Anyone have positive stories about getting services from FFX County Schools?

[Anonymous]

We are currently going through thee process of getting our child services (straightforward issue with speech and language) and I get more frustrated every day. I keep having to repeat myself, the forms get lost, some people use email and some leave long voicemails, it seems the different people involved do not talk to each other and I keep getting passed around to different groups.

I really feel bad for students who have more complicated needs. There has to be a more efficient way? Please tell me it gets better or at least tell me that this is how it is all over and I just need to deal with it?

[Anonymous]

http://wrightslaw.com. What you describe has not been my experience. Do you already have an IEP? If not, you'll need to go through Local Screening, be found eligible, and then once an IEP is in place, you will be able to receive the appropriate services. The initial IEP can take awhile.

[Anonymous]

This has not been my experience. It sounds like your school may be disorganized. Not all of them are.

[Anonymous]

Document and stand firm on what you need. There is a time line that must be legally followed. You must allow the full battery of testing after the school deems testing appropriate and necessary. Don't be intimidated. The issue must have an educational impact on your child's learning. Don't give up. The squeeky wheel gets the grease! Maybe you let the principal know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has not been my experience. It sounds like your school may be disorganized. Not all of them are.

+1

I've worked at two different FCPS schools. One sounds like what OP is describing. The other is run amazingly well and bends over backwards to support students. Sounds like you're in a bad one. Be aggressive. Be firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has not been my experience. It sounds like your school may be disorganized. Not all of them are.

+1

I've worked at two different FCPS schools. One sounds like what OP is describing. The other is run amazingly well and bends over backwards to support students. Sounds like you're in a bad one. Be aggressive. Be firm.

+2

At one FCPS school it took us two years to receive support for services. We switched FCPS schools and we immediately received support for services.

[Anonymous]

What is the age of your child? After a very long back log for child find services we had a great experience in Childfind. We had speech for nearly a year before we ended up in the pre-school program (we had other issues too.)

The childfind services were great. Early intervention is key.

That being said, we did supplement with private speech. We actually got the name from a list that FCPS provided.

[Anonymous]

We had a bad experience with Early Intervention, but ChildFind and the PAC program has been amazing. You have to push, push, push and push some more, and make sure you're getting what your child needs. We also do private speech and it has helped wonders. That might be something you want to look into as well.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP about variability in the amount of organizing etc. I have two children with IEPs and ironically the experience was really different- 1 very good, 1 very bad.

So my tips:
-get as much info as you can about next steps/ activities/ who is supposed to do what/ by when- take detailed notes with dates and save them in your IEP binder so you can refer back
-follow up on any phone call/ voicemail with an email summarizing and explaining what you think the next steps are/ who is doing them and by when
-be really nice to the admin staff wherever you are calling- they are the ones who can get you the right email, tell you when something seems weird, in general help you figure out what to do next
-don't wait if it seems like someone is dropping the ball somewhere- our PSL lost our daughter's file and we were down to the last day for her IEP and they wanted to just not invite us and continue it because there were so unorganized. I found this out because a nice person explained what was going on and suggested that I could object.

That said we gave up on ST, the FFX standards are so low for functioning that we decided we would focus our energy on the other needs and do private ST.

Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

We have had an outstanding experience with Child Find, the elementary transition, and the elementary school resources, as well as her teacher. I think it's variable for sure, but also remember that the standards for therapies are very different than in private therapy. We are maintaining private OT and PT as an adjunct to the IEP services, which exist to remove barriers from accessing education. For a kid like mine, with motor planning issues, that is a wide range.

[Anonymous]

I had a good experience with child find too. It was a speech issue (stutter).

More informally, the counselors at my child's schools were very helpful with emotional problems my child had. Special shout-out to Mr. Fischman at Oakton Elementary. He made a huge difference in my child's life.

[Anonymous]

We've had great luck with teachers, awesome really.

That said, we've never had a single positive experience with the bureaucracy. Horrible actually.

Keep fighting, once the bureaucrats get out of the way, the teachers are pretty good.

[Anonymous]

we get very good services from Sherman ES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've had great luck with teachers, awesome really.

That said, we've never had a single positive experience with the bureaucracy. Horrible actually.

Keep fighting, once the bureaucrats get out of the way, the teachers are pretty good.

I have been to about a hundred IEP meetings just for my child. Once people from Gatehouse show up, nothing productive can happen at a meeting. You might as well just leave and reschedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We've had great luck with teachers, awesome really.

That said, we've never had a single positive experience with the bureaucracy. Horrible actually.

Keep fighting, once the bureaucrats get out of the way, the teachers are pretty good.

Truer words were never spoken.