Crowd-sourcing help with DCPS terminating IEP services

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not only presenting with articulation errors that is the issue here; it's actually impacting my child's ability to access education. They had to give in-class presentations twice this year and both times we practiced extensively at home at ease public speaking anxiety. Both presentations ended up very frustrating with my child reporting that the other students didn't understand them and didn't ask questions, and the second time the substitute teacher didn't understand that my child was only 1/3 into the presentation and told them to sit down. So, it's discouraging to hear stories like that at pick-up and DCPS making up data to terminate services and refusing to consider parental input.

There are explanations that are plausible that do not involve his speech. Can you ask the Teacher for feedback on what happened?

[Anonymous]

You practice at home to ease anxiety which is something an SLP cannot help you with. While anxiety may impact communication, it is not a communication disorder. If your child is anxious, they may not be the best source of information regarding the outcome of the presentation and how it was perceived by others. Ask the teacher whether your child is understood by others and whether they participate. If school staff truly cannot understand your child. I highly doubt the school team would support dismissal.

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to chime in and say, if you can get your kid some immediate help while the school is attempting to terminate his services, it may be a good idea.

Sometimes there are waitlists for services, so while you're handling the shenanigans with the IEP team, your kid still needs help.

Take your child to the pediatrician, explain what is happening, and get a referrel if you need it, or can benefit from it.

It definitely sounds like your kid would benefit from proper Speech, even if it's due to anxiety. In addition, if your kiddo suffers from anxiety too, and it's affecting school, get help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you need is speech therapy, that is incredibly easy to obtain privately and often covered by insurance. And frankly if you go to appointments with him and receive instruction on home practice he will make far more progress.

I understand being upset but you really need to focus on your child. If you absolutely can’t afford private services even with insurance then I guess you can keep fighting but I don’t understand hiring a lawyer for that because it’s so expensive?

Look I have a kid with significant articulation issues and we are hoping he will be on level by the time he gets to elementary school. If not, I will make sure he gets caught up fully, not just to whatever line is not impacting his education. That’s my job as a mom. My other child has an IEP because she needs specialized instruction that can only occur in the school building. She also receives private services and while it would be great to have them delivered during the school day at no cost to us it’s absolutely not going to happen.

I really don’t think you are helping out lower income families by picking this fight. The IEP process is trying to get kids up to a somewhat low bar and they need to focus on kids who need help during the school day.

Thank you for having the guts to say this. Picking fights like this actually does not "benefit everyone's rights" or help poorer families or whatever. It takes resources away from them and gives it to the squeaky wheel, because the resources are a finite pool that is shrinking. What will actually happen is that the SLP, with their already bloated caseload (several of which are probably also similar cases that could be dismissed based on sound clinical judgment but the SLP doesn't have the energy for the fight), will shove other people's kids into a group of 6 to make space in the schedule for this, so they get even worse services and less attention. Or the severely impacted child who was finally going to get an individual session, now won't. And probably 15 other kids will miss their speech therapy session while the SLP sits in the second or third 3-hour IEP meeting about this mild artic case, none of which will be made up because there aren't enough hours in the day.

Private therapy would be much more effective for the child and cost-efficient for the family than hiring an attorney, and nobody else is going to benefit from this. It doesn't work like that.

lol no. do you actually think that by violating OP’s procedural & substantive rights, DCPS is going to give more SLP hours to a more deserving child? That’s not how it works. Every time a parent enforces their rights, the school learns that they don’t have a carte blanche to violate IDEA. Maybe OP’s child legitimately does not qualify. That’s fine, but DCPS needs to follow the rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you need is speech therapy, that is incredibly easy to obtain privately and often covered by insurance. And frankly if you go to appointments with him and receive instruction on home practice he will make far more progress.

I understand being upset but you really need to focus on your child. If you absolutely can’t afford private services even with insurance then I guess you can keep fighting but I don’t understand hiring a lawyer for that because it’s so expensive?

Look I have a kid with significant articulation issues and we are hoping he will be on level by the time he gets to elementary school. If not, I will make sure he gets caught up fully, not just to whatever line is not impacting his education. That’s my job as a mom. My other child has an IEP because she needs specialized instruction that can only occur in the school building. She also receives private services and while it would be great to have them delivered during the school day at no cost to us it’s absolutely not going to happen.

I really don’t think you are helping out lower income families by picking this fight. The IEP process is trying to get kids up to a somewhat low bar and they need to focus on kids who need help during the school day.

