Angela Tyszka

Thanks, I already gave them the COPAA directory but will look at the FB group. If there was someone in here, I wanted to support them. I like to give names whenever possible.

I'm trying to help a parent in SC find an advocate. If you are one or know of someone, please let me know.

I attended a webinar today where we talked about how you dress for an IEP meeting, specifically if you're an advocate. I'm old school and have always worn a suit to client's school meetings. However based on conversations we had, I'm beginning to rethink my perceived opinion of professionalism. More teachers are wearing tees and jeans at schools now. So maybe wearing a suit is putting the teams I'm trying to collaborate with on the defense. I'm wondering what everyone else thinks. What would you think if your advocate dressed more casually (I'm thinking business casual. I don't think I would ever wear jeans)?

If you can't get them to put it in a PWN for you, you can always put it in writing yourself and send it to the special ed director. The important thing is creating a paper trail. As far as your son not getting an IEP, does he have behavioral or life skills issues that interfere with his learning? Students do not need to be receiving failing grades to qualify for an IEP. They need to have skill deficits that are impacting their learning and/or their ability to access the curriculum. If you disagree with the school's evaluations you can always request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at district expense.

Honestly, having been through something similar myself, I'm of the mindset to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. I'd send in her personal iPad and ask them to use it until they can go through the proper channels to get her a school device and app. My son's school gave him AT that was inappropriate for years before I finally went out and had an independent evaluation done for a speech device. I sent it to school and told them I'd support them in anyway I could for them to use it but that I wasn't going another year without my son being able to access the curriculum and quite frankly, his voice. If they disagree or give you push back I'd ask what they are doing right now to give your daughter access to the curriculum. Are they scribing her work? Allowing her to type? Does she know how to type? If not, are they teaching her? While these could could all be appropriate short term accommodations, it's better to find a way that she can do things herself independently if she has the ability.

An IEE would only be appropriate if the school already evaluated her and found no deficits in the areas that you are concerned about. Then you would "disagree" with their evaluations and request an outside professional to do the testing. While this is a little different than the question you asked, when it comes to reading, phonics, fluency, etc. I've found that the curriculum and the actual assessments the school uses can be the problem. Many schools use a balanced literacy or cuing approach that focuses on learning whole words, trying to "guess" words by the first sound or use pictures in the story for the context. While these strategies work for some students, the vast majority do not learn to read this way and need a structured literacy program that focuses on phonics and decoding words. I heard a great quote on this today. It was "if you teach a child 10 words, you teach a child 10 words. If you teach a child 10 sounds, you teach them how to make over 26,000 words." I've been able to successfully advocate for reading goals and interventions in students that weren't making grade level standards by using data that school already had, i.e. standardized test scores, grades in reading, etc. Your child is already eligible for an IEP so now the school has to address all areas of need, not just the areas related to the disability category. Show the need. If you want to learn more about literacy and the different curriculums I mentioned, I would highly suggest you start by listening to the podcast "Sold a Story." It was extremely eye opening for me and I saw it first hand in my youngest son.

Hello and welcome to the Michigan Parents Club. I'm so glad you found your way here. I started this club so we could talk about issues local to us. My name is Angela and I live in the Metro Detroit area with my husband and two sons, who both have IEPs. I've been a Stay at Home Mom for the past 7 years but prior to that I worked in student services at a law school and was a disability services coordinator. While staying at home, I continued to attend trainings and conferences, both as an attendee and as a speaker. I also volunteered to be a school district representative for our county Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) and I helped to start a parent resource and support group for parents in my local school district. I have helped friends and family with IEPs and have participated in groups like this for years to share information and resources that I've gained. When both of my kids were finally in school full time, I found that I really wanted to do something I was passionate about. I felt I could make a difference in families' lives so I decided to start a special education advocacy business. https://mistudentadvocacy.com I'd love to hear more about all of you.

Hi, Whitney. I just saw your reply. Please feel free to give me a call sometime this week and let's chat. If I'm unable to help, I have a lot of resources around the state. My number is (517) 204-2775.

Here are some state specific resources with the links that you may find helpful. Any others to add? Michigan Department of Education Office of Special Education (MDE-OSE) Michigan Alliance for Families Autism Alliance of Michigan Disability Rights Michigan Special Education Mediation Services (SEMS) Michigan Medicaid Social Security Family Support Subsidy (Michigan)

Where are you located? What kinds of change are you proposing? Is it change that is under the control of the district or is there a higher agency that sets the parameters? I'm in Michigan and many of our special ed policies and procedures that govern how individual districts handle special ed come from our Intermediate School Districts (ISD). Each ISD is required to have a plan that is developed from different constituency groups (Parent Advisory Committee, Special Ed Directors, Superintendents, ISD Board, etc) and then approved by the State Board of Education. So if you wanted to change something like teacher qualifications in a particular program or number of students in an elementary ASD classroom, that is done at the ISD level and not the district here.

I've been advocating for people with disabilities for almost 20 years. Before my kids were born I worked in student services at a law school and part of my responsibilities was as a disability services coordinator. I found that I genuinely had a passion for it and attended all the conferences and read as many books as I could to try to help my students. Then my oldest son was born with a genetic syndrome that came with many challenges (Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, and more) so I started learning about IDEA , IEPs and everything else that goes along with having a child with disabilities. Over the years I would share my knowledge through online platforms, through the parent support and resource group I helped start in my school district and through my county Parent Advisory Committee. l found that there are a lot of families out there that really need help so with a little convincing from some friends and family, I decided to start my own special ed advocacy and consulting company. I mainly work with clients in my own state of Michigan, but have given presentations to local and national audiences (which is another interest of mine). It's been a very rewarding career helping families navigate the process and become better advocates themselves. I'm also happy to have this forum to be able to provide my insight and knowledge to help others and look forward to learning from all of you as well.

That’s possible. When I view in Safari on my MacBook I have more options than viewing on my iPhone.

I would put a request for an IEP evaluation in writing to your school. Many students with ADHD have executive functioning (EF) deficits. These don't always become apparent until kids have multiple classes, assignments, etc. to organize and prepare for. IEPs aren't only for academics. They can also be for things like further education, employment and independent living. If your child is even considering college, you will want to discuss how they will accomplish that with the EF deficits they have. Rather than just accommodating those, it's much better to give the child the tools and skills to be able to manage EF on their own. For example, I had a client whose high school aged son is very intelligent, gets almost all A's but has a terrible time focusing in class, turning in his homework, remembering due dates, etc. He has an IEP and we were able to schedule in a life skills class with goals specifically related to improving his EF skills. So, again, my advice would be to put the request in writing. The school must either evaluate or give you a Prior Written Notice (PWN) with reasons why they refuse to evaluate. I would also put all your concerns and your son's needs in writing. Here's a great template. https://adayinourshoes.com/parent-concerns-on-the-iep-parent-letter-of-attachment/.