IEP Approval Process

[Anonymous]

I'm a parent going thru the IEP approval process now. My son (6.5) kindergartner is failing in reading, writing and math. He cannot complete his homework and his report cards are going from 2 to 1.

We had to go to great lengths to set up a IEP approval meeting. The various inhouse testing by the psychologists/special ed tester labels him average in most categories. But average is pretty broad (e.g. 16% of 100% is average). We have additional visual and audio testing.

We had to stop the first IEP meeting because the psychologist tried to speed up the denial process by ignoring homework and report cards and keeps going to the standardize test scores. Good luck interpreting the results. During the IEP meeting, the teacher and parents (Us) had to argue continuously with the psychologist to change criteria from no to yes for many categories. Yes = services.

Look. This psychologist appears to be very biased and overstates observations to meet a predetermined diagnosis based on one observation and testing. Even though the writeups provided show evidence for other LD problems (visual processing, etc.) Seriously, is the Conners sufficient to label a kid ADHD with one hour observation.

My son looks at homework and avoids it. It looks like "Chinese symbols" to him. He is not distracted. He is intimidated by it. Our local IEP team wants to do nothing. It is all or nothing and failure is an option.

I guess we got one of the bad teams. You bet we won't sign the IEP denial. You bet we will come back with a good advocate/attorney. You bet we are not going away!

[Anonymous]

Have you done outside testing? What do you think the disability is? Remember, an IEP is not given for just low grades (especially in kindergarten when little is expected or required), there has to be a disability. If you think there is a disability, but the county's tests did not show one then I suggest you get private testing done. It will be expensive, but will show you how to help your child- and in turn, how the school can help your child. GL!

[Anonymous]

We have started with the visual and audio testing out of pocket. The psychologist is keeping us to the 65 day deadline. We had one day to review the report before the IEP meeting and now have 1 week until we meet the 65 day deadline. Our next IEP meeting is tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Yes. We will follow up with Pediatrician or other professional for the LD and ADHD probability.

Outside testing is on option once we exhaust all the county options available to us.

[Anonymous]

Ok... maybe I am not understand this correctly. He scores average on testing, including standardized tests, but shows severe regression on report card. Psychologist wanted to deny because of average scores but then tried to find him eligible through a diagnosis, such as ADHD. Is this correct? If it is, here is what I would suggest.

1. If you get an IEP based on ADHD, take it, don't get hung up on the label. You can fix that later.
2. get outside testing
3. If you get denied, get an advocate

Honestly, I am surprised you are walking into that meeting tomorrow without one if you worry they may not give him what he needs already. Are you in DC?

[Anonymous]

In your note, it said the teacher was arguing on your behalf. Could you meet with her 1-1 and gather information on what is holding the team back? Also, do you not agree with the testing or do you just feel that it does not represent your child how you see him/her? Does the teacher see your child the same or different from the observation? Also, WHY WHY WHY is your kindergarten child getting homework? Can you at the very least work with the teacher to remove the homework. A kindergarten student does not need homework- only you reading books.

[Anonymous]

The teacher left on long term sick. New teacher started this week.

Yes. We have an advocate with 30 years special ed teaching for tomorrow. We just could not get an experienced psychology on such short notice. Again. This is not our deadlines.

The homework is very busy. My wife has to break it up into larger pieces for him to understand. The IEP should do this. Not the parents.

[Anonymous]

Homework example:

John has 3 green apples. Mike has 4 red apples. How many apples to John and Mike have.

____ + ____ = _____

He is at DS(?) 3 his peers are at DS 10.

[Anonymous]

OP - I just noted that you son is obviously an older age kindergarten student so I do think it may well be worth it to do the full range of private testing to see what it shows even if you miss getting services this time around. You as parents can put your views in writing as points of disagreement.

For now, until you can get testing done and services in place under an IEP, have you looked up what is possible under a 504 Plan.

If he was doing much better across all the early skills, can you pinpoint when things started to decline. Has there been any change in his daily life - new baby, parent job change whatever which might have also contributed to his change. Or has the level of work or pace of work in kindergarten in second half of the year just picked up?

[Anonymous]

OP, your post isn't making sense. You don't seem to be asking a question, but you definitely seem to be off on a difficult start to the process. There shouldn't be a problem setting up a meeting. Once the testing is done, there is a time limit for having a meeting to discuss the results and make decisions. But, that seems to be water under the bridge in that you had the meeting.

Also it sounds like it was agreed that your child needs services in certain areas, but that agreement came after some initial differences of opinion between team members. But, the outcome is that it was agreed that services were necessary.

Finally, it sounds like you have a meeting tomorrow that you feel unprepared for, but it's hard to understand why. What are you needing? What do you think your child needs that the school is not going to provide? Do you have a qualifying diagnosis yet?

There are many people here who can offer helpful experiences, but you have to explain better. Sounds like you need to vent, but with a meeting tomorrow, it would be helpful to get yourself on track and be more clear in your questions so that people can help.

[Anonymous]

If a child is immature. The report card should show improvement. We see the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean smaller pieces?

Unfortunately it seems like all kindergarteners have homework these days. I don't agree with it.

Good luck. And don't sign anything at the meeting. Sleep on it.

[Anonymous]

No. No. No. The output is that services are not necessary!

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how this is confusing. My son is 7 years old, he cannot read, write or do math at his age level. The school rejects services and wants to keep the status quo. He is failing and getting worse.

How is that confusing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure how this is confusing. My son is 7 years old, he cannot read, write or do math at his age level. The school rejects services and wants to keep the status quo. He is failing and getting worse.

How is that confusing?

You haven't said this stuff before and there are many questions posed by people trying to help that you are not answering. Also, you said in your original post that you and the teacher got the psychologist to change her rejection to services to a yes for services. Really, OP, your post is confusing and it's hard to help without clarification.