JSD24

I am in PA & our IEPs all say that 21 is the age of majority for educational decisions in a K-12 school. (In college, it's 18 - although it might be younger.) A parent needs to sign off on an IEP; a student (even one who is 19) cannot. I know that it's different in Florida. The person accused of bringing a gun to Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS had signed himself out of sp ed. If this was PA, he would have been assigned a surrogate parent & they would have had to do the signing. Varies by state (not mentioned in IDEA) is the bottom line but I'd assume it's 18 if you had to make an assumption.

I'd like to see some research that shows that consequences teaches better behavior - especially when you're 5 and have an IEP. I had read about a teacher who didn't do the required traffic light chart in their classroom. Rather than a child moving their clip from green to yellow, they discussed what a better approach would be for next time. The teacher ended up with better behaved students. I've also seen where school districts have eliminated suspension in grades K-2. I think Philly did this - except for things like weapons & drugs that there are state & federal laws about consequences. I am for children learning to improve, to develop skills on how to deal with frustration and 'using their words' rather than misbehaving. I don't feel that consequences teach that. (It can with some children but not every child.)

ISS is relatively new so there isn't a lot of rules on it nor is there a lot of research. As a parent, you can pick up your child at school (legally) whenever you see fit. (This would be an unexcused absence in my district.) If they end up missing too much school, truancy will kick in. Truancy rules start when you register your child for public school - even if your state doesn't mandate school attendance until they are older. ISS isn't always punishment in the eyes of the student. You end up with a small group of students and they are able to do quiet work. If they are trying to catch up on math & they have questions, the ISS teacher could provide 1:1 support they cannot get in a classroom with 24 other students. The one thing I dislike about ISS or OSS is that (especially with a younger child) they learn quickly that doing XXX (behavior) gets them removed from their classroom. If a child cannot read and does XXX when it's time to read aloud, they are now sanctioned by the school to avoid reading aloud because, all they need to do is XXX. The school has given them a ticket to escape something they find hard & want to avoid. The behavior gets disciplined but the upstream inability to read flies under the radar. IMO, it is a reasonable request to know when your child is placed in ISS. Not sure if it is reasonable to ask that your child be given OSS and not ISS when they are suspended. I am curious how you are defining 'punishment'. I found two definitions. (1) the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense. (2) the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority. Does your child find ISS as 'undesirable or unpleasant' or simply a 'penalty'?

(Second post because I hit ctrl enter and my post posted.) I think you should file a state complaint that they dragged their feet too long with starting the FBA. Do you have email showing when you requested the FBA? Always good to have a papertrail in case stuff like this happens. There is a saying in education: If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. I always suggest putting important things like this into an email - just in case. Keep track of how long they are suspending him. After 10 days, it's looked at as a 'change of placement' and for a kid with an IEP, the IEP team has to decide that. IMO, your child's IEP isn't FAPE if he keeps having behavior issues at school where they are removing him from from his classroom. If he's removed, he doesn't have access to his education and the school should be accommodating that. Disabled kids get accommodations so they have access. Don't ask for accommodations. You want special instruction so he's taught to do better. They can accommodate him along with teaching him but the teaching should be the main part they're doing.

They are allowed to suspend a student for breaking school rules. I think they can do this if this is a manifestation of their disability because a manifestation hearing isn't mandated until the suspension is longer than 3 days - might be different where you live. IMHO, it's stupid to suspend a 5 year old child when you dragged your feet in coming up with the Permission to Evaluate for going home where it's months after the parent gave a verbal request for an FBA. I'm in PA & our rule says the school has a "reasonable period of time" to get a parent this form when they request an eval. Our law defines 'a reasonable period of time' as 10 days. It looks like Florida might define this the same way: https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt/IDEACOVID.pdf

If this is your only option for school & time, there isn't much you can do other than trying to change your child's schedule so their nap doesn't overlap the 2.75 hours that school is scheduled for. I know with work and other children, etc, this might not be possible. When we change the clocks in a few weeks, what will you do so your son adjusts to getting up an hour earlier? Will this makes things better or worse with his nap & school overlapping?

It's BS that you can't revisit an IEP because it's 'too soon'. I remember when my child had a rough year and we met 3X between September & December. You especially need to tweak if an IEP is written for MS and now the child is in HS. Best practice is to include people from the HS and have some things change with how the IEP gets done between June & August. I'm not aware of a law about interpreters. The PA IEP Invite has a box to check if you need an interpreter. If you don't check it, you'll not have an interpreter at the meeting. Can you share what state you're in as there could be a state law that governs this. This is all I found: https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/d/300.322/e If the eval was completed outside of allowable timelines, a complaint should be filed IMO. PA rules are 60 calendar days but many states use school days where it could stretch things out quite a bit. (Student also needs to be available. If they are out sick, I think most places give the school more time.) If the parent signed off on the IEP, the school should be implementing it. In every state, a 1st IEP needs to be signed to be implemented.

There a list of goals out on the Adayinourshoes website: https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-goal-bank/ I'm hoping that he's got goals in areas other than OT. ASD tends to have areas of need with pragmatics as well as social skills. From what I've learned, this is related to issues with executive functioning. The IEP needs with this disability - well, there tends to be a lot of needs.

