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First, thank you for reaching out and for advocating for your students. What you’ve described is deeply concerning, both legally and ethically. Unfortnately not uncommon. Communication is a fundamental right under IDEA, and a student’s IEP team (not the district office) is ultimately responsible for ensuring the assistive technology listed in the IEP is provided. A few thoughts and possible next steps: 1. Document everything. Keep a written record of all communication attempts, to your district’s ESE department, AT specialists, and administrators. Note each time the student was denied access to her AAC device or software, and how that impacts her ability to participate or communicate. Stick to facts and professional language. 2. Focus on the IEP, not the software brand. The IEP says the student requires a speech generating device (SGD). The brand or software (TD Snap, Proloquo, etc.) is secondary. What matters is that she has functional access to AAC. If the district has discontinued TD Snap but hasn’t provided a replacement, that’s a denial of FAPE. 3. Request an IEP meeting. Ask the parent (in writing) to request an IEP meeting to address the lack of access to her required AAC. The parent can say something like: “My child’s IEP states she requires a speech generating device. The district has discontinued TD Snap, and no replacement has been provided. I am requesting an IEP meeting to discuss how the team will ensure she continues to have access to appropriate AAC.” If the parent isn’t sure how to do this, you can encourage them to send that statement to the ESE Director or Principal. 4. Parents can also file a state complaint. If the district continues to delay, parents can file a complaint with the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services (BEESS). They can note that the district is failing to implement the IEP as written. These complaints can be filed online or by mail, and they don’t need an atty to do it. 5. Protect yourself professionally. You’re right to be cautious in an at-will state. Keep your advocacy focused on the student’s legal rights and your duty to implement the IEP as written. Avoid language that implies blame or accusation. Phrases like “I’m seeking clarification on how to implement this student’s IEP” or “I want to ensure we remain compliant” keep it professional and safe. 6. Optional workaround: If the parent can independently obtain a device (through Medicaid, private insurance, or a nonprofit like the Communication Technology Education Center (CTEC) or Team Gleason Foundation to name a few), you can help the team integrate it into the IEP even temporarily. More info: https://adayinourshoes.com/aac-devices-for-autism-and-communication/ https://adayinourshoes.com/assistive-technology/ https://adayinourshoes.com/ask-advocate-iep-team-members-need-training-device/

I am posting this for a teacher who emailed me, I redacted any identifying information. I am a self-contained special education teacher in Florida. We are a semirural high-poverty County. In the past, our county was partnered with TD Snap for AAC software. Sometime over the summer, there was some sort of legal dispute with TD Snap, possibly regarding misuse of student data. That’s all anyone in the district seems to know. However, as a result, the county has stopped issuing students any TD Snap licenses, but is apparently not touching licenses that were previously issued. This is concerning for multiple reasons: 1. No one, and I mean no one, at the district seems to know anything about the problem other than “legal issue, possibly data breach,” or who to contact to get more information. 2. Neither the district nor Tobii Dynavox has reached out to teachers, parents, or students using the TD Snap software. They haven’t touched base with me as a teacher or as a parent (my child is an AAC user who was issued one of the county’s TD Snap licenses three years ago). 3. We currently have no AAC software available for students entering our school district who require AAC- even if they have it specifically written into their IEP that they require a speech generating device. The county is supposedly “in the process” of approving a contract with Proloquo, but I was flat out told there was no timeline for that. I tried to get a grant or even fund my own Proloquo licenses but the district told me that legally I could not do that. Meanwhile, I’ve got a third grader in my class who is completely non-speaking. Her IEP states she requires a speech generating device. We are doing the best we can with obsolete GoTalk pages, core boards, and free demo software but that’s going about as well as you’d expect. She becomes so agitated that she punches and bites herself and me/my staff. I can’t even blame her- if I couldn’t communicate, I’d be mad enough to bite too. I want to fight for her. Her parents are well meaning but are struggling and I don’t believe she has health insurance. I’m also not sure how to effectively fight this battle and still keep my job (we are an at-will state). Do you have any suggestions? If not, thanks for reading anyway.

