Questions to Ask About a BSP - Is it Being Implemented?

• Questions to ask about BSP and implementing it.

  
  1) Ask to see the BSP (many times it can't even be found)

  
  2) Ask for the documentation that shows it was implemented.

  
  3) Ask for the ongoing data collection/progress monitoring.

  
  4) Ask how do we know this is working if we don't have the data? 

PWN - What, Why, and How it Can Benefit You

PWN tells you a lot.  If the district has real reasons for their denial of a service it wil be included.  If they don't have any good reasons to deny your child a service, such as budget constraints or just because they can (in their opinion), then it is your green light to go the next step - either a compliance complaint or an Alternate dispute resolution, Mediation only, or Due process request.

http://www.specialeducationadvisor.com/using-prior-written-notice-as-a-tool/comment-page-1/#comment-105321

Q & A Should I Walk Out of an IEP Meeting?

I can't go into specifics, but I had a huge difficulty in my IEP today and I wanted to walk out early because it was going nowhere. What should I have said? Have you ever left an IEP early for that reason? After hours and hours, I ended up not signing the IEP it and rescheduling for another day.

It's pretty difficult to know how to suggest what you should have said.  Each situation is so different.  I would never suggest walking out of an IEP early, I think you did well to stay.  I always take my IEPs home, unless it is very simple, so that I don't have to worry about what is in the paperwork as I can very clearly see that the goals are what we discussed, the services are what we discussed and the notes are simple and I can take in what it says easily.  I just did that with an IEP that was to discuss an IEE and the district agreed to do exactly what we wanted, we wrote one goal, there was no change in services, and less than half a page of notes.  But that is rare.

I would write out what I wanted to see happen, maybe even send it to the head of Special ed if you think that would help.  If you need an evaluation to back up what you wanted think about that.  Was this a Triannual IEP?  If so you are entitled to an IEE in every area you think should be addressed.  They may try to say you are only entitled to them in areas that they addressed but that isn't true, they should have already addressed all areas of suspected disability and if they didn't then you have the right to an IEE in an area that you suspect now. It is best to include your suspected concerns on the Assessment Plan, but you are not responsible for all of the assessments being on there, they are.  If it wasn't a Triannual then you may need to ask them for evaluations and then get the IEEs after they present you with evaluations because their evaluation had to be within a year.  

I think it is always better to sign for the aspects of the IEP that you agree with (though usually at home), you will also look more reasonable that way should you end up in due process later.  I usually sign for goals and services except that I may disagree with the services being so few maybe in behavioral - so I would say "I agree to implementing the IEP as it is, but I do believe that there should be more behavioral therapy than is being suggested.  I will accept what is current ly being offered but do not agree that it is enough."  Or if they are suggesting reducing or removing services I would say "I do not agree with the reduction in services offered in this IEP.  I would like to request an IEE to confirm if the reduction is reasonable and in the meantime, I would like the district to continue the services as they were presented in the last IEP."  Then I would send a letter requesting the IEE and mention the stay put for services that you have requested.  The cannot legally discontinue services or reduce them now without taking you to due process to prove that they were right.  Most often the district will need to give you the IEE unless they are also prepared to insist that their evaluation was adequate - which then means you would need to get the evaluation and pay for it out of pocket and have the expert show that their evaluation was crap, but that may be a long way out and my never happen, just trying to give you advance warning. 

Do I Seem Upset?

“It seems like we’re all getting a little upset here”.  

I’ve heard this a lot lately at IEP meetings.  This is the statement made when the district doesn’t have an answer for a question that parents or advocates pose.  It can also come when the parents seem to be unhappy with the responses the district gives.  It’s said in order to slow things down and its said in a tone of voice that intimates that the parent is getting overly emotional when in fact I haven’t seen that to be the case.

