Advocate, IEP meeting, MAP testing, and such...

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
The advocate just left. I guess she must have not really read Wee's file before...she said this is the most severely impaired kiddo she's worked with. I always wonder why people say that? Is that supposed to make me feel better about the situation?

She drafted a letter listing all the accommodations that have been recommended recently. Two pages worth. I will rewrite it and send it to school.

We have an IEP meeting on Wednesday to review how the SpEd room placement is going. She will be there.

The school is conducting MAP testing for the next 2 weeks. All the SpEd kids will be in the resource room, and the SpEd teacher will be conducting MAP testing for the kids who need pullout. So basically, Wee's going to have a 2-week-long recess since he only goes to school til 1. The SpEd teacher will be "around", but the kids will just be watching movies and hanging out in the resource room with paras.... Spring break was last week, SpEd was gone Thur and Fri the week before...another month of school out the window, partly in the name of no child left behind. Hahaha.

I am thankful the advocate is stepping up. Even tho things have been relatively quiet on the difficult child front, I'm absolutely exhausted with this situation...he's 8 years old and he may as well be 3 or 4 in terms of many of his needs...

Oh, and advocate wants me to literally memorize the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) evaluation by Wednesday. 22 pages that basically say my kid is mentally impaired with, by some miracle, language skills. I know what it says. I'm not sure I really want to be able to recite yet another set of statistics about him.

Yay.

Sorry. Guess I'm just rambling.
 
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smallworld

Moderator
Shari, I'm sorry.

The bigger question is does the advocate feel the current situation is meeting FAPE. Or does she feel wee needs an out-of-district placement?

Hugs.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry, Shari. Hope your meeting on Wednesday goes well. I take it they have no other plans for Wee during testing?
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Advocate doesn't think Wee is getting, and possibly that the district can't provide, FAPE.

Both the MO School for the Deaf that did the auditory testing, and the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) out of Tulsa, OK, made MANY of the same recommendations, completley independent of each other. But other than him now being in the resource room and out of mainstream, there really isn't much else being done. They are still attempting to keep him on grade-level curriculum in everything, and math is the only thing he's remotely close to being on grade level with. We also need IEP goals to address his deficits, and for the most part right now, we don't have those, either.

And no, no other plans during testing. At least he's at school, I guess. Since they are doing testing in the morning, and SpEd has to do it, Wee is put on the back burner. I suppose I could possibly take him in the afternoons, instead, but there again...it would probably take him most of the 2 weeks to settle in after the change...only to have to revert back later.

I'm just grumpy, I guess. lol For darn sure am tired of it all.
 
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Shari

IsItFridayYet?
I guess he is getting "dyslexic" reading instruction, but nothing like the program both MSD and Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) recommended.

The last note from school was they are working on multiple-syllable words. And he still struggles to read a full "Dick and Jane" style sentence, let alone a book.

Tho he is starting to use some context and beginning word sounds to figure out things just out and about in the world (like finding the French dressing on a salad bar).
 

helpme

New Member
>I take it they have no other plans for Wee during testing?

Okay, maybe I'm totally off base here, but does your SD have RTI for his age level?
Because we (at 6th grade) landed in RTI due to results of MAP testing. To me (in
dealing with teams and all), it seems like 75% of the kids fell into RTI (Response
To Intervention). Shhhhhhh...maybe it's the teaching that's the problem?

And onward....my current argument is ESY (extended school year) placement.
Everyone's insisting that there must be a "show of regression or a difficulty with
retention". We already have more accommodations without an IEP, but I could
care less about that now. By next year they will be begging me to sign an IEP.
been there done that. But don't worry about my arguments, I'll win my battles anywho.

But maybe it's something for you to think about. I have seen parents who
struggled with schedules and they even fought down to the amount of schooling
the child received, thereby creating a longer school year in some shape or form.
I mean really, they percentagize all of their Special Education minutes and all, why not
make sure they allocate GIVING that amount to your child. Um, or maybe
you aren't to that point in the whatever they call it now IEP process<?>

I know the lines are shady here of eligibility and non eligibilty and all, but it was
my understanding that a low test result put them into RTI regardless of IEP or
eligibility requirements. Some parents around here got very upset with that "rule"
for their PCs. Furthermore, RTI was dependent upon the class that
showed a low test result. So for us, kids cannot attend a RTI for math unless
they received a low test score or had an accommodation in place through 504
or IEP. I believe we were told that this ensures the minimal amount of children
in attendance for each RTI category.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
I'm not aware of any programs like that in our district. We (as a district) usually perform fairly well on these tests. Wee is exempt from the MAP testing, tho.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the testing I am refering to was private testing we had done at MO School for the Deaf (MSD) and a private practice in Tulsa, OK. My Wee has pretty severe Learning Disability (LD)'s in addition to whatever else is going on with him. He has had an IEP now for 5 years and was recently moved from mainstream classroom to in the Special Education room 1:1 with the SpEd teacher full time due to his inability to maintain in the mainstream classroom with a full-time 1:1 aid(we didn't expect him to learn anything in there...he still had 1:1 pullout instruction with the SpEd teacher about 40% of the school day, even when mainstreamed).

