The IEP Meme

As you may know, my good bloggy buddy Karen at Solodialoge came up with a fantastic idea to help us, parents of special needs children, see what accommodations and services other kiddos are getting. Karen tagged me, Rhonda at Going Insane, Wanna Come, and Grace at That's Right I Said it Dot Mom, and Flannery at Living on the Spectrum: The Connor Chronicles. Check these ladies out. They have good stuff going on.

As for Ted...yeah...suffice to say we pay an advocate a lot of money. To be fair, we just got her in December. What took me so long, you ask? Well, The Hubs is military. When we were in the first state with the boys, everybody kept saying, just wait until you get to Rhode Island. East Coast. That's where it's AT! Those folks are so focused on special ed needs...I mean, it sucks HERE, but when you get THERE it will be TONS better! So we hung out and waited, believing that Rhode Island would be a panacea of glorious special education understanding and accommodations. Made sense, right? Rhode Island = by Boston = Harvard and Rhode Island = by Connecticut = Yale; therefore, Rhode Island MUST be awesome. Uh. That clearly was a logic FAIL of epic proportions.

In Rhode Island, well, much sucked. Including the Island we lived on. Very poor school district - although, supposedly the best one on the god forsaken Island for special kids. Not really. Again, we kept hearing, well when you get to THE NEW STATE, you know, it will be better. Just stick it out and know that you are moving someplace better.

Now we are in The New State. We bought a house, as we plan(ned?) on being here for a very long time. Very good school district. Highly rated, in the top 50 throughout the state, blah blah blah. As you know, Ted is not currently attending said Great School because, frankly, it is the exact opposite of Great. It pretty much fucking sucks.

Ted has not been tested in any way, shape of form by a school district for 2-1/2 years. His goals NOW on his IEP are the (wait for it) THE EXACT SAME AS ON HIS ORIGINAL IEP over two years ago.

The administrative cog in the education wheel told one of our home-based spec ed teachers that the IEP she put together for Ted this summer was the biggest piece of shit ever written and that it would have to be redone. It wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. On that we agree. Why she still turned it in, why she admitted that Ted needed all new psych and educational evals - yet refused to originally state that in the IEP, why she essentially screwed my kid from the beginning...these things I have no answers to. Yet. But. I WILL get answers. Again. My son is not a case. He is not a number. He is a living, breathing person who is entitled to that all-but-impossible-to-REALLY-obtain FAPE.

But, I digress.

Now. On to the Meme:

1. A list of tools (special chairs, iPad, visual schedules, gums, chewlery, squishees, headphones, whatever devices help focus and sensory issues);
2. Services (Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, ABA, TEACCH, Special Ed teaching rooms, aides during class, tutors, etc. ) and how many hours per week of each your child receives;
3. Your opinions of the effectiveness of (1) and (2) above.

List of Tools:
None. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

The IEP states: "Theodore does not require assistive technology devices at this time..." Later in the IEP it states that "Theodore qualified for OT services to address sensory issues. A classroom sensory diet was implemented as needed." No, it wasn't. He received nothing. They didn't evaluate him at all. They didn't take data. They basically did nothing.

Services:
30 minutes of Speech, 30 times a semester (2x week) either pulled in separate class or in his home class.
30 minutes of OT, 1x MONTH.
2.75 hours of Early Childhood Spec Ed classroom time. 5x week.

I am going to go a bit further and tell you about Ted's goals. Keep in mind that everybody and their brother swears that Ted is average academically (except for the pedi-neuro in Rhode Island who said Ted fell into the clinical range - MR - after their IQ test.). So, he is average academically, per these idiots, yet THESE are his goals:

1) Language - improve his communication skills in order for more appropriate interactions with peers and adults and to make his wants and needs known within the school environment. This will be accomplished by:
     a) Ted will answer simple "wh" questions.
     b) Ted will identify what is happening in the beginning, middle and end of a story, given picture clues.
     c) Ted will use multi-word phrases (this kills me here. It totally proves they just copied and pasted from the old IEPs): 4-5 words.
     d) Ted will participate in oral motor exercises...
2) Self help - improve his self-help skills for increased independence within the school environment. This will be accomplished by:
     a) Ted will independently pull pants up/down during toileting (not really an issue now that it is nearly 3 years after the fact).
     b) Ted will independently take on and put off his backpack and unpack materials (again, no longer a need).
3) Social-Emotional - improve social emotional skills for increased classroom success. This will be accomplished by:
     a) Ted will participate in back and forth peer interactions (not listed what kind of interactions, how this will be facilitated, etc.)
     b) Ted will transition between activities with cues as needed (yeah. I just don't have words right now.)

So. That's it. They would be very successful, considering nearly all those goals have been met for over a year now.

After the whole improper movement and bruising of my kid, we pulled him out of school and got the advocate.

Currently, we have Ted at home. He receives a total of 5 hours per week of home-based special ed. We have two teachers who come to the house and work with Ted. We are also supposed to be receiving two-30 minute sessions of Speech per week. We have received precisely 1 hour of speech since mid-December. We have zero accommodations. Zero.

I am jaded and hateful towards the public schools - really all schools right now. I am completely unconvinced that any of these so-called professionals give one shit about my, or any of our kids. Bottom line, our kids are feet in the seat for funding purposes - God forbid you don't fill out a green card, AmIRight?!

I would say that nothing is really working out well for my kid. The spec ed home school teachers are fine. No complaints, and I actually think they "get" Ted. However, in talking with them, I have come to realize - yet again - how truly fucked up the system is.

One Teacher: You know, Ted would do really well with a one-on-one aid in the basic spec ed class.
Me: Really, because I would be open to that. Would you be willing to put that on paper?
Teacher: Well, the district doesn't have one-on-one aids any more, so he couldn't actually have one.

Other Teacher: You know, Ted would do really well in an autism classroom.
Me: Okay. That's cool. How can I get him into one, or visit one?
Teacher: Well, he isn't actually eligible for that now. It's only for Kinder students and up.

It's frustrating to hear about these "perfect" programs...that don't apply to us. It's like a kick to the head, really. I guess they are trying to be helpful, but. ummmm....yeaaahh...

So, that's it for the Meme. Now *wickedly rubs hands together*...I am going to tag:

Karla at Beyond The Dryer Vent because she has told us before, but I want to follow up and see how she likes what they are getting. And, I think Karla kicks major ass at IEP stuff.

Papa Bear at Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I am not going to ask him to do the meme, unless he wants to. Basically he just did it unsolicited in his last post. Check it out!

Tessa at Apples and Autobots. Just blatant curiosity on my part.

And my last victim is Marsupial Mama at Autism Rocks, as I am interested in how The Don is set up across the Pond.

Purely optional and hopefully, I have not offended anyone with my gifting them with the Meme. Looking forward to seeing how your kids are set up in school - what I can learn and steal from you all!