IEP Woes

[Guest guest]

I had my son's IEP this am and I " m okay with most of it, but am worried

about a few things. My son is currently in 3rd grade--going into 4th next

fall--he is pulled for 30 minutes a day to the resource room to work on whatever

needs to be worked on and pulled for 20 minutes twice a week for speech.

They wanted to increase his pull out to 60 minutes a day resource room and

30 minutes a day speech. I declined that and his pull-out will remain the same.

He has for the past 3 years received S, N, O, U as his grades....we had a

lot of controversy over this in the fall and in the end I agreed to this for

this year. I really think he should be receiving grades based on his work that

is at his level...but even then I " m not sure his grades would be good. For

example, this year he has gotten 5 of the regular spelling words (the other 3rd

graders get 12-15 words a week) and he has gotten anywhere from 0-4 correct each

week. The average is 40% which would still be an F on a grade card--do I want

that? I'm thrilled with the 40% as it is a drastic improvement from the

previous two years when his average was probably 10% and he was taking the tests

in the resource room 1:1, not in the general ed classroom like he is now. We

discussed grades again today and got nowhere...most of the " team " feels we

should stick with S, N, O, U...they don't know how we could effectively and/or

legally give him real grades. I asked why he couldn't continue to participate

in the general ed instruction for math and reading, but have his grades based

solely on progress he's made on his specific IEP goals. They didn't know if

that was allowable. They also didn't understand why I would want him to

participate in the general ed instruction if his grades were going to be based

purely on his IEP goals that he could work on mainly with the intervention

specialist. I think I answered that question okay, but still don't have an

answer on grades. I know I've asked this before--probably more than once--but

how do I address the grades issue??

His teacher for next year is very concerned about how she can appropriately

*include* him in her class if he is functioning at approximately a 1st grade

level. She stated it is going to be very difficult to modify the curriculum for

him as he gets older. I said more difficult, but not impossible. Not sure she

agreed with me. She is very worried about legality, meeting state standards,

teaching to the 4th grade standards and if he couldn't meet the 1st grade

standards, how can she effectively teach him while at the same time teach the

other 21 kids in her class. I'm always at a loss for what to say. I know in my

heart what I want for Mac and I know that it CAN work, but in the heat of that

moment I " m not sure how to respond. I told her I did not care about the state

standards and I don't expect Mac to meet most of them and I'm not concerned

about that...as long as I see that he is continuing to make progress, enjoys

school and has meaningful relationships I " ll be happy. The teacher stated she

wasn't worried about me, but about the state and how his progress, grades,

etc...will reflect on her with all of the new procedures we have to do and

report to the state. I suggested that everything will be put into the IEP to

cover her butt and the IEP supersedes everything...am I correct about that???

What are some good resources I can send to her for her to possibly review over

the summer about modifying curriculum--especially in the area of math--where

there will be the biggest discrepancy between what Mac is capable of and what

the curriculum expects???

Thanks for any words of wisdom, advice, connections and support.

Jill

Mom to Mac (9 yrs. old, 3rd grade, Ds) and Kit (5.5 yrs. old, preschool, Ds)

PS: Mac is the first and only child in our district to be included to this

extent--so this is a new ball game for everyone.

[Guest guest]

Waaaaaahhhhhh! I sure do get tired of this kind of attitude. IT " S YOUR

JOB...DEAL WITH IT!!

jmho :-)

Karla in Texas

IEP Woes

> She stated it is going to be very difficult to modify the curriculum

> for him as he gets older.

[Guest guest]

Jill, just wanted to say I am hanging on every word. Hot on your heels

here, going into 3rd grade. Ciarra reads at a 2nd grade level, math at

an ending 1st grade level, currently in 2nd grade. And they want her

pulled out for most of the day to resource room. She can handle the reg

ed room. Sigh. We are headed to court over it, and I am SO tired of

having to fight.

IEP Woes

I had my son's IEP this am and I " m okay with most of it, but am worried

about a few things. My son is currently in 3rd grade--going into 4th

next fall--he is pulled for 30 minutes a day to the resource room to

work on whatever needs to be worked on and pulled for 20 minutes twice a

week for speech.

They wanted to increase his pull out to 60 minutes a day resource room

and 30 minutes a day speech. I declined that and his pull-out will

remain the same.

