What is the craziest thing you have been told at an IEP meeting?

[Anonymous]

I am always surprised at IEP Meetings in MCPS. These meetings often become contentious and I am shocked at the level of unprofessionalism staff members resort to if they are losing their preconceived agendas.

Some things I have heard:

1) My child's problems are because we have other kids and cannot give her enough of our attention (by the principal of the school).

2) What do you want? Your child is passing the curriculum (Yes, a D is passing but isn't the team considering the 3 letter grade drop in performance and what to do about it?)

3) Is your child on medication? What is it and the dose? (How does this add to the discussion at hand? I know you prefer her to be on XYZ but do you have a medial license to be qualified with that recommendation?)

What is the craziest thing you have been told at an IEP Meeting?

[Anonymous]

That the problem with the special Ed system is people like me - lawyers. I will say that the person who made that comment was Removed from the team and no longer works for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Can teachers and administrators respond here as well, because we've heard some pretty outrageous things come out of parents' mouths at IEP meetings?

I will never forget the parent who was trying to get the school to pay for her daughter's horseback riding lessons because she considered them therapy. Ummm, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am always surprised at IEP Meetings in MCPS. These meetings often become contentious and I am shocked at the level of unprofessionalism staff members resort to if they are losing their preconceived agendas.

Some things I have heard:

1) My child's problems are because we have other kids and cannot give her enough of our attention (by the principal of the school).

2) What do you want? Your child is passing the curriculum (Yes, a D is passing but isn't the team considering the 3 letter grade drop in performance and what to do about it?)

3) Is your child on medication? What is it and the dose? (How does this add to the discussion at hand? I know you prefer her to be on XYZ but do you have a medial license to be qualified with that recommendation?)

What is the craziest thing you have been told at an IEP Meeting?

Funny you should ask! I have been going to IEP meeting for DS for the last 6 years, and this last one was the first one that left me shaking and angry as hell!

1) Is your child on medication? What is it and the dose? (How does this add to the discussion at hand? I know you prefer her to be on XYZ but do you have a medial license to be qualified with that recommendation?)

2) Even though your child has had THREE (THREE!!!) private neuro-psych evaluations by top doctors over the last 6 years...and even though doctors 1,2 and 3 have said otherwise....and even though no other IEP team at any of your child's other schools agree with our "opinion", we think your kid is on the spectrum.... And by the way, you know you really didn't need to get those private evaluations as we could have done it FOR FREE!!

whoo hoo! who doesn't like FREE!! that way we can label your kid the way we see fit so that we can get the funding we need or our school. ....This last sentence was my interpretation of what was going on in their heads, but I know I'm 100% correct with my thinking.

3) So....let me get this straight. Your kid actually HAS friends?

4) Sorry our hands are tied. We can't give him his accommodations on any county tests. Yeah!! lets set him up to FAIL!

EF all of them....straight to hell!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can teachers and administrators respond here as well, because we've heard some pretty outrageous things come out of parents' mouths at IEP meetings?

I will never forget the parent who was trying to get the school to pay for her daughter's horseback riding lessons because she considered them therapy. Ummm, no.

Hmmmm what the hell are you doing on DCUM at 8:30am on a Thursday when you SHOULD be teaching or administering?? just asking.

[Anonymous]

"You don't understand my child because you are always drinking coffee. My son told me that he smells coffee on your breath at all hours of the day, and coffee is a drug. Just like alcohol."

[Anonymous]

The principal said... Maybe he isn't dyslexic, maybe he is just a jock.

After the meeting I went to the reading specialist and said, did he just say, maybe he is just a jock? She nodded and said, i'm really sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"You don't understand my child because you are always drinking coffee. My son told me that he smells coffee on your breath at all hours of the day, and coffee is a drug. Just like alcohol."

From all parents, I would like to apologize for that comment! I know there are ignorant assess on both sides of the table for sure.

