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This is the definition of autism from IDEA: (i) Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. (ii) Autism does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (c)(4) of this section. (iii) A child who manifests the characteristics of autism after age three could be identified as having autism if the criteria in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section are satisfied. This is section (c) (4) mentioned ^: (4) (i) Emotional disturbance means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance: (A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. (B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. (C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances. (D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. (E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. (ii) Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance under paragraph (c)(4)(i) of this section. I find this confusing. From what I've seen with Aspergers type of autism is that emotional issues versus are hard to differentiate which is why autistics are sometimes labeled ED by schools. If 'autism' is a health factor, then ASD is the right box to have checked. Supplemental versus itinerant has to do with staffing. This is from Chapter 14 of the school code: Itinerant (20% or Less) Supplemental (Less Than 80% but More Than 20%) Full-Time (80% or More) Learning Support 50 20 12 Life Skills Support 20 20 12 (Grades K-6) 15 (Grades 7-12) Emotional Support 50 20 12 Deaf And Hearing Impaired Support 50 15 8 Blind And Visually Impaired Support 50 15 12 Speech And Language Support 65 8 Physical Support 50 15 12 Autistic Support 12 8 8 Multiple Disabilities Support 12 8 8 If the student is supplemental, max caseload is 8 - not 12. They should be looking at how much time as a percentage of the school day he's getting special ed services and not the name of the program. If this isn't accurate on the IEP, you could file a state complaint. (You can see this defined her on page 58: https://www.pattan.net/CMSPages/GetAmazonFile.aspx?path=~\pattan\media\forms\files\interactive-annotated-iep.pdf&hash=c0ea2b719d21a38a5c12f35787364505e1915c0b3618e03dec3aae2355fa263a&ext=.pdf.) Note that the annotation says "typical school day". My district has paraprofessionals who have RBT training so this would look the same as far as "restrictive" goes - it's just a 1:1 with different training than other aides (they also make more given the added training). In your shoes, I'd ask that his 1:1 aide have RBT training given your outside eval said he needed an RBT. Emotional support might be the right placement if 'upset' is the reason he needs support & the ES teacher has appropriate training - I'd still want the ASD box checked on the IEP. I wouldn't fault them for using an AS room for a student in the evaluation process if that's where the person who helped was located. So long as a student is in the process of being identified, they get special ed protections and students with IEPs can be suspended. It's really when you get to 10 days that they look at manifestations of a disability because suspensions of 10+ days are a placement change where you need the IEP team to weigh in. What does the autistic support room have that the emotional support room doesn't being you want AS and not ES to be the room where he gets services? If I knew why you wanted this, I think I could help by providing an argument that's specific to the issue you see. I'm aware of a school where one room had both AS & ES support. The issue was that when there was a ES support student acting out & trying to calm down, the autistic student found this too triggering/distracting where they couldn't calm down. There are other things in your post that you might want to file complaints with PDE on: We were told they couldn’t evaluate until full-day 1st grade despite autism being flagged by his therapist. When we did get an eval, they initially didn’t test for autism. I hope I covered everything - you had a lot of questions/comments.

