Re: IEPs/Adversarial Approaches

[Guest guest]

At the risk of offending anyone, I need to vent about Mav's transition

meeting today. He has been fully included all through his elementary school.

Next year we are going to the Jr. High. Today the Jr. High principal and

the head of Sp ed/LD at the Jr. High came to our transition meeting and were

so totally closed minded. They basically told us that they have no inclusion

program and that Maverick can be included in some classes but not in all.

For some classes he would be in resource because there is no way for example

that he could be in a prealgebra class and be doing 1st grade math. They

kept talking about what he COULDN'T do and not what he COULD do. WELL, the

final straw was when the principal said, " You can't tell the difference

between my resource kids and my regular kids. " I told him that Maverick WAS

a regular kid and referring to the sp needs kids as " my resource kids " was

offensive to me as a mother. He said it wasn't offensive to him, and I said,

well, it is to me and you need to look at it through MY eyes when you are

talking about MY son!

Not a fun meeting. They sure don't get WHY we want him included.

Next week we are going to check out all the programs, and then we will make

our decision. IN THE MEANTIME, the sp ed teacher at our school will send

them a copy of the IEP so they understand what we are really working on for

Maverick.

I need some suggestions and ideas from parents who have or are dealing with

the Jr. High situation. Please email me privately so that we don't clog up

the airways with stuff that isn't of importance to all.

HELP!

[Guest guest]

FOR ALL THAT ARE GOING TO ARD ....................WE DID BREEZY'S ANNUAL ARD

ON MONDAY AND THEN WERE HOME FOR TWO DAYS WITH FROZEN ROADS AND HER WITH A

SINUS INFECTION........BAD COMBINATION; MY TRICK TO TAKE THE EDGE OFF OF THE

PROCESS IS TO TAKE FOOD, THIS TIME IT WAS MUFFINS AND COOKIES WITH FRUIT AND

JUICE......IT TAKES THE EDGE OFF AND WE ARE ALL ON EDGE FACE IT....BUT ON THE

LIGHT SIDE THIS IS FOR US ALL:

MY ARD PRAYER

NOW WE'RE SITTING DOWN TO ARD

PLEASE DON'T LET ME DECK THE FOOL WHO USES

THE WORD 'RETARD'

IF I SHOULD SCREAM BEFORE WE'RE THOUGH MAY THE PARENT ADVOCATE KNOW WHAT TO

DO

GOD BLESS THESE MEMBERS OF MY 'HOME SCHOOL CAMPUS'

AND TEACH THEM THAT MY CHILD'S RIGHTS FOR 'A FREE AND APPROPRIATE EDUCATION'

ARE ALL THAT MATTERS

AND WHEN WE SIGN OFF ON THE PROCEEDINGS LET ME BE SATISFIED THAT I DID MY

PART TO OBTAIN FOR HER THE BEST

AND MAY THE MEMBERS OF THE ARD COMMITTEE THINK THAT THEY ARE STILL 'IN

CHARGE' SO WHAT IF WHAT THEY THINK REALLY NEVER MATTERS

I AM, AFTER ALL THE ONE WHO KNOWS MY CHILD THE BEST AND I HAVE TO PROVE THAT

TO ALL THE REST

SO WHEN WE ARD LET US ALL BE AWARE THAT FOR THIS CHILD'S BEST INTEREST WE

SHOULD REALLY CARE

.................I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE POSITIVE ARD OUTCOMES AND CONTINUE TO

LOVE YOUR CHILDREN, THEY ARE AFTER ALL A WONDERFUL GIFT THAT CHALLENGE US

DAILY TO BE THE BEST WE CAN BE......GOD BLESS, GW

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I would have them get an inclusion specialist to come in and show them how it

works. Write them into your IEP. Sorry this happened to us when we went from

elementary to Middleschool. My son needed to fit into the EXISTING program.

(yeah right) We looked at co teaching and the school has had this inclusion

specialist in the school for a few years now. She comes hired out of the ARC.

Sheis great. I also see as time goes on that my sons does need to be in some

non inclusive classes. I only asked that we keep hymn included as much as

possible until 9th grade. This year our goals have changed but he still does

regular ED help rooms 2 regular ED classes and is only in the SPED room for

prevoc skills. He earns money and has opened a bank account they help him

with.

Jean

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/26/2003 7:51:33 PM US Mountain Standard Time, ANGEL2COOK

writes:

> I would have them get an inclusion specialist to come in and show them how

> it works. Write them into your IEP

We have an inclusion specialist. She has worked with Maverick since he was 3

yrs old and we had him included in Headstart. She was at the meeting today

and they didn't want to hear anything she had to say. She observes the

classroom and we meet on a monthly basis as a team...teachers, aides, sp ed

teachers, therapist, psychologist, principal, parent, and inclusion

specialist.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/26/2003 6:47:02 PM Central Standard Time,

Michdock@... writes:

> I need some suggestions and ideas from parents who have or are dealing with

> the Jr. High situation. Please email me privately so that we don't clog up

> the airways with stuff that isn't of importance to all.

> HELP!

>

HI

BIG ((((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))) What you have told us is

exactly what I expect to hear, very soon and Sara isn't even fully included.

I cannot possibly see Sara sitting in a self contained classroom all day,

soooooooooo this is going to be a real problem for us when she hits the

Middle School level. Sara craves the interaction with typical peers. Her

conduct grades in the Reg Ed classes are E's. Now she give the special

education staff a hard way to go. She is rebellious, sassy and wont budge

unless the reward is to her liking.

