Re: School District Evaluations

[Guest guest]

,

I am so sorry to hear that you and Abby had to go through this experience.

I have worked in the schools in the past & know from experience that some

tests require a " group of professionals " to give them (each one gives

his/her own section or sometimes given by one person for the others) and are

given in a roundtable way---that can seem disorganized to the observer.

This type is not my favorite kind of test. So, there may be a test reason

why it was performed as it was. Even so, the school should be accommodating

when it is obvious to you as a mom that Abby was shutting down. There

should be a way to do 1-2 sections at a time. I would recommend to ask the

school what the reason for that type of testing format is and how they could

accommodate for your dtr. Unfortunately, more school systems are mandating

that the initial evals be as a " team " -sometimes because of the type of eval

and sometimes so that each therapist can be present for the eval. Whatever

the reason, it's not working for Abby.

How far is Tucson from sdale? In your state, that would be one place

that I would recommend for an outside speech/oral motor/ language eval if

needed.

SRJ TherapiesT

3420 North Dodge Boulevard

Suite 148

Tucson, Arizona 85716

(520) 795-1036

Warmest wishes,

Barbara

Barbara A. , M.S., CCC-SLP

Executive Director/ Help Me Speak, LLC

<http://www.helpmespeak.com/> http://www.helpmespeak.com

(o) 410-442-9791 (f) 410-442-9783

2500 Wallington Way; Suite 103

Marriottsville, MD 21104

follow us on FaceBook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marriottsville-MD/Help-Me-Speak-LLC/1046288520

32

Call me with any questions about NutriiVeda! www.hms.myzrii.com

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of jentravels99

Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 3:22 PM

Subject: [ ] School District Evaluations

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for some of you to tell me about your experiences going through

a kindergarten school district evaluation. My daughter has a number of

special needs, one of her needs is speech related. She also has delays in

OT/PT and a very short attention span. I recently had her evaluated for

kindergarten in our home district (sdale, AZ). They brought my daughter

and me into a room and there were about 10 adults scattered throughout the

room and a small table at the back of the room. Each of the adults was from

a specialty area like speech, PT, OT, Special Ed, etc... They approached my

daughter randomly and asked her " abby, can you say mom " , " Abby, can you

catch this ball " , " Abby, come here and stack these blocks " . Needless to say

there was absolutely no stucture and Abby just " shut down " . She shook her

head no to whatever they asked her to do and then started to cry. It was

like she was being ambushed. I had expected a bit more organization and

structure to the testing. They then told me they feel the appropriate place

for Abby is in a self-contained classroom.

I was so angry and stressed out I had no words for them, just told them I

would think about this. I want to know what other school districts have done

for evaluations and how yours were structured. I feel like my daughter did

not get a fair chance to prove her abilities and that they put her into a

stressful and overstimulating environment on purpose.

Please let me know your thoughts, especially those of you who have been

through this before. I am strongly considering hiring an attorney.

Thanks you!!!

(mom to Abby 4.5 and Zachary 22 months)

[Guest guest]

I live in Idaho my son is now 8 when we had our evaluation they didn't even

evaluate just said he belonged in self contained classroom ,he's non verbal

with behaviors. We said no thank you . Still in public school still try to

intimidate. Leona

On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 1:22 PM, jentravels99 <jentravels99@...> wrote:

> Hi Everyone,

> I am looking for some of you to tell me about your experiences going

> through a kindergarten school district evaluation. My daughter has a number

> of special needs, one of her needs is speech related. She also has delays

> in OT/PT and a very short attention span. I recently had her evaluated for

> kindergarten in our home district (sdale, AZ). They brought my

> daughter and me into a room and there were about 10 adults scattered

> throughout the room and a small table at the back of the room. Each of the

> adults was from a specialty area like speech, PT, OT, Special Ed, etc...

> They approached my daughter randomly and asked her " abby, can you say mom " ,

> " Abby, can you catch this ball " , " Abby, come here and stack these blocks " .

> Needless to say there was absolutely no stucture and Abby just " shut down " .