The discipline of a student should be part of the student's file. Only parents and school staff who need to know should have access to this. In other words, you shouldn't have access to the specifics. School policies tend to be publically available on school websites and there is nothing preventing the school from sharing what their policy is. In PA, there is a policy numbering system that schools are encouraged to use. Your school's bullying policy might be # 249. This might not be bullying if this isn't part of a pattern of acts happening by these students to your child as bullying is defined as something that's repeated. When it comes to bullying that could fall under s3x abuse, I feel that schools are hesitant to escalate this because they don't want to be responsible for a Jr HS aged person ending up on Megan's List for what's more so a prank than criminal perversion. Being involved with this and reporting this to ChildLine could force this classmate to have limited opportunities in the future. (In my school district, you cannot enter a school building when students are present if you are on Megan's List to give you an idea what some of the restrictions are.) There is nothing preventing you from calling ChildLine and telling them what happened to your child. Their number is 1-800-932-0313 and is available 24/7. Given that Juvenile Court is involved, I'm not sure how important it is to bring this to ChildLine; I would think the court would have involved them if it was appropriate to do. (I'm curious what the court charged them with given you want to punish but not necessarily escalate things too much.) Also, most things that are investigated by CYF end up being unfounded. This could be why the places you have reached out to haven't moved forward in this. If you feel school staff isn't following proper protocol in reporting things like this, you can escalate this within your school district. Principals oversee school staff and directors of secondary ed oversee Jr HSs. Over them would be the superintendent and school board. Their contact info should be on the school district's website. I feel that contacting your state rep or senator like Lisa suggested would be a good next step to take. I think you might want to answer this question too: What do you want to see happen to the students who did this to your child? If you can answer this, it can help you plan the next steps that are needed with moving forward.

I'd try working with the school and if that doesn't work out, definitely file the state complaint. State complaints make you "that mom" and being that mom can get in the way of FAPE. Could it be that some teachers are accommodating consistently & other are inconsistent? The data could be accurate if this is happening or it could be your child self-advocates for their accommodations (which is a good thing) so it's more consistent than the teacher realizes.

My experience with auditory processing evals was that the school didn't accept the one I had done by an outside therapist. The school did their own eval - actually, it was done at our IU (this is a PA thing) because you need a soundproof booth to do them. As far as getting specific, less is more sometimes. And the sooner you start the process, the sooner you'll have the eval completed. My feeling is that you'll be 1st in line for the fall with asking now.

Also include phonics for reading as that is different from phonological awareness. For writing, I think you've covered all the bases. I would look at your state standards to see where he should be at his grade level for writing and state you are concerned he is not meeting those state standards. I don't know if you'll be able to get anything for "handwriting fluency." I think that this would be more of a fine motor skill and by the time a child is in middle school, it's past the time where it can be corrected other than practicing. I'm guessing he has accommodations such as speech-to-text or typing? I know you eventually want him to be able to write without accommodations, but "handwriting" without accommodations may be a losing battle. In general, keep in mind that it's the school's obligation to evaluate in all areas of suspected disabilities - not yours. If they don't evaluated in an area that should have been, you would be entitled to request this in an IEE - they don't get a "do-over" if their evaluation isn't sufficient the first time. Auditory processing disorder is something I would advise pursuing privately. Most insurance covers this, as well as the therapy. However, his IQ test may have shown low processing, which you can use for the time being as a reason for accommodations - extending time to process/respond, etc.

Hi everyone, I’m a parent in Pennsylvania navigating a tough IEP situation for my 6-year-old son, who is autistic. He’s currently in an itinerant autistic support program with a 1:1 aide, PBSP, and social skills instruction. Even though his iep says itinerant, the program is labeled as supplemental and he spends a fair amount of his day in the as room to regulate, have sensory breaks, and finish work. This discrepancy between what is happening and what is written was literally “laughed off” when I brought it up. The district now has proposed a change in placement to itinerant emotional support. They say it will be similar to what he’s getting now — same 1:1, social skills, access to a sensory room — but I’m concerned this is really a step down in services. He still struggles with transitions and emotional regulation due to autism, as well as level 3 behaviors including elopement and aggression. Im not sure if the ES teacher has the training to support that. They also haven’t updated the IEP yet — just issued a NOREP. This whole process has been rocky. Last year: We were told they couldn’t evaluate until full-day 1st grade despite autism being flagged by his therapist. When we did get an eval, they initially didn’t test for autism. They discouraged me from getting a private diagnosis and suddenly agreed to autism evaluation when I brought in an outside developmental pediatrician. They began using the autistic support room as a “regulation space” without informing us, although the timing (right after my outside doctor diagnosis) shows me it was placement in practice. He was suspended for behavior likely linked to his disability before the IEP was in place as retaliation from the principal to not signing the initial iep fast enough. A doctor’s written recommendation for an RBT has been ignored with the explanation that it is “too restrictive” Now I’m being asked to agree to a change I’m not fully comfortable with. I’ve reached out to a lawyer and am considering mediation. Has anyone successfully pushed back in a similar situation? Do you think this kind of placement change can work for a 2e autistic child — or am I right to be cautious? Thanks so much for any input or encouragement. I’m really trying to do what’s best for my son while navigating a system that hasn’t felt very collaborative.

