EmilyM

As has been said, it's unlikely you can immediately make the school district pay for it via IEP. But if you feel strongly about it, you can speak directly to the school about any scholarships or financial assistance.

So... The family is consulting with an advocate right now, may talk to an attorney to get an idea of where to go. The schools (yes, multiple, it's a lousy situation and the family admits this) say the young man attended too infrequently and unevenly for them to have been able to observe him enough for suspecting a learning disability. Plus some of this was during COVID and truancy laws and followups were all over the place. New question: does the family have any wiggle room if they're getting slammed with "you didn't send him to school"? If nothing else, they have found information for our state's adult education programs.

I like it as a separate term to describe where a student can go independently, but I'm not crazy about it being a term aiming to replace learning disability, which describes more precisely the issue. We've had enough terms shift over the century and we can do better than try to do it again.

A family I'm working with purely as a random teacher is in a bind. The student in question is 19 years old and only has an 8th grade education. School was difficult to attend due to behavior issues contributing to lack of attendance and one year of simply not registering. The family admits they dropped the ball, but also lately have begun to suspect a disability. The question is if a possible disability was obvious enough that the school system should have stepped in. Despite the age, I am aware services can go to the 22nd birthday. No high school will accept the student, but if there is a disability, what are the odds of retroactively getting an IEP for the next few years? If not, what options are there for a kid who slipped through the cracks?

1. I recommend goals that focus on subject mastery. Fewer but more in depth questions that give her less work to do but allow a demonstration of understanding. 2. I don't know how to make this a goal, but a math lab ain't Tier 3. Take that to your district sped department.

In my experience, ADA works closely. My most recent experience was in our virtual school. Dad was learning coach but had some learning and cognitive disabilities, so the teachers worked particularly close with him and his caseworker.

I agree with going as a group of parents. You shouldn't have to put "protect kid from violence" in an IEP. The fact these kids are being booked means someone dropped a ball somewhere.

It sounds like the meeting isn't actually an IEP meeting, so I don't think FERPA applies. If administration is present at this meeting, I could see why a teacher would want a union rep present. You can always end the meeting if your child's information is brought up, but unless your state laws limit union power I don't think there's much you can do about the rep other than refuse to attend the meeting.

Are you saying to write the request on behalf of the parent and then have them sign it?

To give an update, due to the virtual nature of the school and Mom's own admitted ADHD, Mom confessed she struggled with staying atop the communication. The family wound up homeschooling as Mom felt that would be easier for herself and her kid.

So this is Teacher Me talking. I don't know if anyone here has the legal know-how to advise me, but I'll happily take anything. I teach at a virtual school and have a student who could possibly qualify for an IEP. She's not my lowest performer by our beginning of year assessment by any means, but is on the low due to some observed attention struggles. Her mother has been talking about the struggles since before school started and keeps talking about how the kid needs an IEP. Except... Mom is making it so hard and I'm not sure what else I can do. So far, Mom has stated (only by voice) that she thinks Kid needs an IEP and possibly a modified curriculum. Our special education department has called her multiple times, left voicemails and texts and emails about this, but no response from Mom. I've told Mom flat-out to send a request to start the process in writing. I'm trying to keep data, but the family doesn't do enough schoolwork to give me much to look at (chicken or egg?) I'm not sure what else is my duty here. Everytime I speak with Mom, she asks about the IEP and modified (not accommodated) work, but it's almost like she doesn't want to do anything on her end. That probably sounds judgmental, but is there any point where I can jump in to speed up the process without Mom? I've passed on the concerns to the special education department per our state policy, but without Mom helping us more and Kid giving me more data I'm worried we will just be stuck in RTI hell.

Two more possiblities... Would your daughter normally qualify for homebound instruction? This would likely still qualify her for a teacher coming in even if it is already a virtual school. On the other end, would someone else be willing to take over as learning coach, by favor or payment?

I actually teach for a virtual charter. I've never heard of a virtual school sending an in-person 1:1, but that only means as much as my experience. The biggest hurdle I see here is your question about learning coach vs aide. Because of the nature of the school, your kid has to have a learning coach provided by your household. We can complain all day if that's fair or not, but at the end of that day it is a charter you chose to enroll in and a public charter likely isn't set up to send out teachers to individual households willy-nilly. In my experience, most often a parent does this role, or a close relative. I've seen families hire out for it, but it's extremely unlikely you'll get the school to provide you a learning coach. I'm sure you get this because you ask about it. I just wanted to be clear about this. So to argue for a 1:1, you're going to have to show where your reasonable duties as a learning coach end and where your child's disability would begin. Learning coaches tend to do more or less what a 1:1 would do, so you'll need to show where the extra help is needed. I like @Lisa Lightner 's suggestion of possibly hiring out for this, but you'll still need to be careful you're hiring for a 1:1 and not a replacement learning coach if you plan on arguing for a school-funded 1:1. Be sure you truly don't fall into the trap of using that theoretical person as a babysitter or to handle the main job of helping with schoolwork. I can't stress enough how carefully you'll need to keep these things separate. The way I envision this is you'll help with the meat of the lessons, but the 1:1 would be the one keeping your daughter on task, perhaps implementing the breaks and schedule. My school has had its share of kids struggling to pay attention. Most suggestions and accommodations given are various forms of breaks, alternative schedules, and movement time. My prediction is this is what would be suggested first, do be prepared. And if you do get that in-home 1:1, yeah, they'll likely try to hire near you. Which could be helpful if you know someone.