JSD24

In this situation, I'd write to the case manager/special ed teacher: Hi- I was looking at the IEP and it says the 1st progress report won't be done until June. I feel it's too long to go without knowing how the IEP is helping. Is it possible to get an update on progress in early April so we can see if the IEP is helping or if it might need to be tweaked? I'm concerned with getting this in June and then school is out for summer and not being able to meet to tweak the IEP until several weeks into the next school year. A parent/teacher conference to look at progress in early April would also be a substitute for this where I can discuss XX's progress with you. Please let me know which works better for you.

My suggestion is to enroll her back into the brick & mortar HS and at this same time explain that she currently attends a cyber HS and completes her work in 2-3 days. With moving to a 5 day per week school, you feel she will need, AT MINIMUM, a 504 and possibly an IEP. (The difference is that 504s provide accommodations. An IEP does too but adds specially designed instruction which I'm not sure is needed.) If she's successful in her current school, I can see them saying no to an eval. My other thought is to keep her in the same school but see if she's eligible to do extracurriculars at her local HS. I'm in PA & this is allowed. Not sure where you live so you might need to research this in your state. She's be able to do sports or the school play here. My state also has an option where homeschool students (this would not be for a student going to an online public school) can spend up to 1/4 of the school day taking classes in the local school. Not sure if other states have this option. In my area, most of the brick & mortar public schools also have a cyber school. The one in my district doesn't offer all the classes you need to get a diploma via the cyber school. This might be a good situation given her medical issues. She'd have some classes that are cyber and some classes that are in the school building. Transportation during the day would be on the family in this situation. I know you asked about an IEP for her but I wanted you do be aware that there are options that are outside of IEP & 504 for students like your child.

Not a myth but the worst parent request. I saw a post the other day that went: I think my child has dyslexia. What screener should I ask the school to do? My reply was (1) You don't want a screener. They aren't accurate. If you suspect a disability, ask for a special ed evaluation. (2) You want the school psychologist to do evals (or screeners) that they have been trained to do. If you request they do a test they aren't familiar with, the results may not be accurate. Better to ask what tests they plan to do and then do a search on what the evals cover. If it doesn't cover what you want assessed, more testing can be done. The big myth I see is that school psychologists can assess for dyslexia. Their practice act doesn't allow them to diagnose. The best they can do is determine if a student has a learning disability in reading. A person who doesn't follow their practice act, can lose their credentials and no credentials means no job and they aren't going to risk their job. The problem here is you want a program that remediates dyslexia if that's what your child is dealing with . A student identified with LD in reading might not get that. There aren't enough teachers who are trained to deal with dyslexia. How to do this tends to be taught in a masters program and most special ed teachers won't have a masters degree. I guess this is another myth: All special ed teachers can remediate dyslexia. The corollary myth is: Reading specialists can remediate dyslexia. These teachers are not trained to remediate disabilities - they are general ed teachers.

My kids graduated in 2022 but I remember getting a FERPA notice annually when I updated info on the parent portal. This was electronic. I also was given procedural safeguards at the IEP meeting. (I refused them. I can look it up online if needed.) Not sure about getting PPRA and Rehab Act or the OPT notices. A few years ago, PDE changed mandated school age. You need to be 18 to quit & take your GED. I think there is a loophole where you can quit if you have a job. This: Section 1330 of the Pennsylvania Public School Code states that a 16 year old student "who is regularly engaged in any useful and lawful employment or service during the time the public schools are in session, and who holds an employment certificate issued according to the law" is exempt from compulsory attendance. There is no specific number of hours given in Section 1330. Therefore, each school district should have a policy that specifies how many hours of employment are necessary in order for a student to withdraw at age sixteen (16). From: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/schools/school-services/child-labor-law.html#accordion-0e098facc6-item-a27ab6a14c Pretty sure charter & reg public schools have the same rules on this. I'm more familiar with reg public school - that's where my kids went - this is what I'm referencing. Homeschooling is also an option. I'm not understanding your question about IUs. Kids that go there, their IEPs are written by their SD. IUs don't get progress monitored by PDE. The IEPs would be looked at via monitoring of the public school/charter school. Always good to communicate in writing/email so there is a paper trail of what was asked for when. This would include FERPA records requests. Schools do regularly destroy records. My district has a records retention policy. They might not have what you're asking for.

