IEP TEAM REFUSE TO ASSIST MY CHILD! NO EVIDENCE BASED INSTRU

[dyslexia]

Feeling frustrated with the deny and delay tactics of the school system.
The school system was giving my son 5 hours of ONE on ONE Wilson Reading in 5th grade on step 7.5 ( I paid for another 4 privately because I observed the "newly hired ESE teacher and she wasn't following the Wilson lesson plan and only received a two day training") and then at his transition IEP they recommended a Intensive Reading Class (typically with READ 180 but I asked for WILSON, they wouldn't say what would be used). I wrote on the IEP that I DID NOT AGREE and then wrote a state compliant. They were found in violation of not providing services and not delivering instruction on goals and short term obj. (Teacher never even worked on short term fluency goals to read word lists and phrases said she didn't have any)
Over the summer his State Test scores came back and he soared level 4 (3 is on grade level up from a 1)
Now 3 meetings into this school year they REMOVED him from the Intensive Reading Class WITHOUT HAVING ANY DATA on his goals. They took the gen. ed Reading Teachers FALSE data on the WILSON WADE (Showed them a video of him not being able to ID the letter sounds with my private tutor- still does not know all of them) and SAN DIEGO to justify themselves. I found errors in both of her protocols. ( Teacher states in her report that the child must get 5 errors per grade level on the San Diego Quick Assessment of Reading. I googled it and its ONLY 3 errors for frustration, She even had the wrong grade levels on the report for the listed words he decoded incorrectly)
They removed him because they felt he didn't have a Reading Deficit at this time. The ESE teacher in the Intensive Reading class NEVER WORKED ON HIS GOALS AGAIN!!! They gave me a written notice of refusal on the Wilson and the support facilitator and district refuse to use any EVIDENCE/RESEARCH BASED curriculum/programs during the gen. ed support in Language Arts and S.S. time. They refuse to do ANY PROGRAMS TO HELP MY 6th grade son.
What to do now? Another state compliant or due process? Any advice from those of you who have been there done that!!!!! I appreciate your input."

[healthy11]

dyslexia, I'd like to welcome you to Millermom's forum, although I wish it was under better circumstances. I don't have personal experience with the situation like you describe, so I will defer to others as far as what recommendations to follow, but can I ask what state you're in? When was your son's initial IEP written? Was his eligibility category solely for an SLD in reading? When you say that he had a transition IEP, is that because he was moving from elementary school to middle school, and if so, is it considered a different school district than the one you previously filed the state complaint on?

[michellea]

Hi Dyslexia,
This does sound very frustrating!

Let me confirm some of the facts - your son at one time had an IEP that listed 1:1 Wilson for 5 hours a week. Did the document specify all of these details such as Wilson and the 1:1 special ed teacher? Or was it more loosely defined ie 5 hours of reading support and they happened to be using Wilson? When you say you filed a complaint, was this due process or was this with an official that deals with compliance issues? As a result of this complaint, did the IEP ever change or get updated? What does the last agreed upon IEP say as far as reading services? Are you in the same school district?

Under IDEA, you have what are known as stay put rights. If the district recommends a change that you disagree with, the last signed IEP stays in force until the dispute resolution process is exhausted. (this could include an additional meeting, independent evaluation, mediation, due process hearing). If you moved to a new district, the new one must deliver comparable services and retest before writing the new IEP.

The best case is if you have stayed in the same district and merely moved from elementary to middle school within the same district. If this is the case, a district cannot make a change to the IEP and implement unless you agree. As you work out your disagreement, the old IEP must be honored - ie the last specified services should be delivered. If the last signed IEP was not specific about the ratios and program, the school would still be compliant with the IEP if they delivered a special ed reading program in a special ed setting without the 1:1 ratio or the Wilson. Read your last agreed upon IEP to determine if you have this level of specificity - often IEP's do not.

If your child is still on an IEP, you need to write a letter to your sped director explicitly rejecting their offer to reduce the sped services. You should state that you are evoking your Stay put rights to maintain the higher level of services documented in the IEP until the problem can be resolved. If they do not honor this - you should contact your state DOE group that handles compliance issues and ask for their help and file a complaint. In the meantime, if you disagree with their testing (for any reason), you are entitled to request an independent evaluation at district expense. In that same letter, ask for an IEE. Find out what credentials the district requires and the process for handling the bill. Then, find an INDEPENDENT evaluator (probably not someone the school recommends) to test your child's reading (and anything else in question) and use the report as a counter argument to the district's desire to remove services.

