1st IEP meeting

[Anonymous]

Hello... we will be having our first IEP meeting for my ds (age 4.5) in a few weeks. We are going back and forth as to whether it will make sense to send him to Kinder next year or not. That will depend on what services we get. Are IEP's good for 1 year or 3? We are from California and they are good for 3 there. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Anonymous]

IEPs here are good for one year (although you can request a meeting before then) but testing only has to be considered/completed every 3 years.

[Anonymous]

The IEP is required to be reviewed every year at which time they can be revised but they are valid for 3 years. Is your DC in a special ed preschool?

[Anonymous]

OP here...right now ds is in a private pre-school but it is a classroom based speech model with ot as well. I know that through the ChildFind process, they seem to be leaning toward qualifying him for a sp ed preschool because he will need PT/OT and maybe resource. They were saying that if we don't send him to ffx county Kinder next year, he won't recieve the level of services that he will this year. He will be in a mainstream classroom and I just worry that we are setting him up for more than he is going to be ready for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here...right now ds is in a private pre-school but it is a classroom based speech model with ot as well. I know that through the ChildFind process, they seem to be leaning toward qualifying him for a sp ed preschool because he will need PT/OT and maybe resource. They were saying that if we don't send him to ffx county Kinder next year, he won't recieve the level of services that he will this year. He will be in a mainstream classroom and I just worry that we are setting him up for more than he is going to be ready for.

If I understand correctly, your DS will finish school this year and eligible for kindergarten next year? If they do qualify him for related services (PT/OT, etc) this year, they can't remove those services without your consent when he goes to kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! OP again. That is what I thought but I guess I need to find out if he will qualify for any services if we keep him at the private school for pre-k. I don't think he can attend the CHildFind preschool once he turns 5.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how it works in FF county, but here's what happened with us in MoCo. I held my son back a year from starting kindergarten (and, as an aside, it was absolutely the right decision - the extra year was totally key to his success once he reached school). He continued to receive services, but the location was moved to the elementary school that he would have gone to had he started school. The county bussed him from his pre k program to services and back. Services no longer fell under Child Find, but rather whatever office deals with religious and private schools. I can no longer recall the name of the office. It was kind of a pain to get things started that year because no one told me that we were responsible for applying for these services, so we missed the first two or three weeks of school.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I actually called the elem school we are slated to go to and the head of special ed for the school is supposed to call me back. The woman I spoke to on the phone told me just what you told me...that even if he isn't at that school that he can still get services there. That is what I thought but the ChildFind people were giving me a different story.

Also, thanks for your feedback on holding back on K. My ds is a summer birthday and has poor fine motor skills in addition to the other stuff so I think he needs another year of small class size to help him be ready. Did you ds have any sort of "issues" about being older/taller than the other kids? I don't think I have talked to one person who has held back that has regretted it.

Thanks again! You all have been so helpful!