I am praying our area will get to try the pilot program Mike Remus designed

......... our issues will be nothing if this happens.

Please share what you do and the suggestions you receive Im sure there are

many who will be facing your dilemma very soon .... I am one of them

Kathy mom to Sara 11

[Guest guest]

Those of you who have been fortunate enough to have cooperative, caring school

systems who allow you IEP meetings that are more like a Hawaiian vacation than

an IEP, are very lucky and few indeed. MOST of us have had schools force us to

fight for every little thing we wanted for our son or daughter with DS. They

act like anything we ask for is too much trouble OR they act as if because with

have a child with a developmental disability, we must have one too. Everywhere

we've gone, we've had to fight to get what needs to succeed in school.

I am very happy (and I promise you this is the truth) for those of you who don't

have to fight. It means that we older parents have done our jobs, but remember

some of us still don't have it that easy. Don't judge us because this angers us

when it is the law and we feel that schools should abide by the law. If I

didn't abide by the law, I'd be a criminal.

Elaine

Re: IEPs

What you say is so true, Karla. I know much depends on where you live, that

is why we all have to be careful of our general statements, especially when

there are alot of new parents on the list. I know we need to prepare these

parent for the future and the whole IEP process but I find so much that is

posted on this list promotes adversarial approaches. We need to let others

know that it isn't always like this and to start your child's educational

experience DEMANDING this and that be done when WE say so isn't promoting

teamwork and makes us the enemy from the start.

I know there are some who are struggling in bad situations but please,

please, please, let's not make every teacher, be it regular ed or special ed,

the enemy. There are many good ones out there who can be trusted.....even

with a laptop at hand! LOL.

Jackie, Mom to 15ds, 12, and Bradley 9

[Guest guest]

To me it is important to hear what all have to say. I know my son is only in

first grade, but I would like to hear what is going on in middle school and

high school. It's good to hear others stories rather they be simular or

different. You never know what kind of teacher your child could wind up with

and any input is better than none. I would rather be aware than unaware. We

are all adults and we can make our own decisions. Who knows, what ever you

are going through, I could be ready in case I have to go through it.

>From: " donnalg " <DonnaLG@...>

>Reply- " donnalg " <donnalg@...>

>< >

>Subject: Re: IEPs/Adversarial Approaches

>Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 19:55:18 -0800

>

>

>

> > At the risk of offending anyone, I need to vent about Mav's transition

> > meeting today. He has been fully included all through his elementary

>school.

> > Next year we are going to the Jr. High. Today the Jr. High principal

>and

> > the head of Sp ed/LD at the Jr. High came to our transition meeting and

>were

> > so totally closed minded. They basically told us that they have no

>inclusion

> > program and that Maverick can be included in some classes but not in

>all.

> > For some classes he would be in resource because there is no way for

>example

> > that he could be in a prealgebra class and be doing 1st grade math.

>They

> > kept talking about what he COULDN'T do and not what he COULD do. WELL,

>the

> > final straw was when the principal said, " You can't tell the difference

> > between my resource kids and my regular kids. " I told him that Maverick

>WAS

> > a regular kid and referring to the sp needs kids as " my resource kids "

>was

> > offensive to me as a mother. He said it wasn't offensive to him, and I

>said,

> > well, it is to me and you need to look at it through MY eyes when you

>are

> > talking about MY son!

> > Not a fun meeting. They sure don't get WHY we want him included.

> > Next week we are going to check out all the programs, and then we will

>make

> > our decision. IN THE MEANTIME, the sp ed teacher at our school will

>send

> > them a copy of the IEP so they understand what we are really working on

>for

> > Maverick.

> > I need some suggestions and ideas from parents who have or are dealing

>with

> > the Jr. High situation. Please email me privately so that we don't clog

>up

> > the airways with stuff that isn't of importance to all.

> > HELP!

> >

>

>I personally don't think this would be clogging up the airways. This is the

>time of year when we're all dealing with this stuff,

>and we're supposed to be here to help each other. I would like to hear

>others suggestions.

>Donna

> >

>

>

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[Guest guest]

> At the risk of offending anyone, I need to vent about Mav's transition

> meeting today. He has been fully included all through his elementary

school.

> Next year we are going to the Jr. High. Today the Jr. High principal and

> the head of Sp ed/LD at the Jr. High came to our transition meeting and

were

> so totally closed minded. They basically told us that they have no

inclusion

> program and that Maverick can be included in some classes but not in all.

> For some classes he would be in resource because there is no way for

example

> that he could be in a prealgebra class and be doing 1st grade math. They

> kept talking about what he COULDN'T do and not what he COULD do. WELL,

the

> final straw was when the principal said, " You can't tell the difference

> between my resource kids and my regular kids. " I told him that Maverick

WAS

> a regular kid and referring to the sp needs kids as " my resource kids " was

> offensive to me as a mother. He said it wasn't offensive to him, and I

said,

> well, it is to me and you need to look at it through MY eyes when you are

> talking about MY son!

> Not a fun meeting. They sure don't get WHY we want him included.

> Next week we are going to check out all the programs, and then we will

make

> our decision. IN THE MEANTIME, the sp ed teacher at our school will send

> them a copy of the IEP so they understand what we are really working on

for

> Maverick.

> I need some suggestions and ideas from parents who have or are dealing

with

> the Jr. High situation. Please email me privately so that we don't clog

up

> the airways with stuff that isn't of importance to all.

> HELP!

>

I personally don't think this would be clogging up the airways. This is the

time of year when we're all dealing with this stuff,

and we're supposed to be here to help each other. I would like to hear

others suggestions.

Donna

>