IEP and 504 Issues and Questions

I had this client many moons ago. She had several kids with IEPs. She was very difficult to deal with, to say the least. Then, with one of her kids, we went to mediation with the IU (IUs are a PA thing) and we got EVERYTHING she asked for. Cool. The next day, she called (maybe emailed) the IU, without consulting me, and said NO to everything. That she was withdrawing the kid. My contact person at the IU called me, it was a hot mess. I had to fire her. She wasted so much of my time that I could have used helping other families. There was a LOT of other stuff over several months. A few years go by, she starts DMing me on Fb. Blocked her. She starts dm'i…

Hi there. I’m the parent of a child in Virginia that is currently not attending school due to PTSD generalized to the school. Several events lead to him being very anxious last year and then after he was physically attacked by a group students his symptoms became compounded to the point he was not able to attend school the last few weeks. Upon return this year in the Fall his anxiety was rising and he has now been diagnosed with PTSD. It’s a long story and it is ugly. The ugly part is the school and their constant denial and lack of support in this matter. They say they don’t want to disregard his diagnosis but…. then they they make a comment or an action that does ju…

Like I said, I'm a general teacher. Happy to do whatever my role is. However, this year I have a parent who had a bad experience with the SPED team at her kid's last school and said she wants as little to do with them as possible. I've notified the sped team and they're trying to be as great as they can, but the parent is resistant. She says she wants all services and communication to come through me. Is this a reasonable request?

2e kid (gifted/adhd, 5th grade), has 504 and behavior problems. Initial IEP evaluation (kinder) said he didn't qualify, ups and downs with behavior but overall and upward trend (with outside help) Recent dip and showing a lot of emotion Recent school meeting to tell us all the things that are wrong, bleak picture for middle school, will be suspended soon, the normal grilling to see what we are doing and what 'we' could do better. At the very end, IEP evaluation was suggested by a staff member. Evaluations (we had outside ones too) are very rough on the kid and us. If we felt there was legit support that would help (in addition to our outside help) we'd be m…

My daughter is currently on a 504 plan. She is homebound because of debilitating anxiety around school. Ironically she is a brilliant actor and singer and participates in the school theater productions. She just finished up Cinderella a few weeks ago (she played Cinderella!). (Acting is easy for her because they tell her what to say, when to say it, how to say it, where to move, etc. It’s predictable so it’s safe.) The next show is starting right after the holidays. The school is now trying to give me the line that “if she’s too anxious to come to school then she’s too anxious to participate in extra curricular activities.” They say if I don’t have her start at least half…

While the determination is made for a 504 or IEP school has told a friend child can’t be in school due to medical issue unless they have a physician note on file documenting the condition (or at least providing the explanatory it) do an action plan can presumably be developed. Family is working to get the note, but pediatrician has asked for specialist consults because they don’t want to jump to quick Dx without ruling out other things just in case. In the meantime school has declared with no doctor note on file, student is a liability and just needs to stay home, but they won’t provide homebound (which required Dr. note) or even live streaming in the meantime (because …

A reader emailed me: My grandson was home schooled Part of last year and part of this year and started back to home school in January and doesn’t want to go back, his anxiety is high and emotions are all over. I feel it I because the program we used didn’t follow the school and he is feeling overwhelmed and lost. I plan on home schooling again. Should I go back to the easier basics so he is more comfortable but am worried he will not keep advancing if he doesn’t put his all in to it. Thoughts?

Hi - I have a 14 yr old son with ADHD (inattentive type) and I am looking for a list of possible homework accommodations that have been used by others in a NYC public school successfully. Has anyone had success getting all their kids work listed on Google Classroom? Last year, teachers did not "check in" homework during class time so I would only find out it had not been completed when his grades were posted a week-ish later. Is this normal? I think we need immediate notification if he doesn't hand in the work. And he needs to do it at school that day or have a plan. Anyone had success with a homework schedule from the teachers? I asked last year and was …

Schools love to say, “That never happened,” or “We didn’t say that,” or “We’ve never done that before.” What’s the worst case of gaslighting you’ve experienced? How did you document and push back?

Setting Choice A is not working. It's a little off the traditional, so the regular public school system is being looked at, questions asked, etc. This also means child hasn't been attending any sort of school for a few weeks. Getting the right placement is so important, but when would truancy possibly set in?

This is a 9th grader, one year in this PA district, long history of SLD in written expression, 7% essay comp WIAT4, below basic PSSA, low growth MAP scores between winter-Spring 8th grader, has ASD, ADHD….. He cannot write a paragraph, but they “revised” aka vanished that unmet goal in November. They changed it to “will write a multi paragraph essay using graphic organizers and sentence starters, and revise with editing checklist scoring a 3/4 for Style and Organization”. My emailed concerns 2 months ago included that he cannot articulate what he is learning in writing or verbally. At the meeting this week, they are recommending Honors History specifically d…

Minnesota- Our child recently had an IEE completed and we just got back the results. The results came back in our favor. Additional diagnosis's and how they impacting our child at school. We emailed the school requesting an IEP meeting to review the IEE, discuss the recommendations, and update the IEP. The school is refusing to allow the IEE evaluator to come to the meeting since it's an additional charge. I'm concerned the school is going to try placing everything on our child or say they refuse help (even though the IEE addresses why that would happen for our child) and refuse to change anything. Can they do that? What options are there if they refuse …