The school is right. The rules are for initial testing. I'm in PA & once a parent signs a PTR (permission to reevaluate) it's the same timeline as an initial PTE. Definitely a gray area and w/o knowing where you live, I can't even say if you count school days or calendar days. It does make sense that they complete this before the IEP meeting or they will need to meet for the annual and again for going over the updated eval so they can meet the timelines for having meetings.

No matter who is running the program, a disabled person is required to get reasonable accommodations under the ADA. It isn't right, IMO, for the program to unilaterally decide what those accommodations will be. In other words, you should be able to negotiate the support your child will get. Ex: if you have another adult who can go as her support person, this should be OK to do - it shouldn't have to be a parent. They don't need to follow her 504 but it can be used as a guide for what support she'll need. Does it make sense for the 504 to be amended to include that the school provides a 1:1 on school trips given it's needed with trips this program does?

I'm not aware of another school with a DP Specialist so I'm not sure what the normal is with this person attending IEP related meetings. I can make an assumption that DP costs the school a lot of money because they need to have an attorney and they charge $180/hour in my area where costs add up quickly. They might be present so they can avoid DP and these costs. I can see this person's main responsibilities being to gather paperwork needed for the lawyer - like a law clerk who is paid less than an attorney - which saves the school money. It might be good to ask them who will be attending from the school so you know what to expect at the meeting. (I remember a meeting for my son where the psychologist & special ed teacher both had interns/shadows and the school math specialist attended even though there was no reason given for this. We ran out of chairs and possibly violated fire code. I wasn't prepared for this big of a crowd.)

I'd be looking to change the remedial program/approach. Modifying the curriculum can take a student off of a pathway to getting a diploma and 2nd grade is way early to do that. You really don't see students getting back on track once they start getting a modified curriculum. Has he been assessed for apraxia? That can cause some of the issues you're seeing. The remediation for apraxia is very different from remediation w/o apraxia. He might not be getting the right interventions if they haven't correctly identified all the pieces of the disability.

I wouldn't want a child with an IEP who gets special ed services (5x30 push-in services for reading) to also get general ed Tier services with a reading specialist. It doesn't make sense. If he's making progress and is on track to meet IEP goals after a year of these IEP services, the school isn't going to see a need for more services - either gen ed or special ed. IMO, the focus should be on how and when the gap will close if he continues at his current rate of progress. When will he catch up if he stays on the current trajectory? Isn't motor planning an OT or PT sort of thing? If they agree, I can see asking to add therapy to the mix.

The data makes me wonder about a few things. Could this be a blip where he's getting used to the new class? Could this be a different person evaluating him where they are using a different bar to measure him? Looks like he's due for another data point soon. I'm curious to see where this one lands. I'd be less concerned about getting accommodations and more concerned on how he's doing relative to same-age classmates. Is the gap getting bigger or is he catching up? Is the ROI goal appropriate?

When I saw "SpEd Due Process Specialist", my 1st thought was school district's lawyer. You might want to Google the name & see what credentials are listed for this person. I've not heard of this before. IMO, if the school is inviting their lawyer, they should be more transparent about this. IDEA requires 'a teacher'. I've seen the PE teacher or art teacher be invited. Subs are an issue with getting coverage so a teacher can be freed up to attend an IEP meeting so, my guess is, they invited teachers who have planning periods when the meeting is scheduled. There is no reason I'm aware of that 'invited teacher' cannot cover the class for 'teacher whose class the student struggles with'. I'd ask if this can be done since it doesn't seem to be on the school's radar to do this. It does make sense to have the teachers where the student has struggles attend the IEP meeting where the team plans to discuss what can be done to help. They should have better data on the struggles and may have even implemented something that has helped where your child could be getting the same accommodation in every class. Or, it could be, the invited teachers are doing something that helps that's not in the IEP where they will have data on accommodations that will help in other classes. Can you email the teachers and ask: Is there something you are doing in your class for my child, XX, that has helped them with executive functioning? We've seen that XX does OK with English and social studies where they struggle with math and science. Is there something extra being done in English and social studies that helps - possibly something that aligns with Universal Design for Learning - that can be incorporated into the IEP to help XX with math and science.

