IEP Advice

[Guest guest]

Adena is turning 6 this month! Hard to believe time flies by this fast! Her IEP

is on Monday. She will be transitioning into Kindergarten. We are planning on

requesting that she be fully included in Kindergarten and they are aware of this

request. Everywhere around here still likes to place everyone in self-contained

classrooms and the diagnostician was very adament at our IEP meeting in October

about this although other members including the principal were very open. I had

requested that we start to have her included in part days in Kindergarten and

they shot me down but said we would re-look at in March. My husband went back

in January and talked to the principal and he said it was already in the works.

Since 1/31/ she has been visiting Pre-K for circle time and we have received

good reports. She had 2 bad days and on both of those days, she ended up being

sick. The diagnostician called yesterday afternoon to let me know she completed

her evaluation and Adena scored in the MR range. I don't think this was even an

IQ test. Right now she is classified with a Speech Impairment. She also is

eligible as Vision Impairment due to her low vision. I don't really want her

eligibility classified as MR right now because I think that labels her for the

future. Yes, we are aware she has an intellectual disability but I feel she will

be discriminated by school personnel more with that eligibility of MR. I have

printed out research on the benefits of inclusion from Kindergarten and the

research on children with DS being fully included to back up our request. We

are a transfer student so they could complete the IEP with her placed as fully

included but then deny the transfer. I have a feeling that if we had to go back

to our local school district, they will try to get out of it because I have seen

it happen again and again. I do not want to be the " problem " parent but I do

want what is best for my child.

I appreciate any information and advice on eligibility as MR and I a lot of you

have previously sent advice on asking for inclusion as I have asked for help a

few months back but I appreciate any advice you can give.

I know a lot of their argument is Adena's behavior and she does have a lot of

behavior concerns. Screaming, running off (although that has greatly

decreased), throwing things, going and shoving everything off of a table or

desk, etc. Her current teacher has really been working hard with her on her

impulse control and she has shown improvement. I have noted that usually on her

bad behavior days, she is starting to get sick.

On another note, they do not like frequent absences. She missed a week twice

for pneumonia, a week for the stomach virus,and a few days here and there for

mild illnesses and for out of town doctor's appointments. It is not a big deal

in preschool but now she will be in Kindergarten, I know that is a

consideration.