JSD24

His civil rights are being violated given he is not being accommodated. In addition, IDEA is being violated given the IEP isn't being followed. You might want to file a state complaint if going up the chain of command hasn't helped. In college, they take these things seriously. Schools lose funding when they don't accommodate at the college level so there is no need to 'prepare for a world w/o accommodations'. There is scan to text software. Once it's text, there is text to talk software. If he is going to be using this at school, it should be written into the IEP so it's not viewed as cheating. Do verify that the IEP doesn't say 'when student requests'. It shouldn't. He needs this for every lecture & assignment. In college, they pay a classmate for their notes so this is an accommodation for the future too. (My daughter's friend got paid for making a copy of his notes and providing them to the disability office to forward to a classmate.)

You asked a lot and I don't have a lot of time to cover everything. Parents are not required members of the 504 team. The school can change a 504 w/o a parent being there/parent input. Students w/ an IEP are not special ed - they do not get specially designed instructions - only accommodations like a quiet place to take tests and extended time. If the 'quiet place' for testing doesn't meet your child's needs, have them come with you to the 504 meeting and have him state what will work for him and let that be specified in the 504. A safe place to calm down should be a place that's supervised by an adult so the bathroom wouldn't be a good place. Bullying can be addressed with a Gebser Letter. A student with a 504 is a disabled student & disabled students do have extra protection under the law. Non-compliance with the 504 is a civil right violation and can be reported to the Office of Civil Rights. I've been told it's easy to file a formal complaint. Teacher should take attendance every class period so students who are cutting class for whatever reason are accounted for. If I had to guess, I'd request that your child be assessed for pragmatics. This sounds like a good part of his issue with not getting along with people & not making friends. I feel your child might be masking at school so they don't get bullied as much so the school doesn't see all that's going on with him. Has the school documented his anxiety disorder ptsd, odd and add? Lastly remember this: If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. Email what you are seeing so it's documented. Under FERPA, you are allowed to clarify your child's school records. (My district does not make attendance exceptions either. Students go to their assigned school.)

The language used in an IEP should be professional. The IEP should explain the student's present level. If the student has a history of breaking school rules and getting disciplined for this, it is part of their present levels and should be included. An IEP is not the place for derogatory statements. Professional opinion and past disciplinary measures are OK.

An FBA will look at what can be seen. If there is something else going on that can't be seen (my guess is the frustration because of the discrepancy between giftedness + dysgraphia w/o proper technology to accommodate), the FBA isn't going to be all that helpful. Ross Greene's CPS works well with PDA. It can take a while to learn which is a drawback.

The way IEPs work is you have an eval that shows the student has a need. Ask for a bottom wiping eval. See if there is a delay and then figure out how to teach and/or accommodate. I'm not sure if an OT is going to be willing to do this. You might need to go outside the school to show this need.

None of those diagnoses would prevent her from getting herself clean after a bowel movement. She would need to have an OT evaluation showing that she physically cannot wipe or that she has sensory issues due to the autism that's preventing her from wiping sufficiently. Since this falls under OT, I'm guessing it would be the school OT that should be teaching her & not the nurse. Also possible that with the ASD & ADHD, there are executive functioning issues where all the steps are not done with having a BM at school. Could there be distractions like an echoy bathroom that's painful to her hearing where she rushes and doesn't do a good job wiping? Having her use a small bathroom that might be in the nurse's office might be a solution. Personally, I feel that allowing a student to spend time with a dirty bottom falls under child abuse. Her peers are likely to shun her if she smells or wipes so poorly the BM seeps through her clothes. Her classmates are bound to notice. To provide a better perspective, how does she do with this task outside of school? If there is a developmental delay that prevents her from learning this skill, it might be appropriate for the nurse to assist. (Given this is a life skill that peers have mastered, I can see this going into the IEP along with a SDI for the appropriate person to assist and/or coach depending on why this is happening.)

The way I see this (because I've seen this with other students), his ED is coming from the CPTSD he experienced due to the IEP team not understanding ASD (and his other diagnoses) & not being able to meet his needs. Unfortunately, you do not have the credentials to dispute their diagnosis. In your shoes, I would disagree with the eval and request an IEE at school expense. IMO, he needs a team that better understands ASD & can better meet his needs. You can ask for teacher training in ASD if you feel this is what's going on. You can start by writing a parent concerns letter stating that the appearance of ED is due to the school team not understanding him & how ASD affects him. Without the support like he had in 6th grade when the team did a better job meeting his needs, the lack of support is coming out as behavior which looks like ED. Is the school also saying that he no longer has ASD? The way ASD is defined includes this: "Autism does not apply if the child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE." If they remove the ASD diagnosis, then he won't get the support he needs at school for the ASD issues.