> She shook her head no to whatever they asked her to do and then started to

> cry. It was like she was being ambushed. I had expected a bit more

> organization and structure to the testing. They then told me they feel the

> appropriate place for Abby is in a self-contained classroom.

>

> I was so angry and stressed out I had no words for them, just told them I

> would think about this. I want to know what other school districts have

> done for evaluations and how yours were structured. I feel like my daughter

> did not get a fair chance to prove her abilities and that they put her into

> a stressful and overstimulating environment on purpose.

>

> Please let me know your thoughts, especially those of you who have been

> through this before. I am strongly considering hiring an attorney.

> Thanks you!!!

>

> (mom to Abby 4.5 and Zachary 22 months)

>

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, definitely get a n outside evaluation. School districts recommend a special

needs class by default because this is the only thing readily available without

too much work on their part. Whether the child really belongs there or not is

another story. My daughter was evaluated very thoroughly I  thought bu an SLP--a

school nurse--and she was 3 at the tiem and also shut down---was non-verbal 

they couldn't get much out of her  so they scheduled a second eval and one with

a school psychologist.  We refused any Cognitive testing--even non-verbal--makes

NO SENSE for a non-verbal child to be tested for speech/language--even if the

test is supposedly non-verbal--there's no such thing--everything relies on

speech/language and kids with developmental disorders that involve

speech/language will always score below their potential on them. Our lawyer

advised to never allow that kind of testing--it is used as an excuse for the

schools' failures to meet the

child's needs.

Anyway--they of course took their sweet time to evaluate, schedule an IEP--then

an OT eval when we showed up with our lawyer at the first IEP meeting --they

knew we meant business. But the school OT found her to be age appropriate---

(NOT!!)--and they dragged their feet more over the summer--took them a whole

year to finally make an offer for services and placenment. Their offer was

inapropriate--speech 3 times in group and a special needs class.  We disagreed

but the lawyer said nevermind waht you think the child needs and what they're

offering---just tell me what you want and we'll see what we can do--they are in

the red for not providing services for a whole year and will ahve to agree to

soem things--which they did--to reimburse whatever insurance didn't cover

speech  wise for the 3 years--but NOT the preschool--they only reimbursed the

first year of private special preschool in an inclusive program and their

preschool was NOT inclusive--paid lip

service to the idea--as they ahdf about half hour interaction during reces with

the door open to the normal preschool--but none of the 6 ASD boys were playing

with the typical kids anyway --only ESL kids were working in group--with the SLP

at the computer in the special needs class--that's about as inclusive as it got.

When the bell rang I saw that all the ESL kids went back to the regular class to

resume preschool curricula-- and all the 6 ASD boys were taken outside for more

play.

This was NOT an appropriate inclusive setting for an apraxic girl who needed to

be among neurotypical peers to model normal speech and behavior.

So we agreed to disagree on that but we got help with the speech and are gearing

up for the 3 year eval.  My daughter is now in a public kindergarten

program---doing well--her speech has improved tremendously with appropriate

diet/supplements and therapy--a dn we're no ready to see what the school can

offer us --most likely group speech---which now that she can speak may help--but

we'll continue witht the private---it's ahrd to expect the schiool district to

offer appropriate speech therapy for an apraxic child--the 1:1, 3-5 times a week

, with amotor planning expert--is just not feasible though soem school districts

ahve good therapists and soem parents have no insurance to help out sio they try

to amke that work--but we've decided our school district cannot offer it and

even if we win on papaer--they will not carry it through the way it should be

done for an apraxic child--so we think retirement accounts are not that

important when it comes to your

child's ability to speak. Anyway, we'll request special learning/classroom

accommodations this time around, language speech therapy--which is within their

ability to provide and a social skills class which again is within their

territory as my daughter has some lingering socialization problems resulting

from her speech having been pretty much non-existent until almost 4 years---and

the fact that the almost everyday therapies have prevented normal play time with

peers so she needs to catch up with that as well.

