Finally got an IEP!! ! YAY!! !

Post Reply New Topic

We are so excited - we finally got an IEP for our son. Some of you may remember my post about our last meeting with the district autism team, and many of you were as perplexed as we were that we came away from that meeting being told he does not qualify for an IEP "at this time." Well evidently the school psychologist and speech therapists have been doing some work on our behalf, and also took into consideration the further evidence we brought to the last meeting - because when we met again this morning, we were told that he does in fact qualify for an IEP. The only question was, did we want to pursue the IEP under the guise of autism, or speech/language, or OHI (Other Health Impaired). They said he qualifies for the speech IEP, absolutely. They said they could try for the autism qualification if we wanted. I said I think that's the best route to go. If we get the autism dx/assignation, great - if not, we always have the speech qualification. We'd prefer the autism IEP because we feel it would make him eligible for the greatest amount of services, if he needs them down the road.

Anyway, thanks everyone who was so helpful and concerned after our last meeting with the district folks. Husband and I did a big high five the moment we left the building!

p.s. I know that an IEP isn't a magical piece of paper, and I know other parents here continue to struggle, even with an IEP. But for us, this is a huge step forward, we feel/hope. I only wish we'd known to push for all of this three years ago. I sometimes wonder, if we hadn't finally medicated our son, if his behaviors would've more easily qualified him for an autism dx back then. But we just didn't know what else to do, and we wanted to feel that we'd done all we could as parents before demanding the school do something, too.

I guess hindsight is 20/20.

But YAY, we got an IEP!! !

woohoo!! !! !! !! !! !! !

Thanks!

And your icon image always cracks me up.

that's my daughter, btw....

Really?? Are you sure? Because I could've sworn it was a moose.

She's adorable!

Yay Congratulations!! !! !! !

Good for you! I wish I knew this would happen, I would have told you about the IEP workshop here in town last weekend. My husband went and learned a lot of new stuff. Stuff that blew me away. I asked him if any teachers were there and he said mainly "your school's" because of the impending closure. Apparently, a lot of kids are getting services and accomodations and it's not all documented on IEPs. So, the teachers are learning how to do these in a hurry.

We're kind of anticipating our IEP now with all this knowledge.

It was for everybody but Husband said that they emphasized how IEP teams (school staff) will do things to take power away and to make your IEP completely useless.
One thing they said, never accept an IEP that says DRAFT on it. They will tell you that it's a computer glitch and that it's okay. IT IS NOT. It's not a valid document unless it's a final copy. (all IEPs in AZ have had that on them for us and all staff have told us it's legal)

then there are the requests, you must submit requests 3 days before the meeting to the psychologist.

If a service/accomodation is denied, they must say so in writing. Don't accept, "we'll look into it", "as needed" and of course don't accept financial complaints. You write the request and they must deny it in writing and then later explain why it's being denied.

If a service is written in, the service provider or supervisor must be named. This is to prevent the "who's on first?" game that staff will play later when no one wants to take responsibility for your child's goals.

Never attend an informal meeting, conversation or email exchange in which requests are made and services are granted. It's not legal. Informal meeting means anything that isn't specifically and directly related to the IEP.

Never accept a frequency of success less than 100%. Anything less means that the IEP goal isn't really vital to the student's success. For instance, you wouldn't want an airplane pilot to have a goal to successfully land 80% of the time. (that's the example they gave)

These are the biggies that I had no idea about. These are the things that staff have deliberately used against us.

Hm. I think everything we saw today (and every other day) said "DRAFT" on it. I remember one lady even saying 'Sorry about that' in reference to it.

But I don't think we signed those docs. Hm. Now I'm not sure. I guess I should go ask whether finalized copies will be made available for us to review and sign.

Hm.

I forwarded all that you just listed to my husband. I think those are FANTASTIC things to know, and I bet most people don't know all that, or have to learn that hard way, through years of trial and error. Thank you so much for sharing that with me.

Who sponsored the workshop? Where was it held?

Keep up with it, Singua. When the need is real and the parents persistent, things will happen.

The childcare director at our school made an interesting comment to me, early on after my son's diagnosis. She said, "you know why you are getting so much, don't you? They know they can work with you. That the efforts won't be wasted." Apparently, when they know the parents take it seriously, want to learn and work as a team, then they will, too. Because too often everything is simply pushed onto the school, with no support from home.

And THAT comes from what I now know is a school with a unusually responsive special ed department.

I'm so happy for you! I still am fighting the fight, but I found a NP who is going to start therapy with my boys and he was shocked I don't have anything for them in school.

As we were leaving he said.... Here's some of my cards. Give them out to the teachers and the principle. I have a feeling I'm gonna end up getting to know them better"

heeeeeeeeeeeee I was so happy!

But I'm so glad the school is finally doing right by you sinagua!! !

Lainie

I'm not sure who "hosted" it but it was held at the DDD campus and was sponsored by Autism Society and someone else.