[dyslexia]

No, They gave him 1:1 but refused to write it in the IEP. I wrote a state compliant about this.  The district was found in violation of ESE services, not working of Goals and Short term OBJ.  Same school district, took my son from elementary to middle school to the school where I teach.  They gave him an intensive Reading Class- READ 180 instead of looking at his goals and making a program to fit his individual needs.  That and reg. ed were the only options offered in middle school.  Then they did not work on his goals but gave him a ESE and reading teacher in the intensive reading class because I wanted"language as a related service"  I wanted the SLP to teach his reading.  They tested for written language and was found eligible at he second meeting and dismissed him from the Reading class that was not helping.  They were not working on his decoding, fluency or encoding goals with any evidence based program for dyslexics. At the 3rd meeting they tried to state I was in agreement.  I was only in agreement that the way the Intensive Reading class had been designed ( READ 180) was not beneficial to my son They should have been doing WILSON but they didn't even have the materials.  Reading your post and looking back... They just wanted him out of the Reading Class so they don't have to do anything.  So since I wrote the 1st state Compliant I have had a Aug 29, Oct 7 and Nov. 4 meeting with the IEP team and they will not listen.  I asked for an IEE last summer and they wanted to take me due process. SO I stopped it.  So I would have to go to court and prove that they made errors in the reports, right?  They did make scoring errors in the Spelling and Visual Motor Tests.  But wouldn't I have to pay experts to say why their reports are wrong?  They are going to fight me every step of the way because they are wrong and they know it.  His last Re-eval was  NOv. 2014.  He now think because he got an FCAT 4 ( above grade level) that he does not need assistance with decoding, fluency and are not doing anything extra for him except for gen ed curriculum which does not teach these skills in the 6th grade.  PLEASE HELP!

[healthy11]

To clarify, you mentioned FCAT, so I'm guessing you live in Florida. You also said, "His last Re-eval was NOv. 2014." Do you mean 2013?

[michellea]

Given you remain in the same district, the first course of action is to invoke stay put rights - hopefully your last signed IEP includes the services you are seeking. If you agreed to any downward adjustments of services along the way, you will be stuck with the last signed IEP version.

The next step is to take advantage of the dispute resolution process. I would not suggest a hearing as the first step. This is expensive (assuming you hire a lawyer, which I would recommend and contentious. Instead, I would take these steps in this order:
1. Request an IEE at district expense. Read more here: www.wrightslaw.com/info/test.iee.steedman.htm They can complain and take you to due process - if this happens, I would suggest that you try to fund the evaluation via other means - perhaps insurance or on your own dime. I would not want to invest $$ fighting when you could direct the same amount of money on a self funded evaluation.
2. Call a meeting to discuss the report once it is available. This meeting will be your best hope for a quick resolution.
3. If you do not get what you want from the IEE meeting, you can either:
a. Go to mediation (in my state this can be very successful, but I have heard that it is not always as helpful in other states
b. Hire a lawyer and file a due process complaint

You need data that supports your contention that he needs decoding and fluency instruction. They need data to remove it. FCAT gives one look at his abilities, but I know of students that do well on state testing and still have huge deficits in their basic skills. You need to find out if this is your child's case AND get data to prove it. You will need a comprehensive reading evaluation that looks at fluency, word reading, psuedo word reading, comprehension using normed based standardized tests. Ideally the word and psuedo word tests will be under both timed and un - timed conditions. If writing is a concern, the evaluation should look at all aspects of writing including writing samples, conventions etc.

I hope this helps - it does sound like a tough situation. Act quickly - as you can see, the sped process can drag on and on and you don't want your son to lose any more time.

[dw]

I don't have expertise to share, but when my dd took the standardized state tests each year, her scores were always in the accepted standards range for her grade, though never in the above standards range. So, these acceptable-grade level test scores were one of many contributing factors to her not being identified with moderately severe dyslexia for her whole K-12. I learned here at Millermom that a bright child with LD's can have average standardized test scores, and thus be overlooked. Really the bright child should have above average scores, but the teachers/school system do not seem to understand that. When a bright child has average scores, and C grades, these should be a red flag for possible LD"s, I think.

