Parents of children with IEP'S

[Anonymous]

MCPS is short special education teachers, so how are they fulfilling the legally required hours that each student deserves?

Simple answer: they aren't.

Principals are lying to parents making them believe their child needs "less" hours so they don't have to report back and ask for more help (more help=$$$).

No, I'm not talking about the entitled kids whose parents paid to get them "extra time" on tests with fake ADHD diagnosis (you know who you are). I'm talking about kids who desperately need the hours, who are being seen close to 10% of the required time... LEGALLY ON PAPER time.

This is what I'm doing. I'm asking my child's special education teacher to record every time she sees my child during the day. My child will send me an alert on her smart watch when she walks into the room, and leaves.
Am I overreacting? N-O.
Why am I doing this now?
Because I just found out my child has just STARTED to be seen. It's almost end end of the first marking period.

I am livid. And yes, I will be making a huge deal.

So should you.

[Anonymous]

Calm down and take a breath. The special needs part of the equation is the needs part. That will require both you and all parties to continually work to improve their standing and my recommendation is you should approach it as a partnership and not adversarial if you really want the best outcome for your kid. Also you are asking the school to meet your child where they are to help them you might want to consider meeting the school where it is and helping them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calm down and take a breath. The special needs part of the equation is the needs part. That will require both you and all parties to continually work to improve their standing and my recommendation is you should approach it as a partnership and not adversarial if you really want the best outcome for your kid. Also you are asking the school to meet your child where they are to help them you might want to consider meeting the school where it is and helping them.

This is such a MCPS response. Are you a principal or special education teacher?

[Anonymous]

I can't even tell what you're asking. For the teacher to email you every time your kid walks into the room? Isn't that what attendance is for?

[Anonymous]

Parents like you are exactly why there is a special education teacher shortage.

[Anonymous]

I do think you should keep careful track of what is being provided but also be realistic about what the school can do about it. They cannot magic special ed teachers out of thin air. There is what they have agreed to legally and what is literally possible given the available resources. NT students are also dealing with this. One of my kids has had a long term sub who is not certified for two of four elementary grades. They are legally supposed to be taught by a certified teacher, but that is not what is available. What can I do about it? I can go to a different school system if I am prepared to move. If not, I settle for what is being offered. I cannot hire my own MCPS teachers.

[Anonymous]

It stinks to say this but sometimes you have to sit back and remember your child isn’t the center of the universe. Your child’s special education teacher likely has 15-20 other kids with equal to potentially higher needs. Even if it were possible to govern every child the full and equal attention, that would look very limited at best based on availability. Sometimes we have to pick and choose how we prioritize our time to make sure the biggest impact is met. If your child is not getting the full attention you feel is dictated by the IEP, maybe its because the teacher has seen your child is actually showing progress and is capable of succeeding with less intervention. Sure there is a possibility that the teacher is neglecting some of their duties but I would not immediately jump to tjose conclusions without some sort of proof.

[Anonymous]

You might want to look at the IEP. The way it is written is that the majority of sped support is provided by the classroom teacher and paras. They do that as they know all minutes can’t be with a sped teacher.

But yes, the whole system is messed up. Kids aren’t getting nearly enough support. In my own experience as a parent of a child with an IEP and an MCPS elementary teacher, support gets better as the child gets older. HSM in elementary does not work for most children. The needs are too high and sped teachers are supposed to magically support kids spread across 10 or so classrooms. Once kids get to middle school, there is soooo much more support. There is a second adult in most classes. My child went from seeing the sped teacher maybe an hour a day (and she could be pulled for behaviors during half that and gets a paperwork day once a week…every week), to having 5 supported classes daily. Night and day difference.

You can try recording hours, but honestly, I would start with the IEP first because there’s no way they put all the hours on the special ed teacher so you’d pretty much be proving nothing. Then I’d advise aye to fox the mess known as home school model.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure a great case could be made for MCPS noncompliance with IEPs and 504s across the board.

[Anonymous]

As a HS special ed teacher i wish parents understood that an IEP is not a shield to protect their children from failing grades. I have too many conversations with parents who are angry their kid has an E and assume its because of failure to meet accommodations. I can do all the small groups and sentence starters I can but when your kid turns in 3 out of 10 assignments even with extended time, they still are going to fail.

[Anonymous]

My elementary schooler is supposed to work with a special educator a certain amount of hours per week and I'm also figuring out that it hasn't been happening. I get the staffing issues. I've worked in special needs. My issue is the lack of transparency. I had to figure it out on my own at the end of the 1st marking period.

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher and my child has an IEP. Which was NEVER followed properly. It’s ok to be frustrated, especially by these posters telling you to calm down. 😡

I withdrew my child and now have him in a homeschool model. MCPS 100% was non-compliant.

We really can’t blame the school staff for how this district runs their special ed department, but they 100% should have seen your child at least once during the first marking period. That to me is inexcusable.

[Anonymous]

My kids have IEP for years. I don't keep track of the hours or frequencies they meet my kids. For my older one that only needs social & emotional supports, IEP does not have to do much with him. He has been behaving well at school due to maturity. For my little one who is falling behind academically and her IEP are all academic goals. They can tell that she really needs help because of those MAP test results, class tests, and teacher evaluations. I think they try their best to work on her and I understand school has limited resources. IEP has to increase her services without me asking for it.