Re: 1st IEP @ IrvineUSD Did No Go Well (X Post)

[Guest guest]

hi,

get an attorney

________________________________

From: Chang <cchang949@...>

autisminterventionsocal ;

; taca-usa

Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 8:09:28 AM

Subject: [ ] 1st IEP @ IrvineUSD Did No Go Well (X Post)

We just had our first IEP for my son with apraxia. I was hoping to get similar

placement/ service as he is currently receiving from regional center. He's had

individual speech therapy for over a year, going 2 x week for 1 hour sessions.

Progress has been slow and his intelligibility is roughly 25% to an unfamiliar

listener, however, he did really well on the school district assessment. They

judged his intelligibility to be 50%. So, their placement offer is 2 x 45

minutes of group speech in their clinic setting. I tried to compromise and

asked for a combo of group and individual speech and was denied. I feel we were

also penalized because he as express language. Does their placement seem

appropriate?

Any feed back is appreciated.

Chang

[Guest guest]

you don't mention your child's age but since it's his first IEP I'll

guess he's turning 3? Please let us know his age. Regardless however if he is

entitled to a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive

environment. Who gave him the diagnosis of apraxia? An SLP/MD? both? You

will probably need outside evaluations to help you to advocate. I just noticed

that someone posted about getting an attorney and it's never a bad idea to at

least call one and speak to them. Most will at least speak with you for free as

a consult. This way you'll be ready if you do need them -and either way you'll

walk into that next IEP meeting with a hidden sense of confidence. But if your

child is transitioning into the preschool program- there are probably other ways

to still work this out. Do you have a copy of The Late Talker book? If not see

if you can borrow one from your library as there is an entire chapter in there

on advocacy (and in addition to my input and Dr. Marilyn Agin's input we

interviewed various experts on special ed law as well as advocates)

Here's some archives to help for now too! Just take a deep breath -go get a cup

of tea and don't feel like you have to read the following all at once or

understand all of it today. The main thing I want you to know is that YOU are

part of your child's IEP team. When in doubt use the word " appropriate " to

replace " best " and use the word " inappropriate " to replace " not right " etc.

~start of archives

Re: preschool IEP

Hi Gretchen,

I'm just coming in on this subject but sure like everyone else am

shocked to hear what your school is doing. I mean like it's possible

your child is the first apraxic child ever to go through their

program?! With IEPs some parents don't appreciate that the squeaky

wheel gets the grease. That doesn't mean just complain, complain,

complain -but stay calm, get your facts together and make a case for

why the placement and therapy your child is in is not appropriate and

what you propose as an appropriate alternative to the current

situation. Your child is entitled by Federal law to a free and

appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive

environment (LRE). In addition the school year, he may be entitled to

extended school year as well (ESY) if that is deemed to be appropriate

as well.

This is just one of the statements I found annoying

" the team here felt that he might benefit more from our on-going

language rich environment in the classroom. Sounds like your experts

may feel differently. "

The classroom setting/placement is not a replacement for appropriate

one on one therapy -your child is entitled to both appropriate

placement and appropriate therapy. The SLP in the school (is he or

she ASHA certified with 3 Cs?) should be aware (as I am and I'm not

even an SLP!) that " the experts " from ASHA found that " inclusive "

(group) therapy -is only appropriate for children with mild delays in

speech. Debatable with moderate delays in speech, depending upon the

expert, and found inappropriate, possibly detrimental, for children

with severe impairments in speech such as apraxia.

And why is she trying to confuse you with the " itinerant " and " center

based " crap? What difference does it make if the therapy is in the

classroom, or your child needs to go another class or building -or a

therapist is sent to your home, or you take your child to an outside

of the school therapist for it?! Point to them again is that your

child is entitled by Federal law to " both " an appropriate placement

'and' appropriate therapy. <-period!!! Just because he receives one

day or even 5 days a week of one on one therapy doesn't mean he isn't

" entitled " to an appropriate classroom placement as well. I'd ask her

to clarify that in writing -or send me her info and I'll email her and

ask! I can probably use info like this going ahead for the next book!

A language enriched multisensory placement is appropriate, but your

child is also entitled to working with professionals that are

knowledgeable about how to provide appropriate therapy. Is it me or

is this school also making the case that they are not familiar with

apraxia?!! My son Tanner's preschool was bad too -but not as bad as

the picture you have painted of yours...and I was able to secure " out

of district placement " Out of district placement is where you pull

the child out of the program to place them in a school that has

appropriate placement and therapy. Notice the word I keep repeating

here? " appropriate " " inappropriate " Don't have to use any other

words just about. Your child is not entitled to the best -just what

is appropriate. So use that word instead of " best " or " want " or " was

told he needs " etc.

Number one question is do you have a copy of The Late Talker book? If

not please get one because the advocacy chapters contain information

that was thoroughly checked by special ed attorneys, advocates, SLPs,

a neurodevelopmental pediatrician (my co author) and of course I made

sure the parent angle was fully covered.

In my opinion you have to stop talking to them without a tape recorder

or advocate with you, make a paper trail of everything up till now and

from now, and put everything in writing going forward and when you

send something send it return receipt requested, fax copies over,

email -all ways to document -send all three ways just in case. When

anyone from the school says anything to you that sounds fishy= smile

and say " that's interesting, can you put that in writing for me and

explain why? " If they don't put it in writing, you can put what they

said to you in writing and ask for an explanation.

