New school doesn't look promising

[Californiablonde]

So I've been tossing around the idea to send my daughter to our home school where all her friends are. She is totally unhappy where she's at now, but she has small classes with lots of support at this school, which she really needs. So my mom went to the prospective new school and met with the director of special education to see what they have to offer. Turns out they only offer RSP classes that have only one teacher and about 25 students. They have no teacher's aides. difficult child is used to having a one on one aide in all of her classes that work with her. It would be a huge adjustment for her to go into a much bigger class (right now she's in with eight other kids) and for her not to have an aide available to help her would really be a challenge. difficult child insists she wants to go to the new school regardless because she is so unhappy where she is at now. I have no idea what to do. We have an IEP meeting on Friday with representative of both schools. We will be discussing placement. I don't know if I should give the go ahead with the transfer if it means difficult child will struggle heavily academically. Right now she isn't getting an education because she is refusing to attend. But at the new school she may not be getting much of an education either because she may not be able to keep up with faster paced classes and no aide. So I'm still ambivilent about moving her. I guess it's a wait and see what is discussed at the IEP on Friday. Till then I'm having real anxiety about it and I just don't know what to do.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Keep digging. What other options are there?
Here... officially, there's only a couple of "specialty" schools, but...
"standard school A" is very different from "standard schools B" and so on.
Each one has it's own flavor, and the principal sets the tone.
If the PRINCIPAL knows how to work with kids like your difficult child, THEN you have hope.

 

[Californiablonde]

Well I just got the scores back for her reading results and she's her comprehension is at a ninth grade level. So that's good news. I'm hoping this will prompt the mainstreamed reading teacher, who previously didn't want her in her class, to agree to let her in. I really feel like if difficult child does stay at this school, she'll be much happier in some mainstreamed classes. As of now she's in all ED classes with all boys and she is miserable.

 

[InsaneCdn]

She definitely needs some mainstream classes. The more she can be treated normal, the better.
100x more because all the ED kids are boys... at this age? She needs same-gender peer relationships.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Something I don't get about the teacher(s) who "don't want her in their class"... one of the comments was about whether she could "keep up".

If they can (and they do... even here in dinosaur-brain land) mainstream Down's kids, they can mainstream anybody except extremely disruptive behaviors. The Down's kids are not even working at grade level. They do their own-level "math" when the other students have math class, same for reading. They "help" with science - and DO learn but not the same expectations. Mainstreamed for art and music - and graded differently. If she has an aide, and a resource room (which the ED classroom would be), she should be able to do modified work, for a minimum. The cooking class is a good example - maybe she needs modified paperwork, but if she can keep up with the cooking part to the same level as her peers then she deserves to be in the class.

(I live in an area where most attitudes and services are several decades behind the rest of the "North American average"... if we can do it, California can do it.)

 

[Californiablonde]

I agree she should be in more mainstreamed classes with more modified work. Right now she is failing her cooking class because she can't keep up with the note taking. She has auditory processing disorder and it's difficult for her to transfer on paper what she is hearing out loud. Unfortunately the cooking teacher is not willing to modify anything for her so she is failing. She is doing good when it comes to the cooking, just not when it comes to the paperwork. I think she is being graded unfairly. The cooking teacher doesn't want her in her class either. I feel like my daughter is being pushed aside and not treated fairly by anybody. The school psychiatric doesn't even stand up for her. I don't know who will. That's why I was totally hoping this new school would work out.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Can I say it again?
You need an ADVOCATE. Somebody with teeth and claws and an inside-out knowledge of the law and the system.
Your difficult child is NOT receiving anything near what she should have, and it is obvious that nobody IN that school is going to do anything about it.

 

[Californiablonde]

Well the IEP has been rescheduled for next Friday. Yes, I am aware we need an advocate. Refresh my memory since my mind is in poor working order due to my disability. Where do I find one online?

 

[buddy]

Honey, a mainstream teacher can not legally refuse to provide accommodations if they are in the IEP. Yes, please stop using your mom as an advocate, this is not her specialty. Get the real deal, start with your state dept of education.

in a rush to get Q not really meaning this to sound bossy, just feel terrible for your difficult child... I know its hard

 

[confuzzled]

least restrictive environment. (LRE)

iep dictates services and modifications needed for the child, not the program itself.

she is in a pretty restrictive environment now--*THEY* need to justify *WHY* she needs this placement. if she needs an aide to succeed in mainstream classes, then so be it. heck, she can be in honors classes with an aide if thats where she needs to be. its pretty difficult to justify a small group placement and mainstream in the same breath because that exists in very few places.

she is eligible for whatever supports she needs to be in a LRE---they cant just say, oh, we dont have one-to-ones in mainstream reading in the 9th grade. in fact, if she ONLY needs a one-to-one to be able to attend that one class per day, they need to provide it.

when was her last trienneal review? do you have current testing to help guide you on what services she might need for success? like, does she use an FM system if she has an Auditory Processing Disorders (APD)? again, not something that needs a special classroom for--no reason it cant be used anywhere in the building.

but i think you need to listen more carefully to what the reading and cooking teacher is trying to tell you...its doubtful that they just dont want her--there must be reasons that they feel she cant be successful, with or without mods. at least in cooking, somehow she's proving them right--what mods are in her iep that she needs and arent being addressed?

not asking a bunch of questions to annoy you, but i think since you have an iep coming up you need to take a deep breath, gather data, and make decisions based on whats in her best interest...she may very well be where she needs to be, she may very well need to be mainstreamed for select subjects (i'd highly suggest you might want to avoid reg. gym class if she had an Auditory Processing Disorders (APD) and consider APE instead--think about mainstreaming toward her strengths instead)

 

[InsaneCdn]

Here's some links - the first "good" ones that came up on a google search.

http://www.dgs.ca.gov/oah/SpecialEducation.aspx

http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/oah/SE/SE%20advocacy%20list.pdf

http://www.taskca.org/

 

[InsaneCdn]

Confuzzled... I don't know about you, but we've had significant numbers of teachers absolutely REFUSE to deal with accommodations of any sort. IEP doesn't have legal teeth here, but... it IS expected that teachers comply... and they don't.

 

[JJJ]

Well I just got the scores back for her reading results and she's her comprehension is at a ninth grade level. So that's good news. I'm hoping this will prompt the mainstreamed reading teacher, who previously didn't want her in her class, to agree to let her in.

Oh heck no.....the teacher does not determine who gets "let" into her class. She teaches the children assigned to her. If the IEP team determines that your daughter is ready for the mainstream reading class (with or without an aide) then she WILL be in the class.

 

[JJJ]

Confuzzled... I don't know about you, but we've had significant numbers of teachers absolutely REFUSE to deal with accommodations of any sort. IEP doesn't have legal teeth here, but... it IS expected that teachers comply... and they don't.

In the USA, an IEP has very sharp legal teeth. But, it takes a knowledge of the law and a warrior attitude to motivate some difficult child-schools.

 

[JJJ]

California,

I cannot agree more with InsaneCdn that you need an advocate. You and your mom are giving the school WAY MORE POWER than they actually have.