Frustrations with IEP and consult (long)

artistlife

I did an intro awhile back, but I will give a little background.
DS, age 4, was referred to Child Find, our states IE, for speach issues. CF did a complete eval and decided his speach was fine, but he had social/emotional delay and adaptive delay. This was causing him to not respond verbally during stressful or emotional situations.
They created an IEP that took affect this school year (4k) and set three related goals. They said at the time that we would reevaluate him after he was in a school setting and assigned him a consult instead of a self-contained class.

Now, my problem. The 3 goals were more related to his attention span and problems with collaborative play. His consult said he has met these goals and she wants to remove him from his IEP. I don't disagree that he has met those goals. I am concerned that his other issues that were not included in the goals are being overlooked.
To compound the problem, I am six days from a csection delivery of our second child. I discussed this with the consult a month ago. I am concerned that he may back slide or have added issues with this major life event. She agrees, yet now, she is pushing to have the IEP meeting in the next few days because the nine weeks is ending. She has stopped me in the car line twice now asking me about it and I have reminded her both times about my concerns and impending birth. She then sends me a letter stating she scheduled the meeting for the day after my csection and I needed to let her know if I could attend. I took this to the principal and explained everything. The principal seemed to understand, but the consult once again stopped me in the car line
to "reprimand" me about keeping appointments and getting it done before baby comes.
Am I being unreasonable in thinking it is best for DS to wait for him to get through this event before we pull the IEP? Am I justified in feeling this teacher is not listening to my concerns and is only treating DS as a number?

finsup

If you can make it happen before baby, I don't see an issue with having the IEP meeting - but you won't be signing anything, and if anything you'll be asking to add goals, not remove the IEP altogether.  So next time she stops you in the car line tell her just that "sure, schedule the meeting for Monday at 2 BEFORE my c-section, and we'll discuss what goals we want to add".

Sending you a notice for the day after your c-section is an asshole move on her part.

meldoo2002

I thought that if they wanted to remove an IEP they need to do testing to show he's age appropriate in all areas.  Who is the consult?  What kind of services is he getting on the IEP?  I would have a meeting, but if his IEP runs til such and such a date I wouldn't let them dismiss the IEP prior to that... have them set new goals.  

artistlife

My understanding was that the IEP would run at least through this school year. The consult is a special needs teacher at the school that basically monitors his improvement through his regular ed teacher. The consult is adamant that he be "staffed out". As explained to me, the goals were set as preliminary goals to get the IEP in place and then once in the school setting we would reevaluate. He isn't receiving any out of class services except continued monitoring of his hearing. He has a partial hearing loss in one ear. He does have adaptations to his curriculum. I just feel this consult (who wasn't a part of the original IEP team) is only looking at these three goals and not the entire IEP. I wish I could get it done before the RCS, but the only day they can do it before is on Wednesday. I have a doc appointment, an NST, and pre-OP that day.

kiki4

I have not done an intro yet, so forgive the 'out of the blue' comment. My DS also has an IEP; from my discussions with his preschool teacher and speech teacher, my understanding of an IEP is that it will stand for the entire school year, and that he should be re-evaluated to set new goals. This was a specific question that I had for DS, as I was concerned about getting to the end of the school year and being told he no longer needed the language assistance and we no longer had an IEP (DS has met some goals and still has some work to do on others). We just had our mid-semester parent/teacher conference, and they confirmed at that meeting that at the end of the year they would re-evaluate DS and set new goals for the coming year. It seems reasonable to me that the appointment needs to be set for a date when you can be fully involved in the consult, and the day after your c-section is not reasonable. Good luck...I hope you can get the appoint set so that you don't have to worry about it going into your delivery.

artistlife

-auntie- said:

gardennymph said:

I did an intro awhile back, but I will give a little background. DS, age 4, was referred to Child Find, our states IE, for speach issues. CF did a complete eval and decided his speach was fine, but he had social/emotional delay and adaptive delay. This was causing him to not respond verbally during stressful or emotional situations. They created an IEP that took affect this school year (4k) and set three related goals. 

Are you working with EI or the school district? In most places, the school district manages the cases of child past their 3rd birthdays under Special Education Services with an IEP.

Did you participate in drafting the IEP goals and the services to help him meet them? Parents are full members of the Committee for Special Education and the IEP team. Is he in a district preschool or is the consultant visiting his private preschool and observing or making suggestions to the teacher there? In SC, child find is a part of our school district. Even the programs for the under 3 children is handled by the Early Childhood Development for our district. He is in a Child Development Center for only 4K students that is needs based only. The IEP states all of his delays. Social/emotional for non-collaborative play, unable to verbalize during emotional displays, nonverbal outbursts during frustrations, and inattentive during group learning. Adaptive delay for some of his  learned skills like cutting with scissors, burgeoning his own shirt, and holding a pencil. 

