IEP meeting on Tues 3/24

[butterflydreams]

I received notification that our IEP meeting is scheduled for 7:20am next Tuesday. I really don't know what to expect. I have a call into my advocate person that called into our 504 meeting we had, I am waiting for her to call me back. difficult child said that the school psychologist told him that he didn't think he would qualify for academic reasons because of testing. He does fairly well overall other than math which he is behind in and history because he hasn't been doing the work.

Anything in particular I should know before going to this meeting?

Thanks,

Christy

 

[JJJ]

What services were you hoping to get when you asked for the evaluation?

 

[dadside]

"Anything in particular I should know before going to this meeting?"

Always keep in mind two things. When looking at test results, the range of scores on sub-tests may be more significant than the overall scores. And remember also that the standard really isn't whether or not his grades are OK/average, but whether his performance is consistent with his intellectual capacity/ability.

 

[gcvmom]

If they can show through testing that one or more of his various diagnoses interfere with his learning ability, then he qualifies under Otherwise Health Impaired (OHI).

We have a similar problem with difficult child 1. He is capable, and his test scores are great, but he doesn't do the work. I'm requesting the testing to find out why (I suspect it's anxiety combined with his ADHD). He may not qualify for services, but we can at least put accommdations in place so that he doesn't struggle so much (smaller classes if possible, more time for assignments and tests, no group projects, etc.)

Ironic, difficult child 2's IEP meeting was scheduled for the same day as yours, same time! But I asked them to change it to that afternoon so husband can attend.

 

[butterflydreams]

Well, I am kinda nervous about this meeting because I have had so many problems with this school. I am glad that the counselor that I have heartburn with wont be there. I will have support there though, my boyfriend is going with my and my advocate person from our local support group is going to try to come and if she can't be there, then she is sending someone in her place.

I can here it now too, because difficult child missed school today - he was hypomanic last night and pacing around and couldn't sleep. I couldn't get him to budge this morning. He kept saying that he felt the urge to move all the time.

 

[gcvmom]

When my difficult child 2 was really struggling with the hypomania issues like yours is, I simply called him in sick for that day, because he truly was sick and could not function. I didn't feel the need to explain, either. You wouldn't have to explain the flu, would you? So try not to feel defensive about what you're dealing with. It's nobody's fault, and the school needs to come to terms with that.

Good luck at your meeting. Ours is at 3:00pm tomorrow, mainly because I want to discuss plans for next year in middles school. But I will also be addressing some bullying issues that have been going on.

 

[butterflydreams]

Thanks. The meeting didn't go as planned. We were supposed to be there at 7:20am - we were. We sat there and sat there. Finally at 7:55am difficult child went off to class and we were still waiting. They finally came for us, just after 8am. Apparently they were in there discussing things and no one can come to a consensus as to what to do with and for difficult child. He scores high on his tests, he is at or above grade level, he just doesn't do the work.

They brought up his tardiness and he was absent yesterday because he couldn't wake up. I explained about difficulty getting him awake in the morning and that he has been having hypomania symptoms for the last week or so. They said that he has been tardy so many times that he is almost to the point of being sent to the dean's office. The school psychiatric did say that we could get a letter from the psychiatrist explaining the problem and that might help. They said that no matter what time he wakes up he should come even if it is only for the last period of the day.

We ended up not having the intended meeting because of their not knowing what to do. I was so glad that my boyfriend was there because it gave someone else who is familiar with difficult child to explain what is going on and to advocate for him. Overall I think the meeting was productive though.

I am going to enroll difficult child in a after school program called Teen Scene that is held at his school by the city. They also have a spring break and summer program. The summer program is full already but they put him on a waiting list - we are number 6 on the list. With the after school program, he will also get time to work on homework and 2 days per week he can go to the homework help sessions the school does in the main part of the school. He needs activity time and when he goes home after school now, he wont go outside - he cocoons himself in the house.

He has very little time left this year to pull things around for him to not have to repeat 7th grade next year, more than likely he will have to go to summer school for 2 classes and pass those in order to move on.

The school psychiatric said that we could label him as Emotionally Disturbed and give him an IEP based on that, the problem is that he is in the smallest regular ed classes that they have and the only thing that do that would do is that he would end up losing his art class which he has first period and give him a study skills class. That wouldn't be good because his art class is his favorite and it starts his day off. We are going to reconvene again the week after spring break in 3 weeks and decide then. We will see what happens.

I will be discussing this at his psychiatrist appointment on Thursday.

 

[gcvmom]

Summer school isn't necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion. We thought we'd be facing it with difficult child 1 this year, but he's managed to pull his butt out of the fire and is no longer failing his academic classes -- might be getting a D, but at least it's not an F.

You might ask if the district has alternative school placement options for a sort of Plan B if things continue to worsen for him. I found out we have several non-traditional choices for the highschool level, although we probably won't need to go there if difficult child 1 continues to stay focused. His problems are similar to your difficult child's -- smart kid, but doesn't do the work or forgets to turn it in. That's why he's finally getting an evaluation this year

I'd hate to see your difficult child lose the one class he truly enjoys, also. I think kids need to have something really positive that they look forward to in their day. So unless you could give him an art class outside of school, maybe try to hang onto that. We were looking at a similar option for difficult child 1, but it would mean he'd have to drop orchestra OR his technology lab, both of which he really loves so he gave me a resounding NO to that idea.