First, a couple of questions. What is the specific disability for which she qualified under Other Heath Disability? What do you mean by "they determine the absences were her academically"? You need to ask for a revised PWN for the outcome of the eligibility meeting. It should specify under which category she meets criteria and clarify how she "meets criteria" but "doesn't qualify." At a minimum, the PWN needs to state WHY she doesn't qualify. 1. The school psychologist is correct that a goal for attendance due to a medical condition cannot be written. The hybrid model you propose is something that you should work out with the principal, as this is a general education issue and not a special education issue. You will need a doctor's note/report regarding the migraines and that her inability to attend full days in person is due to this. 2. IEPs are not limited to addressing academic struggles and/or learning differences. Just because a student is bright and capable academically does not mean services are not needed. So I would suggest not thinking in terms of "she doesn't need special education." She doesn't need it for specialized instruction in math or reading, but assuming the evaluation data shows this, she does need it for her executive functioning deficits. Saying "IEPS are only for kids with learning differences" is completely wrong. But so is saying "she doesn't need special education." Special education is much broader than addressing academics. Although I believe, as I state above, that you need to work out her general education schedule with the principal, the IEP could incorporate the hybrid schedule as an accommodation for her migraines. I don't know what a "transition plan" would look like since she has no control over her migraines. But if the data shows the need, you could absolutely have goals and instruction for turning in work on time and advocating for herself. Since the school is refusing a request (for an IEP and special services), it appears that in Minnesota the PWN must be provided to the parent within 14 calendar days of the request (so this could be interpreted as 14 days after the conciliation meeting, but this is not legal advice). You might go on the Minnesota Department of Education website and see if there is anything like a "Parents Guide to Special Education." You can also call them (specifically the special education department) and ask your question about the PWN - and anything else you have questions about.

My child has had a migraine/headache every day since January. She’s missed so much school going back all the way to the start of the year. I finally got the school to do an evaluation after asking twice. 25 school days after I first asked and two meetings after they tried to talk me out of it, they finally sent me the consent to evaluation form. And 32 And 32 school days later, I saw the results. She qualified under Part A of Other Health Disability and met the criteria in Part B/they determine the absences were her academically. But they denied her services. I didn’t get a PWN until three calendar months after the evaluation was complete (May 24 vs Feb 19) and I specifically requested it. It was incomplete and didnt include anything more than “this is late due to an oversight” and “child meets criteria and doesn’t qualify.” We had a conciliation meeting last week after I sent the letter of disagreement, and the school psychologist said that the services were denied because: 1. He can’t write a goal around attendance because it isn’t skills based. We were asking for a hybrid model where she endures language arts and math in person with her headaches every day and does the other classes online with one hour a day instruction. What goal(s) could I tell the psych to write in the IEP? 2. I am asking for special services and their IEPs go through special education and she doesn’t need special education (she’s extremely bright and capable with no learning differences). The evaluation determined executive functioning needs around organization, task initiation and completion, endurance, planning. I would think they could provide someone to teach EF; am I right? They said this was really just an attendance issues and their special education department handles IEPs but only for kids with learning differences. Since she doesn’t need special education, she doesn’t need an IEP. They are willing to temporarily set her up for the hybrid schedule, but won’t put it in an IEP. We need the IEP to return to as the headaches may come and go over the next three years, she needs a transition plan to return to a full-time in-person schedule, and she needs to learn how to get her work done on time and advocate for herself. I am still waiting for their revised PWN. How long do they have after the conciliation meeting to get it to me? I’m in MN.

