(no subject)
Let’s see.. When I last posted we still hadn’t had the meeting with the lawyer and the district. Let’s say that was a whole lot of fun (not) but entertaining in other ways to say the least.
This was the largest meeting we’ve had with the district to date. Usually we are lucky if we get 5 people. We had 15. The lawyer we had last year must not have been that great since we had the special ed teacher and the district’s lawyer. This year, we had not only the district’s lawyer, we had the assistant director of special ed, the head of assistive technology, the special ed teacher, a general ed teacher, the assistant principal, the school shrink, a supervisor from the therapy department as well as the usual compliment of teachers, therapists , etc.
Mike whispered to the lawyer, I’ve never seen so many people at one of these things. The lawyer smiled angelically and said that’s because I’m here. She had something of a Cheshire cat grin. I kind of got the impression she was having fun at the district’s expense.
I got to talk first to explain why we called for the meeting. I don’t think they liked that I was clear, concise, and to the point. It’s the same thing I’ve been saying for years, they just had to actually listen. I pointed out that Jason was way far behind, more so than should be explained by his medical absences. I further ventured the suggestion that it was in large part due to his communication issues. He had a vantage box in kindergarten/first grade. However, he never had homework with it, and the vast majority of the time it was locked up at school where he didn’t have the opportunity to use it or practice with it.
I went on to voice the fact that in the past his teachers didn’t appear to teach him anything until 5th grade. That was the first year the kid had so much as spelling words to take home. That could be in part due to the fact that it’s hard to call on someone if you can’t understand the answer, or if you don’t understand the question they are asking you.
Personally, I get the impression that at least one of his teachers was overwhelmed, and a couple of teachers were intimidated by Jason’s disability. I did not say, but could have easily voiced the opinion that some of them were plain lazy too. As far behind as he is, they should have pointed out the fact years ago and taken steps to try to correct it. They shouldn’t have passed him on to begin with. I personally believe that they were for the most part passing him on to be someone elses problem.
I have to review Jason’s medical plan and go over it for the nurse. For some reason the one Jason had didn’t follow him. I presented them (again!) with his shot records, his doctors notes regarding feeding, his therabyte, and his wheelchair.
We voiced some additional concerns about safety since Jason is so much smaller than the other kids, also he has some classes on the 3rd floor. That floor has no access to the outside, so how are they going to get him out of there in case of flood, fire, or alien invasion etc.
The augmentative communication person said oh I hope this (the communications piece) would come up again (!?) as if! She said that Jason’s teachers couldn’t support assistive tech in the class. No, they could have, but they chose not to. I didn’t say that in the meeting though. She went on to talk about several new toys they have. I think she should do an evaluation to see what works best with him before going into tech wanderlust. I was hoping to get him in with the tech person at Children’s, but my insurance wouldn’t cover it. The district doesn’t want anyone to farm anything outside of their sphere of influence. I gather from talking to folks who I know in local academia the school district has what seems like an inferiority complex about going outside of their direct sphere of influence.
I was left with the impression with the tech people that the reason they were “happy” was more one of “Oops we got caught, I guess we will have to do something” as opposed to they truly couldn’t support that. I had also suggested teaching him some sign to help with communication breakdowns, and they shot that down because their teachers would have to learn it. So what if not everyone knows sign? It’s just one more avenue of communication that could help him convey his ideas etc. That doesn’t mean he has to sign exclusively.
We briefly went over what the nurse had as far as his medical stuff. She does make sure he gets his therabyte. They tended to not do it at his old school, and they often forgot to tube feed him too.
Jason’s lawyer was pushing for getting him into at least one general ed class. The school balked at that. They would have been happy with sticking him in a corner somewhere to forget about him. They instead have to modify the curriculum for a general ed class for Jason. The lawyer insisted Jason keep his TA position in the library. For him it would be fun, and he gets a little vocational experience to boot. It’s more to get him into the mind set that he can do something to help others. I don’t think he has that issue, apparently a lot of disabled kids do. It will help him feel a bit more grown up and independent though.
The lawyer suggested that they give Jason a full time aid again since the district snuck in a reduction of hours for Jason’s aid last year. He needs an aid mostly to get him in between classes and for his general ed class. While the lawyer didn’t say anything untoward, I get the impression that the folks at the district were afraid she’d sue their socks off if Jason was bullied in the halls etc. I am not complaining about that mind you. I don’t think that my concerns on that score are overblown. He is the size of your average 3rd grader.
We’ve asked for and are getting weekly progress reports. They are still using his planner, but the aid’s writing is so small Sara can’t read it, and I have trouble reading it since they write almost as bad as I do. But, we are seeing some communication from the school at least. My experience has been that elementary school teachers don’t like using email. Middle school a few tech savvy teachers will use it, and high school uses email as a communication tool fairly frequently.
We are going to reconvene in about a month or so to totally revamp his IEP. I’ve got a bunch of paperwork that I’ve filled out etc. They are going to give Jason another 3 year re-evaluation (this is required, so it’s no biggie) so we are pushing for it to be done now instead of later so that way the district can pinpoint what he needs better. I know the lawyer will be going over it too, so that way they will be forced to come clean and offer solutions as to what they can offer him.
