ago, it was not amicable. There has been more evidence of Adam's disabilities and it is quite clear that he needs help. The school admitted that when I showed them examples of his work from the summer. I am still quite concerned.

As a group, I ask for your advice. Would you seek to an advocate to bring with you, or are the recommendations and the work enough to help figure out which accomodations that are needed? This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 7th. I have yet to return the paperwork stating that I would like for them to reevaluate him, or his IEP (and PSSP, from the Private school.)

Thank you all for your time. This has really been a trying time, and I am looking forward to being able to take a slight step back when all the necessary details are put into place.

Debbie Marcus

[Guest guest]

From personal experience the folks at Family Network on Disabilities have been outstanding!Let me second the opinion - if you are the least bit unsure, _do not go alone_; i found that the iep was only the first step - the real fun comes when you try to ensure compliance with the iep.Good luck! Lorman

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