Hey, district personal needs to be prepared for parents not being happy with their proposals, especially since most often those proposals are for far less than experts in the field suggest is needed for growth.  When non-verbal children are given one 20 minute session of speech per week, and that’s usually in a small group which most experts will tell you isn’t appropriate for non-verbal children, parents tend to get upset.  When a child with sensory issues that keep them from learning are given no OT services because they can write, as if writing is the only OT issue to address in the schools it isn’t so good.  Hey, we even knew that before the expert told us and we’ve been advocating for more and better services before we got here with the expert, and you have the audacity to tell me that my kid doesn’t need what it is so obvious he or she needs.  Yeah, I get a bit upset.  But I don’t think that fact is important unless I start looking like I’m about to pull out a machine gun. 

I think the next time someone says they think the group is getting upset I will say something to the effect of “So, what are you upset about?”   Let them get on the defensive for a change. 

Choosing the Right School

Our school district has a policy that disallows what they call "school shopping".  Their opinion is that each of their school sites that offers certain programs all offer THE SAME program.  Of course we all know that this isn't true - otherwise why would parents prefer one school site over another?  This isn't to say that one is necessarily better than another (although that may be the case), but could it be that one site is better or more appropriate for a specific child?  I believe so.  I believe it is disingenuous for the district to state that they are all THE SAME and therefore transfers are not necessary.

When our oldest was returning to district after having gotten all he could from the county program for kids with severe emotional difficulties he wanted to attend a particular high school that was not our neighborhood high school.  It wasn't that our neighborhood high school was so bad, but he had made some enemies before going into the county program and he was nervous about how he would be welcomed back. The last time he had seen a group of about 6-8 boys was when they were chasing him and threatening to do him harm.  The district agreed that he would be transferred to the other school site as part of his IEP.   

My oldest daughter has had some difficulty in our neighborhood elementary school, mostly teasing and great difficulty making any friends.  She is quite a cute girl, she is sweet and a good friend once she is your friend, but she is also painfully shy, has a great deal of anxiety, and if she is not diagnosable as depressed, she is very close.  Her most recent psychological evaluation suggested that she is clinically depressed, but the district prefers to ignore that since she is not taking a specifically antidepressant medication - just a medication that is used for depression and anxiety.  I have actually avoided making a big deal out of the depression with the school because from everything we have seen and discussed with various professionals her depression is primarily driven by her anxiety - so working on the anxiety helps to diminish the depression so we have chosen to work on the cause of the depression rather than focusing on what seems to be a diagnosis of outcome rather than a primary diagnosis.   She has also been diagnosed with Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - which tells us that she is a follower and that she is likely to follow anyone who accepts her down whatever rabbit hole they might lead her.  All kids are like this to a certain degree, but kids with pFAS are especially vulnerable to this.  

We had this particular child transferred in Jr High as the school in our area was in "Program Improvement" meaning they were not doing well at teaching the children that attended there.  We had allowed her to attend a "Program Improvement" school prior to this and had seen her skills slip - especially her oral language skills.  She went from a child who spoke mostly appropriately to a child who wouldn't use proper tenses and would use double negatives with regularity.  We had seen her propensity for following the crowd already.  

The school that she transferred to has been a wonderful opportunity for her.  Her language didn't really improve, but then it didn't get worse either.  She did however find a small group of caring and compassionate friends who although they don't invite her often or include her in all of their activities, are open to having her come along at times and treat her with caring and respect.  This group is among the popular kids which then helps her to be treated kindly by other kids at the school.  If someone is mean to her, the "cool kids" stand up for her, and so teasing and humiliation have been at a minimum.  I don't think there are many kids who get through Jr. High completely unscathed so this was really a great situation for her.

Now, as it is time to move on to High School, the IEP "team" refuses to send her to the High School that her current Jr. High feeds into.  They say she must return to her "home school".  This decision of course does not take into account her Generalized Anxiety Disorder, her Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or her Clinical Depression that is included in her most recent Neuropsychogical Evaluation even though I have not made a big deal out it with the district.  Their excuse is that the law states that when possible a child should be educated at the school of residence.  We all know that the law they are referring to was intended to PROTECT our children, and is in this case being used to imprison this child in a situation where she will once again be placed with the children who have previously humiliated and teased this child.  She will also have no group of friends who will stick up for her so she will hang out with whoever will tolerate her quirkiness, and she will once again be vulnerable to all manner of abuse since she will do whatever it takes to "have friends".  Wouldn't we all be willing to go outside of our comfort zone if otherwise we were left with no one to have lunch with or talk about our favorite shows or tars or whatever with?  Being lonely is a great motivator - most of us will do whatever it takes to avoid isolation.

