Hi,

My stomach just turned when I read a sudden email from my eight-year-olds' resource specialist teacher only a week before school ends:
"The Teacher is having concerns about child's placement next year in

3rd grade. She is still having a lot of trouble staying focused on her

work, and reading and writing skills are a concern for third grade. More observations have been made, and it seems like this (pulling her into a full day special day class) may be a good placement for her next year."

I just had an IEP 45 days ago and they increased her resource instruction but did not create or discuss in details plans about Special Day class. In fact, I even agreed to a pscyh evaluation and to see if meds are an option. So why the sudden jump to yank a well-behaved, nice kid from her classroom in the name of "better supporting her?" Did I miss something here? I thought the school supposed to include her and mainstream her? I am going to ask them to bring an aide into the classroom instead of special day classes. I feel my daughter's self-esteem is at stake here and it's cheaper for the school to stick her out of sight with a group of students then to manage her in the classroom with an aide. Please give me some feedback and advice? I am really worried.
Kati

Hi Kati,

I would be concerned for your daughters self esteem issues too...
I agree totally... I wouldn't allow them to place my child in a resource room if she is able to keep up... She may just need to have a little extra attention while doing her work... I was a bit older when they did the same to me...

I was reading at 9th grade level in 6th grade... I wouldn't do my homework so they put me into a "resourse room" and made me read "See Jane run" stories... I was so humiliated that I never really regained my love for learning...

I think it very much traumatizes the child and causes damage emotionally to his/her self esteem... I wish you luck in getting an aid...

I don't know if as a parent you can call the shots... I don't know as I am new here with a son who was diagnosed ADHD last week...Let us know how this works out...
Sandi

So I sent an email back to school, something along the line of "I have been speaking with other parents in forums and with a special education advocate and been reading up on informative literature about special education laws." I guess that got their attention. I struck a deal (better than what I had in the initial IEP). I guess they pushed me hard enough to read some really good websites about IDEA. I would recommend the following site to anyone about special education laws and how to advocate for your child. www.empowermentzone.com (http://www.empowermentzone.com). The site actually gave me an idea to ask the school to bring in an aide as opposed to continue their pattern of pulling my daughter out for one-on-one: Then I turned the conversation around from pulling her out more and more to why can't we bring support in. Again, quoting some of the legal lingo worked well. I also found out that the teacher's agenda was clearly to "manage" her out of sight. Anyway, IEP will be modified to bring aide into classroom. I am getting a consultation from a special ed advocate about having an advocate accompany me to the next IEP. Just in case.

Kati,

That is great I have been reading up on that too... Just because I am new to ADHD and what I need to do for our son... I found that they have to do the least disturbing or the best thing for the child they can't tell you that she has to leave... I found that they have to bring in an aid if that is all she would need to succeed... I have been looking into the advocate pages too... I think there is one called wrightslaw.com it has a lot of info on it too... Good for you for researching the info... let us know how it all turns out.
Sandi

Update: Hi, I did get the school to agree to give "pushin" support in classroom and (for now) they have more or less abandoned the efforts to push her out into special day classes. Of course they tried to trick me first by giving me an addendum without any specific minutes and actions listed but got on them and said I would not sign till the minutes and setting were specifically spelled out in the IEP and I gave them a draft to follow:rolleyes: . After a second try, they managed to put it in writing. For now she is getting 180minutes/week in classroom aide and 120minutes/week resource help. It really helped to talk to a special ed advocate who taught me to document and send letters as followup after each phone conversation that the teachers would have with me. Also, she advised not to sign the documents until everything was exactly spelled out as we discussed on the phone and to my complete satisfaction. I learned a lot. Hope this helps you too.


Kati

Katika a few ? for you.

In the IEP does it say what classes she will be serviced for in the classroom?
In the IEP does it say what classes she will be serviced for in the resource room?
To me those minutes in both regular and resource look low, but than again I have no clue how long the classes are.
What does it state under the LRE page of the IEP?
Is she taking the same tests as the other students?
Does she have any modifications when she taking the test?
And finally, what will happen if the school says in August they don't have the money for an aide to be in the classroom?

I am going to try answer all your questions but if I left something out let me know:

In third grade, my daughter will have one classroom where all academic instruction takes place:The aide who will be coming in will provide her assistance with language arts, reading, and writing. In the resource room, she will be getting assistance with math.

In her IEP, the resource specialist also specified the various goals in the area of reading, writing, and math including where she is now and where she needs to be. The IEP also states that they will need to meet and discuss these IEP goals and progress in this upcoming Fall semester.

Only 6 months ago she was getting 90/minutes a week so the 300 minutes a week is a big change for her, which is about one hour a day as it stands. I do find it low myself but given that even when she only received 90minutes/week of resource time it helped her reach 75% of all her IEP goals, the 300 minutes/week is a starting point for 3rd grade.

In reality, observing the second grade structure, these kids may have a 6 1/2 hour day, but spend approx. 1 1/2 hour recess and lunch, and another 1 1/2 -2 hour doing stuff like PE, music, art, friendship group etc. I don't think that intensive academic work (math, reading,writing) in classroom happens for more than 3-4 hours/day for the students.

She receives various classroom accomodations and test accomodations as well including more time for tests, a quiet room, seating in the front . . . etc.

My daughter is also not (yet) on medication. Another avenue that we may explore depending on her ADD/HD evaluations that we are in the process of doing with a psychologist. Her issue is specifically "sustaining attention" due to occipital/frontal lobe damage when she was an infant. (She had a stroke.) She used to be also impulsive when she was much younger but that seems to have diminished.

The school she goes to is a charter school, which means it has public status but gets a ton of funding from private sources. We moved in to this wealthy public school district because they do have a lot of $ for their kids in school. (We rent and its a bit high but worth it.) Their last fundraiser this year alone brought in $350,000. So no, they are not pulling the we don't have $ for the aide routine that I am sure I would get in her old school district. Of course that doesn't mean that they are telling parents to ask for an aide or trying to advocate for the best interest of the child. They simply gloss over the aide issue and push for special ed courses to see what the parent will say. But once a parent voices concern they do listen: They are used to demanding parents and a strong PTA and the school staff is generally inclined to "smooth" things out.

It still of course upsets me when they try to push the envelope and attempt to manage my child into a special day classroom. As I mentioned before, having the school know that I am reading the laws and rights and have a special advocate at my disposal helped greatly. . . Kati

Kati
Hi, you did a great job of answering my questions :) Sounds like you are in a great public school district. Public schools do fear a exceptional education student's parent who knows the laws! Your daughter should be getting some assistance for Science and Social Studies if she's reading below grade level! Good Luck

I will keep that in mind about social studies and science. Thanks for the encouragment. I always learn new things on this forum and like how the members are positive and helpful.:)


Kati