Transfer to special facility protocol

[AutMomJ314]

My son had not found any success at school due to overstimulation of various things; things they did not intend to change.  I understand they were supposed to, but I was not confident that things would really change behind closed door.  My non-verbal son couldn't let me know either.  I know this since I busted them on 3 different occasions not doing what I was told would be changed.  The trust was gone so I homeschool now.  Before I withdrew him, I asked about a facility in the district I only just heard about that specializes in exactly what I want for my son.   They said the only way to get in is to bring him back to school so that he can be observed by district personnel to determine if he is a candidate.  Issue is I refuse to let them have my son even one more day.  Despite educational regression, his behavior has morphed into a child I barely recognize.  My question is: if this school will help my child be successful, don't they have to at least consider it despite the data protocol?  Why can't they use the data they took in the time his behaviors began and then escalated?  It doesn't seem right that he must return to a place that hurts him in order to help him.  As far as you know, and I know districts have different policies, is there a precedent that can show this data can be dismissed due to circumstances and parent agreement. ( I hear other parents don't want their child here because it has a MRE, but that is where my child thrives.  LRE is over stimulating and an obstacle for him.  So I understand the data is needed to prove the child belongs there despite parent resistance....but what if the parent supports it?)  Your thoughts please.  Do I have a chance in achieving this without sending him back for observation?....he's not a rat in a cage.  Thanks 

[Elemeno]

How old is the last set of data? I can't fault them for wanting present levels of information. 

[AutMomJ314]

They were able to collect data from the first semester up until spring break of this current school year.  I don't understand why they can't use the current data they have witnessed this year;  Especially since they refuse to accommodate him.   One issue is that the district wants to send their people to come observe, which I can't fault them for either.  However, the school should have contacted them a long, long time ago... before he began to meltdown for hours.  (In 15 years this child has never had a meltdown for more that 10-15 minutes) I have an email from Feb 26 saying that the district had been contacted, so I kept him there and was patient.  When spring break arrived and they still had not come, I couldn't wait any longer.  I do not believe that they really contacted the district and I wasn't willing to put my son through any more without proof the district was coming. Since I have been lied to on numerous occasions, I wasn't willing to take any chances.  My son's mental health comes first. 

[Lisa Lightner]

Read this and listen to the attorney podcast episode (embedded) about unilateral placement. It's an extreme measure, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. Esp if you have data on your side.

 

https://adayinourshoes.com/iep-unilateral-placement/

[AutMomJ314]

Hi, you do not need to respond, but I just wanted to clarify that the facility I speak of is within the district.  It would not cost them an extra dollar and they would still get my son's funds from the state.  The school simply dropped the ball on following the protocol and my son was expected to continue going to an environment that was causing daily  meltdowns until they did.   I just could not stand by and watch my child go through this any longer.   Waiting for the "right way" was not an option for me at this point.  I sent a letter to the principal so that she would be aware of what happened and why I felt I must withdraw him and she has not replied.  I guess it's just not important to anyone at the school.  It's a done deal now, so I don't need advice.  Like you, I just like to know everything I can about the law and school policy/procedure.  I never wanted a dime from them.  I wanted them to follow his IEP, accommodate for him and communicate with me.  If they couldn't. I wanted to transfer him in-district to a place that could.  This seemed to be impossible because I had to wait, wait and then wait some more. I allowed them too gaslight me and I was too nervous to rock the boat.  I know more now than I did at the beginning of this and wish I had learned about your site sooner.  Maybe I could have accomplished more last September when this began.  Thanks for your input.  The information on unilateral moves was still good knowledge to have.  I thought I had read the Safeguards, but guess I didn't do it as well as I thought and plan to give it another good read.  THANKS

[JSD24]

One thought I have about this situation is that the school cannot do an evaluation until they have parent permission.  They need to evaluate/observe your child to do data collection at a 'special education' level.  Any data they have from before you gave them permission to observe would have to be the low level data that's allowed to be done for all students.  If they use data from before you gave the school written permission to do a sp ed eval they have violated IDEA by doing a sp ed eval w/o parent permission.

It's late as I'm writing this so I'm hoping it makes sense.  There is a sequence:  suspect a disability, parental permission to evaluate, evaluation/data collection at a sp ed level, data is then used to see if an IEP is needed & what services are needed.  Placement is the last decision.  Data collection cannot come before the parental permission for an evaluation.

[AutMomJ314]

Thank you for your response.  He is already in SPED with ASD, intellectual disability and speech delay label.  His teacher, the SPED director and I discussed multiple evaluations.  In early Feb.  I had already signed for a FBA and we discussed my desire for him to go to the in-district facility. On Feb 12 I singed permission to do FBA, but the same person who hasn’t know what to do with him since last August is the one who administered it, so I wasn’t backing down on the other evaluation.  I  reminded them on Feb 26 I was wanting to move forward with the other evaluation and was told the district was contacted to do this.  I even contacted the counselor on the matter and said I was willing to do anything to help my be successful even if it meant home bound or homeschool.  I tried to keep him at school so they could perform the  evaluation, but On March 4th and 6thI find out  that his behaviors had escalated, but now they weren’t even contacting me. I found out from another student that Dax had an issue those days.  When I asked about it, they came clean and admitted they should have called me.  I now believe they had not called for the evaluation and worried for my son’s safety and those around him.   We had an IEP meeting on the 8th and I asked what that had done already to prevent these behaviors and what plans did they have from this point on so that I might feel comfortable bringing him to school and they had no answer.  Just gaslighting.  Spring break began on the 11 and after watching his behaviors get worse at home I decided they couldn’t have him another day to do worsen his mental state.  I’ve withdrew him the 15th.   So although I’m now not entitled to any assistance, he is beginning to act like my son again and I don’t regret my decision.  With that said, I’m still very disappointed that he’s not gonna be around any peers, even a small ratio in the in-district facility.  But I did what I had to.