Does This IEP Make Sense? What should I ask for?

Posting from email: Do you know why it is so hard to qualify for an IEP in (redacted)? I have many military parents who transfer to the school I work at, (redacted), with their child who just qualified for an out-of-state IEP. As soon as they transfer into our district, their IEP is rejected. It is the hardest thing for a special education teacher to watch and not be able to do anything.

Posting from email: How do we qualify our son's one-year-old dog to become his emotional support dog at school? He has severe anxiety, and when he holds his dog, the anxiety melts away. His pediatrician said she does not know but would support whatever we need to do. We are in (redacted), he attends (redacted) and I teach in the same district.

Posting for a reader: I just want my kid to go to school. We have a school refusal issue. She has an IEP and from my viewpoint. They’re not addressing the IEP because they’re not addressing the school attendance issue just finding me I asked them to go to truancy court and they find me $500. I currently have a warrant out because I refuse to pay it. I asked for their help all they did is add to the difficult situation. I’m already in

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 me…

Posting for a reader. Not staying consistent with prior goals that were put in place from the previous year and feeling like you have not been heard or getting the staff to work with my son effectively with his AAC device and training the people who work with him how to use it too. I go into the meeting thinking I'm prepared and I leave feeling angry and like I just got blindsided, and my little boy was setback at least a couple of years. I plan on requesting a second IEP even though we just had one. My son is in 4th grade, autistic and nonspeaking but uses a communication device.

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.

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, …

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/fightin…

I was given a “heads up” that it will be a big fight to keep my child’s one on one aide at her next IEP (March). My child has multiple health issues and has cognitive delays. Currently in 4th grade in a CI contained classroom, requires a hand hold for hallway walking or any activity where other kids could bump and knock over, basically needs a “spotter” , timed bathroom visits (needs assistance getting on and off toilet), and HAS to have a one on one on the play ground. These are all for safety reasons. My child is a fall risk as well. I have no idea how to fight for this continued service my child needs. I know about “fade the aide “ but honestly my child could…

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 …

I am working with a 3rd grade student at a private school whose Neuropsych showed diagnosed learning disabilities in reading, written expression and mathematics. Despite strong science of reading phonics instructions, we had communicated concern since 1st grade, but the district testing showed no qualifying needs. The family paid for a neuropscyh out of pocket and then the district re-tested this spring. While we have an OG practitioner working 1:1 with 3 of our students through the public district, the practitioner was put in place through the former CSE chair. The new chair/committee is recommending using an elementary SpEd teacher who is certified in the Wilson Reading…

Hi! Can they force me to let them change his diaper? Any time he needs a change I go to the school to change his diaper. We also have regularly scheduled times for me to change him. I’m always available, and do not want them touching his private parts. They don’t like that I come to change him, and keep harassing me to let them change him. Can they force me to let them change his diaper?

We just received a letter that our son's ELA teacher is not state certified. They sent out a "4-Week Consecutive Letter" earlier in the year without specifying which teacher at the school, but now it was listed as his ELA teacher. He had the same teacher last year (no letter). Is this OK, especially with an IEP (this is not being upheld, by numerous teacher, including this one)? What questions do I need to ask?

Can a school’s safety procedures interfere with a child’s special education rights ? Example, my son made “terroristic threats” on the second day of school. Two warning signs in the BIP were missed before this situation escalated. He has an IQ of 68, developmentally is 6-9 years old. Lots of diagnoses that the school is well aware of. Prior to school starting, I explained in great detail that my son had been unable to take ADHD meds since April due to stabilizing his mental health after 2 inpatient stays, plus he had a major concussion over the summer as well. My son was handcuffed and sent to a diversion center overnight and we had court recently where he has to follow a…

Good morning, I am working with a family who has an adopted son. This late elementary school child has a significant trauma history and in-utero substance exposure. He has been diagnosed with ADHD, attachment issues, anxiety and depression. He has a 504 for his ADHD. This is his first year at this school. The teacher is very supportive and accommodates the child extensively. The child is in 10+ hours of outside therapy per week and is picked up early from school 4 days/week to attend these supports. He is also on 3 mental health medications. The child has explosive behavior at home but the school says the child has no academic or behavioral issues at school. I would…

My 7yo is on an IEP. His private BCBA requested to do a school observation, to help us figure out how to best support him at home, as well as additional accommodations to request at school. The school has stated she is only allowed to do a 20 min observation, and only with me and the principal present as well. I work full time and cannot be there, plus if I'm there it has a significant chance of changing his behaviors in the classroom. We are in CA. Is there any regulations around classroom observations?