He has for the past 3 years received S, N, O, U as his grades....we had

a lot of controversy over this in the fall and in the end I agreed to

this for this year. I really think he should be receiving grades based

on his work that is at his level...but even then I " m not sure his grades

would be good. For example, this year he has gotten 5 of the regular

spelling words (the other 3rd graders get 12-15 words a week) and he has

gotten anywhere from 0-4 correct each week. The average is 40% which

would still be an F on a grade card--do I want that? I'm thrilled with

the 40% as it is a drastic improvement from the previous two years when

his average was probably 10% and he was taking the tests in the resource

room 1:1, not in the general ed classroom like he is now. We discussed

grades again today and got nowhere...most of the " team " feels we should

stick with S, N, O, U...they don't know how we could effectively and/or

legally give him real grades. I asked why he couldn't continue to

participate in the general ed instruction for math and reading, but have

his grades based solely on progress he's made on his specific IEP goals.

They didn't know if that was allowable. They also didn't understand why

I would want him to participate in the general ed instruction if his

grades were going to be based purely on his IEP goals that he could work

on mainly with the intervention specialist. I think I answered that

question okay, but still don't have an answer on grades. I know I've

asked this before--probably more than once--but how do I address the

grades issue??

His teacher for next year is very concerned about how she can

appropriately *include* him in her class if he is functioning at

approximately a 1st grade level. She stated it is going to be very

difficult to modify the curriculum for him as he gets older. I said more

difficult, but not impossible. Not sure she agreed with me. She is very

worried about legality, meeting state standards, teaching to the 4th

grade standards and if he couldn't meet the 1st grade standards, how can

she effectively teach him while at the same time teach the other 21 kids

in her class. I'm always at a loss for what to say. I know in my heart

what I want for Mac and I know that it CAN work, but in the heat of that

moment I " m not sure how to respond. I told her I did not care about the

state standards and I don't expect Mac to meet most of them and I'm not

concerned about that...as long as I see that he is continuing to make

progress, enjoys school and has meaningful relationships I " ll be happy.

The teacher stated she wasn't worried about me, but about the state and

how his progress, grades, etc...will reflect on her with all of the new

procedures we have to do and report to the state. I suggested that

everything will be put into the IEP to cover her butt and the IEP

supersedes everything...am I correct about that??? What are some good

resources I can send to her for her to possibly review over the summer

about modifying curriculum--especially in the area of math--where there

will be the biggest discrepancy between what Mac is capable of and what

the curriculum expects???

Thanks for any words of wisdom, advice, connections and support.

Jill

Mom to Mac (9 yrs. old, 3rd grade, Ds) and Kit (5.5 yrs. old, preschool,

Ds)

PS: Mac is the first and only child in our district to be included to

this extent--so this is a new ball game for everyone.

[Guest guest]

Personally, I would stick with the grading system you have been using if a

traditional system is going to break down his self esteem.

-- IEP Woes

I had my son's IEP this am and I " m okay with most of it, but am worried

about a few things. My son is currently in 3rd grade--going into 4th next

fall--he is pulled for 30 minutes a day to the resource room to work on

whatever needs to be worked on and pulled for 20 minutes twice a week for

speech.

They wanted to increase his pull out to 60 minutes a day resource room and

30 minutes a day speech. I declined that and his pull-out will remain the

same.

He has for the past 3 years received S, N, O, U as his grades....we had a

lot of controversy over this in the fall and in the end I agreed to this for

this year. I really think he should be receiving grades based on his work

that is at his level...but even then I " m not sure his grades would be good.

For example, this year he has gotten 5 of the regular spelling words (the

other 3rd graders get 12-15 words a week) and he has gotten anywhere from

0-4 correct each week. The average is 40% which would still be an F on a

grade card--do I want that? I'm thrilled with the 40% as it is a drastic

improvement from the previous two years when his average was probably 10%

and he was taking the tests in the resource room 1:1, not in the general ed

classroom like he is now. We discussed grades again today and got nowhere..

most of the " team " feels we should stick with S, N, O, U...they don't know

how we could effectively and/or legally give him real grades. I asked why he

couldn't continue to participate in the general ed instruction for math and

reading, but have his grades based solely on progress he's made on his

specific IEP goals. They didn't know if that was allowable. They also didn't

understand why I would want him to participate in the general ed instruction

if his grades were going to be based purely on his IEP goals that he could

work on mainly with the intervention specialist. I think I answered that

question okay, but still don't have an answer on grades. I know I've asked

this before--probably more than once--but how do I address the grades

issue??

