JSD24

Given that the school can change a 504 w/o parent input, they can write the whole 504 however they wish. Predetermination doesn't apply with 504s.

They can hold him to the same behavior contract as classmates. Given a behavioral disability, IMO, they shouldn't. IMO, the IEP/IEP team should be able to modify this where he has about the same chance of going as a classmate. This would be the way to accommodate the disability. Also, all teachers should be following the IEP.

Lisa Lightner who runs this platform is an advocate in PA. She might be able to help. I could list out the names of several attorneys who can help but they don't work the whole state so I don't want to do that. We need to have an idea where you are so we can make sure the person we suggests will work where you are. (Without knowing where you are located, I'd rather not throw out names.) COPAA has a list. Not sure if this could be something to go to the Consult Line to get info. (They are part of ODR.) Disability Rights PA might also be able to help.

Posted before I finished. If they are an American style school, they should be doing progress monitoring of IEP goals which would allow them to do annual updates. What they might not be able to do is evaluations (done every 3 years) but they should be able to write an IEP if they are styled after an American public school.

Since COVID, there are some people who are certified school psychologists who are willing to do evaluations via the internet. Since they do not work for a school, this would not be free but it could be covered by insurance. The IEP itself can only be written by a school/school district. IMO, they are asking for the impossible. I know of no school that would evaluate and write an IEP for someone not living in their district. Sp ed is short handed. There is a shortage of teachers & school psychologists. You are not going to find someone willing to do this for free. With sp ed evals, you need to be trained in how to do the eval so that you are following the test protocol & getting accurate results. Their teachers are not going to have this background.

Was written expression identified as an area of need when the school evaluated him? If it's not assessed, the assumption is he's on level so no remediation or progress monitoring is needed. Since Endrew v Douglas County was decided by SCOTUS, the new benchmark is 'significant progress'. He went from 75 to 85 in reading - that's significant. What are his scores in written expression? Did he go from 75 to 80? (That might be significant.) Start by looking at the school's data before you spend good money on lawyer fees. If they missed evaluating written expression, your next move should be to request that the school evaluate that area. If they are providing instruction & he has goals in this area, how is the school measuring progress? Goals should be measurable. I'd expect progress in reading and writing to be parallel. If he moved 10 percentiles in reading, I'd expect at least half of that in writing.

The note should be easy to get. I agree that this might be fallout with parents who are just too lazy to toilet train where there are students who have a disability (like yours) who have a more legitimate reason for there being a delay with this. I didn't find anything saying that school playgrounds have to be accessible. Also, there doesn't appear to be all that many accessible playgrounds in the state: https://www.accessibleplayground.net/playground-directory/?cn-s=&cn-cat=37&cn-pg=1

This is a duplicate post. The other post looks to have more info so I answered there.

My thought is very simple. The school is saying he is emotionally resilient and will have little issue with changing schools. Where's there data on this? According to the way rules are written, schools can generally do things like this. There is nothing that says they need to consider a student's resilience or mental health status when making this sort of decision, so they are in their right to transfer him because there is nothing that says anything to the contrary. I see this as the ball being in your court and you needing to strategize how you will return it back to them. If you are concerned that he will have 2-hour long meltdowns if he has to attend the school they've picked, mention that you have concerns about school refusal and request that the school evaluate that this would be OK (that he can handle this without tantrums and other disruptions to your household) given that you see his emotional dysregulation/disability being a big factor with making a huge change like this. Do this in writing so you have it documented in a paper trail. Write this out as a parent concerns letter. (More info here on writing a letter: https://adayinourshoes.com/parent-concerns-on-the-iep-parent-letter-of-attachment/.) Request support to help him make this transition. I know that some of the things that can help are being able to explore the building over the summer or in off hours, meeting with staff. Playdates with other students (this would depend on the other student's families being OK with this). Also request an evaluation that this isn't going to trigger anxiety and school refusal. My perspective is they decided to make this change and you need to move forward from where you are which is him attending a new school where he's unfamiliar with the floor plan, staff and classmates. You need to plan your strategy from here. My thought is that if he doesn't cooperate with touring the new school & meeting his new teachers (things that are in the IEP because you requested the school support him with this transition), you now have data that shows this is causing him anxiety which is something they didn't consider when changing his placement.

In PA where I live, online schools are not associated with school districts unless the district has their own online school. These schools are chartered by the state and anyone in the state can attend. In other words, you cannot transfer to the online school another district has but you can go to the other in-state cyber schools. Rules definitely vary by state. To answer the OP's question. The transfer deadline is 1/15. If you want to transfer for fall 2025, you might be able to. This has info: https://education.mn.gov/MDE/fam/open/index.htm The links on this page look to have additional info - I didn't open them. Your question about transportation for special ed isn't specifically addressed - it does say that families transport most of the time. This might be an exception.