Every state has a Parent Training and Information Center. This is the one for TN: https://www.familyvoicestn.org/resources/education/ This site also says they are the only Parent Training and Information Center in TN: https://tnstep.info/ (Not sure which is the right group - there should only be one.) In my area (I'm in PA), The Arc has advocates that can help with IEPs. TN's Arc might be able to help: https://familyengagementtn.com/ From my experience, when content is modified, the student is taken off a 'diploma track' and put on a 'certificate of completion' track. This has more info: https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-accommodations-modifications/

My advocate from east tn retired and I need to chat with someone about a few things now that my daughter is in middle school. Particularly what happens if we agree to modified content.

It seems like there needs to be a better system so this student attends synchronous instructional sessions. Missed sessions need to be noted so the data shows there is a lack of attendance on the student's part. Not sure if the student has issues with executive function where this needs to be accommodated so they get the SDI in their IEP & make better progress. Not sure what can be put in place so this student gets reminders of when they need to be online with you. This might mean you trial & error different reminders and add an accommodation to the IEP when you find something that works.

When you have data to support that the current IEP isn't FAPE... It's unfortunate that this is how IDEA seems to be setup to work. I'm hoping with the movement in so many places toward Structured Literacy, schools will Child Find earlier. There still needs to be more teachers who are trained to provide IEP level support to the students who need this intervention. (My gut says the O-G practitioner has a full caseload where the school cannot add to this.)

Thank you for your response. It is a good reminder that frequent progress monitoring written into the IEP would be a way to demonstrate if the child isn't progressing. It's hard to have an individualized OG instructor in our midst, but the district unwilling to support that given the significance of this childs need. I know that they are hard to find and expensive, so I don't take for granted the gift that our other students have been given.

To add context, Carolyn Rowlett, I am scheduled to provide services virtually, but she rarely shows up. However, when she does show up, that's a great idea to work with her on flash cards. I should be able to get some data that way. JSD24 there is a goal, so thank you for that reminder to connect the two! (I have a severe concussion at this time, so I'm trying to accommodate myself and rely on my resources (and gazillion sticky-notes!) when I need to refresh something!) Lisa Lightner thank you for the reminder that I need to frane the discussion around the skill, not the tool!

Part of the IEP process is progress monitoring. This person might be great with getting this student to make progress and that's really what counts in the world of IEPs. Have the school gather data on progress 8X per year and see how well this is working (you want this spelled out in the IEP). If the student is closing the gap (more than one year's worth of progress every year since the expectation for typical students is to stay at grade level with a year of progress every year) the school has data that this is a good match for this student. If the results don't show this, you have data showing that something different is needed. I'm not a lawyer so I can't say if what the school is doing is legal. (And appropriate seems to be the yardstick used in IDEA.) I also want to mention there is a huge shortage of people who are certified in any of the many flavors of O-G that are out there. I was talking to a parent in my area in one of the smaller school districts (2000 students). They have zero teachers who are certified in an O-G based reading program. Once you have data showing a lack of progress - 4 data points is what I'm thinking is the minimum to see how progress is trending - you'll have evidence that the IEP needs to be tweaked to something that will help the student catch up/close the gap. I know you don't want to let this IEP go into place for a full semester so you have data that their offer of FAPE isn't working but I'm not sure of a way around this. Not sure if someone else has a better idea and wants to post it.

Sorry for the delay with answering this. I check this site a few times every week but this is the 1st time seeing your question. I feel you need to write a parent concerns letter. Your child has needs for an adult to assist them with lots of ADLs so they can be safe at school. If the school removes the 1:1 aide, they will still have these needs for adult assistance. If the 1:1 is removed, who does the school propose will provide this assistance? This is what your letter needs to ask. Feel free to draft a letter & post back here. We'll help you come up with a good parent concerns letter. This has guidance on how to approach this: https://adayinourshoes.com/parent-concerns-on-the-iep-parent-letter-of-attachment/ This should help you get from 'pitch a fit' to 'proactively document the need'.

