Teacher wants to go hear results from testing..

[whateveryousay2007]

difficult child teacher has been wonderful and understanding. She goes out of her way to make sure that he doesn't fall behind in class.

We have a great relationship and communicate several times a week. difficult child goes back for testing on the 12th. The school will get a copy of the IEP and documentation after the tests are completed. It'll probably be a week after testing before we get the results.

My question is does anyone think that it's inappropriate for difficult child's teacher to go with me to hear the results? We've already asked the school if it was a liability (so they don't get in trouble) and they said that it was fine. No decision has been made yet on whether or not she's going.

difficult child also meets with the school psychiatric once a week. The problem that we foresee is that it takes a bit of time before the school system will be able to set up all of his Occupational Therapist (OT), etc. These two people really care about him and are willing to do this in their spare time. I'm getting different reactions from people that I'm close to.

One group thinks that these two are overstepping their boundries.

The other group thinks that it's wonderful that they care enough about him to try to help him as soon as possible.


Anyone have any takes on this?

 

[flutterbee]

I'm a little confused.

I assume you're having private testing done and that's what the teacher wants to sit in on? Why would the school 'get a copy of' the IEP and documentation? Didn't you and members of the SD write the IEP?

If this is private testing, I would say no to the teacher going. It would make me extremely uncomfortable to have someone outside of the family sitting in on medical visits. If you feel you need an excuse to keep things smoothed over with the teacher, just tell her that the practitioner isn't comfortable with it because of HIPPA laws. If you really want something to give to the teacher, ask the practitioner to draft correspondence directly to the teacher. Otherwise, the teacher will get the information with the documentation you mentioned.

 

[ShakinThingzUp]

I'm guessing that the teacher wants to ask the doctor what she can do to help....

I would suggest that she not be there to hear the results - that ought to be a private family matter... however, I would then share the results with the teacher & set up communication between therapists/doctors and the teacher (sign waiver that they can discuss the results & what will help your child)....

Allowing this AFTER you've had a chance to digest the results gives you time for whatever privacy you may need...

My daughters teacher corresponded with her counselor by email (after it was learned she was sexually abused). The counselor gave her a few tips on what may help her during class.... that's what her teacher was after.

God Bless!
Amy

 

[whateveryousay2007]

It is private testing. We've been battling the school since he was in kindergarten for speech therapy.

I had asked Child intake how long before I get the test results they told me that after testing on the 12th I'd come back one more time to hear the results.

I've been after the school to do something about this with difficult child. He makes decent grades but has a huge problem with reading comprehension and writing. The school is sitting on their hands until Vanderbilt does their testing. They had him scheduled for speech therapy this year but he only went one time. The school is "restricted" on what they can do.

I finally had enough of not knowing why my child was struggling. This year is the first year that everything has come to this point. He didn't struggle in 2nd grade but he's always had the social ackwardness and tics. They're just more noticable now.

I'm kind of at a loss....

The teacher wants to go hear the offical "Asperger's diagnosis".

I'm sure that they would give me paperwork when I go.

 

[SRL]

Personally there's no way I'd have the teacher come along to hear the results. Even with diagnosticians I've respected overall, it's not uncommon to hear recommendations or comments about my style of parenting or what they thought I should be doing and I didn't always agree with them. Once I even got into it with a speech/language/audiologist regarding which year I should send my difficult child off to kindergarten...and she hadn't even evaluated him yet, she'd just read the resports!

Based on what I've been through I wouldn't want any school staff member there for the first go through. If I thought it would be helpful beyond what the report/recommendations, I'd consider bringing them into an IEP meeting. For the money you pay for a neuropsychologist appointment they better be writing you a thorough report.

 

[Josie]

SRL said exactly what I was thinking.

You just never know when they are going to imply it's a parenting issue. I wouldn't want someone from the school to hear that.

You can always share with them what you think they should know.

 

[slsh]

This is a hard call. I actually did once have a district employee attend one of Boo's doctor appts but it was over a decade ago, in a kinder and gentler school relationship. :wink:

Initially my thought was to tell you "sure". *But* since you've already been battling with the SD, for me that changes it. I would not have teacher there, no matter how concerned and helpful she is. At the end of the day, she is an SD employee and she answers to them. Plus, unless you know exactly what will be in the reports... well, you don't want any surprises witnessed by teacher and potentially reported back to SD.

This is *your* evaluation that you are paying for. You can share the reports with SD if you so choose and they must "consider" them but they don't have to buy into them *or* following the recommendations. If you end up not wanting to share the reports, for whatever reason, you do not have to.