[Anonymous]

I have a funny/cute one.. it was the first meeting after my son started PEP and the quote was "he is highly motivated by jelly beans"... we were dying laughing. He teacher is phenomenal and I'm so happy she found something to get him to respond but the way it came out had me giggling for days.

[Anonymous]

``I can't tell what's going on with this kid. One day he's totally fine. The next day, I think he's mentally retarded.''

Quoted from a school administrator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:``I can't tell what's going on with this kid. One day he's totally fine. The next day, I think he's mentally retarded.''

Quoted from a school administrator.

NO!!

oh my lord I would have sued.

[Anonymous]

That spelling, penmanship and multiplication tables did not matter, the computer has changed things and I need to "get with-it".

I'm a software programmer so I always thought I was savvy about technology until, an IEP meeting at a MCPS middle school, which feeds into Walt Whitman HS, set me straight.

[Anonymous]

I've heard lots of crazy stuff, but these are the most shocking:

1) Your child doesn't have any right to be educated in any classes other than the 4 core academic courses -- math, english, history and science. We will not provide any assistance with foreign language or non-core classes even though your child is sick. (This was the response when I asked for an accommodation for my MS magnet student after an unexpected medical problem made her eligible for a 504 plan. In fact, disabled kids have a right to access ALL of the same classes as any other student.)

2) You must go on Home and Hospital and you must stay on it until we (MCPS) determine that it is OK for you to come back to school. (Also not legal.)

3) Your DS isn't that smart. Those 99.5%ile IQ scores are just an artifact of being raised in a good environment. If he were tested again, he would not score so high. (What was left unsaid was "since he's not really that smart he can't have a learning disability because there would be no significant discrepancy) In fact, he was re-tested and he scored just as high. But, the school was able to waste another 6 months and force me to pay for private assessment. While it's true that IQ scores won't be identical from test administration to test administration, if a child has a significant drop in IQ, that's a concern in and of itself. (See the Matthew effect). And, in order for IQ scores to be of valid use in anyway, they have to remain reasonably stable over time, otherwise they would have no scientific/educational value. (That's psych 101).




In retrospect, I really wished I had filed a state complaint or OCR complaint, especially when dealing with the school on #1. Unfortunately, I didn't know my rights as well then.

[Anonymous]

"Don't worry about Larlo he will be successful because he is a great kid. Don't worry that he has all Ds and Fs. All kids can't be 4.0 students"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard lots of crazy stuff, but these are the most shocking:

1) Your child doesn't have any right to be educated in any classes other than the 4 core academic courses -- math, english, history and science. We will not provide any assistance with foreign language or non-core classes even though your child is sick. (This was the response when I asked for an accommodation for my MS magnet student after an unexpected medical problem made her eligible for a 504 plan. In fact, disabled kids have a right to access ALL of the same classes as any other student.)

2) You must go on Home and Hospital and you must stay on it until we (MCPS) determine that it is OK for you to come back to school. (Also not legal.)

3) Your DS isn't that smart. Those 99.5%ile IQ scores are just an artifact of being raised in a good environment. If he were tested again, he would not score so high. (What was left unsaid was "since he's not really that smart he can't have a learning disability because there would be no significant discrepancy) In fact, he was re-tested and he scored just as high. But, the school was able to waste another 6 months and force me to pay for private assessment. While it's true that IQ scores won't be identical from test administration to test administration, if a child has a significant drop in IQ, that's a concern in and of itself. (See the Matthew effect). And, in order for IQ scores to be of valid use in anyway, they have to remain reasonably stable over time, otherwise they would have no scientific/educational value. (That's psych 101).




In retrospect, I really wished I had filed a state complaint or OCR complaint, especially when dealing with the school on #1. Unfortunately, I didn't know my rights as well then.

Oops. I forgot to add -- 4) because your child hasn't finished some assignments that she is medically unable to complete right now, we have given her zeros for those and she is therefore now on academic probation and no longer eligible to participate in any after school activities. (Yes, even disabled kids have a right to access after school activities, and no, accommodations don't mean that you get put on academic probation.)