
PP here. ...what do we know...we're just the overly emotional parents. 🙄 |
I had an iep for the record books today. This was with outside testing and an advocate. We had multiple data points showing years below level but they just don’t see academic impact. I will say it forever, it’s disgusting how they treat kids with disabilities. People, make sure you have an advocate! |
OP I've been following your thread. A few things stood out to me.
-We have used two different advocates and the resulting IEPs looked better, but not great and the services weren't forthcoming so our child didn't receive half the services they needed. I think the advocates were trying to preserve their long-term relationships with the schools, and to keep their requests gentle, so they could point to positive results. In the wealthier parts of MCPS, I think this experience is more common than what happened at the IEPs you describe. -You lack professional detachment. Your comments are so personal - complaining that you were "painted like the enemy", etc. I think this is sometimes an occupational hazard of teaching. -You seem to lack an understanding of how your school administration, MCPS, and the state and federal government each play a role in your situation. I hope your school is able to hire replacements for the teachers who left. Best wishes to you. |
This is such privileged, offensive misogyny. Many of us need to work to pay rent or a mortgage, to eat and to have access to health insurance! Furthermore, the pressure to work is even higher when your child's special needs means you know you are going to have to pay - 1) large health insurance copays and deductible for SN related treatments and therapies 2) expensive out of pocket neuropsych assessments because school assessments are not well done or the significance of the results is deliberately obfuscated and 3) many, many years worth of outside tutoring because school-based special instruction is a very limited number of hours with poor, non-evidence-based special instruction and 4) legal and educational advocate fees for those times when the school system makes an egregious mistake and refuses to correct it and even 5) to save money in trust for the life of your SN child if you are afraid that they will not live independently. Not to mention, that the parent who takes time off work not only loses out on salary, but also benefits like life insurance, retirement contributions, disability insurance, social security and unemployment credits, access to long term care insurance, and other family support benefits. I am so tired of people who blame working parents for their kids disabilities and mental health issues! The vast majority of people who end up as caretakers are women because they are seen as "nurturing", knowledgeable about their kids and they typically earn less than the father. |
Plus, everyone should be asking this question in private and in public and then expressing shock when the answer is no a school doesn't have team-taught AP! |
Parents are unrealistic about what public schools can provide. There are finite resources. Everyone is fighting for a bigger slice of pie for their child. Fair enough but something has to give. And neurotypical kids need resources + time and attention as well. |
Schools get additional funding for SN kids. For each SN child coded in a specific way (which is why they push specific diagnosis) they get more funding for sped teachers. So, yes, it's reasonable to expect support given they are using our kids for those additional resources. |
And yet, teachers keep trying to patiently explain that it is not enough |
Right. And all we need to do to fix everything is make sure we come unrepresented to iep meetings. Also it’s such a red herring to suggest that SN parents don’t care about NT kids when the majority of families I know have both SN and NT kids. |
Also, teachers are not involved at the stage where the IEP is being written so I have no idea what OP is crying about. |
DP. Commonwealth Academy in Alexandria for ADHD and giftedness |
Try explaining this to your state rep then. |
Maryland especially is a solid blue state with a great tax base compared to the rest of the country. We have a former MCPS teacher, Eric Luedtke, high up in the state government. I really think parents organizing around increased Special Education funds and mandatory caseload caps and allocated IEP writing times for Special Education teachers is very politically doable. |
Interesting. When we looked at it a couple of years ago the academics didn’t seem that strong. |
Are you explaining it to your state rep? |