Re: Re: IEP/Wondering about your experience with private school

[Guest guest]

Yes, I can share.  Our girls went to a private Episcopal school that goes from

preschool to fifth grade.  Our older daughter got her first flare (she has

congenital Lyme) at the end of second grade, right after she had transferred

from public school. No one knew what was wrong with her, and the cognitive and

joint symptoms were deemed " residual " after she recovered from her first flare,

so we just continued on.

In Fifth grade, when she had already been at the school 2 1/2 years, she started

with the really bad symptoms (again) plus new ones.  Joint pain, exhaustion,

stabbing stomach pain, blood in her stool, migraines, you name it.  The school

was rather horrible about it.  The admin in charge basically let all the kids

pick on her, and insisted that she come all day or not at all (even when the

doctor said she had fibromyalgia and should just come as much as possible). 

She even criticized my daughter for moaning too loudly and disturbing the other

kids, and attempted to keep her off the school camping trip for the safety of

others (!) based on her absences, even when the flare had subsided on its own fo

over 2 months.  It was ridiculous.  With my younger child, all we had at that

point was dx of auditory processing and adhd, and they wouldn't even put her in

the front row as the doctor(s!) recommended because they considered that a

" special

privilege. "   Good lord, what a fight.  We just stopped asking and got through

the last year as best we could, with the kids really picking on my younger

daughter and the admin picking on me.  However, as I discovered when I did

research, private religious schools can discriminate however and whenever and

against whomever on whatever basis they want, so I would advise against sending

the child to a private religious school unless you have detailed the necessary

accommodations and received confirmation that they will work with you to meet

them.  If they them did not accommodate, it would be a breach of contract

issue.

Once my kids went to public middle school (they are in a GATE based program that

has no grades in sixth grade, just evaluative reports) the district nurse was on

me relentlessly about attendance because she felt that fibromyalgia did not

justify extended absences for pain and viruses.  Then we got the diagnosis of

Lyme and while the district nurse made one last ditch effort to intimidate me,

once I had that dx I knew what was wrong, what my kid needed, and what the

doctor said so I just told them what they needed to do and basically wrote up

the IEP for them. Sinc then, the school has really tried to work with us.  By

that, I mean that they leave us alone about absences, let the girls come as much

as they can-- even for 2 classes on a given day -- and they let them have

flexible deadlines.  We tried getting a tutor but she was basically useless so

I just fill in the gaps myself for my daughters.  I follow the book, teach them

what the class is

learning in math and science, and help them with their social studies research

and Language Arts stuff.  When they are well again I will tutor them more

during the summer to be sure they have all the grammar and writing practice they

need, and review math to be sure there are no holes in what they were supposed

to learn.

So I guess the school district is really trying to accommodate but I feel that

as a result of their numerous absences my kids would not receive an adequate

education if I didn't fill in everywhere.  But they are my kids, and I enjoy

teaching them, so that works for us.  The difference in compassion, flexibility

and accommodation between the first and current schools are night and day.

But every school is different, so it's worth talking to the actual

administrations of the different schools you are looking at and trying to get an

honest assessment.

Hope that helps.

Natasha

From: darabeth2003 <dara.alewine@...>

Subject: [ ] Re: IEP/Wondering about your experience with private

school

Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 7:59 AM

 

Can anyone share their experience of dealing with private school and lyme?

We are considering all options at this point, but don't want to trade off one

set of problems for another.

Thanks,

Dara

> >

> > My 7yo son completed neuropsych testing with a lyme literate psychologist,

and now I have 2 pages of services and accomodations she recommends for him to

help with school performance. My son already has an IEP, developed pre-lyme dx.

I requested an IEP mtg, set for Tuesday, to ask talk to the school about his

lyme dx and request the things on the report be added to his IEP. His team

leader already mentioned to me " we might have to do our own testing " .

> > I wanted to say, Are you kidding me? I hardly think any testing the school

will do will be as thorough or accurate as the 3 days of testing and 23 page

report I handed you.

> > But since I have to be diplomatic, at least to start, I am first wondering,

does anyone know what my rights are around this? I know I have a right to

outside testing, which I already have done, but if there is a disparity in test

results, what are my rights?

> >

> > His teacher already does not implement most of the accomodations that are

already on the IEP. Always an uphill battle. My stomach is already turning at

the thought of this meeting on Tuesday.

> >

> > Thanks,

> > Dara

> >

>

[Guest guest]

My younger girls go to a private Catholic school and I had NO problems with my

girls being chronically ill - the teachers and the principal have always worked

with us - many meetings after they would have a bad couple of weeks gone but I

was very fortunate that my girls lyme was not in the brain - or didnt affect the

school work part - they are so use to being gone and then catching up on school

work.......times when they would miss a week or two at a time the teachers and

the principal would work together and give alternative work or drop some

assignments that were not so important.  I also have an option of getting a

tutor when the times have been bad - she has in the past missed a month at a

time and we worked everything out - when my oldest went into the public school

in 8th grade they gave her two on-line classes and she didn't have to go into

school till 11am - that helped so much - but now she is in High School and they

will not give her the

on-line class's as they say Collage will not accept that....so things have now

been harder for her - and the stress of her father not believing in her illness

has caused tons of problems this year as he has told school that I am making her

illness up - and this is the first year he has caused problems - this girl is 15

years old - it's amazing how new girlfriends can mess up a poor child's

life............anyways, I do not know that rules that the private school has to

go by - but for us it has been the best thing for my girls!!!! 

