We had no agreement at IEP meeting...so it continues

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Daughter supposedly has such severe ADHD that it seriously impairs her, but the school wants a 504 instead of an IEP. I was ok with that, but they didn't want her to take her notes with her to her tests...just a small 3X5 card. The meeting went on foooreverrrrrrrr and got contentious. But hub and I said "no thanks." Now the Special Education director is going to try to put together a 504 that we will accept. He was sweating a lot...lol. I told him the notes are a dealbreaker. The Special Education teacher was almost in tears. It was a mess.

Another meeting is scheduled and will keep being scheduled until something happens. She is too impaired not to get services, and hub and I are too disgusted to settle for "just a little." Nope. So the saga continues. For the record, this time the Advocates weren't all that helpful. We still are at checkmate.

Good news is, although daughter can not take a test without notes, and has failed all of her tests, s he is passing all of her classes by doing well on her homework. So we can wait it out and make them sweat a little. They know we will go to mediation or file a complaint if they don't offer her something we accept. as adequate. I can't believe how dense the Special Education teacher was!!!
 
H

HaoZi

Guest
I get the feeling that you shouldn't settle for a 504, either. Fight for the IEP.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
keep it up. at least sped dir is going back to try to come up with-somthing. at the iep meeting we had before ths schooll year, when i didn't agree, they said "too bad, that's all they were willing to do" and made no offers to amend.

i do think our situation is kinda funny, tho, in that they wanted 15 transitions for the kid in a day, and he didn't even handle the 4 they ended up starting him with. got a little mud on their face in that deal.

hang tight. you're on the right path.
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
MWM,

question, how does the adhd affect her so that she can't do tests without notes? Is she not able to do memorization? Are her thoughts too disorganized? Having notes during a test is not something I am familiar with. Why is there an issue with note cards vs paper? Is it that they don't want her to have everything but just enough? I would think that index cards may, in the long run, be helpful because she would have to copy her notes to the cards which would in turn make her see the information an additional time which may, in the long run, begin to help her learn a new way to study. Just a thought......

Do you think they are having an issue with the whole concept of notes? Are they stuck on the "cheating" aspect of her having her notes? If she has her notes with her what is the chance that she will pass with A's all her tests but that not be a real indication of "what she knows"? Thinking out loud here........ I know our kids need to very often be assessed in a different manner. When difficult child was in elementary school he struggled with writing so much more than he does now. The teachers would often give him oral assessments rather than written ones.

But, as we all know, their accommodations and modifications are only as good as the administrators and teachers who follow the plan.

Hope this gets resolved soon.

Sharon
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Thank you all.

The 504 is ok. It's also a legal document and they know we will hold them to the fire. They won't mess with us once we get the interventions we feel are right.

My daughter simply can not remember anything abstract. No, she is NOT on the spectrum. She is not only social, she is so socially adept that she is more like an adult in social situations. Her emotional EQ and life skills are awesome. But she can not remember abstract concepts no matter how hard she studies. She didn't show any Learning Disability (LD)'s (which I think is BS but her ADHD is so bad that the psychologist said she was "very imparied.") As long as there's a label, I really don't care. However, I agree that she does n Occupational Therapist (OT) need to be pulled out of the classroom (which is why no IEP) and that she would do fine with only interventions. She HAS learned as her Achievement Tests show. She simply can not pass a test. Her homework is great, but she has failed every test in every class this year. All of them. Why? Last year she HAD notes. This year she has none and has to rely on her memory.

A lot of times she can't "get" concepts too. I tried to explain Buddhism and Hinduism to her, knowing she had a test with a teacher who likes to flunk everyone (and often does). Well, she couldn't retain what I told her, no matter how much I did it. I was furious because the teachers until the testing were saying it was her fault so I wasn't happy going into the meeting and teachers don't intimidate me.

So we have no agreement as we are holding out and they have no choice but to accomodate her or we can fight harder. The psychologist said her ADHD was "off the charts." That's considered a disability according to the Civil Rights Dept. in our state. We'll see what happens.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Go for the Civil Rights. She has a disability, she also can clearly comply with homework standards but not with tests (we have the same problem).

Marg
 
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