Take control of your childs I.E.P.

bbnt

bbnt

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What a week to have trouble sleeping


My daughters IEP meeting was today. It took about 2 1/2 hours. I remember when she first started going to school and I would just sit and listen at these meetings nodding my head while everyone else made the decisions for my daughter.

How things have changed. Now I do most of the talking. I also require the school to provide me with her proposed new IEP 2 weeks before the meeting along with her portfolio and about 6 other documents.

I carefully study these and also mail copies to 2 other teachers involved in deaf education to get there opinions on my progress along with their opinions of goals and objectives proposed in my daughters IEP.

My daughter is 13 now and it amazes me how many parents don't get involved in making decisions regarding there childs education. They go to these meetings and simply sign off on what ever the teachers decide is best for their child.

That is a big mistake. Sometimes the teachers are restricted by school policy when creating goals and objectives for the kids. But a parent has every right to add goals and objectives that they feel their children need to work on.

I know most of you probably never went to these meetings at least not till you were in high school but if you ever have a deaf child in the future this is something you should take very serious

I glad it over thou, maybe this headache I've had for 2 weeks will go away and I will finally be able to get some sleep :}
 
I agree with you on everything u say about parents should be involved with IEP..

since i remmy my last IEP meeting druing my senior year... they want to keep my diploma and have me go to vector program.. I'm glad i can be involved and my parents support my descision to just get diploma and go to college where i want to go.. instead of suffer going to vector program..

without my parent's involvement i probbaly will end up suffering taking wasteful classes that is worth nothing..
 
VamPyroX said:
I.E.P.? What's that?
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Ask your parents because they had to go these meetings while you were in school {not college}
 
Unfortunately, my parents aren't around at this time... so I can't ask them. :(
 
Individualized Education Program
 
yep, it's a legal document and the driving force for what services your child receives. If it's not on the iep, they don't have to do it. I'm also a parent, bbnt. Sometimes, it's a really hard position to be in. We parents have a great influence in how the trend in deaf education moves, one kid at a time. Last spring I was strongly advocating for a placement change for my son. The sped dir. wasn't all that pleased w/me. But I heard thru the grapevine that the school lawyer told her there had been some "lawsuits", and she needed to get real educated real fast. After that, I had no trouble convincing her to make the change. It's the strength and committment of dedicated parents that are willing to put themselves on the line that make changes happen. I know another person who fought for years for quality services, and the program there is now one of the better ones in the state. Unfortunately, parents don't always understand or make the effort, and information given to them is rarely all inclusive. If a parent doesn't dig for information and reach out to d/Deaf adults, they often don't know what their child is missing. Sorry to ramble on, but this is something that's been on my mind a lot lately, as if it ever isn't, but more so recently.
 
bbnt,
as you know, i have always been on the special ed. teachers side of the table at the iep meetings. now i am on the opposite side of the table as a step-parent. i had no idea how bad some school districts were until now. i am going in with guns blazing (no, not literally) this week. the teacher has not followed ANY of the recommendations, accomodations, and modifications listed in the iep. the principal made a unilateral decision to change the iep without an iep meeting or the approval of the parents. they didnt even provide a terp for the last iep meeting, even though my hubby and i had requested one far in advance. i think we have cause for legal action at this point, but i am going to consider being less bitchy than we all know i can be.
since you are a pro at this, got any suggestions?
 
Eve I sent your post to someone I thought could give you a better answer and here it is.......


That sounds bad. Before taking legal action, the family needs to go through the complaint process - there's an entire website dedicated to the legal focus of the IDEA - the web address for the complaint provcess is here


http://clerccenter2.gallaudet.edu/KidsWorldDeafNet/e-docs/IDEA/section-2.html#righttofileacomplaint


and the legal focus, IDEA site is:


http://clerccenter2.gallaudet.edu/KidsWorldDeafNet/e-docs/IDEA/index.html


It's probably a good idea for the lady to go through the procedures and safeguards and go through all the steps, make sure she really understands the casde, before deciding to move on to the next step
 
ah...bbnt..lemme give you a hug! :cuddle: That's the BEST thing about no longer being in school....no more IEPs! I was so happy when I had my very last IEP meeting! (when I was 18 and about to graduate high school) College has been so beyond easier for me...I get notetakers and untimed tests automaticly, without stupid teachers going on and on about how those accomondations will just make me lazy!!!
and also mail copies to 2 other teachers involved in deaf education to get there opinions on my progress along with their opinions of goals and objectives proposed in my daughters IEP.
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What a GREAT idea!
My daughter is 13 now and it amazes me how many parents don't get involved in making decisions regarding there childs education. They go to these meetings and simply sign off on what ever the teachers decide is best for their child.