Thank you for having the guts to say this. Picking fights like this actually does not "benefit everyone's rights" or help poorer families or whatever. It takes resources away from them and gives it to the squeaky wheel, because the resources are a finite pool that is shrinking. What will actually happen is that the SLP, with their already bloated caseload (several of which are probably also similar cases that could be dismissed based on sound clinical judgment but the SLP doesn't have the energy for the fight), will shove other people's kids into a group of 6 to make space in the schedule for this, so they get even worse services and less attention. Or the severely impacted child who was finally going to get an individual session, now won't. And probably 15 other kids will miss their speech therapy session while the SLP sits in the second or third 3-hour IEP meeting about this mild artic case, none of which will be made up because there aren't enough hours in the day.

Private therapy would be much more effective for the child and cost-efficient for the family than hiring an attorney, and nobody else is going to benefit from this. It doesn't work like that.

lol no. do you actually think that by violating OP’s procedural & substantive rights, DCPS is going to give more SLP hours to a more deserving child? That’s not how it works. Every time a parent enforces their rights, the school learns that they don’t have a carte blanche to violate IDEA. Maybe OP’s child legitimately does not qualify. That’s fine, but DCPS needs to follow the rules.

Maybe I missed it but what procedural rights were violated? It sounds like they disagree with the assessment, so they can appeal but I don’t understand why they would for this, when private speech is easy to obtain, better and the bar for the level of articulation that impacts educational access seems very subjective…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you need is speech therapy, that is incredibly easy to obtain privately and often covered by insurance. And frankly if you go to appointments with him and receive instruction on home practice he will make far more progress.

I understand being upset but you really need to focus on your child. If you absolutely can’t afford private services even with insurance then I guess you can keep fighting but I don’t understand hiring a lawyer for that because it’s so expensive?

Look I have a kid with significant articulation issues and we are hoping he will be on level by the time he gets to elementary school. If not, I will make sure he gets caught up fully, not just to whatever line is not impacting his education. That’s my job as a mom. My other child has an IEP because she needs specialized instruction that can only occur in the school building. She also receives private services and while it would be great to have them delivered during the school day at no cost to us it’s absolutely not going to happen.

I really don’t think you are helping out lower income families by picking this fight. The IEP process is trying to get kids up to a somewhat low bar and they need to focus on kids who need help during the school day.

Thank you for having the guts to say this. Picking fights like this actually does not "benefit everyone's rights" or help poorer families or whatever. It takes resources away from them and gives it to the squeaky wheel, because the resources are a finite pool that is shrinking. What will actually happen is that the SLP, with their already bloated caseload (several of which are probably also similar cases that could be dismissed based on sound clinical judgment but the SLP doesn't have the energy for the fight), will shove other people's kids into a group of 6 to make space in the schedule for this, so they get even worse services and less attention. Or the severely impacted child who was finally going to get an individual session, now won't. And probably 15 other kids will miss their speech therapy session while the SLP sits in the second or third 3-hour IEP meeting about this mild artic case, none of which will be made up because there aren't enough hours in the day.

Private therapy would be much more effective for the child and cost-efficient for the family than hiring an attorney, and nobody else is going to benefit from this. It doesn't work like that.

lol no. do you actually think that by violating OP’s procedural & substantive rights, DCPS is going to give more SLP hours to a more deserving child? That’s not how it works. Every time a parent enforces their rights, the school learns that they don’t have a carte blanche to violate IDEA. Maybe OP’s child legitimately does not qualify. That’s fine, but DCPS needs to follow the rules.

Maybe I missed it but what procedural rights were violated? It sounds like they disagree with the assessment, so they can appeal but I don’t understand why they would for this, when private speech is easy to obtain, better and the bar for the level of articulation that impacts educational access seems very subjective…

they told her she wasn’t part of the IEP team. They refused to consider her input. And I’m sure they didn’t give her drafts on time or have the right people there (DCPS never does this for our IEP meetings unless we demand it.) And of course OP also disagrees with the substantive outcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you need is speech therapy, that is incredibly easy to obtain privately and often covered by insurance. And frankly if you go to appointments with him and receive instruction on home practice he will make far more progress.

I understand being upset but you really need to focus on your child. If you absolutely can’t afford private services even with insurance then I guess you can keep fighting but I don’t understand hiring a lawyer for that because it’s so expensive?

