RE: How the IEP went

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/21/2006 9:40:48 AM Eastern Standard Time,

suzannex6@... writes:

The end results is he will spend the majority of his day in the resource

room which he could probably use since he got so behind the past 9 weeks and

his aide is to be within an arm's length at all times.

Is this resource room for kids with BD's? You need to check it out before

agreeing to it.

Sometimes they call it one thing but it really is something else. Find out

who is in there and what kind of atmosphere is happening. Find out if they

are teaching the regular curriculum or if they are behind.

Also, you got a lot of " no's " at your meeting, which is really frustrating.

One thing to remember is to always ask for these " no's " in writing " for your

records. " If you don't ask during the meeting, do so in a follow up letter.

Restate your problems with their decisions and request reconsideration and

if they won't do that, you would like a statement from them in writing as to

why they are denying this placement or that program, or whatever it is that

you want. Paper trails are good things, long before you need them.

Another thing to remember is that you do not have to sign the IEP. Or you

can sign the IEP with exception and then write on the IEP, " We do not agree

with this category of BD because our son has AS and AS is a developmental

disorder involving...blah blah blah " You can figure out what you want to write

in

advance.

You were correct in having the copy done correctly before you sign anything.

Also, please do not wait any longer to contact the Ohio Coalition. The

people at your school are ignorant about Asperger's and do not realize the

category should definitely be autism. I would personally argue for this

because

of so many reason - one, it is the correct category. (ha!) another good

reason is that in Ohio, we have the Ohio Autism scholarship program. At any

time

you wish you to homeschool, you can take your money with you. It may not be

your option today, but it might be another day. So it's good to be in the

right position. Of course, a BD placement is usually disasterous for kids with

AS. And also, it doesn't sound like they did a real FBA with a qualified

autism consultant, then come up with a real behavior plan that works. To do a

BP, it doesn't work, so the child is BD? More like the staff who prepared

the BP did not do the best job for your child's needs. There are a dozen good

websites about FBA and BP's. My personal favorite is -->

_http://cecp.air.org/schools_special.asp_

(http://cecp.air.org/schools_special.asp)

Call the Coalition and get the help now before it gets any worse!

Roxanna ô¿ô

Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/21/2006 11:02:06 AM Eastern Standard Time,

cleobaby74@... writes:

My sons IEP is

tomorrow and they have told me they will recommend him for the ED class

as well.

Oddly enough, decisions that are made about your child's programming should

be made at a meeting with the entire IEP Team present to listen to material

presented before forming an opinion. Hmmmm. Sounds like they have already

decided what to do!

Roxanna ô¿ö

Autism Happens

[Guest guest]

Suzanne,

Wow! How totally frustrating for you! I am so sorry

that you are having to deal with such people! I don't

know if I could have managed to get through such a

meeting without making a scene and saying some choice

words! Yikes!

To tell you that they can't believe you'd trust the

doctor over them????!!!! I think I would have asked

her where she got her medical degree that places her

opinion over an M.D.!!!! That is just wrong!

Emotionally disturbed? I think I would be if I had to

attend a school that behaved in the manner or thinks

the way they do. Sounds like they just don't want to

deal with the situation. Or they don't know how to and

are too afraid to admit it. (Probably the 2nd choice

there.) Yes, our kids have issues. Mine was on Xanax

in order to even get him to school some days. (2 years

ago) And I really feel that the schools play a HUGE

part of how our children behave-especially if they

don't want to deal with our child, or don't know how

to handle them. Mine still gets really grumpy and

gruff with the teachers if he's not happy about a

situation. They don't like it when he's like that and

I always hear about it. But I'd glady trade a few

grumpy times with them vs. what I have to deal with at

home on a daily basis! He's not so bad now, but there

are days.......

I would go ahead and call the place you wanted. I

would call someone and see what can be done for you

child to get the appropriate education he deserves. At

this point, I would question their " diagnosis " and

wonder if they know what is appropriate for him at

this point. If they are saying that he is behind, yet

not developmentally delayed, I would really question

if they know what his needs are academically. I would

venture to say that they are " playing " the " invisible

disability " " card " . My son has done very well over the

past 2 years academically. Made the A/B honor roll 3

times last year and made it the first 9-week period

this year. Just got his Standford 10 testing back. You

look at the language and English on there. Tested

below average on both. And if you look at the grade

levels on that--Whew! It ranged from 3.5 to 7.4!!!!

