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

Has anyone been able to receive reimbursement and or compensatory time without due process or mediation? What is your experience in seeking one or both of these outcomes?

I have a quick question - 2 of my 3 children have IEP’s, the daughter that doesn’t is going into the 3rd grade, I did have her evaluated for an IEP, she has received RTI services every year since kindergarten. She really struggles with reading and severe anxiety which is related to her having ADHD which I did not get diagnosed but did discuss with her pediatrician but I have not felt it affects her to the level she would need medications. i did request the testing and shared that her qualifying for RTI shows that she needs more support. They did testing and said she didn’t qualify but the school psychologist gave some suggestions and she cautioned that the test resul…

Admin Note: I don't normally do anonymous posts, but this person is having trouble getting past the recaptcha, which we're trying to figure out. In the meantime, I said I'd post her question so that hopefully it has responses by the time she can get in. --------------------------------------- I have been fighting our (Ohio) school to get an IEP for my 9yo son (diagnosed with Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder, PTSD, and ADHD; adopted from foster care and had extensive early neglect) for over two years now. He gets good grades and tests well, but struggles extensively with the social-emotional parts of school and executive function stuff. Last year…

Hello. My son was originally evaluated in April, 2022 by our district and found to not qualify for services (dx: anxiety and ADHD). We requested an IEE, for which a neuropsych evaluation was done in October 2022 (new diagnoses of moderate dyslexia and dysgraphia and disorder of written expression). The report wasn't available until March, 2023 with our original IEP meeting June 1, 2023. He has been receiving services since Sept, 2023. There was no discussion of re-eval at our CSE meeting this year (May, 2025) though the CSE chair had resigned, and the school psychologist was serving as interim. A few questions: Which date/set of data should drive the timing of the 3 …

I was reading a post in a Facebook group and I'm in a bit of shock about what I saw. This was about a school district in PA and out of district placements. An advocate posted that they've seen this district cover 50% of the tuition for private schools for several students. I thought that offers from a school needed to be FAPE - Free Appropriate Public Education. It's not 'Free' if only half is covered. I did ask the advocate how they are able to only offer 50% and it's OK. She said, because the parents were waiving FAPE, that the school wasn't obligated to pay for 100%. Settlement agreements, where the private school isn't going to follow an IEP, does require a…

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:…

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! We just had our annual IEP meeting where we requested a 1:1 for our son for the next school year. They said no and instead presented us with a Behavioral Intervention Program. No FBA was done (to my knowledge) and it seems like this was hastily thrown together. I would like to think that I have a good relationship with his team but this was the first time we really asked for something and the whole vibe was tense during the meeting. Looking for any insight! BIP without an FBA- positive/negative? * my son will be in 4th grade. He has Autism and currently has “supplemental support for transitions” listed in his IEP. He has had an aide the entire year that has been…

Hi everyone! I have a question about an SDI on my son's IEP for audiobooks that says classroom textbook eBooks and relevant audiobooks will be provided for use during homework and in-class assignments when available digitally. I have a problem with this wording, because this leaves it up to teachers and interpretation as to what "available" means. The school should provide what he needs and it shouldn't be based on whether it's available, right? Also, he will not listen to poor quality "computer voices" read extended text to him. How can I show he needs a premium, human-like text-to-speech reader or human-read audiobooks? I have seen some of the standard/free…

I am having an IEP meeting next week to define what extra or extended time means for my high schooler who has dyslexia, adhd, and long term concussion symptoms. It has been open ended until now for both tests and assignments. College board gives her time 1/2. It has been proposed 2 extra days for assignments. We are running into teachers being gone and the each teacher interrupting differently. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all - I am attempting to get my son’s elementary school to hire his current care attendant as his 1:1 aide for kindergarten next year. We currently employ the attendant via Medicaid funding, and he’s been with my son everyday at (private) prek for the last two years. He takes my son to all his therapies and is extremely attuned to his needs. My son is profoundly physically disabled (no independent ambulation, non verbal due to muscular weakness and dystonia). He is intellectually typical and uses an eye gaze device and non-verbal communication to indicate his needs and engage socially. The school agrees he needs a 1:1 but says they don’t have any openings to hire his (…

My son is in 7th grade at a large public school in Pennsylvania and qualified for an IEP under Autism. He's kind and very bright and wants to be an engineer but is having a really hard time with school. His school refuses to recognize him as gifted. He excels in math, and is two years advanced, and finds gen ed science unchallenging. He struggles with reading, particularly fluency, accuracy, and spelling, relying on memorization instead of sounding out words. Comprehension had been superior but is now slowly declining but still above average. His writing and handwriting are also problematic, but his scores remain average or above, which limits the help he can receive desp…

