RE: Help with our school district

[Guest guest]

I would personally go to a private audiologist. I know it will cost more

but you would want to win the war instead of this battle. Your duagther

needs stronger aids; I would get them.

n addition, they found that is

>underaided. We are now strongly considering switching audiologists

>based on her hearing aids not being set correctly. Her audiological

>therapy is paid for by the district so I called the school district to

>ask about other qualified audiologists we could use.

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[Guest guest]

Daphne,

Thanks for the advice - I knew having a paper trail was going to

be important, but I never realized for every question I was going to

need one - I can't believe it can be this hard to get the answers I

need, but I'm learning. Faxing is a GREAT idea! With 2 munchkins in

the house, the thought of sending a certified letter from the post

office every day wasn't very appealing (alhtough I could have done it

if necessary), but we can fax right from our computer. Copying the

state is also another idea I never considered, but will definitely do

- they've gotten to know me quite well over the past few months.

We are actually starting to look for a house (we rent now) and

which school district we end up in is definitely on my mind - how did

you choose a new school district to better suit you needs?

Thanks again,

> Two times when our SPED liasion wasn't returning our calls I started

faxing

> daily, and sending a copy to the SPED director. It didn't take long

to get

> what we wanted. I liked faxing because it gave me a " paper trail " to

fall

> back on-- timestamps too. In your case, can can fax the CPSE

chairperson and

> cc somebody in the State offices? I don't know that it matters,

actually, as

> long as the person you're faxing thinks someone else is checking up

on them

> they seem to get moving pretty quickly.

>

> Each time I faxed I used VERY polite language, but also said

something like

> " yesterday I sent a fax to so-and-so and so-and -so requesting xyz.

I have

> not yet heard back on this subject. " I also included a line that

said how

> willing I was to help in any way.

>

> Good luck. What a nuisance for you. Sadly, we did end up having to

move to

> gain access to better schools for my sons. But we did that when we

ran out

> of concrete things to ask for (speech, FM, etc.). When we left they were

> giving us what we asked for, but the classrooms for even typically

> developing kids were so dismal we couldn't cope any longer.

>

> Daphne

> mom to , 7,(hoh) & Leo, 5, (gosh I wish they would diagnose him with

> something so he would stop driving everyone crazy!)

[Guest guest]

Daphne,

Thanks for the advice - I knew having a paper trail was going to

be important, but I never realized for every question I was going to

need one - I can't believe it can be this hard to get the answers I

need, but I'm learning. Faxing is a GREAT idea! With 2 munchkins in

the house, the thought of sending a certified letter from the post

office every day wasn't very appealing (alhtough I could have done it

if necessary), but we can fax right from our computer. Copying the

state is also another idea I never considered, but will definitely do

- they've gotten to know me quite well over the past few months.

We are actually starting to look for a house (we rent now) and

which school district we end up in is definitely on my mind - how did

you choose a new school district to better suit your son's needs?

Thanks again!

Cheryl

> Two times when our SPED liasion wasn't returning our calls I started

faxing

> daily, and sending a copy to the SPED director. It didn't take long

to get

> what we wanted. I liked faxing because it gave me a " paper trail " to

fall

> back on-- timestamps too. In your case, can can fax the CPSE

chairperson and

> cc somebody in the State offices? I don't know that it matters,

actually, as

> long as the person you're faxing thinks someone else is checking up

on them

> they seem to get moving pretty quickly.

>

> Each time I faxed I used VERY polite language, but also said

something like

> " yesterday I sent a fax to so-and-so and so-and -so requesting xyz.

I have

> not yet heard back on this subject. " I also included a line that

said how

> willing I was to help in any way.

>

> Good luck. What a nuisance for you. Sadly, we did end up having to

move to

> gain access to better schools for my sons. But we did that when we

ran out

> of concrete things to ask for (speech, FM, etc.). When we left they were

> giving us what we asked for, but the classrooms for even typically

> developing kids were so dismal we couldn't cope any longer.

>

> Daphne

> mom to , 7,(hoh) & Leo, 5, (gosh I wish they would diagnose him with

> something so he would stop driving everyone crazy!)

[Guest guest]

Hi Cheryl,

Sadly it seems like those departments who won't answer *one* question often

need prompting for pretty much everything. And, yes, it *was* easier to fax

back in those days when my little ones were super little. So good luck on

that!

> We are actually starting to look for a house (we rent now) and

> which school district we end up in is definitely on my mind - how did

> you choose a new school district to better suit your son's needs?

It started with a vague notion that I had heard that our town (Newton, MA)

had good schools. Then I emailed our audiologist at Boston Children's

Hospital asking if she knew how the services for deaf/hoh kids were here and

if she knew names of any parents or anyone in Newton. She gave me the names

of a parent and a TOD from the schools. I talked to the parent, who directed

me to another parent in the area, and I also emailed the TOD. I also emailed

this group to see if anyone knew anything about Newton's services and folks

were so nice to respond.

I only felt confidence in our decision after I had talked to parents who had

had both positive and " negative " experiences, and heard from people who

actually worked for the schools. Turned out the " negatives " were NOTHING

compared to what we had already been through, and the town's base services

that they give you just because of hearing loss were lightyears above what

we had in our old city. And the people who worked in the schools said all

the right things. (I had to grin when a lowly administrator snipped at me as

if I was stupid, " if a child has an IEP we follow it-- it's the LAW you

know! " LOL! I had been living in a place where they couldn't care LESS what

the law was and IEPs were rarely followed. I did a happy dance after that.)

The icing on the cake was that in general the schools in Newton get great

reviews & test scores.

Because, ultimately, it doesn't matter if your child has an FM and a TOD and

all kinds of supplemental services if the school itself is horrible.

We are very lucky and grateful to have had so much good advice from people

before the move.

So good luck. And email the list about where you're thinking of moving!

Daphne

mom to (hoh) & Leo

[Guest guest]

Daphne,

We live about 1 1/2 hours north on New York City. We're staying

in the area, but there are several different school dsitricts to

choose from - we're thinking about either Lagrange, Wappingers or

Fishkill NY (all within ~ 20 minutes of each other). If anyone has

any experience with these school districts, I'd love to hear it.

I've been told we're actually right now in the " best school

district " in the area, even 's therapists tell me it's easiest to

get services here - maybe we just got off on the wrong foot or they're

not used to parents who want to go outside the norm. The school

district is overcrowded so I'm not really sure we want to stay here

for 's sake, but we'll be looking into that before we make our

decision on a house.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

cheryl

>

> So good luck. And email the list about where you're thinking of moving!

>

> Daphne

> mom to (hoh) & Leo