Lies my IEP Team Told Me- let’s compile

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I don’t recall any lies in elementary, middle or high school in MCPS, for our teen with special needs and an IEP.

Sorry, but the incessant bashing of special needs services in schools is getting old.

I agree. I think often parents are unrealistic about the timelines and also about what FAPE means and how much progress their child can make in the educational system. Kids whose families can afford private services will always be better off but that isn’t the schools fault.

[Anonymous]

"Self contained classrooms are rare placement and only for kids who cannot learn otherwise. Dont worry, sign here. You're child will stay in the general education classroom".

[Anonymous]

There is no such thing as co-taught honors classes, you can either have sped support or honors classes.

Teachers don’t have to be trained I. The program to administer it with Fidelity- they can just read the teacher guide.

There is no such thing as certification in teaching OG programs.

Teachers can’t say the word dyslexia in parent teacher conferences, it is illegal.


To be fair- I think some of the people saying these things believed them. But the mysterious district policy trainings seem to be the source.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The private placement process will go quickly. (Child was out of school for a year while fcps dicked around)

Same thing happened to my friend with FCPS! Her child couldn't handle the CSS site, she stopped bringing him in Sept bc they couldn't handle him, and they didn't find a school for him until the next September!
Parents--if your child is failing miserably in an FCPS class and they tell you they are working on a private placement, do whatever you can to KEEP SENDING HIM. Once he's not going to any school, he's not anyone's problem and there will be no progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda elementary
North Bethesda middle (out of cluster program)
Walter Johnson high (out of cluster program)

I would say you got lucky. We were at a different Elementary, but the same middle and high school, and we're not so lucky.

PP you replied to.

While there are definitely instances where children are not served as they should, I’ve come to the conclusion that many posters complaining on these boards are caught between what private providers say their kids should have, and what public schools can realistically provide. And sometimes (often?), it’s the private providers who push for more than is reasonable, because the microcosm of therapies and SN services is a business like any other, and needs a constant stream of clients. I am reminded of dentists pressuring patients to have multiple cleanings or other interventions done when not necessary, or veterinary practices pressuring pet owners to buy more diagnostics and procedures than their pet actually needs.

It is very important to be well informed, get second opinions, and try to do as much daily at-home parent-supported practice as possible to limit costs and travel/scheduling issues. In that mindset, it is also important to accept that public schools must be persuaded to do their utmost, with hard data to back up your arguments, but sometimes (often?) their utmost will only be the minimum acceptable standard.

We have had years when teachers/case managers met that minimal standard, and years when teachers/case managers went above and beyond. None were liars, or acted unprofessionally.

The most important thing to accept is that yes, special needs make life difficult, even with the best services and attention. The goal is to reduce those difficulties to something we can live with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as co-taught honors classes, you can either have sped support or honors classes.

Teachers don’t have to be trained I. The program to administer it with Fidelity- they can just read the teacher guide.

There is no such thing as certification in teaching OG programs.

Teachers can’t say the word dyslexia in parent teacher conferences, it is illegal.


To be fair- I think some of the people saying these things believed them. But the mysterious district policy trainings seem to be the source.

Some of these seem like just a miscommunication. At the schools where I’ve taught there are no cotaught honors sections because there isn’t the enrollment to justify it. If 10 kids needed cotaught honors algebra then sure it could be created, but for 1-3 kids they can’t use the staffing for it. FAPE doesn’t require honors cotaught, just an “appropriate” course. Some schools don’t offer honors at all in certain subjects, others it’s only honors. It just depends on the demands.

For the last one, teachers aren’t allowed to diagnose or suggest. If your child has dyslexia then I will happily talk to you about it, but if it hasn’t been diagnosed all I can share is factual observations of what I’m seeing. We can then test reading and comprehension ability, but I will never say I think a kid might have xyz in any meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda elementary
North Bethesda middle (out of cluster program)
Walter Johnson high (out of cluster program)

I would say you got lucky. We were at a different Elementary, but the same middle and high school, and we're not so lucky.

PP you replied to.