Thanks Carolyn. I'll start putting my re-evaluation request together ASAP. Anther question - How specific do I have to be about my concerns about reading and writing? For reading, I'd specify phonological awareness (advanced such as substitution, addition, and removal), fluency, accuracy, comprehension.....anything else? For writing, I'd include conventions, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, organization, and handwriting fluency for both on-demand writing and longer-form paragraph/essay writing. Is there a standardized test for multi-paragraph writing that's expected in middle? I always feel like I am missing something on my lists of suspected disability, and then worry that specific thing I missed won't be evaluated, because I didn't know to include it. (I didn't know to include phonological awareness on the last eval.) Finally, if I have concerns about auditory processing, is that something the school can assess or is that better to have done privately with an audiologist? Thank you!

Yes, the school will want to do their own re-evaluation BUT if you don't agree with their results, THEN you can ask for an IEE. So start the process of requesting a re-evaluation as soon as possible. (I would ask for it not only in the areas which have been removed, but also in the areas which are still in the IEP unless you are comfortable with the data in those areas, if any.) Unfortunately, the IDEA doesn't define a time by which re-evaluations have to be done. But since the director of spec ed probably works during the summer months, you can include her on your email request to make sure someone sees it. Then follow up when school starts. I would push hard for this to be done ASAP given that they removed services without data. You will be required to sign a permission form before the re-evaluation can start, so ask for that on a weekly, then daily, basis until you receive it. Although the IDEA does not define the timeline, the default is usually "withing a reasonable time," which has been defined to mean 60 days - similar to the initial evaluation.

Yes, you absolutely should have been informed—especially since restraint or a “safety escort” was used and a staff member involved was untrained. Here is the statute: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/resources/policies-acts-and-laws/basic-education-circulars-becs/pa-code/use-of-restraints-for-students-with-disabilities.html While they may not be legally required to tell you someone was fired (since that’s a personnel matter), the fact that an untrained person participated in a physical restraint or escort should have been disclosed—because that’s not just an HR issue, that’s a violation of procedure and could pose a safety risk to your child. I'd suggest putting your concerns in writing and asking the school to: Clarify who is trained and certified in crisis intervention or restraint protocols; Explain how an untrained person was allowed to participate; Detail what corrective actions have been taken to prevent this in the future. You can also file a state complaint with the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Bureau of Special Education, especially if they failed to follow state guidelines on restraint reporting.

I'm so sorry this happened to your child—what you’ve described is beyond unacceptable, and you're absolutely right to be outraged. In Pennsylvania, schools are mandated reporters, and photographing a child in a state of undress—especially in a bathroom—is potentially a criminal matter, not just a school discipline issue. Failing to report that to ChildLine may be a violation of mandated reporting laws. Since you've already contacted the PA Department of Education, I’d recommend also filing a formal complaint with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education. The OCR investigates violations related to disability and sex-based harassment under Section 504 and Title IX. What your child experienced could be seen as both. Additionally, because the school failed to ensure safety and refused a DOE-approved safety plan, I’d also suggest a state complaint under IDEA (if your child has an IEP) or a 504 complaint with the Office for Civil Rights. You may also want to contact your state representative or senator, especially if you’re not getting traction elsewhere. Elected officials sometimes help move the needle when agencies go quiet. Another idea is giong to the media...but I have lots of ideas about that. It doesn't always go the way we want. I'm sorry you're not getting help from people who should be helping, but we can help guide you here.

