JSD24

I'm in PA & my son ended up with a Spanish teacher who wasn't certified. I'm pretty sure this is OK. They need to be working toward getting certified to do this. Not sure if this is the case with the ELA teacher. If you are finding that a teacher isn't following the IEP, filing a state complaint is an option. What I'd do before I went that route and became "that parent" is to have an IEP meeting. Before the meeting, write out your parent concerns. If teacher X isn't providing extra time and teacher Y isn't reading directions aloud and this is in the IEP, write it out. Send this to the IEP team a week before the meeting. At the IEP meeting, you can request teacher training in how to provide the accommodations in the IEP. (I'm assuming that SDI is being provided by a special ed teacher and that's going OK.) I wouldn't want to meet one on one with a teacher to tell them they need to follow the IEP. That could be done with an email. I'd email the teachers who aren't following the IEP and copy the case manager and principal so they are aware of the situation. Not sure what's going to be the best route to take to get the IEP followed. Sending your parent concerns to the team and the gen ed teachers who aren't with the program might be a strategy. Adding a self-advocacy goal might help your child be able to get the teachers to follow the IEP as well. Lots of options.

I know that Wilson Reading is a popular intervention in my area. There's a 'tutor center' near me where their person does Wilson Reading when the issue is dyslexia. Wilson Reading is one of the many O-G based programs that are out there. My thought is: progress. If the teacher is certified in basket weaving and the child is catching up to classmates, whatever they are doing is working and that's the whole purpose of the SDIs in the IEP - PROGRESS! I'm also on the side of the school with intervention timing. When I had looked at the Wilson Reading protocol (this has to be pre-COVID), I remember daily and 40-60 minutes. (I'm thinking the protocol might have changed.) With a 3rd grader, I'm thinking that 90 minutes of SDI seems long. With outside tutoring, I'm pretty sure the sessions aren't this long. With any program, they tend to follow the script so they can say they are doing this with fidelity. If he doesn't need that lesson, I'd be fearful that he'll shutdown during the parts he needs to learn. With monitoring progress in reading, I believe they look at WCM - words correct per minute (per hundred?). So long as they are using the same method to measure progress, you'll see progress if it's there. I do like the idea of data more often. Any program will tend to work for ~80% of students. If this isn't the right program, finding that out and changing your approach should happen sooner & you'll see that with more frequent data collection. With a good Structured Literacy, Tier 1 program, there will still be ~20% of the population who has dyslexia per the Connecticut Longitudinal Study. These are the students who need an IEP (or Tiers 2 or 3 with milder issues). They need more intensive instruction than Tier 1 provides.

I'm pretty sure they can change his diaper if that is needed. No one in the school should be touching his private parts unless it's part of providing care that, if not done, could be looked at as neglect.

This reminds me of a situation that happened a few years ago to someone I know. Her child has Downs Syndrome and didn't want to do a worksheet - this was kindergarten. The child shaped their hand 'inappropriately' and while pointing a finger at the teacher said 'I sh**t you'. This was viewed as a terroristic threat so the school followed district policy. Well, the police got called with how the policy said things had to be done. Their policy was that if there was an incident like this, they needed to have a police officer on the team. And if the police are involved, they make a record of it. The parents were livid that this caused their child to have a record with their local police at age 5. (Your situation is this one times 50.) The school's assessment (MDR) showed that what played out was a manifestation of your child's disability - that's what you wrote. And they want to punish him for this? (I want to see the research/evidenced based study that was done showing this works. What they do in schools should be research/evidenced based. I've looked and I'm not aware you can punish the disability out of anyone.) They didn't follow the BIP, things escalated, and he ended up in handcuffs and detained overnight. Have you filed a complaint with your state dept of ed that the school didn't follow the BIP (which I assume is part of his IEP) and this is how it played out? I'm hoping that the administrators attending the administrative meeting with immediate supervisors have more sense and knowledge of special ed and child pedagogy that they put the SRO & AP in their place. If it doesn't play out like that, you're going to need an attorney. Not sure if you need a criminal lawyer or a special ed lawyer - I'm thinking you need someone with experience in both these areas. Diversion is a great option. With other cases involving diversion, I've seen kids need to stay out of trouble until age 18 or 21 so 6 months seems fair (not sure they took your child's disability into account when they decided this because it sounds like he doesn't have the capacity to understand what he did was wrong). What I feel is needed are changes to the IEP where if he does make an unfounded threat, they don't get the SRO and court involved (because it sounds like he doesn't have the capacity to regulate what he says when escalated). I could see SDI put into his IEP to teach him to say something else when he's escalated and his BIP isn't being followed - but, on the other hand, they really need to follow the BIP/IEP since it should work to prevent this happening again. The state complaint should be something you can do on your own - you shouldn't need a lawyer to help you. If you do need help, every state has a parent group that can assist you with things like this. Not sure where you're located or I'd post the link. They are also someone to reach out to with this situation.

