So, should I?

[WhyCantTheyUnderstand]

Hello again,
The school finally responded to my email...by certified mail of course. The principle wrote back. He pretty much contradicted everything that I had written and was rather degrading and condescending throughout the whole letter.

So...should I send a formal request for an IEP re-review? If yes, should I put into my request that I want him to have no homework?

Should I provide a parents report outlining Aedan, behaviours, etc? Should I include anything from his Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) or psychiatrist? Physician?

Thanks again...I don't know what I would do without this group! :tears:

 

[Martie]

I am having a problem keeping your whole situation straight. I re-read some of your posts but it seems to me that you need to do a lot more legal research on your own if you cannot find an advocate.

Your difficult child has many diagnosis'd and a DSM diagnosis does not GUARANTEE qualificaiton but your difficult child is already IEP qualified--that's one fight won.

Now the issue becomes, "Is the SD providing him with FAPE?" If they are calling you all the time to come and get him, he is "losing it" in school, not learning, etc. then the answer is, "no," but you have to prove it. The buren of proof now rests with you and that is a huge disavantage that was written into IDEA 2004.

You should not do anything by letter except ask for an IEP meeting. Only the TEAM of which you are a full member can change his IEP. If you have standardized test scores that show no growth (in percentile rank--not absolute improvement) over time, then they are not educating him. In addition, social/emotional development is part of education. Even if the principal would make changes to the IEP. it would not be legal to do that via letter.

It might help if you posted (or PM'd) the major provisions of his current IEP. Your difficult child may need lots of things--but how to "work" an IEP meeting is have the data to prove he is not gaining despite whatever instruction is being provided, and then demand that changes be made. Presumably he is tested along with everyone else for NCLB--this is sometimes a motivator for schools to want to teach kids to read and do math, but not always.

I know this is frightening and you feel alone, but you have to get organized with your materials, and PROVE your case. I know you are not a lawyer but neither am I.

I would suggest you go to www.wrightslaw.com and read up on the meaning of testing. I think a knowledgeable advocate could prove your son is not benefitting from his current IEP, but that is just a guess.

I am sorry I cannot be more helpful but your posts tend not to have the kind of information I can work with. If you want an example of a post that contains things that Sheila or I can respond to, look at the recent thread started by Mismouse directing a specific test interpretation question to me.

Martie