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For Mich- The specially designed instruction in the IEP should target the area of need specified in the evaluation report. If he hasn't been assessed or doesn't show that O-G instruction is needed, it's not going to happen. You need to advocate for the evaluation to be sufficiently comprehensive so the area of need with reading is defined to a point where it can be matched to a research/evidenced based program. If the school recently did an eval, an IEE at school expense might be what to ask for. Education advocates and special ed attorneys can read over the eval to see what was done/what might have been missed. What is taught in a self contained class should be the general ed curriculum as well as there being special instruction that addresses the student's areas of need. They might also be pulled for special instruction. Ex: Speech therapy is hard to do in a classroom with background noise. You'd want it done in the SLP's office/classroom.

I remember hearing about a dyslexia camp from a parent. From what I remember, it was in NH; we're in PA. Like you said, it was expensive but from, what was said, the child made significant progress in one summer. I'm sure there are a few where the results are being oversold or the instruction isn't a good match with what the student needs. Students make progress when the remedial program works to fill the student's area of need. If you have a 40 minute session and 5 students, this could translate into 8 minutes of helpful small group instruction for a student which isn't a whole lot. (I'm thinking this is daily during the school year.) This may be why IEP services aren't helping all that much. Given your meeting tomorrow, I would ask the school: If my child meets the goals in the IEP, when will they be at the level of their classmates? (You might want to break this out by asking this for each goal.) If a student is 2 years behind & makes 1.3 years of progress every year where typical classmates make a year of progress in a school year, it will take them 6 years to catch up. With 1.5 years of progress, it takes 4 years. With one year of progress, they will never catch up - they will remain 2 years behind forever. If this is what the school expects given the IEP goals, it sounds like this isn't meaningful progress. If the school's offer of FAPE isn't meaningful progress, it definitely provides information (data) that would support them paying for an outside program where your child will make meaningful progress. Asking the school to provide info on their remedial protocol so you can see how well it matches your child's area of need is another thing you can request. I've seen where schools are not using IEP level remedial programs. (There is general ed support like MTSS where these programs are appropriate.) Definitely ask if the school feels the IEP goals from a year ago were met & if they weren't, ask why. I've seen where schools don't have a well trained teacher who can provide the IEP level instruction so many students need. (I think there's a post on Adayinourshoes about gaslighting that covers this.)

First I would want to know what "can read the words" means. Sometimes students can "read," but that is only because they have memorized the words. The real question is whether he can DECODE. To determine that, you need an evaluation that tests nonsense word reading and also digs down into phonics and phonological awareness. Have you had any evaluations that have done this? If you don't have an evaluation that did this, request one. It will be easier to "fight" for OG if you can show a phonological and/or phonics deficit. But OG is also appropriate for the areas you mention - comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. It depends on how low his scores are in these areas (and thus what the present levels show). You can fight for anything - but you need the data to support it. If you have the data, also ask for goals in reading to be added to the IEP (comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and any phonics/phonological awareness deficits). That way it will have to be addressed with specialized instruction as opposed to remediation, which I assume is general ed instruction/remediation that takes place in spec ed only because he is in a self-contained class - not because it is specialized instruction.

those summer program ads are tempting, especially when you feel like your kid has been passed along with no real progress. But here’s the thing: flashy claims like “gain 1 school year in 6 weeks” are usually too good to be true. Some of these programs can help, but many aren’t backed by solid research, and they are expensive. I would look online for reviews, keeping in mind that some places actually pay for reviews. You can also look in the "what works" database, if it's still online. Linda McMahon may have pulled it down, I actually haven't used it myelf in several weeks. If the school has acknowledged that your child hasn’t made meaningful progress, you can ask for compensatory education services. This is different from summer school. It’s about making up for services or instruction your child should have already received. Bring this up in your CSE meeting. If you have data (or lack thereof), point to it. Ask what evidence-based programs they can offer or fund. Also, don’t let them skate by with “he can use a calculator” if he still hasn’t been taught the foundational math skills. That’s an accommodation, not instruction.

