Compensatory Services?

[lclark]

Sorry about the length, but I wasn't sure what to leave out.  We are in NY.  My daughter spent 2 very traumatic years in junior high school.  She had an IEP due to SLD in math and writing, along with ADHD and an anxiety disorder.  In the summer between 7th & 8th grade she was diagnosed with ASD.  She was supposed to get accommodations for organization, breaking down assignments,etc and modifications for the workload in math and writing.  I had battled the school both years because she was not receiving the accommodations and would end up scrambling at the end of every marking period to make up missed work, which added to her anxiety. She would frequently shut down and just pace around the back of the room rather than completing her classwork, which would be framed as her "choosing not to do her work.".  I tried to be proactive each marking period and say "this will be the marking period where we teach her to use her agenda to keep track of assignments.  We tried an FBA, but the school focused on how to get her to stop pacing, while I tried to focus on what made her feel like a caged animal.  

Anyway, my daughter is now in an 8:1 class located in another District's HS, but run by our county's BOCES because she "wouldn't do any work" and "exhausted the continuum of services (except for actually following her IEP)" in our district.  However, I had filed a complaint with the NY State Ed department with 6 charges of the district not providing my daughter with the accommodations and modifications on her IEP.  The State agreed with me on all 6 counts.  Now the District must have a CSE meeting to see "if compensatory services are needed to remedy the District's failure to provide the accommodations, modifications, and supports . . ." In the IEP.

 

FINALLY . . . my question:. What types of compensatory services may be appropriate?  How does one remedy two years of trauma? My daughter's EF skills were lagging when she entered Jr. HS, now they are non-existent.  She will not even enter the building - not for public swim time, not for planetarium shows, not for her brother's concert.  Will the District get away with just saying, "she's not here, we're paying for her to go to BOCES so that's all that's necessary"?

I tried to contact an advocate through a local nonprofit who accompanied me to the last CSE meeting, but sh hasn't responded (it's been 5 days.) How do I prepare for this meeting? 

 

Thank you for suggestions.

[lclark]

On 1/21/2023 at 12:43 AM, lclark said:

Compensatory services.

Are there any advocates out there that can help me get my mind straight before our state-mandated CSE meeting?  I was not given a lot of time.

 

Thank you

[JSD24]

Comp ed should be bringing her to where she should have been if she would have gotten a FAPE via her IEP.  She paced because she was anxious.  Anxiety brings about one of 3 responses:  fight, flight or freeze.  I think the pacing was her freeze - she couldn't do the work.  It might also be a form of 'flight' as well where she walked away but did her best to follow the rules & stay in the classroom.  She chose self-case for her anxiety in a way that allowed her to follow school rules to a degree so some choice was there but she didn't have access to learning due to the anxiety.

IMO, they need to help fix the anxiety because that seems to be the root of the issue and possibly due to the lack of EF instruction.  My child seemed to have social anxiety because she didn't understand social rules due to her autism.  She's a lot less anxious after social skills instruction - 3 years of year round, weekly sessions.

The school can pay for outside therapy - including mileage - with a clinician unless they have a clinician on staff at her school.  If they have a clinician, she needs weekly therapy sessions with this person on her IEP.

[Jenna]

 Did the state say that your child needed to receive counseling, social skills instruction, etc. in its complaint findings? Has the school provided all services and supports as listed in the IEP? Did the state address any concerns in their complaint response regarding the school moving her to a more restrictive environment?

If the school didn't do what it was supposed to do, that's where your daughter may be entitled to comp ed/comp services. See Lisa's post at https://adayinourshoes.com/comp-ed-compensatory-education/.

[lclark]

Thank you for your response.  She did have "group counseling" on her IEP, but the group disintegrated as many kids stopped participating.  Most of the failures were supports for her lagging executive functioning, which led her to be overwhelmed and frequently shut down.

Her outside therapist wants her participating in a therapy group.  My insurance will cover it, perhaps I should ask for mileage reimbursement, since it is 50 miles each way.  Being constantly disconnected at school did not lead to her developing flourishing friendships.

 

[Jenna]

If the group counseling was on the IEP, but the group disintegrated while it was still listed on the IEP, perhaps the district could have found a similar group for her to participate in through a local, private therapy organization at that time? Are there limits to what your insurance would cover regarding individual and/or  group counseling (deductibles, copays, in-network v. out-of-network providers, etc)? You're probably already looking into all of these details. Would the district be interested in compensating your mileage, or would the district want to provide transportation for your child? There's a lot to consider. Keep gathering all the info, make a list of items you'd like to request from the district, prioritize them, and I'm hoping you have a positive outcome from the meeting.