OFF TOPIC- the school district wants to video tape my son at school

[Guest guest]

Hey there everyone,

Sorry to cross post. It is the heat of IEP season here in Nashville, as it is

probably elsewhere too. I am gearing up for World War III this year.

We do ABA, and have for four years. The district has, after much fighting,

been paying for a portion of it all of these years. As instructed by our ABA

company, the aide at our son's school has always been ABA trained and a member

of the home team. And as usual, each year, the district always tries to not let

us use " our " aide, and instead use a part time/as needed special ed assistant

from the district. As you can well imagine, I am absolutely not going to agree

to this.

Well, it is the last 6 weeks of school down here, and it it is only now that the

district personnel have been showing up to observe, request data from home,

request data from the ABA company, etc. Now, they are requesting permission to

go in and video tape my son at school. Let me reinterate, it is the last month

of school. Where have they been for the last 8 months? Don't get me wrong,

someone comes every week to " observe " and make notes. But now, they are sending

someone else, higher up on the totem pole, to make all of the last minute

demands.

To me, it seems, that an end of the school year video would not be objective or

reflective of the whole years work. If they were trying to be fair, they should

have been making video each week or month all along the year. Am I off base

here? Am I just being uncooperative? I tend to be a hot head, so someone share

some insight here.

Trina

[Guest guest]

Trina,

You have more experience than me at this, since my son just turned 3,

and our first " real " IEP meeting is next week. (The first one was a

joke!) However, your situation sounds very similar to mine, in that

we are doing ABA at home, and providing an ABA-trained facilitator at

Brett's private preschool. We also had the school system's " autism

specialist " come observe both our ABA program and Brett's

facilitator. (Of course, I still haven't seen any written

evaluations, and it's been over a MONTH!) Anyway, I guess my biggest

question is why do they want to video your son? Are they merely

trying to set a baseline, or are they trying to show somehow that

your facilitator isn't doing a good job? The first thing I'd do is

ask what the reason is, and explain that you need a GOOD one because

it will be disruptive. If your son has been making progress, the

weekly observations should show this. If he hasn't been making

progress, what is the point of the video? Do you have any of your

own video from earlier in your ABA program? That might be a good

comparison point.

The best advice I've heard about IEP's- BE NICE, act like the school

is looking out for your child's best interest, but QUESTION

everything they do!

Good luck!

Sue

[Guest guest]

I think I agree here, if they wanted to be objective or have a clear picture of

how the ABA is working for him they should have been video taping all year. I

have video of Evan from his fist year thru this year except for the second year

when his 'baby-sitter' did not have time to hand over hand him let alone tape.

This is something though that I personally requested. His first teacher used

her own camera and after that I had to send mine because the school never seen

to have one available.

I agree that you need to politely ask them why they want the video and maybe why

they have not been doing it sooner.

Betty

----- Original Message -----

From: Montgomery

To me, it seems, that an end of the school year video would not be objective

or reflective of the whole years work. If they were trying to be fair, they

should have been making video each week or month all along the year. Am I off

base here? Am I just being uncooperative? I tend to be a hot head, so someone

share some insight here.

Trina