Re: STUPID school stunts -HELP!!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/13/2006 4:32:52 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

dsheater@... writes:

Can somebody please tell me why I quit smoking? What I wouldn't give

for a cigarette right now.

I usually say I need a drink ... which I never go get. (shrug) I usually

make a fresh pot of coffee, quite the opposite effect from going and getting

something with a rum flavoring. (grin)

It's far too late for me to be up and answering emails (I'm suppose to be

working on a deadline) so I'll write tomorrow. Your PS just made me laugh so I

had to reply ... partially because I feel like I could use a little rum and

coke right now, LOL

Best -- Jill

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/13/2006 4:32:52 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

dsheater@... writes:

Can somebody please tell me why I quit smoking? What I wouldn't give

for a cigarette right now.

I usually say I need a drink ... which I never go get. (shrug) I usually

make a fresh pot of coffee, quite the opposite effect from going and getting

something with a rum flavoring. (grin)

It's far too late for me to be up and answering emails (I'm suppose to be

working on a deadline) so I'll write tomorrow. Your PS just made me laugh so I

had to reply ... partially because I feel like I could use a little rum and

coke right now, LOL

Best -- Jill

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/14/2006 12:34:13 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

babydewe2@... writes:

One thing that struck me as wierd. How could they tell that the FM was

working when it wasn't on the aid??? As far as I'm aware of the only way to

test that is some type of special equiptment that an audi has. Sure you can

see

that the battery is charged, but not if it's transmitting sound.

I have to chime in with an agreement here. I was going to ask the same

question about just how she " tested " an FM system without them being on the

aids.

Beyond seeing that the battery on the mike is charged, we know of nothing

that can be " checked " without an aid (and stethoscope or Ian's ears) being

involved. Recently when our son's mike was replaced, the school's audi

requested

an aid to use in testing to make sure the new mike was working with the boots

.... and they have all the equipment you could want right there. Still they

requested an aid just to make sure all was well.

I just asked, to make doubly sure, and Ian just told me that as far as he

has been taught, there is no way for him (or his TOD) to test the boots without

them being on the aids. Being 15, Ian now handles the troubleshooting when

the TOD is not there, and so far he has been right on when it comes to knowing

what's wrong and if they need servicing. The audi and TOD have intentionally

and specifically trained him to do this so that he is more and more

self-sufficient. So, I trust that the boy is correct.

It sounds like this TOD is indeed blowing smoke up your dress.

<<Then she tells me that A has the boots on her aids, (which she did, they

were left on her when she came home),and that my daughter is RESPONSIBLE for

them being left on her aids! Of course it's not the school's fault or any of

the staff's responsibility to make sure the boots are off, apparently this job

is for our FIVE year old to follow thru on ....... Then she tells me that A

has the boots on her aids, (which she did, they were left on her when she

came home),and that my daughter is RESPONSIBLE for them being left on her aids!

Of course it's not the school's fault or any of the staff's responsibility to

make sure the boots are off, apparently this job is for our FIVE year old to

follow thru on! >

How to deal with this ... I've never had an incompetent TOD (just

incompetent SpecEd teachers) but here's what I'd do. I would call for a meeting

with

the district's IEP team, specifically requesting it without a TOD present.

(They will probably refer to it as something other than an " IEP " meeting) I

would

send the request in writing, and state in my letter that there were numerous

incidents with the previous/current TOD which need to be addressed. I would

state that I want to discuss these issues with the district without the any

TOD in attendance because you want to discuss the issues and find out just how

the district intends to make sure such incidents are not repeated. (Also, if

any of them are repeated, I would start making a lot of noise and push to

fire/replace the new TOD as well. The things you describe are incredibly

unprofessional and just plain stupid.)

I would sit down soon and document each of these incidents on paper. By that

I mean sit at the computer and write out each incident with as much clinical

detail as possible (meaning as little he said/she said as you can manage

given the circumstances) I would write them up as individual memos (including

the date of occurrence, if possible). Then I'd attached a copy of each those

incident reports to the letter to the head of the IEP team. Here in NY that

would be the CSE chairman or if I felt I needed to go even higher, the Ass't

Superintendent in charge of Pupil Services (our CSE chair's boss).

