Know your rights......

When I started this blog I was unsure what it was going to be about. I wanted to share my story with other families that may be going through what we are with our son and possibly another family could use some of our experiences to save them some hassle or heartache that we have experienced. The last couple of weeks have been really tough at school. We have been trying to develop our IEP for our son that sets his goals and education plan for the following year...his 8th grade year at our public middle school. Unfortunately for us, we were not informed of all the changes taking place next year concerning his classroom. My son has been in a categorical room since 1st grade and it has definitely been a great opportunity for him. Without any idea what so ever what was we were in store for next year I went to the IEP and was just dumbfounded. Not one phone call or letter to explain that they have eliminated his program and expected us to just follow along and not give it a second thought. I know some children do very well in general education classrooms and some do not. My son does not. He does very well in his categorical room and is working at his own level and pace with support of the teacher, para pro and his part time aide. Every year he is showing progress and is improving...definitely capable of learning still. I was very frustrated to say the least that with no extra support he would be expected to participate in so much more. My son was asked to come to the meeting as he is 13 now and they encourage him to participate in his IEP and goals. After hearing 10+ people quickly go through all of the testing and information and picking up on significant changes to be taking place, he lost it. He went into full blown fit throwing and hitting himself in the head and we had to take him outside to calm down. These are behaviors we have not seen in quite some time. PLEASE if you get anything at all out of my blog.....please know your rights as a parent of a special education student. You have the right to be informed prior to a change in placement. You have a right to leave a meeting for an IEP and not sign it. If you do sign it you have a right to call another one at ANY TIME, and revoke the previous one. Please be the one that stands up for your child because it is your obligation. I am including a sample of the letter I sent to the entire staff at his meeting, the superintendent of our school and the ISD superintendent of special education. Be heard and be the advocate. I have removed names and information that needs to be kept private for obvious reasons. Please remember if you need to contact your school and you write a letter, be respectful, state your concerns, be clear and use examples and do not attack. Faculty will not want to talk with someone they know is going to argue with them. I hand delivered most of the letters and emailed the ones that I could not hand deliver. Then I went home and waited for the phone to ring. It rang...off the hook. We are now working on another IEP that is much more realistic, and I believe that sometimes you have to shake the trees to be the voice that your child needs.

May XX, 2008


To all of the many people that work with my son, XXX XXX,
First of all I would like to thank those of you that attended XXX’s IEP meeting on Friday. I appreciate all the time you took with testing and observations and preparing for the meeting. I understand that it is a very time taking task that I do not take for granted.
Unfortunately, there are some things that I feel need to be addressed. I feel that I was ill prepared for this meeting as I was not informed until sitting in it, that so many things have been changed. That is the first I had heard of the categorical room not being in place for the students, like mine that truly benefit.I feel I should have been notified prior to this meeting as everyone there had the information but myself. I heard, as did others, the concerns that the general education teachers expressed regarding their students and my student. After hearing Mrs. XXX’s concerns on more or less short changing her students to make accommodations for XXX and the fact that she did not feel she could justly give him the necessary equipment to be included in the class that he will be in, and all the other major changes for his school year, I felt as if I did not have much choice as whether or not to sign his IEP. I don’t understand how such a critical component could be removed from a school that teaches special education students. History has shown us that XXX does not succeed well in a general education class room and frequently had to be removed from the class due to anxiety and disturbing behaviors, and that the curriculum was just too much for him even with accommodations. I was told by a meeting member more or less to not worry , after this upcoming year he then will be in the high school where he can again attend a categorical classroom and the teacher of that classroom is remarkable. So, if we all are in agreement, which we have been since he was in first grade, that the categorical room is the most beneficial place forXXX, then why is he being denied that opportunity now? I feel that his education has been compromised already attending school at XX Middle School when we had to remove him from his social studies class because he could not handle the classroom full of children and spent so much time with the social worker to excuse him from class. I greatly appreciate the time the social worker has taken with XXX , but the problem is he did not have a structured social studies program that met his needs. And again last week, when there was an incident at school involving some other general education students that were spitting in his face and trying to talk him in to being suspended. Did the other students suffer any consequence? I don’t know, because I was never contacted or followed up with from the assistant principal regarding the matter after my husband and I left the office. We were told ,however, that she would look into it and was not surprised with the boys XXX identified to her. But in the end, he was removed from a class that every child should be able to attend, without being harassed and humiliated. He has lost his right to attend gym class and participate with other students and is retaking an art class he has already taken. So what next year, when he is struggling next year shall we just pull him from all of these classes and do what with him? Send him to the social worker?
The goals set forth in his IEP are completely out of line and I am quite disturbed that they were even presented to me at all. Mrs.XXX XXX showed us her testing of XXX and where he fell into the categories of intelligence and had it all broke down, so we now have a very clear and up to date idea of where he is in his comprehension and processing levels. We know his reading level now and she made a point of saying that him doing his touch point math impressed her. That is so impressive to me as well, He is finally getting some of what we have been working on and is not incapable of learning something new, so we set goals for him to work on algebraic equations and geometry and fractions. Please let us not forget decimals. That is ridiculous knowing he is working at a second grade level and will no matter how much support he receives and no matter what accommodations are made, he will not meet his goals next year and I believe it is ridiculous to think he will, and is going to place undue stress and anxiety and frustrations on him.
He is a special education student, he is just a boy, and he is entitled to the best education we can provide him. I feel that I was inadequately prepared and felt like I had no choice to consider other options at that point and all of the new information presented to me and was incredibly overwhelmed. I am requesting another IEP and would like this one revoked. I would like also to be steered in the right direction to someone that will act as a parent advocate that will help my family to better understand what Josh’s rights are as a student of special education., and will also participate in the next meeting with myself and my son acting on our behalf that is not a member of the XXX Middle School staff.
I would like everyone involved to understand that as XXX’s mother, I understand completely that it is up to myself and my husband to ensure that he is treated fairly and help to work hand in hand with the school to create the most beneficial program for him and I am committed to doing that. I look forward to meeting with you all again in hopes of creating a more realistic program and setting goals that I feel he can, with a little work, achieve. I know that we all want to see him succeed.
Respectfully,
Sara XXXX
XXXXX Road
XXXXX, Michigan XXXX
XXX-XXX-XXX

XXXXX@yahoo.com