IEP Meetings - Do we have to attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In moco your signature is only needed for the initial iep. They can change it however they want if you are not there! I strongly recommend going with an advocate. They are do much more reasonable when an advocate is present and he/she can set a positive tone for the meeting.

So you're essentially saying that the team can decide that your kid has for example - Dyslexia or ADHD - and put that in the IEP and you can do nothing about it unless you're there in person the fight them on it? and even if you fight them on it they can still put it on your child's IEP because after all, they don't need your signature?

I am asking an honest question here, not being sarcastic or snarky. I truly want to know the answer to this.

[Anonymous]

God, I'm sorry this happened to you OP. I have no doubt that you are your kid's biggest advocate, but I would still think about hiring a professional advocate. Even Batman had Robin.

My biggest beef with Moco was that they wanted to change my kid's designation at the 3 year IEP, but took away and would not give any meaningful services for the IEP. I was pretty much blindsided at the meeting b/c they did not send the proposed IEP. I kept my cool for this wretched meeting and hired a lawyer.

So at least your kid's IEP is good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In moco your signature is only needed for the initial iep. They can change it however they want if you are not there! I strongly recommend going with an advocate. They are do much more reasonable when an advocate is present and he/she can set a positive tone for the meeting.

So you're essentially saying that the team can decide that your kid has for example - Dyslexia or ADHD - and put that in the IEP and you can do nothing about it unless you're there in person the fight them on it? and even if you fight them on it they can still put it on your child's IEP because after all, they don't need your signature?

I am asking an honest question here, not being sarcastic or snarky. I truly want to know the answer to this.

It's a good question. This type of qualifying only tends to happen at the 3-year interval, though.

I think most of us were talking about subsequent IEPs, where they can and will change services and goals, especially if you aren't there to advocate.

As far as changing the disability qualification, if they have the testing, yes, they can put that in there if you aren't there to tell them otherwise. We had our team tell us over and over that they wanted to put our child under the ASD label. They certainly would have if we weren't there to tell them no. As it was, they put in that we rejected their recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Newbie here - so honest question. Why wouldn't you want the ASD or other label in the IEP? Because they have not been diagnosed by an outside agency? Because of a sigma it may cause in future educational opportunities? It seems the children would get more services with a label applied by the school. Why would the school apply a label that was not accurate such as ASD or ADHD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In moco your signature is only needed for the initial iep. They can change it however they want if you are not there! I strongly recommend going with an advocate. They are do much more reasonable when an advocate is present and he/she can set a positive tone for the meeting.

So you're essentially saying that the team can decide that your kid has for example - Dyslexia or ADHD - and put that in the IEP and you can do nothing about it unless you're there in person the fight them on it? and even if you fight them on it they can still put it on your child's IEP because after all, they don't need your signature?

I am asking an honest question here, not being sarcastic or snarky. I truly want to know the answer to this.

It's a good question. This type of qualifying only tends to happen at the 3-year interval, though.

I think most of us were talking about subsequent IEPs, where they can and will change services and goals, especially if you aren't there to advocate.

As far as changing the disability qualification, if they have the testing, yes, they can put that in there if you aren't there to tell them otherwise. We had our team tell us over and over that they wanted to put our child under the ASD label. They certainly would have if we weren't there to tell them no. As it was, they put in that we rejected their recommendation.

How interesting. This is EXACTLY what happened to us. We held our ground and would not allow it to be added....mind you DS has had two private comprehensive neuropsych evaluations done by actual psychologists where the diagnosis did not support what the IEP team was trying to have added.

[Anonymous]

Wow - I was always under the impression the schools were more conservative in labeling because they didn't want to offer services because of funding constraints. So you often have to fight against diagnosis from them that may not be accurate. interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow - I was always under the impression the schools were more conservative in labeling because they didn't want to offer services because of funding constraints. So you often have to fight against diagnosis from them that may not be accurate. interesting.

More ASD Diagnoses = More $$ for the school from the county

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Newbie here - so honest question. Why wouldn't you want the ASD or other label in the IEP? Because they have not been diagnosed by an outside agency? Because of a sigma it may cause in future educational opportunities? It seems the children would get more services with a label applied by the school. Why would the school apply a label that was not accurate such as ASD or ADHD?

Because in some states, an ASD label comes with more money, programming and services. Institutions do what is easiest and most expedient for them, not what's best for the child. My child had 4 evaluations saying he was not autistic, but instead language delayed and learning disabled.

In our case, the ASD label was desired by the IEP team so they could move our child out of a mainstream class into a segregated environment, because that's what was easiest for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow - I was always under the impression the schools were more conservative in labeling because they didn't want to offer services because of funding constraints. So you often have to fight against diagnosis from them that may not be accurate. interesting.

More ASD Diagnoses = More $$ for the school from the county

Schools do not diagnose. It is an education label under IDEA. There are 14 of them including ASD, OHI, etc. to get an IEP. the schools try to match the 100s of possible medical diagnosis to the closet education label that will provide the types of services the students needs.

100s of diagnosis to 14 education labels... Very few are going to get an exact match.

[Anonymous]

Also, at least in DC the school are paid by the number of SN service hours specified in the IEP not by the education label.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow - I was always under the impression the schools were more conservative in labeling because they didn't want to offer services because of funding constraints. So you often have to fight against diagnosis from them that may not be accurate. interesting.

More ASD Diagnoses = More $$ for the school from the county

Schools do not diagnose. It is an education label under IDEA. There are 14 of them including ASD, OHI, etc. to get an IEP. the schools try to match the 100s of possible medical diagnosis to the closet education label that will provide the types of services the students needs.

100s of diagnosis to 14 education labels... Very few are going to get an exact match.

In my experience, many parents whose children have been "labeled" ASD by the school system believe it is a diagnosis, because their child has been evaluated by the school team that consists of alleged experts. Often, the don't have thousands for an outside evaluation, because they immediately are plunged into trying to get therapy to get their child "caught up." Our school psychologists made a big point of saying they felt they had a right to diagnose my child as ASD, even though they couldn't even tell me the current DSM symptoms for it!

ASD is the diagnosis in the spotlight these days, so that's the label kids get shoved into.

[Anonymous]

Then fight for another label if getting an IEP under ASD bothers you so much. I think it will be a better use of resources to make sure the IEP contains the right supports/services for your child but that is just me.

[Anonymous]

OP,

Perhaps my brain is not working today, but I still don't understand why you would turn down this opportunity to interact with and influence what teachers are doing and thinking about your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then fight for another label if getting an IEP under ASD bothers you so much. I think it will be a better use of resources to make sure the IEP contains the right supports/services for your child but that is just me.

Is is a rare IEP that contains the right supports with the wrong educational label.

So we don't go halfway, we get both right.

[Anonymous]

If you really don't feel like you can face the team again send someone in your place. You need to have someone in there to make sure they don't gut the whole IEP.

If you don't want to pay an advocate, have a friend sit in. If things go south, she can ask to table the meeting on your behalf and then you may want to reconsider what to do when the meeting resumes another day. At that point you may decide to attend the meeting or hire a professional to handle it for you.