There's never been any question of eligibility, and he receives 1:1 instruction full time now. Anything at a class or classroom level is way outside of anything that affects Wee at this point.

I think, for the most part, the folks working with Wee now want to help him. It boils down to how, now. And in my eyes, as well as the those of the MSD and Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) in Tulsa, he needs to basically start from scratch at a K or pre-K level.
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
Shari,

I've thought of Wee often the last week or so and wondered how things were going. I guess the break from school last week was kinda a relief. I know those school breaks and weekends were much looked forward to when my difficult child was at his darkest times. What a relief not to worry every time the phone rang!

I hope the meeting Wed, with the advocates input, results in something meaningful for Wee. He definitely needs more than the school is willing and able to offer. Hugs. Keep us posted.

Sharon
 

helpme

New Member
>I'm not aware of any programs like that in our district.

Okay, I was just hoping that there was some "middle ground" area between regular ed
and Special Education. Our RTI sort of falls in the middle. It could be offered to help a
Special Education student maybe "socialize" if they are able to meet the RTI ability level.
I know we have cutoff's of how well a child must do and a cutoff for an eligibility
for RTI. Make sense? For us, it helps with parents who are on both sides of
eligibility and for those who can make entrance into RTI.

Here, a student without an IEP, a perfect GPA, who bombs the math portion
of standardized state testing, would qualify for math RTI. The child then
receives the same math assistance as a child with a full IEP, who has also
bombed the math section, who is mainstreamed.

RTI program goals are to identify disabilities with a subject, reteach concepts
to increase state testing, offer 1:1 support, identify a need for 1:1 support, etc.

I never thought to ask about it all, since we are in middle school using RTI now.
But I wonder if our state has RTI or a similar program for younger kids who
then can bounce into a younger grade level or a group of kids with a grade
level ability for a period of the day and then return to Special Education/mainstream.
I'm going to ask at my next meeting because I do wonder how the program
will be handled going onward and into high school.

I do know that our districts do have a similar situations for speech/language
as well as Title (reading). My son was mainstream and did not enjoy
being placed with kids so much younger. But for you, I wonder if you could
go at it backwards and say math was a strength, let him be regular ed for
those services and so on....see?

By the way, I have never compared my oldest difficult child's results with any other
testing. But I did appreciate the testing that MSD did do for him. We started
with a sedated audiogram (BEAR or BARE was it maybe), and then went to
MSD. This way 16 years ago. We then found the most help at XXXX.
His school IEP included their services, and I voluntarily transported. If my memory
is correct we bounced around 3-4 years of a delay in speech and language both,
with a switch from a strength in expressive to receptive every six months.
I think he caught up around middle school. That was were we got the most support.
Maybe check with XXX?

Look for XXX and XXXX in your PM's. I'm afraid to post too much detail here.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Yes, Sharon, I love the breaks. Just that absence of the sense of panic when I get a phone call at work....life is just easier.

Helpme, if I may ask, where are you located? PM, if you prefer.

Wee has multiple issues, unfortunately, its not just Learning Disability (LD)'s. There's pretty substantial "behavior issues" (be it mood disorder, autism, whatever...) on top of the academic issues. And each issue seperately has been compounded by the other...lack of intervention for the academics has lead to academic refusals (understandably, but still), and behavior issues made identifying the academic issues more difficult. No way shape or form can he gain anything from anything less than 1:1...even when he was in the mainstream room we knew that.

I just hope on Wednesday we make some progress.
 

tictoc

New Member
Shari,
I realize your meeting is tomorrow, so this suggestion is probably toolate. But, can the advocate provide you with any examples of good IEPs, so you can see what a good set of goals might look like? We found that taking in our own goals, in writing, made a big difference in difficult child's IEP.

It does sound like Wee's team has good intentions this year, but they don't know how to do the right thing. Maybe they need to see how far apart their intentions and the reality of Wee's needs are before they see the need for and out of district placement.

Good luck.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
The advocate is going to the meeting tomorrow. She has some good examples to take in, also, but thanks for the suggestion.

I am not nearly as prepared as I should be....I just can't get my butt in gear with this. I have a letter to write tonight, and my notes need to be updated....maybe I'll just leave work at noon tomorrow and do it then. Nothing like procrastination, but the prospect of this just aboslutely drains me.
 
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