Help! Our public district is trying to assign a child with dyslexia, who attends our private school, to a teacher who has only taken Wilson's 16 hour introduction course, but is not certified. Despite other students in our private school working with an OG practitioner, the district is now saying that they, "can't offer our students more than they are offering theirs." Is this legal to offer services that aren't being delivered with fidelity for a student with a language based learning disability? Of note, the district does currently have at least one of their students working with the same OG practitioner (I know the parent). What options do we have for appealing/fighting the district to deliver services with fidelity?

Neither of those assess social skills. I filled them out for my child and the results of those evals never stated where she was with social skills. The SSIS - Social Skills Improvement System - was the assessment the school did that provided a percentile measurement of where my child was. (She was in the 99th percentile academically and the 2nd percentile with social skills. And this was after 5 years of the school working with her on social skills.) Teachers were who filled this out. The Vineland & BASC look at behavior. You want something specific for social skills. You also want something the evaluator knows how to interpret so there might be a different test for social skills they will use.

Thanks for your response! I filled out the Parent Vineland and the Parent BASC from the School Psychologist as part of his re-eval. Is this sufficient for social skills or would there be something more?

Is there a goal for this student to become less calculator-dependent with doing math? You don't mention this in your post. If this is the case, there needs to be SDI in this area because skills don't get better by osmosis. SDI sessions also provides an opportunity for progress monitoring. When a skill only gets accommodated, no progress is expected since there is no SDI so the accommodation needs to continue since there's no progress monitoring without an IEP goal. Best practice is to accommodate while providing SDI until the student's skill set catches up to grade level peers. Not sure if this is happening.

I'm not sure how this would work but it sounds like an outside counselor could diagnose him with Afterschool Restraint Collapse. If this were to happen, accommodations could be added to the IEP to help with how he acts once he's home. Not sure if an IEE would look at this. And you might need to invite this person to the IEP meeting so they can explain to the team what's needed in the IEP given the diagnosis. Every school in the US has anti-bullying rules - pretty sure this is a federal mandate. If it's the same kids or same group of kids all the time who are being unkind, that's bullying. The school should have a protocol on how this gets reported so they can deal with it. If he will not do this, you might need to intervene for him. Lastly, you posted he has social skills deficits. Has the school assessed this area of need? (SSIS is the assessment I'm aware of for this.) If the school sees this as an area of need, the school can help teach this as part of the IEP. This often co-occurs with issues with pragmatic language. If you see these as areas of need, tell the school (in writing so there is a paper trail) so they can assess these areas with doing their re-eval.

I agree with JDS that school districts don't have to (and often can't) be held to the requirements set forth on the Wilson website. I also agree that 90 minutes in one session is too much for a third grader (I have tutored 3rd graders 1:1 in OG-based instruction). What school districts do have to be held to is progress. And it doesn't matter what program is being used - if sufficient progress is not happening, something needs to change, whether that be the program, number of minutes, ratio of students, teacher training, etc. As JDS stated, progress monitoring is the same for whatever instruction the school is using. In very general terms: 1. For accuracy, you want to see progress toward her reading on grade level with 95% accuracy. 2. For fluency, you want to see progress toward her reading 112 words correct per minutes on a third grade passage (Hasbrouck & Tindal Compiled ORF Norms). 3. For comprehension, you want to see progress toward her answering 4 of our 5 comprehension questions after reading a third grade passage. A question for MBM. When you say you "prefer OG over Wilson," what do you mean? OG is not a program, per say, but a teaching approach. And Wilson is based in OG. As far as mastery of skills, I completely agree with you that 70/80% is too low (95% is the lowest I accept on a goal for reading skills, except for comprehension; if there are only 5 comprehension questions, I accept 90% as a goal). However, the goal should not be dictated by the program. The goal should be dictated by the IEP team, regardless of whatever program the school is using suggests.

I agree with Lisa regarding the use of a calculator. Many people need a calculator in their daily lives, and the vast majority use it whether they actually "need" it or not. With her being in high school, at this point you are readying her for life beyond high school, which for her may be life with a calculator. Having said that, it is important that she know the concepts behind math calculation problems (as opposed to just rote memory). For instance, that 24 is 4 groups of 6 or 2 groups of 12 or 3 groups of 8. I'm a little confused as to why no data is available because of distance learning. Believe me, I understand the difficulty with distance learning, but isn't there a way to work with her remotely and verbally ask her her multiplication facts (i.e., flash cards)? Or have her complete a worksheet that she holds up and shows you? I assume she is getting specialized instruction minutes in math pursuant to her IEP, so can't data be collected during those sessions?

