IEP meeting (Updated with results)

[crazymama30]

The school requested we have an IEP meeting. It is this afternoon. It was requested as difficult child has been having problems at the bus stop, and was suspended for them. He threw a rock at another boy and hit him in the mouth.

I am confused, as far as I know difficult child has been ok at school. I do not see how the IEP can impact the bus stop. Now I take him to school most days, he will only ride the bus 2-3 days a week. We have had 2 incidents, and one of those rated to me as a easy child incident. They (the principal) stated they wanted to see what else they can do to assist difficult child. I think this is great, but I am not sure what else they can do. I was going to ask for some counseling for difficult child, and/or a social skills class. I know I can ask for the social skills class, but do they have to supply counseling? I just cannot afford anymore bills at this time. I have health insurance, but all those copays do add up.

Any thoughts or opinions?

 

[Sheila]

If a child needs transportation to get to school and doesn't have it, it's an educational need. Non attendance causes adverse educational impact.

Transportation to school is a related service and should be included in the IEP. If a child with-an IEP has to be transportated to school, it has to be done at no expense to the parent even if it requires medical transport, taxi, etc.

It's pleasing to me personally when a school district recognizes a problem and is proactive. They tend to have a lot of liability even when students are off campus, e.g., attending outside activities or at the bus stop.

If difficult child is acting out prior to the bus arriving, be prepared that they will likely request parental supervision until difficult child safely boards the bus. If that's not possible, other means of transportation will need to be discussed and agreed to.

Many districts have licensed school counselors. If they do (or even if they don't) you can ask for it. It's another area where the sd and parent have to agree before it's incorporated into the IEP. As with all professionals, there are good ones and those that are not so good. I'd personally be reluctant for counseling to be done by sd personnel, but if that is your only option and you feel difficult child would benefit from it, it's your only option.

In extreme cases, I have seen school districts pay for private counseling on a limited basis. But that's very rare.

 

[crazymama30]

We had the meeting, I think it went well. The school is going to do further assesment, including a cognitive behavior assesment, behavior rating scale including a BASC and social skills rating, visual motor integration and possibly a visual perception assesment if the first turns out poorly, and possibly a Roberts scale.

I have a general idea of what these are and what their aim is, but could someone help me some? These terms are relatively new. They are also going to check if he is emotionally disturbed, and the terminology of that bothers me.

 

[Sheila]

Glad it went well.

Emotional disturbance is one of the 13 qualifying categories under IDEA. See Regulations: Part 300 / A / 300.8
Sec. 300.8 Child with a disability at http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,regs,300,A,300%252E8, .

It sounds as though the primary testing is a psychological evaluation. Google for BASC and Rogers.

There's some info on visual perception and visual motor integration in this forum or the Sp Ed Archives, I believe. You can locate them by using the search function at the top of the page.

If they haven't done any psychoeducational testing recently, I'd request it be added.

 

[Martie]

VMI and visual perception are presumed to underwrite problems with reading, writing, handwriting, etc. I think they are looking for LDs which are common among difficult child's with ADHD. Emotional disturbance is the IDEA category that fits a high percentage of difficult children on this board (including mine when he was one.)

The label or labels do not matter because the services are driven by the needs of the child. Nevertheless, it is true that some people think the ED is stigmatizing and Learning Disability (LD) isn't. I personally do not feel that way because of all the qualifying disabilities, ED is the one that can be "cured" (along with health impairments if temporary.) A correctly diagnosis'd Learning Disability (LD) especially if it is severe, is a life-long disability. That does not mean that people with significant LDs can't live productive, happy lives. For me, however, the permanence of severe Learning Disability (LD) problems makes it difficult for me to see it as a "preferable" disability to have.

Whatever the label the I in IEP stands for "individual."

Martie

 

[crazymama30]

Thank you Martie, that does help my view of the term quite a bit. It did feel just well bad. I am not sure why they are doing the visual tests as he does not have any problems (that I know of) with reading or writing and only with handwriting when he is not medicated.

I will research this also, but could someone tell me what psychoeducational testing is and what it is for? I will google it also.

 

[Sheila]

"Definitions" vary.

This is one list of potential evaluation tools: https://kr.ihc.com/ext/Dcmnt?ncid=51081009 Not all test instruments would be used.