As a dyslexic college student, and now as a college grad, she learned to use Kurweil reading software, that highlights words and reads the text aloud, at any speed she sets it at, and she uses Dragon for writing. She reads for pleasure without the soft ware, but for technical and textbook stuff, she is pretty committed to Kurweil. I think it is a good idea for children with reading and writing problems to learn to use these soft ware as early as possible, so it is a routine, and part of the student's day. I have a friend who sort of wants her high school junior to use Kurweil and Dragon, but he does not want to use it, most likely because he does not see the benefits and does not want to be different from his peers.

[michellea]

Hi dw -
I have many clients that don't want to use technology for fear of being different. This is very common in middle and high school. For me, this is always a red flag for another need area on their IEP - self advocacy. A student that is unable to understand their learning style, access support when needed and be open to alternatives often needs to develop self advocacy skills. Typically, objectives might include understanding their learning style, self reflection, problem solving and accessing help. In my opinion, these skills end up to be as or more important than the literacy skills.

That said, Kurzweil is not for everyone or for every situation. Some kids with auditory processing difficulties just cannot get over the robotic voice. These kids might do better with Learning Aly or Audio Books. Sometimes kids with decent decoding and fluency skills that struggle with comprehension don't find a huge benefit with Kurzweil, unless they learn and actively use some of the functionality such as dictionary, highlighting and note taking. If the teachers don't support these functions, the student never realizes the benefit. Dragon does not work for everyone - especially pre-pubecent boys with screeching voices. Often better to wait until voice has changed. Also, it is difficult to use in the school setting - one needs a quiet place away from the general classroom setting so that writer can speak and the program does not pick up background noise. AND there is a learning curve with the functionality - I have found that it is helpful for the student's IEP to contain objectives that address becoming proficient with the functionality of Dragon and Kurzweil. This gets the teachers on board and knowledgable and improves the students proficiency so that they can actually use the tools well and enjoy the benefits.

It might make sense for the student to start slowly - use the tools in a special ed setting such as a resource room where there is less peer pressure and more teacher support. Then, the student can begin to use the tools at home to complete HW and study for tests.

His team needs to be creative in removing the barriers associated with AT and creating opportunities for him to successfully use it so that he will understand the benefits and ultimately embrace the tools. But even for an eager student, merely handing him a laptop with the tools and expecting him to use it probably won't work!

[dyslexia]

Yes, I am in Fl and the re-eval was done Nov 2013 with a report given Jan 2014. I have hired an attorney but she is not really guiding me enough, in my opinion.That's why I am reaching out to you all. She is Not saying Do this or do that... she has been at the last 2 meeting physically and 1 by phone. Having read what you just wrote above she should have STOPPED them from removing the instensive Reading class. I was hoping they would allow the SLP to teach reading as I had requested at an earlier meeting so that she could teach Reading in a one on one setting. This is my draft so far for another state compliant:
I am writing this state complaint because I have tried to resolve the issues with the school district in a professional manner but feel there is no way to resolve the differences with the lies, false documentation and intimidation tactics as retaliation since my last compliant.

I believe the school district of Palm Beach County is specifically in violation of:

not providing ESE services as outlined in ----- IEP for the April 2014 IEP during the 2014-2015 school year, specifically regarding:

Goals and Short term objectives
Special education services

-Withdrew from Intensive Reading class because parent and team agreed it was not designed to meet his needs, because as designed the general teacher, ---- is also not certified as a level one teacher of Wilson yet (exhibit 1) was unwilling to change the program from READ 180 for--- and the ESE teacher, ---was untrained in instructing --- from where he left off at the end of 5th grade with “ the Wilson Reading Program”- the teachers were not even given the Wilson materials for step 7.0 and above” from the district” and the district had no intention of instructing my son in the proven methodology that has gotten him to his level of Reading mastery thus far. They did not have any data to prove he was learning or has learned the necessary skills NOT to be serviced in the area of his READING deficits. (Exhibit 2) He needs to finish all 12 steps of Wilson and is currently on 7.5 out of 12.0 steps. The school system also owns “Wilson Just Words” and that was available for use at the school, but was never used as well. Deb Stern was given a training on 5/15/2015 (Exhibit 3)

Parent wants the SLP to address the Reading as outlined in “The ways CAP Problems Can Influence Reading” and “Organization of an rationale for Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) Profiles” copied from the FL DOE white paper on CAPD ( Exhibit 3) and the FL DOE white paper that she read at the 8/30/14 meeting to the team which states that SLP’s can be used to provide READING INSTRUCTION,, and given to the audiologist, ---- and IEP team during the Oct 7th meeting. I asked which of the profiles my son has: Auditory decoding deficit, integration deficit, or a output/organization deficit. Only a neuro -audiology test would determine these profiles and they gave me a written notice of refusal to test. So we will not know what management strategies to use to assist ----.

