Amanda SM

Update: I ended up hiring an advocate (I had one previously that was not helpful in the slightest) and at the meeting we agreed on a full re-eval with an FBA and AT eval. I also pointed out that the district had decreased all of her service minutes across the board by going from weekly to monthly. Their reason was because they have assemblies and school breaks. No data to back up the reduction. The advocate and CSE director argued about it for awhile and the advocate requested a PWN multiple times before the CSE director finally relented and put all of her services back the way they were. The advocate also asked for a PWN regarding the 2:1 which the district clearly didn't want to do. Also, I found out that there was only going to be one adult in the classroom for several hours a day even though the prior PWN said Sped Ta when the Sped teacher isn't in the room. So we agreed to put the TA in the IEP as a 3:1 for the full day until the FBA and BIP can be completed. 3 because there's 3 kids in the classroom with IEPs. I don't like that even though they're acquiescing and doing the 3:1, they're basing it off staffing and other students, but it'll have to work for now.

Thank you for the explanation! I have a meeting scheduled for next week and plan to bring up the following: Why was 2:1 TA removed? If the sped teacher wasn't authorized to make personnel decisions, who was authorized to make those decisions at the meeting? FBA - I've asked for this for 2 years and they've said that she needs to have behaviors 80% of the time and she doesn't. She's avoidant and oppositional all day long and has learned pretty much nothing in 2 years. Plus the elopement. AAC - I've asked for an eval for 2 years and they haven't done it. Last year they put an app on her ipad but it didn't get used. Need a specialist to do an eval due to complex nature of apraxia and selective mutism. Also need programming, implementation support, and training for my daughter and the team if the specialist supports the need for AAC. Move her eval date up to this coming school year due to her not having a formal eval since 2020. They did an abbreviated eval when she was entering K, but she really struggled due to selective mutism. Now she knows the building and staff so they should be able to test her. Change her classification from Speech to Multiple Disabilities Testing for learning disabilities. Dyslexia occurs frequently with apraxia as well as dysgraphia. Maybe there's others I don't know of? Her sped time was reduced from 2 hours a day to 90 minutes. She didn't meet any of her goals so why the reduction? What data do they have to support a reduction? What do you think? Am I over the top? Anything I'm forgetting? What should I prioritize? Thanks!

I have a meeting scheduled on the 14th. I haven't filed a complaint before. How does it work and how would my child benefit from filing?

Meeting attendees were the gen ed teacher, sped teacher, speech therapist, OT, PT, myself, my husband, and our advocate (who did nothing). Usually the principal is there but she wasn't and neither was the CSE director. So no, there wasn't an LEA. Honestly, they're professionals at stalling, ignoring questions that they need to get back to you on, talking you out of things, etc. I've asked for an assistive tech eval for 3 years and they denied it for the 3rd time after trying to convince me that it's not needed, but haven't sent a PWN, even though I've asked for it.

I just spoke with the speech therapist who talked with the CSE director...the CSE director took it out because the SpEd teacher "wasn't authorized to make personnel decisions." They did add a SpEd TA to the room but it's not a 2:1 and that only makes 2 adults in the room. There were 3 last year and my daughter was able to elope. Guess we'll see what happens at the meeting!

Thanks for that perspective! My concern is that the TA won't be 2:1 based on the language in the PWN and will be working with additional kids regularly. This was an issue this year as there were always 3 adults in the room and my daughter was still able to elope. Also, by taking it out of the grid there's no definition around what the TA will be helping with. I emailed the speech therapist and she forwarded it on to the CSE director and the principal. We'll see what they have to say. Thanks so much for your input!

Attached are the draft with the Teaching Assistant and the PWN that came with the final copy. The PWN has the teaching assistant included but it's no longer in the services section. I emailed the speech therapist since I know she's working this summer and was at the meeting. The CSE director and principal were not in attendance and the school psychologist resigned mid year. Let me know if you have any other thoughts. Thanks!!!

I'll post the draft and PWN later tonight. I did record the meeting and had an advocate. Unfortunately, the advocate wasn't very helpful. I really appreciate your thoughts!

Thanks! I suspect that it was the CSE director that took it out. The school doesn't have a psychologist at the moment and the Sped teacher that ran the meeting was fired so that only leaves the principal or the CSE director. There was nothing in the denial section about it. Interestingly, I didn't request it. The Sped teacher said that he got approval from the district due to elopement and the set up of the second grade classrooms. I would've requested more adult support if the Sped teacher didn't volunteer it. Would it be helpful if I posted what was on the draft and the PWN?

Hello - my daughter is going into second grade. We had her annual meeting at the end of May and her Sped teacher put a 2:1 Teaching Assistant in her IEP for next year. This was for both safety (due to elopement) and academics as she needs everything broken down, a lot of repetition, and refocusing. The second grade classroom also has less adult support than the first grade room. We discussed this in my daughter's meeting and agreed to it for next year. I just received the final copy in the mail and the section regarding the 2:1 teaching assistant is no longer in the IEP. The PWN states that there will be a Sped teaching assistant in the classroom when the Sped teacher is not there. But it doesn't state that it'll be 2:1 and there's nothing defined in terms of what the TA will be doing. So my question is, can the district just remove this after it was agreed to in the meeting? Advice on how to handle this? The other child that was included in the 2:1 is my daughter's best friend. Same situation with him, the 2:1 TA wasn't included in the final copy of the IEP. Additional information...I heard from a friend that subs as an aide at the school that the Sped teacher had a meltdown a week after our meeting and left in the middle of the day. He didn't return to school after that. However, he emailed me the updated draft on the second to last day of school and I sent him a couple of corrections. He then forwarded the email to the speech therapist and said he was no longer employed with the district. Not sure if this is relevant.