Hope this helps.  The best advice I can give about the school district is to

choose your battles carefully--I know many parents who spent a lot of time and

effort trying to get approptiate services--lawyer fees and all and eventually

got it--on paper--but the schools just couldn't deliver--the mom learned a year

later when the child could tell her fianlly that most of the speech therapy had

been group--the SLP justified it by simply not being able to fit it in---So

meanwhile the child lost valuable appropriate early intervention time both

waiting for the decision to give appropriate therapy which lasted over a year

and also another year while the parents thought he was gettign appropriate

therapy.  That mom pulled the child out and started homeschooling--but not all

parents have this option.  Most resort to a balance of school and private

services as they can manage it. Good luck .

Just choose your battles carefully.

All the best,

Elena

From: Barbara <helpmespeak@...>

Subject: RE: [ ] School District Evaluations

Date: Monday, February 1, 2010, 4:40 PM

,

I am so sorry to hear that you and Abby had to go through this experience.

I have worked in the schools in the past & know from experience that some

tests require a " group of professionals " to give them (each one gives

his/her own section or sometimes given by one person for the others) and are

given in a roundtable way---that can seem disorganized to the observer.

This type is not my favorite kind of test.  So, there may be a test reason

why it was performed as it was.  Even so, the school should be accommodating

when it is obvious to you as a mom that Abby was shutting down.  There

should be a way to do 1-2 sections at a time.  I would recommend to ask the

school what the reason for that type of testing format is and how they could

accommodate for your dtr.  Unfortunately, more school systems are mandating

that the initial evals be as a " team " -sometimes because of the type of eval

and sometimes so that each therapist can be present for the eval.  Whatever

the reason, it's not working for Abby. 

How far is Tucson from sdale? In your state, that would be one place

that I would recommend for an outside speech/oral motor/ language eval if

needed. 

SRJ TherapiesT

3420 North Dodge Boulevard

Suite 148

Tucson, Arizona 85716

(520) 795-1036

Warmest wishes,

Barbara

Barbara A. , M.S., CCC-SLP

Executive Director/ Help Me Speak, LLC

<http://www.helpmespeak.com/> http://www.helpmespeak.com

(o) 410-442-9791  (f) 410-442-9783

2500 Wallington Way; Suite 103

Marriottsville, MD 21104

follow us on FaceBook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marriottsville-MD/Help-Me-Speak-LLC/1046288520

32 

Call me with any questions about NutriiVeda!   www.hms.myzrii.com

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of jentravels99

Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 3:22 PM

Subject: [ ] School District Evaluations

 

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for some of you to tell me about your experiences going through

a kindergarten school district evaluation. My daughter has a number of

special needs, one of her needs is speech related. She also has delays in

OT/PT and a very short attention span. I recently had her evaluated for

kindergarten in our home district (sdale, AZ). They brought my daughter

and me into a room and there were about 10 adults scattered throughout the

room and a small table at the back of the room. Each of the adults was from

a specialty area like speech, PT, OT, Special Ed, etc... They approached my

daughter randomly and asked her " abby, can you say mom " , " Abby, can you

catch this ball " , " Abby, come here and stack these blocks " . Needless to say

there was absolutely no stucture and Abby just " shut down " . She shook her

head no to whatever they asked her to do and then started to cry. It was

like she was being ambushed. I had expected a bit more organization and

structure to the testing. They then told me they feel the appropriate place

for Abby is in a self-contained classroom.

I was so angry and stressed out I had no words for them, just told them I

would think about this. I want to know what other school districts have done

for evaluations and how yours were structured. I feel like my daughter did

not get a fair chance to prove her abilities and that they put her into a

stressful and overstimulating environment on purpose.

Please let me know your thoughts, especially those of you who have been

through this before. I am strongly considering hiring an attorney.

Thanks you!!!

(mom to Abby 4.5 and Zachary 22 months)

[Guest guest]

I am really sorry this happened to you both. Schools are really for the birds a

lot of the time. It drives me nuts. I don't have a great answer for you on the

assessments, but I encourage you not to agree to anything that you don't believe

is the best you can get for your daughter. And absolutely don't put her in a

classroom that you think is the wrong fit for her, if you can avoid it. We have

to protect our precious little ones.