My child - in jr high - was targeted by students taking secret photos in the bathroom (while peeing; pants and underwear off) without consent and posting them online. The school knew and did not report it to Childline in PA as is required. We requested a DOE approved safety plan, which they refused to complete or allow further discussion. 2 kids confessed. The school refused to tell us what form of disciplinary action was deemed appropriate under their policies for an action of this type. They also refused to share their bullying policy. Only in juvenile court (for the perpetrators) was it revealed the discipline they chose: 1 day suspension for one student; no discipline at all for the other. I have contacted the state DoE; education and disability lawyers; autism advocacy groups - all agree this is egregious misconduct but all have sat on their hands and found it not worth their time to act. I am at my wits end. Who is responsible for holding schools accountable when they refuse to protect students? I’m in Pennsylvania.

PA - my son was put in a restraint (it was a safety escort) by two staff at school. I had a meeting with the IEP team to debrief and I was told that the protocol was followed. I had no concerns at the time. I found out later that the one staff involved was not trained in the procedure and was fired. Was the school not required to disclose that to me?

Hi Carolyn and JSD24. Thank you for your replies to both my posts. You both had some great ideas and suggestions again! After I submitted my post, I realized my wording about how much time I have to ask for an IEE was not very clear. It has been almost a year since my child's school reevaluation that led me to consider requesting an IEE, so the school will almost certainly want to do another eval before agreeing to an IEE. I plan to ask for evaluations and am just deciding when to do so which I asked in my other recent post about removing areas of support (now or in August/September). JSD24, I like your suggestion to ask in writing why there is no specially designed instruction for the areas that are being accommodated. This confirms what I have been seeing and been confused about. Providing accommodations means there is an area of need, but these are not reflected as areas of need in the Present Levels. I did look up the PARC Consent Decree and that was helpful info. I am reaching out to some other families in our district to find out about their experience with the district and special education. I plan to do a deep dive into the testing by early Fall to see if private and school tests were looking at the same things to try to determine why the results were so different. This also ties into the areas of need listed in Present Levels of the IEP. In some part, the school's reasoning as to if and why something is an area of need differs from our private evaluations and has led to different conclusions as to whether a skill should be accommodated or taught or is an area of need at all. (My son's profile is complex and his needs fall into a legal gray area which further complicates matters.) Your info about SAT and PSAT was helpful, as I am just getting up to speed on this area and am trying to not miss doing something now that will make things easier later. Documenting accommodations currently being used in school seems important. If teacher documentation on the IEP of when and how often accommodations are being used is incorrect, and the school will not change it on the IEP how do I address this? For example, one teacher says the student occasionally goes to another room for small group testing for this subject area, but actually the student is always doing this. While, another teacher for a different subject did accurately capture this in their Present Levels statement in the annual IEP. Also, I am considering filing a state complaint about accommodations being provided without special instruction. JSD24, in my other post, you offered to help with this as you are also in PA. I may be in touch about help with this. I am deciding on what to do and when. File state complaint and ask for new evals in September or reverse that order? Thanks for your help. It's so easy to get confused and lose site of my "lighthouse".

Carolyn and JSD24, thank you for your suggestions and input! Yes, my IEE post is about the same student as this post. Yes, the special ed eval for speech and language, reading, and writing was done by the school psychologist. I plan to ask for more data supporting decision, why agreed upon goals and supports weren't added, and for evaluations in areas which have been removed. The suggestion to focus on creating a paper trail saying accommodations were used to meet the goal and there are still needs in this area was helpful. What are the pros and cons of asking for the special ed valuations now, with the agreement they'll be done at the beginning of the next school year, and waiting to ask in August/September? (I can overthink things, and maybe this doesn't matter.) Also, the reevaluation I referred to in my IEE post, was done almost exactly a year ago now, so I'm fairly certain the school would want to do new evals instead of agree to an IEE. Thanks again.