I would not want to discuss this with the old/current TOD because there is

no point in rehashing old news. I would not want the new TOD there because

she/he might feel as though she is under attack even before starting her new

job. but a meeting IS needed to alert the district to your very valid concerns.

There is no way a five-year-old can or should be held responsible for her

aids or FM boots or any kid of troubleshooting or even to be completely in

charge of advocating for herself that the system is even working. Those

expectations for a child that age are ridiculous and there needs to be an

effective

plan in place.

From what you've said there's a good chance that those FMs were not working

for a good part of this school year. A waste of money and also undermining the

intended services. How can they expect to honestly evaluate the success of

her services and support if you cannot even be sure if the FM has ever been

working? Simply, you can't. So, in my opinion, any assessment done on your

daughter this spring to determine the success of her program is suspect.

In my opinion, the TODs comment about the colors not matching is the

ultimate in stupidity and brings into question all of her credentials. As part

of my

letter I would request a copy of That TOD's credentials so that I could

assess the district's hiring standards. I would also contact the state about

their licensing requirements and then compare the two.

As for the TOD services ... there is a big trend for all kinds of services

to be push-ins in the elementary setting. From our experience, push-ins

reduced our TOD to the role of an aide. She tried to assist our child while not

disrupting the class. Once the subjects in school start to be more distinct

(math, reading, writing, science) the TOD cannot work on skills without causing

the child to miss what is going on in that specific topic/class and disrupt the

rest of the class. We never expected our TOD to be a subject tutor, working

in the one subject that was being covered when she was there (1 hour a day,

every day) Instead, we expected her to work on broader skills and Ian's

specific weaknesses and that is best done in a one-on-one setting.

So, I don't agree with the " new " approach of pushing in services. From what

we've seen, that works for some things, for instance, an inclusion class

setting where a SpecEd teacher is added into the mix for the entire day to

teach/assist her kids during the individual subjects.

But for the kinds of language acquisition and usage skills that our TOD

worked on, it was not possible to have success as a push-in. I never once

considered pushing-in to be an effective way to help or support Ian. It would

have

disrupted the class or Ian would not have received the services and skill

building techniques he needed to succeed. The TOD's time with Ian was/is too

short for us to have her as a glorified aide. Instead, during elementary school

his TOD came at the end of the day during either music or when the teacher had

free work time. (He supposedly adapted the classroom schedule so that no new

content was taught while Ian was out of the room.) She now comes to meet

with him for the last period of the day of high school.

That said, I hope that anyone on the list who's had success with pushing-in

will chime in and tell their success stories. What works for us is not the

only solution and my opinion is based on our experiences.

Best -- Jill

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/13/2006 4:32:52 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

dsheater@... writes:

Also,I want to start her IEP now before the school year is out,

(it's not due to start until Oct., however by then A will have been

in school almost 3 MONTHS, and that's not acceptable.)

Call for a meeting, you can have one simply by requesting it. But get your

information in order beforehand so that you know what you're requesting, what

you want changed and specifically why you're calling the meeting. You need to

have your own goals for the meeting clear for yourself before making the

request. Otherwise you're just getting a bunch of people around a table to

complain.

I would possibly argue that her IEP is not actively in place now. You have

an ineffective TOD and an FM that may or may not have been working all year.

From the sound of it, the services as described in her IEP may never have

actually been implemented.

How soon is this TOD going to be leaving? I'd be deciding on my next move

based on that information.

Best -- Jill

[Guest guest]

<<So, what I also need to know is how you

all determined what goals and benchmarks to put in for your kids?

(Especially 1st graders.) We've heard time and time again what

horrible services we received so I want to make sure that this next

year we have better services and much more concrete goals and

benchmarks. If anyone has any advice I'd LOVE to hear it.>>

It sounds like it would be good for you to have Alisha evaluated by someone who

knows about DHH speech and language development and is outside the district, and

have them come up with some suggested goals, and also come with you to the IEP

meeting if possible. If there are any oral programs in your area, maybe they

could help you with that.