Best of luck,

>

> Hi Everyone,

> I am looking for some of you to tell me about your experiences going through a

kindergarten school district evaluation. My daughter has a number of special

needs, one of her needs is speech related. She also has delays in OT/PT and a

very short attention span. I recently had her evaluated for kindergarten in our

home district (sdale, AZ). They brought my daughter and me into a room and

there were about 10 adults scattered throughout the room and a small table at

the back of the room. Each of the adults was from a specialty area like speech,

PT, OT, Special Ed, etc... They approached my daughter randomly and asked her

" abby, can you say mom " , " Abby, can you catch this ball " , " Abby, come here and

stack these blocks " . Needless to say there was absolutely no stucture and Abby

just " shut down " . She shook her head no to whatever they asked her to do and

then started to cry. It was like she was being ambushed. I had expected a bit

more organization and structure to the testing. They then told me they feel the

appropriate place for Abby is in a self-contained classroom.

>

> I was so angry and stressed out I had no words for them, just told them I

would think about this. I want to know what other school districts have done

for evaluations and how yours were structured. I feel like my daughter did not

get a fair chance to prove her abilities and that they put her into a stressful

and overstimulating environment on purpose.

>

> Please let me know your thoughts, especially those of you who have been

through this before. I am strongly considering hiring an attorney.

> Thanks you!!!

>

> (mom to Abby 4.5 and Zachary 22 months)

>

[Guest guest]

Yvette-

I hope you will describe your experiences..... I feel that how the Schools

treat our kids IS related to Apraxia. I'd love to hear your

experience..... Learning about how Schools deal with our children's Speech

issues is

very important to me!

thanks-

[Guest guest]

Hello ,

Feel free to contact me privately at y.anderson1@... so we don't clog

the board with info not related to apraxia.

I had to hire an attorney.

Yvette A.

[ ] School District Evaluations

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for some of you to tell me about your experiences going through a

kindergarten school district evaluation. My daughter has a number of special

needs, one of her needs is speech related. She also has delays in OT/PT and a

very short attention span. I recently had her evaluated for kindergarten in our

home district (sdale, AZ). They brought my daughter and me into a room and

there were about 10 adults scattered throughout the room and a small table at

the back of the room. Each of the adults was from a specialty area like speech,

PT, OT, Special Ed, etc... They approached my daughter randomly and asked her

" abby, can you say mom " , " Abby, can you catch this ball " , " Abby, come here and

stack these blocks " . Needless to say there was absolutely no stucture and Abby

just " shut down " . She shook her head no to whatever they asked her to do and

then started to cry. It was like she was being ambushed. I had expected a bit

more organization and structure to the testing. They then told me they feel the

appropriate place for Abby is in a self-contained classroom.

I was so angry and stressed out I had no words for them, just told them I

would think about this. I want to know what other school districts have done for

evaluations and how yours were structured. I feel like my daughter did not get a

fair chance to prove her abilities and that they put her into a stressful and

overstimulating environment on purpose.

Please let me know your thoughts, especially those of you who have been

through this before. I am strongly considering hiring an attorney.

Thanks you!!!

(mom to Abby 4.5 and Zachary 22 months)

[Guest guest]

Hi &

,

I agree but wasn't sure how others on the board felt about going into detail on

the topic of school evals.

,

When my dd was 4 I requested an eval by our school district(Gloucester County,

NJ) to evaluate her I waited since she was receiving OT privately & I knew that

it would be in her best interest to wait. I knew that she needed Speech Therapy

& Occupational Therapy in school as well as support with eating.

She was evaluated individually by the school psychologist, the case manager & a

several others. My dd has always tested poorly & as expected did not do well not

being comfortable with strangers asking her to perform.

I then requested that she be placed in the least restrictive environment(Reg.

Ed.) with a 1:1 Aide & Special Ed 1/2 day 3 times a week with Speech &

Occupational Therapy. They agreed to place her in regular Kindergarten

temporarily but minus the 1:1 Aide since they had misplaced my request for this

eval so they were still evaluating her when the school year began.

