I am not sending my child to the assigned class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- my daughters spot would not be depriving anyone else of placement. The county policy is you can request placement IF there is room at the school after inbound and prior students have been placed and you are willing to transport. If there is room at a school (I have narrowed it down to 4 including her prior school that I will be asking about) she can go there BECAUSE it won't be displacing another student. That is the reason she got the boot from her old class- even though the county assigned us there she was not technically inbound and thus had to go to make room for other inbound students. I am not trying to steal another child's spot, just trying to squeeze in where there might be room elsewhere.

OP, assuming you are a county taxpayer--and by extension this is YOUR school system, and your DS has needs, people need to move beyond this concept of "displacing other students."
You and your DS have rights. As a pp mentioned, brush up as needed. Good luck!

Yes we are residents and taxpayers in this county. Which is why it's kind of funny to me that people say "find services you pay for." I pay for these services too!

[Anonymous]

OP with an update. I was informed that no other schools in "a reasonable distance" have room in their program. Not one. I am at a loss of what to do. I don't want to pull her from the ECSE program but I can't send her to this class. I suppose we are going to need to look at the possibility of terminating her IEP with the school system, possibly up the amount of days she attends the private preschool to make up for the 2 days she will not be attending the ECSE class and look into private speech therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP with an update. I was informed that no other schools in "a reasonable distance" have room in their program. Not one. I am at a loss of what to do. I don't want to pull her from the ECSE program but I can't send her to this class. I suppose we are going to need to look at the possibility of terminating her IEP with the school system, possibly up the amount of days she attends the private preschool to make up for the 2 days she will not be attending the ECSE class and look into private speech therapy.

How about having a resource teacher come to your DS's private preschool instead of the 2 ECSE class? I am from Loudoun County as well and I think they have this option of resource teacher helping the kid out in private preschool setting.

[Anonymous]

OP careful with how you proceed. You don't have to terminate the IEP in order to decline services. Once you terminate, it can be difficult to get it back. I had this issue many years ago - we couldn't make the services work out between the school schedule and private therapy. I can't remember how we handled it, but I do remember it being really important that my child's IEP qualification remain intact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP careful with how you proceed. You don't have to terminate the IEP in order to decline services. Once you terminate, it can be difficult to get it back. I had this issue many years ago - we couldn't make the services work out between the school schedule and private therapy. I can't remember how we handled it, but I do remember it being really important that my child's IEP qualification remain intact.

Thank you for that advice. I am trying to craft my response right now and have skirted around that language and won't include it. I so far have explained that this environment is not the least restrictive environment for her and that I do not believe it is an environment that will justify us keeping her out of kindergarten because it will not get her more kindergarten-ready. For us, the better option to meet her individual needs would be to see if there is room in the 4 or 5 day class at her school and pursue private speech therapy rather than put her in an environment that will not be challenging or appropriate for her goals.

[Anonymous]

OP - I would check the regs to see if the public school could provide speech therapy to our child either at a private placement or possibly even at your local elementary school if you brought her. The school division is probably truthful in saying there are no openings. I would also keep the IEP open with the notice that at this time services are being requested in a private preschool setting and you can at least put in writing why from your perspective. You could also note that if there are openings in the second semester, you would be interested to see if she could be place. At least say that in writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP - I would check the regs to see if the public school could provide speech therapy to our child either at a private placement or possibly even at your local elementary school if you brought her. The school division is probably truthful in saying there are no openings. I would also keep the IEP open with the notice that at this time services are being requested in a private preschool setting and you can at least put in writing why from your perspective. You could also note that if there are openings in the second semester, you would be interested to see if she could be place. At least say that in writing.

THANK YOU. Excellent advice. We have only been in the ECSE system since January of this year and I am not quite as well versed as some of you in what to say or how to proceed and I am obviously terrified of making the wrong move on behalf of my child. Thanks so much.

[Anonymous]

Also, if you HAD to go with a private speech therapist, I bet that SLP (as long as they specialize in working with children) would go to her private preschool program for services. So at 10am Ms../Mr. X would go to your daughter's school and either pull her out of class to work with her OR work with her among her peers. They would base this on what she needs and what works best for her - and then if the SLP is there, s/he can meet with the teachers at your private preschool and discuss how they can support your daughter's speech development (and/or whatever else you are working on). So is there a better way to encourage her language? Is there a better way to ask questions to elicit what the SLP wants? Is there a better way for her to do things (encourage her to be the "speaker" for the class to encourage a child who wouldn't normally be the one chosen, OR if that shuts your daughter's speech down, requesting that she not be called on but rather get her to speak in other ways). I'm just saying, the SLP might very well partner well with the teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, if you HAD to go with a private speech therapist, I bet that SLP (as long as they specialize in working with children) would go to her private preschool program for services. So at 10am Ms../Mr. X would go to your daughter's school and either pull her out of class to work with her OR work with her among her peers. They would base this on what she needs and what works best for her - and then if the SLP is there, s/he can meet with the teachers at your private preschool and discuss how they can support your daughter's speech development (and/or whatever else you are working on). So is there a better way to encourage her language? Is there a better way to ask questions to elicit what the SLP wants? Is there a better way for her to do things (encourage her to be the "speaker" for the class to encourage a child who wouldn't normally be the one chosen, OR if that shuts your daughter's speech down, requesting that she not be called on but rather get her to speak in other ways). I'm just saying, the SLP might very well partner well with the teachers.

Her language has actually progressed to the point where the only thing she needs help with now is just certain letter combos. Like, F can still be P in some words (will say friend with an f, but if the f is in the middle of a word it might still come out as a p). I am confident working with a good SLP like she did earlier this year would continue to help her with those little issues because last year when we had her evaluated at 4, her articulation was very bad and she couldn't hold conversations. Would answer a question, then drop it. Now will have full conversations, volley responses and questions back and forth, etc. My mom was actually here last week and cried all the time at what a difference it was to talk to her. So her language is actually great, comprehension is at level, etc. but certain articulation issues still need to be worked on. The teachers and directors at her preschool are fabulous and would work with us in whatever we decided, I'm sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been at this over 10 years, op, and I totally agree that you have to advocate for your child. This doesn't sound like a good placement for her but, as a pp said, she might have to actually spend a few days in the class for you to make that argument. Not sure how Loudon works. That being said (and I think you know this) there are ways to advocate for your dc without becoming "one of those parents." You also may want to check out www.wrightslaw.com to bone up on your rights. The website is an excellent resource and will explain important concepts such as what is an appropriate placement. You (and all parents) want the perfect placement for your dc but that is not what the school district is required to provide under the law. Hopefully, they will be able to find you a placement that is more appropriate to you than the one that is being offered to you now and you will be happier. Good luck and keep us posted.

In Loudoun you better be "that parent". I hate this term and it is used most often against women as if we are silly and our concerns unfounded.

Op, proudly be that parent. It's what it takes.