You can remove SDI & goals based on progress monitoring reports. What I'm seeing is that you don't agree with the reports because the goal was reached with accommodations and you want to see your child move toward doing this without accommodations. I would create a paper trail that gets the school to say your child had accommodations with meeting this goal so he still has delays in this area and given there still are delays, you see the need for Specially Designed Instruction and goals to catch him up to what same-age classmates can do. If the school isn't cooperating with a paper trail that shows the accommodations, ask that the school do a special ed assessment in this area. A special ed eval/assessment gets done by a school psychologist where the progress monitoring is done by a case manager/special ed teacher and they aren't trained with doing normed special ed evaluations. You'll need to sign of on a PTR (permission to reevaluate) so the eval can be done. When you work on the paper trail, copy the school psychologist on the email. I'm hoping this could get the case manager to see that a goal reached with accommodations does not show a student is independent in this area. You also had a post about an IEE. I'm assuming the 2 posts are about the same student. I'm not sure with looking at both posts who evaluated your child as far as writing goes. A normed special ed eval needs to be done by someone trained to do the eval so the testing protocol gets followed. Normed evals wouldn't allow a student to have accommodations unless the accommodations were documented in the eval report. If the protocol wasn't followed, the eval is not valid so you can't use the results. Not sure about asking to see the evaluation where your child's writing was assessed - if the paperwork still exists. Definitely ask your child what sort of help was provided when the eval was done. If more than one person did the eval, that should be in the report. In PA, teachers tend not to be trained to do evaluations. They tend to be done by the school psychologist when it comes to assessing writing. If a teacher who doesn't have the training to do evals are doing them, this falls into doing a state complaint. I'm in PA & I can help you with this.

How long after a school reeval can I ask for an IEE? Also, is it from the date the reeval was done or the date on the reeval report? **If it's more than a year, the school might want to redo an eval rather than say yes to an IEE. (Do wait until after the meeting where you go over the report. 5 minutes after is OK. ) If I ask for an IEE do I have to have the eval done within a certain amount of time? **No. Often, evaluators have a waitlist & the better ones can have a longer wait. If the school denies my request, is the Due Process timeline paused over the summer? **This probably varies by state but since a teacher who works under a 10 month contract isn't usually involved, my guess is no pause for the summer. Can I decide to not proceed if the school files for Due Process? **You can recind your request for an IEE. (I did this once.) We've presented private reports to the school before, and the school stated they would not accept the testing results. Some of the school's testing results differed significantly from our private testing. We have two private reports with the same diagnosis, SLD Written Expression/Dysgraphia, and the school will not recognize or accept the results/conclusions/diagnosis. Is there some criteria I need to ask about that the school requires to accept private testing? My problem is that the IEP should reflect my son and it really doesn't. He has a lot of accommodations for reading and writing, and the school refuses to qualify him under a second category of SLD. I want the categories to reflect where his main struggles are so teachers looking at the IEP quickly see this and also for SAT/college accommodations, but wonder why we're getting so much resistance to adding another qualifying category of SLD. Is this so the school can more easily legally provide accommodations instead of instruction in writing? We are not the only family in our district in disagreement with the school that accommodations (spell and grammar check) and grade-level edited long-form writing are sufficient to show a student no longer needs additional writing instruction. **Some states do not allow a 2nd box to get checked but the 2nd area of disability can and should be described in the eval report & on the IEP. With SATs, the college board will want a copy of the IEP & will provide what's there so long as the student has used the accommodation and the school asked for the accommodation. (Apply early so there are accommodations with taking the PSAT too.) If a student is performing at grade level with accommodations, they need these accommodations. This isn't a good reason to stop remedial instruction to bring a student up to speed w/o accommodations. Have you asked the school about this in writing so there's a paper trail? (XX gets accommodations for spell and grammar check as well as grade-level edited long-form writing. This shows this is an area of need/disability. Why is there no specially designed instruction so XX can have goals to be at grade level in these areas without accommodations?) Keep in mind that an IEE is an outside eval that the school must consider & doesn't need to follow. If you aren't the only family, what about a class action lawsuit? This is how special ed got started - look up the PARC Consent Decree for the whole story. Also, look up the tests the school did. See what the publishers say these tests assess. Then do the same for the outside evals. Did both sets of tests look at the same areas? If they didn't look at the same things, this could be why the conclusions were different. It's possible they don't have a teacher with the expertise to provide the instruction that would be needed. Plus it's more expensive to teach versus accommodate. Not sure if filing a state complaint might work. The complaint would be: The school is recognising there is a deficit by accommodating - why is there no special instruction to go with it? I remember a training where we needed to go through an eval and make sure there was an SDI for every area of need. This would be best practice.

