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    Joined: Oct 2011
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    epoh Offline OP
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    I spoke with the principal of DS8's charter school about a month and a half ago about the need for at least a 504 for DS. She agreed and said she'd get the administrator who handles that (we'll call her Ms. A) on that. I let a couple of weeks go by, I didn't hear anything, so I emailed Ms A. (I'd given the school copies of all of DS's reports/tests during this time). She replied with this:

    Quote
    I do have his information. The process, though does not start with the family, it starts with the teachers implementing interventions. Before we go for a referral we need to go through RTI procedures to see the real need. As soon as we have enough academic and behavioral data we will contact you and ask you to fill out your part of the paperwork. Please let me know if you have other questions.

    This, as you might imagine, seemed rather backwards to me. I replied to her stating as much.. and she replied that it 'depends on the issue or disability we are dealing with' and that they'd be collecting data and evaluating him over the next 4 weeks. That was beginning of Oct.

    So... today I decided to touch base with her (DS's main teacher recommended "staying on her" about it.) This is what she emailed me:

    Quote
    I have been reviewing the interventions and talking to the administrators. He seems to be adjusting and doing better. At this moment we do not see a need to go to the next TIER. We will keep observing and documenting to be able to proceed with the evaluation if needed in the future. Thank you!

    What on earth is that??? "we do not see a need"?


    ETA: I should add that I responded back with "I’m not sure I understand what that means? We aren’t going to do an IEP or 504?" I don't want to go in all raging b****, but I feel like I might have to!

    Last edited by epoh; 10/30/12 11:38 AM.

    ~amy
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    epoh Offline OP
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    Ack, I meant to put this under the 2e forum!


    ~amy
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    My interpretation of all of this would be, "We are the gatekeepers, and the gates are closed to you."

    Whether or not that's a reasonable response on their part would depend on a whole lot of information that's missing here.

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    I am typing on my device so this will be short.

    Are you in the US? From my understanding as long as you put your request for testing in writing, they have a set number of days to do testing depending on the state you are in. Regardless of how they feel about how they think he is doing they have to evaluate him.

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    Originally Posted by Dude
    My interpretation of all of this would be, "We are the gatekeepers, and the gates are closed to you."

    Whether or not that's a reasonable response on their part would depend on a whole lot of information that's missing here.

    Uhhhh... well, in terms of accommodations, it's true that "need" is the driving force.

    HOWEVER... it's incorrect to state that a particular student doesn't DEMONSTRATE NEED for eligiblity in the first place. That's backwards.

    It doesn't sound as though eligibility has ever been evaluated. Has it?

    If not, then focus THERE, first and foremost. That's their legal obligation at this point. To evaluate whether or not your child is eligible for protections under either IDEA or ADA-504, and to go from that point. Don't let them sidetrack you with what they are 'willing' to do without the formal designation.


    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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    epoh Offline OP
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    They have 60 days to evaluate him, which they've done. I don't know what the timeline is for calling an ARD meeting, or if they are even required to do one.

    Ms A wrote back to me - 'The accommodations that we are currently providing for him are working well on general ed. platform. Therefore we would like to continue with this for a while to see better results. If you are willing to have an immediate evaluation we can consider that at any time. I did not mean we exclude this possibility, we were just seeing improvement and wanted to see if he can manage on the regular platform.'

    I basically wrote back a frigging novel with all my concerns! LoL. We'll see what happens. I know DS is doing pretty well at the moment, but he still clearly has a lot of issues with organization and memory, and he periodically misunderstands things (like when work is to be completed at home vs at school.) My primary concern is making sure all this stuff is IN WRITING. People doing accommodations for him out of the goodness of their heart is all well and good, but that doesn't provide him any real protection, nor does it help us for state testing or for the next several years of schooling he's got! Blarg!


    ~amy
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    epoh Offline OP
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    UPDATE: Hah! My novel apparently helped. She replied back

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    I will have an SST meeting to proceed to the next TIER or evaluation. We will discuss everything you wrote in your e-mail. I believe I did not have the full picture. I will take action ASAP. Thank you!

    Hooray!


    ~amy
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    Originally Posted by epoh
    I don't want to go in all raging b****, but I feel like I might have to!

    Don't. Save it.

    RTI is Response to Intervention. It is now required that schools intervene if they see an unusual need--they are supposed to apply resources and take care of it as soon as they see it, differentiating instruction earlier without requiring all kinds of hoops and testing. They are also supposed to be taking data to see if what they do is sufficient to make a change, and sufficient to solve the problem.

    If it is, they keep doing it. If not, they go to the next stage, which is the full evaluation that leads to IEP or 504.

    Now, if you think your DS needs direct services (speech, OT, etc) he will likely still need an IEP. But if not, you can keep going through the informal process to see whether it is sufficient.

    This RTI process can mean that problems are solved faster and without IEP meetings and time-consuming formal plans, OR it can mean that solutions are delayed while they say they are trying stuff but doing so in a half-hearted manner. It puts more on the parents to act as watchdogs, IMO.

    DeeDee

    ETA: just saw your last message. It's great that they are going to do the full eval. A child with autism most likely needs an IEP.

    Last edited by DeeDee; 10/30/12 12:14 PM.
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    epoh Offline OP
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    Thanks DeeDee! I spoke to DS's primary teacher last week and she said she only talked to Ms A once and filled out one set of paperwork for her, and that was weeks and weeks ago. So it didn't appear to me that she was doing a whole lot to evaluate him... she didn't do any testing with him, and only apparently met with his teachers once. He's currently doing pretty well, and a thousand times better than last year, but there's still more that probably should be done.


    ~amy
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    Before any formal evaluation, you'd see (and sign) paperwork. The thing about RTI is that it goes forward largely without paperwork (also, quite possibly, without adequately informing parents!)-- it's just them attempting to use already-available resources to solve any problems they see.

    DeeDee

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