-Failed to test for all areas, Under IDEA and its state counterparts, is required to fully evaluate any child who may need special education services "in all areas related to the suspected disability, including, if appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities." (34 CFR Sec. 300.304)

requested a neuro-audiology test to determine Auditory Processing Disorder after the school accommodated with”soundfield distribution system of races to curriculum” FM system, and recommend “Earobics” to be used at home and school. He was basically Educationally diagnosed with Auditory Processing without any testing done because the school would have to pay an outside agency. They have provided this testing for other students in the district, so their claim that it “would not provide anything educationally relevant” on the Written Notice of refusal can not be true. Why would they provide to others and not my child?

Deny and delay testing for written language- parent stated to ----s, Psy.S.,NCSP, when ---- was in the second grade that she thought he had dysgraphia, no one tested. Again asked for Language testing on August of 2013, denied all sections of language testing -Written and Phonemic awareness the of DAR on phonemic awareness, asked again for a language report that would test phonemic areas, they did, but was not normed for his age, no relabel data came from that test. Asked again for language testing and they completed the DAR in April 2014, weakness in decoding- word recognition grade 3, oral reading accuracy grade 4, fluency grade 2, spelling grade 2. These are extreme deficits for a 6th graders.

All previous testing indicators also indicated a weakness on Areas in Written Language-

Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement III
Spelling-SS67, 1% tile,
Writing Samples- SS87 19%tile,
Writing Fluency- SS79 8%tile,
Written Expression-SS80 9%tile,
Broad Written Language SS 69 2%tile

If they are trained professionals shouldn’t they know that he also needed a written language evaluation? They failed to suspect a disability in written language and only tested after the parents attend 5 IEP meetings in 5th grade and another meeting in 6th grade before ----, SLP, suggested testing for Written Language on 8/29/14. There delays in testing has taken a whole year since the parent brought up concerns from the DAR on 9/13 that identified that ---- was in the 5th grade and spelled on a 1.5-2.0 grade level. Why didn’t they test sooner?

- They suggest 1 hour per week from the SLP will close the gap on his 5 year discrepancy between the his current 6th grade instruction and his functioning level at a beginning 2nd grade level. He already had 5 hours of one one one last year by an ESE teacher, he needs more mins per week and an evidence/researched based program to catch up to his peers. The school is not providing am IEP that is reasonably calculated to meet his needs.

No evidence/research based curriculum was used in ESE class or General Ed class as required by IDEA 2004 was used with ---- as requested and discussed at every IEP meetings (Wilson Just Words, Wilson Reading Program, SIMs Word Mapping)

No continuous progress monitoring or collaboration between professionals

Denying parents to act as equal participants in educational decision-making for their child -


Parent also asserts that the district violated her rights, and her decision-making authority to make an educated decision based on technically sound, peer-researched, evidence based and valid and reliable instruments, thereby denying FAPE, and in doing so;
1. Impeded her son’s right to FAPE
2. Significantly impeded her rights as a Parent; the opportunity to participate in the
decision-making process regarding the provision of FAPE to her son
3. Caused deprivation of educational benefits to her son

08/29/2014 -12 page typed needs, changes and supports for for ----- 6th grade IEP drafted by parent (document attached): Provides written documentation as to the present levels that were ignored by the IEP team.
evaluations and therefore her son was denied FAPE and the journals provide proof that the district
was aware of the issues and were ignored.



Sec. 300.305 Additional requirements for evaluations and reevaluations.