To make a long story short the District & the IEP Team denied the 1:1 Aide & OT

& decided to place her in Special Ed. classroom everyday still no 1:1 Aide. This

class had 18 children, 1 teacher & 1 Aide & a 1:1 for one child with CP. This

class was at maximium capacity according to the law in our state. The kids had

behaviors which my dd does not.

The Director of Elementary Special Education, the IEP Team & I went back & forth

for a few months. During this time I was going to school everyday to help my dd

eat lunch since the district would not provide the Aide. The one thing the

District & I did agree to was that she would receive Speech Therapy 3 times a

week, but she needed it 4 times a week.

By this time my dd was so distressed by the Special Ed class that she came home

& would tantrum & act out severely. I refused to send her back to school after 3

months. I told the Director & the IEP Team what was happening at home but it

didn't matter.

So my last meeting with the DIrector I told her I refused to sign the IEP as it

was written because they were not placing her in the appropriate & least

restrictive environment with the necessary support.

The Director proceded to tell me that they were going to contact the Solicitor

for the District(Lawyer)in reference to going to trial. She thought that I

didn't know what Solicitor meant so I asked her did I need to bring an attorney

to this hearing & she flat out lied & said " no, I didn't. " I quickly educated

myself on FAPE, s Law, How to Advocate for Your Child, etc. We went to

court with an Attorney who specializes in Child Special Education Law &

Advocacy. Good thing we had legal representation since the District came with 2

attorneys & the Assistant Superintendent of Schools.

The case was thrown out since the District had decided not to follow protocol &

never offered Mediation(as required by law) as the 2nd step in this process.

Mediation consists of a so called Mediator(neutral person), representative of

the district(attorney) & family(better with an Advocate or Attorney). The

Mediator tries to get all involved to come to terms.

Needless to say Mediation accomplished nothing & I kept my dd out of public

schoool until 1st Grade where we were lucky enough to have a new school, new IEP

Team & new Case Worker.

I still had to press for a change in classification from Communication Impaired

to Autism with ADD inattentive Type that took 2 years.

My dd had blossomed in 1st Grade with a 1:1 Aide & Special Education class of

only 3 children with no behaviors. In 2nd Grade she has gone to 2:1 Aide in a

Special Ed classroom of 3 with Specials such as Gym, Art & Music with Reg. Ed

children. This year in 3rd Grade Special Ed in a class of 8 with Specials(Art,

Music, Gym) with Reg. Ed. children. My dd is 9 y.o & it is going very well this

year also.

I do apologize for the length of this email but I hope that my experience will

truly help others. This group helped me so much through all of this & I pushed

on. This is a very, very stressful ordeal & you as the mother are TRULY your

childs best advocate. Please follow your instincts & the advice of people who

have travelled this path before you. And no matter how difficult this journey is

please DO NOT STOP FIGHTING for your child. If you feel that an attorney is

necesssary by all means please retain legal representation. If you can't afford

an attorney($500 per hour & up) find the Advocate in your District. Advocates

are much less expensive, we were unable to find one in our area.

Most importantly you must know what your childs educational rights are. Go to

www.wrightslaw.com for more info.

Good luck & never stop advocating for yor child!

If you would like to talk at greater length feel free to email me at

y.anderson1@... & I will provide my telephone number.

PS: I forgot to mention NEVER use the term " it's what is best for your child "

because the state is not required to provide the " best " instead use appropriate.

HTH,

Yvette A.

[Guest guest]

Have you received your report from the evaluation yet? You can disagree with

their evaluation and ask (in writing) for an Independent Education Evaluation

(IEE) paid for by the school district for each eval you disagree with (speech,

OT, psych, etc). It sounds like you have a valid reason for disagreement (the

test environment was not suitable and produced unreliable results). You can

read more here.

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/test.iee.steedman.htm

I also recommend reading up on the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) so that

you know your rights if you think the general ed classroom is more appropriate.

M.