We switched to a Pennsylvania Public Cyber school the following school year after covid and they got the ball rolling asap with the eval. Our local school district dropped the ball big time and after paying several hundred dollars to get my daughter evaluated at Sylvan Learning Center and found out she was more than two years behind academically. Fast forward to May of 2024 and I had some concerns again. The eval seemed rushed (according to the evaluators) to be completed. I just spoke with the school psychologist today after several attempts to find out the results. I have never had this much trouble with the school over getting answers. The eval was completed July 3rd.…

Should accommodations be listed under the SDI/program modifications section in an IEP in the state of Pennsylvania. The IEP lists VI.Special Education/Related Services/Supplementary Aids and Services/Program Modifications. Then section A. says Program Modifications/Specially Designed Instruction. Does Pennsylvania lump accommodations, modifications, and specially designed instruction together? I’ve seen IEPS that say “preferential seating”, “explicit instruction in phonics instruction”, and “up to 50% reduced workload on assignments based on student need from data collection” all in this same section. What am I missing?

Hello! So my son (9yo) was diagnosed with adhd and severe anxiety. He does have an IEP but it doesn’t include absences. He’s missed 28 days and 10 early sign outs. Most have dr notes because they are for therapy and dr appointments. They are all excused. Here is the thing, his teacher isn’t happy with it and keeps complaining to the principal. He’s transferred to a different school in same district because he was bullied at his last school. Because of his absences they are threatening to move him back to his old school next year. I’m extremely worried. I’m in NC and I have tried to search for information on this and can’t find anything. Can they do this?

Is any of this a change in placement or denial of FAPE? If so, what do we do and can you reference the law in IDEA that applies? We are in Ohio. 1. Student is emergency removed for behavior (biting, hitting, kicking, eloping from learning area and on occasion from the property). We had a FBA and BIP in place for 2 weeks. BIP review meeting is Monday. 2. Student is sometimes placed in another classroom called "Alternate Learning Placement" in the building instead of emergency removal for the rest of the day. 3. Student sits outside of gen ed (LRE) classroom in "pod" with 1:1 para and does worksheets and "listens" to the gen ed instruction.…

Good morning, I am looking for a collaborative and thorough IEP Advocate in West Chester PA. We need clarity, a strong collaborative advocate at this critical academic juncture. Please advise with any contacts. thank you.

This situation is a long one. In 2019, my daughter, in 1st grade at the time, was already starting to struggle when COVID hit. Schools got shut down, and her teacher did her best to finish out her lesson plans online. In second grade, she was struggling, and the teacher showed great concern for her progress and reached out to me multiple times. I didn't understand what she was asking of me. I worked a lot and was not very involved in my kids' learning at this time. I got her tutoring, and the school put her in help classes. In third grade, they had her in similar classes on my request. They were somewhat effective, and she benefited fro…

Our child is receiving homebound services due to a suspension that resulted in juvenile probation. We mostly wish to keep our child out of trouble until the probation period is over. We will meet to extend homebound services but for now services will continue until next month. My question is - does the teacher providing the services have to be a certified teacher ? Our child has two teachers - one is a certified sped teacher. The other is not. Is there some sort of loophole the school is using ?

My daughter ha curb to curb transportation, and decided to do volleyball this year. She’s been doing great, but my mom has been picking her up after practice. Well, my mom‘s car broke down. The school doesn’t offer a bus later than 4, and practice is off of school grounds for 7th graders. She had in her IEP that she got transportation from afterschool activities, then they took it out in 6th grade saying the coop doesn’t allow for it because they don’t run that late. Is there anything I can do to get her transportation for sports? Other kids walk home (she’s an eloped) or get picked up.

Hi! We're in southeast PA. My 8th grade son qualifies for an IEP under Autism. 2e. Very into math, science, and figuring out how things work. He learns well by doing and watching videos. Reading and writing are weak areas. I recently requested most of his education records. Among the info we asked for was DIBELS info and received the attached document showing that my son received reading support and progress monitoring in K-2nd that my husband and I were never informed of. Is this normal? This feels like a huge violation of trust, but maybe this is typical. We have been very open with the school and shared a lot of information with them in the spirit of collaboration. …