Shari
IsItFridayYet?
Brief history - Wee was reduced to partial days 3 years ago in school due to behavior (and the school's lack of ability to provide him appropriate support). Illegally, I might add, but, it is what we are working with now. One of my main goals has been to get him back into full days at school with appropriate support. Last year, SD finally hired a dedicated aid and kept him mostly in the resource room, and once those changes were made, his behaviors all but stopped and he started to stay at school and learn. As each month passed that he met his behavior goals, we have been adding a few minutes to his day. The school refused to add any significant amount of time to his day at one time, for fear of rocking the boat, so I agreed to 15 minutes per increase.
He qualified for his second increase this year. Actually was to happen on 10/3, but things at home were "off" that day, so I requested the extension begin mid-week last week.
The school came back to me and said they would be putting him back in the mainstream room, during regular math instruction, without para support (his para and his sped teacher are both busy during that time) for this next extension. I refused to allow it to happen. He is very behind in academics, so he will gain nothing from the instruction. His sped teacher and I both think it is a setup for failure. He needs to get back to a full day with support before we start looking at pulling supports back. He can't make up 3 years of academics on partial days. He also has no business in the mainstream room. Don't get me wrong, I want him there so he feels a part of his class and learns to be in that environment, but he can not be educated there.
So, we talked about starting the extended day today. However, they don't have a plan. Sped teacher is digging in her heels about sticking him in mainstream (thank goodness). As am I. But apparently, the powers that be are digging in theirs, as well, saying they don't have an aid or a sped teacher for him for that time frame, and he's doing well, so he'll be fine in the mainstream room.
He has 1:1 support for the entire time he's in the building written into his IEP. Would it be considered a change of placement if they try to pull that support away?
I am not happy at all that he is not getting his extra time today. I'm just not sure which approach to take to let them know this needs to happen yesterday and I intend to force the issue....
He qualified for his second increase this year. Actually was to happen on 10/3, but things at home were "off" that day, so I requested the extension begin mid-week last week.
The school came back to me and said they would be putting him back in the mainstream room, during regular math instruction, without para support (his para and his sped teacher are both busy during that time) for this next extension. I refused to allow it to happen. He is very behind in academics, so he will gain nothing from the instruction. His sped teacher and I both think it is a setup for failure. He needs to get back to a full day with support before we start looking at pulling supports back. He can't make up 3 years of academics on partial days. He also has no business in the mainstream room. Don't get me wrong, I want him there so he feels a part of his class and learns to be in that environment, but he can not be educated there.
So, we talked about starting the extended day today. However, they don't have a plan. Sped teacher is digging in her heels about sticking him in mainstream (thank goodness). As am I. But apparently, the powers that be are digging in theirs, as well, saying they don't have an aid or a sped teacher for him for that time frame, and he's doing well, so he'll be fine in the mainstream room.
He has 1:1 support for the entire time he's in the building written into his IEP. Would it be considered a change of placement if they try to pull that support away?
I am not happy at all that he is not getting his extra time today. I'm just not sure which approach to take to let them know this needs to happen yesterday and I intend to force the issue....