Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 In a message dated 4/13/2004 6:29:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, janajama@... writes: IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system for almost ten years now This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? : Since the person that district has chosen to include for the task of informing the team about the district's resources seems unable to make a decision on her own and is " uncomfortable " proceding on important points without consulting her boss, I would request, in writing, that her boss be the one to attend all future meetings. An excerpt from one of my letters on the same topic: " It is inconceivable that the district would repeatedly send a representative to our meetings who is not authorized to make decisions. Since this has happened repeatedly, at this point we can only conclude that this is being done intentionally as a stalling technique. " (I also used the words " forum shopping " and " incompetence " at some point in that letter.) Request that the head of the Compliance Office be present at your meeting from now on since his/her appointed represenmtative is obviously not appropriately authorized to resolve or approve anything. If they refuse the request, I would then contact your State Ed Dept and complain that the district is using unprofessional stalling techniques in order to intentionally delay, hence deny, your child needed services. When our district pulled such stunts, I contacted the Dept of Communication Disorders in the NY State Ed Dept (I think that's the proper title -- I'm relying on my faulty over-tired memory) The woman I spoke with was quite helpful, more so than I realized at the time. This all went on for almost 2 years. They would agree to services and then find ways of stopping or re-defining them without altering the IEP. Our final solution to the district " just refusing " to acknowledge that our son's hearing loss was " educationally significant " was a lawyer. At the close of a very unsatisfactory IEP meeting, (our 3rd or 4th in 2 months) we informed them that this was our last attempt to work with the district without legal counsel. We had retained a lawyer and at 10 am the next morning we would be signing over power-of-attorney and all future contact with the district would be made through our lawyer. I had already arranged for him to represent us at the next meeting, which had already been scheduled for 2 weeks later. Their game at that point was to meeting-us-to-death and have a different cast of characters there each time. By 5 pm that day we had everything we asked for, summarized in writing and faxed directly to the lawyer. At that meeting they denied having confirmed the validity of Ian's hearing loss and were demanding additional testing before they would approve any services. Yet there was a TOD listed in his IEP and she'd been coming to the school 3 days a week for that entire school year. It was truly a surreal point in our history. I truly hate dealing with school districts when they are playing these games. Shortly after that point, our district had a major personnel upheavel and all of the CSE related personnel were replaced. We have not had trouble since, nothing even slightly resembling that nightmare. Well, I've now rambled on for too long ... I wish you luck -- Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 In a message dated 4/13/2004 6:29:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, janajama@... writes: IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system for almost ten years now This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? : Since the person that district has chosen to include for the task of informing the team about the district's resources seems unable to make a decision on her own and is " uncomfortable " proceding on important points without consulting her boss, I would request, in writing, that her boss be the one to attend all future meetings. An excerpt from one of my letters on the same topic: " It is inconceivable that the district would repeatedly send a representative to our meetings who is not authorized to make decisions. Since this has happened repeatedly, at this point we can only conclude that this is being done intentionally as a stalling technique. " (I also used the words " forum shopping " and " incompetence " at some point in that letter.) Request that the head of the Compliance Office be present at your meeting from now on since his/her appointed represenmtative is obviously not appropriately authorized to resolve or approve anything. If they refuse the request, I would then contact your State Ed Dept and complain that the district is using unprofessional stalling techniques in order to intentionally delay, hence deny, your child needed services. When our district pulled such stunts, I contacted the Dept of Communication Disorders in the NY State Ed Dept (I think that's the proper title -- I'm relying on my faulty over-tired memory) The woman I spoke with was quite helpful, more so than I realized at the time. This all went on for almost 2 years. They would agree to services and then find ways of stopping or re-defining them without altering the IEP. Our final solution to the district " just refusing " to acknowledge that our son's hearing loss was " educationally significant " was a lawyer. At the close of a very unsatisfactory IEP meeting, (our 3rd or 4th in 2 months) we informed them that this was our last attempt to work with the district without legal counsel. We had retained a lawyer and at 10 am the next morning we would be signing over power-of-attorney and all future contact with the district would be made through our lawyer. I had already arranged for him to represent us at the next meeting, which had already been scheduled for 2 weeks later. Their game at that point was to meeting-us-to-death and have a different cast of characters there each time. By 5 pm that day we had everything we asked for, summarized in writing and faxed directly to the lawyer. At that meeting they denied having confirmed the validity of Ian's hearing loss and were demanding additional testing before they would approve any services. Yet there was a TOD listed in his IEP and she'd been coming to the school 3 days a week for that entire school year. It was truly a surreal point in our history. I truly hate dealing with school districts when they are playing these games. Shortly after that point, our district had a major personnel upheavel and all of the CSE related personnel were replaced. We have not had trouble since, nothing even slightly resembling that nightmare. Well, I've now rambled on for too long ... I wish you luck -- Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 In a message dated 4/13/2004 6:29:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, janajama@... writes: IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system for almost ten years now This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? : Since the person that district has chosen to include for the task of informing the team about the district's resources seems unable to make a decision on her own and is " uncomfortable " proceding on important points without consulting her boss, I would request, in writing, that her boss be the one to attend all future meetings. An excerpt from one of my letters on the same topic: " It is inconceivable that the district would repeatedly send a representative to our meetings who is not authorized to make decisions. Since this has happened repeatedly, at this point we can only conclude that this is being done intentionally as a stalling technique. " (I also used the words " forum shopping " and " incompetence " at some point in that letter.) Request that the head of the Compliance Office be present at your meeting from now on since his/her appointed represenmtative is obviously not appropriately authorized to resolve or approve anything. If they refuse the request, I would then contact your State Ed Dept and complain that the district is using unprofessional stalling techniques in order to intentionally delay, hence deny, your child needed services. When our district pulled such stunts, I contacted the Dept of Communication Disorders in the NY State Ed Dept (I think that's the proper title -- I'm relying on my faulty over-tired memory) The woman I spoke with was quite helpful, more so than I realized at the time. This all went on for almost 2 years. They would agree to services and then find ways of stopping or re-defining them without altering the IEP. Our final solution to the district " just refusing " to acknowledge that our son's hearing loss was " educationally significant " was a lawyer. At the close of a very unsatisfactory IEP meeting, (our 3rd or 4th in 2 months) we informed them that this was our last attempt to work with the district without legal counsel. We had retained a lawyer and at 10 am the next morning we would be signing over power-of-attorney and all future contact with the district would be made through our lawyer. I had already arranged for him to represent us at the next meeting, which had already been scheduled for 2 weeks later. Their game at that point was to meeting-us-to-death and have a different cast of characters there each time. By 5 pm that day we had everything we asked for, summarized in writing and faxed directly to the lawyer. At that meeting they denied having confirmed the validity of Ian's hearing loss and were demanding additional testing before they would approve any services. Yet there was a TOD listed in his IEP and she'd been coming to the school 3 days a week for that entire school year. It was truly a surreal point in our history. I truly hate dealing with school districts when they are playing these games. Shortly after that point, our district had a major personnel upheavel and all of the CSE related personnel were replaced. We have not had trouble since, nothing even slightly resembling that nightmare. Well, I've now rambled on for too long ... I wish you luck -- Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system for almost ten years now This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 Read IDEA, underline it, understand it, then start finding every violation that they are making and file a state complaint, citing the part of idea that they are violating. See if a local advocacy center is giving lessons on IDEA. A lot of them have grant funding to do so. Our local ARC...Association for Retarded Children holds them semiannually and they're terrific and free or something like $10 for 4-5 sessions. I tell you, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and the more legitimate complaints you file, the more they'll have to comply. Note, however, that initially, you'll get alot of retaliation until they become afraid of you. Then it will stop and you'll continue to get what you want though they'll still test you. school system refusing > IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts > refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system > for almost ten years now > > > This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 Read IDEA, underline it, understand it, then start finding every violation that they are making and file a state complaint, citing the part of idea that they are violating. See if a local advocacy center is giving lessons on IDEA. A lot of them have grant funding to do so. Our local ARC...Association for Retarded Children holds them semiannually and they're terrific and free or something like $10 for 4-5 sessions. I tell you, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and the more legitimate complaints you file, the more they'll have to comply. Note, however, that initially, you'll get alot of retaliation until they become afraid of you. Then it will stop and you'll continue to get what you want though they'll still test you. school system refusing > IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts > refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system > for almost ten years now > > > This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 Read IDEA, underline it, understand it, then start finding every violation that they are making and file a state complaint, citing the part of idea that they are violating. See if a local advocacy center is giving lessons on IDEA. A lot of them have grant funding to do so. Our local ARC...Association for Retarded Children holds them semiannually and they're terrific and free or something like $10 for 4-5 sessions. I tell you, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and the more legitimate complaints you file, the more they'll have to comply. Note, however, that initially, you'll get alot of retaliation until they become afraid of you. Then it will stop and you'll continue to get what you want though they'll still test you. school system refusing > IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts > refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system > for almost ten years now > > > This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 So another question. Where can you find the whole IDEA? I have tried searching several places and I can only get portions of it. Is it on the web anywhere in entirety? I also have a meeting coming up next week that I need to get prepared for. school system refusing > > > > IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts > > refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school > system > > for almost ten years now > > > > > > This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We > are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources > for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources > available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to > bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable > recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to > feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our > daughter under the law....any suggestions? > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 Where do you get a copy of IDEA though. I have looked it up on line and it is so hard to find the section I am looking for. It is so long I can't go through the whole thing. school system refusing > IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts > refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system > for almost ten years now > > > This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 Where do you get a copy of IDEA though. I have looked it up on line and it is so hard to find the section I am looking for. It is so long I can't go through the whole thing. school system refusing > IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts > refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system > for almost ten years now > > > This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 Where do you get a copy of IDEA though. I have looked it up on line and it is so hard to find the section I am looking for. It is so long I can't go through the whole thing. school system refusing > IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts > refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school system > for almost ten years now > > > This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " We are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of resources for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have to bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our daughter under the law....any suggestions? > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 http://www.wrightslaw.com/statute.htm You don't need all of the info as the majority of the reg pertains to funding and reporting by school districts. The above site has the main sections you need. school system refusing > > > > > > > IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts > > > refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school > > system > > > for almost ten years now > > > > > > > > > This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " > We > > are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of > resources > > for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources > > available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have > to > > bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable > > recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to > > feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our > > daughter under the law....any suggestions? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 14, 2004 Report Share Posted April 14, 2004 http://www.wrightslaw.com/statute.htm You don't need all of the info as the majority of the reg pertains to funding and reporting by school districts. The above site has the main sections you need. school system refusing > > > > > > > IDEA mandates that they provide hearing aids. However, most districts > > > refuse. Our son has had hearing aids and fm's provided by the school > > system > > > for almost ten years now > > > > > > > > > This is the part I just don't get....when the districts " just refuse. " > We > > are headed into our third iep meeting and the person in charge of > resources > > for our school was supposed to be there " to give us info on resources > > available to us. " Instead, she just keeps piping up with " well I'll have > to > > bring this to the office of compliance....I'm just not comfortable > > recommending this or that. " I keep insisting that it is not up to her to > > feel comfortable but rather to identify and meet the unique needs of our > > daughter under the law....any suggestions? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 15, 2004 Report Share Posted April 15, 2004 > Where do you get a copy of IDEA though. I have looked it up on line and it is so hard to find the section I am looking for. It is so long I can't go through the whole thing. > > You can find it at: http://www.ideapractices.org/law/index.php. You should focus on the regulations rather than the statute as they include more detail, and most lawyers and school systems rely on them. You should also be aware that court and hearing officer decisions have modified some elements of the law since the reg's were published in 1999. And, you need to see if you can find your state's laws and regulations, try the state webb site, udually: www.state.xx.us, where xx is the two letter abreviation for your state. JMF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 15, 2004 Report Share Posted April 15, 2004 > Where do you get a copy of IDEA though. I have looked it up on line and it is so hard to find the section I am looking for. It is so long I can't go through the whole thing. > > You can find it at: http://www.ideapractices.org/law/index.php. You should focus on the regulations rather than the statute as they include more detail, and most lawyers and school systems rely on them. You should also be aware that court and hearing officer decisions have modified some elements of the law since the reg's were published in 1999. And, you need to see if you can find your state's laws and regulations, try the state webb site, udually: www.state.xx.us, where xx is the two letter abreviation for your state. JMF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 15, 2004 Report Share Posted April 15, 2004 > Where do you get a copy of IDEA though. I have looked it up on line and it is so hard to find the section I am looking for. It is so long I can't go through the whole thing. > > You can find it at: http://www.ideapractices.org/law/index.php. You should focus on the regulations rather than the statute as they include more detail, and most lawyers and school systems rely on them. You should also be aware that court and hearing officer decisions have modified some elements of the law since the reg's were published in 1999. And, you need to see if you can find your state's laws and regulations, try the state webb site, udually: www.state.xx.us, where xx is the two letter abreviation for your state. JMF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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