As far as putting things in the IEP. You could certainly have them write in who

will check the FM and what will happen if it's not working. If they say they

don't need that in writing because they all know who will do it, tell them that

you want it written down so that if one of them leaves, anyone can come in and

read the IEP and know what to do. You could also ask for the purchase of a

backup unit, but I don't know if that is hard to get.

Rhonda Savage

Mom to Audrey, 8, hearing; and Neal, 6, CII at 2.9 years

" Hard does not mean impossible. "

[Guest guest]

Hi there,

I feel for you. It's hard when you have to deal with people who truely

don't get it. Even worse when it's someone who should!

One thing that struck me as wierd. How could they tell that the FM was

working when it wasn't on the aid??? As far as I'm aware of the only way to

test that is some type of special equiptment that an audi has. Sure you can see

that the battery is charged, but not if it's transmitting sound. We had a

somewhat simular thing happen about 2 years ago. 's FM always stayed at

school, unless I asked to borrow it. Her HI was never too thrilled when I did,

but always allowed me to. was starting spring break and I had planned to

take her to several different places and thought the FM would be a good thing.

So before we took off to dance class, I hooked it up and I proceeded to test it.

Nothing. Checked the connections, and still nothing. I called her HI and

double checked a few things. Still couldn't get it to work. However she tells

me it was working the day before. So when break is over, I send it back to

school fully charged. Guess what? They

can't get it to work. The signal seems to be going in and out. The HI decides

that it must be the door on the hearing aid because when they wiggle it or hold

it tight, the connection is made. For the next two months I made several trips

up to the audi. First to see if they could figure out the problem. Hearing

aids work....FM works....just not together. He changes the battery door and

although there is a connection..the sound is still intermittent. So it's either

send in the FM or send in the aids. Since it is May I decide to wait to send in

her aids until school is finished (at least she's getting something from the

aids). Report the audi's finding to the HI and she proceeds to trouble shoot

with Phonax. She tries changing the boots. Something is still not right. School

finishes and we send the aids in to be repaired. They can't find anything wrong

with them. Send in FM....nothing wrong. But put the two together and the

signal still isn't there. Finally

someone looks at the boots that have been put on the aids and it is discovered

that they ARE THE WRONG BOOTS!!! So although sometimes the connection was being

made, it didn't fit her aid and was causing the sound to cut in and out. We get

the new (correct) boots and it works fine. I honestly have no idea if the FM

had ever worked correctly during the first year and a half that she had it. Her

HI swears that it did....I still have my doubts.

So that's my story.

Debbie, mom to , 6, moderate SNHL and , 3, hearing

Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were

and ask why not. G.B Shaw

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Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates

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[Guest guest]

As I was reading the beginnning of the description of the fm/ha problem, the

first thing that I said was that the boot and the h/a were not on the same

frequency. Your HI should have IMMEDIATELY figured that out. It's a no brainer

for anyone with experience. I also wonder why Phonak didn't immediately confirm

that the two were the same frequency.

[Guest guest]

>> how do we get the school staff

and subsequent intinerant to take more responsibility for this <<

Don't know if this was answered or not (too tired to look at all the

digests), but all you need to do to have it addressed and for them to take

responsibility is to have it addressed in the IEP.

>> is there somewhere in the IEP where these kinds of issues can be

addressed? <<

There doesn't need to be a spot on the IEP specifically for an item to have

it included in the IEP. Please take this link

http://listen-up.org/rights/rights.htm#ieps

and scroll down just a bit to an item that's called ADDITIONAL AGREEMENTS.

Its a special form for stuff that won't fit on the IEP. There's also a link

to where the question " The school won't let me to add input to my child's

IEP. Can they do this? How should I deal with this? " is answered on the

eslaw Website.

>> An of course, everytime the FM system breaks down, Alisha

is without it for at least a day. What can we do about that? <<

Call an IEP meeting to address this topic. I see it as this way: an FM is in

your daughters IEP right? If so, then every day she's without it is a day

with the school not being in compliance with your daughters IEP. If it were

my son, I would ask them how they plan to address this, or if my son will be

recieing compensatory education for the time lost in class. As one of the

sample complant letters on my website, there is one that just happens to

address a topic of an FM system not being used.

Hugs,

-Kay

Kay

kay@...

The Listen-Up Web

http://www.listen-up.org