Was the IEP process meant to force children to attend  the local school even when their psychological diagnoses would recommend against it?  Was it meant to allow a district to avoid taking responsibility for a child's well being?  Was it meant to set up a pretense that all schools are equal for all children?  I believe that emotional diagnoses are supposed to be considered as a part of the IEP process as well as educational diagnoses.  I also believe that if all of the schools programs were actually the same then parents wouldn't prefer one setting over others.

The way I am choosing to deal with this issue is to file for a 504 hearing.  It is similar to Due Process under IDEA but a 504 dispute is based on issues of disability and discrimination.  The beauty of this particular type of hearing is that the district cannot rely on the SELPA (a mega-district here in CA) to do all of the work for them and they may be more likely to carefully consider the case than rush to a hearing since the onus is on them.  I will write more as we get further into this and learn how the district chooses to respond.  

How to Save Time, Money, and Your Sanity at IEP Meetings

I have found that when our attorney comes to our IEP meetings there is a lot of time wasted.  We really try to have him come to as few as possible, but there are still times when we feel it is important for him to come.  I can just as easily tape the meeting, send him a copy, and let him listen without having to pay his travel time.  Additionally, if there are only a few minutes that he needs to hear I can cue that up for him or tell him where on the recording he needs to listen thus reducing our attorney fees significantly.  At first we had him come to all of the meetings, this was important so that he could get a feel for what we were dealing with and so he know where to go with our case.  He needed to know the players and their personalities just in case we had to go to Due Process.  Once I was able to catch on to what was important and what should or should not be said we felt safe with informing him of what occurred after the fact.

We also found that when he was coming the district tended to start meetings last and take many breaks.  That didn't happen at our most recent meeting, but when we were going to take a five minute break the district people all left for over 20 minutes.  If they can use up your attorney money in those meetings then you my not have enough left to fight them later on when it comes to going to Due Process.

Another way of wasting our money has been for the district people to read their reports to the whole group.  We do our best to avoid this.  For one thing it's insulting.  My daughter is the one with the learning handicaps, I and supposedly all of the district people in the room should have been capable of reading any reports and having the presenter highlight parts they feel are especially important.  Therefore it is important to ask for copies of their reports prior to any IEP meetings and then read them, write down questions, or problems you have with what you find.  They are supposed to give them to you once they are done and prior to the meeting but this rarely happens unless you request it in writing.  Even then, it often doesn't happen unless you write a reminder a few days before the meeting.  I also ask for copies of proposed goals prior to the meeting, and that way I don't feel under pressure to take in any important information at the meeting.  IEP meetings are pressure situations for us parents, and the less pressure we can feel, the better we will be able to participate in discussions.  I try to write down any questions or concerns I have ahead of the meeting.  I have also learned that some people will try to include written statements in the IEP that were prepared ahead of time and paint our child in an unfavorable light without our knowledge.  Our request for information ahead of time makes this kind of trick less likely to happen, but still we are careful to check the documentation when we sign so that nothing gets added in that we weren’t expecting.

I found this to be especially true at our first IEP meeting.  We had no time left to discuss goals or services so these were skimmed over and we had no input into what was written.  We have learned since then, we would simply call  for the meeting to reconvene on another day so that we could properly finish, but as neophytes we went along with their program of stifling any input we may have had.