[dyslexia]

I asked for an IEE in the summer and they wanted to take me due process. So that is the deny and delay they will try. So you think I should ask again and go before the hearing officer- I found two miner mistakes in the scoring /reporting of the pycho-educational reports and they gave me amended copies. Do you think that is enough to warrant the IEE at the districts expense? The denial of the right instensive Reading class? They didn't have any proof other than a fabricated gen. ed teachers report that I found HUGE errors in administration on - she report 5 errors per grade level on the San Diego quick Assessment of Reading and the directions state 3 , she even has the grade levels wrong for the words he made errors on listed in the report.. Took a video of my son Reading the WILSON sounds and that is wrong too! He still does not know them all.

Should I just pay out of pocket for a READING EVAL and then ask for them to pay for it? But there's is good, they are just not looking at it to determine if he needs READING SERVICES- they are only using the FL FCAT test and the FALSE Data of the gen. ed Reading teacher. NO DaTA on any instruction that was delieverd the whole 1st term.....

UGH!

[bros]

Ask again and go before the hearing officer. Do not pay out of pocket and then ask the district to reimburse, they never will.

[michellea]

Actually, I would not go to hearing without a lawyer and I would rather take the money and pay for the evaluation yourself. If you pay for the evaluation you own it - this is an advantage over an IEE that the district pays for. Also, if you go to DP, you will eat up valuable time and you might loose. Sometimes it is better to suck it up and pay for certain things yourself if you can swing it. Sometimes insurance will pay....;

[dyslexia]

So does it matter, if it is an interim IEP meeting with the STAY PUT order listed above . The IEP orginally was written in April 2014 but I had a meeting in May to finish it and then asked for an interim on Aug 29 to address my 12 page needs, goals, and PLOP additions. they never got around to reading it , says the districts attorney. Then met OCt 7th when they took away all his services in intensive reading with the READ 180 class and gave him only 1 hour a week of SLP Language as a related service because of the written language report shoed a 23 pint spread between reading and writing. Just meet again Nov. 4 and still didn't add anything to the PLOP from the Written Language Report. I think they know that info. would prove that he did not meet his goals from the previous year. Anyway, with all these meetings, can I get a stay put still Back to the April 2012-13, when they were giving him 5 hours of Wilson one on one but it wasn't in the IEP?? District was found in violation by the FL DOE. on ESE services and goals objs.

Any thoughts?

[bros]

Nov 12, 2014 0:00:07 GMT -5 dyslexia said:

So does it matter, if it is an interim IEP meeting with the STAY PUT order listed above . The IEP orginally was written in April 2014 but I had a meeting in May to finish it and then asked for an interim on Aug 29 to address my 12 page needs, goals, and PLOP additions. they never got around to reading it , says the districts attorney. Then met OCt 7th when they took away all his services in intensive reading with the READ 180 class and gave him only 1 hour a week of SLP Language as a related service because of the written language report shoed a 23 pint spread between reading and writing. Just meet again Nov. 4 and still didn't add anything to the PLOP from the Written Language Report. I think they know that info. would prove that he did not meet his goals from the previous year. Anyway, with all these meetings, can I get a stay put still Back to the April 2012-13, when they were giving him 5 hours of Wilson one on one but it wasn't in the IEP?? District was found in violation by the FL DOE. on ESE services and goals objs.

Any thoughts?

Stay put only applies to the most recent IEP that the IEP team agreed to, aka the one for last year.

[michellea]

Stay put is applied to last signed and accepted IEP. If you approved any of the changes of services at subsequent meetings (meetings after the 2012/13), then stayput does not apply to the 2012/13 IEP. You can't go back to rights you gave up when you accepted a change of services. So, if you accepted an IEP that contained a change/reduction of services, this newly accepted IEP is the one that is in force. Your lawyer should have told you this. It is a very basic and important right. Check your time lines - check to see if you signed off on these IEP's. If you rejected them, this is good. If you did not, you do not have much leverage other than to negotiate services based on the existing evaluation data.

I do not believe that your complaints have any bearing on the stayput rights. But, I would seek legal council/ VERY strong advocate who could review your file, the sequence of events and the findings to advise you.

I'm not saying your son doesn't need these services - what I am saying is the way to get these services may not be stay put because it appears the last accepted IEP does not contain the services you are seeking. Thus, you must rely on the data and negotiate appropriate programming. An independent evaluation would help you do this if it provided data and recommendations for the services you seek. Keep in mind, that a school need only to "consider" and independent evaluation. They do not have to accept and agree to the recommendations it contains.