>

> Hi Everyone,

> I am looking for some of you to tell me about your experiences going through a

kindergarten school district evaluation. My daughter has a number of special

needs, one of her needs is speech related. She also has delays in OT/PT and a

very short attention span. I recently had her evaluated for kindergarten in our

home district (sdale, AZ). They brought my daughter and me into a room and

there were about 10 adults scattered throughout the room and a small table at

the back of the room. Each of the adults was from a specialty area like speech,

PT, OT, Special Ed, etc... They approached my daughter randomly and asked her

" abby, can you say mom " , " Abby, can you catch this ball " , " Abby, come here and

stack these blocks " . Needless to say there was absolutely no stucture and Abby

just " shut down " . She shook her head no to whatever they asked her to do and

then started to cry. It was like she was being ambushed. I had expected a bit

more organization and structure to the testing. They then told me they feel the

appropriate place for Abby is in a self-contained classroom.

>

> I was so angry and stressed out I had no words for them, just told them I

would think about this. I want to know what other school districts have done

for evaluations and how yours were structured. I feel like my daughter did not

get a fair chance to prove her abilities and that they put her into a stressful

and overstimulating environment on purpose.

>

> Please let me know your thoughts, especially those of you who have been

through this before. I am strongly considering hiring an attorney.

> Thanks you!!!

>

> (mom to Abby 4.5 and Zachary 22 months)

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks so much.

Yvette A.

[ ] Re: School District Evaluations

Have you received your report from the evaluation yet? You can disagree with

their evaluation and ask (in writing) for an Independent Education Evaluation

(IEE) paid for by the school district for each eval you disagree with (speech,

OT, psych, etc). It sounds like you have a valid reason for disagreement (the

test environment was not suitable and produced unreliable results). You can read

more here.

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/test.iee.steedman.htm

I also recommend reading up on the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) so that

you know your rights if you think the general ed classroom is more appropriate.

M.

>

> Hi Everyone,

> I am looking for some of you to tell me about your experiences going through

a kindergarten school district evaluation. My daughter has a number of special

needs, one of her needs is speech related. She also has delays in OT/PT and a

very short attention span. I recently had her evaluated for kindergarten in our

home district (sdale, AZ). They brought my daughter and me into a room and

there were about 10 adults scattered throughout the room and a small table at

the back of the room. Each of the adults was from a specialty area like speech,

PT, OT, Special Ed, etc... They approached my daughter randomly and asked her

" abby, can you say mom " , " Abby, can you catch this ball " , " Abby, come here and

stack these blocks " . Needless to say there was absolutely no stucture and Abby

just " shut down " . She shook her head no to whatever they asked her to do and

then started to cry. It was like she was being ambushed. I had expected a bit

more organization and structure to the testing. They then told me they feel the

appropriate place for Abby is in a self-contained classroom.

>

> I was so angry and stressed out I had no words for them, just told them I

would think about this. I want to know what other school districts have done for

evaluations and how yours were structured. I feel like my daughter did not get a

fair chance to prove her abilities and that they put her into a stressful and

overstimulating environment on purpose.

>

> Please let me know your thoughts, especially those of you who have been

through this before. I am strongly considering hiring an attorney.

> Thanks you!!!

>

> (mom to Abby 4.5 and Zachary 22 months)

>

[Guest guest]

Yvette-

Your post was so well worded and awesome..... I am in 100% agreement with

everything that you mentioned. I am so glad that you posted your story.....

it will inspire others to FIGHT for what is APPROPRIATE !

I will soon be experiencing the " IEP Nightmare " for the first time. I am

prepared, I have educated myself on the Law.... and I will not give in. So

far, I am noticing that the attitude of the Schools seems to differ from

State to State.

Thanks so much for sharing your story.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thanks so much. I truly hope that someone can benefit from my experience.

Fortunately many parents do not have such a bad experience attempting to obtain

services for their child. It seems that it varies from state to state & even

school to school as ours did.

Hopefully your experience will be easier & much more productive than ours was.

Good luck!!

Yvette A.