I am also learning to do lots of research on every topic to be discussed at the meeting coming up.  Our last meeting was about Speech and Placement.  So, I looked all over to learn as much as I could about what our experts were discussing - the diagnosis, her suggested therapy, what the district SLP had previously suggested, looking for suggested goals online.  Everything I could find.  I went on the ASHA (American Speech and Hearing Association) web site.  I found a web site called Apraxia-Kids (my daughter's diagnosis) and I became as much of an expert as I could on her issues and how it is recommended that therapists work with kids like her.  I also went on the OAH (Office of Administrative Hearings) website to see how they have come down on cases similar to my daughter's.  Come to find that most parents are trying to get their kids into a lower level of care when they have my daughter's issues, and here we are trying to get her into a more restrictive environment.  What this tells me, is that our district is going in the opposite direction of how the judges come down most of the time and so we have a pretty good chance of winning if we go to Due Process.  I may not need all of this information now, but it gives me a sense of power going into the room that I have the judges on my side.  I am more confident and can argue more persuasively on my daughter's behalf.  I also believe that if I know what I'm talking about and have research to back me up, the district is less likely to push things to Due Process since they know I am more likely to win if I know what I am talking about.

The only problem with research is that there is often research that says otherwise too.  You want to try to know what they will have backing up what they say.  You want to check out where the preponderance of the research leads.  If there is only one research project that says X will work and you find 25 that say Y will work, you want to know this.  Then you should not be suggesting X and if they suggest X you can say, yes but there is only one project that supports your suggestions and 25 that back up my recommendation.

I don't know how people who work full time can get all of this done, but if you can't do it maybe you can get a friend or family member to help you.  Once you find one research study you can find more by looking at their footnotes.  And on and on.  Thanks to the internet we can do a lot more of this from home than we used to, we often have to test different search words and different search engines to find what will work best for us.  Finding professional organizations is great too, since they will generally include information about the latest research and about ethical guidelines that can help us in our quest for appropriate services.

"Forewarned is forearmed" is something my mom used to tell me.  Knowing what is coming, and using that knowledge to gain more knowledge is the only way to win the battles we face in getting our kids what they need from their education.

Who is Supposed to Be at the IEP Meeting?

Our district has always had a habit of avoiding doing what they are supposed to do for as long as possible. They know they will eventually have to do what the law says but if they can put it off it will save them money (they think!). One of the ways they have done this is by not inviting decision makers to the meeting.

We don’t often know who the decision makers are when we first begin the IEP process. As you go along you figure out who in your district needs to be there, but early on it’s often impossible to know. If you are looking at a change say between districts or from County schools to district or district to County schools there must be a representative from the place you hope to change to at the meeting or no change will happen. There must be someone at the meeting who can make the decision and not inviting them is the easiest way to avoid doing what you are asking for them to do.

When our daughter was in pre-school we decided we needed to change her placement. The school where she went first was about a 30 minute drive away. We were told she HAD to go to that particular school because she was non-ambulatory (she didn't walk until 3 years, 4 months. We agreed to that school originally because we believed this lie, and then when she could walk and we were told by her regional center case worker that she didn't like how the staff was treating our daughter we decided it was time to make a change.

I requested an IEP meeting and told them that we wanted to change her placement. We had a meeting, but no one from the new school came so we couldn't make the change. Another meeting was set - for 30 days later (the maximum allowed by law) and once again, whoever needed to be there wasn't there, so another meeting was scheduled, again, 30 days later. Again, the right people weren't there. At this point I said "Fine, but my daughter will not be attending school until you get this meeting set and we get the new placement worked out." They were able to get a meeting put together, with the right people, and get her placed before that 30 day time limit once they knew they would not be getting their paycheck for her unless they made a new placement happen.

This taught me a few of things. We can play hardball with them, especially when it comes to attendance before they legally have to attend school. Also, we often hear that our kids cost a lot of money but I have had at least one school do everything they could through four IEP meetings to keep her, so my bet is they get more money than it costs to provide the services they actually provide in most cases. If they are fighting to keep your kid, they are probably making a bundle on my child and I probably need to be looking at what they aren't doing that they should. My child should not be a money maker for the district - they should see her as a child to invest in, not as a cash cow.