The bottom line is that a service hour in DC is not the same as a service hour in MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:I'm stunned that MCPS is even trying to have special ed hours provided by classroom teachers.

-parent in a DC charter school, where this isn't how it is done

DC and many other school districts have a different interpretation of the law than MCPS. IDEA says that teachers providing direct instruction for IEP service hours must be highly qualified, with "high-quality, intensive preservice preparation and professional development for all personnel who work with children with disabilities in order to ensure that such personnel have the skills and knowledge necessary to improve the academic achievement and functional performance of children with disabilities, including the use of scientifically based instructional practices, to the maximum extent possible." In DCPS it means the person providing services is usually a resource teacher, reading specialist, etc.

In MCPS they interpret the law very much in their favor by arguing the gen ed teacher is "highly qualified" in all cases to provide special ed hours. I think it's a travesty.

Agree with above. As an MCPS parent, it is not fair to put all of the pressure and hours on the classroom teacher- some are not even trained in special ed. There is no way for that to be a successful model especially with all of the students in the classes. In addition, the county groups special ed students into 1 or 2 classes to make it more manageable for the special ed teachers and para-educators to get in for at least some of the hours, but that compounds the problem for the classroom teacher who has even more to to do. I have tried arguing this at IEP meetings, but have only been told that this is how it works.

I'm stunned that MCPS is even trying to have special ed hours provided by classroom teachers.

-parent in a DC charter school, where this isn't how it is done

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm fairly certain that no MCPS home school model can implement 22 hours. But even if the school says they can do it, the service quality will vary greatly depending on the teacher. My child is in his home school with a fairly minimal IEP (1 hour pull out, 5 hours inside gen ed). His teacher last year was phenomenal and he made excellent progress. His teacher this year barely implements his accommodations.

The first line of this message is most important. Having any general education teacher in charge of an IEP over 15 hours is almost impossible, yet that is what is asked of them. I am a teacher and I truly try my best, but when you have several students in the class that have such large needs, it is really hard to have the time to dedicate all that is necessary to make the child successful. I knew this as a teacher, but now that my son also has a large IEP, I see it from both sides. I have tried so hard to get him in another placement, but they will not budge, yet the teachers do so little. Then when we come to meetings, they jsut say he is having a great year. Ummmm, no, he is not having a great year!

DS has a teacher who tries very hard this year but there are several children in her class with push-in hour IEPS that total a ton of hours and she's unable to provide any support at all to my child who has very few hours. I don't fault her, but the system. The class is at the maximum size this year with 28.

Anonymous wrote:Your child will most likely go to his/her home school and receive the same supports that they would have received in LAD. That is the idea, at least. The issue is that most LAD kids were not well-served by that model because the LAD program in any case because it had been so badly gutted. It had started out with 2 teachers in the classroom... and maybe an aide? I'm not sure. By the time my child got to LAD, we got the gutted program.

Anyway - per your PEP question. I don't think the changes will really affect you. PEP Collaborative and PEP Beginnings will be combined into one 5 hour/day program. I imagine your child, if s/he doesn't need self-contained, would not qualify for that program. You will most likely be in the 2/day week, 2.5 hour/day program, right?

Are you sure you don't mean Collab and Classic? Beginnings is for kids with serious medical needs, or at least it was, that need to be addressed before education can happen.

Yes, that would have helped my child greatly. Instead we are moving him to a more restrictive environment. In the program he will be in (ED) they try to mainstream them as much as possible so it is actually similar to what LAD used to be like. Most children are mainstreamed for over 50% of the day. We wish we did not have to make this move as the bus ride will be long, but feel it is necessary if we want him to get the support that he needs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child will most likely go to his/her home school and receive the same supports that they would have received in LAD. That is the idea, at least. The issue is that most LAD kids were not well-served by that model because the LAD program in any case because it had been so badly gutted. It had started out with 2 teachers in the classroom... and maybe an aide? I'm not sure. By the time my child got to LAD, we got the gutted program.

Anyway - per your PEP question. I don't think the changes will really affect you. PEP Collaborative and PEP Beginnings will be combined into one 5 hour/day program. I imagine your child, if s/he doesn't need self-contained, would not qualify for that program. You will most likely be in the 2/day week, 2.5 hour/day program, right?

No, my dc would most likely be pep collab and it is his prek year. Im not familiar with pep beginnings. Thanks for explaining all this- its so much to learn!

PP again- Such a shame that they dont offer two teachers in the classroom. Thats really what my dc will need and where we are moving from (out of state), they offer that

Anonymous wrote:Your child will most likely go to his/her home school and receive the same supports that they would have received in LAD. That is the idea, at least. The issue is that most LAD kids were not well-served by that model because the LAD program in any case because it had been so badly gutted. It had started out with 2 teachers in the classroom... and maybe an aide? I'm not sure. By the time my child got to LAD, we got the gutted program.

Anyway - per your PEP question. I don't think the changes will really affect you. PEP Collaborative and PEP Beginnings will be combined into one 5 hour/day program. I imagine your child, if s/he doesn't need self-contained, would not qualify for that program. You will most likely be in the 2/day week, 2.5 hour/day program, right?

No, my dc would most likely be pep collab and it is his prek year. Im not familiar with pep beginnings. Thanks for explaining all this- its so much to learn!

Your child will most likely go to his/her home school and receive the same supports that they would have received in LAD. That is the idea, at least. The issue is that most LAD kids were not well-served by that model because the LAD program in any case because it had been so badly gutted. It had started out with 2 teachers in the classroom... and maybe an aide? I'm not sure. By the time my child got to LAD, we got the gutted program.

Anyway - per your PEP question. I don't think the changes will really affect you. PEP Collaborative and PEP Beginnings will be combined into one 5 hour/day program. I imagine your child, if s/he doesn't need self-contained, would not qualify for that program. You will most likely be in the 2/day week, 2.5 hour/day program, right?

Anonymous wrote:What about lad sounded great for your child? They can probably give the same level of support at a homeschool model.

What I and others are questioning is whether either model has enough support for children with high numbers of Iep hours.

Im new to this with MCPS so it was just based on what Ive read really and from a very brief convo with someone I had about LAD. My dc doesnt need self contained, but does need a good amount of services in terms of pull out and push in with a special ed teacher, so it seemed like LAD models provide that, but maybe Im wrong?

Can anyone tell me what changes are going on with PEP? Ill call on Monday to find out but if anyone knows anything specific, Id love to hear.

What about lad sounded great for your child? They can probably give the same level of support at a homeschool model.

What I and others are questioning is whether either model has enough support for children with high numbers of Iep hours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not be so quick to think the LADs are going to disappear. When we graduated PEP three years ago they were saying then that the PEP structure was going to change, that all the class types were going to be rejiggered and the names would also change. AFAIK, not a thing has changed since we left.

They are updating quite a few of the PEP classes right now for next year, coincidentally. I'm not surprised that LAD is going.

I am so confused! I am in the process of moving to Rockville and my dc will be in Pep. Anddd the homeschool for when he is in K is LAD. What changes are going on with PEP and what does home school model mean for us if LAD seemed like a good fit for my dc???

Anonymous wrote:I would not be so quick to think the LADs are going to disappear. When we graduated PEP three years ago they were saying then that the PEP structure was going to change, that all the class types were going to be rejiggered and the names would also change. AFAIK, not a thing has changed since we left.

They are updating quite a few of the PEP classes right now for next year, coincidentally. I'm not surprised that LAD is going.

Our school is changing next year. There are not many Elem lad programs left and they are switching them over.