Beginning To Think I've Gone The Wrong Route with- easy child

[Bunny]

I had a parent/teacher conference with easy child's teacher this morning, which I was looking forward to. His IEP meeting is next week and I was hoping to get an idea of where she stand in connection with getting the school to grant easy child some accomodations. I'm beginning to think that I should have asked for a 504 meeting rather than an IEP meeting.

Everyone seems to be in agreement that easy child is a very special boy (at least we all agree on something, right?). His teacher agrees with the neuropsychologist that easy child's processing speed is way below where it should be, and that he can't seem to ornganize his thoughts when it comes to sentance structure, which I knew. He needs to work REALLY hard in order to do well, which frustrates him, and if he does all that hard work and he does not do well she totally loses him. Mrs. H seems to be on my side, and I think that the committe will give her words some weight. She told me that she really needs to sit down and think about how she needs to word things so that they can see that he really does need some interventions because things will only get harder for him as he gets older.

She would like to see him give speech, which I don't think they will do because he was denied that last spring, but Mrs. H thinks that part of his spelling problems are because he is trying to spell things the way that HE says them, rather than the way they are actually said or spelled. Does that make sense? I have to call our insurance carrier again and ask again if they will cover speech. Every time I have called in the past they tell me they won't cover it because they consider it a developmental delay. The school's argument is at this age it's not really "development" anymore, but the insurance company does not see it the way the school does. The school just doesn't want to give it to him.

So, it sounds like Mrs. H is going to try to say what she can in order to get him some accomodations. If they deny him IEP status again I will have to ask for another meeting to talk about 504 accomdations.

This is exhausting!

 

[DammitJanet]

Which type of spelling does your school use....phonics or sight words? Personally I think there are few words that they have to learn as sight words because they just dont sound like they are spelled or there are too many of the same word...to, two, too. I like phonics better but your son may just have to be a sight word kid. If so I feel for him though later he may pick up on phonics better. Have you tried any of the programs like Hooked on Phonics or the games using sight words? There are a ton online, on Youtube and on either iPad or for your android devices. I use them for mine. I realize that wont solve the problem though. It might help a little bit. Games seem to help them learn without it seem like they are being punished.

 

[JJJ]

Bunny,

Please catch me up where you are in the process with easy child. Have you already had a domain meeting and this meeting next week is the eligibility meeting? Or is this the domain meeting?

Side note: You definitely did the right thing persuing an IEP. If he is "denied" the IEP, that meeting should flow into a 504 meeting. No need to drag everyone together again.

 

[confuzzled]

development schmelopment.

its having an educational impact....i'm not clear on if thats a speech issue (buddy might be the one to ask), but if it is, the school needs to provide services.

believe it or not, you can be ready to graduate and still get speech services if you need them. and believe it or not, any school can contract out for a speech therapist to come in even if they *only* have a single kid with that need...point being--they are FOS.

does your NP report specify the need for speech and does it detail a speech related issue? (the teacher can have an opinion, and it might be 100% right, but you really need that opinion to be from an expert) if it doesnt, i'd let the school evaluation him for sp, disagree with their findings in writing when they say he doesnt need it and request and independant educational evaluation to include all related service needs, specifically spT and see what someone without a vested financial interest turns up.

and go from there.

(i'd also ask for a modification that spelling doesnt count against him in the body of his work--only when assessing that specific skill, as in a spelling test)

 

[isis]

She would like to see him give speech, which I don't think they will do because he was denied that last spring, but Mrs. H thinks that part of his spelling problems are because he is trying to spell things the way that HE says them, rather than the way they are actually said or spelled. Does that make sense?

This makes perfect sense. Poor phonemic awareness can manifest by saying things wrong, by having trouble sounding out words and learning to read, and by having trouble spelling (or some combo of these). If he doesn't log the sounds of words right in his brain, then when it comes time to assign them codes (letters) he can't do it. Saying them wrong can be a manifestation of not logging them right. Speech therapy definitely helped my youngest son with other language based learning (thank goodness I got him in when he was 6, though I had been told he would likely just grow out of his speech problems, I only realized when I got him in that insurance would be cut off at 7 - how stupid, as if the fact that its 'developmental' means you don't need help with it if you don't get the help by 7???).

 

[Bunny]

JJJ, yesterday was a plain, ol' parent-teacher conference. How he did in the first trimester. What she thinks he needs to work on, where his strenghts and weaknesses lie. The IEP meeting is next week on the 11th.

Last spring at his IEP meeting speech did come up because part of the testing by the school was speech, and while they did admit that there are deficincies, once again, they are not bad enough for them to give him speech services and told me to persue speech privately. I told them that my insurance would not cover speech therapy because they consider it a developmental delay. They told me that I was wrong, and that they would cover it because at this age (8) it's not really developmental anymore. I told them that I had just asked them about in the last week and they would not cover it, but I was really annoyed about how they spoke to me. The school is telling me that I am wrong about what my insurance will and will not cover? Where do they get off doing that?

I did try to call the insurance carrier again yesterday and once again I was told that they consider speech therapy in a case like this "developmental" because he did not lose the power of speech because of an accident or illness. If that was the case there would be no problem. The woman did tell me, however, that in the last month or two they have changed their policy and they will cover speech, but only for a maximum of 10 visits per year, which isn't alot, but I suppose it's better than nothing. I'm trying to decide if I should let his teacher know this because she wants to push for speech at the IEP meetig next week. Maybe I'll wait until after the meeting to see what happens.

 

[JJJ]

So he already has an IEP and the meeting next week is the annual review?

 

[Bunny]

No. He's been denied an IEP in the past, but I had private testing done in the fall by a neuropsyche, who says he has a learning disability, so I'm trying again.

 

[TerryJ2]

Sending strength.