The IEP should be set up to both remediate as well as accommodate a student's disability. The long term goal should be to be able to not need this at a point in the future. It should be up to the IEP team - not the gen ed teacher - if there should be a trial of not using the accommodations in the IEP. What data does the gen ed teacher have that the modifications and accommodations aren't needed anymore? Is this gen ed teacher in the camp of 2E doesn't exist? We ran into that. They felt my autistic child could learn social skills like other kids especially since she was gifted. This is a skill that typically develops around age 4 or 5. I think this was 4th or 5th grade we were told this but she didn't have the autism diagnosis at this point. That came at the end of 7th grade if I remember correctly. She needed direct instruction like most autistics. Direct instruction in structured literacy is what remediates dyslexia. Pretty sure this can't be self taught or we'd have a lot more than ~30% of students passing standarized testing in reading. (The issue with most students isn't dyslexia - it's a lack of explicit, structured instruction in phonics as well as other things like morphology.) My feeling is that it is inappropriate for the gen ed teacher to have this conversation without at least the special ed teacher present. IMO, the sp ed teacher is more likely to have data on what the student needs as far as modifications and accommodations go. I'd be documenting the interaction, how it affected your child and requesting that the teacher run these things by the IEP team at an IEP meeting in the future rather than asking the student to do without what's in the IEP. In other words write an email and cc the special ed teacher & the LEA/principal.

If your child stops qualifying for an IEP & specialized instruction, the disability diagnosis doesn't go away so he'd still qualify for accommodations under Section 504. I took an online dyslexia training that was given by Sally Shaywitz (she wrote the book on dyslexia) and she said that extra time for tests is something that a dyslexic may always need. She cited people in college and medical school who continued to need - and more importantly receive - accommodations long after their eligibility for an IEP ended. (This was a free class on Coursera. You might want to look into taking it.) So to address your upcoming concern, we need to see what the school does with the triennial eval coming due. They have 2 choices. (1) They can do a reeval that shows your child continues to need an IEP & the specialized instruction they have. Also possible that a reeval shows that the IEP isn't needed and you request an IEE that shows it is needed. (2) They can do an RR - records review. With a records review, the student would continue to qualify for an IEP. To exit a student from an IEP, evaluations are needed so a RR is a sign that the IEP will stay in place. The best thing for you to do is collect data. Keep a log of the issues you see. It might consist of how long homework takes and how much support you provide to him at home. Does he need help understanding instructions? Can he independently do a math word problem or does he need help with reading the problem? If he has to read a book for a book report, does he decode it independently or does he need an audiobook? Also, talk to him. Ask him what he feels would happen if something in his IEP was to go away. Does he rely on talk to text to write the book report? Does he need the pull-out for reading instruction or are they covering things he already knows (he might still need special instruction if he says 'no' but it could be the instruction needs to be different)? There doesn't seem to be a rubric where at XX percentile, the student no longer needs an IEP. Access is key. He should be able to access grade level material that needs to be read w/o extra help. This should be when the IEP goes away but the accommodations should stay. Lastly, audiobooks are an accommodation. This could be something he'll grow to not need or it could be something he'll need long term. (Which way this goes depends on the severity of the dyslexia.) There are phone apps that translate a photo of text into speech. If he needs this sort of help long term, he should be taught how to independently access this sort of accommodation. My thought is that prescription labels and instructions on food packaging or ingredient lists will be things he needs to read and understand. Driving directions, bus & plane schedules and signs are things that adults need to be able to comprehend. If he can access these independently, he might not need the IEP.

The school is breaking the law if they do not follow the 504. It's a civil rights violation when it's not followed. My child would have felt too self-conscious for small group testing and we would have had issues with school refusal if that was on the 504. (Could that be a valid reason for it to be removed from the 504?) I'm curious if every student with an IEP gets these accommodations too. I'm thinking of my friend's son who is gifted & had a speech only IEP. The extra day creates executive functioning issues too. Will the student remember to hand the assignment in on the day after the teacher collects it from the rest of the class? Will the teacher prompt & make the student self-conscious? I'm pretty sure if the student refuses to use an accommodation, that's OK because it's on the student & not the school when this happens. I do see issues with this. State testing, SAT, PSAT, ACT, Ap exams, etc should all get double time if double time is on the 504. Is the school sending requests for this to the appropriate place so students have this with all testing? (SAT testing with double time does not get done on a Saturday like typical SAT testing. There has to be a room and someone to monitor testing too.) I'm taking a class & need preferential seating. When I look to the right, I tend to get double vision where with looking to the left, it's not an issue. Last semester, the tables were 90 degrees to the board & the professor either was in the front or back when giving instruction. In other words, he was either to my right or to my left. Definitely not simple depending on the teacher, how much they walk around and the layout of the room. We don't have assigned seats so I don't need a written accommodation. This semester, desks are in rows which is better for me. Diabetes should always trigger a 504. Not sure why all this is needed if you have issues with blood sugar needing to be externally controlled. The one plus I see is that it's easier for teachers to remember if every 504 students has these. Will the teachers also remember the unique-to-the-student accommodations? My child had bathroom breaks as a 504 accommodation.