Great that you've done the COPAA training. When this group was on Facebook, I remember seeing a lot of people suggest looking there for an advocate. I'm also an FDU alum. I got my MBA there back when they had a campus in East Rutherford. I recently did a dyslexia webinar through Coursera with Sally Shaywitz (it was free). She had a lot of practical advice. It always amazes me that the Connecticut Longitudinal Study that she did found that 20% of people have dyslexia yet only ~17% of students have IEPs. You'd think that closer to 20% of students would need one for dyslexia and then there would be more for all the other disabilities out there.

When an IEP or 504 isn't being followed, there are only a few options available. First, I want to say that it is part of the teacher's job responsibilities to follow IEPs & 504s just like it's their responsibility to teach the state standards, arrive on time, be dressed appropriately, etc. The 1st thing a parent can do is remind the child's team. Email would be a good way to do this. To all of XX's teachers- My son has an IEP and the IEP has him getting the accommodation of XXX everytime there is an assignment that includes YYY. XX has mentioned to me that his teachers have not been consistent with providing XXX when he needs it. My ask is simple: Please follow my son's IEP. Thank you for your continued cooperation with this, The 2nd thing that can be done is to move up the chain of command. That can also be done with an email. Dear Principal- As part of my son, XX, IEP, he has an accommodation of XXX. His teachers are not consistently providing him with XXX. Last week, he had a social studies assignment where XXX should have been done and it didn't happen. (You might want to add 'as a result, the assignment was late and he lost points' or what happened because the IEP wasn't followed.) 2 weeks ago, the same thing happened in science. His English teacher consistently follow the IEP and XX has A's and B's in their class. I emailed his teachers to remind them what accommodations XX should be getting when an assignment includes YYY. I'm at a loss as to what else I can do to get his teachers to follow the IEP. Please let me know what follow-up is needed from me. Thanks, (The case manager should also be included in email like this.) If this doesn't get things to change, you can send a similar email to the sp ed supervisor, director of pupil services, director of elementary (or secondary) ed, asst superintendent, superintendent, or lastly, the school board. Beyond that, with accommodations not being followed, you can file a complaint with the sp ed dept in your state or with the Office of Civil Rights at the federal level. (OCR would be the only option outside of the school district with a 504 plan.) How the teachers in his school deal with remembering to provide him with accommodation XXX is on the school to figure out. Your child isn't the only one in this district with accommodations and there should be a way for all teachers to be consistently following all IEPs - not just your child's. In all honesty, I'm not sure what you want the school to do beyond accommodate your child with what the IEP says to do. These are professionals and they should be able to figure out how to follow an IEP every time they need to.

IMO, defiant behavior warrants an FBA so the school can develop a PBSP/BIP and teach him to be less defiant. Your child needs to learn to work with all types of teachers. He might need to be taught this - specially designed instruction. Conversely, teachers need to work with all types of students. They are all different so different approaches might need to be used so their approach doesn't trigger his defiance. I'd request that both teachers attend the IEP meeting. You want the one that's good with him to work with the one that's not so they can be taught to use an approach that triggers cooperation & not defiance.

From what I've been told, it's the school's party & up to them to invite the people who are needed and parents don't get a say in this. I'd tell the dad to let them have the interpreter there but then have him tell them their services aren't needed. Parents have to sign a form to excuse a required IEP team member. An interpreter is not required under IDEA. (If the parent asked for the IEP to be written in their native language, it might be required by state regs.) Realistically, an IEP meeting will take longer if an interpreter is needed. If they usually do 30 min IEP meetings, an hour sounds right with using an interpreter.

My daughter stayed for a bit & left. I'd want to see the school's written policy that she has to stay for the whole meeting. What happens if she doesn't? Does she get Saturday school like what happens with cutting class? IMO, it should be her choice just like it's your choice of you attend her IEP meetings or blow them off.

They cannot be copied due to being copyrighted so you would have to go there & look them over. They tend to be shredded after the results are tallied so act quickly. IDEA requires multiple measures to determine present levels. This might be parents & one teacher doing rating scales.

So the evaluation shows low IQ but, in the meeting, the school IEP team members attributed his academic struggles to lack of focus (and not the low IQ shown by their evaluation). You say he's taking ADHD meds which are supposed to help with focus. Taking ADHD meds shouldn't change IQ results. I feel a new eval is not needed. What I would do is write a parent concerns letter. Your child could be unfocused because the material is too hard for him to understand because his IQ is low. What is in the IEP to help him understand things being taught in light of his low IQ? Is that part of the IEP being followed? You could ask for the teacher to prompt him to pay better attention and have him seated away from distractions/closer to instruction. This could be added to the IEP as an accommodation. Is this MS where he now has 5+ teachers with different expectations & has to change classes through the day? ADHD tend to come with issues in Executive Functioning and he might needed extra support given the extra focus MS requires. It's also possible that this year, the teacher has higher expectation and your child can't meet them. This could be due to low IQ.