Good Luck and let me know if you have any questions..........my girls are now in

9th, 5th, and 1st.........

________________________________

From: darabeth2003 <dara.alewine@...>

Sent: Tue, March 23, 2010 9:59:45 AM

Subject: [ ] Re: IEP/Wondering about your experience with private

school

 

Can anyone share their experience of dealing with private school and lyme? We

are considering all options at this point, but don't want to trade off one set

of problems for another.

Thanks,

Dara

> >

> > My 7yo son completed neuropsych testing with a lyme literate psychologist,

and now I have 2 pages of services and accomodations she recommends for him to

help with school performance. My son already has an IEP, developed pre-lyme dx.

I requested an IEP mtg, set for Tuesday, to ask talk to the school about his

lyme dx and request the things on the report be added to his IEP. His team

leader already mentioned to me " we might have to do our own testing " .

> > I wanted to say, Are you kidding me? I hardly think any testing the school

will do will be as thorough or accurate as the 3 days of testing and 23 page

report I handed you.

> > But since I have to be diplomatic, at least to start, I am first wondering,

does anyone know what my rights are around this? I know I have a right to

outside testing, which I already have done, but if there is a disparity in test

results, what are my rights?

> >

> > His teacher already does not implement most of the accomodations that are

already on the IEP. Always an uphill battle. My stomach is already turning at

the thought of this meeting on Tuesday.

> >

> > Thanks,

> > Dara

> >

>

F

[Guest guest]

Some private schools will work with you, many won't. Private schools are not

bound by IEP's and the IDEA law.

They are not necessarily a way to get around issues with dealing with public

school. ly, though public school can be a fight to get an appropriate IEP,

since they are bound by law, in the long run it can be a better deal. Even if a

private school starts out working with you, they can change their mind at any

time and you may suddenly find yourself with a school that won't work with you

at all and the need to find another appropriate placement.

Charlotte

iamwhimsy@...

http://whimsy.t35.com

[ ] Re: IEP/Wondering about your experience with

private school

Can anyone share their experience of dealing with private school and lyme? We

are considering all options at this point, but don't want to trade off one set

of problems for another.

Thanks,

Dara

> >

> > My 7yo son completed neuropsych testing with a lyme literate psychologist,

and now I have 2 pages of services and accomodations she recommends for him to

help with school performance. My son already has an IEP, developed pre-lyme dx.

I requested an IEP mtg, set for Tuesday, to ask talk to the school about his

lyme dx and request the things on the report be added to his IEP. His team

leader already mentioned to me " we might have to do our own testing " .

> > I wanted to say, Are you kidding me? I hardly think any testing the school

will do will be as thorough or accurate as the 3 days of testing and 23 page

report I handed you.

> > But since I have to be diplomatic, at least to start, I am first

wondering, does anyone know what my rights are around this? I know I have a

right to outside testing, which I already have done, but if there is a disparity

in test results, what are my rights?

> >

> > His teacher already does not implement most of the accomodations that are

already on the IEP. Always an uphill battle. My stomach is already turning at

the thought of this meeting on Tuesday.

> >

> > Thanks,

> > Dara

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I am very grateful that mine works with us and has for over 10 years - even when

we didn't know what was wrong with the girls - now adays I would guess most will

do what they can as the economy has been hard on many private schools - with one

paying out of pocket for school versus school being paid by taxes private

schools are losing many kids.

I have a great private school in Wisconsin if anyone would like to move here

  preschool - 8th

 

________________________________

From: CT <iamwhimsy@...>

Sent: Tue, March 23, 2010 2:07:17 PM

Subject: Re: [ ] Re: IEP/Wondering about your experience with

private school

 

Some private schools will work with you, many won't. Private schools are not

bound by IEP's and the IDEA law.

They are not necessarily a way to get around issues with dealing with public

school. ly, though public school can be a fight to get an appropriate IEP,

since they are bound by law, in the long run it can be a better deal. Even if a

private school starts out working with you, they can change their mind at any

time and you may suddenly find yourself with a school that won't work with you

at all and the need to find another appropriate placement.

Charlotte

iamwhimsygmail (DOT) com

http://whimsy. t35.com

[ ] Re: IEP/Wondering about your experience with private

school

Can anyone share their experience of dealing with private school and lyme? We

are considering all options at this point, but don't want to trade off one set

of problems for another.

Thanks,

Dara

> >

> > My 7yo son completed neuropsych testing with a lyme literate psychologist,

and now I have 2 pages of services and accomodations she recommends for him to

help with school performance. My son already has an IEP, developed pre-lyme dx.

I requested an IEP mtg, set for Tuesday, to ask talk to the school about his

lyme dx and request the things on the report be added to his IEP. His team

leader already mentioned to me " we might have to do our own testing " .

> > I wanted to say, Are you kidding me? I hardly think any testing the school

will do will be as thorough or accurate as the 3 days of testing and 23 page

report I handed you.

> > But since I have to be diplomatic, at least to start, I am first wondering,

does anyone know what my rights are around this? I know I have a right to

outside testing, which I already have done, but if there is a disparity in test

results, what are my rights?

> >

> > His teacher already does not implement most of the accomodations that are

already on the IEP. Always an uphill battle. My stomach is already turning at

the thought of this meeting on Tuesday.

> >

> > Thanks,

> > Dara

> >

>