Lisa Lightner

How do I post a question? https://www.berrycast.com/conversations/544adafd-cea8-5efc-9bd4-d819ad6effdb

One of the many hats I wear is that I am on the EPAC for the Epilepsy Foundation. EPAC=Education Policy Advisory Committee Sharing something they shared with me today: Dear Lisa, Happy National Epilepsy Awareness Month (NEAM)! After the mid-term election next week, members of Congress will return to Washington, D.C., and will need to finish working on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget. Now is the perfect time for you to reach out to your elected officials and ask them to support increased investments in critical epilepsy-related programs and research in the final FY 2023 budget. The Epilepsy Foundation and many grassroots advocates have been meeting with lawmakers over the past year to ask them to support $13 million for the CDC's Epilepsy Program, $164 Million for the Safe Motherhood & Infant Health Program, and $19 Million for the VA Epilepsy Centers of Excellence. With increased funding for these important programs, we can expand quality epilepsy services that reduce healthcare costs, improve health outcomes, and help raise public awareness. We have provided template letters, but we strongly encourage you to share your own personal experience as a member of the epilepsy community and why this funding matters. With gratitude, Laura Weidner Vice President, Government Relations & Advocacy Epilepsy Foundation

I will look into that.

I just changed it for you. It can be done, but it has to be requested by an admin. I'll go thru the settings and see if I can do this at the owner/moderator level, that any club "owner" or person who started it, can change the status.

Not necessarily. They will likely be a plan of rewards and punishment. This article explains what to look for: https://adayinourshoes.com/school-fba-behavior-plan/ To answer your question, yes. An IEP does not exclude a child from receiving discipline. But, there are different procedures they need to follow. https://adayinourshoes.com/child-suspended-from-school-iep/

Each of them should have an X in a circle, usually but not always in the upper right corner of the ad. That should close it. (as I'm typing this, one appeared that has the X in the upper left.)

This is a common problem right now. I also am struggling with my son because he has no nurse. First, know that IDEA 2004 does NOT address these issues. So don't look for it there. I have the OSEP letter at the end of this post. Missed Therapy Hours at School First, be proactive. Add it into the IEP. Or at least in writing via email. Have a system to track service hours. (note: I have service hour trackers for parents to use in the IEP toolkit) How often will progress and services be monitored? Weekly? Monthly? How will you be informed? Email? Checklist? Who will inform you of missed sessions? What is the school's policy on missed or make-up sessions? (ask to see the policy!) How many do they miss before they are made up? Do they utilize substitutes for therapies? And, stay on top of it. It would be lovely if every parent could be assured that every therapy session is taking place or being made up. Still, it makes me roll my eyes when I see a Facebook post in May that says, "My son missed 22 sessions this year! What should I do?" Really, 22? Why did it take you until 22 to ask for assistance when they are 8 days of school left? Parents must take responsibility for progress monitoring, including service hours. A team is much more likely to cooperate with the detail-y stuff like this if you make it simple for them. You can offer to do a weekly or monthly email asking to verify the service hours and all they have to do is respond yes or no. Then you put it on your calendar or use a scheduling program to schedule all the emails ahead of time. 2. Know your school's policy and monitor your child. Once you get a system in place, and you know what the policy is, monitor it. And, having a non-verbal child myself, I get it. Sure, I trust my team. But, it's always a good idea to have documentation and records too. We must, as parents, take ownership of this. 3. Ask for it in the IEP. It might be school policy to not make up sessions due to illness, weather or whatever. Ask for it in the IEP. "If Jacob misses more than 4 sessions this year, they will be made up....." I can tell you that in 99% of schools, therapists have an extremely high caseload with very little to no wiggle room in their schedules. Take that into consideration and work with the team and you'll get a lot further. For example, offer to have your child pulled out of class if another child is absent so that the therapist can fill in the gaps in their schedules from other absences. You can also ask that your school have a back-fill agency for therapists. This will vary by the child because not every child is going to respond well to a substitute. But if missed sessions are getting to be more common, again, be proactive and ask that they have a backup agency to send therapists to avoid missed sessions. 4. Do all your requests in writing. As with everything else, do all your requests and make-ups and schedule changes in writing. Even if you talk about it in person or on the phone, follow up with an email. 5. Can I ask for comp ed? Short answer, yes. You can ask for anything. Are you going to get it? You might. Hopefully, it won't get to that. You can also ask for reimbursement, and find an outside therapist to perform the missed sessions. Again, get it in writing before you commit your own personal money. There are no guarantees unless you have it in writing. My fitness trainer gave me a whole list of exercises I can do at home if the weather prohibits me from getting to the gym. You can do the same. Get practice exercises and do them at home. Really, you should be doing this anyway. Practice makes perfect. Think about your piano teacher from the 1970s. No one learns the piano from taking one 30-minute session of lessons per week. The same goes for any sport or activity. You should be practicing with your child all the time. This way, one or two missed sessions will just be a small bump in the road. OSEP Guidance on Missed Therapy Sessions In 2007 and again in 2016, OSEP gave guidance on missed sessions. Basically, it's no help at all. Awesome. Because it says that it should be handled on a case-by-case basis. "...OSEP reiterated that the determination of whether an interruption in services constitutes a denial of a free appropriate public education is an individual determination that must be made on a case-by-case basis." This doesn't mean you shouldn't try. It just means that it's not in IDEA, and OSEP gives little guidance, so in this advocate's opinion, being proactive is the way to go.

