I feel like I'm talking to the air here, but how do I convince a parent to accept more services?

[Elemeno]

I think this may be a situation that will wind up as it will be, but I am working with a parent (actually, a grandparent with custody) who is sadly trying to get her grandchild as little help as possible. She is at war with the school right now.

She has an older child who is in a reduced day situation with mainly extracurriculuars in addition to a life skills class.

The younger one, the child in question, is at a different stage and seems very capable of being at least in a resource program. Grandma insists the general ed material is too hard and wants what the older child has.

We have the data. Grandma doesn't care and is so far planning to homeschool instead. Our state does have an educational neglect law, but I'm not entirely sure how that is defined. 

[Carolyn Rowlett]

I'm guessing you've used all of them, but here are the "arguments" you could use with the custodial parent:

1) Ask why (what data) she has that the general ed material is "too hard?"  Has the child verbalized this? Are grades falling?  Does she struggle doing homework with her?

2) Explain that is wouldn't be fair to the younger child to stay on the same track as the older child if the younger child is more capable - could lead to resentment later on.

3) Is the grandmother able and willing to engaged the younger child in social activities that help with the socialization of home-schooled children?  Or will social skills and interaction suffer?

4) Would she be willing to try the gen ed setting for a while with supports to see how the child does before pulling him/her to home-schooling?  Gather more data?  Speak with the child after each school day for indications of struggles?  Check in with the gen ed teacher?

I don't know much about home-schooling, but I would guess if the grandmother uses a state-approved program there would be no educational neglect.

[JSD24]

If the programming in the IEP isn't appropriate, the student will communicate that.  (They might act out because behavior is communication.)  You want to stretch a younger child so they learn how to learn.  This will help them reach their personal best.  If the programming isn't a good match, the IEP can be revised.  Does she realize that an IEP can be changed if needed - you don't need to wait for the annual meeting to make changes?

She needs to learn to treat these children as individuals.  Even if they have the same diagnosis, they might not be on the same trajectory as to where they will end up as adults.  You want to keep a student on a graduation track as long as possible because of all the fundamentals that are taught in earlier grades.

As far as homeschooling goes, does she want to do a cyber program or her own program starting from scratch?  In my state, the Local LEA has to get a copy of what a parent is doing in homeschool if the student would have an IEP in their school.  The copy needs to be OKed by a special ed certified teacher too.  See what your state may require so you can make sure the grandma is following state mandates.

[Elemeno]

On 11/27/2024 at 10:28 AM, JSD24 said:

If the programming in the IEP isn't appropriate, the student will communicate that.  (They might act out because behavior is communication.)  You want to stretch a younger child so they learn how to learn.  This will help them reach their personal best.  If the programming isn't a good match, the IEP can be revised.  Does she realize that an IEP can be changed if needed - you don't need to wait for the annual meeting to make changes?

She needs to learn to treat these children as individuals.  Even if they have the same diagnosis, they might not be on the same trajectory as to where they will end up as adults.  You want to keep a student on a graduation track as long as possible because of all the fundamentals that are taught in earlier grades.

As far as homeschooling goes, does she want to do a cyber program or her own program starting from scratch?  In my state, the Local LEA has to get a copy of what a parent is doing in homeschool if the student would have an IEP in their school.  The copy needs to be OKed by a special ed certified teacher too.  See what your state may require so you can make sure the grandma is following state mandates.

She wants to do her own program. Our state has very lax homeschool rules.