I think it helps to remember that some people really do need a calculator their whole lives...and that’s okay. What matters is maximizing her skills and independence, wherever that line is for her. I’d frame the discussion around data, not opinion: what progress you’ve seen so far, what’s unknown right now with distance learning, and how to gather new information. That keeps the focus on supporting the student, not debating the tool.

I have a question. I teach high school, mostly resource math and ELA. I have an IEP meeting coming up where it got pretty contentious at last year's meeting. The student has a SLD in math calculations. Mom wants the student to be able to use a calculator for everything. I pushed back, saying we want to grow her skills. The team decided that we would leave the use of a calculator in the IEP as an accommodation, but only for non-basic calculation problems. (Because I want her to practice those basic calculations.) She also has an accommodation to use a student-completed multiplication chart. Her skills have benefited from this. However, she is a distance learner this year, so I have no new data suggesting her skills are continuing to benefit, nor do I have a way to monitor whether she's using a calculator for every problem. Do you have any suggestions as to how to approach this to help mom feel like we're all on the same team instead of adversaries?

1. If you don't think check-in's for breaks are occurring, I would suggest having them scheduled (every one or two hours, whatever you think is best). A teacher with 25 kids actually may not see his fatigue (I'm not excusing this; just looking at it from a practical standpoint.) I would say ask the teacher during the meeting, but my guess is you will not get an accurate response. 2. A self-advocacy goal would look something like "student will recognize when he is fatigued and request a break 3 out of 4 times..." One could also be written for asking for help, etc. 3. You may need to request an IEE in order to get services other than academic. Make sure that the school re-evaluation is covering social/emotional. If they refuse, you can still request an IEE based on the fact that the school had the opportunity but did not test in all areas of concern.

He is currently getting reading and writing supports under “Developmental Delay” and is on stay put for OT. It’s actually only been just under 2 years since his last round of testing but since he can only have “Developmental Delay” until age 9, they are retesting, and we also requested an evaluation in the area of math and I am pretty confident that he’ll qualify. They are currently doing all the testing and the meeting is scheduled at the end of November. I am mentally preparing myself for him to qualify under “Intellectual Disability” as he scored only one point above very low on his last round of IQ testing and was recently diagnosed with a genetic condition that causes ID. 1. I did already have them change to wording from “can take a break as needed” to “conduct regular teacher check ins to see if (student) needs a break (swapping to an alternative task)if fatigued. I’m not fully confident that this is happening however. While he doesn’t show signs of dysregulation at school, it’s pretty obvious to anyone paying attention when he is getting fatigued and needs a break but again, I’m not confident that this is happening in the classroom setting. 2. What would a self advocacy goal look like? I plan to put emphasis on this in our parent concern statement. I did have to fill out a few questionnaires from the School Psychologist. 3. I know he will still be getting academic services, I just feel like that’s the only thing the school will give him though, and academics aren’t the full picture. 4. We’re not at that level yet but I’ll definitely do this if needed. 5. I agree. They have to understand that working really hard and still not understanding and getting many questions wrong will eventually impact mental health! He has always loved school and I’m so nervous that that is going to end soon if everything keeps being so hard for him. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it.

What are his categories of eligibility? For what areas are there goals? Has a re-evaluation been done for the three year re-evaluation meeting, or is this just for a review of existing data? This will help us better formulate a response to your question. But for now, I would offer the following suggestions: 1. If he has an accommodation for a break, make sure it doesn't read or can be interpreted that the student has to ask for the break. Most 8-year-olds don't have this self-advocacy skill and especially depending on what the disability is, shouldn't be expected to have this skill yet. So make sure the "break" accommodation is either scheduled breaks that the teacher has to abide by or that the teacher must prompt the break if s/he sees dysregulation (but this may not work if your son doesn't show signs of dysregulation at school). 2. In the meantime until he has the skill, self-advocacy should be a goal he is working towards (again, this could be dependent on the disability). 2. Unless already done, request a re-evaluation in the area of social/emotional. These usually have questionnaires that parents complete (and sometimes even students - not sure of the age for these). That way you can get "into the record" your concerns and his. 3. If the re-evaluation doesn't move the school toward additional goals and accommodations, ask for an Independent Educational Evaluation. 4. Depending on the severity of the "unkindness" toward your son, you should probably report these incidents to the principal. 5. If he's getting "a lot of answers wrong," this is something to point to show that there are issues at school even if he's not acting out.

