Question about timelines (m)

[Karen & Crew]

I need to send difficult child's school a letter requesting that we reevaluate his IEP because I feel its incomplete.

A sample letter I found online gives a timeline of 5 business days for the school to respond to this request. The advocate I spoke with on Wednesday said to give them 10 days to respond.

I called the school this morning to speak with the principal about a matter that needs to be addressed in R's IEP but that needs attention NOW. She wasn't in and according to the secretary will not be in until next Wednesday.

If I were to send the letter today does her time to respond begin today or next Wednesday? I've tried looking around online but haven't found anything very specific.

 

[smallworld]

I believe the clock starts ticking on the day the school receives the request. If at all possible, you might want to hand-deliver it. Can you also provide a copy of the letter to the school administrator who coordinates IEPs (at our elementary school it is the resource teacher)? That way the school will already know about the request prior to the principal's return on Wednesday.

by the way, you do know that the response within 10 days will simply be a plan for how the school intends to re-evaluate.

 

[Karen & Crew]

Honestly I know very little. The principal is the school administrator who coordinates IEPs. The SpEd teacher who did this last year told me that she has been pulled from difficult child's case.

What I'm trying to accomplish is that I believe difficult child needs a functional behavior assessment and an individualized positive behavior plan separate from the one used for the rest of the 4th grade. We also need to address the amount of written work he is assigned as he has difficulty writing. We have a letter dated last November from the Occupational Therapist (OT) he was seeing at the time recommending that he use an AlphaSmart. The teachers are complaining about his handwriting but the school Occupational Therapist (OT) didn't feel an AlphaSmart was necessary. There are a couple of other more minor things but those are the two biggies. The letter I have drafted doesn't go into specifics; just that I want to review the IEP because his father and I feel its incomplete (as does the advocate we're working with and his psychiatrist...but I didn't include that part).

 

[smallworld]

Karen, who is your difficult child's IEP case manager? That person should receive a copy of the letter you're writing.

A small change can be made to an IEP without a meeting as long as the parents and school agree. But big changes like what you're proposing will require a meeting. The response you will receive within 10 days will be a proposed date for that meeting. Did your advocate indicate otherwise?

Don't feel bad about the teachers complaining about his handwriting. Document everytime they complain and save writing samples from his classwork. It's further documents your case for why he needs an Alphasmart.

 

[Karen & Crew]

That's just it. I don't know.

difficult child was removed from a magnet school last year because of emotional disturbances (although the school board will not identify him as ED) and placed in our neighborhood school with an interim classification of autism (he has Asperger's). His interim IEP was finally written at the end of November 2007 (he was placed in an autistic setting in October). The people writing the interim IEP were myself & my husband, the school principal, the autistic resource teacher and the SpEd inclusion teacher. The school board psychologist and our first advocate also attended the meeting.

The psychologist completed her evaluation in January and in March I received a call from a new teacher that I'd never heard of stating that difficult child was now in her class and they were going on a field trip and after reading his file he wouldn't be allowed to attend unless he had a personal chaperone.

The initial IEP was written mid-May of last year. It was myself, the autistic resource teacher, the principal and some lady from the school board who we were told would not always be the school board representative we would have.

When the problems started this year I spoke with the autistic resource teacher difficult child had last year. She was able to intervene once but was then told that difficult child was no longer on her service and to stay out of it. I asked her who was our contact now and she gave me the principal's name.

This whole situation has been seriously screwed up from the get-go. I had it all typed out (in preparation to file a formal complaint with the US Dept of Ed/Office of Civil Rights) and then my daughter lost my jump drive I had it stored on.