Need more info from school before IEP meeting

[Anonymous]

How should I go about this? DD had a very good year, as far as I know, but I feel like I have VERY little information about how things are going at school. I get bits and pieces from her and often find out bits and pieces from the teacher after the fact. DD has autism but I think her gen Ed and special Ed teachers mostly think she’s an easy kid.

I want information like how many meltdowns she had this year and what caused them. Would anyone have kept track of that? I realize I’d need to define “meltdown.”

It’s very hard to participate in the IEP without having accurate information on how things are going/went this year.

[Anonymous]

Did you receive quarterly progress reports from the case manager? What information did they contain or not contain?

[Anonymous]

This is OP. No I don’t. I didn’t know I was supposed to. There is a report from time to time (but not as often as quarterly) that tracks her progress on the goals in her IEP.

She doesn’t have a goal, though, that says, “I will not lose my $&@“ when I don’t get the exact pencil I want.” Nor do I want her having that goal. But I do want to know how often she’s lost her $&@“ and why.

[Anonymous]

Unless she has a FBP, they're not keeping track of any of those things. Time nor frequency.

[Anonymous]

If it is not in the IEP then they are not taking data on it But if you ask them, I am sure they could give you a general idea.

[Anonymous]

What school system is your DD in?
There is a requirement to provide quarterly progress reports against goals in DC. I assume it is similar at your childs school.

[Anonymous]

So you want data on a behavior that is not part of her IEP nor part of a behavior plan. And you want it for the entire year, even though you’ve never asked for it before.

Damn, that is some crazy demanding nonsense. Please do not ask for this. If she was having repeated meltdowns, the team would have reconvened to introduce a goal. That hasn’t happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless she has a FBP, they're not keeping track of any of those things. Time nor frequency.

This is OP. That makes complete sense. The difficulty is that they tell me everything is great! No problems! She’s doing wonderful! And then in a regular parent-teacher conference they casually mention a 45 minute meltdown she had last week. I think we might have different definitions of “everything is wonderful!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you want data on a behavior that is not part of her IEP nor part of a behavior plan. And you want it for the entire year, even though you’ve never asked for it before.

Damn, that is some crazy demanding nonsense. Please do not ask for this. If she was having repeated meltdowns, the team would have reconvened to introduce a goal. That hasn’t happened.

OP again. I definitely don’t want to be “crazy demanding.” But there is a disconnect between their reports of “all is fine here” and the behavior chart, for example. I have bits of information that all is not fine, and yes, I should have asked for more information earlier in the year, but I was addressing OTHER things and trying not to be too demanding by addressing too many things at once. So here we are, and now I realize that I really don’t have any idea what’s going on at school because I have conflicting info.

How should I resolve this? Without being “crazy demanding”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you want data on a behavior that is not part of her IEP nor part of a behavior plan. And you want it for the entire year, even though you’ve never asked for it before.

Damn, that is some crazy demanding nonsense. Please do not ask for this. If she was having repeated meltdowns, the team would have reconvened to introduce a goal. That hasn’t happened.

OP again. I definitely don’t want to be “crazy demanding.” But there is a disconnect between their reports of “all is fine here” and the behavior chart, for example. I have bits of information that all is not fine, and yes, I should have asked for more information earlier in the year, but I was addressing OTHER things and trying not to be too demanding by addressing too many things at once. So here we are, and now I realize that I really don’t have any idea what’s going on at school because I have conflicting info.

How should I resolve this? Without being “crazy demanding”?

Unless the “meltdowns” are preventing her from accessing the curriculum, they will be considered run of the mill school behavior and no one will be keeping track. If I were you, I’d just ask in the meeting if there are any concerns about the meltdown behaviors you’re worried about. But I wouldn’t expect much of a response.

[Anonymous]

Special education teacher here. You sound like you are not getting the information you should be getting. Each time she gets a report card, you are supposed to get an IEP progress report listing each goal and the progress towards meeting it. You should go to your district’s special education department website and read about the policies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you want data on a behavior that is not part of her IEP nor part of a behavior plan. And you want it for the entire year, even though you’ve never asked for it before.

Damn, that is some crazy demanding nonsense. Please do not ask for this. If she was having repeated meltdowns, the team would have reconvened to introduce a goal. That hasn’t happened.

Huh? No, it's not "crazy demanding nonsense." This is a child with autism, and wanting more information about emotional regulation is totally normal. Agree that if OP wants it more formally tracked or to have goals, it should be in the IEP. But it is not "crazy".

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the replies. If I want this information going forward, it sounds like the best way to do it is to put something in the IEP. I was thinking, instead, about asking for a communication log of some kind. I don’t need a weekly log. But something that they send home when she has meltdowns of conflicts with friends. I somehow need to know what’s going on at school. She takes anxiety medication, and we adjust her dose frequently, but school is this huge black hole. How do I get more info about what’s going on there, without burdening the teachers too much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the replies. If I want this information going forward, it sounds like the best way to do it is to put something in the IEP. I was thinking, instead, about asking for a communication log of some kind. I don’t need a weekly log. But something that they send home when she has meltdowns of conflicts with friends. I somehow need to know what’s going on at school. She takes anxiety medication, and we adjust her dose frequently, but school is this huge black hole. How do I get more info about what’s going on there, without burdening the teachers too much?

I’m OP. Does anyone have suggestions for this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the replies. If I want this information going forward, it sounds like the best way to do it is to put something in the IEP. I was thinking, instead, about asking for a communication log of some kind. I don’t need a weekly log. But something that they send home when she has meltdowns of conflicts with friends. I somehow need to know what’s going on at school. She takes anxiety medication, and we adjust her dose frequently, but school is this huge black hole. How do I get more info about what’s going on there, without burdening the teachers too much?

I’m OP. Does anyone have suggestions for this?

What grade