My 8.5 year old son is very proficient at masking at school. He is a hard worker with a great attitude and no behavior issues. Because of this, I’m constantly told that he’s doing fine but because I’m his safe person, he shares things with me or melts down as soon as he is home. He is now realizing that he works really hard and tries his best but that school work is very hard for him and get gets a lot of answers wrong which rightfully, upsets him very much. We put no emphasis on grades at home and tell him that as long as he works hard and tries his best, that’s what’s important and what his dad and I care about. He is also struggling socially and with self advocacy but because these things aren’t tied into unwanted behaviors at school, they are being ignored completely. When I shared these concerns with the school counselor and told her how he had a meltdown at home about kids being unkind to him, she suggested private counseling. We have a 3 year re-eval meeting coming up in a few weeks and I would love some advice on how to get the school to acknowledge that just because he doesn’t express these feelings to them at school, it doesn’t mean that he’s not experiencing them. I also feel that he needs a concrete self-advocacy goal because he will never ask for a break, or tell a teacher if something has happened, or speak up if he doesn’t understand something.

Our district has used a combination of both and one or the other depending on what training the SPED teacher per grade has. OG daily and consistently (same instructor) has worked best for my family. The 3rd / 4th grade is such a critical time to keep the intervention consistent. I speak from experience. Our district reduced services in 4th grade and changed instructors, in 5th the instructor dropped phonics instruction (no OG or Wilsons) and just focused on fluency - my daughter is still at a 3rd grade level and hasn’t made effective progress since that daily / consistent OG time. Why we prefer OG over Wilsons is that OG works on 100% mastery of skills. Wilsons is a program, so it’s easier for schools to implement and when a student masters 70/80% of the skill they can move on to teaching the next skill. I’ve heard this works just fine for some students. In my opinion OG is most beneficial for building the rapid symbolic naming, repetition and mastery are really key for building those rapid recall pathways (in my view, parent perspective). 45 minute OG sessions for reading have been effective. Extra time is needed for writing and math. I’d definitely ask what STRUCTURED writing and math programs are being used. In my experience many public schools don’t have structured language-based writing and math programs being used. I’m always wondering about progress monitoring. Most recently our district has relied on the following: DIBLES, GORT, WIST. Good luck advocating for you student!

So...Norm from Cheers died. I know, I know—dating myself a bit. But I loved that show. Still do. Hulu thinks I need a rewatch and honestly? Some of the episodes have aged like milk. (Yikes.) There was one that stuck with me, though. Sam signs Diane up for a “barmaid beauty” contest. She’s horrified—because, duh, Diane. But she goes along with it, and by the end, she realizes that winning gives her a bigger platform to speak out about objectifying women. Anyway, it hit me: I’m in my own Diane moment. Personality wise, I'm much more like Carla, I think. Good hearted--but tough, snarky exterior. My book is coming out in a few months. I’m proud of it, and I want people to read it—because it’s a steal at $25. But here’s the bigger thing: if this book does well, I get a louder megaphone. To talk about our kids. Our IEP mess. Our lack of funding, meaningful solutions, progress and accountability. You know, the stuff no one else wants to touch because "only 15% of kids have IEPs." So here’s the ask: Buy the book. Gift it if you don’t need it. Click the Amazon link even if you can’t buy it—because Amazon thinks clicks = quality and will show it to more people. Thanks for reading. Thanks for helping me be the loud, annoying Diane we need. LL P.S. Here’s the link to the book (because you know I don’t do vague). If you don't want to support Amazon, there are other options to purchase it. But please at least click the Amazon Link.