One of the schools we were in was so bad the staff had no idea what the special education categories are. DS ended up qualifying under "Physically Impaired" and I don't think they had ever assessed anyone for that category, or any of the others that were possibly relevant to him, such as "traumatic brain injury" "visually impaired", "Other Health Disability", etc. He had a speech IEP since he was 3-4, but I don't think I ever saw a notice of team meeting or prior written notice until we changed schools. This was at one of the larger elementary schools in the district with hundreds of kids. I don't think they EVER had any training about even basic stuff. They ended up needing help from the special ed director to evaluate DS. I was never able to figure out if he is almost as clueless, or if he is deliberately trying to avoid following the law (it's one or the other).
I know it sounds like we are in a little town in the middle of a corn field, but it's actually one of the more affluent (and large) districts in a large metro. That's why I feel like maybe nothing around here is ever going to work. They cut special ed and at the same time keep improving their sports facilities.
I contacted an advocacy group at one point but I don't know if they give out that kind of info, as they were always very politically correct and no matter what I said, they would never act negative or say anything negative about the school. A disability lawyer was more direct and told me our district is ridiculous (she's worked with them before) and I did get some info about other districts, but not much to go on.
(consulting with her was a one-time deal so I don't think I can just call her and ask more questions about school districts--I can try, though).
