I think we got what we want (IEP)!

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
We had our 1 1/2 meeting yesterday. Our therapist who is a Doctor and the more we work with her the more I love her, she basically was a super advocate!

The attendees were-
Occupational Therapist (OT)
Speech
Psychology
Teacher
School nurse
GATE-Teacher
Special Education


She qualifies under- Speech(brought in her Dysarthria diagnosis),
Learning Disability (LD)- (handwriting)
Occupational Therapist (OT)- this was also some of her handwriting and adaptive PE issues.

We also said NO to the ED qualification, we are going to have a letter written up from her psychiatrist and get OHI. Our therapist basically nicely said I would prefer OHI, and they asked a few questions and she said BiPolar (BP) is not an ED but OHI and was ready to list off documentation... but they said as long as you can have her psychiatrist write up that she has BiPolar (BP) that is OK. :surprise:

They are going to go along with most of the 2 pages of suggestions that I asked for for the classroom.
I can copy them if anyone wants to see them.
I am so happy for K.
Also last year they tested her for GATE but she did not qualify, I really didn't care, but her teacher felt it would be great for her because number one she felt she was smart enough and number 2 she felt the setting would be great for K.

She didn't do that well because of the environment. I didn't push it.

When the GATE teacher (they call it REACH here) saw the results from our Neuro-psychiatric report she automatically put her in REACH. She asked us at the meeting if we would like her in it from now on. I guess they tested her for the past 2 weeks and she more than qualifies... so they realized they were wrong last year.
I am just happy she is going to be protected and get the support she needs in class! :D


I also did my lengthy speech about how I know that they have lots of Autistic kids and ADHD kids, but BiPolar (BP) kids have a lot of the same symptoms but then I went on to explain how they are so different.
I also made it very clear about the medications, and how I am willing to do anything to help, and willing to work the whole team.

Our therapist said we did a great job and she was very impressed by the School.
I am very glad that part is over.
We meet next Friday to finalize it.
 

rejectedmom

New Member
What relief you must be feeling now. Hang onto that psychiatrist it sounds like she is willing to go the extra mile. That is hard to find in this medical age. -RM
 

susiestar

Roll With It
AWESOME!!! You ROCK!!!

I am so glad that the therapist went with you to advocate for you. It can make ALL the difference.

It would be great to see a list of what you asked for. I would like to save in so that others might know what to look through and ask for.

just be SURE that you go and "check" her records about 2 weeks after you sign it. One of the schools that Wiz was in actually changed the IEP and was dumb enough to give it to me to take to the psychiatric hospital. No matter HOW great the school is, it is still important to verify things. Just in my opinion.

I hope that K can thrive and learn in the new school. If she has trouble making friends go and pickup a bunch of Happy Meals or some Pizza for her entire classroom. Let the teacher know ahead of time and provide napkins and paper plates. You might even splurge on a few 2 liters of pop or even homemade lemonade and some cups and ice.

(Homemade lemonade is very very easy. 1 cup lemon juice and 1 cup sugar and fill to the half gallon pitcher you have. A couple gallons should do it for a classroom.

Make SURE you have some that are por/meat free.

This is a wonderful way to break the ice for K. Or you could bake a bunch of cupcakes and decorate them. I ahve done both and the pizza one worked best for us.
 

miles2go

Member
Totoro -- why is OHI classification better than ED? My BiPolar (BP) difficult child is classified as an ED in his IEP; should I be trying to change that?

Me -- married dad, 50
difficult child -- BiPolar (BP) boy, 8
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
Totoro -

Fabulous News!! I must tell you, my difficult child's therapist went with us when we wrote his first IEP and it (she) was a fabulous tool in getting him the services he needed and deserved. It was quite expensive though because my insurance didn't cover her going out of her office - well worth it though. I'm so glad this worked out so well!

miles2go, I don't want to hijack Totoro's thread, but here is the defination of OHI from the federal regs:

According to Federal Regulations , "Other health impairment" means having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment that is due to chronic or acute health problems such as, but not limited to: asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, Rheumatic fever and sickle cell anemia; and adversely affects a child's educational performance. The list of chronic or acute health problems included within this definition is not exhaustive."

Here is the defination of ED according to the regs:

"...a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational performance--

  • (A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.

    (B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

    (C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.

    (D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

    (E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems."
 

miles2go

Member
Thanks, LDM, and I see that my BiPolar (BP) difficult child falls under ED (c), inappropriate behavior, as well as reduced alertness to the educational stimuli of OHI. What I was wondering is what the advantage was to have one in the IEP over another. I think I have been spoiled by a v ery proactive and helpful school district, although the one time his psychiatrist came to the IEP meeting we had even better results (school aide, individual instruction...)
Me -- married dad, 50
difficult child -- 8 y.o. BiPolar (BP) boy
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
Miles-
the reason we want OHI over ED is many schools will look at a child with the ED classification as having poor parenting, being a behaviour problem, it can allow them to place you child in a class with kids with more delinquent behaviours.
It can make it harder to adjust the IEP or require more testing.
A child who has BiPolar (BP) is considered to have nuero-biologic illness like ADHD which is under OHI,
THis adveresly affects a childs educational performance. And most kids with BiPolar (BP) have a co-occurrance of ADHD.
BiPolar (BP) can be explained, with ED they act like it can't be explained.

I guess those are some of my resaons and therapist's reasons.

It promotes more empathy as well in a lot people when they see it.


THank you everyone for the kind words everyone!!!
My computer is in the shop....
I stole husband for a few minutes...
I sm trying to catch up.

I will post what we asked for when I get a chance
 
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