I wrote about my daughter back in November who was only given a 504. We are going to address the school again to get an IEP going for the fall. I am just wondering what supports to ask for for her. She received Speech, OT, PT, and works with the counselor on social skills currently. She has autism and anxiety, her IQ was around 124 which is why she was denied. She needs support with social skills, she struggles to understand the unwritten social norms around friends. She did an assignment in January that had a fill in the blank and the sentence said " School makes me feel worried" School constantly tells us she is doing so well or she's come so far but she consiste…

I have a student with an evaluation meeting coming up. I am somewhat worried that the team might decide, however, that this kid simply has not had enough access to education to not rule out that factor. It's an online school chosen by the parents. However, both parents work and the kid is meeting the bare minimum for attending classes and schoolwork. And I mean the barest minimum and they are somewhat in the trouble zone with the school and state for not doing more. So, yeah, I am worried this meeting might turn into "but Kid also hasn't been regularly practicing such-n-such or attending these required classes." How would the law looking at an IEP approac…

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?

My son is currently a sophomore. He has an IEP with co-taught ELA, social studies and science. Math is not in there because he was a year ahead. (Now I wish I would have fought for that, he’s struggling a little with the higher level). Next year he wants to take chemistry. Our district is refusing to put him in co-taught chemistry. They are only allowing him to take a non regents level chem because they don’t offer regular level chem as co-taught. We are going to hire a lawyer to fight this. He doesn’t want to take a lower class because they refuse co-teaching. He has every right to take the regular level class. Is this something worth fighting?

Hi, I was wondering if there is a benefit / need to attain a medical autism diagnosis if your child has the school classification? Thank you!

My son has a chronic medical condition and this year was diagnosed with a specific antibody deficiency. Due to these conditions he has missed about 20% of school days this year. The doctor wrote a letter explaining the antibody deficiency and how we now know this has caused almost weekly infections resulting in absences. The letter ends by asking that his absences be excused and he be allowed to progress forward academically. (Not have to repeat a junior year.) the cst told me that they could only add a note in Parents Concerns about chronic medical condition and absences. However they would not make any accommodations such excusing absences for chronic conditions flare-u…

Are the school and an IEE assessor allowed to have conversations regarding observations before the meeting to determine additional services/ assessments, without including the parent? We are in the process of an IEE with the Riverside school district for my son. It's not going well- the district has drug the process on for over a year and I finally agreed to use the psychoeducational assessor on their list (who my advocate recommended) after they shot down multiple other psychologists I requested. The assessment is complete and submitted but we don't have our meeting to discuss it until May. I have also requested an IEE for the FBA but the school hasn't repl…

Can school nurse director in PA tell a parent their child cannot re-enter the school building until they have a follow up with a neurologist to roll out related conditions despite discharge from ER that fainting/seizure like episode this week are not believed to be neurological in nature? No idea what the wait time to even see neurologist is. Child is currently on an IEP for other reasons. Episodes may be due to a recent medication adjustment.

Hello, Is there a timeline that the school district must follow when completing a triennial evaluation? I thought the school had 60 days to complete the testing and then 30 days to meet and draft the IEP. The school is telling me that isn't the case, that the 60/30 day timelines only apply to the initial testing. Unfortunately, I'm finding different answers to this online. Thank you for your time.

This is another question submitted via email that I want to put here so that all can benefit. Hello, Ms. Lisa This was very moving and even inspirational for all parents who feel so beat down and defected fighting for the help their struggling students need, who have their own unique learning styles. As I always taught my children, even more so those who have an IEP. Not to allow this situation or the people you may encounter in life to affect your mental health too much, because they may not understand your unique needs. You have a specific kind of learning style, that is all. So, those who will educate you, or have necessary interactions with, what you do…

I got this question on the Facebook page and wanted to move it here because my response got rather lengthy. And, this way we have it as a resource. A teacher wrote: I have a question for you. The Louisiana Legislature passed a law last August that there must be a 15 business day waiting period for an IEP to take effect from the date the PWN is signed. We tell parents they can initial the PWN to waive that waiting period so services may begin the day of the IEP. AS a generic inclusion teacher, most of my IEPs are straightforward and I have no problem with informing parents they can waive this waiting period. However, I have had SSCD and autistic classes…

My kid’s IEP was developed in January/February. The progress reports section says the first one will be provided to us in June. However, our district sends out report cards for all students at the end of March — so doesn’t that mean we should get an iep progress report at the same time as other parents get regular report cards? When I went to look it up, I found language like this: “Be regularly informed (by such means as periodic report cards), as specified in their child’s IEP, at least as often as parents are informed of their nondisabled children’s progress, of their child’s progress toward the annual goals in the IEP and the extent to which that progress is…

My child , ED eligibility for GAD and school refusal, has an IEP with two services : school psychologist once a week and push in RSP (in class) 90 min a week (writing, ela and math ). However,it's been two months into the school year, the RSP teacher left the school, another RSP aid who was supposed to implement the 90 min. Plus compensation min. Was just assigned to another type of work in school, so no one is implementing the RSP at the moment. What are my rights , what's the best way to go about for getting my rights met. Thank you so much.