My son started Junior High in August 2014. Starting a new school is always difficult. But, he's a military brat and has been the new kid at school before. He had never had a difficult time assimilating to any new school.
When he started this school, he had a tough first week. He got lost a couple of times. He didn't hear the teacher call his name during roll call, so he was marked absent. He didn't understand the idiosyncracies of each individual teacher. Some teachers wrote the assignments on the board, some didn't. Some teachers have a blog with all of the listed assignments, some don't.
When you have autism, consistency is essential to preventing a meltdown.
Add in the stress of loud bells, bright lights, and hundreds of students rushing through the halls, talking simultaneously, the decibels are enough to give me a headache. When you're hypersensitive and overstimulated, it is absolutely overwhelming and not conducive to a learning environment.
I called the counselor and asked why his IEP wasn't being followed. The counselor explained the IEPs aren't transferred from one school to the next. If we wanted an IEP, we would need to create another one for this school.
But, he explained, IEP means special education and "we don't want that". Instead, he suggested a 504 Plan.
Most of his teachers and I met with the counselor for the 504 Plan. He asked me what I would like to include in the 504. We had a 504 previously, but this school was going about this differently. I had no idea what was even within the realm of possibility and the counselor offered minimum suggestions.
My son was turning in his homework the same day it was assigned. I asked if they could have him bring it home first. Sure! Write that down. He wrote down something along the lines of "Consider late work, as necessary."
The problem we would run into is what does consider mean? They could consider it. They could not. It was up to them. How late is too late? An arbitrary number that was inconsistent with each teacher. Some teachers would accept the late work, others would not.
This creates the perfect storm for a meltdown and anxiety attacks.
After the 504 meeting, I came home and googled 504 plans and what you could request. The things you can request are limitless! The problem is, the school does not have to abide by the request. As a 504 is a mere suggestion. The IEP is federal law. The school is required to abide by everything set out within the IEP.
When I requested the IEP and indicated possible autism, the school should have started the process for the IEP. They should have initiated their assessment. Instead, they continued with the 504 and then in mid-October, they initiated an intervention. "Before we do an IEP, there are other steps we have to take."
They do this all the time. I believed him.
In October, I told the counselor during an impromptu meeting that my son had an autism diagnosis, but the report would not be ready for 6-8 weeks. At that time, they could have initiated the IEP process. I requested further adjustments to the 504. The counselor acted like he was doing me a personal favor by adding addendums to the 504. When I left the office, I ran into one of my son's teachers. She said, "I understand he has a possible pending diagnosis." Uh, no. I told the counselor he had a diagnosis. There was nothing pending or possible about it. Why would the counselor tell my son's teachers that? I gave him a letter from the psychologist explaining the diagnosis. Why didn't he use that for the basis of the IEP?
Right before Christmas break, I finally got the psychologist's report and gave it to the counselor. We reviewed it with the assistant principal. They both specifically said that there are steps in the intervention that need to be followed.
Last night, I discovered that according to federal law, they cannot delay an IEP to conduct an RTI (the intervention).
http://www.specialeducationadvisor.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/RTI-Memo-OSEP.pdf
They are saying they need their psychiatrist to conduct an assessment and that it is going to take a few more weeks to get this done. Why wasn't this started in August?
According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the school needs to conduct as assessment. If you, as a parent, disagress with their assessment, they need to pay for a third party to conduct a second assessment.
But you, as a parent, also of the right to pay for third party independent assessments and it is supposed to have equal or greater consideration with the IEP process. You also have the right to deny the school the option of conducting their own assessment in lieu of the third party's assessment.
There are so many things they aren't going to tell you. You need to be proactive and do your own research. Be prepared and don't take no for an answer. If you don't stick up for your student, nobody else is going to.
When he started this school, he had a tough first week. He got lost a couple of times. He didn't hear the teacher call his name during roll call, so he was marked absent. He didn't understand the idiosyncracies of each individual teacher. Some teachers wrote the assignments on the board, some didn't. Some teachers have a blog with all of the listed assignments, some don't.
When you have autism, consistency is essential to preventing a meltdown.
Add in the stress of loud bells, bright lights, and hundreds of students rushing through the halls, talking simultaneously, the decibels are enough to give me a headache. When you're hypersensitive and overstimulated, it is absolutely overwhelming and not conducive to a learning environment.
I called the counselor and asked why his IEP wasn't being followed. The counselor explained the IEPs aren't transferred from one school to the next. If we wanted an IEP, we would need to create another one for this school.
But, he explained, IEP means special education and "we don't want that". Instead, he suggested a 504 Plan.
Most of his teachers and I met with the counselor for the 504 Plan. He asked me what I would like to include in the 504. We had a 504 previously, but this school was going about this differently. I had no idea what was even within the realm of possibility and the counselor offered minimum suggestions.
My son was turning in his homework the same day it was assigned. I asked if they could have him bring it home first. Sure! Write that down. He wrote down something along the lines of "Consider late work, as necessary."
The problem we would run into is what does consider mean? They could consider it. They could not. It was up to them. How late is too late? An arbitrary number that was inconsistent with each teacher. Some teachers would accept the late work, others would not.
This creates the perfect storm for a meltdown and anxiety attacks.
After the 504 meeting, I came home and googled 504 plans and what you could request. The things you can request are limitless! The problem is, the school does not have to abide by the request. As a 504 is a mere suggestion. The IEP is federal law. The school is required to abide by everything set out within the IEP.
When I requested the IEP and indicated possible autism, the school should have started the process for the IEP. They should have initiated their assessment. Instead, they continued with the 504 and then in mid-October, they initiated an intervention. "Before we do an IEP, there are other steps we have to take."
They do this all the time. I believed him.
In October, I told the counselor during an impromptu meeting that my son had an autism diagnosis, but the report would not be ready for 6-8 weeks. At that time, they could have initiated the IEP process. I requested further adjustments to the 504. The counselor acted like he was doing me a personal favor by adding addendums to the 504. When I left the office, I ran into one of my son's teachers. She said, "I understand he has a possible pending diagnosis." Uh, no. I told the counselor he had a diagnosis. There was nothing pending or possible about it. Why would the counselor tell my son's teachers that? I gave him a letter from the psychologist explaining the diagnosis. Why didn't he use that for the basis of the IEP?
Right before Christmas break, I finally got the psychologist's report and gave it to the counselor. We reviewed it with the assistant principal. They both specifically said that there are steps in the intervention that need to be followed.
Last night, I discovered that according to federal law, they cannot delay an IEP to conduct an RTI (the intervention).
http://www.specialeducationadvisor.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/RTI-Memo-OSEP.pdf
They are saying they need their psychiatrist to conduct an assessment and that it is going to take a few more weeks to get this done. Why wasn't this started in August?
According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the school needs to conduct as assessment. If you, as a parent, disagress with their assessment, they need to pay for a third party to conduct a second assessment.
But you, as a parent, also of the right to pay for third party independent assessments and it is supposed to have equal or greater consideration with the IEP process. You also have the right to deny the school the option of conducting their own assessment in lieu of the third party's assessment.
There are so many things they aren't going to tell you. You need to be proactive and do your own research. Be prepared and don't take no for an answer. If you don't stick up for your student, nobody else is going to.
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