Re: [ ] RE: School District Evaluations

Yvette-

Your post was so well worded and awesome..... I am in 100% agreement with

everything that you mentioned. I am so glad that you posted your story.....

it will inspire others to FIGHT for what is APPROPRIATE !

I will soon be experiencing the " IEP Nightmare " for the first time. I am

prepared, I have educated myself on the Law.... and I will not give in. So

far, I am noticing that the attitude of the Schools seems to differ from

State to State.

Thanks so much for sharing your story.

>

> Hi &

>

> ,

>

> I agree but wasn't sure how others on the board felt about going into detail

on the topic of school evals.

>

> ,

> When my dd was 4 I requested an eval by our school district(Gloucester County,

NJ) to evaluate her I waited since she was receiving OT privately & I knew that

it would be in her best interest to wait. I knew that she needed Speech Therapy

& Occupational Therapy in school as well as support with eating.

> She was evaluated individually by the school psychologist, the case manager &

a several others. My dd has always tested poorly & as expected did not do well

not being comfortable with strangers asking her to perform.

> I then requested that she be placed in the least restrictive environment(Reg.

Ed.) with a 1:1 Aide & Special Ed 1/2 day 3 times a week with Speech &

Occupational Therapy. They agreed to place her in regular Kindergarten

temporarily but minus the 1:1 Aide since they had misplaced my request for this

eval so they were still evaluating her when the school year began.

>

> To make a long story short the District & the IEP Team denied the 1:1 Aide &

OT & decided to place her in Special Ed. classroom everyday still no 1:1 Aide.

This class had 18 children, 1 teacher & 1 Aide & a 1:1 for one child with CP.

This class was at maximium capacity according to the law in our state. The kids

had behaviors which my dd does not.

> The Director of Elementary Special Education, the IEP Team & I went back &

forth for a few months. During this time I was going to school everyday to help

my dd eat lunch since the district would not provide the Aide. The one thing the

District & I did agree to was that she would receive Speech Therapy 3 times a

week, but she needed it 4 times a week.

>

> By this time my dd was so distressed by the Special Ed class that she came

home & would tantrum & act out severely. I refused to send her back to school

after 3 months. I told the Director & the IEP Team what was happening at home

but it didn't matter.

> So my last meeting with the DIrector I told her I refused to sign the IEP as

it was written because they were not placing her in the appropriate & least

restrictive environment with the necessary support.

>

> The Director proceded to tell me that they were going to contact the Solicitor

for the District(Lawyer)in reference to going to trial. She thought that I

didn't know what Solicitor meant so I asked her did I need to bring an attorney

to this hearing & she flat out lied & said " no, I didn't. " I quickly educated

myself on FAPE, s Law, How to Advocate for Your Child, etc. We went to

court with an Attorney who specializes in Child Special Education Law &

Advocacy. Good thing we had legal representation since the District came with 2

attorneys & the Assistant Superintendent of Schools.

> The case was thrown out since the District had decided not to follow protocol

& never offered Mediation(as required by law) as the 2nd step in this process.

Mediation consists of a so called Mediator(neutral person), representative of

the district(attorney) & family(better with an Advocate or Attorney). The

Mediator tries to get all involved to come to terms.

> Needless to say Mediation accomplished nothing & I kept my dd out of public

schoool until 1st Grade where we were lucky enough to have a new school, new IEP

Team & new Case Worker.

>

> I still had to press for a change in classification from Communication

Impaired to Autism with ADD inattentive Type that took 2 years.

> My dd had blossomed in 1st Grade with a 1:1 Aide & Special Education class of

only 3 children with no behaviors. In 2nd Grade she has gone to 2:1 Aide in a

Special Ed classroom of 3 with Specials such as Gym, Art & Music with Reg. Ed

children. This year in 3rd Grade Special Ed in a class of 8 with Specials(Art,

Music, Gym) with Reg. Ed. children. My dd is 9 y.o & it is going very well this

year also.

