My oldest dd has dyslexia, dyspraxia, significantly low processing speed, and receptive language troubles (12th% I believe). She is on an IEP and is receiving her math instruction only from the learning specialist (and not the classroom teacher) three times a week. The other two days she (as well as the other students in her grade with math IEPs that are only instructed by the LS in math) works on assigned math worksheets. The issue is that her teacher doesn't have a classroom schedule so math isn't at a set time for her class (it is for the other 5th grade class and from what I know of all the other grades both 5th grade teachers should have an identical time table so they are doing the same things at the same time). As a result my dd is missing other subjects/instruction when she is pulled out. It seems it is most often science she misses when she gets pulled out by the learning specialist. Or they are sometimes halfway through something when she gets back and she says she is lost and behind in her work.

Then because the teacher wasn't teaching the rest of the class math while dd was gone, dd sits and does her math worksheets independently or plays math games online while the class is instructed in math by the teacher for 75 min.

I have a meeting scheduled for Monday morning to address this with the learning specialist and classroom teacher. I don't know if this is allowed in special ed but it seems to me that it will make dd struggle more in other areas besides math if she is missing that instruction. Then she ends up spending about 2 hours a day on math... An hour and fifteen minutes of that time doing busy work. Does anybody know if there are any special ed laws regarding what students aren't allowed to miss when pulled out for special ed instruction?

mountainmom, I don't know about any laws, but is there any chance you have a parents advocate group local to you that you could ask this question? Also have you tried talking to your school district's SPED coordinator? I think it's worth at the very least an email question to the SPED coordinator asking how this situation is usually handled. Have you tried asking on wrightslaw?

If your Monday morning meeting isn't helpful, I'd request an emergency IEP team meeting to address the issue.

Sorry I'm not much help! I hope you're able to work out a schedule that doesn't require her to miss classroom instruction in other subjects.

Best wishes,

polarbear

The child should be taught in a "least restrictive environment" so that means keeping them in the regular classroom for instruction whenever possible. I didn't like the fact that DS was being pulled out during "morning meeting" and emailed his IEP manager to ask if he could be pulled out during math instead (since he is advanced in math and it's very boring for him). Usually they would avoid pulling a child during direct reading/math instruction at all costs and would try to pull during free reading time, snack time, or something that does not harm the child too much if it is missed. The teacher should have a regular schedule, not just do random things every day.

Random things every day is the norm here.

If my dd didn't need pull out math instruction I would be ok with random. Unfortunately, she needs this instruction and because the teacher wants to do things randomly she isn't learning everything she is IMO entitled to learn in the classroom with her peers. She also feels lost and getting behind in her work (non math work) and that really isn't fair for her to miss out because of her LD. So when it comes time for state testing she will not have an equal advantage as her classmates for the science portion because she's missed half the instruction in science.

In theory dd is supposed to be pulled out during math time, but because the teacher has no set schedule she isn't pulled out during math time and it ends up being other subjects she is missing. The other 5th graders that go with dd during the pull out time are missing math in their classroom. And that is how it worked last year as well.

Eta the time she is pulled out is when her class is supposed to be having math. Dd said the first time it happened the learning specialist looked confused as to why they weren't doing math.

So it sounds like your issue is not so much an IEP issue as a general ed issue with the classroom teacher not following the lesson/curriculum plan. In which case perhaps you start by making polite inquiries with his/her supervisor, who would be the principal.

I see two solutions...three days a week her regular ed teacher needs to get with the program and have math when she is supposed to...or if she won't change then your child needs to switch classrooms to one who is sticking with the schedule...I would present these two options to the principal and not budge.