Hi AM. I will attempt to answer the questions I can in the order you presented them. To be safe, I would wait until after the meeting is held to go over the results of the school's reevaluation. It would be a difficult to argue you disagree with the evaluation (necessary to request an IEE) if you haven't seen it or received an explanation of the results. The amount of time in which an IEE is done is on the school - not you. However, you should keep an eye on the timeframe. Most states define it as "within a reasonable time," which has been interpreted as 60 days (similar to the school evaluation requirement). If it starts going beyond 60 days, I would reach out to the school and inquire as to timing. I'm not completely sure about the Due Process timeline for denying an IEE and how it's affected by summer break. In my state, Due Process complaints and resulting timelines continue throughout the summer. You could call your state department of education and ask. You can always decide to withdraw your request for an IEE. Unfortunately, there is no criteria on when a school district must accept the results of a private evaluation. Legally, they are only required to "consider" such results. That's why IEEs are so important - to "break the tie" between the differing reports in the hopes that the school district will reconsider their refusal of a secondary category. At the very least, it will hopefully get the needs listed in the present levels and then the IEP has to address those needs regardless of whether he is found eligible in a particular category.

I'm not in PA, so hopefully others with chime in regarding PA specifically. In general, I would look at the language of the goal - does it say anything about writing independently? Of course, even if it doesn't, that's the assumption - that supports are put in place in the gen ed setting UNTIL the goal can be met independently without support. When you say "at two previous IEP meetings, school staff agreed to add a goal for on-demand writing," etc., why didn't that happen after the meeting(s) in which it was agreed upon? With respect to the executive functioning goal, it would be necessary to also look at the language of this goal - was it only about checking his work? If there was more, then the goal wasn't met. To answer your question about data versus meeting a goal, they are intertwined. It IS based on whether or not the goal is met (although a different goal may be needed, i.e., if he met a sentence-writing goal, he needs to more on to a paragraph goal), BUT the only way to tell if a goal is met is with DATA. Have you been receiving quarterly progress monitoring reports? The annual IEP can't just "show" he met his writing goal without data in the present levels. Here are my suggestions: 1. In response to the PWN/NOREP, because it should be set forth on this document why a goal was removed, I would definitely request an explanation, but more importantly, the data behind the explanation. Also cite the previous meetings in which a goal and data were agreed upon but never added. 2. Since you are entitled to an evaluation every year, I would request one in the areas which have been removed - writing, executive functioning, and social skills. They have to have data before they can remove these, and it sounds like they don't have it. So request an evaluation.

