Carolyn Rowlett

The school SHOULD track missing minutes and make those up, but I would suggest the parent to track, as well. There is some lenience, in terms of time, given to school districts due to staff shortages across the country. I would suggest that if a month has gone by without a replacement hire or contracting with an outside provider, to give the school a 10 day notice letter (just to be safe) informing that the parents will be obtaining outside services for the OT with the expectation that they are reimbursed by the school district. (I would suggest first consulting with the Kansas Dept of Education to see what they consider to be a "reasonable time" in this scenario.) Some of my answers might change depending on the specific child. Will he/she suffer or lose significant gains if OT is not established right away? Is it provided on a fairly rigorous schedule under the IEP and therefore it would be difficult to "double up" in order to provide compensatory services once an OT is hired? The actual fact scenario could be relevant.

It sounds as if one has been drafted and proposed, but parent did not sign.

Agree with Lisa that no, sounds like retaliation. We don't offer legal advise on this site, but while you are searching for an attorney, as an advocate I would recommend signing the IEP but writing immediately below or beside your signature that exceptions/concerns to your approval of the IEP are attached - and then attach them. It might give you more "legal pull" if your son is actually on an IEP. For instance, you state above that they have "no equipment" that is referenced on the IEP. That is not an excuse. If it's in the IEP, they must obtain the equipment. Once you have an IEP in place and they fail to implement, you can file a state complaint for failure to follow the IEP. The IEP at least gives you a path and a way to try to get recourse. Right now, you have nothing. And the school district can say they "tried," but you refused to sign. Let them try, fail, and then hold them accountable. What is the school district doing now for the choking/food lodged issue is they have no equipment? That would be my first concern.

You are absolutely correct that any areas in which the child was found eligible and has an IEP for has a right to have a re-evaluation in those areas every three years. I would suggest referring the school psychologist to the IDEA and any state guidelines you can find regarding special education processes that address this specific issue. l would even call your state department of education and speak with someone and add THAT to you email. I would also copy your director of special education. The only allowed reason for not conducting a three year re-eval is if BOTH the school district and parent agree. I they still say "no," ask for a PWN and file a state complaint. As far as the math goals, again, you are absolutely correct that she should be switched to life skills math. At a minimum, she should not be attending any gen ed math classes at all, but instead should be spending that time in special education math. Schools try to argue that students need to stay at least part of the time in the gen ed math class so they are exposed to the skills their peers are learning. But your daughter is way too far behind to get anything our of a gen ed math class and it would be very frustrating and a complete waste of time. Other than pointing to her significantly low math level, I'm not sure how else to convince the team.

I'm not sure what you mean by "recommendations." Goals? Accommodations? Referrals? Findings of eligibility? Please clarify and I will try to answer your question!

That's a tough one to answer without all the facts. It sounds like you're ok with her progress in reading. But as you state, definitely monitor this. Is the progress she is making closing the gap with her peers and advancing her toward grade level? She would need to be making more than a year's worth of progress in one year's time in order to be making sufficient progress. Otherwise, she never closes the gap. Also, how does your school district determine eligibility for an SLD in reading? Sounds like response to intervention? If so, ask what their policy is on how MUCH progress is needed to deny eligibility. Finally, what state are you in and does your state have any reading/dyslexia laws in place that you can refer to? Some states have strict laws reading reading that even without an IEP your daughter might be entitled to a specific type of intervention, which she may not be receiving now. As far as the slow processing, I tend to agree with the school that a 504 would be the appropriate path for that. There are some brain practices, etc., that can improve processing speed, but schools usually address this with accommodations only. It would be a fight to get specialized instruction and goals for slow processing in an IEP, and there's no guarantee it would be that beneficial. As far as the math and spelling, with the school eval showing her to be "average," there is not much you can do aside from requesting an IEE (except, as you state, closely monitor). Do you have other data regarding these areas such as grades, standardized testing, spelling test results, written work that you can use to show the school why you are requesting an IEE? That way you can couch it in terms of "I understand your evaluation showed..., but I'm seeing..." It would be hard in that case to blame (retaliate) a parent/child for requesting additional data. If you don't have the data now, start collecting it. That way your request is based on data/facts, rather than you just not agreeing with their evaluation (which I know is not the case, but it helps to avoid that perception). I like your idea of signing the evaluation report/eligibility decision with a written explanation of why you have concerns that the team did not find eligibility. Write this on the signature page OR make a notation on the signature page that there is an attached written statement by you. A partial acceptance will NOT affect your case down the road for an IEE. You can request an IEE at any time. But once a year has passed, the school will have a right to do their own evaluation again if you request an IEE.

You really can't put a "cap" on the number of accommodations needed because it totally depends on the child's needs - you could have a child with multiple disabilities who needs multiple accommodations. You base the number on what is needed - not on whether or not it is difficult to implement. However, you make a very good point about a teacher's ability to implement multiple accommodations (25 is quite a large number). Without knowing all the facts it's difficult to say whether a collaborative classroom is best. I would start by pointing out the impossibility of a teacher to stay on top of all these accommodations and ask for push in minutes from a special education teacher or an aide for the classroom - both of which can assist with the accommodations. If that doesn't work, then a more restrictive environment might be an appropriate discussion.