While there are definitely instances where children are not served as they should, I’ve come to the conclusion that many posters complaining on these boards are caught between what private providers say their kids should have, and what public schools can realistically provide. And sometimes (often?), it’s the private providers who push for more than is reasonable, because the microcosm of therapies and SN services is a business like any other, and needs a constant stream of clients. I am reminded of dentists pressuring patients to have multiple cleanings or other interventions done when not necessary, or veterinary practices pressuring pet owners to buy more diagnostics and procedures than their pet actually needs.

It is very important to be well informed, get second opinions, and try to do as much daily at-home parent-supported practice as possible to limit costs and travel/scheduling issues. In that mindset, it is also important to accept that public schools must be persuaded to do their utmost, with hard data to back up your arguments, but sometimes (often?) their utmost will only be the minimum acceptable standard.

We have had years when teachers/case managers met that minimal standard, and years when teachers/case managers went above and beyond. None were liars, or acted unprofessionally.

The most important thing to accept is that yes, special needs make life difficult, even with the best services and attention. The goal is to reduce those difficulties to something we can live with.

I used to believe this too because my child received an acceptable level of support at school (coupled with lots of private therapy and home support). But I have recently become more active within the dyslexia community and I am hearing things from other parents and seeing IEPs that bluntly horrify me.

In my corporate job I understand that “you get what you negotiate” but I really think there should be some minimum conduct standards for school-based IEP teams. Just because I know to bring in the PSL when the school is feeding me a line, doesn’t mean my child should receive more support than a trusting parent.

[Anonymous]

In FCPS, things vary widely from school to school. The district is really trying to get everyone on board in terms of dyslexia. There are specialists atGatehouse that you can call in to help at IEPs. You need to keep giving feedback to those folks if your school isn’t serving those kids well.

I know several kids who have waited a very long time for private placements. The central office staff in charge of that has not been working in a timely manner. Call your school board member and complain up the line. Insist on more staff in the current placement while waiting.

A very long time ago a parent dropped her special needs teenager off at the district special ed office with a packed lunch at nine in the morning and said she’d be back at three for him. He was placed the next day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In FCPS, things vary widely from school to school. The district is really trying to get everyone on board in terms of dyslexia. There are specialists atGatehouse that you can call in to help at IEPs. You need to keep giving feedback to those folks if your school isn’t serving those kids well.

I know several kids who have waited a very long time for private placements. The central office staff in charge of that has not been working in a timely manner. Call your school board member and complain up the line. Insist on more staff in the current placement while waiting.

A very long time ago a parent dropped her special needs teenager off at the district special ed office with a packed lunch at nine in the morning and said she’d be back at three for him. He was placed the next day.

Oh my god. She is my hero.

[Anonymous]

This is a great story!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as co-taught honors classes, you can either have sped support or honors classes.

Teachers don’t have to be trained I. The program to administer it with Fidelity- they can just read the teacher guide.

There is no such thing as certification in teaching OG programs.

Teachers can’t say the word dyslexia in parent teacher conferences, it is illegal.


To be fair- I think some of the people saying these things believed them. But the mysterious district policy trainings seem to be the source.

Some of these seem like just a miscommunication. At the schools where I’ve taught there are no cotaught honors sections because there isn’t the enrollment to justify it. If 10 kids needed cotaught honors algebra then sure it could be created, but for 1-3 kids they can’t use the staffing for it. FAPE doesn’t require honors cotaught, just an “appropriate” course. Some schools don’t offer honors at all in certain subjects, others it’s only honors. It just depends on the demands.

For the last one, teachers aren’t allowed to diagnose or suggest. If your child has dyslexia then I will happily talk to you about it, but if it hasn’t been diagnosed all I can share is factual observations of what I’m seeing. We can then test reading and comprehension ability, but I will never say I think a kid might have xyz in any meeting.

This is true. For the same reason, teachers cannot tell a parent "I think your kid has ADHD" because they aren't qualified to make a diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

We can’t screen your child for dyslexia before the 3rd grade- reading will click by then.

Nobody can diagnose dyslexia before 3rd grade.

Fountas & Pinnel is great for struggling readers, we’ll just do some RTI activities and they will catch up.

Small group pull outs are effective to catch up struggling readers.

Fundations is a Tier 3 intervention. (This is a more technical issue, but the Wilson program is Tier 3, but Fundations is designed for Gen Ed)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as co-taught honors classes, you can either have sped support or honors classes.