The school has only provided Speech once, as opposed to... what is in his IEP? And they're waiting for the results of the testing that *you* are paying for??? What about their own testing? Sorry - I'm seeing some red flags here.

 

[SRL]

Occasionally we've had parents come through the boards that have had kids diagnosed with something like Conduct Disorder when it was totally inappropriate for the child. Those are the kinds of surprises you don't want to have a school district employee listening in on.

 

[whateveryousay2007]

Indivdual Education Plan....

My son is too bright to be in special education (he doesn't need it) and has issues (asperger's) that inhibit him from being socially accepted by his peers.

He does have ADD and it is a battle to teach him. BUT the sensory issues are a problem. I've asked why he hasn't had an IEP or testing through the school and I've been told it's resources.

Evidently a lot of kids that goes to that school is considered "poverty level". Even though he goes to a public school which my hubby & I pay taxes for we still have to pay $80.00 the first week of school for supplies. Plus we have to buy his school supplies.

The money is for classroom necessities. The "poor" children don't have to pay. LOL....

I know that it takes all kinds to make the world go round. It's hard for me to grasp this when the neighborhood we live in the houses are $250,000-$300,000 range. A few blocks away is a trailer park.

It's true with metro schools too. They will not do anything unless they have to. I've been looking into private schools or specialized schools without any luck.

His school system teaches the children well. Mine is very smart for his age but I'm becoming frustrated!

 

[whateveryousay2007]

I hope it's not a conduct disorder...per se. Everything points to Asperger's. I didn't want to believe that my son could have autism. I guess no one wants to accept that anything could be wrong with their child.

But....I think I'd have to kiss someone's behind if it's not.

 

[slsh]

Sorry, but your SD is feeding you a line. "Resources" notwithstanding, if your son is (or is supposed to be) receiving speech, he should've have had a full evaluation already done by the SD and he should already have an IEP. Would love to see your SD try to justify not doing requested initial evaluations because of "resources" to a due process officer or the Office of Special Education Programs in D.C. The way it works, you request evaluation in writing (certified letter), they agree or not and if not send you written notice of why, if they agree they have X # of days to get evaluation done and then hold team mtg to determine if he qualifies for Special Education services. Which apparently he does since somewhere along the line they've provided speech therapy.

IEP isn't just for "Special Education". It covers whatever "related services" (Occupational Therapist (OT)/ST/PT, social work/psychologist, etc) he needs in order to receive educational benefit. He could have an IQ of 400, but if he needs speech or Occupational Therapist (OT) or whatever, that's covered under an IEP and "special education".

"He does have ADD and it is a battle to teach him. BUT the sensory issues are a problem." This is *exactly why he needs an evaluation through the SD (because, again, they don't have to do anything with a private evaluation you give them) and an IEP.

Have you checked out the sped 101 forum - archives too. Great sample letters.

 

[whateveryousay2007]

I'll have to check that out.

He kept chronic ear infections as a small child. He had 4 sets of tubes in his ears & adnoids (sp?) removed before he was 3. His speech was always kind of lispy because of this. All I know is we stayed on them about speech. So on the first day of school I went to meet his teacher and told her that last year he was supposed to have speech and didn't. He needed to be in it this year. What was going on?

She showed me a list that had 3 students in her class on it. She told me that these 3 were getting speech this year. Okay....mine is an emotional one. He gets upset because the other two goes to speech every week. he's only been once.

Then I keep hearing about the concern for Occupational Therapist (OT) and his handwritting, etc.

I told her that I wanted something done about it.

 

[SRL]

I hope it's not a conduct disorder...per se. Everything points to Asperger's. I didn't want to believe that my son could have autism. I guess no one wants to accept that anything could be wrong with their child.

I don't mena to suggest CD as a diagnosis for your child. I just used that as an axample of how things can sometimes get very surprising and why it might not be in your child's best interest to have the teacher there for the first round of reviewing the results.

 

[whateveryousay2007]

Oh....I know. I didn't mean it like it sounds.....

You'd be suprised about how many times people tell me when we're out in public that parents need to spank their kids to make them behave. Or he's being rude I shouldn't let him act like that. Or people let their kids act up and use that they have ADD as an excuse not to deal with making them mind.....I've heard it all.

I used to be one that would spank him for acting up. I read the Explosive Child. I have different view of how he acts now.


It's hard....

 

[flutterbee]

I don't think any of us would be surprised. We've all been there done that with other people's comments about our parenting skills...which is why I think those of us that have responded have said 'no' to the teacher attending the session.

 

[Marguerite]

I'm one who WOULD consider allowing the teacher to come along. But only a teacher who clearly has been going above and beyond the call of duty, someone who has already demonstrated how much she wants to help my child.