Is it possible to switch up his routine? It might take a few weeks to get where his nap isn't overlapping with school. They cannot offer a seat in a classroom that doesn't exist.

With schools, services and accommodations are based on need - not diagnosis - but you do need a disability/diagnosis to qualify for an IEP or 504. Outside evals are 'considered' by the school. They don't need to be followed. With speech, you'd think that the scope would be the same inside & outside of school. You want to look at intelligibility. How many correct words out of 100 = percentage of intelligibility. My assumption is a child's rate of speech errors would be the same independent of their location. I'm not sure if there is a different threshold for when they intervene in school vs when medical insurance covers SLP services. With screenings, they are quick and less accurate where evals take more time (cost more for the school to do) and you get more accuracy - provided it was the right eval done in the right way and the child met the criteria for who the eval works on. I would ask how much worse would they need to have done on the screen for the school to move forward with a full eval? If they missed the full eval by a few points, you can argue that the outside services are why they are doing this well & they didn't take that into account when they determined that moving forward with an eval wasn't needed. I remember talking to a mom where the SLP told her, off the record, that her son did qualify but if they gave him therapy (this was for pragmatics due to autism) they would need to take time away from a child who was nonverbal. If this is your school's situation, I don't see this being a good situation to put your grandchild in because it could lead to retaliation. I've seen where outside services are more intense and there's a lot more progress & more quickly than with school therapy. They might be doing your grandchild a favor by pushing you to outside therapy so long as the cost & getting there isn't a big burden.

I'm not sure how they can meet in one room and be on Zoom. I was in a Zoom meeting with one other person also at this meeting. We had a lot of feedback. (Typically we have a device called an Owl - photo below - which allows everyone in the room to participate. The school might be justifying the cost of a device like this by continuing to offer Zoom meetings.) https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91K0Q957irL.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_FMwebp_.jpg

When you get the invite: I'm good with meeting Tuesday at 2. My internet isn't the greatest so I'd rather meet in person rather than on Zoom where I'm sure I'll miss some of what's said. Please let me know where I need to show up. Thanks...

The last page of this has a template for requesting a sp ed eval: https://www.elc-pa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/getting-a-special-education-evaluation.pdf You need to start there. The other thing is that a couple hours a week to remediate a student who has SDL in reading is predetermination which isn't allowed with IEPs. Many programs are daily for 40 - 60 minutes in order to see progress. You wouldn't want this for 60-120 minutes per week if you want to unteach bad habits of relying on accommodations & make up for the delay in Child Find.

The teacher is going to be the loudest voice in saying if an eval is needed or not - at least it should be. They are the one dealing with the day-to-day. My thought is to wait & see. Once your granddaughter is comfortable with school & the teacher, behaviors might get worse where they will say she should have an eval. You can also request an IEE at school expense. https://adayinourshoes.com/iee-independent-education-evaluation/

I don't find this surprising - what the para did - your son is a great self-advocate. Paras don't have access to read the IEP. They only know what the teachers tell them. If the teacher doesn't tell them or the para forgets what's in it, you'll have an IEP that's not being followed. (In my district, they rotate paras and I'm not sure how the paras keep all the IEPs straight.)

I think you need an IEP meeting. He's not the 1st 3 year old who needs to nap. I'd ask them what happens when a child gets to school in the afternoon & is ready for a nap - how do they get IEP services? What are you going to do when the clocks 'fall back' next month? He'll be getting up at 4. Maybe he can get a nap in before he needs to head to school in the afternoon if he says with getting up at the same time. I have a suggestion that might not be easy to do. When you change the location - like when you go on vacation - that can disrupt the habit a child has. Can you go away for a few days to see if you can reset the routine? The suggesting for adjusting a child to the time change is to move the routine in the desired direction by 20 minutes a day (I generally do every other day). See if you can shift the routine.

The only time I've seen a school transport to ABA therapy is when the therapy starts soon after school dismissal and therapy is the after school 'daycare' location. It needs to be in the feeder area for the school for this to happen. Keep in mind, the doctor is looking out for your child's medical needs and the school looks at educational needs. You'd need to show an educational need for this sort of medical therapy to get this to happen.

It really should be on the school to make sure he's got the assignments listed in some sort of assignment book with sufficient detail so he can do the homework. My son's IEP had the teachers checking his assignment book...until the teachers were required to post assignment on Schoology and he stopped using the assignment book. You need an IEP meeting so the school can figure out what's the right thing that's needed to help him organizing his assignments. It seems like the AT evaluation he had to figure out what device he needs to get written work done is no longer sufficient given the increased workload he has in MS. IMO, the AT eval needs to be redone so he can be rematched to something else where he can deal with the additional writing. Has he been assessed for dysgraphia? It's more common in people with ADHD/ASD. They might not have assessed this where the school/IEP isn't supporting all the areas where he needs support. You need to step back. The IEP should be supporting what he needs to get done for school. (I know you don't want him to fail because it's on you to pick up the pieces should that happen.) You need to work with the school to get the IEP where it supports all his needs so that you can be a parent and not his paraprofessional/tutor because the IEP isn't FAPE.