Look I have a kid with significant articulation issues and we are hoping he will be on level by the time he gets to elementary school. If not, I will make sure he gets caught up fully, not just to whatever line is not impacting his education. That’s my job as a mom. My other child has an IEP because she needs specialized instruction that can only occur in the school building. She also receives private services and while it would be great to have them delivered during the school day at no cost to us it’s absolutely not going to happen.

I really don’t think you are helping out lower income families by picking this fight. The IEP process is trying to get kids up to a somewhat low bar and they need to focus on kids who need help during the school day.

Thank you for having the guts to say this. Picking fights like this actually does not "benefit everyone's rights" or help poorer families or whatever. It takes resources away from them and gives it to the squeaky wheel, because the resources are a finite pool that is shrinking. What will actually happen is that the SLP, with their already bloated caseload (several of which are probably also similar cases that could be dismissed based on sound clinical judgment but the SLP doesn't have the energy for the fight), will shove other people's kids into a group of 6 to make space in the schedule for this, so they get even worse services and less attention. Or the severely impacted child who was finally going to get an individual session, now won't. And probably 15 other kids will miss their speech therapy session while the SLP sits in the second or third 3-hour IEP meeting about this mild artic case, none of which will be made up because there aren't enough hours in the day.

Private therapy would be much more effective for the child and cost-efficient for the family than hiring an attorney, and nobody else is going to benefit from this. It doesn't work like that.

lol no. do you actually think that by violating OP’s procedural & substantive rights, DCPS is going to give more SLP hours to a more deserving child? That’s not how it works. Every time a parent enforces their rights, the school learns that they don’t have a carte blanche to violate IDEA. Maybe OP’s child legitimately does not qualify. That’s fine, but DCPS needs to follow the rules.

Maybe I missed it but what procedural rights were violated? It sounds like they disagree with the assessment, so they can appeal but I don’t understand why they would for this, when private speech is easy to obtain, better and the bar for the level of articulation that impacts educational access seems very subjective…

they told her she wasn’t part of the IEP team. They refused to consider her input. And I’m sure they didn’t give her drafts on time or have the right people there (DCPS never does this for our IEP meetings unless we demand it.) And of course OP also disagrees with the substantive outcome.

oh also, lied to her about her stay put rights and right to an IEE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you need is speech therapy, that is incredibly easy to obtain privately and often covered by insurance. And frankly if you go to appointments with him and receive instruction on home practice he will make far more progress.

I understand being upset but you really need to focus on your child. If you absolutely can’t afford private services even with insurance then I guess you can keep fighting but I don’t understand hiring a lawyer for that because it’s so expensive?

Look I have a kid with significant articulation issues and we are hoping he will be on level by the time he gets to elementary school. If not, I will make sure he gets caught up fully, not just to whatever line is not impacting his education. That’s my job as a mom. My other child has an IEP because she needs specialized instruction that can only occur in the school building. She also receives private services and while it would be great to have them delivered during the school day at no cost to us it’s absolutely not going to happen.

I really don’t think you are helping out lower income families by picking this fight. The IEP process is trying to get kids up to a somewhat low bar and they need to focus on kids who need help during the school day.

Thank you for having the guts to say this. Picking fights like this actually does not "benefit everyone's rights" or help poorer families or whatever. It takes resources away from them and gives it to the squeaky wheel, because the resources are a finite pool that is shrinking. What will actually happen is that the SLP, with their already bloated caseload (several of which are probably also similar cases that could be dismissed based on sound clinical judgment but the SLP doesn't have the energy for the fight), will shove other people's kids into a group of 6 to make space in the schedule for this, so they get even worse services and less attention. Or the severely impacted child who was finally going to get an individual session, now won't. And probably 15 other kids will miss their speech therapy session while the SLP sits in the second or third 3-hour IEP meeting about this mild artic case, none of which will be made up because there aren't enough hours in the day.

Private therapy would be much more effective for the child and cost-efficient for the family than hiring an attorney, and nobody else is going to benefit from this. It doesn't work like that.

lol no. do you actually think that by violating OP’s procedural & substantive rights, DCPS is going to give more SLP hours to a more deserving child? That’s not how it works. Every time a parent enforces their rights, the school learns that they don’t have a carte blanche to violate IDEA. Maybe OP’s child legitimately does not qualify. That’s fine, but DCPS needs to follow the rules.

