Brooke

My son is in 8th grade. He is Autistic and has ADHD. He has very good grades. He struggles to form peer relationships, have collaborative discussions, stay on topic, acknowledge input from others, and work to complete group assignments. This is a proposed language goal from the speech language pathologist (SLP). I would appreciate your input. "NAME will participate in collaborative conversations with others that respect individual and group differences, apply interpersonal skills needed to maintain quality relationships, self-assess personal problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills to enhance relationships with others, accept personal responsibility in conflict situations and initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with minimal support (25%) support in a structured setting as measured by a teacher made point rubric and observations." My initial thought is that it seems like too many things to throw into one goal and it should be broken up. I'm also very concerned because he currently has both 45 minutes in the special education setting and 40 minutes weekly in the general education setting with the SLP. His IEP is coming up and the SLP is proposing withdrawing the push-in minutes and meeting for 60 minutes weekly in the special education setting. She says this is because the high school SLP believes that push in minutes are stigmatizing. I think it is probably more stigmatizing for my son not to have the collaborative conversation skills he needs to do group work and form peer relationships. I think that he needs the push in minutes so that he learns to apply the language skills in the general education setting. He is making progress with the current minutes and goals and I would like to maintain that rather than withdraw push-in support. I'm not sure how to respond to the school about the proposed goal or the proposed reduction in minutes.

My 8th grade son (educational autism IEP) receives an accommodation for extended time on assignments, but according to new language in his IEP, assignments must be turned in by the end of the unit. My son's social studies teacher makes large project assignments due on the last day of the unit. As a result, my son does not receive any extended time on the assignments, even though these large project assignments are the exact type of assignments that my son struggles with due to executive functioning issues. This has been leading to stress and meltdowns at home. I sent a request to the case manager that the "end of the unit" language be deleted or modified to within one week of the end of the unit. She responded that some of my son's teachers were opposed to this request. Any ideas for what I can do next?

The school called me yesterday just after dismissal saying my 8th grade son was in a fight. There is no school for the rest of the week for Thanksgiving break. They told me he can’t come to school Monday because they need to investigate, but they’re coding it as an excused absence not a suspension. I said that legally if they’re telling me my son can’t come to school, then that’s a suspension. My son says that the other child approached him following a school assembly and punched him many times. My son says that he did nothing to provoke it. It doesn’t seem right that the school has told him not to come to school since they don’t know if he did anything wrong, but I’m not sure I want to get into an argument about it. Do you think it’s ok to leave it as is? Do I need to do anything? My son has an IEP for educational autism. It’s definitely possible that this other child was angry with my son and he did not know it. He misses social cues and sometimes doesn’t know people are upset, but I don’t think he had even had any interactions with this other child.

My 7th-grade son has autism and ADHD. He has an issue with blurting out during class and school events. Blurting is explicitly discussed in his IEP in the Present Levels section and as an IEP goal. He is receiving direct instruction to decrease his blurting through his IEP. He is also receiving social and conversational skills training through Easter Seals. The assistant principal called me this morning and told me that my son repeatedly blurted out during an informational session about the upcoming 7th grade overnight camp. He said that my son's blurting behavior is disruptive and "willful" and that he might not be able to go to camp. He says that we need to have a meeting about it, along with his IEP case manager. I sent the assistant principal and case manager an email saying that I'm happy to meet about camp. I also said that it's important that my son not be excluded from school activities due to his disability. I do not believe that blurting is an appropriate reason to exclude an Autistic student from 7th-grade camp. I am wondering if the school has the right to exclude my son from camp. The camp involves 2 nights away from home, sleeping in cabins and doing summer camp type activities. Do you have recommendations for how to handle this meeting and next steps? Thank you!

My third grade son had his IEP last week on February 8. I requested that his case manager send me the IEP draft for review after the meeting so that I can review it and submit any comments before it is locked. His case manager told me that she is unable to do so and that I can request an amendment or correction after it locks if needed. I have been through the IEP process multiple times and I always request the opportunity to review the draft before it is locked. Do I have a right to do so? Any recommendations?

A year ago my son qualified for services for emotional disturbance (pervasive mood of depression at school) and ADHD. He also qualifies for speech and OT services. He is currently in third grade. He is behind in his writing and spelling skills, but previous evaluations did not indicate that he has a writing disability. His current goals focus on Social Skills, Speech and OT. He does not have academic goals. His IEP is coming up. Can I request an academic goal around writing (developing ideas within writing; applying correct grammar, capitalization and punctuation; applying grade-level spelling patterns in written work)? I believe that his ADHD and emotional disturbance have contributed to his problems with writing. If I can request this type of academic goal, what is the best way to make the case for it? Thank you!