Re: school financial assistance?

[Guest guest]

The Autism Scholarship does cover preschool at present for children

ages three and up. As for what the school offers vs what you would

like...You have to let your child fail before they are held

accountable...unfortunately your child needs to not make progress,

lose skills learned etc before you can attempt to force them to pay

for what you feel would work...and even then (all of this depends on

how willing your SD is willing to work with you) chances are you

would have to end up hiring an attorney (which now thanks to some

recent rulings, you can't even recoup your attorney costs...even if

you are right,....) And the whole time you are fighting it out

(which could take years) the school district is not obligated to

offer any more than they previously had offered. Not to mention you

have to deal with the school district until your child

graduates...firing up bridges from the get go can make for a rocky

relationship. ...As the saying goes..they don't have to offer you a

cadillac of an education, as long as the Yugo still works.

Some school districts may be willing to work with you...but there

aren't many out there that will offer you an education and give you

money to seek more appropriate services.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the information. I have heard others mention the fact that our children have to fail in the classess offered (meanwhile, like you said, maybe losing valuable skills already learned) before the school is held responsible. This is so unfair for our children. I guess I'm not willing to take the chance that my son will lose any of the skills he has learned. I would never do anything to take those skills away from him. It's a shame that we are put in that kind of position regarding our children. The law guarantees an "appropriate" education. If the classes are not right for our children, if they are not learning what and how they should be....then that is not

an "appropriate" education, in my eyes. pcrawfo1 <PCrawfo1@...> wrote: The Autism Scholarship does cover preschool at present for children ages three and up. As for what the school offers vs what you would like...You have to let your child fail before they are held accountable. ..unfortunately your child needs to not make progress, lose skills learned etc before you can attempt to force them to pay for what you feel would work...and even then (all of this depends on how willing your SD is willing to work with you) chances are you would have to end

up hiring an attorney (which now thanks to some recent rulings, you can't even recoup your attorney costs...even if you are right,....) And the whole time you are fighting it out (which could take years) the school district is not obligated to offer any more than they previously had offered. Not to mention you have to deal with the school district until your child graduates... firing up bridges from the get go can make for a rocky relationship. ...As the saying goes..they don't have to offer you a cadillac of an education, as long as the Yugo still works.Some school districts may be willing to work with you...but there aren't many out there that will offer you an education and give you money to seek more appropriate services.

[Guest guest]

I know I missed some of the conversation on this, however, I have some past experience that may help. Working through the Ohio Department of Education and Lyke has been most informative. The IDEA law says that our children are entitled to a free appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. Least restrictive to whom? We as parents trust and don't want to start out on the wrong foot with the schools. But we must be an advocate for our children, especially when they need special help. We do all we can before they go to school, and we can not stand for wasting time and having school personnel and administration ignore the needs or reinvent the wheel. So, here is the advise and it really works.

Make all requests in writing. Requesting that they respond in writing within 5 school days.

Make request for IEP meeting right after school starts, to begin the process of working as a team for your child.

Take another person with you to EVERY meeting. If your spouse can't go, take a care giver, a grandparent, a professional or neighbor. You will be amazed what happens when there is a witness there. The other person doesn't have to say a thing. It may be helpful if the other person just takes notes for you.

Contact the ODE for all of their helpful booklets and pamphlets. READ them. FOLLOW them. Someone has done a lot of homework on how to be professional to get the professionals to help.

It worked for me. After struggling and wasting time for 3 years, when following the guidelines from ODE information, it only took 3 months for my son to get the help he needed. The district is paying for him in another school program, and it is exactly what he needs and has improved tremendously in 4 months.

Don't reinvent the wheel. Work with the professionals who have been there done that.

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