Strangers shouldn't be touching his privates - I agree with you on that. When a student isn't able to be independent with toileting, it's on the school to care for that student as in loco parentis. Your child is under the care and supervision of the school during school hours. They are not obligated to allow anyone other than school personnel into their buildings. At school, his in loco parentis should be changing him. If he loses a tooth, they should be helping with that. If he needs his shoe tied, they should deal with it. I remember one of the school nurses telling me about a girl who needed to be catheterized in order to pee. It was the school nurse who did this - not a stranger. This was at a middle school and they had a male nurse - one nurse for the whole school. There are times when schools are put into lockdown and no one is allowed to enter. What happens if he needs a change then? To not change him would be neglect. They are going to handle changes the same way you would and it would be appropriate because they are in loco parentis - they aren't strangers. If they are not handing this in a dignified manner, call them out - they should be.

The school should be providing FAPE. Your time is valuable so relying on you to do what their staff should be doing really isn't FAPE. The truth is that many kids will need to have diapers changed at school. They need to have staff that can do this. There are some schools where most of the students are very delayed & in diapers. It would be pandemonium to have parents coming to school to do this. Rules vary from state to state on who is allowed to change a diaper. In PA, it's a nurse or a PCA. In other states, the teacher or other types of aides can change a diaper. You might want to ask the school what sort of certification is needed for staff who will be doing this since you seem to want assurance that they will be professional with this task.

This might be my prejudice talking but why ABA for a teen? My oldest has autism (diagnosed in 7th grade) and we never did ABA. We went to all sorts of therapists to address mental health issues. Social skills therapy ended up, IMO, making the biggest impact. We did CBT & DBT but with an ODD diagnosis, I don't think ABA would have been a good match. If you're seeing progress with ABA, you might want to stick with it but if you don't see progress, it might be time to change what you're doing. Maybe more therapist & less ABA? Now would be a good time for natural consequences with not handing in work. 8th grade doesn't go on a transcript a college would see but 9th grade does. As far an "natural consequences" goes, my son would not hand in work. He didn't do the big book report project that was assigned each marking period. The school didn't average it in - like it wasn't assigned. If they averaged in the zeros on these, he would have failed English at least once. FBAs. Have you read the blog posts about them? https://adayinourshoes.com/behavior-iep-special-education/ And https://adayinourshoes.com/school-fba-behavior-plan/ An adult observing a student might get to the root of a behavior or it might not. Can you look at a child and see they are hungry & distracted? That they can't read at grade level? I was asked to sit in on an IEP meeting or 2 for a CASD student. He would have been in 11th/12th grade. He had a goal of going to college with a major requiring a lot of reading. He was reading at a 5th grade level. I told them that they need to bring up his reading level if he was going to be successful in college - that's what the transition plan that starts at age 14 should do, develop the skills needed for life after HS. He would have needed to fund college with student loans. I could see him lasting a year and failing out and having a hard time paying any loans off without a college degree. It wasn't a good IEP and he wanted to graduate in 12th grade - not stay for another year and learn to read. Does your son have academic needs & are they being addressed? Is there SDI in the IEP with a goal of catching up? Is he making progress?