Hi, I am feeling overwhelmed and want to make sure I am understanding some details about asking for an IEE. I understand that the school may deny my request and file for Due Process, however I am concerned about doing this at the end of the school year. How long after a school reeval can I ask for an IEE? Also, is it from the date the reeval was done or the date on the reeval report? If I ask for an IEE do I have to have the eval done within a certain amount of time? If the school denies my request, is the Due Process timeline paused over the summer? Can I decide to not proceed if the school files for Due Process? We've presented private reports to the school before, and the school stated they would not accept the testing results. Some of the school's testing results differed significantly from our private testing. We have two private reports with the same diagnosis, SLD Written Expression/Dysgraphia, and the school will not recognize or accept the results/conclusions/diagnosis. Is there some criteria I need to ask about that the school requires to accept private testing? My problem is that the IEP should reflect my son and it really doesn't. He has a lot of accommodations for reading and writing, and the school refuses to qualify him under a second category of SLD. I want the categories to reflect where his main struggles are so teachers looking at the IEP quickly see this and also for SAT/college accommodations, but wonder why we're getting so much resistance to adding another qualifying category of SLD. Is this so the school can more easily legally provide accommodations instead of instruction in writing? We are not the only family in our district in disagreement with the school that accommodations (spell and grammar check) and grade-level edited long-form writing are sufficient to show a student no longer needs additional writing instruction. Thanks!

Hi, We're in PA. My son's draft annual IEP shows he met his writing goal and says due to the goal being met the school thinks he no longer has a need in writing/written expression, and therefore there's no goal and no instruction in the new draft. We disagree with this, because he did not meet the goal independently. His work was edited and used teacher conferencing with no data showing what his writing looks like on his own. We've provided staff writing samples that show my son still needs extra help with writing and spelling. Additionally, at two previous IEP meetings, school staff agreed to add a goal for on-demand writing, to provide data on writing done independently, and to provide data as to what teachers are correcting/suggesting in his drafts, and school staff will not provide any of these now. Also removed from the IEP were instruction in executive functioning and social skills. Similarly, the IEP showed he met his executive function goal, but there was no data showing this other than some vague language that he checked his work. Is it reasonable to ask the school to explain on the PWN/NOREP why they feel my son no longer needs instruction in writing, social skills, and executive function? In other words, should it based on data other than meeting a goal? Thanks!

Is there a way to scan in the teacher notes and have some software have them neatly typed out? Is this something AI can do? If your child does this, they now have notes they did themself. Makes no sense for this to be the teacher's interpretation of the IEP. The accommodation is there due to a disability. For your child, teacher notes = student notes. I'd want this clarified in the IEP so no one else tries this in the future. Since this is the dyslexia forum, I'm assuming this is the disability. Your child is likely going to transcribe the notes inaccurately given they are going to be rushed. This doesn't 'level the playing field' which is what accommodations should do.

The notes she has from the teacher ARE her notes pursuant to her IEP. She should be allowed to use them in any way other students use their notes. If all other students are allowed to use their notes for a test, she should be allowed to use her teacher-provided notes. Since you're short on time, I would reach out to the entire IEP team asking for assistance. If you don't hear back quickly, reach out (maybe call) the director of special education. If you have a phone call (or calls) make sure to write everything down that was said.

Hello! My child's IEP provides notes to her from the teacher. The teacher is giving the class an open notes test but told my child that she could not use the teacher provided notes. The teacher told her to write her own note card. This instruction was given to my daughter when she asked if she would be allowed to use the teacher provided notes. It was not an instruction given to the full class. This seems counter intuitive to me. Ask a person who has notes as an accommodation to rewrite all her notes. What are my options here. Her test is tomorrow so any advise you can provide quickly would be really appreciated. Thank so much!

Great information, JSD! Just a side note to this post and something I just found out. The US Department of Education's acronym is ED (Education Department) to distinguish it from the US Department of Energy (DOE).

It seems like the support your grandchild is getting from the school isn't FAPE. If the support was appropriate, there would not have been an issue that came up where he lost the privilege of going on field trips that are scheduled in the subsequent 30 days. It seems that what happened was a manifestation of his disability as ADHD & impulsivity go together. The fact that there are 2 scheduled is "bad luck" or more likely, bad timing, since field trips tend to be scheduled later in the school year when students are antsy with anticipating summer break and state testing is over. I think the solution is to request a manifestation hearing although these are generally done when a student is being suspended from school. It might apply since he's being suspended from a school activity, namely field trips.