Picking up from school early for tx?

[Anonymous]

My DS is starting Kindergarten in MCPS this month. He has been doing speech therapy since he was 2, and while he has made drastic improvements, he still needs sessions 2x/week. Trying to get a time slot with his therapist for after school hours is almost impossible. He has been with her for over a year and really works well with her--and he's kind of a tough one to work with, so to have someone that he will work with is a big bonus. She could see him one day at a time which would necessitate me picking him up from school 30 mins early. Is the school going to hate me/us/refuse to accommodate that? I just have no idea how this all works in public schools. I'm used to preschools where picking up early or taking a week off for vacation was no big deal.

Please let me know how any experiences with picking up early from MCPS for therapy sessions.

He does not have an IEP and when I went to the Kindergarten orientation day, I met with the speech therapist that works at the school to see what it takes for him to have sessions with her during school hours, and she said that based on what she saw in a very quick review Of his testing/issues/current status, that he probably wouldn't qualify for services from her. I have no idea how that works-and she did ask me to get in touch with her before school starts to remind her to meet with him once school starts to do a real eval-but i don't want to 'give up' our time slots with the private therapist and count on him getting services in the school, as it seems possible that he won't necessarily get them.

[Anonymous]

Not MCPS - but we did this 2 days a week at our DC public school and there wasn't an issue.

Essentially we were signing him out for a medical appointment.

As for requesting school services, you need to write the principal a letter and request that your child be evaluated for an IEP given his speech and language disorder (a verbal request to the SLP isn't enough).

You can provide any recent evaluation you may have from your private therapist that shows that he is x% behind his peers in x/y/z skills which may help.

If you have any other concerns - about social skills, or fine motor or whatever, add them to the request.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

It should not be an issue. I just asked our principal the same question/same timing and she said it was fine.

[Anonymous]

Agree it's not an issue

[Anonymous]

It should be fine but you should be aware that in some schools, k students have "specials" at the end of the day. So if speech is every Tuesday, he could be missing art, music, pe, or media. (ES teacher)

[Anonymous]

I would do it and get yourself on a waitlist with the ST for a slot that opens up after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is starting Kindergarten in MCPS this month. He has been doing speech therapy since he was 2, and while he has made drastic improvements, he still needs sessions 2x/week. Trying to get a time slot with his therapist for after school hours is almost impossible. He has been with her for over a year and really works well with her--and he's kind of a tough one to work with, so to have someone that he will work with is a big bonus. She could see him one day at a time which would necessitate me picking him up from school 30 mins early. Is the school going to hate me/us/refuse to accommodate that? I just have no idea how this all works in public schools. I'm used to preschools where picking up early or taking a week off for vacation was no big deal.

Please let me know how any experiences with picking up early from MCPS for therapy sessions.

He does not have an IEP and when I went to the Kindergarten orientation day, I met with the speech therapist that works at the school to see what it takes for him to have sessions with her during school hours, and she said that based on what she saw in a very quick review Of his testing/issues/current status, that he probably wouldn't qualify for services from her. I have no idea how that works-and she did ask me to get in touch with her before school starts to remind her to meet with him once school starts to do a real eval-but i don't want to 'give up' our time slots with the private therapist and count on him getting services in the school, as it seems possible that he won't necessarily get them.

This shouldn't be a problem. And who cares if a Kindergartener misses PE, art or music class in favor of a critical speech class? Please don't worry about this if it were to happen - he has years to take gym, music or art classes - AFTER he gets his speech handled!

[Anonymous]

I would not think this is an issue for K. However, my DD's 3rd grade teacher told me that if DD missed 1x/week on a regular basis (I would have had to pull her 30 minutes early for ST all year) that she would not be getting a grade for whatever it was that she consistently missed. She was downright mean about it. We ended up with a 7:30 am weekly ST appointment.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how MCPS works, but at DCPS if you have too many absences (even excused ones) they might start bugging you about it. Maybe they'll be fine with it. If not, you might have to get a 504 to get protection for the time out of school. I'm guessing that even if your child does not qualify for an IEP, they might qualify for a 504 if the delay is enough to require 2x/week therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not think this is an issue for K. However, my DD's 3rd grade teacher told me that if DD missed 1x/week on a regular basis (I would have had to pull her 30 minutes early for ST all year) that she would not be getting a grade for whatever it was that she consistently missed. She was downright mean about it. We ended up with a 7:30 am weekly ST appointment.

That is absurd. I would make a stink about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not think this is an issue for K. However, my DD's 3rd grade teacher told me that if DD missed 1x/week on a regular basis (I would have had to pull her 30 minutes early for ST all year) that she would not be getting a grade for whatever it was that she consistently missed. She was downright mean about it. We ended up with a 7:30 am weekly ST appointment.

Yikes, this is exactly the scenario that 504 plans are made for. They have to give you a reasonable accomodation for a disability!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not think this is an issue for K. However, my DD's 3rd grade teacher told me that if DD missed 1x/week on a regular basis (I would have had to pull her 30 minutes early for ST all year) that she would not be getting a grade for whatever it was that she consistently missed. She was downright mean about it. We ended up with a 7:30 am weekly ST appointment.

NP here. Had that teacher said that to me, I would immediately schedule a meeting with the principal. I understand teachers don't want kids missing instructional time. I don't want my kid missing it either. However, my kids have legitimate needs that can't always be accommodated outside the school day.

I did this for 5 years with 2 kids. It was NEVER an issue at our FCPS school. I gave a memo to the front office indicating Larlo has a ST/PT/OT appointment on Certainday and I would be picking him up at X time. I indicated that unless I heard from them otherwise, I would assume this would be an excused absence. I also made sure the teachers knew.

[Anonymous]

We did it in DC, it was never a problem.

I have to say I'm genuinely surprised an educator would object to a child with a disability receiving therapy. Sounds like she's in the wrong job. Would she also object to pull-outs by the SpEd team?

She has no legal standing, raise hell.

[Anonymous]

We are ACPS but in the same boat. I'm annoyed we have to pull her out, as she's already getting pulled out 2x week for in school ST. But, I don't want to give up the private--it's covered by insurance and she gets PROMPT there. Reading this thread I realize I could ask for a 504 if it's an issue.