That is a big mistake. Sometimes the teachers are restricted by school policy when creating goals and objectives for the kids. But a parent has every right to add goals and objectives that they feel their children need to work on.
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On the other hand, I think a lot of hearing parents really don't know too much about the accomondations,modifications, etc that deaf/hoh students need...
At least they show up for the IEP meetings. Many parents of sped kids aren't involved at ALL with their child's education! (ask ANY sped administrator)
 
thanks for the info, bbnt, im having lots of fun with this school district right now. i told them before that my daughter is HoH and they didnt believe me. now they did a hearing screening and surprise, surprise, she failed it. i just sat back and grinned. now it looks like i will be going to yet another iep meeting soon.
the special ed teacher sent me a draft of her proposed iep objectives and modifications for my stepson. i have already gone through it thoroughly and made many changes. she also informed me that she is inviting some expert to see if the school is really responsible for supplying some of the services they have been thus far. i told her that we only expected the school to provide the services that are listed in his iep and not to go changing the iep without a formal meeting.
did i mention that the principal threatened to kick all of my kids out of this school if i didnt do what she wanted against the iep? :whip:
 
Eve, I think the principal has no right to kick out your children if you disagree with IEP objectives. You know your children better than teachers, principal, etc.

If my kid is Deaf or HOH, I will get involved in IEP meetings and read through every IEP objectives...I will agree or disagree on them. It is very important for parents to get involved in IEP meetings and aware of the objectives and so forth.
 
"she also informed me that she is inviting some expert to see if the school is really responsible for supplying some of the services they have been thus far. "

I can answer that! The answer is YES they are responsible. IF they are a public school and IF they are the recipients of Federal funds.

The links BBNT gave you are excellent. I suggest that you print out copies of some of the more pertinent points and take them with you to all IEP meetings. They (the schools)are less likely to balk if it is right there in black and white.

I think it is a sad reflection on our educational system that a parent has to go to such extremes to ensure an adequate education for their child.

My sister is home-schooling her two youngest kid because she couldnt get the kind of educational program she felt her kids need.
 
Eve, I feel for you!!! A lot and I mean a lot of educational experts think that we HOH kids don't need any "deaf" services b/c according to "experts" we HOH have more in common with hearing folks then with deaf folks. I experianced that attitude all through my school career!
 
BBNT- that is great that your daughter's school does that to get you ready for the meeting. It's also great that you are involved. Not many parents are. I was fortunate that both of my parents were involoved in my IEP meetings. Also, I am majoring in sped. I will be doing my student teaching in the Spring (yall be ready for my questions lol!).

Eve- I agree with what Dixie said. The school is responsible for anything that is on the IEP. If the school wasnt sure if it could be funded or provided, they should have found that out before it was put on there and signed by all participants of the meeting.
 
IEP meetings, however boring, are essential. I went to each of mine, and sat till they told me I was being too restless and i had to leave. I had them all my life, from preschool up till i graduated. I started staying when i was in 5th or 6th grade, cause I complained about my hearing aids/FM system. I dont know what I wld have done if my dad was not there to support me, many things would suck because they wanted something I didnt want. I wanted to rid myself of the FM system when i was in 6th grade, but they wouldnt let me till i was in 8th grade, when my dad said "ask Jamie" when they brought it up. Then I stopped wearing hearing aids all together, and they balked and looked to my dad for him to say "no jamie, you need them." He didnt. All he said was, "my daughter knows what she likes, and what she wants. She will learn when she gets older, what she really needs." And I did. :)

Parental control is important, but dont forget to listen to what your kid wants. My dad gave me 60% control when i was 13/14, and i only gained more as I got older. When I moved in with my mom, she gave me 0% and that pissed me off. I was a senior and only 2 weeks shy of being 18, i cldnt sign jack shit because of that. However, Im glad to be rid of IEP's. :)
 
*THUD*


Looks like I'm going to be in for 12 more years of IEP hell after going thru my own IEP's at school. Since my daughter is born with spina bifida and there is the possiblility of learning disabilities.