I have a few thoughts. One is: He's got Afterschool Restraint Collapse with masking at school and then letting it out when he gets home. This is a real diagnosis. You can request a 504 meeting and see about putting accommodations into the 504 to help address this disability. To set the meeting up for success, you probably want to bring someone from the afterschool treatment team to the meeting to make sure the 504 supports work to support this aspect of his disability. (In other words, I don't feel the 504 team will believe a parent that he needs support they aren't already providing. They are wanting to hear this from an expert.) Not sure if anyone from outside of school did in-school observations where they have an idea of what sort of support is needed but that's the person to come to the 504 meeting - might be via phone or Zoom. Another thought I have is an IEE at school expense. You didn't say anything about academic needs. Is he pretending to read (masking) during independent reading where he knows he's different academically and this comes out at home as behavior? I'm trying to see what specially designed instruction the school needs to provide to support his disability. Knowing what support he might need, might help me to figure out why they don't see an area of suspected disability they need to assess and address with an IEP. Knowing this would also help to say what an IEE would need to look at. Do you know what the letter requesting the eval said was the areas that needed to be assessed? I can make a guess that social skills or pragmatics might need to be looked at but that's 100% guess. My final thought is to change up the 504 so the Afterschool Restraint Collapse gets accommodated better. It's possible the school is right where an IEP & SDI aren't needed and updating the 504 will help ease what happens at home. Might need to be a series of meetings if you see a little improvement and the accommodations work where more might work better. Also want to mention about Ross Greene & CPS. It's really a way of talking to kids about their problems and then working with them to fix the problem because if you don't understand the reasons for the masking, it's going to be hard to accommodate them. More info here:

In some schools, they have a 2nd person reviewing the eval before it get into the hands of a parent. This tends to push school to use all of their 60 days to do the eval. There is a timeline booklet that I tend to use when I have timeline questions. I was surprised to learn that teacher inservice before school starts are part of the 60 days. (Not sure if that's in the booklet.) https://www.pattan.net/CMSPages/GetAmazonFile.aspx?path=~\pattan\media\materials\publications\files\spec-ed-timelines-_5-24-wbl.pdf&hash=1df7d4859f62411260a429485f5d066624438b34f693c83424d59a8d9235673e&ext=.pdf Or download from: https://www.pattan.net/Publications/Special-Education-Timelines

You're good. Accommodations don't have a particular place in the PA IEP. They kind of, sort of fall under 'related services'. That's where they tend to end up. The important part is that it is in the IEP & the school is following the IEP. They don't even mention the word accommodation in the PA Annotated IEP. Maybe they should. https://www.pattan.net/assets/PaTTAN/51/51bbd07e-a8c4-46a6-ba3a-5183b8307a83.pdf The annotation on page 45 says: NOTE: Do not be overly concerned about the category of the items you write into this section (e .g . does this service/activity fall under the category of SDI, modifications, or supplementary aids and services?) . Instead, include what the student needs and write it in where you believe is the most appropriate location.

"It’s been an SDI that he can go see the guidance counselor when he wants, we’ve introduced them, etc., etc." This doesn't sound like a good SDI. He should be accessing the GC when he NEEDS to talk to someone and not when he WANTS to talk to someone. If he doesn't use this (I think it's an accommodation in the SDI section of the IEP), it should be removed...and possibly replaced with something that will actually work to help him. So he has a self advocacy goal. It sounds like this is needed to he can use the SDI/accommodation to go to the GC when needed. Who has been providing SDI to teach him the skills needed to reach this goal? How long has he had this goal? What does the progress report say about progress toward this goal when you get it (which is everytime he gets a report card)? From what you posted, you inferred he's not making progress toward this goal. The person providing the SDI needs to change up what they are doing or perhaps he needs to work on this more often so he can make some progress. With bullying, it sounds like you have concerns. You need to write this out into a parent letter of concern (because if it's not in writing, it didn't happen). It sounds like when teachers see he's been bullied, they need to share that with you. (Kids are stealth. This could be happening in stairwells, locker rooms and bathrooms where there are no adults present.) This accommodation can go into the IEP. It sounds like he needs help dealing with this so you, the school social worker or GC or an outside therapist needs to help him with this (sounds like he might be internalizing how this makes him feel) so he can work on this. You could put an SDI into the IEP on this or have him go to an outside therapist - or both. IBHS through Medicaid could have an MT working with him at home if getting him to a therapist is an issue. I'm not sure if CASD has clinical people working with students - I'm in WCASD and they have hired clinicians via CCIU to work with students. A GC isn't considered to be clinical (some may have the training in addition to school certifications but it's not required). Also, GCs are spread thin and CASD doesn't want to be out of compliance with an IEP so that's part of why meeting with a GC wouldn't be in an IEP. LCSW & MSW are clinical. What to do next is write out your concerns & request an IEP meeting. I don't feel there's a NOREP headed your way given it sounds like you didn't have an IEP meeting. Do be aware that bullying can be reported anonymously using Safe2Say in PA. Not sure if this might be a good way for him to report bullying.