Start by asking the school if the student should have a consequence when they fail to meet an IEP goal. Ex: If a student had to learn times tables and get 80% in 4 out of 5 trials, ask what should happen if they only get 80% in 3 out of 5 trials. Or if a reading goal was 75 CWM, what if they only do 71? In these cases, the consequence is nothing. (I'm in PA and they only allow for positive behavior support so you'd never see a consequence.) If your child has a goal of promptly transitioning, what should be the consequence if they fail at this goal? Ask them to write 'no consequence/no unexcused tardies when delayed transitioning results in being late for class' in the IEP. This goal should be treated like oner IEP goals where there are no consequences if the goal isn't met. I'd also look at what specially designed instruction the school is providing (prompts are accommodations - not SDI) with teaching your child how to promptly transition to a non-preferred activity. You might also need to change up the SDI if the current instruction isn't working.

If the PHP was the IEP placement, that's when the school would pay for transportation. Might also fall under a 504 as an accommodation. Can the school handle the student in their building? If not, what is their alternative?

"In this email parent gave PWN with hopes to get a response." Only the school can give PWN. A parent cannot. I know one of the things Lisa suggests is to follow up IEP meetings with a written summary. This way, if "Verbally the district said they would do the FBA assessment and consult for the OT.", you have emailed this info to the school and the email ended with "please get back to me if I didn't get this right". If they don't respond, you can assume they are in agreement. Was a parent concerns letter written about the inaccuracies in the AP and that being the reason it wasn't signed? I've always felt the IEP process paralleled a game of chess.

In my area, the child would qualify for Medicaid and they would be able to access 'Community Transit' (the senior citizen bus paid for by the state lottery). Not sure if CT lottery funds a similar program. In my state, the reps & senators to the state capitol would be aware of what the options were in this situation.

BTDT. We were told that transportation would only happen on the days the district was in session. We had to provide transportation on other days. Rules will vary by state so it's hard to say what applies in your situation. My state's rules are the district has to transport to charter schools. Other school situations are on a case-by-case basis. You can ask for reimbursement for travel expenses when this happens. This should be in the IEP if the district is reimbursing.

§ 711.7. Enrollment. (a) A charter school or cyber charter school may not deny enrollment or otherwise discriminate in its admission policies or practices on the basis of a child’s disability or the child’s need for special education or supplementary aids or services. (b) Subject to subsection (a), a charter school or cyber charter school may limit admission to a particular grade level or areas of concentration of the school such as mathematics, science or the arts. A charter school or cyber charter school may establish reasonable criteria to evaluate prospective students which shall be outlined in the school charter. (c) A charter school or cyber charter school may not discriminate in its admission policies or practices on the basis of intellectual ability. Admission criteria may not include measures of achievement or aptitude. From: https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/022/chapter711/chap711toc.html Bottom line: Read the charter & see what the admission criteria is.

Some state laws don't allow for any wiggle room when it comes to tardies and absences. If your state laws allow for it, you can have an accommodation in the IEP that, while she is working on her IEP goal, that she doesn't get an unexcused tardy when she she has difficulty transitioning to be cathed and ends up late because of that. There are intuitional things that are in school discipline policies that don't follow 'the science'. IMO, this is what you've run into. The tardy is supposed to teach her to do better next time. (Doesn't work like this when you have an EF disability.)

Healthcare POA is really a must for anyone over 18. They kick in when the adult is incapacitated. I remember being at a sp ed training on this by an attorney. He had a POA set up for his sp needs adult child. The worst happened. His typical child was skiing in Colorado and had an accident. W/o a POA, he couldn't even find out how she was doing. She was OK in the end but, since this experience, he recommends a POA for everyone. Guardianship has gotten hard to get in my area. https://adayinourshoes.com/supported-decision-making/ https://adayinourshoes.com/guardianship-disabled-child/

I'd start by talking to the state. That route should be no cost. Find out NOW if this will be OK. Can you get the county to spell out how many hours/minutes of instruction happens? I'm in PA & the last page of the IEP lists out total hours and how many are sp ed versus gen ed. Can you get the county school to do this so when you transfer schools, the new school has to justify the cut in instructional time? If they are cutting out 2 hours & 50 minutes of time that students are there, they need to show they are not cutting out instruction. (And kids that age need breaks. They can't go 4 hours w/o a break/recess/snacks.) They need to show that the change in ratio will also work for your child. Again, spell this out in the current IEP so the new program is the same. My gut says you're going to need a lawyer but talk to classmates families. You should be able to do something that's class action ad where the district cover attorney costs. Or contact your state's disability rights group or ed law center.