His teacher for next year is very concerned about how she can appropriately

*include* him in her class if he is functioning at approximately a 1st grade

level. She stated it is going to be very difficult to modify the curriculum

for him as he gets older. I said more difficult, but not impossible. Not

sure she agreed with me. She is very worried about legality, meeting state

standards, teaching to the 4th grade standards and if he couldn't meet the

1st grade standards, how can she effectively teach him while at the same

time teach the other 21 kids in her class. I'm always at a loss for what to

say. I know in my heart what I want for Mac and I know that it CAN work, but

in the heat of that moment I " m not sure how to respond. I told her I did not

care about the state standards and I don't expect Mac to meet most of them

and I'm not concerned about that...as long as I see that he is continuing to

make progress, enjoys school and has meaningful relationships I " ll be happy.

The teacher stated she wasn't worried about me, but about the state and how

his progress, grades, etc...will reflect on her with all of the new

procedures we have to do and report to the state. I suggested that

everything will be put into the IEP to cover her butt and the IEP supersedes

everything...am I correct about that??? What are some good resources I can

send to her for her to possibly review over the summer about modifying

curriculum--especially in the area of math--where there will be the biggest

discrepancy between what Mac is capable of and what the curriculum

expects???

Thanks for any words of wisdom, advice, connections and support.

Jill

Mom to Mac (9 yrs. old, 3rd grade, Ds) and Kit (5.5 yrs. old, preschool, Ds)

PS: Mac is the first and only child in our district to be included to this

extent--so this is a new ball game for everyone.

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Sorry this is long message, and I don't have anything to offer as far as

grading; I don't think our district does numerical grading until 4th

grade. But I have a similar dilemma, so I've been reading all the

responses with great interest. I'm not sure how to proceed with the

recommendations for my son's IEP this year. has been in a

blended classroom since Kindergarten (regular ed and students with

special needs combined, with a regular ed teacher and a special ed

teacher to modify curriculum). He has a full time aide, and receives

daily speech therapy and O/T & P/T twice a week. Sometimes it's push

in; sometimes it's pull out. doesn't attend his " home school " ,

but with our district, there are so many neighborhood schools; his home

school is 2 minutes away; the school he attends is 10 minutes away, so I

never really felt this was a problem. This program/placement has been

working pretty well until this year (2nd grade). Though each year, I

have been reluctant to move to the next grade level. He has an

August birthday, so he's actually one of the youngest students in his

class, and he looks younger 'cause of his size. I thought he might

benefit from being held back a year, but the school district disagreed.

They hold the position that since he has an IEP, he can move along with

his peers and work on his IEP goals; they've repeatedly said that being

with students his own age (his peers) is most important.

is a wonderful child (am I prejudice? LOL) and he does make

progress, though it is very slow, and sometimes difficult to measure.

He is working pretty much at a preschool level for just about everything

(academics, social skills, etc.). And to make matters more challenging,

has not yet learned to be independent with many tasks

(toileting, eating, etc.), and has had some behavioral issues (flopping,

spitting, pushing, kicking when he does not want to engage in a certain

activity). So obviously the gap between him and his peers is increasing

at an alarming rate. The school district is proposing a new classroom

for next year. It will be a multi grade (K-3) 8:1:1 classroom, designed

with an Applied Behavior Analysis approach to teaching. The plan is to

have a special education teacher and speech therapist in the classroom

for half the day, and then the rest of there would be the special

education teacher and either a music therapist or a PT therapist. (The

district knows that I am interested in music therapy, because I have

requested it in the past; but they would only consent to having a

quarterly consultation with the teachers- not actual music therapy).

would join a regular ed class for all of the " extras " (music,

art, gym, etc.) O/T would be a " push in " service into art class. Each

year the 8:1:1 classroom would change to " grow " with the students (next

year K-3; the following year 1st-4th; then 2nd-5th, etc.)

The only other choice that was presented was to advance to 3rd

grade, and have him in a blended 3rd grade classroom, and try to provide

the appropriate supports like we did this year (which is obviously not

working well). I find it quite ironic that they would never allow

to repeat a grade due to the social implications, but now it

would be acceptable to place in a K-3 classroom. I like the

therapy that would be provided, but I am afraid that it might be too

restrictive of a setting, and that once I agree to it, I'll have more

difficultly promoting inclusion for other things. attends a

day care after school, where he does get to interact with children of

all ages. He actually gravitates toward the 5 and younger crowd,

because they are most often playing with the toys and games he is most

interested in.

Has anyone tried a similar 8:1:1 program? Any ideas on alternative

programs I should be considering/requesting?

Thanks,

Mom to , 6 (DS) & Kathleen, 16