Teachers don’t have to be trained I. The program to administer it with Fidelity- they can just read the teacher guide.

There is no such thing as certification in teaching OG programs.

Teachers can’t say the word dyslexia in parent teacher conferences, it is illegal.


To be fair- I think some of the people saying these things believed them. But the mysterious district policy trainings seem to be the source.

Some of these seem like just a miscommunication. At the schools where I’ve taught there are no cotaught honors sections because there isn’t the enrollment to justify it. If 10 kids needed cotaught honors algebra then sure it could be created, but for 1-3 kids they can’t use the staffing for it. FAPE doesn’t require honors cotaught, just an “appropriate” course. Some schools don’t offer honors at all in certain subjects, others it’s only honors. It just depends on the demands.

For the last one, teachers aren’t allowed to diagnose or suggest. If your child has dyslexia then I will happily talk to you about it, but if it hasn’t been diagnosed all I can share is factual observations of what I’m seeing. We can then test reading and comprehension ability, but I will never say I think a kid might have xyz in any meeting.

This is true. For the same reason, teachers cannot tell a parent "I think your kid has ADHD" because they aren't qualified to make a diagnosis.

Teachers can’t diagnose, that is correct. But is is absolutely NOT ILLEGAL for them to suggest that a child be screened for a learning disability such as dyslexia based on their observations. More than 1 teacher has told me that suggesting screening is illegal, when in fact Child Find is required by law. If there are concerns, a child should be screened.

I am not sure if they are hearing this in teacher college or from their admins. But it needs to be fixed. K and 1st grade teachers are on the frontlines for identifying kids with learning challenges.

[Anonymous]

We were obviously so lucky; I had no idea. We got an IEP for speech articulation therapy when the initial screen didn’t quite suggest it (around the 20-25th%ile), but the evaluator added some observations about comprehensibility going down during connected spontaneous speech (true), to get us over the line. It was so helpful. (Our kid tested 90%ileish on vocabulary and we are UMC — no insurance coverage though and multiple small kids, so private speech would have been doable but require sacrifices — so we weren’t a particularly sympathetic case. I just assumes all the Early Stages people were out to help families. Anyway, these stories are horrible and I’m so sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as co-taught honors classes, you can either have sped support or honors classes.

Teachers don’t have to be trained I. The program to administer it with Fidelity- they can just read the teacher guide.

There is no such thing as certification in teaching OG programs.

Teachers can’t say the word dyslexia in parent teacher conferences, it is illegal.


To be fair- I think some of the people saying these things believed them. But the mysterious district policy trainings seem to be the source.

Some of these seem like just a miscommunication. At the schools where I’ve taught there are no cotaught honors sections because there isn’t the enrollment to justify it. If 10 kids needed cotaught honors algebra then sure it could be created, but for 1-3 kids they can’t use the staffing for it. FAPE doesn’t require honors cotaught, just an “appropriate” course. Some schools don’t offer honors at all in certain subjects, others it’s only honors. It just depends on the demands.

For the last one, teachers aren’t allowed to diagnose or suggest. If your child has dyslexia then I will happily talk to you about it, but if it hasn’t been diagnosed all I can share is factual observations of what I’m seeing. We can then test reading and comprehension ability, but I will never say I think a kid might have xyz in any meeting.

This is true. For the same reason, teachers cannot tell a parent "I think your kid has ADHD" because they aren't qualified to make a diagnosis.

Teachers can’t diagnose, that is correct. But is is absolutely NOT ILLEGAL for them to suggest that a child be screened for a learning disability such as dyslexia based on their observations. More than 1 teacher has told me that suggesting screening is illegal, when in fact Child Find is required by law. If there are concerns, a child should be screened.

I am not sure if they are hearing this in teacher college or from their admins. But it needs to be fixed. K and 1st grade teachers are on the frontlines for identifying kids with learning challenges.

The problem is that, as a matter of policy, schools don't want teachers to make suggestions like that. I found this out with my own ASD kid. We had a lot of issues in K and 1st grade. School staff worked with us, but they never suggested seeing a doctor or getting an IEP. After we requested an IEP, they told us they suspected autism.

I don't fault the schools for not saying anything. Some parents would become extremely upset if the school said their kid has a disability. It's not worth risking the anger of those few parents even if most parents would be grateful.