This doesn't make sense at all. First, the BASC includes a questionaire for parents, so you would obviously see that one. Second, the results of the BASC are put in an evaluation report (with the questions and answers). Third, BASC itself recommends using it multiple times to assess whether interventions are working. It says nothing about seeing the questions making the tool invalid. This would make sense for academic assessment tools, which specifically state you cannot use the same one more than once per year, but not for a behavior assessment and not indefinitely. I am also in Kansas, but this applies generally.

This Virginia requirement seems to be in contradiction to the IDEA which has no such requirement for SLD. I would reach out to your state department of education and ask for advice in this scenario. I would concurrently request an IEE from your school district because you disagree with the previous evaluation (insufficient because testing wasn't done in all areas) and because the previous evaluation has outdated data. If you can afford it, you might get an outside evaluation. Start with your pediatrician for a referral and see if insurance might cover it. Finally, take a look at your state standards and see if you son is meeting them in the area of writing, because it appears he is not. If this is the case, see if there is any type of intervention (outside of an IEP) that can be provided to your son to help him meet the state required standards. The school has to fulfill this obligation.

What are the disabilities for which she is receiving services?

I'm guessing you've used all of them, but here are the "arguments" you could use with the custodial parent: 1) Ask why (what data) she has that the general ed material is "too hard?" Has the child verbalized this? Are grades falling? Does she struggle doing homework with her? 2) Explain that is wouldn't be fair to the younger child to stay on the same track as the older child if the younger child is more capable - could lead to resentment later on. 3) Is the grandmother able and willing to engaged the younger child in social activities that help with the socialization of home-schooled children? Or will social skills and interaction suffer? 4) Would she be willing to try the gen ed setting for a while with supports to see how the child does before pulling him/her to home-schooling? Gather more data? Speak with the child after each school day for indications of struggles? Check in with the gen ed teacher? I don't know much about home-schooling, but I would guess if the grandmother uses a state-approved program there would be no educational neglect.

I would also send a Gebser letter regarding the bullying. (And ask other parents with children being bullied to, as well.) Otherwise the school district can claim it did not receive notice of the bullying. See the link below to Lisa's sample Gebser letter. https://adayinourshoes.com/wp-content/uploads/Sample-Gebser-Letter.pdf

I think the first thing is to make sure the student will cooperate with an IEP if he is given one. If he "doesn't want any help at school," does this mean he doesn't want to be pulled from the general education setting and go to special education? If he can't be talked into this, I'm not sure it's worth the fight to get an evaluation. When you say "the support" is not helpful, do you mean specialized instruction that students receive via an IEP for dyslexia or accommodations via a 504 Plan? Could the parent consider private tutoring? A student is usually given a brief evaluation before the tutoring begins with no obligation to sign up for tutoring. As far as the timeline for requesting another evaluation if denied, she should request an IEE, file a state complaint, and/or file for due process based on the fact that the school was presented with a diagnosis of dyslexia (and other data showing struggles) and refused to evaluate.

First, make sure the request for an evaluation was in writing. Also, did it attach the neuropsych evaluation? Did it point to specific reasons for requesting, such as low standardized test scores in reading? A diagnosis in most states is not enough for an IEP - the student must also be struggling and show deficits in reading (what does the gen ed teacher see in terms of the student's reading level?). Students with dyslexia are good at masking. They may have high scores in fluency and comprehension because they have memorized a lot of words and learned how to figure out words from context, but if you drill down you might see deficits in phonological awareness and phonics, which are very important skill to have in place as you advance in grades and can no longer memorize as many words and the reading content is not familiar. If the first request was not sufficient, she can send another one with the above items. If there are no deficits or struggles, a 504 would be appropriate. If they deny the evaluation, make sure the school sends a Prior Written Notice (PWN) with detailed reasons as to why it was denied. At that point, she could try to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE), but the law is a little unclear as to whether failure to conduct an initial evaluation triggers the right to an IEE. If she has the data to support her that the student is substantially behind in reading, she could file a state complaint that the school is violating the federal "child find" provision by refusing an evaluation.

I am so sorry for what you are going through. I will respond as best I can, but a lot of this is out of my purview. I would suggest reaching out to your state department of education and asking for their advice regarding these situations. With respect to not following the IEP, you need to speak with the case manager and let them know about the teacher's failure to follow the IEP. If that doesn't work, request a meeting with the teacher/coach present. If that doesn't work, keep going up the chain of command - director of special education, superintendent, board of directors. You can simultaneously file a state complaint. With respect to not following the 504, same process as above - start with the 504 coordinator. You can also file an OCR complaint for discrimination. With respect to the bullying, that needs to be reported to the school whether it's being done by a teacher or other students. (ALL of this should be in writing, by the way.) There should be a procedure in place at your school district for filing a complaint against a teacher. If the bullying in any way involves physical contact by the teacher, report this to the police and child services. Finally, can you get the families of all the children you reference in your post to get together and request being put on a board of directors' meeting agenda to describe their various experiences?