>

> I do apologize for the length of this email but I hope that my experience will

truly help others. This group helped me so much through all of this & I pushed

on. This is a very, very stressful ordeal & you as the mother are TRULY your

childs best advocate. Please follow your instincts & the advice of people who

have travelled this path before you. And no matter how difficult this journey is

please DO NOT STOP FIGHTING for your child. If you feel that an attorney is

necesssary by all means please retain legal representation. If you can't afford

an attorney($500 per hour & up) find the Advocate in your District. Advocates

are much less expensive, we were unable to find one in our area.

> Most importantly you must know what your childs educational rights are. Go to

www.wrightslaw.com for more info.

> Good luck & never stop advocating for yor child!

>

> If you would like to talk at greater length feel free to email me at

y.anderson1@... & I will provide my telephone number.

>

> PS: I forgot to mention NEVER use the term " it's what is best for your child "

because the state is not required to provide the " best " instead use appropriate.

>

> HTH,

> Yvette A.

>

[Guest guest]

's story shows how horrid situations can become. It is amazing how a

change of school and change of ESE specialist/caseworker/teachers/iep team can

make all the difference in the world. It is very hard to get the advocacy

centers to take on cases--it has to be black and white--

All parents on this list should buy both slaw books and learn the protocol

for going up the chain of command--

Also, put everything you verbally share at an IEP in writing and submit it for

the child's file. If it isn't written down it didn't happen. So, if you are

going to an IEP meeting to voice concerns, write down those concerns and print

out 10 copies to give to all the team etc

I also have to add, I don't know how parents can make it without prayer--I truly

suggest having people pray for your child's IEP meetings and other concerns. I

have seen it work miracles for Nate--!

Colleen

[Guest guest]

This is a bit OT, but not really... Have been meaning to post here. That thing

called " life " has unfortunately caused me to put my kids' services on back

burner and it ticks me off to no end..Our situation is really unique and will

try to spare the gory details. Ultimately we were told that my son who just

turned 3 and transitioned to the 3-5 non intensive speech program needed to

receive group speech, 45 min a week (I agreed to that in IEP altho suspect I may

have to bring group back on that one too) BUT location was going to be a 4 hour

round trip. Yes, read that right. I got some funky run around like you have to

start services here before you can transfer to your county(we live in county

where I want services provided YET cause we live physically on border our school

district is designated as district south of us). I referred matter to a County

advocate AND thank God.. I saw that poster on the BB of his ST's office back

when we had ST. He's now been without all of Dec, Jan and the start of Feb. It's

gonna be ugly getting him started again. But that's another story. I guess what

I wanted to get across - yet sooooo understand why so many dont have time

/resources to do (I'm about to return to work and this is only reason why folks

got off for time they have)... but if you can.. FIGHT.. I asked for policy after

policy in very PC ways and nothing " concrete " was ever produced (on issue of

starting services in one county before attempting transfer of services. Had I

wanted to really take this further.. think some folks could have lost jobs.

Advocate (didnt pay for either) part of SELPA team in county I wanted services

transferred did all leg work and helped to get things in place. BUT we still

need to do yet another IEP (barf) and figure location. There are days I get so

burnt I want to find someway just to pay privately yet in this economy it's a

pipe dream.. I'm more focused on saving the kids house (sigh).. Anyway look into

county advocacy... and keep fighting.. Try to do so in a PC way.. Ask Q's and

make them respond.. Wishing you all the best!

Leigh

>

> 's story shows how horrid situations can become. It is amazing how a

change of school and change of ESE specialist/caseworker/teachers/iep team can

make all the difference in the world. It is very hard to get the advocacy

centers to take on cases--it has to be black and white--

>

> All parents on this list should buy both slaw books and learn the

protocol for going up the chain of command--

>

> Also, put everything you verbally share at an IEP in writing and submit it for

the child's file. If it isn't written down it didn't happen. So, if you are

going to an IEP meeting to voice concerns, write down those concerns and print

out 10 copies to give to all the team etc

>

> I also have to add, I don't know how parents can make it without prayer--I

truly suggest having people pray for your child's IEP meetings and other

concerns. I have seen it work miracles for Nate--!

>

> Colleen

>

>