Hi, Geo,
GAH! on the "ok that you can't read" speech. That must have been such a boost for DD's confidence and ego.
It did actually give her confidence a boost. We've discussed at length at home that there are so many moving parts this year (she has 9 teachers, 2 schools, an aide, and a bus driver), that if she thinks *anything* is getting dropped/forgotten/misunderstood, she should speak up immediately. She did, and I addressed it quickly (indeed, on the spot as we were still at school). She witnessed adults figuring out the problem and addressing it. Overall, this was positive, though DD and I were both pretty angry for a few days.
The separate meeting is the way to go, in any case. This kind of substantial work can't be done at back-to-school night IMO.
Indeed. I made the choices of where to go last night strategically. The time conflict made for an easy way to schedule a proactive conference.
--How clear is the IEP about what teaching methods are to be used and what goals accomplished during the push-in time?
It just says "multi sensory (e.g. finger tapping, ...) This is probably the weakest part of the document.
I was indeed planning on asking for an explanation of what those methods mean, as this is honestly all new to me. So I guess my instincts were pretty good in going in asking for an education.
On the data collection, I honestly don't understand how the non-academic data is supposed to work, so again, I will be going in asking for an education. Seriously, how do you take data on getting bullied? It should be prevented, not counted. I can tie that to the more straight-forward writing data.
On motivation, I think I know how to do this for DD, but it will involve walking her through the details of the IEP, something we haven't gotten around to. I guess that's on the agenda for the weekend.
--For backup: You will want to build bridges with the regular classroom teacher(s), because that person is going to be there the rest of the time when this IS is not, and if they are dedicated enough they may be able to make those goals happen with or without the IS's help. (Technically, everybody's responsible for your DD meeting her goals, even though that IS is supposed to do the push-in part.)
If the whole teacher team is working on the issue together, using a coherent system, that may do the most for DD in any case. You may find that the other IS (the one who is with the program now) can be helpful in educating other teachers (nicely, professionally) about a key issue or two and asking them be watchful for it and act on it. A good IS can be a really great professional liaison with the rest of the school staff. I wouldn't use the push-in IS that way until you trust her, obviously...
Thanks for this reminder. Her language arts teacher isn't her homeroom teacher, but so far he seems on the ball. He's viewing DD as a kid he wants to set free from these struggles while stretching her on her strengths. There are just lots and lots of adults to manage. One little snafu (DD missed math Monday) led to an email cc'd to 12 people!