Rules like this are often state specific. My state has public virtual charter schools but these are not 'schools of choice'. I'm not sure how a school of choice works. Knowing where this is would allow for a state specific answer.

An IEP doesn't stay current forever. If the public school will implement it 6 months from now depends on if things are the same or different. My advice is to bring the eval & IEP to the private school and work with the school to come up with a plan for them to provide support to this student. Private schools don't do IEPs but they can write out a service plan. I've seen private schools use the public school's IEP to do this. It gets parents & school on the same page. It also lets the parent know that if a service the child needs like specialized remedial instruction for dyslexia that the private school doesn't offer, the parents know they need an outside person to do this.

I really don't have an answer for you. Just wanted to say my son had similar issues. His diagnosis is ADHD/dysgraphia. He never wanted to use the accommodations in his IEP. He saw himself as typical and saw the accommodations as cheating. He also didn't want his classmates to view him as different/disabled. I think he was afraid this could end up with him being teased/bullied/shunned. When he got closer to graduation and could see himself living a life after graduation, this is when he started to realize he needed to do better so he could graduate with his class. He graduated in 2022. I can see your child using their accommodations if they had peer models that had similar accommodations. He'd have this is he was attending a school where everyone had dyslexia...or a summer camp where they bring dyslexics together. At 15, he's not seeing the importance of being able to write well.

This would be a no in my area. You pay taxes to your local district. They are responsible for your child's education. There would need to be a contract between these 2 districts for this to happen. In most cases - no make this almost all cases - you would need to move to the other district for them to educate your child. If open enrollment is available in your area and this is the mechanism that allows your child to attend another district, look at the rules for open enrollment. I'd assume they would be available on a website. If your child is experiencing emotional abuse due to how they are being treated by their en loco parentis, I would think this would be grounds to have your child's placement changed but the vehicle to do this is a lawsuit/due process which is not fast nor inexpensive. (I'm not aware of case law that sets a precedence for this.)

Extra time might also be needed. I'm pretty sure that reading aloud takes longer than when you read to yourself w/o speaking. This would level the playing field for this student. It would also be something they probably need in college.

I didn't want your question to go unanswered but I'm not sure of the right answer. I do know that teachers/staff rarely lose their job over an IEP complaint. Teacher/staff training tends to be what happens. The resolution should attempt to make it like the issue didn't happen. Back services also tends to be a resolution. I had filed a complaint when my child was being evaluated for an IEP. I dropped off my signed permission to evaluate. (It was actually the school that initiated evaluating my child.) Around 60 days later I was back at the school for something and popped in to check on how the eval was coming along. The AP opened the desk drawer and the paperwork was still there. I later found out that the psychologist assigned to this middle school was sick. She eventually passed away - I'm pretty sure she had cancer. The HS psychologist should have been given the paperwork to do the eval. I'm not sure why that didn't happen. The Assistant Principal should have known better than to do what she did. She still works for the district - I think she's an AP in one of the HSs. I'm hoping she got chewed out for doing this and never does this to another student.

Audiobooks with headphones so he's not disturbing others sounds like the accommodation he needs. I don't see where they would allow him to read aloud in a classroom. Teacher should not be doing this without the accommodation listed out in an IEP or 504. A resource room makes sense but then they need an aide to supervise and he'll disturb anyone else using the room. Colleges will be able to provide audiobooks. The HS's evaluation showing this is needed is what they are going to look for to provide this. Some colleges will do what's in the IEP as far as accommodations go but they want data to support the need. Sounds like he's an auditory learner. You're also going to need data to support what you're asking for. Do you have this? Schools don't accommodate w/o data. They may want to their own assessment which would likely require your written permission to do. You want this data in an eval written by someone other than you.

His civil rights are being violated given he is not being accommodated. In addition, IDEA is being violated given the IEP isn't being followed. You might want to file a state complaint if going up the chain of command hasn't helped. In college, they take these things seriously. Schools lose funding when they don't accommodate at the college level so there is no need to 'prepare for a world w/o accommodations'. There is scan to text software. Once it's text, there is text to talk software. If he is going to be using this at school, it should be written into the IEP so it's not viewed as cheating. Do verify that the IEP doesn't say 'when student requests'. It shouldn't. He needs this for every lecture & assignment. In college, they pay a classmate for their notes so this is an accommodation for the future too. (My daughter's friend got paid for making a copy of his notes and providing them to the disability office to forward to a classmate.)

