Re: child study team & doctors

[Guest guest]

We have just begun the whole process of therapy with my 19 month old

son......so I haven't been through the school issues yet as a parent. I am a

third

grade teacher in Colorado, however. I do know that school districts are

always under-funded when it comes to special needs students, especially now that

the republicans are in control. I come from a large and rather progressive

district, but they still make decisions based on money and not what's best for

the students. When I have concerns about a student enough to bring them to

the child study team I have to fight like a lawyer to get the team to test the

kid. It is getting harder and harder to qualify for special ed. also. I've

been a teacher since 1991 and I can tell you that the same kids I'm referring

to child sudy today would have been qualified for special ed. maybe 5 or more

years ago. The school district, to save money, also likes to put special

needs kids in our class- even though most classroom teachers have had very

little

training in dealing with special needs kids - especially those with severe

disorders like apraxia. In fact, I never even heard of apraxia until I joined

this group because of my toddler! The district does NOT listen to teachers,

either. It's up to the parent to be the advocate for their student. If a

parent goes to the principal and demands something, it usually gets done. But

please, treat your teacher as your ally - you want to go the distance-

together. I would jump through all kinds of hoops and hurdles with a

supportive

parent by my side. Back to your meeting - like I said, a lot of us are

untrained and have many, many questions and concerns to raise before getting a

special needs student. They could be allowing the school staff, especially

teachers, to ask questions before you come. I wouldn't want to look like an

idiot

in front of a parent - I'd appreciate an opportunity to ask the specialists

questions first. It can be quite scary for a teacher to have a special needs

child in their classroom, often without a para or aide to assist. Personally,

I think the school districts don't really do that great a job with special

needs kids - no fault of the teachers. Our hands are tied in so many ways. I

can't even open my mouth to parents and recommend tutoring without carefully

chosing my words to avoid a lawsuit! By the way - the " no child left behind

act " is a piece of crap. The republicans never funded it. Now we scramble

to make use of our depleted resources to meet the needs of all kids - and we're

being stretched thinner and thinner. If my son needs special ed. services

when he reaches school age, I think I'd investigate private school.

Regina Gillies

[Guest guest]

I think I'd want to be present during the entire meeting. As to whether this is

against the law, that I'm not sure of. If it's a meeting regarding your child,

I can't imagine why they would NOT want you to be present.

~k

smom05@... wrote:

I have an issue with the CST again! I'll try and keep it short. Back in

January, I had an issue with the CST. They contacted my sons Audiologist

without

notifying me in any way.They were going to have a meeting with the Audi

without me

present. It was only by chance that I was in school that day and found out

she

was coming. Yes I showed up and long story short, and lots of letters CC'd

later we have another small issue....

This time they notified me that the Audi was coming in on 9-8-04 (the day

before school starts) to train the 3rd grade teachers with the FM system

etc...

They sent a letter stating that " AFTER " the meeting with the teachers, speech

therapist & doctor, they would like my son and I to attend.

Is this out of line and " inappropriate " that they ask us to join 1/2 after

the meeting starts? Can they do this by law?

It just makes one suspicious of what might be going on prior to my arrival.

What could they possibly say, do, or ask that I cannot be present?

I want to reply with a letter ASAP and need some input from the list.

Thanks in advance.

Lori D.

[Guest guest]

Is the audiologist a private professional or are they employed by the school

system (and part of the CST team)? Have you ever signed a release of

information for this particular audiologist? If yes, what exactly does the

release say the *extent* of release is?

Tricia Morin

North Carolina

Lori wrote:

Back in

January, I had an issue with the CST. They contacted my sons Audiologist

without

notifying me in any way.They were going to have a meeting with the Audi

without me

present. It was only by chance that I was in school that day and found out

she

was coming. Yes I showed up and long story short, and lots of letters CC'd

later we have another small issue....

This time they notified me that the Audi was coming in on 9-8-04 (the day

before school starts) to train the 3rd grade teachers with the FM system

etc...

