Re: Laurel (Unfair evaluation)

September 27, 2004

Hi Laurel,

I believe the law stipulates, that if you do not believe the evaluation to be

accurate the B.O.E. has to pay for atleast one independent assessment of your

child by a qualified evaluator of your choice. They can even provide you with a

list of evaluators in the aread. But I would get my own. They are supposed to

give you a parents rights booklet before every IEP meeting. In this easy to

read booklet, it tells you exactly that.

Me, personally, I used the Board's low evaluation of my son, against them in the

end. Because if he's so severe as they reported, then I said he couldn't

possible benefit from their unstructed general in-district " pre-school " disabled

class. I used it to justify sending him to the best program I could find. This

was for pre-school--If he had been older I probably would have taken a

completely different approach. But I have been able to use their assessment to

get him out of the mediocre in-district classes and into well known schools with

track records for properly mainstreaming children.

So think long and hard before you get it over-turned. Sometimes mainstreaming

right away is not the best " start " for a child with disabilities. My son got

intensive treatment and therapies for 2 school years and now he's going to a

" regular pre-school " in the daytime and " pre-school disabled " classes in the

afternoon.

They cannot justify not giving maximum services to a child that on paper,

they've said doesn't even respond to his own name.

Good Luck,

Audra

(mother of, :verbal & global appraxia, hypotonia, mild cp, autistic, sids)

wrote:

Recommended Posts