Maybe I missed it but what procedural rights were violated? It sounds like they disagree with the assessment, so they can appeal but I don’t understand why they would for this, when private speech is easy to obtain, better and the bar for the level of articulation that impacts educational access seems very subjective…

they told her she wasn’t part of the IEP team. They refused to consider her input. And I’m sure they didn’t give her drafts on time or have the right people there (DCPS never does this for our IEP meetings unless we demand it.) And of course OP also disagrees with the substantive outcome.

oh also, lied to her about her stay put rights and right to an IEE.

They didn’t lie about the rights to an IEE. They do not have to grant them if they can defend their assessment as valid. DCPS is beginning to make parents file a due process to prove the schools assessment is not valid and require an IEE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not only presenting with articulation errors that is the issue here; it's actually impacting my child's ability to access education. They had to give in-class presentations twice this year and both times we practiced extensively at home at ease public speaking anxiety. Both presentations ended up very frustrating with my child reporting that the other students didn't understand them and didn't ask questions, and the second time the substitute teacher didn't understand that my child was only 1/3 into the presentation and told them to sit down. So, it's discouraging to hear stories like that at pick-up and DCPS making up data to terminate services and refusing to consider parental input.

By your own words, your child had "public speaking anxiety". That's probably something you should get them therapy for, which in turn could help their articulation. It sounds like the articulation isn't really a problem in settings where they're calm, and speech can only do so much sometimes with articulation. There is often a point where it's more detrimental to pull a kid out of class for speech, ostracizing them from their peers and they miss instruction. Sounds like your kid has hit this point. 30 minutes a week really doesn't do that much anyways with articulation if they aren't practicing skills at home or you're not helping them with it.

You also haven't stated how old your child is, despite multiple queries about it, which makes me think your kids is probably middle school, and really at a point where they don't need speech.

And parents are team members, but your vote doesn't weigh more than anyone else's vote does. You were outnumbered, majority rules. That's why they have the mediation/due process because if it was always what the parents wanted, kids would never be dismissed when they should be. Deep down, I bet you agree and that's why you're not pursuing an IEE because you know it'll say the say thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you need is speech therapy, that is incredibly easy to obtain privately and often covered by insurance. And frankly if you go to appointments with him and receive instruction on home practice he will make far more progress.

I understand being upset but you really need to focus on your child. If you absolutely can’t afford private services even with insurance then I guess you can keep fighting but I don’t understand hiring a lawyer for that because it’s so expensive?

Look I have a kid with significant articulation issues and we are hoping he will be on level by the time he gets to elementary school. If not, I will make sure he gets caught up fully, not just to whatever line is not impacting his education. That’s my job as a mom. My other child has an IEP because she needs specialized instruction that can only occur in the school building. She also receives private services and while it would be great to have them delivered during the school day at no cost to us it’s absolutely not going to happen.

I really don’t think you are helping out lower income families by picking this fight. The IEP process is trying to get kids up to a somewhat low bar and they need to focus on kids who need help during the school day.

Thank you for having the guts to say this. Picking fights like this actually does not "benefit everyone's rights" or help poorer families or whatever. It takes resources away from them and gives it to the squeaky wheel, because the resources are a finite pool that is shrinking. What will actually happen is that the SLP, with their already bloated caseload (several of which are probably also similar cases that could be dismissed based on sound clinical judgment but the SLP doesn't have the energy for the fight), will shove other people's kids into a group of 6 to make space in the schedule for this, so they get even worse services and less attention. Or the severely impacted child who was finally going to get an individual session, now won't. And probably 15 other kids will miss their speech therapy session while the SLP sits in the second or third 3-hour IEP meeting about this mild artic case, none of which will be made up because there aren't enough hours in the day.

Private therapy would be much more effective for the child and cost-efficient for the family than hiring an attorney, and nobody else is going to benefit from this. It doesn't work like that.

lol no. do you actually think that by violating OP’s procedural & substantive rights, DCPS is going to give more SLP hours to a more deserving child? That’s not how it works. Every time a parent enforces their rights, the school learns that they don’t have a carte blanche to violate IDEA. Maybe OP’s child legitimately does not qualify. That’s fine, but DCPS needs to follow the rules.