Communication and information seem to do the most in smoothing over problems and getting help.

But before you allow it, I would ask the doctor's permission first. Another option is to allow the doctor and the teacher to converse independently, although you would need to make it clear that it's just this one time and only about the diagnosis and the implications of it - as a teacher, she will want info from the horse's mouth on what this means for her, as difficult child's teacher.

As an education employee, you DO NOT WANT to set up a situation where this level of access to such private information is seen as regularly available and acceptable.

I'd have her there. But make it clear that this is exceptional, it won't be needed in the future because this is the diagnosis hand-down.

You need to have your own policy of vetting what medical info you allow the education system to have. Most of the time it's no problem, but sometimes you strike a doctor who's a weirdo, and you don't want the school twisting information or getting the doctor on their side inappropriately.

In summary - in my opinion, if you are convinced this teacher really does care and really could use this unprecedented access to a private health professional, and if the doctor is OK with it, then I would let her go.

Back when he was in Kindergarten, difficult child 3's teacher accompanied me to a conference on autism. We sat together, we compared notes, we even spoke of how we COULD make good home-school communication work. I would have happily invited her to a doctor's appointment. There have even been a couple of others I would have had there. And one or two I'd have like to hear the words from the doctor, instead of filtered through a report or my brain, because they never accepted any info that was second-hand, including reports. I doubt they even bothered to read the reports.

I just think - when you find a gem of a teacher, you nurture her, nourish her, value her a great deal. And yes, keep her in the loops as much as she wants to be.

But I do accept and understand the cautions expressed - it IS a tricky question, you wouldn't do this unless you're sure.

And are you sure? Because in asking us, I do wonder how sure you feel.

Marg

 

[LittleDudesMom]

I read your post yesterday and wanted to reply but didn't have time. My opinion is that in no way would I allow any school personnel, especially since the school has been denying services to your son, to sit in on the testing results. You said that you felt the teacher just wanted to "hear" the aspergers diagnosis - so what if she does want to hear it, wouldn't she believe you? You will obviously be providing the school with the written results in order to get IEP services in place. That's good enough.

I would tell the teacher that you have given it some thought, and since this is private testing, you would prefer this meeting be private. If there is need for further testing by the school, she is more than welcome to participate.

Additionally, I am a little confused by a few of your comments. You say that your son is too bright for Special Education. I don't believe you understand what Special Education is all about. There are children who have needs, not based on their ability to learn, but based on their style of learning. They need Special Education so that they can process differently. Some kids need Special Education because they need a smaller classroom enviornment to overcome school anxiety. Some kids need language arts in resource because they have a spelling disability, or dyslexia or dysgraphia. None of these things affect the intellegence of a child. My son was in resource in 4th and 5th grade for la and math and always acheived honor role or scholar role. He just completed his first grading period in middle school outside of resource and made honor role. But my son has an IEP so that he can get accoms and mods that help him in his style of learning. So please, don't assume Special Education has anything to do with a child's intellegence. It is available to accomodate any given child's acedemic needs.

I live in an urban enviornment as well. We live in an area where the houses are over 1/2 million yet behind us are low income apartments. All our children go to school together. It certainly presents challenges but definately gives my difficult child a real picture of what the world is all about. It is illegal for your school to have you pay a supply fee and not other families. It is illegal for them to base monetary requests on your preceieved ability to pay. It's one thing for them to ask for help with supplies from local churches or even families at school. We always make donations of school supplies because there are children who come from homes that cannot honestly provide them with the simple basics of pencil and paper.

Once you get this testing result meeting done, you will need a little time to digest the results then you will want to schedule and IEP meeting so that services can be provided your son. If you believe the school will try and deny services, bring someone with you (difficult child's doctor is a good one - i brought my difficult child's therapist with me at our first IEP meeting - she leant an air of professionalism to the requests!).

Sharon

 

[whateveryousay2007]

I was told that he's too bright for Special Education. The way the school is set up (because we're a small town) is that there is one Special Education class & one teacher.

 

[flutterbee]

SpEd is a service, not a place. A child can have an IEP and be in a regular classroom setting. It happens all the time. My daughter had an IEP, but was in regular ed. However, her IEP provided accommodations for her severe anxiety and Sensory Integration Disorder (SID). Not only that, if your child qualifies for services they have to provide whatever services s/he needs in the LRE (least restrictive environment). They are not allowed to say, 'we're not set up for that'.

There is federal law called IDEA 2004 (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act - I believe). You send a certified letter to the school requesting a full and complete evaluation and they either have 60 days to perform the evaluation or they have to advise you in writing of why they feel it is not necessary. There is a lot of info on the SpEd 101 board and archives.