Re: ABA and IEP's/Dana

[Guest guest]

Hi Dana,

Excuse my delay in responding. It's difficult to answer your questions with

basic step by step instructions. Possibly the school team decided to try the

least restrictive environment first before removing him to the ABA class. You

may never know the reasons for these decisions. I would compare the curriculum

in both of these classes. I would check that the students are age appropriate,

student/staff ratio, staff is trained(including assistants) and certified in

ABA. Many districts tout an ABA class but the teachers are not trained. The

district would hve an ABA consultant come in weekly/monthly to oversee staff.

It's just a headup when asking questions.

 

Did you call an IEP meeting and give the team the medical report and diagnosis

to the school team at the time he was diagnosed. It would have given the team

the option to change his diagnose. If not, when and how did you offer the

report. Did the school team request an IEP meeting to discuss the

report?  Is Adian making measurable educational progress on his IEP goals?

Have you reviewed the progress data? Not making adequate progress would be the

key in asking that he be placed in the ABA classroom. Never dictate methodology!

It will create attitude issues between you and the school team. Remember

they(school team) are the professionals even though you are your child's expert

and know him the best. It is more productive to lead them in conversation to

the educational decision that you feel would be the environment that

matches Aiden's learning style. Do not introduce an outside evaluation at this

time. The school team may request to do their

own speech eval. They will have 60 school days to complete their eval. It could

take months taking into consideration school vacation, weekends etc and then

more time to schedule an IEP meeting. Time seems to stop in special education

and districts can find ways to delay decisions for months and months if they

feel a parent is oppositional, smooze, smooze. I hope this response helps in

some way.

Good Luck

Charlyne

Mom to Zeb

Subject: ABA and IEP's

To:

Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010, 12:22 PM

 

I apologize in advance for my stupid questions.  I am a " newbie " who is

absorbing all this stuff very slowly. 

I recently found out about an ABA class in my son's school district (actually

located in his school, next to his current classroom, and why I didn't know

about it before is a whole other email).  Anyway, I will be observing the class

on Tuesday with someone from the school district (who is supposed to be there to

explain things to me as I observe and answer questions) and we are going to have

another IEP meeting in February to discuss (a) getting Aidan's diagnosis code

changed to autism and ( hopefully his placement.

First, are there certain things I should be looking for in the class or

questions I should be asking?  I've downloaded a lot of information about ABA

which I will read to prepare for the observation and I'm sure some questions

will pop up as I'm reading, but any thoughts would be appreciated.

Second, how do I ask for ABA in Aidan's IEP?  Is it as simple as just asking

for it or do I need to establish his need for it?  (They are well aware of his

needs, but I'm wondering if there has to be something specific in the IEP to

trigger his eligibility for the class.)  If I need to establish his need for

it, how do I do that?  Should I have his private speech therapist prepare a

report and recommendation for it given his severe communication issues or do I

need to request that a behavioral study be done?  I'm just not sure how to go

about this and I'm not sure I trust the school to be forthcoming since they

didn't bother to tell me about the class in the first place. 

Thanks so much.

Dana (mom to Caitlyn (7) and Aidan (4  DS-ASD))