MCPS Functional Behavior Assessment and BIP

[Anonymous]

My 2nd grader has been having a lot of behavior issues in school this year. Including getting easily frustrated, ripping up other students work when that student told him he was coloring his paper incorrectly, having tantrums when singled out by the teacher, leaving class without permission, etc. His school has sensory rooms which he's been going to at the beginning of the day for around 10 minutes, and he's going to OT once a week outside of school. He has also started seeing a psychologist outside of school.

The school counselor called me today and wants to do a Functional Behavior Assessment next week with the "team"; school psychologist, math teacher, school counselor, homeroom teacher, assistant principal. He said that I was welcome to attend as well, which I will. I'm wondering if I should have any other type of advocate attend as well? My son currently does not have a diagnosis, IEP, or 504 plan but will be getting testing done at Mt. Washington in two weeks. I'm wondering if it would make sense to hold off on an FBA and BIP until the testing is done and we have a better idea of what is going on, or to go ahead now.

The school counselor also wants to put him in a social skills group and have one on ones with him about managing his temper. He had an outburst (ran into the hallway and had a tantrum) today after being brought back from the sensory room when his teacher told him that he would have to read a chapter in a book the class read while he was gone (while they were having free play time), he has issues being singled out in front of his peers. He's doing well academically in school, reading above grade level and in enriched math getting straight A's.

I'm wondering who the best person to bring with me to these types of meetings would be.

[Anonymous]

You should be happy.

If the school is willing to do tis without an IEP then there are clear issues that are getting in the way of his learning.

The FBA is (or should be) a detailed data gathering process. Sharing the data with your private evaluator would be helpful -- certainly equally helpful than the checklists your child's teacher will be asked to complete in conjunction with the evaluation.

I don't think you need an advocate at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should be happy.

If the school is willing to do tis without an IEP then there are clear issues that are getting in the way of his learning.

The FBA is (or should be) a detailed data gathering process. Sharing the data with your private evaluator would be helpful -- certainly equally helpful than the checklists your child's teacher will be asked to complete in conjunction with the evaluation.

I don't think you need an advocate at this point.

The teacher has already done the checklist for the testing he's having done in 2 weeks. I'm just wondering if with the holidays coming up etc. it would make more sense to wait until we are back from winter break and his outside testing has been completed or to just go ahead with the FBA.

[Anonymous]

I'd keep the meeting. It can be difficult to reschedule these meetings, so just take it. I wouldn't bring an advocate to the meeting at this point. Advocates cost money, and it will better to spend that money once you have your own testing done and are writing the IEP.

In the meantime, the school is willing to provide informal accomodations through the BIP. If these accomdations are helpful, they can be incorporated into the IEP. We had a BIP for a few months, and it was a good stopgap until we could get the IEP in place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd keep the meeting. It can be difficult to reschedule these meetings, so just take it. I wouldn't bring an advocate to the meeting at this point. Advocates cost money, and it will better to spend that money once you have your own testing done and are writing the IEP.

In the meantime, the school is willing to provide informal accomodations through the BIP. If these accomdations are helpful, they can be incorporated into the IEP. We had a BIP for a few months, and it was a good stopgap until we could get the IEP in place.

+1. I think you need to work with the school here, not have your child (and his classmates and teachers) suffer through more time while waiting for your assessment, writeup and a meeting.

[Anonymous]

Keep it! I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that they are solution-focused and trying to help. It sounds like the school is proactive with the sensory room and the school counselor reaching out to provide supports without needing an IEP or 504 plan. It's a good sign that they're not just throwing up their hands until things get REALLY bad or you get an IEP requiring them to provide these services.

That said, I am a little confused about the sequence. My understanding is that an FBA requires data gathering -- did they do that already, or is this meeting just the kick-off for that?

I don't think you need to bring anyone with you, unless you think you'll have trouble remembering everything that was said (a possibility). Can your spouse/child's parent come?

[Anonymous]

Wow i'm green with envy. I had to request and wait months for an FBA and BIP (which was NEVER used) for a child on an IEP with dx, at a Bethesda, so reading about your hesitation and eagerness to bring in an advocate strikes me as counter intuitive - you seem to have a school that wants to work to make your kid successful. Consider yourself lucky

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep it! I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that they are solution-focused and trying to help. It sounds like the school is proactive with the sensory room and the school counselor reaching out to provide supports without needing an IEP or 504 plan. It's a good sign that they're not just throwing up their hands until things get REALLY bad or you get an IEP requiring them to provide these services.

That said, I am a little confused about the sequence. My understanding is that an FBA requires data gathering -- did they do that already, or is this meeting just the kick-off for that?

I don't think you need to bring anyone with you, unless you think you'll have trouble remembering everything that was said (a possibility). Can your spouse/child's parent come?

(If you were going to bring anyone, I'd think the child's psychologist might be a good person to bring, both to have someone there as a second set of ears, and it seems like it can only be helpful to have him there as part of the team.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep it! I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that they are solution-focused and trying to help. It sounds like the school is proactive with the sensory room and the school counselor reaching out to provide supports without needing an IEP or 504 plan. It's a good sign that they're not just throwing up their hands until things get REALLY bad or you get an IEP requiring them to provide these services.

That said, I am a little confused about the sequence. My understanding is that an FBA requires data gathering -- did they do that already, or is this meeting just the kick-off for that?

I don't think you need to bring anyone with you, unless you think you'll have trouble remembering everything that was said (a possibility). Can your spouse/child's parent come?