He has to be enrolled & following a pathway (their pathway unfortunately) to a diploma from a public school to have school services. (It's their game & you have to play by their rules.) He can quit and then he's on his own (no school support) to pursue a GED. With taking GED classes, he should get ADA accommodations like he'd get at a college. Pursuing a GED & attending K-12 school are mutually exclusive. If he's enrolled in a public school, he gets services to age 22. If he quits school, he doesn't get school services. Not sure what age where it's his decision to quit. (I'm pretty sure, in my state, 'parents' make IEP decisions including when a student can quit & pursue another avenue like dropping out or GED.) Keep in mind, services end when he gets a HS diploma. The school doesn't want to be paying for IEP services forever so they will want to have him heading to meet their graduation requirements so they can give him a diploma. A lawyer might be able to get something else for him from the school if he wasn't provided FAPE in the past but I think it's a 2-year look back. If he needs help understanding math so he can pass the GED, he'll need to pay for a tutor. The HS will not tutor if he's heading for a GED. (They get more points when he stays to graduation than if he drops out & gets a GED.) It's unfortunate for him that the meds were wrong and this was the outcome where he lost 2 years of schooling. My child stayed for a 5th year of HS but this was on a college campus. They didn't need to step foot in the HS. It's too bad they can't do something like this for your son.

Give them a week. Write a polite letter: Dear School- On March 14, we met for xx's IEP meeting. After the meeting, we discussed an FBA being done so we can better understand the behaviors that xx is exhibiting at school. I'm anxious to get the paperwork to sign so that we can move forward with completing the FBA. When can I anticipate receiving the paperwork? Will it be sent electronically, by USPS or will it be given to my child to bring home? Thank you,

All paras need to work under the supervision of a teacher. I'm assuming the para is in the IEP & will be replaced so the school stays in compliance with the IEP. The teacher & the new para will have observations about your child's present levels to be discussed at the May meeting. I know teacher can write out their observations to be included into an IEP. Not sure if a para can do this. Can she write out what they feel are your child's biggests needs? What areas should the new para focus on? Where do they see her reaching goals? Any new goals to work on? Can strengths be used to help your child reach goals in deficit areas?

One thought I have about this situation is that the school cannot do an evaluation until they have parent permission. They need to evaluate/observe your child to do data collection at a 'special education' level. Any data they have from before you gave them permission to observe would have to be the low level data that's allowed to be done for all students. If they use data from before you gave the school written permission to do a sp ed eval they have violated IDEA by doing a sp ed eval w/o parent permission. It's late as I'm writing this so I'm hoping it makes sense. There is a sequence: suspect a disability, parental permission to evaluate, evaluation/data collection at a sp ed level, data is then used to see if an IEP is needed & what services are needed. Placement is the last decision. Data collection cannot come before the parental permission for an evaluation.

You wait. The school doesn't know which students will continue to need the 15:1:1 class based on how their progress will go during the last few months of the school year until they happen. Assuming the same students will continue in this class is predetermination. Seems like they don't want to mislead you.

Writing a parent letter of concern to be copied into the IEP can be a great way to make your point. "We discussed no reading aloud at the IEP meeting as well as a follow-up email I sent to XX on March 11. I do not see this in the IEP and I want to know what additional steps need to be taken to get this into the IEP. My child's dyslexia diagnosis puts her oral reading fluency years behind her same-age peer and I don't want her to have to have to demonstrate this to her classmates. Please let me know what my next step needs to be so this can be on her IEP."

Under Universal Design for Learning, the same accommodation can be available to the whole class. Now if UDL isn't working for the student who needs it, then that's a sign that it's not the appropriate accommodation. Request a meeting so the 504 can be tweaked. If the 504 isn't being followed, that's a Civil Rights issue and filing a complaint with OCR is the next step if going up the chain of command isn't working. Ask for data on how often “frequent check-in to assess for on task behavior” are finding your child off task. Your child might need a less distracting environment or a different sort of help & not more check-ins.

Not exactly sure what the link includes but see if your child can visit the new school, play on the playground over the summer or take advantage of other opportunities to explore the school (do they have a spring fair or a 5th grade performance that's open to the public?) so it's not new to them on the 1st day. See if there are other kids you can meet so your child has a familiar face at school. See if the custodian can give a private tour over the summer. Some of this can go into the IEP. The rest is networking - the school can't give you the name & numbers of other families but they can share your info if you give them permission.

In theory, the school should evaluate in all areas of suspected disability. If they missed an area, ask for them to assess it. If he's in 5th and at a 3rd grade level in reading & writing, it definitely seems like there could be a disability. You might want to look over the evals they did to see what was evaluated. If you have questions about the evals the school did, feel free to post back with them. It's not always obvious what evals look at. They may have found issues in this area but didn't dig deeper to get to the specifics. There is a saying in education: If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. My advice is to make requests in writing. (I'm not sure about how IEP notes work. My state doesn't have them.)