@JSD24, first and foremost THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! The IEP team decided that they wanted to schedule an annual IEP review at the last minute. The date proposed fell on the same day as my child's class awards ceremony, so I they offered the following day. As I was leaving my child's ceremony, the school Principal stopped me in the hallway (with my husband and child) & thought it was a good idea to discuss if I would attend the meeting & tell me the team was recommending the completion of my child's IEP and move to a 504. I told her my child wasn't ready for that & we could discuss it in detail at the meeting. So much for confidentiality.... I read and re-read your note and did some research on IDEA & pulled out my procedural safeguards. That information helped me so much in my advocacy for my child. The school was recommending completion based on the data they collected which wasn't measurable (or complete) and seemed to want to use the 15 month old re-eval data. And then they tried to say that they didn't have to do evaluations to declassify him. They said my state doesn't require that and I said I go by federal law (IDEA), not state law. When they realized those tactics wouldn't work, the gaslighting started "I didn't say that we were removing his IEP." Silly rabbit, I have it in an E-mail. I also need to thank @Lisa Lightner for having the Middle School/High School webinar. That helped me so much with having an idea on what I need to discuss with the Middle School for my child's IEP. I only hope that the school and I have a smoother transition and more open communication when we have our meetings. I have my follow-up meeting with my child's Elementary School tomorrow to go over the draft IEP. I'm sure it'll be interesting and they're probably happy to be rid of me. Thank you again for your time, I sincerely appreciate your assistance.

Co-lab is probably the same thing, EXCEPT make sure that you get the push-in minutes defined as to how many and in what classes and that they are documented in the IEP. As far as phone calls, yes, it's very difficult to get a school district to only converse by way of email. The solution to that is to take good notes during the phone call (you can ask them to slow down or repeat something if you're having trouble keeping up with your note-taking). Then send the important parts (what was agreed to, what was denied, etc.) of the discussion in an email to whoever you spoke with stating "this is what I took away from our conversation" or something to that effect. Another option is to request another IEP meeting. Then you can get whatever was agreed to or denied in a PWN. Did you receive a PWN after this most recent meeting stating they are taking away all her instructional minutes? JSD is correct that they must evaluate to show she no longer has this need - if she didn't meet her goals, I don't know how they can argue that. If she cannot yet advocate for herself, the accommodations should not be on her. For instance, they should read that the teacher will check it to make sure she is on task, understands the assignment, etc. Ideally, she should have a goal for self-advocacy, especially since she has documented poor executive functioning, They definitely need to keep minutes in some form whether that be push-in or pull-out. As far as typing, that is no longer taught in most school districts (which is weird given everyone needs to have that skill). You will need to enroll her in an online course (or two) for that. Because you are correct, she needs to learn that skill. If it has been a year since her last evaluation, you need to request one and make sure it is done in all areas with which you are concerned. After that, you can request an IEE if the school district is still not doing the right thing.

Hi Carolyn, Thank you for your insight and help. It wasn't clear if they were offering "push-in minutes"., but I can ask for that now that I know the term. They said she would be placed in something called "Co-lab" which has a general education teacher + a special education teacher who would help if needed. I don't know how many kids would be in the class and how many would be assigned to the special educaiton teacher in the class either. I emailed them asking for the info and they want to do a phone call instead. I wish they would just answer my questions in writing via email. My child is horrible at asking for help in class (I suspect she doesn't want others to see she needs help and seen as weak possibly). She has ADHD, so she needs an adult to keep her on task and to help her start boring tasks. I have to sit next to her and keep her on task and direct her a lot at home to help catch her up on her in-class school work that she did not finish in class, + the homework that needs to be completed at home. Her written expression is extremely low on the state testing. In class, her in class school work is barely done. Her IEP has goals for starting a writing task, sustaining a writing task, Wilson's pull out for spelling, and has pull out for written expression with goal to write a short paragraph. She has trouble memorizing phonics and blending sounds when reading as she has a poor working memory for these, but has no problem memorizing facts about her favorite tv shows. Maybe they can give push or pull in/out minutes and typing class? She does not like using speech to text in school as I suspect it makes her stand out and makes others aware she can not type well. At home she if comfortable using speech to text, but it doesn't always understand her or work well (not sure which is the issue).

If they are ending IEP supports, they need to be doing a reevaluation showing there is no longer a need for these services. And if you don't agree with the school's eval because you feel a student in MS should be able to write a paragraph w/o help, you can ask for an IEE at school expense. Also, if this MS doesn't have what your child needs, your school can pay for another school that does provide what's needed. This is the right option if they don't have what's needed. This happens a lot: https://adayinourshoes.com/what-to-do-when-school-says-we-dont-do-that-here/ Gifted students like yours do tend to mask their disability. This could be why the teacher isn't seeing the need. IEP evals are normed and should be able to detect if a student is masking...which is why you end IEPs with an eval and not a progress report showing there is no longer a need for services.