The FBA is the data-gathering portion of the process on which the BIP will be based. They've either already collected data individually and are meeting to discuss it or are meeting to determine who will collect data and when. I can't tell from the OP which is the case. I don't see a reason to not move forward now as this process will only provide more info for your private assessment.

[Anonymous]

Consent is necessary to take data for FBA/BIP. They cannot proceed without a parent signature. The meeting is probably to establish the necessity of the data-taking and get OP to sign off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep it! I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that they are solution-focused and trying to help. It sounds like the school is proactive with the sensory room and the school counselor reaching out to provide supports without needing an IEP or 504 plan. It's a good sign that they're not just throwing up their hands until things get REALLY bad or you get an IEP requiring them to provide these services.

That said, I am a little confused about the sequence. My understanding is that an FBA requires data gathering -- did they do that already, or is this meeting just the kick-off for that?

I don't think you need to bring anyone with you, unless you think you'll have trouble remembering everything that was said (a possibility). Can your spouse/child's parent come?

The FBA is the data-gathering portion of the process on which the BIP will be based. They've either already collected data individually and are meeting to discuss it or are meeting to determine who will collect data and when. I can't tell from the OP which is the case. I don't see a reason to not move forward now as this process will only provide more info for your private assessment.

OP here: The school counselor said they were meeting to discuss the FBA. I have not yet been asked to sign anything in regard to that. The counselor did send home a Authorization for release/exchange of confidential information form for me to sign in relation to his private therapist. Is this a good idea? My son has only been to 2 session with his psychologist so I'm unsure what insight she would have at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep it! I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that they are solution-focused and trying to help. It sounds like the school is proactive with the sensory room and the school counselor reaching out to provide supports without needing an IEP or 504 plan. It's a good sign that they're not just throwing up their hands until things get REALLY bad or you get an IEP requiring them to provide these services.

That said, I am a little confused about the sequence. My understanding is that an FBA requires data gathering -- did they do that already, or is this meeting just the kick-off for that?

I don't think you need to bring anyone with you, unless you think you'll have trouble remembering everything that was said (a possibility). Can your spouse/child's parent come?

The FBA is the data-gathering portion of the process on which the BIP will be based. They've either already collected data individually and are meeting to discuss it or are meeting to determine who will collect data and when. I can't tell from the OP which is the case. I don't see a reason to not move forward now as this process will only provide more info for your private assessment.

OP here: The school counselor said they were meeting to discuss the FBA. I have not yet been asked to sign anything in regard to that. The counselor did send home a Authorization for release/exchange of confidential information form for me to sign in relation to his private therapist. Is this a good idea? My son has only been to 2 session with his psychologist so I'm unsure what insight she would have at this point.

If you want to continue to work the private therapist then sign. Since you're only 2 sessions in, you'll have to trust your gut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep it! I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that they are solution-focused and trying to help. It sounds like the school is proactive with the sensory room and the school counselor reaching out to provide supports without needing an IEP or 504 plan. It's a good sign that they're not just throwing up their hands until things get REALLY bad or you get an IEP requiring them to provide these services.

That said, I am a little confused about the sequence. My understanding is that an FBA requires data gathering -- did they do that already, or is this meeting just the kick-off for that?

I don't think you need to bring anyone with you, unless you think you'll have trouble remembering everything that was said (a possibility). Can your spouse/child's parent come?

OP again: Things have gotten worse from the beginning of the year. Before school started I reached out to the counselor to inquire about a social skills group and see if he could meet with my son individually. It's taken 4 months of increasingly difficult behavior before the school has really stepped in. On my end I've been working on getting him outside support and testing but the school initially was pretty lax and reasoned that he was fine last year. I'm happy that they are now taking steps to address the issues. I've been shuttling him around to various specialists (naturopath, allergist, OT, psychologist) so much I feel like my brain is melting. My husband travels extensively and hasn't been a ton of help on this. Thanks for everyone's advice, I just want to make sure I'm making good decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep it! I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that they are solution-focused and trying to help. It sounds like the school is proactive with the sensory room and the school counselor reaching out to provide supports without needing an IEP or 504 plan. It's a good sign that they're not just throwing up their hands until things get REALLY bad or you get an IEP requiring them to provide these services.

That said, I am a little confused about the sequence. My understanding is that an FBA requires data gathering -- did they do that already, or is this meeting just the kick-off for that?

I don't think you need to bring anyone with you, unless you think you'll have trouble remembering everything that was said (a possibility). Can your spouse/child's parent come?

OP again: Things have gotten worse from the beginning of the year. Before school started I reached out to the counselor to inquire about a social skills group and see if he could meet with my son individually. It's taken 4 months of increasingly difficult behavior before the school has really stepped in. On my end I've been working on getting him outside support and testing but the school initially was pretty lax and reasoned that he was fine last year. I'm happy that they are now taking steps to address the issues. I've been shuttling him around to various specialists (naturopath, allergist, OT, psychologist) so much I feel like my brain is melting. My husband travels extensively and hasn't been a ton of help on this. Thanks for everyone's advice, I just want to make sure I'm making good decisions.

Op, it's a good thing that you're trying to help your kid. Believe me, I've been where you are. Please cut to the chase and enroll your kid in a social skills group. Try unstuck & on target at ivymount. Your kid doesn't have to be on the spectrum. There's a concurrent parent class. You'll both get a lot of it.

[Anonymous]

How was his behavior this year? If its new, I'd be concerned it is a bad classroom/teacher fit. If its continued behavior from last year, I would as they can't help without it. A naturopath is not going to help. Could he be missing his Dad?