They sent a letter stating that " AFTER " the meeting with the teachers,

speech

therapist & doctor, they would like my son and I to attend.

Is this out of line and " inappropriate " that they ask us to join 1/2 after

the meeting starts? Can they do this by law?

It just makes one suspicious of what might be going on prior to my

arrival.

What could they possibly say, do, or ask that I cannot be present?

I want to reply with a letter ASAP and need some input from the list.

Thanks in advance.

Lori D.

[Guest guest]

WOW! What a post! Thank you for sharing that with us Regina.

I want to add that there are often defectors at IEP meetings, meaning that

there are therapists and/or teachers that disagree with what is being

said/done at IEP meetings but they can't talk about it to the parent. i used

to assume that all the school staff at the IEP meetings were all on the same

page and there was no one who shared my opinion. I later learned that two

of the therapists totally agreed with me.

Don't get me started on NCLB. In fact, just a reminder, the online chat

with Cortiella is tonight at 10 PM eastern time (in about 35 min).

She will be talking about how NCLB affects our children. Guys, she is so

knowledgeable. If you can, join the chat. i will repost the info and link.

Tricia Morin

North Carolina

[Morin Family] Regina wrote:

We have just begun the whole process of therapy with my 19 month old

son......so I haven't been through the school issues yet as a parent. I

am a third

grade teacher in Colorado, however. I do know that school districts are

always under-funded when it comes to special needs students, especially

now that

the republicans are in control. I come from a large and rather

progressive

district, but they still make decisions based on money and not what's best

for

the students. When I have concerns about a student enough to bring them

to

the child study team I have to fight like a lawyer to get the team to test

the

kid. It is getting harder and harder to qualify for special ed. also.

I've

been a teacher since 1991 and I can tell you that the same kids I'm

referring

to child sudy today would have been qualified for special ed. maybe 5 or

more

years ago. The school district, to save money, also likes to put special

needs kids in our class- even though most classroom teachers have had very

little

training in dealing with special needs kids - especially those with severe

disorders like apraxia. In fact, I never even heard of apraxia until I

joined

this group because of my toddler! The district does NOT listen to

teachers,

either. It's up to the parent to be the advocate for their student. If

a

parent goes to the principal and demands something, it usually gets done.

But

please, treat your teacher as your ally - you want to go the distance-

together. I would jump through all kinds of hoops and hurdles with a

supportive

parent by my side. Back to your meeting - like I said, a lot of us are

untrained and have many, many questions and concerns to raise before

getting a

special needs student. They could be allowing the school staff,

especially

teachers, to ask questions before you come. I wouldn't want to look like

an idiot

in front of a parent - I'd appreciate an opportunity to ask the

specialists

questions first. It can be quite scary for a teacher to have a special

needs

child in their classroom, often without a para or aide to assist.

Personally,

I think the school districts don't really do that great a job with special

needs kids - no fault of the teachers. Our hands are tied in so many

ways. I

can't even open my mouth to parents and recommend tutoring without

carefully

chosing my words to avoid a lawsuit! By the way - the " no child left

behind

act " is a piece of crap. The republicans never funded it. Now we

scramble

to make use of our depleted resources to meet the needs of all kids - and

we're

being stretched thinner and thinner. If my son needs special ed.

services

when he reaches school age, I think I'd investigate private school.

Regina Gillies

[Guest guest]

To show the teacher a parent is an advocate for the teacher and the child, my

understanding is that parents can request that support for teachers (e.g.

special training, etc.) be written directly into the IEP; however, a parent has

to know about this to request it.

Also, I perceive part of the problem in our state to be one of how

educational expenses are allocated, not just underfunding--we have what seems to

be a

lot of expensive administrators and " consultants " who do not provide services

directly to children. These administrative people in our state are found in the

educational support agencies rather than the school district so the school

district looks like it is and probably is running lean and mean. Some of the

educational support agencies in the state appear to do a better job than others

so services can vary depending on where you live.