And he's in 8th grade! And yet he maintains his grade

levels to no lower than a C! He has to have help to

maintain that. He does horrible on some tests.

And I think I'd hold off on signing the IEP until you

get some better answers. Just my opinion.

Hang in there. I know it's tough. I've been through it

in the middle school. I had to learn to put my foot

down and make the school listen to me. I learned that

it didn't matter if they didn't like it. And, I also

learned what to let go of and what to not let go of.

And hope the next year would be better. But that was

all learned. I used to just let it all go and hope for

the best. Now I know better. I will fight!

Melinda

Mom to , 13, AS, ADHD, OCD

Casey, 11 (going on 15!) AAAAHHHH!

, 5, speech delay and very bossy! LOL!

[Guest guest]

Suzanne,

Oh man, I feel for you. I am about to go through EXACTLY the same

thing and it's funny since we are both in the same area. My sons IEP is

tomorrow and they have told me they will recommend him for the ED class

as well. He just got a preliminary diagnosis of " mood disorder nos " ,

dysthymia and ADHD with the main DX still being Aspergers. To me that

seems like he should remain classified as autistic or at the least

multiple disabled. To lump our kids (whose problems are

neuro-biological) in with kids who have severe personality and actual

emotional problems is just wrong. Apples and oranges, really. Before

my son was diagnosed with anything other than ADHD, he was in a behavior

class for the 1st grade and it was horrible. His teacher was great but

they just watched movies and played video games all day and some of the

kids were severely disturbed. This was in Texas and from what I have

heard Ohio is much worse. What's worse is the more research I do, the

more I find that once our kids are labeled as ED you can NEVER get that

label removed and it will follow them to high school. They may say

differently, but that doesn't seem to be the actual practice. I tell

you what, I received the enrollment packet from Summit Academy last week

and I am filling it out ASAP for next year. I don't care if the program

isn't perfect, it has to be better than what we are dealing with. Don't

you find it funny that the school superintendent was recently

complaining about losing students to charter schools when they are

basically FORCING the parents into it? How blind can someone be?

Anyway, my sympathies are with you as I am in the same boat. Wish me

luck tomorrow and good luck to you as well.

Best wishes,

Tabitha ()

( ) How the IEP went

Well I'm still not sure if I will find this IEP acceptable but my

husband

said it was a good start. I now feel I need to do some major research as

to

what other AS kids in our district have gotten from the school. I know

there

are at least 2 others that are older and they do have a wrap around so I

know I didn't ask fro anything unrealistic.

They wanted to send him to another school to deal with bad behaviors. We

said not an option today, tomorrow or ever. The lady from the district

was

not happy that we would trust his doctor over their decisions for our

son

She basically said what does he know, we respect him but don't think he

knows what he is talking about. They have labeled him as Emotionally

disturbed but let me tell you, I'm the one who is emotionally disturbed

at

this point and very disappointed.

The end results is he will spend the majority of his day in the resource

room which he could probably use since he got so behind the past 9 weeks

and

his aide is to be within an arm's length at all times. There was an

incident

last week and for some reason she didn't see what happened. He will

continue

to receive speech and OT. They are going to try to come up with an

appropriate behavior plan and we suggested that they look for someone

who

has experience in dealing with ASD to help them in that area or that we

would request a FBA be done by someone with that experience. I told the

principle that I appreciated her FBA she had done but they did not focus

on

what caused him to meltdown and that was where the focus should be. They

were not happy that we were not going to agree with them.

I asked why he could not be placed in a DH program which we have in our

district and the teacher for that has training in dealing with AS, but

they

said it would not be appropriate he was not developmentally delayed he

was

emotionally disturbed. They tell us that at 9 1/2 he functions at about

6,

sounds delayed to me. They are going to give him more time on testing

and

have someone read the test to him and also provide him with a scribe on

lengthy writing assignments. He has poor fine motor skills and great

difficulty copying from one area to another.

So because we made changes to the IEP draft we decided we would not sign

until retyped, they were not happy that we didn't trust them but I told

them

it was not a problem fro me to come in and sign it when it was complete.

It

wasn't even a trust issue but kind of a control issue I guess.

I think I need to call the Ohio Coalition for children with disabilities

but

wonder if I should wait until I have the completed IEP.

I am still really bothered by the Emotionally disturbed part. Are these

kids

not developmentally disabled or am I off base here?

Mom to 8 " wonderful " kids.

Friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have

trouble

remembering how to fly.

No Non-Scents Soaps and Candles

www.nonon-scents.com

[Guest guest]

Tabitha,

Good luck, be strong. The lady from the county was really a bit nasty, she

was changing her story again about what she had said. She asked me if I had

spoken to any of the mothers that have kids in . I looked at her and

said " OMG you told me that would be breaking confidentiality " There is a

boy in our High school and one in McKinley that have wrap arounds and they

wanted to give me a hard time. Do you have someone to go with you? Take

someone who knows what you want for your son so they can't back you into a

corner, and if you don't agree don't sign it. Make sure it is compete before

you sign it too. We didn't sign ours last week because they had to make

changes, they weren't overly pleased but too bad for them.

I didn't get my enrollment packet yet from Summit and I need the IEP to send

his admissions packet to the Rich Center. I guess I'll call them again next

week if I don't get the packet this week.

You are in the Poland schools right? If you are and want my phone number

Email me privately.

My son has the ADHD, Dysthymia, AS/PDD-NOS, and ODD. I think the

oppositional behavior is part of the AS because he is not always

oppositional only when he is frustrated or getting angry. I am going to keep

fighting this situation a bit at a time, they may not like it but too bad.

Good luck again for tomorrow, my prayers will be with you.

Suzanne

-- ( ) How the IEP went

Well I'm still not sure if I will find this IEP acceptable but my

husband

said it was a good start. I now feel I need to do some major research as

to

what other AS kids in our district have gotten from the school. I know

there

are at least 2 others that are older and they do have a wrap around so I

know I didn't ask fro anything unrealistic.

They wanted to send him to another school to deal with bad behaviors. We

said not an option today, tomorrow or ever. The lady from the district

was

not happy that we would trust his doctor over their decisions for our

son

She basically said what does he know, we respect him but don't think he

knows what he is talking about. They have labeled him as Emotionally

disturbed but let me tell you, I'm the one who is emotionally disturbed

at

this point and very disappointed.

The end results is he will spend the majority of his day in the resource

room which he could probably use since he got so behind the past 9 weeks

and

his aide is to be within an arm's length at all times. There was an

incident

last week and for some reason she didn't see what happened. He will

continue

to receive speech and OT. They are going to try to come up with an

appropriate behavior plan and we suggested that they look for someone

who

has experience in dealing with ASD to help them in that area or that we

would request a FBA be done by someone with that experience. I told the

principle that I appreciated her FBA she had done but they did not focus

on

what caused him to meltdown and that was where the focus should be. They

were not happy that we were not going to agree with them.

I asked why he could not be placed in a DH program which we have in our

district and the teacher for that has training in dealing with AS, but

they

said it would not be appropriate he was not developmentally delayed he

was

emotionally disturbed. They tell us that at 9 1/2 he functions at about

6,

sounds delayed to me. They are going to give him more time on testing

and

have someone read the test to him and also provide him with a scribe on

lengthy writing assignments. He has poor fine motor skills and great

difficulty copying from one area to another.

So because we made changes to the IEP draft we decided we would not sign

until retyped, they were not happy that we didn't trust them but I told

them

it was not a problem fro me to come in and sign it when it was complete.

It

wasn't even a trust issue but kind of a control issue I guess.

I think I need to call the Ohio Coalition for children with disabilities

but

wonder if I should wait until I have the completed IEP.

I am still really bothered by the Emotionally disturbed part. Are these

kids

not developmentally disabled or am I off base here?

Mom to 8 " wonderful " kids.

Friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have

trouble

remembering how to fly.

No Non-Scents Soaps and Candles

www.nonon-scents.com

[Guest guest]

Roxanna,

Is this resource room for kids with BD's? You need to check it out before

agreeing to it.

No this is the LD resource class room, my other son- his twin goes to it for

extra help in reading and math. Unfortunately in all my years of dealing

with LD this lady is not the best teacher. My other kids who have LD have

had great LD teachers.If Reggie doesn't want to work for her there is no way

she will get him too and she seems like she would be clueless if he rages in

front of her so we did tell them she needed some extra training or it wouldn

t work with her.

I'm getting ready for work so I am going to call tomorrow to the Ohio

Coalition,and digest all your suggestions. I really appreciate all your

advice.

Thanks again,

Mom to 8 " wonderful " kids.

Friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble

remembering how to fly.

No Non-Scents Soaps and Candles

www.nonon-scents.com