For your first meeting, this is exactly what you can do--discuss what the group wants to do. "Improve special Ed" Ok, so what does that look like? What trends are happening now? What challenges is the district facing? What common experiences are parents and kids having? If things were better, what would that look like?

The school has to assign the LEA duties to someone else. IDEA does not define who can be an LEA, the district can assign anyone.

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.

Sorry I missed this. Does this help-- https://www.berrycast.com/conversations/7a6ab01d-80b6-557a-af21-558dedcbddb1

Ah ok, I'm going to have to read help documents for that. Let me look into it. I like the options on this platform, but not much of it is intuitive for me to set up.

No, not every meeting requires a formal invitation. Only the annual. In my experience, teams get really squirmy in their seats when you do anything to a NOREP/PWN besides check "I agree" and sign it, lol. This is basically an extension of the annual IEP meeting, but it doesn't require a separate formal invitation. LL

Are you not seeing the option that I put in the screencast above? If not, dm me with the club and I'll add it.

It was a spam setting. If you put a link in a post or reply, it would hold on to it. To prevent spam. So I removed it. If spam becomes an issue, I suppose we'll deal with that then.

Then yes, she should have a transition plan and all the appropriate evals that go with transition time. https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-transition/ https://adayinourshoes.com/vocational-assessment/

Yes, the IEP annual renewal date. I'd use that as your nudge. "I'm asking when our next meeting is, because I see that the annual IEP renewal date of Oct 15 is quickly approaching......"

I think you can get this added, but I would try as an SDI, not a related service. The IDEA portion on related services does not exclude tutoring, but it does not include it either. I think if you try to add it there, the focus will then switch to whether or not tutoring can be added as a related service, and not your child's needs, if that makes sense. Students with frequent absences often have "absence plans" or specific accommodations added to IEPs or 504s. https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/a/300.34

I'm wondering how they know that a 3-year-old will not be in the gen ed environment, before the team has met to determine placement. Placement is a team decision.

Perfectly normal. When you see soooo many parents, fighting so hard and for so long....to get something, it feels weird to turn that same thing down. But, you know what is best. When Kevin was in preschool I didn't do ESY because I was not going to ruin our summer and be tethered to school days for a worthless program. Didn't feel like fighting, so we just took summers off.

The IEP should be done by the annual renewal date.

Yes, I put it in this video. https://www.berrycast.com/conversations/dd0239a8-2609-52fa-992f-e3c2d8726c2f But when you are in your club, look at the header, and you should see a "manage club" button which will give you a drop down bar of options.

So first, in order to invoke "stay put," you have to file some type of dispute resolution. Either mediation or due process. You don't just declare "stay put" and nothing changes. (otherwise that's what many parents would do) Def time to read your procedural safeguards booklet and review your options. If you disagree with the eval results, you can request an IEE. That will also be in your procedural safeguards. IEPs are NOT just for academics, however you may not have enough data in other areas to warrant one. If they only assessed in academics and he's "fine" there, then you have to get other data. As far as the pronoun thing, that alone is not enough to warrant an IEP. However it can be indicative of other issues, such as possibly pragmatics. Based on what you posted here, he was really only evaluated in speech and if there are other concerns, you have to request that.

Yes. Something's got to give, there are only so many hours in a day. If you don't like the current set up, request a change. We have parents in here who are "pissed" that their kid gets pulled out of core classes, and they fall behind. Others, like you are "pissed" that they get pulled from recess and specials, leaving no fun time in the day. Don't take it personally, they're scheduling what they thought would work. If your child gets a lot of pull out time, then you're going to have to work with the team to prioritize.