This is the second part to my IEP post titled "Equal Rights." These are just some of the things that I have learned through my experience with our school district.
1.
Understanding Your Role as an Advocate
·
It is not only our duty and obligation, but also
our honor and priviledge to be the voice for our children. There may be some stressful times, pressure
filled meetings but it is imperative that we fight for the education that our
special children deserve.
·
We need to direct our children’s education. The IEP team can provide their expertise but
you are the ultimate decision maker regarding his/her education.
·
We have our children’s best interest in
mind. The rest of the IEP team has 40
other students on their mind.
·
By researching the most current methodologies,
theories and curriculums, you will gain a knowledge base about how children
with your child’s special need learn.
·
Understand the basic premise behind special
education, which is the fact that the school district has to service our children
with their unique special need. They
are not allowed to lump him in a classroom because they don’t have the right
services available. It is our job to
hold the school district accountable.
·
Observe any classroom placement prior to
agreeing to it.
·
Have high expectations for our children and
their IEP goals.
·
Ask for a copy of our children’s school district
file on an annual basis.
·
Asks lots of questions and follow up to make
sure that all questions are answered.
2.
Be
Prepared
·
Use the assessments and evaluations conducted by
the school district to build your argument.
·
Write out your expected outcomes or goal for the
meeting.
·
Put together your thoughts in written form so
that you can stay organized during the meeting.
·
One of the best tools is to write out the
timeline of every important event conducted by the school district starting
with the evaluation, up until the current meeting. The timeline will provide a big picture in
addition to getting your facts and dates together.
·
If you
feel that the meeting will be contentious practice verbally ahead of time, even
trying to predict what the school districts rebuttal will be to your
request.
·
Determine your emotional state of mind prior to
going into the meeting. (At one of our
meetings that we knew was going to be especially contentious we decided that we
would not refute anything said to goad us into an emotional debate, we stayed
with the facts and ignored emotional comments made by the school personnel).
·
Have a
friend come in and take notes during the meeting due to the large amount of
information being passed back and forth between the school and parents.
·
Follow up with the meeting with an email
recapping what you thought you heard in the meeting and the stated outcomes.
3.
Understand
the Legal Process of the IEP
There is an entire legal process that the school district
needs to follow to meet our children’s special educational needs. We
need to know and understand the IEP process and what the school district is
required to do to conduct the IEP, including the legal time frames and the
denial process if we request a service and it is denied by the school. Additionally, we need to familiarize ourselves
with the IEP terminology such as Prior Written Notice, direct and indirect
services, etc.
4. Know
Our Children’s Rights Under the Disability Law
Under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), there are 4 basic rights granted to children with special educational
needs. Know these and understand how
they are applied to the to the individual educational plan;
·
Free Access to a Public Education (FAPE) – Under
this right the school district has to provide free access to an appropriate
public education. The school district
is not required to provide the best public education, it only has to be
appropriate.
·
Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) – Students
have a right to be with non-disabled children.
For some of us the LRE is having our children with other children like
them such as hearing impaired children.
This right also includes that disabled children also should have access
to any general education curriculum that is afforded a non-disabled child.
·
Supplementary Aids and Services – Aids and
services to help a disabled child obtain success in ac classroom.
·
Assessments – evaluation of your child with
quantifiable measures.
A great website to
learn your rights is called www. wrightslaw.com
5.
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask for Help
If you think that your child should be receiving services
granted under the IDEA, contact an advocacy group. Their
responsibility is to;
·
Teach us our rights under the law.
·
Train us how to be advocates for our children
·
Increase our expectations for our children.
·
Support us at IEP meetings when necessary.
Liz---this is the only way I could find to contact you. Feel free not to publish or delete this comment. You are still a "no-reply." There's no way to reply to your comment. Yes, I'd love to talk about being a guest blogger! You have me blushing!
ReplyDeletenancyvnjourney@hotmail.com
nancy-of the crazy 9
Nancy,
DeleteI just sent you email. We'll talk soon!
Liz