ADHD rarely travels alone. What that means is, in most cases, there is another diagnosis. I have 2 children who have ADHD diagnoses. One also had autism and the other has dysgraphia. It's fairly common to also have dyslexia or dyscalculia with ADHD. Could your child's math weakness be a math disability? Look at the eval the school did (you should have a copy) and see if the school assessed for a math disability. If they didn't, I'd request the school assess for this. Can you come up with a list of math concepts she didn't understand at school that you taught her via computer/internet instruction? Your list is data that school instruction isn't enough and they need to do something different - or figure out why she needs this extra help. In MS, students have a bunch of teachers. Did all of them read the IEP? Are they all following it? I remember being at a parent group meeting several years ago. One of the parents was an ADHD 'expert' and had done a professional development presentation for a school. She thought that what she was presenting was review. As it turns out, it wasn't. If the teachers don't know that things like getting distracted, being late/poor time management, not paying attention, not being prepared for class/executive function issues, etc are all things that come with ADHD, teacher training on the disability might be needed. (There will always be teachers who feel that ADHD isn't real and will refuse to accommodate.) As far as 'trying harder' goes, students with ADHD need to be taught strategies that help with the things they struggle with. Having a portfolio or zippered binder that hold all the supplies for her classes and then having another one for morning classes and a third for afternoon classes could help with organization (another system might work better for her too). I'd look to see if the needs you're listing are needs that are mentioned in the school's eval report. You DO NOT need to wait for the annual to tweak the IEP. If the IEP isn't working - and from what you posted, it isn't - you need to call an IEP meeting & tweak the IEP. You offering suggestions doesn't change what's in the IEP unless you word it like: I'd like to add a no meet revision to XX's IEP. She is disorganized and often will not bring her textbook home when she needs in for homework. Please add: Home copy of all textbooks to the IEP. This way, XX won't need to bring any books home and can focus on things like handouts and worksheets. If she's forgetting worksheets, you can write: I'd like to add a no meet revision to XX's IEP. She is disorganized and often doesn't remember to write down when she has tests or when assignments are due. She needs an executive function coach to check that things are written in her assignment book/planner. Or I need this emailed to be or access to where I can find these on the school's website so I can coach her at home on completing assignments and studying for tests. Please change the IEP so the XX can have the support she needs to be successful. The key is to put the things she needs in the IEP. Schools are required to follow the IEP but don't have to follow the suggestions of a mom who is watching her child fail due to lack of support (or worse) from the school. I know that some moms of MS students will email every teacher at the beginning of the year to remind them to follow the IEP and highlight their child's needs. I'm not sure an FBA makes sense for the issues your child has. Refusal to be organized looks the same on an FBA as executive functioning issues due to a disability. IMO, teacher training for every teacher your child has, might be better in the long run.

In my area, the expectation is for the parent to pay for the provider if they want them at the IEP meeting since the IEE only covers the cost if the eval/report. It might make it a more reasonable cost if they attend via phone or on Zoom (or similar platform). They tend to charge for travel time & mileage... Can the family cover this cost?

To me, it seems that the school does not see a need for this. What data do you have to backup your request? If the last 2 field trips resulted in your child coming back & in need of a doctor or ER visit, then you have data that the child comes back harmed and needs additional supervision on field trips. Also, it might make sense for the school to provide a 1:1 or 1:2 so your child is more closely supervised on field trips. (Special needs students might need more than what a chaperone would typically provide. This isn't fair to other students in the chaparone's group.) Requesting your child be in a group where the chaperone has only a small group to supervise as well as additional training on how to recognise and prevent self-harm in your child might be another thing to request. (You can request another 504 meeting if you feel the one in place needs to be tweaked.) What did you provide to the school to support this request? You can ask for the school to pay for any follow-up care should your child end up harmed due to a lack of supervision on field trips. It might help them understand this is something that needs more than what they said they would do. Not sure if requesting you attend field trips as your child's 1:1 aide to prevent self-harm (not as a chaperone) might be something they are more willing to do.

For Van: This might be helpful with what steps you can take: https://adayinourshoes.com/retaliation-iep-parent-special-education/

Not sure if it makes sense to call someone and ask about the triennial. When a parent asks for an IEE, the school only has 2 choices: Yes or Due Process. You might want to see what direction they will head in if you're planning on asking for an IEE. (I have a feeling they will get the eval done and then say in DP that their eval was appropriate albeit late.) When was the PTE signed? If the parent didn't give their written permission, they might not be late; the school might be blocked from doing it.

