Need more info from school before IEP meeting

[Anonymous]

We had a lot of behavioral issues in elementary school and at points had a daily checklist. Basically, it would be just a quick check mark for whether the day was good, ok, or bad. There was a place for comments, and most bad days had a very, very brief comment. It was enough to basically judge how the day was going and if we needed to follow up with the teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!”

So then what did you say? Was this a one-time episode, rarely seen? Maybe she was having an off day and the issue has self-corrected. That's why you haven't heard anything. You can go to the IEP meeting and ask the team to collect data for the next 4 weeks about her behavior. Then you can reconvene to review it and if necessary, write an addendum to add new goal. The data collected would be baseline data. If she's fine and there are no meltdowns, then great. No behavior data is needed.

Remember, the IEP is a living document. You are always welcome to convene the team. You can sign off on goals today and reconvene in a month to review data and add goals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

This. And we were in the same boat last year - told that everything was fine, then found out about recurring issues that hadn't been shared with us. Turns out our district actually was tracking each event, and had the data, but hadn't felt a need to tell us. At our next IEP meeting we asked to be notified via email about every occurrence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!”

They are only required to do this if it has an adverse impact on her education and it may not. Depending on your school, they may keep track and provide you with information because they want to placate you. But they may not be required to do so if it’s not having an adverse impact on her accessing the curriculum and they could decline. It’s hard to say how much is on the teacher’s plate and whether what you’re asking is too much.

If it’s really important to you, then go to your next meeting prepared to answer the question of how her behaviors are impacting her learning. And be prepared with specifics. What exact behaviors are you talking about and how do you believe it is affecting her learning. Have concrete examples of the negative effects on her learning. And be prepared for the school to tell you they don’t agree and have your responses ready. FBAs and services are not a right except under certain circumstances.

[Anonymous]

You can ask for a goal on this- like reduced "meltdowns" for a behavior goal (or "other").
BUT - that would only work if they are indeed seeing it at school and it affects her ability to access the curriculum.

[Anonymous]

I'm a special ed teacher.

I think you should send an email to her case manager and teacher and express your concerns.

"My daughter has melt-downs at home where she becomes dysregulated, screams, refuses to communicate and requires time alone for 20 to 30 minutes at a time two to three times a week." (or whatever). "Do you see this behavior at school?"

"I would like to start a home/school communication log to keep track of any self-regulation struggles at school." "I would like to know if she leaves her assigned location, raises her voice to a teacher or peer, cries for longer than a few minutes, or destroys any school materials."

Identify the behavior you are most concerned about.

"Melt-down," is pretty vague. Almost all the kids I teach have meltdowns occasionally. But what behavior are you most concerned about, then ask if that happens and ask for a home/school communication log aligned to the thing you are concerned about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a special ed teacher.

I think you should send an email to her case manager and teacher and express your concerns.

"My daughter has melt-downs at home where she becomes dysregulated, screams, refuses to communicate and requires time alone for 20 to 30 minutes at a time two to three times a week." (or whatever). "Do you see this behavior at school?"

"I would like to start a home/school communication log to keep track of any self-regulation struggles at school." "I would like to know if she leaves her assigned location, raises her voice to a teacher or peer, cries for longer than a few minutes, or destroys any school materials."

Identify the behavior you are most concerned about.

"Melt-down," is pretty vague. Almost all the kids I teach have meltdowns occasionally. But what behavior are you most concerned about, then ask if that happens and ask for a home/school communication log aligned to the thing you are concerned about.

This feels exactly right. Thank you very much.

[Anonymous]

OP, additional angle for this would be to ask teachers: what percentage of time is she available for learning? This links any behavioral or regulation difficulties back to learning. She can't learn during 45 min meltdown. So put the ball in their court to answer this. You can request accommodations or goals related to this.

Your gut is telling you something - this is not inconsequential, you do need to pay attention to this.

I hate when schools tell you "everything is great" and it's not...