I inquired about having DD evaluated and was told by multiple people that they will not evaluate until several interventions are attempted. Last year with DS, I was told the same thing and the "interventions" involved having him use a pencil grip for months with no objective data or assessment information collected. Of course the pencil grip made everything better (not) and it appeared to be a stalling/stonewalling technique to avoid an eval and dismiss my concerns, or at the very least make them pat themselves on the back and tell themselves they were doing the correct thing.
Here's the thing though. I called the State to inquire about this and the very snotty woman that I talked to there said that schools are REQUIRED to try interventions before assessing a child unless a situation is "urgent", and that is their own discretion/ determination. I asked her if she missed this memo.
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/osep11-07rtimemo.pdf She said that I must referring to a "state memo" and I said, actually, no, this is from the US Department of Education. I read the title to her. She asked me why I'm arguing with her and said she's a lawyer. I asked if it would help if I email her the memo because what she is saying is at odds with the memo. I told her that I'm trying very hard to understand what she is saying. She said, very snottily, "No, it would not."
What is going on here? Am I missing something? When I've talked to the State before, people have generally been helpful. And what are parents supposed to do if the State is directing school districts to engage in unethical or illegal practices regarding conducting evaluations?