Accommodations for a parent's disability can & should be made by the school. They might need to be called or texted starting an hour before the meeting to verify they are aware of the meeting starting soon. They might need a 2nd reminder 5-10 minutes before the meeting starts. It's possible they need 'parent training' on how to set alarms on their phone. IDEA is big on parent participation so between that & ADA, the school should be doing 'reasonable accommodations'. What's 'reasonable' might be subject to debate. (There seems to be a big shortage of people for hire who help disabled individuals. IMO, the school should be proactive on this & not rely on someone else helping this dad with this task.)

My opinion is, given FERPA, medical things should be done in the privacy of the nurse's office. Doing this on a sidewalk infers that a student has a medical condition and that info should only be shared on a need to know basis. People on a sidewalk don't need to know that a student gets pulse ox and chest examination from the nurse. It is possible that the doctor calls for this to be checked when the student is outside so the nurse might not be able to do this in their office. You are right that IDEA doesn't address this because medical tends to fall under Section 504. 504 accommodations can be included in an IEP but it's still 504 that would cover these. This is something that can be asked of the state agency that licenses school nurses. You might also be able to look up their practice act and see what it has to say on where medical monitoring should be happening at school. You'd need to know what the doctor's orders say to know if 'outside' is required as part of the accommodation so you can tell if the nurse is doing it as ordered or not.

When the breaking of school rules happen, it's generally followed by the school following discipline guidelines which can include expulsion/a switch to alt ed (since school is mandated). The only exception to this is when the rules were broken due to a manifestation of a disability or the school not following interventions to prevent behavior in the IEP. The change of placement of a student with an IEP is required to be a team decision. In other words, you need an IEP meeting to move a special ed student to an alt ed school. If your child doesn't have an IEP, you can request a special ed evaluation to see if they qualify. If the school says they don't qualify, you can request an IEE at school expense. Lisa has info on MDRs on her website: https://adayinourshoes.com/manifestation-determination-hearing/ I've seen where an academic issue wasn't supported and the student had behaviors so you might want to look beyone the behavor to what's the root cause.

The rules vary by state if parents need to be notified about restraint or seclusion. I believe there are timelines on notification in some states. Definitely look up the rules in your state and consider filing a complaint with your state DOE if the school didn't follow the rules. One thing you can ask is to see the calm down room. In some schools, these are equipped with sensory items that can aid in calming down. In other schools, they look more like prison cells. If your child tends to be more upset at home with being secluded earlier in the day, you can request, as an IEP accommodation, that you get an email or text when the room is used so you can help him process the trauma of being restrained and then secluded. (It's a way to get the school to let you know how often it's used and if it's used often, you'll know the BIP isn't working and needs to be tweaked.) In most states, there are explicit rules that students need to be monitored at all times including during seclusion. Pretty sure that adults need to be with students at all times except for in bathrooms & locker rooms. Guy Stephens has a lot of info on this on his website. He runs the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint. He started this after his child was traumatized by being restrained. https://endseclusion.org/ He's also on Facebook. Restraint and seclusion should only ever be used when a child is a danger to themself or others. The BIP should prevent him from getting to that point if it's the right intervention. Ross Greene is someone I consider to be an expert on behavior. This is more info on his approach to managing behavior:

The school will not change their eligibility category without an evaluation report. Have you shared the neuropsych report with them to 'consider'? Schools are required to consider outside evaluations but they do need to have a copy of the report in order to consider it. Schools can use an outside eval to change the disability category if they want to. Also, if the school's eval wasn't accurate, you can ask for an IEE at school expense. You might want to do the IEE rather than having the school do another eval. Most districts will not do an eval if the last one was done within a year which is when an IEE at school expense comes into play. Your child was reevaluated. You paid for the neuropsych to do the reeval. The school should be able to use this report to change the disability category. There shouldn't be a need for a 3rd eval.

What is the school doing to promote communication? IMO, if you can get him communicating, you can more readily figure out why he elopes and fix the root cause and that will stop the elopement. If you want some encouragement with communication, watch Spellers on YouTube. My friend's son is in this movie. He's autistic and non-speaking and was identified as intellectually disabled by the school. Once he started communicating, it seems like the school was wrong about him being intellectually disabled (personally, I feel he's gifted). His part starts at 46 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h1rcLyznK0