Talked to the school SW this morning

Karen & Crew

New Member
Not overly impressed with her. She isn't there as an advocate for the students for sure. I didn't even get into the whole sending incomplete classwork home to be completed for a lower grade issue. It was very obvious she was adamant on this and she as much as said that if it encroached on family time then that was too bad; that sometimes there was a high price to pay for children with problems. Grrrr

I did mention having R evaluated for an IEP based on emotional & behavioral issues and she agreed whole-heartedly and then went on to say that I needed a firm diagnosis from R's psychiatrist along with a letter from the psychiatrist requesting the IEP for "other health impairments".

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't need a letter from the psychiatrist do I? We have a parish child search coordinator who I can supposedly call if I feel its necessary and they'll get the ball rolling. Or do I really need a firm diagnosis? Right now we have a ton of them and psychiatrist thinks all are symptoms of a bigger, underlying, yet undiagnosed problem.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
So sorry, Karen. I hope you can work out some kind of agreement in the future. I have no advice on the paper. Just sending support.
 

lordhelpme

New Member
to my knowledge you just have to ask in writing to get things started. they can either take your psychiatrists diagnosis and yes you need to give it to them if you want them to treat based on that diagnosis or they can get started and do their own tests. either way the minute you ask in writing they have to get the ball rolling or take it to arbitration.

if i were you i would contact the head of your sd's Special Education department and contact a local advocacy group.


as for the homework you can still start a bip (behavior plan) before iep and get the homework addressed. we have reduced school work and no homework in difficult child's bip. they need to remember that a bip is ever changing and unlike the iep not set in stone so they shouldn't be 'hesitant' to put in place things that help your difficult child, Know what I mean??

good luck and keep us posted!
 

oceans

New Member
You can start things by sending a certified letter asking for the school to do an evaluation. They have a certain amount of time to do so. In our case, we had our own evaluation done and brought the evaluation to them, but the school has to do one. In our case they did require a written letter from our psychiatrist stating a diagnoses. You seem to have plenty of diagnoses. We got an IEP under OHI- other health impared using his ADD diagnoses at the time. You can do the same thing, or use the other diagnoses too. Ask the person who diagnosed him to write a letter. Once you get the IEP, ask for a behavioral plan . You can address the homework issue in the IEP, when it is put together for his needs.
 

oceans

New Member
We had our difficult child's psychiatrist write a letter to the school explaining what was invoved in his diagnoses and that he needed a reduced workload. That is something that someone can ask for in an IEP.
 

JJJ

Active Member
I think to get classified under OHI they need the letter but to qualify under Social-Emotional or Learning Disability (LD) they can do their own testing.

 

Sheila

Moderator
You do not need a doctor to ask for the evaluation.

You will get no where with this district by "talking."

You can get the ball rolling if you send the letter I posted in the Sp Ed Forum via Certified Mail. The Certified Mail kicks in timelines within which the school district has to perform and which parents are not typically aware of, it kicks in some protections for children regarding behavior issues, et al.

You can also deliver the letter to the school district and have someone sign as receiving it.

Ex: __________________
Received by

_________ ____________
Date Time

BUT, Certified Mail is best!

You might want to go ahead and get a letter from the doctor that difficult child is OHI for your records and in case you need it at a future IEP eligibility meeting. However, that doesn't and shouldn't take the place of the school district performing a Full and Initial Evaluation in accordance with federal and state IDEA 2004 regs. The only caveat to this would be a report prepared by a professional accepted in it's entirety by the school district, e.g., sd not allowed to pick and choose what they agree with and dismiss other important items because it's not convenient.
 
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