You asked a lot and I don't have a lot of time to cover everything. Parents are not required members of the 504 team. The school can change a 504 w/o a parent being there/parent input. Students w/ an IEP are not special ed - they do not get specially designed instructions - only accommodations like a quiet place to take tests and extended time. If the 'quiet place' for testing doesn't meet your child's needs, have them come with you to the 504 meeting and have him state what will work for him and let that be specified in the 504. A safe place to calm down should be a place that's supervised by an adult so the bathroom wouldn't be a good place. Bullying can be addressed with a Gebser Letter. A student with a 504 is a disabled student & disabled students do have extra protection under the law. Non-compliance with the 504 is a civil right violation and can be reported to the Office of Civil Rights. I've been told it's easy to file a formal complaint. Teacher should take attendance every class period so students who are cutting class for whatever reason are accounted for. If I had to guess, I'd request that your child be assessed for pragmatics. This sounds like a good part of his issue with not getting along with people & not making friends. I feel your child might be masking at school so they don't get bullied as much so the school doesn't see all that's going on with him. Has the school documented his anxiety disorder ptsd, odd and add? Lastly remember this: If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. Email what you are seeing so it's documented. Under FERPA, you are allowed to clarify your child's school records. (My district does not make attendance exceptions either. Students go to their assigned school.)

The language used in an IEP should be professional. The IEP should explain the student's present level. If the student has a history of breaking school rules and getting disciplined for this, it is part of their present levels and should be included. An IEP is not the place for derogatory statements. Professional opinion and past disciplinary measures are OK.

An FBA will look at what can be seen. If there is something else going on that can't be seen (my guess is the frustration because of the discrepancy between giftedness + dysgraphia w/o proper technology to accommodate), the FBA isn't going to be all that helpful. Ross Greene's CPS works well with PDA. It can take a while to learn which is a drawback.

The way IEPs work is you have an eval that shows the student has a need. Ask for a bottom wiping eval. See if there is a delay and then figure out how to teach and/or accommodate. I'm not sure if an OT is going to be willing to do this. You might need to go outside the school to show this need.

None of those diagnoses would prevent her from getting herself clean after a bowel movement. She would need to have an OT evaluation showing that she physically cannot wipe or that she has sensory issues due to the autism that's preventing her from wiping sufficiently. Since this falls under OT, I'm guessing it would be the school OT that should be teaching her & not the nurse. Also possible that with the ASD & ADHD, there are executive functioning issues where all the steps are not done with having a BM at school. Could there be distractions like an echoy bathroom that's painful to her hearing where she rushes and doesn't do a good job wiping? Having her use a small bathroom that might be in the nurse's office might be a solution. Personally, I feel that allowing a student to spend time with a dirty bottom falls under child abuse. Her peers are likely to shun her if she smells or wipes so poorly the BM seeps through her clothes. Her classmates are bound to notice. To provide a better perspective, how does she do with this task outside of school? If there is a developmental delay that prevents her from learning this skill, it might be appropriate for the nurse to assist. (Given this is a life skill that peers have mastered, I can see this going into the IEP along with a SDI for the appropriate person to assist and/or coach depending on why this is happening.)

The way I see this (because I've seen this with other students), his ED is coming from the CPTSD he experienced due to the IEP team not understanding ASD (and his other diagnoses) & not being able to meet his needs. Unfortunately, you do not have the credentials to dispute their diagnosis. In your shoes, I would disagree with the eval and request an IEE at school expense. IMO, he needs a team that better understands ASD & can better meet his needs. You can ask for teacher training in ASD if you feel this is what's going on. You can start by writing a parent concerns letter stating that the appearance of ED is due to the school team not understanding him & how ASD affects him. Without the support like he had in 6th grade when the team did a better job meeting his needs, the lack of support is coming out as behavior which looks like ED. Is the school also saying that he no longer has ASD? The way ASD is defined includes this: "Autism does not apply if the child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE." If they remove the ASD diagnosis, then he won't get the support he needs at school for the ASD issues.

Start by asking the school if the student should have a consequence when they fail to meet an IEP goal. Ex: If a student had to learn times tables and get 80% in 4 out of 5 trials, ask what should happen if they only get 80% in 3 out of 5 trials. Or if a reading goal was 75 CWM, what if they only do 71? In these cases, the consequence is nothing. (I'm in PA and they only allow for positive behavior support so you'd never see a consequence.) If your child has a goal of promptly transitioning, what should be the consequence if they fail at this goal? Ask them to write 'no consequence/no unexcused tardies when delayed transitioning results in being late for class' in the IEP. This goal should be treated like oner IEP goals where there are no consequences if the goal isn't met. I'd also look at what specially designed instruction the school is providing (prompts are accommodations - not SDI) with teaching your child how to promptly transition to a non-preferred activity. You might also need to change up the SDI if the current instruction isn't working.