RE: Re: advocating the iep @TAMMI

[Guest guest]

Just wanted to note how well this letter

was written and how you are an inspiration to those who are stuggling this

fight with the Districts. Thank you for posting this reply.

Denel

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of Tami

Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011

7:46 AM

To:

Subject: ( ) Re:

advocating the iep

I'm not sure what state the two of you are in but.. I am in michigan. What you have to do is get hold of

a copy of the " Autism Spectrum Disorder Eligibility guidelines " or

whichever catagory of impairment the school had previously had your child placed

for special ed services.

In Michigan

there is a line very close to the very first section that states: Acedemic-The

students ability to progress in the general education curruiculum must be

considered. One aspect of adverse affect may be reflected in the students'

grades, but that is NOT the only factor which must be considered. Determination

of adverse affect can be based on social/adaptive functioning.

it then goes on to explain that social/behavioral affects a students social,

behavioral, and emotional response.

anyway i guess my point here is that according to LAW (and your state may word

it different i do not know) a-acedemic b-behavioral and c-social are all

suppose to be included when they make a discision to discontinue or to refuse

assistance within the school.

Make sure all contact you have with the school finds it's way to actual letters

either requests, reiterating what was gone over ect. so that you have a paper

trail to follow later if legal action is needed. Also contact an advocate group

in your area (I used CAUSE). Their determination to stop services is based upon

the findings of the professionals who evaluated him/her (a full evaluation is

done every 3 years to make sure the child does or doesn't still need services)

Get hold of copies of their reports and if you dont agree with them or feel

they are not based on fact you can find yourself an independant evaluator to go

into the school and observe/ make their determination and you can use their

report along with the ones from the school at the IEP.

another thing to consider is that everyone sitting in the room while you have

your IEP is part of the IEP team sooo.... consider how easy it is for the

school to lord over you and take any discisions away because naturally they are

already stacked against you. (they have the majority of the voice)

I used to discribe williams IEP's as a feeling like i was sitting in front of

the firing squad... I would feel intimidated from the moment I walked in also

unheard. I would get upset and have a difficult time articulating my thoughts

and ideas (they count on this)

What worked for us and it was a huge battle.. was to bring his pediatrician/

psycologist/ hospital speech therapists/ grandmother/ aunt/ ect we brought them

all to the IEP with us (in this way evening the table also giving strength to

our argument). We had his cause representative at the meeting via

teleconference (he helped keep the school within legal bounds and would clarify

the law when they'd step over it). the nite before the IEP I visited the school

to make sure the conference room had both capability of using teleconference

and an available speakerphone (their phone did not work) so I went and bought

one.. I also brought with me a tape recorder (this cut down on the amt of intimidation

we usually recieved. I spoke directly to his teachers about how they viewed his

progress, behaviors, social interaction and took notes. I also took the time to

type up everything I wanted to say, points i wanted to make ect so that if they

did intimidate and upset me i would not loose my place or loose my words (i

could just read it off the paper) lol.

In our case our son had multiple behavior problems, acedemically he struggled

and he had no social skills (all these seen within the school system) struggles

at home i'm afraid have to be adressed at home.

Keep in mind a medical diagnosis has very little to do with placement at

school, it only forms to help sorta guide which catagory he might be placed in.

If services are started or will continue You have to show that his behavior,

social or acedemics suffer WHILE at school. If your child has for instance a

receptive/expressive language issue you could use this as your argument because

not understanding or not being understood would affect all aspects of education

because language is the basis for learning.

I hope this helped and good luck!!

Tami Skinner

tjskinner1@...

> >

> > My son is up for his iep. I am frantically researching how to keep

him in services and not move over to the 504. He is above average academically.

Now, how many parents of aspies have said that. I have from teachers, at the

school, that due to his academic proficiency he does not need services. He

holds it together like a rock star at school. Most days, when he gets home, he

can't even due a one page homework hand-out. How can they say that doesn't

affect his school-work. His games skill, at school, are right on. At home,

there are many times, if I walk out of the room, he may jump over the play table

and grab his sister's neck when not going his way. He goes for a week without

handing in the homework in his backpack, due to the commotion at the lockers

when arriving at school. Any advice on how to keep him in the system (legally,

and medically)? It is not like autism just goes away. Please help.

> >

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