DeeDee

Thanks for your responses. She receives speech and OT, and those are the ones certified in our home state. It's a public district that kept its online version after COVID.

My family and I are seriously considering doing a bunch of cross-country traveling this year. We do have virtual learning options via the public school, but I just learned some of the services my daughter receives cannot be done virtually if we're in a state where the providers aren't certified. Is that a real thing and what are the best ways around it? Or is it just the sacrifice we have to make if we pursue the travel idea?

I have heard of United Way helping with similar things before. Is that something to look into?

Could the school possibly bring in the next sub for a good few weeks/month before you leave so there's a time to acclimate? It doesn't really fit the verbage of the IEP as it sounds here but it might satisfy the parent. Would either you or the teacher be willing (if allowed) to work during the summer/break so the student could pause school for now and resume it with a familiar teacher? (And I know that all depends on your willingness and I respect that). I do think there needs to be a meeting with the parent to hash out the situation that some degree and look at options. I'm thinking it wasn't the best accommodation to pop into an IEP, though I agree it makes sense in milder situations.

In another special education group I'm in I've seen some complaints about UDL and how it affects IEP accommodations. I feel conflicted. On one hand, it looks like good principles meant to help as many students as possible regardless of disability. On the other hands, it seems like it dilutes the accommodations our kids do get.

I know, I know, I'm supposed to want recess for my child. I even read the article about fighting for recess. Intellectually, I know it's important. But with the new school year approaching, I am seriously considering looking into getting recess skipped for my child. She will be in the third grade. My state is very pro-recess and has it included in state law. It's also part of, by not only the teacher's union contract and state public employee law, the teacher's duty-free break time. The thing is, my daughter hates recess. We've tried a lot. Efforts to have kids include her and teach her games (the kids are great, really, but my daughter isn't interested). A couple of years ago the school had a PlayWorks program. We've had various teachers around the school take her in either during their break or have her visit classrooms, but it's inconsistent and unofficial and many days there's really no place for her to go. She gets bored just sitting in the office. We've given her quiet activities like a book or coloring materials so she doesn't have to actively play, but those are no longer working. She has a few social skills goals that are going well and generally gets along fine with other kids, but she hates recess. She finds it confusing and loud and not much fun. I hate to keep pestering the teachers to find something for her to do because I do recognize it's their official break time (and last year's teacher was pumping during that time anyway) but my daughter is already dreading this year's daily recesses. She says she would just rather have tutoring or another class during that recess time and, honestly, I think the extra tutoring would be a huge benefit. I know it may be reaching for the stars here, but would this be a reasonable topic to bring up in an IEP meeting? Find someone who can consistently tutor my daughter or even just help her with unfinished classwork every day during recess breaks? Or should we continue to find ways to get her to tolerate recess?