Maybe I missed it but what procedural rights were violated? It sounds like they disagree with the assessment, so they can appeal but I don’t understand why they would for this, when private speech is easy to obtain, better and the bar for the level of articulation that impacts educational access seems very subjective…

The OP said it was an AED meeting - which is where they determine what assessments need to be done as a part of the re-evaluation / determination of eligibility.
If that was the purpose of the meeting - saying that the child met IEP goals and therefore no longer needs speech services is not how it is supposed to happen.
In the AED meeting, you gather existing data - and you determine what assessments need to be done - and one should have been a new speech evaluation.
After that speech evaluation was completed (as well as other assessments as the team determines) there would be a meeting to review the results of the evaluations and make a determination if the child qualifies for services.

Meeting goals does not mean that a child does not have a disability.

And based on experience - hearing officers do not like when DCPS tells parents that they are not a part of the IEP team.

[Anonymous]

so, you want to take your school's SLP and LEA team's time, force them to spend more hours that could be put toward students in meetings, all with the knowledge that you're going to end up in private services anyway? Because of a procedural error? Yeah, you are really looking out for those other families

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you need is speech therapy, that is incredibly easy to obtain privately and often covered by insurance. And frankly if you go to appointments with him and receive instruction on home practice he will make far more progress.

I understand being upset but you really need to focus on your child. If you absolutely can’t afford private services even with insurance then I guess you can keep fighting but I don’t understand hiring a lawyer for that because it’s so expensive?

Look I have a kid with significant articulation issues and we are hoping he will be on level by the time he gets to elementary school. If not, I will make sure he gets caught up fully, not just to whatever line is not impacting his education. That’s my job as a mom. My other child has an IEP because she needs specialized instruction that can only occur in the school building. She also receives private services and while it would be great to have them delivered during the school day at no cost to us it’s absolutely not going to happen.

I really don’t think you are helping out lower income families by picking this fight. The IEP process is trying to get kids up to a somewhat low bar and they need to focus on kids who need help during the school day.

Thank you for having the guts to say this. Picking fights like this actually does not "benefit everyone's rights" or help poorer families or whatever. It takes resources away from them and gives it to the squeaky wheel, because the resources are a finite pool that is shrinking. What will actually happen is that the SLP, with their already bloated caseload (several of which are probably also similar cases that could be dismissed based on sound clinical judgment but the SLP doesn't have the energy for the fight), will shove other people's kids into a group of 6 to make space in the schedule for this, so they get even worse services and less attention. Or the severely impacted child who was finally going to get an individual session, now won't. And probably 15 other kids will miss their speech therapy session while the SLP sits in the second or third 3-hour IEP meeting about this mild artic case, none of which will be made up because there aren't enough hours in the day.

Private therapy would be much more effective for the child and cost-efficient for the family than hiring an attorney, and nobody else is going to benefit from this. It doesn't work like that.

lol no. do you actually think that by violating OP’s procedural & substantive rights, DCPS is going to give more SLP hours to a more deserving child? That’s not how it works. Every time a parent enforces their rights, the school learns that they don’t have a carte blanche to violate IDEA. Maybe OP’s child legitimately does not qualify. That’s fine, but DCPS needs to follow the rules.

Maybe I missed it but what procedural rights were violated? It sounds like they disagree with the assessment, so they can appeal but I don’t understand why they would for this, when private speech is easy to obtain, better and the bar for the level of articulation that impacts educational access seems very subjective…

they told her she wasn’t part of the IEP team. They refused to consider her input. And I’m sure they didn’t give her drafts on time or have the right people there (DCPS never does this for our IEP meetings unless we demand it.) And of course OP also disagrees with the substantive outcome.

oh also, lied to her about her stay put rights and right to an IEE.

They didn’t lie about the rights to an IEE. They do not have to grant them if they can defend their assessment as valid. DCPS is beginning to make parents file a due process to prove the schools assessment is not valid and require an IEE

so she has a potential right to an IEE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you need is speech therapy, that is incredibly easy to obtain privately and often covered by insurance. And frankly if you go to appointments with him and receive instruction on home practice he will make far more progress.

I understand being upset but you really need to focus on your child. If you absolutely can’t afford private services even with insurance then I guess you can keep fighting but I don’t understand hiring a lawyer for that because it’s so expensive?

Look I have a kid with significant articulation issues and we are hoping he will be on level by the time he gets to elementary school. If not, I will make sure he gets caught up fully, not just to whatever line is not impacting his education. That’s my job as a mom. My other child has an IEP because she needs specialized instruction that can only occur in the school building. She also receives private services and while it would be great to have them delivered during the school day at no cost to us it’s absolutely not going to happen.

I really don’t think you are helping out lower income families by picking this fight. The IEP process is trying to get kids up to a somewhat low bar and they need to focus on kids who need help during the school day.