I asked why we were only doing three goals and why all issues weren't addressed. That is when they assured me that those were preliminary goals and we would address the other issues once he was in a school setting. 

They said at the time that we would reevaluate him after he was in a school setting and assigned him a consult instead of a self-contained class. Now, my problem. The 3 goals were more related to his attention span and problems with collaborative play. His consult said he has met these goals and she wants to remove him from his IEP. 

Who is measuring progress toward these goals? Are they collecting data in a couple of settings- during circle time, recess, snack to be certain the goals are truly met and globalized?

Could he be "caught up"?; perhaps he needed a school setting and peers to master these kinds of skills. 

I think he has caught up on those three issues, but I am still concerned about his verbal expression and nonverbal outburst when frustrated. The nonverbal outburst range from screaming and crying to kicking and hitting and even self harm. Just to give  an example, normally he is a bright, very verbal 4year old, but he might have trouble getting his jacket on and it becomes a complete meltdown. He starts with screeching, then crying while he smacks himself in the face, and finally throws himself down.

I don't disagree that he has met those goals. I am concerned that his other issues that were not included in the goals are being overlooked.

What other issues do you see that weren't addressed? Are these new issues, or were they back-burnered while more pressing issues were addressed. As a member of the CSE, you can certainly sit down today and draft a list of "parental concerns". Since he's over 3, they will need to be educational- but not necessarily academic- in nature. Because so much of preschool is social and behavioral in nature, it's pretty easy to present any delay or difference in the context of the classroom/school day. 

See above.

 To compound the problem, I am six days from a csection delivery of our second child. I discussed this with the consult a month ago. I am concerned that he may back slide or have added issues with this major life event. 

Why this is certainly a concern, you can't build an IEP around the potential for regression only actual regression excepting where you can demonstrate regression under specific circumstances like school breaks to obtain ESY. If a child regresses in skills over Christmas and spring break- and the team documents this, then it will be assumed they will have significant regression over the summer and institute an IEP with ESY.

I just don't feel that if his delays were bad enough to warrant an IEP in the first place that it would take less than 9 weeks for him to have that much improvement. 

She agrees, yet now, she is pushing to have the IEP meeting in the next few days because the nine weeks is ending. She has stopped me in the car line twice now asking me about it and I have reminded her both times about my concerns and impending birth. She then sends me a letter stating she scheduled the meeting for the day after my csection and I needed to let her know if I could attend. I took this to the principal and explained everything. The principal seemed to understand, but the consult once again stopped me in the car line to "reprimand" me about keeping appointments and getting it done before baby comes. 

Is she under a deadline where your son's IEP is about to expire? Normally, they're good for up to one calendar year. Otherwise, you can put the meeting off until it's a bit more convenient for you. Her schedule be damned. There are templates on wrightslaw for declining/rescheduling a team meeting.

She has no business scolding you. I would copy the principal and head of district special services on any communication with this woman.

Am I being unreasonable in thinking it is best for DS to wait for him to get through this event before we pull the IEP? Am I justified in feeling this teacher is not listening to my concerns and is only treating DS as a number?

I won't say you're being unreasonable. But if you son no longer requires an IEP, then it would be a violation to his rights to FAPE under LRE to have an IEP just because he might regress with the birth of a sibling which is a perfectly normal thing for a preschooler to do. The way to keep the IEP is to identify new, revised goals to be included.

Thank you for you for all your help.

artistlife

-auntie- said:

@gardennymph said:

 The IEP states all of his delays. Social/emotional for non-collaborative play, unable to verbalize during emotional displays, nonverbal outbursts during frustrations, and inattentive during group learning. Adaptive delay for some of his  learned skills like cutting with scissors, burgeoning his own shirt, and holding a pencil. 

I asked why we were only doing three goals and why all issues weren't addressed. That is when they assured me that those were preliminary goals and we would address the other issues once he was in a school setting. 

"Burgeoning his coat" is the best autocorrect of the week. Seriously.

JMHO, the things they are describing as "adaptive delays" all seem to be fine motor delays. Was he evaluated by an OT around this. FWIW, using scissors is typically an emerging skill for many fours. This is a link to the usual fine motor developmental milestones-

 https://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/fine-motor-development-chart.html

It could be his class has an OT consult and fine motor activities built into the day, but I would usually expect a child with such delays to work 1:1 with the school's OT probably once or twice a week. Most professionals would put the independence skills under adaptive- self care, toileting, feeding, advocating for his needs.

 How was he evaluated? Do you remember what scales and assessments were done?

The school does have an on staff OT that works with each class one hour per week. Each class has around twenty students. I don't have the IEP with me at the moment. I didn't expect to need it and I normally deal with all of this from work. I actually work for the school district in the operations department and I left it in my desk. I am on maternity leave. I plan to go get it tomorrow.