Child keeps struggling even on IEP
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Anonymous
| Hi - my 9 year old son is a happy smart child. He was tested by the school last year and has received an IEP due to expressive and receptive language delays and other issues that have caused him to fall below grade level . Now that the year has started, he is still struggling! His teachers are puzzled as he is even lagging behind where he was at the end of last year. Do we just wait and see if he improves as this is his first year with the IEP? We have seen a neurologist and had an EEG done which showed nothing. Since he had complete testing by the school, we haven't gone for a neuropsych exam. Any thoughts? He seems to do well on other settings like camp and sports, but not school. |
Anonymous
| I think it's a given that even with the IEP many kids will struggle academically. It's not that the IEP is a magic cure all. It gives them supports and help but it doesn't necessarily make them catch up to their typical peers. He likely will always struggle even with accommodations. |
Anonymous
| He may improve over the year. If not, you'll have evidence and can have the IEP tweaked. It might also require tweaking his diagnosis. My younger brother's IEP didn't work because he was given the wrong diagnosis. Further testing clarified his situation, but then my parents had to fight for the school system to redo major parts of his IEP. I recently had a student diagnosed with autism after 4 years of an IEP for ADHD and anxiety. We have meetings set to fix her IEP, but meanwhile we're doing "off-label" accommodations. |
Anonymous
| At that age, it is a lot of lecture style teaching and he may not be processing everything said to him. If he is strong in reading, he may need the materials presented in a written format, which is an issue as many schools do not have text books anymore. If someone does lecture style or talking to fast, my child has trouble and tunes out. Most educators do not understand receptive language issues and do not really understand how to work with it. We have it and are getting the blow off for an IEP as academics are ok. |
Anonymous
|
Did he keep up his skills during the summer? That's very important.
The IEP may need to be tweaked to better accommodate his needs. Also, if the diagnosis is old and/or you notice new issues, you need to have him evaluated again. |
Anonymous
| This has been our experience as well. Communication difficulties can be some of the hardest to deal with in terms of educating your child. Our daughter is also very bright. Right now we have her working with a tutor and two educational specialists. But communication directly impacts literacy. It's very frustrating. |
Anonymous
Our child reads fine and is only a little behind on reading comprehension (testing may show ok) but our SLP works on it in private speech. She does a lot of answering questions, paraphrasing and reading comprehension work. |
Anonymous
A couple of questions - Did the school psychologist evaluate your child? Does your health insurance cover neuropsyc testing or can you afford the cost if not covered by insurance? If you can afford the testing, take the results from your school for a private evaluation. My experience is that private testing is more thorough and gives a better blue print of what your child may need. I would also save as much data regarding the regression your child made over the summer as data for Extended Year Services (ESY) for next summer. Your school should discuss ESY services at an IEP meeting after January. Receiving services over the summer may be what's needed to prevent regression next year. Finally, you always have the right to ask for an IEP meeting to discuss your concerns. If you ask in writing to the school's principal now, it will take about 30 days for the team to assemble which in MCPS would be almost the end of the 1st marking period. That would be a great time to review current year data and see if any adjustments need to be made. |
Anonymous
| For the language issues, you need a good SLP to document the language concerns. A psychologist is not going to do the specifics for language nor are they trained for it. |
Anonymous
| Op here - thank you for the input! He did work with a tutor over the summer so I'm going to have her now talk to his special Ed IEP teacher. Maybe they can work together to try and reach him?! The school keeps telling me they are worried as he will know something and then forget it or read a word correctly 10 times but then read it wrong.... |
Anonymous
| And thank you for mentioning ESY services! |
Anonymous
| Document proof that he has fallen behind where he was last year now. It is difficult to get extended year services, so if you have data that is going to make it a lot easier next summer. |
Anonymous
He should be in speech therapy if it is that serious enough - at school and privately. A good therapist can also work on the reading. |
Anonymous
| My kid has struggled with IEP, tutors, extra help in school, working with me, and he is also considered smart, but all this help is just help, not a miracle. I am sorry it is not helping at all. What I found is that all combined and then some more work help way more and it is still a struggle. |
Anonymous
| OP, in case you don't know you have a right to call an IEP meeting at any time. You could request more services at this point or just use it as an opportunity to gather data and brainstorm. |