Questions

May 29, 2003

What Company sells this? I'd love to see it. (hoping there is a website)

Caty is using (well, actually ignoring) her TechSpeak and she uses a

StepbyStep for small naratives between home and school. I just asked for her

to be evaluated so we could find something else. We've added keyboarding to

her IEP next year, did you do that with Mav? I'm hoping that at some point

she'll be able to type in what she wants to say and the device (with voice

output) will help her get her point across.

Re: questions

> The vantage is a augmentive communication device. You push the button and

it

> says the words. There are alot of different styles and types. When he

was

> younger, Mav had the Alphatalker. The Vantage is smaller and " more

mature " .

> They both are based on the minspeak symbols. You can set the pages to the

> number of pics that you want.... 4 to 64 is what Mav's is set at.....I'm

not sure

> if it can be more...we are using 32 for most pages. You can set

different

> pages for different subjects.....like I made a page just for FAIR info

when he

> was at the county fair....and they made a page to go with his Power Point

> presentation at school.

>

May 29, 2003

In a message dated 5/29/2003 3:50:05 PM Central Standard Time,

web4mom@... writes:

> Anyway folks, I need your input for a response.

> Bev

HI Bev

You may have already been asked this question but is your name on the

notification letter, notifying the parents of your attendance? Also what role

are you

going to take lol and what happens if your school pulls something shiesty on

the parents or wants you to .......... just curious I wonder if

parent/teachers are at risk of job security if they tell the truth

Kathy mom to Sara 11

May 29, 2003

In a message dated 5/29/03 10:40:00 PM, web4mom@... writes:

<< At this point, I need a snappy, tough-neighborhood-of-Brooklyn come-back.

??????? Ralph???????? Help! >>

Bev,

us the tough neighborhood of brooklyn??? naw ask kathy- shes got hip boots!!

in scary brooklyn

May 29, 2003

OK, needed to read this one first- i think you should definately recluse ( is

that the right word) yourself from the spanish IEP because they need to

provide a translator thats not you. I also think you should some how inform him

of

your knowledge of ieps without telling him but by pointing some inacurracy in

it that you can get him on.

I do that all the time with amanda's principal just a gentle reminder about

how if blah blah they could possibly be out of compliance blah blah....

Keeps her on her toes, but you should not explain yourself to your principal

at all, but not do anything else to save anyone time, effort, energy, etc.

Sorry, still no snappy comebacks here we just tell people to (oops what i

want to say i cant on the list!)

May 29, 2003

We had some weird experiences with speech therapists. Of course in

's day we had to find, and pay for, private therapy. We had one session

with a gal who talked about horsies and doggies, and such. You get the idea.

Didn't go back. He went 3 days a week for 6 weeks to a summer program at the

Rehab Institute. I was able to watch part of the time through a special

mirror. I think they were 1-hour sessions, I don't remember for sure. She

spent

most of the time with some little toys teaching him ON, UNDER, that kind of

thing. He knew those things before they started but he was bored with the whole

thing so would give her wrong answers. That was obvious to me but she never

caught on. So that was mostly a waste of effort. Finally we found a woman

who was very good, she worked in her home. Every now and then she would come

out of the room and double up laughing, then straighten her face and go back

in. kept breaking her up. She said he gave he answers she never

thought of. He went to her for some time and she was good. Eventually he did

have

some therapy at school, that we paid extra for. This was a man and he would

give me things to work on with him too.

In our experience there were a lot of different ideas on what to work

on and what " speech " therapy consists of. Jessie

May 29, 2003

From another Brooklynite tell to get with the program you a** wipe. Or my

favorite bite me you a**wipe. Unless you want street talk.

Maureen

May 29, 2003

Wait till you hear I question I was asked by my principal! I'm a school

librarian. In my continually shrinking non-school life, I am a mom of a son

with DS, (which my principal knows), an owner of the book Better IEP's,

long-time listserv member, attendee at a gazillion SpEd parent education

meetings and conferences, etc. For the past five or six years I have

basically written my son's IEP; his teachers have appeared sincerely

grateful that I've saved them so much work. This morning I was asked to

translate (I was a Spanish teacher before I became a librarian.) for an IEP

meeting--for no compensation, of course. I had to remind the administrative

designee that the parent needed to be advised of her rights before she

signed the IEP.

So... the subject of IEPs came up at a conversation with my principal,

and in his usual somewhat abrasive streets-of-Brooklyn style (which I

usually enjoy), he said to me, " What would you know about writing IEPs? "

I usually really like this guy, but I am really P.O.ed at this comment, and

am thinking it deserves a response. If I didn't feel so strongly that the

Spanish-speaking parents needed the assistance of someone who could explain

the process and their rights, I would just tell him to inform the Special Ed

department that I am not comptetent to be at their IEP meetings.

Anyway folks, I need your input for a response.

Bev

May 29, 2003

ROFLOL this is usually my problem

> (oops what i

> want to say i cant on the list!)

>

> L

--

Leis.... Aussie mum to 5 ,Natasha 1 and Jellybean due Oct 03

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an

adventure wrongly considered.

G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

May 29, 2003

Why didn't you tell him you have written your son's IEPs for the past 5 years.

If he is surprised, tell him he should talk to your son's teachers.

Also, you should tell the Spec Ed Dept they need to pay you for translating. I

would call the hospital admissions and ask if they get paid extra when they

translate for a patient.

mom to Bridget 10

RE: questions