The Special Ed director seems fine but she is never around (thoughh she is cc'd on some things). The Ass. Spec Ed Director is involved and I can not stand her. She is not friendly to special needs at all - she is often accusing me of "micromanaging DS" "enabling his disability" and "shortchanging" She does not like DS getting these accommodatiosn at all. But she also seems to not have much power - it seems the principal tells her what to say and do.
Re the 8am thing, that's part of the problem also. Principal said there is no way he is ever meeting again at any other time other than 8am! I don't understand how he can do that! How about even 9am or 9:30am - he said it takes the teachers away from instriuction and he can't do it and he require the teachers to be there after their union hours! So it has to be at 8am.
What a jerk.
I do have a phone call into the advocate and am waiting to hear from her.
In the meantime, I am thinking of responding with this:
"Another meeting on this may be a great idea! Thank you so much for suggesting it! I thought that at the last meeting I was asked to think more about the issue of what to do when DS seems to want to write more than permitted by the accommodation, talk it over with DS and report back to the IEP team. I have done that in my previous email. Now that I have had time to think about it and discuss it with some other professionals, etc., I feel much more prepared and do have more ideas about how to handle the accommodation in light of the IEP team's concerns expressed on Monday. I am also, however, also very comfortable (for now) with leaving the accommodation as it is. I was simply trying to make it all more flexible for you and the teachers given the concerns expressed by the teachers on Monday.
There is an additional consideration, DS just had a very in-depth evaluation yesterday (Occupational Therapy, Auditory and Auditory Processing, Dyslexia/Dysgraphia, etc) and I will get the report in approxmiately two weeks. Additionally, we have a neuropsychological evaluation coming up as well. So, I am thinking maybe we should just proceed with the current IEP and defer formally meeting again until after I get all of the results of these evaluations? Based on my discussions with the evaluator at yesterday's evaluation, I have a strong inclination that some sort of formal 'dyslexia/dysgraphia' diagnosis will be coming in the very near future. The evaluator said yesterday that the amount and the extent of DS's reversals in the tests she gave are certainly not "typical" given his age, intelligence and grade level and are definitely a cause for a great deal concern (finally some validation); therefore, much of the IEP will most likely need more tweaking and updating anyway once those evaluations are complete and we know the results.
As we all know, anyone can call an IEP meeting and I certainly respect your right to do so. I have no problem meeting - after all, DS is my child and I will whatever I need to do to ensure he has access to his education and is properly accommodated. Therefore, of course, I would be more than happy to check with my advocate and my husband and get back to you on some dates and times. It is my understanding that IEP meeting times have to be workable times for both my advocate, my husband and myself so I apologize that I can not guarantee that we will be able to accommodate you request for an 8:00 am meeting but we will do our best and I am sure we can come up with some workable alternative times that are good for ALL of us, if an 8;00 am time is not possible.
If after discussing this email with the rest of the team, you find that a formal meeting is unnecessary, you are certainly welcome to cancel it and address this one concern that I was asked to think over and reported in my email. Or, you are welcome to cancel your request for a formal meeting and leave the accommodation as it is. I am fine with either. I am almost positive we will be meeting again, probably more than once, before the start of next year to revisit the issue of this particular accommodation. Otherwise, I certainly look forward to meeting with all of you again to bnrainstorm and discuss! Let me know how you wish to proceed.
Sincerely,"
Last edited by marytheres; 04/12/13 03:43 PM.
