Sign language too much to expect...

mjsweetgirl

Is it too much to expect J's special education preschool teacher to know sign language. Our IEP process has been a nightmare and now I have to figure out how he is going to communicate with his teacher. Ugh.

Deborah621

That is so frustrating. We had a speech therapist for DS who had never heard of PECS. And she supposedly had a lot of experience with kids that have ASD. Why was your IEP process a nightmare?

mjsweetgirl

Deborah621:

That is so frustrating. We had a speech therapist for DS who had never heard of PECS. And she supposedly had a lot of experience with kids that have ASD. Why was your IEP process a nightmare?

We went in for J's part b services evaluation at the beginning on June. And we were told that we would hear within 6 weeks (from the evaluation) what services they believe he would qualify for and what school they think would be best for him. Long story short, I have had numerous phones go un returned and emails not responded to. And I still have not received his report and his IEP meeting is on Monday. I don't even know where the meeting is on Monday. I just am so in the dark and no one (not even J's case worker) will get back to me. I just want to cry.

Deborah621

Sorry that sounds really frustrating Hope it gets straightened out

Assembly_Reqd

Did you get proper notice regarding the timing of the IEP meeting? I think you should have had ten days notice.

Regarding the sign language, I can only suggest making a cheat sheet for his teacher showing his most used signs. I would also ask the team how they will go about making sure your son can communicate. More than likely they should move to a PECs system. Do you have a 'total communication'  option in your district? This is a class that uses sign language and speech. In Baltimore there is one elementary where the children with hearing loss are assigned and the class is spoken English with sign support. 

PECs is a less restrictive communication method because anyone can figure it out and not know sign. If we decided not to send Nate to the local school for the deaf, we would be using a PEC system. Actually, the deaf school last year was pushing PECs for Nate. This was before his signing exploded.

let us know how the meeting goes and good luck! 

rakle99

If your child communicates by sign language, then the school district has the responsibility to make sure your child has access to communication in the classroom, both expressively and receptively. If the classroom teacher does not sign, then you can fight to get the school district to provide an interpreter. I have seen some districts readily agree to this, and then I've seen districts only cave when the parents sue and win. Know your rights, come prepared to meetings, and push it as far as you can go. Get a lawyer or educational advocate if you can afford one. 

mommytoconnor

I agree with auntie, you can't expect every teacher to sign, even special needs teachers.  However that being said, it is the responsibility of the district to get an aide or interpreter so your child can communicate.  You may have to push for this, but understand your childs rights and advocate for them. A good special ed teacher will advise you of what may need to be done for your child.

francophonia

This is definitely frustrating, but special education is a really big pond, and every teacher is going to have a different strong suit. They''ve got a lot of different types of disabilities to deal with, so they need to have a lot of hands in a lot of different pots. I'm not going to expect a single teacher to be an expert in every disability they encounter. DD isn't in preschool yet, and I've been thinking about just hiring an aide to interpret for her when we enroll her.

MummyGruetzie

rakle99:

If your child communicates by sign language, then the school district has the responsibility to make sure your child has access to communication in the classroom, both expressively and receptively. If the classroom teacher does not sign, then you can fight to get the school district to provide an interpreter. I have seen some districts readily agree to this, and then I've seen districts only cave when the parents sue and win. Know your rights, come prepared to meetings, and push it as far as you can go. Get a lawyer or educational advocate if you can afford one. 

We ran into this same issue and it was incredibly frustrating. Except DD is deafblind so the ASL was augmented tactile sign language and there just isn't anybody in our area with that training. In our case, we tried our homebound set-up out with the IEP written to provide for teacher training. There were lot of other variables in our equation (DD had/has other illnesses and special needs, my own experience as a special ed teacher, etc. and we ended up deciding that we'd be better off for right now home-schooling instead of fighting a very small school district that I am very aware doesn't have the resources to help us). Obviously walking away is not going to be the answer for most people. And there are a few different routes you could take in terms of how you approach this. The main thing you'll need to do is to determine what the "most appropriate" (not best) and "least restrictive" setting is for your child. You could argue that in a setting where neither the teacher nor the classroom peers will be able to provide a language model, the setting is clearly inappropriate. (How will a child learn to communicate if this is not consistently modeled?) Or you could fight for an assigned interpreter/aide/teacher training. Depending on the specifics of the child (other special needs, whether the goals you/the team have for LO are age appropriate and more in line with children in the "mainstream" setting, etc). Some children who are deaf/HOH do great in a mainstream hearing classroom with the supplemental services of a Deaf/HOH teacher + an interpreter. Others really do not benefit from the mainstream setting, because other special needs require more slower-paced services with more focused instruction. In our area children who aren't best suited for mainstream classrooms may go to a special ed class. However if they do not have additional special needs, that's entirely inappropriate. If that were the case, they would be placed in a class for the D/HOH (or the school for the deaf). In our local area, this takes on two major categories with teachers that have very different training: either the oral approach or a sign (ASL) based classroom. You would advocate for any of these settings and the supplemental services to make them work for your child, by determining what is "least restrictive" for that particular child. Like one of the PPs said, an advocate would probably be very helpful to you as you learn how to navigate all of this. In some areas these are available free of charge. In other areas, they cost money, but for someone new to the rodeo who isn't getting what they want--they really are worth their weight in gold... I'd specifically look for an advocate who understands the issues that surround a child who is D/HOH (not all will) and has worked with a similar client-base in the past.