Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're responding to me but I'm talking specifically about an evaluation, not goal setting. The two are different in my view. I have my problem with the school personnel drafting some goals ahead of the meeting.

However, I don't think it was right or fair that the shook personnel had a chance to go over the eval with th psychologist before the meeting. But I didn't. How can I be expected to get through the entire report in a one hour meeting? And then talk about eligibility? It's crazy! How can I possibly be ready to discuss that at the very same meeting?

I agree with you 100% that parents need a chance to understand the report, and digest that information, before they're asked to participate in a meeting where critical decisions, such as eligibility, are made based on the report. The best school psychologists I've worked with encourage parents to call them during the time between getting the report and the meeting, or even schedule 1:1 meetings to review reports before the eligibility meeting. I think this should be standard practice, partially because I think that parents need to be equal participants in meetings, but also because I think that parents deserve privacy when they are processing difficult news.

I also think that most people who are trying to interpret a report, do so in the context of what they already know. For gen ed teachers, it means that many of the questions we get when we first get a report are things like "Why do you see him as not qualifying for LD when he's in the same reading group as Johnny who has an IEP?" or "When you say working memory, do you mean like Leo?" For parents that might be the opportunity to ask questions that relate a child to a family member, such as "His uncle who has the same symptoms has X diagnosis, do you think he might have the same thing?" In both cases there are confidentiality concerns.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're responding to me but I'm talking specifically about an evaluation, not goal setting. The two are different in my view. I have my problem with the school personnel drafting some goals ahead of the meeting.

However, I don't think it was right or fair that the shook personnel had a chance to go over the eval with th psychologist before the meeting. But I didn't. How can I be expected to get through the entire report in a one hour meeting? And then talk about eligibility? It's crazy! How can I possibly be ready to discuss that at the very same meeting?

NP. When my son had a psychoeducational eval done by our school, the psychologist sent me a copy of her report as soon as it was completed and explained the results way ahead of our IEP (eligibility) meeting. I don't know if there were any school meetings without the parents but the psych also attended the IEP meetings to explain the results to the rest of the IEP team. We are at a DC charter that acts as its own Lea and contracts out evaluations and services.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the poster about resources. We are also spending a tremendous amount of money that insurance doesn't pick up for us. The schools think that just because we do these services, and that our child hasn't completely bombed out, that we shouldn't get these services from the school. But the money we are spending is a huge burden on us. I sometimes feel that the school administrators think it's easy for us to come up with this money. We are constantly on the edge financially bc of the expenses we have to deal with. If school would help more, maybe we wouldn't be almost drowning in debt!

Anonymous wrote:You're responding to me but I'm talking specifically about an evaluation, not goal setting. The two are different in my view. I have my problem with the school personnel drafting some goals ahead of the meeting.

However, I don't think it was right or fair that the shook personnel had a chance to go over the eval with th psychologist before the meeting. But I didn't. How can I be expected to get through the entire report in a one hour meeting? And then talk about eligibility? It's crazy! How can I possibly be ready to discuss that at the very same meeting?

Anonymous wrote:You're responding to me but I'm talking specifically about an evaluation, not goal setting. The two are different in my view. I have my problem with the school personnel drafting some goals ahead of the meeting.

However, I don't think it was right or fair that the shook personnel had a chance to go over the eval with th psychologist before the meeting. But I didn't. How can I be expected to get through the entire report in a one hour meeting? And then talk about eligibility? It's crazy! How can I possibly be ready to discuss that at the very same meeting?

Yes, I felt the same way when I was at the qualification mtg and I found out they had already made up their minds about whether my son had qualified and under what category. I was just getting the interpretation of the psych educational exam at that mtg (I had the report but I am no expert and we were getting the psychologist's explanation). I found out that they had already talked to the psychologist ahead of time and had planned that he qualified and under what category. That answered my question of: how could we possibly go through the entire 25+ page report and then decide whether he qualified and under what category in a mtg that was scheduled to be 1 hour long? I didn't think it was fair at all. Why would it be unprofessional for team members to disagree, in your view, SPED teacher??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm another Sped teacher who is also a SN parent. This probably isn't a secret, but one thing I wish parents understood is that my time and attention are scarce resources. The law may say that the school needs to staff adequately to meet every student's needs, but the reality is that unless you add a dedicated aide, the staffing at my school isn't going to change based on your child's IEP. So, when we're in a meeting, and you're advocating for support at a specific point in the day, or for more minutes of services or services in a different location (e.g. pull out if they're currently push in, or vice versa), I'm thinking of whatever else I'm already scheduled to be doing at that moment.

The reality might be that the recess support you're asking for for your second grader is a great idea, but second grade recess is first grade reading, and the in class reading support I provide to Jose and Mary is crucial. It might be that your kid would do great if I pushed into math class, but then where would Suzie and Malik go? All of this is running through my mind during the meeting.

I'm not asking parents to change what they advocate for, just to understand why I might need time to process, or I might propose an alternative solution. It's not that I'm lazy. It's not that I don't care about your kid. It's that I also care about the other kids, some of whose parents aren't great advocates. I can also guarantee that there are also times when I'm doing the same thing in other IEPs, and the kid I'm thinking of is yours.

I definitely know SN teachers have time constraints and I view it as an impossible job. I have enormous respect for people who do it well and I let them and the principal know. The thing is schools need to brainstorm how to handle these things. People roll their eyes at parent participation, but if you are having recess issues over and over with many students and there is no way for the support staff to help, then perhaps there need to be parent volunteers there too, so you have more eyes making sure the kids are playing safely. If children are wandering alone, see if you can start a buddy program at that grade level or have older kids who be buddies or help facilitate play if they have something going on they can miss.

While I wouldn't have parents teaching reading groups, I would have them watching kids as they write in journals, etc so the teacher can work with a small group.

Some people complain that allowing parent volunteers to help more just leads to gossip and unfair treatment, etc. Guess what if enough other parents see this and say something or the staff notices or whatever then you simply don't allow that parent in the classroom or on the playground anymore. He or she can be reassigned to volunteer in the library or cafeteria.

I'm the PP you're responding to, and I agree that there needs to be brainstorming, but my point is that that brainstorming isn't always something that can happen real time in an IEP meeting. Sometimes there are people who need to be part of the conversation who aren't present (e.g. Maybe I could go to the second half of first grade reading, but I can't make that decision without talking to the first grade teacher. Maybe Ms. Smith has a pull out group at that point that could absorb Henry. Maybe Mr. Jones is already providing resource support and isn't so stretched that he couldn't take on Joey too . . .

Sometimes there are confidentiality reasons. Maybe the reason I'm busy is because that's when Jose's seizure meds are at their lowest, and his temporal lobe seizures can't be handled safely without a 1:1 ratio. I can't have that conversation at an IEP meeting, because it isn't fair to Jose. Maybe Molly's mom told you that her daughter's skills are just like your child's so you want them together, but I know that she either over or underestimated her child when she said that, so your proposed solution of putting your child with Molly isn't going to work.

Again, I'm happy to brainstorm. But I need time. Now, I'll say that in my experience, most parents recognize that when I ask for it. But I'm a veteran teacher, so I've had years to learn how to talk to parents. I don't see newer teachers getting the same courtesy, instead I see parents jump to the conclusion that a teacher doesn't care, when that couldn't be further from the truth.

I disagree with you that parent volunteers are the solution, but I'm not going to derail this conversation into a totally different topic.