I'm surprised they have 3 teachers in one classroom for 7 students. Around here, they have one teacher (there's a teacher shortage) and any other adults in the classroom tend to be instructional assistants, paraprofessionals, aides, personal care assistants... It would show up as a 1:2:7 ratio in an IEP. I would want the 3:7 ratio your grandchild has & is successful with noted in her IEP so you can show the school this when she goes to kindergarten and they want to put her into a classroom that's 1:24. It sounds like they will need at least one other adult in the room given she will need to be escorted to the nurse for diaper changes because letting her walk there alone provides an opportunity for elopement. Again, make sure the elopement tendencies and need for diaper changes are noted in the IEP. This is data that one teacher cannot meet her needs and still be teaching her classmates. My personal style is to ask questions: How will my child get to the nurse for diaper changes without attempting to elope from the school? She needs a lot of redirection because she has a hard time sitting still. Will the teacher be able to do this and still be able to provide the class with the academic instruction they need? Given her unwillingness to draw or write, has apraxia been evaluated by the school? Speech, & writing are both fine motor skills. She might need special instruction to be able to write and draw like her classmates - or it could be a skill that's out of reach due to her disability. (Behavior is communication. This might be what the refusal is trying to say.)

Several years ago, the Pupil Services Director did a presentation comparing the number of due process cases in WCASD & other districts. WCASD had more per pupil than all of the other districts in the county. I'm not sure this has changed in recent years. The amount they budget for due process does keep increasing. They had twice the number as DASD (if I remember correctly) which is close in size.

If he has issues with visual tracking, did the school evaluate that? If an area hasn't been evaluated, the assumption is the student's abilities are the same as a typical student. It sounds like the OT might need to help your child or train the para on what to do. Does he get OT via his IEP? If he needs a 1:1 aide, you need to have the school gather data and show this is what he needs. It sounds like you might need to look at what's in the eval they did to see if 'all areas of suspected disability' were evaluated (if the tracking/tracing issues were shared verbally, the para & teacher aren't going to provide extra help - they will follow what's in the IEP). State requirements are a minimum requirement. Given your child's needs, they might need a 2nd aide since your child is being removed from the classroom so often. You might want to ask for an IEP meeting so you can tweak his IEP.

There are lots of good advocates working in West Chester since WCASD seems to be a magnet for IEP issues. Let me come up with a list. (Definitely random order.) The REACH Group Educational Consultants, LLC Arc of Chester County Melissa Yelito at MY Advocacy LLC Former WCASD Pupil Services Director, Leigh Ann Ranieri now does advocacy: https://ranierieducationconsultant.com/ Marie Lewis Cris Fick Thrive Advocacy Group Who is the right advocate for you will depend on what the issue is. Advocates do tend to specialize to a degree.

Wanted to reiterate: If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. This can be looked at as a negative by the school but the Office of Civil Rights oversees 504 plans - might be under a different office with changes made since our president took office since lots of things have changed. Given the school seems to have a very, very, extremely poorly managed 504 plan office, it might be worth filing a complaint. A 504 provides accommodations like extra time or a 2nd set of books for home or breaks when a student feel overwhelmed. An IEP provides special instruction to a student to help them reach IEP goals which should align with catching up to where classmates are. I like to get paperwork and forward a copy to the school - just in case the school loses the paperwork. I also want a copy 'for my records'. Every teacher should be implementing 504s. You don't want all 504 students in the same classroom - this isn't best practice. Students shouldn't be placed into a different class to get an IEP evaluation. (After an eval, it might make sense to change classrooms so a student can get the special instruction in the IEP - like the special ed teacher is only there in the morning so they need to move core classes to the afternoon.) Feel free to post again if you have any other questions.

