PA specific chats

Hi, My son was being interrogated by the school Dean (disciplinarian) and he repeatedly asked for me to be called. He refused to talk at first but the man told my autistic (and demand avoidant) “you aren’t in control here.” First, the school official and a recess teacher didn’t follow my son’s behavior plan IEP. But can they deny him contact with me in a stressful situation. That is not in the IEP. Thank you for any help. I find the forums really helpful.

Medicaid started allowing this during COVID and they have since got this extended now that the emergency is over. Pay isn't great - I've been quoted $13-17 per hour but I'm sure this can be a game changer to many families. The person I spoke with says they have gotten each parent authorized to provide 50 hours of services per week to their child. Some agencies have a max of 40 hours per parent. Contact your Medicaid provider to see what agencies in your area do this. Parents need to be trained/certified and the training is free. https://www.phlp.org/en/news/pa-to-continue-paying-parents-as-home-health-aides

We recently moved here from Kansas, and my child has an existing IEP. They were discharged from a residential facility prior to our moving because 1)we were moving to PA and 2) they felt my child was ready for a less restrictive environment. The current district has had the IEP since August 30th. We moved here on September 16th. As of today, my child still has not attended school or been provided with any educational opportunities. We have not had an IEP meeting, there have been no evaluations, the school personnel have never met my child, and as of this morning the person most heavily involved in refusing to allow my child to attend school had yet to read the IEP. …

New to forums here so please bear with me if I did this wrong. My son’s Pa charter school just lost its third head of special education in five years. She was my favorite. My question is: now what? If the position is vacant who is supposed to oversee IEP meetings and such? also: what should I be worried about or keeping an eye out for in this period without leadership? My son is 13 and in 7th grade and he has one year left at this school.

As part of my son’s three-year evaluation (and just before high school next year) his school is proposing reevaluating autism using GARS. I asked them to use ADOS because that was what was used to initially diagnose. I was told the point of reevaluating autism is to see how he “changed over time.” My underlying concern is that his homeroom teacher really does not understand autism and thinks my son is not “really autistic.” This results in harsher treatment for behavior and not enough support for behavior. I’m also concerned about further discussion of levels of autism because our understanding of autism spectrum is not linear, which is what mainstream…

How do you find an advocate for the IEP process? We are already in the process for a re-evaluation so I do not have a lot of time. He has had an IEP since he started school for IEP for autism and language processing. This year there has been some safety issues at school (things they were aware of but never shared with this building staff) and now with a whole new IEP team and me not just letting things go, the last meeting really sounded like a lot of blame on me for the issues he had at school. Because of this, I am really uncomfortable going into future meetings alone. But I am not really sure where to start. I am in Chester County.

My 3 year old’s pediatrician and his preschool teacher referred him to our IU for assessment. It was performed and his teacher told me “the evaluator saw signs but she wasn’t sure if it was enough to qualify him for services.” how does this work? Why wouldn’t the evaluator know if it’s enough to qualify? Isn’t that her job? Does she need to take it to a superior to see if he qualifies? I’m looking for information on how this process works. Can anyone help? if they deem he doesn’t qualify, do I have any rights to pursue it in some way since it was his doctor and teacher that referred him? I believe he needs supports.

My son is in kindergarten in PA. It's only half day kindergarten. He's in full time autistic support class. I thought the iep meeting went surprisingly well and they put in his IEP all the things I was hoping that they would. In general, they've been very supportive of my concerns and his needs. When school started, I already had him working with an agency that provides tss 1:1. So as soon as school started the bht went to school with him, and also goes to daycare with him after school. I'm sure this was helpful to the school. Recently he had started going to general education class for part of the day with his 1:1 with him. Now, the 1:1 that is coming from the outside …

Can you do a partial consent of a first IEP? Meaning can you agree to the gifted portion of the IEP but not the ED label they want to put on a student with Selective Mustism. I'd prefer OHI for SM diagnosis or just keep the current 504 for SM but want the gifted services. Any advice? School is saying can't do a partial but I'm not finding any policy that states that. Thanks

Help! School just emailed me an hour ago. It’s Friday afternoon and they want to have an IEP meeting this Tuesday morning. I’m a SAHM and I can not find childcare that quickly and my husband cannot even get off work that quickly. I’ve been searching for federal or PA law about how much notice school has to give us — because this quick turn-around does not feel right — but I can’t seem to find anything except “some states say 10 days” for notice of an IEP meeting. But I don’t know if PA is included in that. Can someone help me find the law or regulation that states this so I can get them to reschedule so my husband and I can both be in attendance? Also, do I need to give…

My autistic and adhd son punched another student at recess today. The other student stepped on his hand by accident. My son was immediately sorry and expressed it to the other boy and told the teachers what had happened. The boy, by my son’s description, is a really nice kid he did not want to hurt. the school called and said the other boy is fine and they were proud of my son for expressing regret etc. my son told me that he was in a bad mood, annoyed by certain other kids, which he said led to his lack of control. the school spent a whole period talking to him about something he admitted was wrong but what he really needs is ways to handle being irr…

Are all meetings with IEP teams supposed to receive a formal invitation? The school and I disagreed about something. I indicated it on the NOREP/PWN but checked the I agree box. The learning support teacher sent me an email, cc’d the team, and set up a meeting to discuss. This was last week; meeting is next week. Ordinarily, they send me a formal meeting invite to return but I have not received one for this meeting. is it possible to have an “off the books” meeting? I thought all meetings required the formal invite in Pennsylvania.

We had an IEP meeting for my 19 year-old son to transition to TCHS in the afternoons and attend SD in mornings for which I signed a NOREP. The SD is now going back on what they said in the meeting regarding a change in high school building placement. Do I go to mediation? They haven't replied to my last email. We requested a transfer to East HS so that son will not have to see a student at West HS who sexually assaulted him years ago in our neighborhood. The attack did not take place at school and son was not a student in the SD at the time (we live in the same place, but he was in a charter school at that time so technically in a different district. Also, we settled…

Does anyone know what Pa law is or where I can research it?

Chapter 14 specifies maximum teacher caseloads under § 14.105. Personnel (c) (2). They list 9 IEP categories but there are 13 in IDEA/on the IEP. Developmental delay, TBI & OHI aren't mentioned in Chapter 14. (ID also isn't mentioned but they do have a Life Skills Support category in Ch 14.) What are the max caseloads when the box that's checked is DD, TBI or OHI? Where did you find this?

Just a reminder that we vote 2 weeks from today. Mastriano has openly said that he will cut school funding in half. Make a plan to vote. Line up child care if you need it. Know where your polling place is, when it's crowded and how long you can expect to be there. Pick a time and make a plan.

I did a call with PILC yesterday. They asked me to share this.