But look at it this way. Is your child really getting the help that they deserve? Is your child missing school because of bad behavior and the school wants them at home? That's a violation of FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education). And think of all the therapy your child is missing, which is also a violation of the IEP and could cost the school a lot more.
If your child is having anger issues at school they need to have a ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) set in place. This is the program to help them learn to control themselves. Lots of data involved in this but when the next IEP comes around as per the school calling it, they will be able to tell you the new steps they are going to be doing to help your child. This is where a BIP (Behavioral Intervention Plan) comes into play.
Remember the school is banking on the fact that you have no clue as to what you are doing when it comes to an IEP. In most cases you will need an advocate. Like I've said before, I've run this marathon many times! And I have encountered a school that stood firm in not helping my child at all! That is the case where I have contacted my state advocate and made the school aware that I had one. I don't play around when it comes to my child's education. And I don't play with teachers who remove my child out of the classroom. Most times people at the school will ask what is an advocate. My reply is always, that is my lawyer that is provided for me by the State.
Doodle has been moved to half days at school before and I quickly found out that was a violation of FAPE and LRE (Least Resistant Environment). Doodle was denied LRE because they removed her from the classroom for hours at a time which fostered the bad behavior. It taught her that if she acted up in class they would remove her. The school was not even attempting to teach her in the general education setting. And she was missing speech and OT services which is also a violation and that time will have to be made up with the school.
IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) is another part of the IEP that is of importance. This part of the IEP gives 13 categories which a student is eligible to receive services and protections by law.
Your child has more rights then you can image but the schools in most cases don't know this. That's why they fight. I like fighting too. It's fun to me. I love seeing the light bulb go off when the school sees that they have broken laws and they can be sued. And they just opened themselves up to that! It's like a Mardi Gras parade to me. Why you may ask? Well, Always remember that an IEP is a corner to corner contract between you, your child, your school and your state. Contracts can not be broken on any end. If it is then someone is in a lot of trouble. And considering that the IEP are rules and guidelines the school has to comply with it boils down to the school breaking the contract. And can be sued!
Each parent or guardian needs to know about every aspect of an IEP. I can't give you every single morsel of what each part goes into depth of but I do want you to research them yourselves for your state. Everything in parenthesis ( ) I implore you to Google. I also want you to Google who your advocate is for your state, and they are FREE. I have mine written down in an organizer and can pull it out at a moments notice during an IEP. Also look up your IEP timeline. In my state the school has to schedule me an IEP within 10 days. Most states I do believe the most days to get you the meeting is 15.
You can call for an IEP meeting at anytime. And you can have an emergency IEP meeting. During an IEP meeting I want you to have your key words written down. IDEA, FAPE, ABA, BIP and LRE. Become familiar with these terms. Know what they are. You can have notes in an IEP meeting. You want the school to tell you all the ways that they are going to be helping your child and the plans they have in place to make sure they are going to help. Write down questions you want answers to. Questions of why they did or didn't do something that would benefit your child and their education. Don't let the school drop the ball.
Once you have your notes, questions and your advocate number, how do you call for an IEP? Well, this one is simple. I can actually help you with this one. You have two ways of getting it to the school. One is by the child, but if they are not allowed to be at school you have to contact the school via email. And always remember that you have to have a copy of the IEP request. I've taken photo's with my phone if I send in a note. If I send it via email, I have the time it was sent and the day sent saved in my email account. So I can go to my send folder and see when it was sent.
Here is the wording for your IEP meeting request. This is the request I use when I want to get someone's attention. At this point in my IEP (career) my letters are now less formal and all the (legal) wording is no longer needed. And remember to change the time frame days if your state requires something that is not 10 days.
To Whom it May Concern,
I am formally contacting you for an IEP meeting request. As per State law, I am required to receive this meeting within 10 days from this notice being sent. I am contacting you regarding Student, (child's full name) at (Full School Name) in (Teacher's name) class in grade (grade level).
I want to meet regarding (issues you are having with school, list in complete detail) as it states I am required to notify you of in the state of (State you live in)'s requirements and guidelines of IEP request.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
(Your Full Name)
If you have sent off this request and have not heard back from the school on the 9th day from when the letter was sent I send off a second request. I will not wait for the 10th day if I haven't heard back from the school. They are already violating my rights and my daughters rights at this point and a point needs to be made. Contact the head of special education for your county or city and get their email address. Your second letter of contact to the school needs to be sent via email to the school and also at the same time to the head of special education.
That letter will read as follows:
To Whom it May Concern,
I am formally contacting you for an IEP meeting request. As per State law, I am required to receive this meeting within 10 days from this notice being sent. I am contacting you regarding Student, (child's full name) at (Full School Name) in (Teacher's name) class in grade (grade level).
Regarding, (list in full detail the issues and concerns that you have).
This is my second attempt to contact you for an IEP meeting. As I have not heard back a date from you as per State law for (10) days notice. As you know this is in violation with State compliance. You have (10) days in which to make this IEP meeting happen and become compliant before I contact my advocate, aka lawyer.
A copy of this letter is also being sent to (List Head of Special Education name), the head of Special Education for the County and state of (List the county of the school and the State you live in).
I look forward to hearing from.
Sincerely,
(Your Full Name)
This is your second attempt at getting an IEP meeting set up. I have had a friend who has a school that likes to make sure that they set up meetings when she can't make it. The second letter provided for you is also to be used if the school wants to meet when you and they know that your child has outside doctors appointments during those times. It's an under handed tactic but yes a school will do that. I have only had to send a second notice once the entire span that my daughter has had an IEP.
If you still can't get the IEP contact your advocate. Send them your emails and make them aware that you are not getting any resolution from the school. They will walk you through the steps of what to do next.
If you are able to have a meeting make sure that you take notes in the meeting and question anything your are wanting clarified. Do not sign the updated IEP if it doesn't have in it what you are requesting the school do and don't leave the meeting. If you do the words out of your mouth should be, I see we are not going to see eye to eye on this and you will be hearing from my lawyer. I have not gotten to this point myself but I will waste a schools time by having an IEP meeting every single week. That's when the head of the special education department has to be present at those meetings because I'm holding so many of them. I have made an example of a teacher before and I have also received a better school environment for my child.
Here in the city that I live in there is a 2 year waiting list to get into the best special needs school. It's the school all special needs parents want their child in. My child wasn't even on the list 6 months when she got accepted in. And I was told at every single weekly meeting they would not accept her in because the school was full. The current school my child was at was tired of me. They couldn't stand a parent who knew what they were doing. I wouldn't comply and just sit back and accept what they wanted me to accept. That's not the type of person that I am. I am made for success! I am so competitive it's not even funny! I am number one in my district at work for the classroom. And I will stay number one when it comes to getting services for my child. Even if it's just to tweak her speech therapy to correct one little word. Special note on the tweaking for one little word, yes I've done it but the school therapist has to be on the same page with me. If I'm working on that word at home you had better believe the school needs to be working on it as well. The reason I do that is because my child has autism. They have to be taught something 1000 times before they get it. I will do 500 and let the school do 500 so that she get's it faster.
You and the school have to be on the same page of everything when it comes to your child. If y'all are not working together it's the child that suffers. I insist on work for the holidays so we can all stay on the same page and my child doesn't miss a beat when it comes to days out of school.
Don't let any school try to take advantage of you. This is your child's future they are playing with. This is a make or break time. It determines if your child can be a functioning member of society when they get older or not.
See you guys on the flip side.
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