Does your granddaughter currently have a preschool IEP? Does she have an aide at preschool? If she's currently getting an aide, you have data showing an aide is FAPE for her. That would make it easier to show that an aide is going to be needed in kindergarten.

Posted too soon - wanted to add: what changes have been made to the IEP so there isn't another similar issue in the future? A special ed student getting into trouble to the point of being suspended can be a red flag that the IEP isn't providing FAPE. If this school cannot support your child's needs, they might need a different placement.

If your child is in gen ed for part of the day, they would have gen ed teachers in school so it's no difference with having them with homebound too. You do need a special ed teacher to deliver SDI in the IEP.

I think you're going to need a lawyer. Someone who knows both special ed as well as criminal issues. Your child committed a crime because his in loco parentis failed to follow the agreed upon IEP. It sounds like the 9 page threat assessment will be evidence this lawyer will use when they defend your child in court - that's when the DA will see this. Not sure if you have a counter suit for damages caused by how the school allowed things to play out. Your child was traumatized and you now have legal expenses in order for him to have a defense to the criminal charges that resulted due to non-compliance with the IEP as well as not curtailing the bullying your child endured at school. This could be a case the ACLU or disability rights group in your state might be able to take on. Both groups employ lawyers who have experience with dealing with issues like this.

You can request a travel training assessment to see if she is capable of walking home safely from this sort of activity. If she can't, the school need to provide transportation given what Carolyn posted. Hint: The school might need to contract with a 3rd party for this is their drivers don't work late enough to accommodate the team's practices. And there is Uber for teens - they need to be at least 13.

What's going through my brain is: what did the eval cover? You posted that your concerns included reading, writing & spelling. Did you let the school know these are the areas you suspect he has a disability in? School evals should look at 'all areas of suspected disability'. Since these are not areas of concern with the school, I can see them not looking at these but if you said you thought there were issues in these areas, they should have provided you with data to support him doing OK with this or they should have evaluated this. (You could ask for them to show you why they aren't concerned.) Now if you didn't mention this to the school, now is the time to tell them. They may want to do their own eval before okaying a neuropsych or an IEE. I'm also curious what he scored on PSSAs. I'm not a fan of state testing but if he did OK on the PSSAs, that can assure you (to a degree) that he's on grade level. Basic & Below basic are failing - Proficient & Advanced are passing. If your school uses a platform like PowerSchool, they should have PSSA grades there. These should also be mailed home sometime in August, September or October - depends on when all the tests are graded. PSSAs are given in grades 3-8 and in HS, they do Keystones which are now a graduation requirement.

Families who receive settlement agreements for comp time (or any other reason) need to sign non-disclosure agreements so it's hard for info to be shared. In my area, there was an article about this (Philadelphia Inquirer carried it - see below). Like Carolyn said, filing a state complaint is one route to getting funds when a school fails to provide FAPE. I'm in PA and the complaint form asks what would the person filling out the form want to see as the resolution of the complaint. Saying that having the school provide funding for compensatory services is something to put on the form if this is what a family wants. I've heard stories where lawyers got involved and were able to get a settlement agreement for compensatory services for families outside of mediation or due process as going these route cost school districts additional lawyer fees. In my area, there are law firms who take cases on a contingency basis. With a contingency basis, the lawyers are only paid when the case results in a settlement from the school. Needless to say, it's the bigger law forms that do this. Link to article: https://www.inquirer.com/education/special-education-programs-philadelphia-region-deficiencies-due-process-settlements-20250805.html?id=hw81GFuWaPeFr&utm_source=social&utm_campaign=gift_link&utm_medium=referral&fbclid=IwY2xjawMIVVJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFjcExDWm5rMGdvbFdWa2dqAR7mEMHyrBBqBJukiofL2ZzR_xBduS9zjCCZTF7WStIB10l_aO7BK_LPTf8XEQ_aem_R_1oOUbJvrgZz5nodeTiVg

What state are you in? PA has a Consult Line to call & get questions answered. There should also be a parent training center. There should be a way to cancel the due process and they should be able to tell you how that gets done. This needs to come from the school - they took you to DP. They would need to drop it.