Find out what the school is doing for the remedial reading instruction he should be getting via his IEP. He needs an Orton Gillingham based remedial program that's more intense than what students in general ed are getting. Multimodal is what works so the material is presented with reinforcement. Wilson Reading has a protocol of 40-60 minutes of daily instruction. Whatever program the school is using, they should also be following the protocol for that program. Read what the IEP says. Is the school doing what they said they would do to remediate the disability? Look at progress reports. Is he catching up or falling farther behind? You want to see the gap closing at a rate where he'll be at grade level sooner rather than later. He could have an IEP but be getting RTI/MTSS for reading if he's not far enough behind to have an IEP level of intervention.

Just because a student has a medical diagnosis of dyslexia, it does not mean that they are sufficiently behind to qualify for an IEP when they enter school. (At least this is what I've seen as the school's perspective.) With no state education standards (in most states) for preschoolers, a student needs to be in 2nd grade before they can be 2 years behind which seems to be the benchmark to get an IEP. This is why your child went to the neighborhood school up to now. Schools are allowed to not have every program in every building. (Teachers in different buildings might have to same training but the programming - what they do - is different.) It looks like Integrated Co-Teaching is what the school has deemed 'appropriate' as far as IEP services go. With this not being in the local school, they are wanting to place your child in a different building with all new classmates. This definitely is allowed in IDEA. I'm assuming that MS reading is a reading specialist who does Tier 2 & 3 RTI intervention at the neighborhood school. This is general ed intervention and the evals the school did says she needs special ed. This is why there is an offer of FAPE - IEP services the school says your child needs. You have 2 options. (1) You can sign the IEP and send your child to the building that has appropriate instruction for dyslexia. I'm assuming they do something in addition to ICT like one of the O-G based IEP level interventions. The IEP will come with progress monitoring which is not required with RTI. (2) You can keep the status quo and have your child stay in gen ed with gen ed Tiered interventions. Just because an eval exists and an offer of FAPE was made and turned down by the family should not mean that your child cannot continue to get RTI and stay in their neighborhood school. From what I can tell, your school district is following special ed protocols with providing your child with an offer of FAPE which is probably why OCR & NY dept of Sp Ed is not following up with your complaints. I wish the system worked differently. You cannot have your cake & eat it too in this situation. When I refused FAPE for my son, my district wanted a form from me that was signed in front of 2 witnesses before they would stop the speech therapy he was getting and not making progress with. I wanted to take him to an outside therapist & didn't want him missing 20% of the class he was pulled from to get therapy - he struggled with missing class (and, my bad, we didn't have help in place so he was better able to make up the missed instruction given his ADHD). My suggestion, if you really want option (2) is to see about getting your child outside O-G based tutoring so your child can get instruction at a level called for based on their disability. An advocate or sp ed attorney might be able to help you reach a conclusion to the differences you and your school are having. I know of a family where their youngest child (they have 5 kids) was identified as dyslexic. FAPE, for him, was a placement in a private school ~45 minutes away by bus. He would have liked to stay in district & go to the schools his siblings went to but then he wouldn't have been taught to read in the way he needed to learn.

Dyslexia is listed as a disorder under the definition of specific learning disability in the IDEA, so I don't know how NY doesn't recognize it. I don't know what ICT or MS is, but pulling a child from their home school right off the bat for instruction appropriate for dyslexia is a violation of least restrictive environment. They obviously have an OG program if they're using it for intervention, so I don't understand why they can't use that for special education. To answer your questions: A) No, this is not appropriate. If they don't have a program for dyslexic students, they need to purchase one (and provide the requisite training for their teachers); B) No they can't "declassify" (if by "declassify" you mean take away eligibility) because you don't agree with the IEP. They can only take away eligibility status if the data shows the child is no longer eligible. However, I'm a little confused on the timing. It sounds like you have already consented to services at some point (since they're asking you to revoke consent), so this must not be the initial IEP? Is this a revision? If so, was a meeting held? Did you receive a PWN for items you did not agree to? You may need to get an advocate or an attorney involved since your state complaints are not going anywhere. Or from a practical standpoint, if you like the instruction your daughter is receiving via intervention and she is making progress, maybe you just continue with that until and if she starts not making sufficient progress. Then you can start the IEP process again. This is not to say that the school is right in what they are doing - just that if you can't force them to do the right thing, look at options you can live with for a while. They are correct that you do not need special education status to receive reading intervention, but that does NOT mean that an IEP is not appropriate now or in the future.