Thank you for having the guts to say this. Picking fights like this actually does not "benefit everyone's rights" or help poorer families or whatever. It takes resources away from them and gives it to the squeaky wheel, because the resources are a finite pool that is shrinking. What will actually happen is that the SLP, with their already bloated caseload (several of which are probably also similar cases that could be dismissed based on sound clinical judgment but the SLP doesn't have the energy for the fight), will shove other people's kids into a group of 6 to make space in the schedule for this, so they get even worse services and less attention. Or the severely impacted child who was finally going to get an individual session, now won't. And probably 15 other kids will miss their speech therapy session while the SLP sits in the second or third 3-hour IEP meeting about this mild artic case, none of which will be made up because there aren't enough hours in the day.

Private therapy would be much more effective for the child and cost-efficient for the family than hiring an attorney, and nobody else is going to benefit from this. It doesn't work like that.

lol no. do you actually think that by violating OP’s procedural & substantive rights, DCPS is going to give more SLP hours to a more deserving child? That’s not how it works. Every time a parent enforces their rights, the school learns that they don’t have a carte blanche to violate IDEA. Maybe OP’s child legitimately does not qualify. That’s fine, but DCPS needs to follow the rules.

Depends on whether you're trying to Make A Point or get more services. She's not going to get more services. Her child is absolutely best served by a private SLP. There's nothing to win here. None of these fights are won on procedural violations. They're just the icing on the cake for otherwise strong cases. Unless you're successfully getting more services then telling all the other families how you did it, you're not helping anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so, you want to take your school's SLP and LEA team's time, force them to spend more hours that could be put toward students in meetings, all with the knowledge that you're going to end up in private services anyway? Because of a procedural error? Yeah, you are really looking out for those other families

So outrageous OP wants to enforce her child’s rights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you need is speech therapy, that is incredibly easy to obtain privately and often covered by insurance. And frankly if you go to appointments with him and receive instruction on home practice he will make far more progress.

I understand being upset but you really need to focus on your child. If you absolutely can’t afford private services even with insurance then I guess you can keep fighting but I don’t understand hiring a lawyer for that because it’s so expensive?

Look I have a kid with significant articulation issues and we are hoping he will be on level by the time he gets to elementary school. If not, I will make sure he gets caught up fully, not just to whatever line is not impacting his education. That’s my job as a mom. My other child has an IEP because she needs specialized instruction that can only occur in the school building. She also receives private services and while it would be great to have them delivered during the school day at no cost to us it’s absolutely not going to happen.

I really don’t think you are helping out lower income families by picking this fight. The IEP process is trying to get kids up to a somewhat low bar and they need to focus on kids who need help during the school day.

Thank you for having the guts to say this. Picking fights like this actually does not "benefit everyone's rights" or help poorer families or whatever. It takes resources away from them and gives it to the squeaky wheel, because the resources are a finite pool that is shrinking. What will actually happen is that the SLP, with their already bloated caseload (several of which are probably also similar cases that could be dismissed based on sound clinical judgment but the SLP doesn't have the energy for the fight), will shove other people's kids into a group of 6 to make space in the schedule for this, so they get even worse services and less attention. Or the severely impacted child who was finally going to get an individual session, now won't. And probably 15 other kids will miss their speech therapy session while the SLP sits in the second or third 3-hour IEP meeting about this mild artic case, none of which will be made up because there aren't enough hours in the day.

Private therapy would be much more effective for the child and cost-efficient for the family than hiring an attorney, and nobody else is going to benefit from this. It doesn't work like that.

lol no. do you actually think that by violating OP’s procedural & substantive rights, DCPS is going to give more SLP hours to a more deserving child? That’s not how it works. Every time a parent enforces their rights, the school learns that they don’t have a carte blanche to violate IDEA. Maybe OP’s child legitimately does not qualify. That’s fine, but DCPS needs to follow the rules.

Depends on whether you're trying to Make A Point or get more services. She's not going to get more services. Her child is absolutely best served by a private SLP. There's nothing to win here. None of these fights are won on procedural violations. They're just the icing on the cake for otherwise strong cases. Unless you're successfully getting more services then telling all the other families how you did it, you're not helping anyone.

Of course she wants more services. I would view any parent fighting against the school’s mishandling of procedures as an absolute ally. And many fights are won on procedural grounds because when DC is embarassed by how they f up they write the IEP.