You will need help in advocating and I highly recommend out of pocket

(private insurance) exams with outside the school SLP/s, OT/s, and at

least one neuroMD exam to confirm or rule out soft signs. Also what

state are you in- perhaps there are others here that can help. If you

are in Florida I've helped a few people here already.

To me they are showing how ignorant they are in regards to what type

of therapy is appropriate for an apraxic child and making your case

for out of district placement. What that means is that you find a

school, public or participating private, that can provide appropriate

placement and therapy. Thing is unless you document what they are

saying -watch how quickly you " misunderstood " what they were trying to

say.

~~~~~~~~~~~~just posted to our CHERAB Facebook under IEP discussion

http://www.apraxia.org is the direct website

This parent's school has already suspected both " autism " and

" cognitive delays " in her 3 year old child who has been outside the

school diagnosed as apraxic. Are we seeing a pattern here people?!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following is a general message to any parent looking to secure an

appropriate IEP- however there is information in it about apraxia. I'm

guessing with the wrong course of treatment you meant they were

treating your child as if there was a simple delay in speech or some

other diagnosis; probably worst case scenario would be misdiagnosis of

autism for an apraxic. Some therapies for autism such as ABA are

highly inappropriate for apraxic children and in our group are known

to be detrimental. (I can supply quite a few stories) As always

appropriate diagnosis is most important.

~~~~~~~~general info on IEPs

If you don't have a diagnosis , you really want to know the reason for

your child's delay in speech as there are quite a list of reasons. Who

evaluated your child thus far? What is your child's diagnosis? Have

you observed the therapy at school to see how knowledgeable the

therapist is about your child's condition? Do you believe you would be

able to tell the difference? Do you have any local support groups near

you to have someone who has been there before help you advocate? Since

school began are you noticing any improvements with the therapy? What

does the IEP goals have for 3 months -6 months. After 3 months of no

progress either the therapy, therapist or diagnosis should be examined

again as perhaps one of them isn't appropriate. It's a bit of a time

game in that your job is to help get her up to speed as quickly as

possible and not to keep her in a situation just because she's getting

the right amount of the wrong therapy -or the right amount of the

right therapy for the wrong condition or the right amount of the right

therapy with a therapist who isn't very good. Don't worry about

hurting anyone's feelings because in a year or so you may never see

the same school professionals again, you could move, but your daughter

is always.

In short to answer your question -many of the children in this group

had almost daily therapy between EI or school and private therapy

You need to know by a neurodevelopmental medical exam (pediatric

neurologist or neurodevelopmental pediatrician if apraxia is

suspected) if there are signs of sensory integration dysfunction or

hypotonia and/or motor planning issues so that you can secure

appropriate therapy for these co existing conditions as well in the

IEP. Of course in addition to the neuroMD exam it's best to secure an

outside the school SLP/ outside the school OT as well.

For example does your child right now have 1/1 therapy in his IEP and

if so how often? Here's a severity intervention matrix to help as well

as some reasons for 1/1 therapy

Importance of one on one therapy

http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/therapyintensity.html

Severity Intervention Matrix

http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/therapymatrix.html

Don't let them say there is a language/receptive delay until you have

an appropriate diagnosis since signs of a receptive delay may be due

to an impairment in speech and or motor, sensory or weakness issues.

What state are you in? Perhaps I or others can help you find a

competent neuromedical doctor. At this point it's not just the SLP or

OT who will be able to help you secure the appropriate therapies if it

is apraxia. It does not matter if nobody in the history of your town

ever received one on one -that just tells me that you don't have

advocates in your town. If your town's school is in the US than it

receives Federal monies and has to by law follow the Federal (not just

State or City) laws. The Federal Law is FAPE in the LRE or your child

is entitled to a free and appropriate public education in the least

restrictive environment and you'd be shocked how much is offered once

you learn how to advocate. Rule one never say " best " say " appropriate "

whenever you want to say best. Or " inappropriate " because the school

is not obligated by law to offer your child the best therapy and

placement -only what is appropriate. If they can not provide

appropriate placement and therapy in district than you can seek " out

of district placement " or to have an " expert " come in to train the

current staff and work with your son or to keep your child in district

for certain services and to pay for private therapy at home a few days

a week. If you don't ask you won't get any of that for your child as

I've never known for schools to just offer any of the above without

advocacy.

Have you read The Late Talker book? It's a good starting point book.

Also is your child in the early intervention program through the

school right now and if so how much speech and occupational therapy is

she receiving? To make sure it's appropriate speech and occupational

therapy again you need to have that appropriate diagnosis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

=====

[Guest guest]

Easier said than done.

From someone who has tried.

>

> hi,

> get an attorney

>

>

>

>

> ________________________________

> From: Chang <cchang949@...>

> autisminterventionsocal ;

; taca-usa

> Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 8:09:28 AM

> Subject: [ ] 1st IEP @ IrvineUSD Did No Go Well (X Post)

>

>

>

>

>

> We just had our first IEP for my son with apraxia. I was hoping to get

similar placement/ service as he is currently receiving from regional center.

He's had individual speech therapy for over a year, going 2 x week for 1 hour

sessions. Progress has been slow and his intelligibility is roughly 25% to an

unfamiliar listener, however, he did really well on the school district

assessment. They judged his intelligibility to be 50%. So, their placement

offer is 2 x 45 minutes of group speech in their clinic setting. I tried to

compromise and asked for a combo of group and individual speech and was denied.

I feel we were also penalized because he as express language. Does their

placement seem appropriate?

>

> Any feed back is appreciated.

>

> Chang

>

>