This was the largest meeting we’ve had with the district to date. Usually we are lucky if we get 5 people. We had 15. The lawyer we had last year must not have been that great since we had the special ed teacher and the district’s lawyer. This year, we had not only the district’s lawyer, we had the assistant director of special ed, the head of assistive technology, the special ed teacher, a general ed teacher, the assistant principal, the school shrink, a supervisor from the therapy department as well as the usual compliment of teachers, therapists , etc.
Mike whispered to the lawyer, I’ve never seen so many people at one of these things. The lawyer smiled angelically and said that’s because I’m here. She had something of a Cheshire cat grin. I kind of got the impression she was having fun at the district’s expense.
I got to talk first to explain why we called for the meeting. I don’t think they liked that I was clear, concise, and to the point. It’s the same thing I’ve been saying for years, they just had to actually listen. I pointed out that Jason was way far behind, more so than should be explained by his medical absences. I further ventured the suggestion that it was in large part due to his communication issues. He had a vantage box in kindergarten/first grade. However, he never had homework with it, and the vast majority of the time it was locked up at school where he didn’t have the opportunity to use it or practice with it.
I went on to voice the fact that in the past his teachers didn’t appear to teach him anything until 5th grade. That was the first year the kid had so much as spelling words to take home. That could be in part due to the fact that it’s hard to call on someone if you can’t understand the answer, or if you don’t understand the question they are asking you.
Personally, I get the impression that at least one of his teachers was overwhelmed, and a couple of teachers were intimidated by Jason’s disability. I did not say, but could have easily voiced the opinion that some of them were plain lazy too. As far behind as he is, they should have pointed out the fact years ago and taken steps to try to correct it. They shouldn’t have passed him on to begin with. I personally believe that they were for the most part passing him on to be someone elses problem.
I have to review Jason’s medical plan and go over it for the nurse. For some reason the one Jason had didn’t follow him. I presented them (again!) with his shot records, his doctors notes regarding feeding, his therabyte, and his wheelchair.
We voiced some additional concerns about safety since Jason is so much smaller than the other kids, also he has some classes on the 3rd floor. That floor has no access to the outside, so how are they going to get him out of there in case of flood, fire, or alien invasion etc.
The augmentative communication person said oh I hope this (the communications piece) would come up again (!?) as if! She said that Jason’s teachers couldn’t support assistive tech in the class. No, they could have, but they chose not to. I didn’t say that in the meeting though. She went on to talk about several new toys they have. I think she should do an evaluation to see what works best with him before going into tech wanderlust. I was hoping to get him in with the tech person at Children’s, but my insurance wouldn’t cover it. The district doesn’t want anyone to farm anything outside of their sphere of influence. I gather from talking to folks who I know in local academia the school district has what seems like an inferiority complex about going outside of their direct sphere of influence.
I was left with the impression with the tech people that the reason they were “happy” was more one of “Oops we got caught, I guess we will have to do something” as opposed to they truly couldn’t support that. I had also suggested teaching him some sign to help with communication breakdowns, and they shot that down because their teachers would have to learn it. So what if not everyone knows sign? It’s just one more avenue of communication that could help him convey his ideas etc. That doesn’t mean he has to sign exclusively.
We briefly went over what the nurse had as far as his medical stuff. She does make sure he gets his therabyte. They tended to not do it at his old school, and they often forgot to tube feed him too.
Jason’s lawyer was pushing for getting him into at least one general ed class. The school balked at that. They would have been happy with sticking him in a corner somewhere to forget about him. They instead have to modify the curriculum for a general ed class for Jason. The lawyer insisted Jason keep his TA position in the library. For him it would be fun, and he gets a little vocational experience to boot. It’s more to get him into the mind set that he can do something to help others. I don’t think he has that issue, apparently a lot of disabled kids do. It will help him feel a bit more grown up and independent though.
The lawyer suggested that they give Jason a full time aid again since the district snuck in a reduction of hours for Jason’s aid last year. He needs an aid mostly to get him in between classes and for his general ed class. While the lawyer didn’t say anything untoward, I get the impression that the folks at the district were afraid she’d sue their socks off if Jason was bullied in the halls etc. I am not complaining about that mind you. I don’t think that my concerns on that score are overblown. He is the size of your average 3rd grader.
We’ve asked for and are getting weekly progress reports. They are still using his planner, but the aid’s writing is so small Sara can’t read it, and I have trouble reading it since they write almost as bad as I do. But, we are seeing some communication from the school at least. My experience has been that elementary school teachers don’t like using email. Middle school a few tech savvy teachers will use it, and high school uses email as a communication tool fairly frequently.
We are going to reconvene in about a month or so to totally revamp his IEP. I’ve got a bunch of paperwork that I’ve filled out etc. They are going to give Jason another 3 year re-evaluation (this is required, so it’s no biggie) so we are pushing for it to be done now instead of later so that way the district can pinpoint what he needs better. I know the lawyer will be going over it too, so that way they will be forced to come clean and offer solutions as to what they can offer him.