Re: HELP, WHAT TO ASK IN THE IEP MEETING?

[Guest guest]

Hi,I have a meeting the 11th with the school. Can somebody help me in what to ask?Thanks ( ) Help - high school IEPHi all. I am wondering two things. Do you generally have an autism specialist at your IEP meetings? And do you request all the teachers come to the IEP meetings, or at least as many as can--at least more than the prescribed one special ed teacher, one general ed teacher? Some history. We are going from jr high to sr high, and nobody from the high school came to the spring IEP meeting. The high school doesn't like the IEP the jr high set up or the placement level. I don't have any problems with the placement change, but I am nervous about the details of the IEP.I know we all go through the same thing where autism is not well understood by either special ed, regular classroom teachers or school administrators, so switching schools and getting everybody up to speed is always a huge deal. I'm just thinking that this transition might go a lot faster and my son might end up with a much more effective IEP if an autism specialist came to the IEP meeting to help explain the rough spots. And I'm in a school district big enough to have autism specialists available--if they would just do it. I don't think they are used to coming to IEP meetings--for the most part, I think they just do evaluations. I really don't feel like I should have to pay for an advocate/attorney and/or specialist when the school district has people available that can explain all these issues. My son is high-IQ, so I also have legal issues that many of the regular school administrators are not familiar with, but the higher level special ed people are. So, there is also the issue of whether an administrator higher level than one of the usual assistant principals needs to come to the IEP meeting.I would just really like to know how other people handle this. Am I asking too much for these "extra" people to attend? How do you ask without offending people when they are not offering such people attend. The high school SPED chair has made it clear she wants to handle things within the high school. But she has said things that make me think we have all the usual problems of lack of understanding. I'm trying to decide if I should give her a chance to do things her way. Of course, we all know the wait and see thing usually gets way out of hand and is not good--I really don't want to wait.Thoughts? Help!

[Guest guest]

I always thought you could request any teachers that will have something to do with your child to attend the IEP and they were supposed to. The principle too. Request someone that is familiar with aspergers if they school has anyone like that. Also look in the front of your phone book and see if they have advocates for children with disabilities and call them, or ask them to give you a number to someone that can help you. It is better to take someone with you that is on your side and knows what they are talking about. Also check ou the internet, try www.aspergersadvocates or something like that until you find what you need. Some parent on this site might have the number you need, is there anyone here that can help her with that? pjFrom: tfitzge134@... <tfitzge134@...>Subject: Re: ( ) HELP, WHAT TO ASK IN THE IEP MEETING? Date: Thursday, September 3, 2009, 10:29 AM

Hi,I have a meeting the 11th with the school. Can somebody help me in what to ask?Thanks ( ) Help - high school IEPHi all. I am wondering two things. Do you generally have an autism specialist at your IEP meetings? And do you request all the teachers come to the IEP meetings, or at least as many as can--at least more than the prescribed one special ed teacher, one general ed teacher? Some history. We are going from jr high to sr high, and nobody from the high school came to the spring IEP meeting. The high school doesn't like the IEP the jr high set up or the placement level. I

don't have any problems with the placement change, but I am nervous about the details of the IEP.I know we all go through the same thing where autism is not well understood by either special ed, regular classroom teachers or school administrators, so switching schools and getting everybody up to speed is always a huge deal. I'm just thinking that this transition might go a lot faster and my son might end up with a much more effective IEP if an autism specialist came to the IEP meeting to help explain the rough spots. And I'm in a school district big enough to have autism specialists available--if they would just do it. I don't think they are used to coming to IEP meetings--for the most part, I think they just do evaluations. I really don't feel like I should have to pay for an advocate/attorney and/or specialist when the school district has people available that can explain all these issues. My son

is high-IQ, so I also have legal issues that many of the regular school administrators are not familiar with, but the higher level special ed people are. So, there is also the issue of whether an administrator higher level than one of the usual assistant principals needs to come to the IEP meeting.I would just really like to know how other people handle this. Am I asking too much for these "extra" people to attend? How do you ask without offending people when they are not offering such people attend. The high school SPED chair has made it clear she wants to handle things within the high school. But she has said things that make me think we have all the usual problems of lack of understanding. I'm trying to decide if I should give her a chance to do things her way. Of course, we all know the wait and see thing usually gets way out of hand and is not good--I really don't want to wait.Thoughts?

Help!