My son is in 8th grade and has an IEP for ADHD & SPD. He struggling the first semester with his math teacher and it got to the point where she just wrote him office referrals for lunch detention multiple times a week. It was a toxic environment. His IEP Team and I decided changing teachers at semester would be a good idea and he's now been in the new class for 2 weeks. He's doing great and doing his work, etc. No behavior issues. Still struggles with being on task, distractions and starting assignments. The issue is that this new teacher only grades tests & quizzes, no assignments count towards his grade. Because of his struggles first semester, he's behind in ma…

Is it ok for a goal to be measured "by staff observation" only? For example: By the end of the 9 weeks, he will follow staff directives 80% of charted opportunities. Success will be measured using staff observation. If it's legit, I digress. Doesn't please though. I will ask for something more concrete, but still want to know in your opinion if it's acceptable. THANKS

First off I am mentally drained. My child is a literal and often very inflexible thinker. 7 years old and in 1st grade. He has an IEP. No ASD diagnosis that’s a whole separate rabbit hole in it’s self. We have ran into several scenarios where he takes statements and can’t bend his thinking. He gets very fixated on what words are used and who said them. This is habitually making homework an utter nightmare. We are spending an hour to get two work sheets done. I have reached out to the teacher a few times. We are working on getting some accommodations put into place. The problem is my child won’t turn in his incomplete homework assignments. He …

We suddenly have our daughter's IEP tomorrow. We can't postpone because tomorrow is the last day the yearly IEP can be held. We hope to get her into a private school next year as she transitions into middle school. I would like to include some goals that will work with the private school, or at least be tolerable for them. Regardless of whether or not she attends private or public school the need is about the same. 1) How can we write goals that will allow her to only have to complete 50% or 60% and still pass her classes. This would be across the board to include science, social studies, math, and reading. Science and social studies both have a lot of rea…

First off I like having this anonymity this form provides. We have another IEP meeting coming up I’m nervous. This one is potentially to discuss the results from the FBA. I personally feel like I struggle communicating with the school. The teachers feedback says one thing and my child another. I ask for things outside team members (non school district people) mention to me to request. And none of them ever seem to know what I am talking about. Last school year (different school) we had an open communication and I felt less anxious. How do you handle IEP meetings when the other team members do not provide feedback. And if they do it’s defensive…

Hello, I'm working on our parent concerns letter for our meeting next week. This is our first year dealing with an IEP and I'm pretty lost! I do have the IEP Toolkit, but I'm not sure how to word a lot of things. Our son's teacher emailed me a list of questions to complete prior to the meeting. It is pretty thorough, but long. The last question is about our parental concerns. Do I answer all of the questions and submit that in the form of a parental concerns letter, or just answer the last with a "please reference the attached parental concerns letter?" More specific questions directly related to our concerns: We have an autism and IQ evaluation schedu…

What should and should not be included on the profile page of an IEP?

I'm hoping someone has had some experience that might be helpful. My son had an IEP, and was doing well and was transitioned to a 504. His diagnosis are DMDD (mood d/o) and ADHD. His original IEP had more to do with his mood dysregulation than his ADHD, though there were related accommodations. He is currently in a cyber charter, and is really struggling with executive function related tasks. Especially getting assignments in. I am requesting an evaluation to reconsider transitioning to an IEP, but am wondering if anyone has any experience, tips, thoughts on the best way forward? Thanks!

My son has an IEP for speech, which he has mastered, and they have kept him on to get him approved for an OHI IEP. We are in TN, and I have had an increasingly difficult time in our school district with accommodations. He has ASD and was diagnosed with GAD also last year he was diagnosed with a neurological disorder in his colon. He is 7 and not potty trained, which has been a problem with the school. He is in Gen Ed, high functioning and they do not provide any kind of assistance. He is expected to go to the bathroom and take care of all his needs on his own, the problem is he won't. I was told due to the medical conditions he needs a 504 but the school is attempting to …

In PA, does a diagnosis (say dyslexia) a documented thru nueropsych/academic testing, can scjool tefuae a 504 or IEP request and only offer RTI reading support (pull out small group to the reading specialist)? As a side note, district does NOT use the RTI model to identify SLDs-they use discrepancy model.

I have a few questions which I hope the community can answer: Is there a specific timeline for requesting an IEE after the school completes testing? To whom is an IEE request addressed to? The school principal, school district SPED director, state agency? If the IEP goals aren't measurable (and the school was aware,) can I argue for an IEE? My child is moving over to Middle School next school year, should there be a transition meeting which includes the SPED teacher at the new school? Since the SPED teacher stated my child has mastered their goals, is it beneficial to ask for a meeting to have them show m…

What might be an underlying reason(s) for difficulty making inferences? I read the blog article on inference goals, but am curious what “diagnosis” might warrant inference goals? Currently no learning disability diagnosis. Processing speed is just much higher than working memory.

Hi guys, Do any of you have an example of present levels for a second-grader in any or all of the areas below and how they were determined? We have an upcoming Initial Evaluation for Eligibility and I can't tell what the student's present levels are for any of the below. I'd also like to know if it's appropriate to ask the team for the present levels. If they don't know the present levels because she "doesn't qualify" then how did they know she didn't qualify? Spelling Reading Comprehension Written Expression Vocabulary Phonemic Awareness Basic Reading Skills Decoding Time Telling Math Problem Solving …