The wife already started her on Early Intervention (I cant spell worth a crap tonight) along with physical therapy.

Now I have to get prepared myself for her education early so I dont have to worry about anything go wrong 5 years down the road before she starts school.
 
Since my daughter is born with spina bifida and there is the possiblility of learning disabilities.
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Sabby, bear in mind that there's just the possibilty of learning disabilties.It's not a surefire thing. You might not have to deal with IEPs...you might only have to deal with...Ch. 504 (I think that's what it's called) accomondations.
I am a disabilty rights activist, and I have noticed that most of the time when there's learning disabilties/mental retardation dually dx with a physical disabilty, it's due to low family expectations. Push your child to be the best they can be and who knows? Maybe she'll become a professor at Harvard or something.
One of my online friends has cerebal palsy and when she was little one of her doctors told her parents that she'd be profoundly MR and not amount to anything.
Guess what? Karin graduated from Stanford and is in grad school and runs a really cool feminist UBB site called She-net.
I thought that the majority of learning disabilties and MR in cases of spina bifida were seen in pretty severe cases where they are very medically fragile (eg have seizures, trachs etc)
That's good that your daughter's in EI...the EI system was designed specificly for physical disabilties. A word of advice.....Don't expect EI to "cure" your daughter...
Your daughter might never walk, but she may be a genius...your daughter may be able to walk but have trouble walking (and don't get rid of the wheelchair....keep it on hand for when she gets tired...think of how we expend a lot of energy on hearing and speaking....people with physical disabilties expend a ton of energy on walking)
 
deafdyke said:
Sabby, bear in mind that there's just the possibilty of learning disabilties.It's not a surefire thing. You might not have to deal with IEPs...you might only have to deal with...Ch. 504 (I think that's what it's called) accomondations.
I am a disabilty rights activist, and I have noticed that most of the time when there's learning disabilties/mental retardation dually dx with a physical disabilty, it's due to low family expectations. Push your child to be the best they can be and who knows? Maybe she'll become a professor at Harvard or something.
One of my online friends has cerebal palsy and when she was little one of her doctors told her parents that she'd be profoundly MR and not amount to anything.
Guess what? Karin graduated from Stanford and is in grad school and runs a really cool feminist UBB site called She-net.
I thought that the majority of learning disabilties and MR in cases of spina bifida were seen in pretty severe cases where they are very medically fragile (eg have seizures, trachs etc)
That's good that your daughter's in EI...the EI system was designed specificly for physical disabilties. A word of advice.....Don't expect EI to "cure" your daughter...
Your daughter might never walk, but she may be a genius...your daughter may be able to walk but have trouble walking (and don't get rid of the wheelchair....keep it on hand for when she gets tired...think of how we expend a lot of energy on hearing and speaking....people with physical disabilties expend a ton of energy on walking)
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Lets wait and see.....I just had the caseworker from the disabled infant-parent service come in to evaluate the kid and it seems good on her eye-hand coordination except for a bit of plm with her left hand but PT might take care of that.

I know the IEP depends on the possibility of learning disabilities but the chances are :dunno: cuz of the hydrocephlaus but hey she's just 2 months old right now so its day to day to see how it is
 
Oh, how I HATED IEP's -- had to attend every one of them from Grade 5 til I graduated...in every IEP, I always got too restless and did it on purpose so I'd be ordered out of the room, :lol: My parents were very supportive of what I needed and wanted so forth, they also made sure that their opinions were heard and gone through, etc. :D

In a way, I know IEP's are important to gauge individuals' progress in schooling and all and making modifications to meet the needs needed in school and in general as well.
 
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