Parent Concerns: Daily Schedules

November 7, 2011

ARD/IEP Meeting for Caitlyn XXXX, grade 6A

XXXXXXXXX School of XXXXXXXXxx

Parent Concerns:

Staff to Student Ratio (Autism Supplement)

Daily Schedules (Autism Supplement)

LISD determined that Caitlyn was not in need of this service at LISD on the fifth grade level where classrooms rarely changed/transitions were minimal.

Request for Change to Staff to Student Ratio (IEP) and Daily Schedules (Texas Autism Supplement)

We hereby request that Caitlyn now qualifies and is in need of these service(s).

Specifically, in the areas of "Daily Schedules", substitute teachers or substitute aide, pep rallies etc. We believe this should be handled as part of Special Ed department practices under the Supplemental Aides and services rationale described in the IEP as "would require excessive teacher attention without aide" and cannot be provided by the general education instructor(s) without impacting the general ed classroom student body.

Also following in section "Staff to Student Ratio", we believe Caitlyn qualifies based on needs for "transitions within the school day" including her locker times, beginning of class, and end of class. Again the justification is that this should be provided by Special Education department because to do otherwise "would require excessive teacher attention without aide" as described in Supplemental Services/Aide in the main IEP.

Parent concerns: Accomodations

November 7, 2011

ARD/IEP Meeting for Caitlyn XXXXXX, grade 6A

XXXXXXX School of XXXXXXXXXXx

Parent Concerns:

Accommodations

Parents are concerned that accomodations are not being consistently implemented by all instructors in all classrooms. Caitlyn is entitled to copies of teacher notes for classes to supplement her own, not based on "teacher discretion", for ALL classes checked on page 17 of 26 on her accomodations page in her IEP. She is only receiving consistent handouts from her Math teacher, and her Turkish teacher. Other subjects there are sometimes items sent home, but other things that should be provided are not being provided (chunked assignment schedules with due dates listed clearly, vocabulary lists, notes for class, etc).

Since Caitlyn receives AT accomodations involving a laptop and a flash drive in Social Studies and ELA, there are also times when this information may be on the flash drive but it is in the posession of someone other than Caitlyn when she comes home or left in her locker, so we cannot access any documents on it.

In the area of "Reducing Work without Reducing Skills" there are times when this should have been implemented - again this is not noted as "teacher discretion" - such as the Poetry Project which could have been reduced to 20 poems from 30 without negating the purpose or scope of the assignment. (This is only used as an example as it is a recent project). Assigning math problems that are even number instead of the entire worksheet would be another example. For most assignments, the only ones that need "Reducing Work" are those requiring lengthy writing portions based on our observations. While we do not feel that right now this is impacting Caitlyn greatly, it is affecting her academic grade and stress level. It should be immediately implemented and followed so that it does not BECOME a problem.

In the area of "Chunk Lengthy Assignments Into Smaller Units", this is also not being done. XXXXXXXXs own schedule for some things such as the provided schedule for the Science Fair is acceptable for that project; it chunks the project down into areas; it provides clear due dates; it is easily accessible to the student. However, areas *within* that schedule still need clear chunking. An example would be to assign Caitlyn to do 1 thing on Monday night and 1 thing on Tuesday night, instead of 2 seperate areas that are both due on Wednesday. This allows us to better monitor her progress at home and keep her up to date within the class so that she does not fall behind or require extra time to complete an assignment due to confusion on her part. Another recent example would be the Drama Project from ELA for which we did not receive a sheet with the chunking, description of exact assignment, and due date for each section of the project. These are required and noted in her IEP.

In the area of "Access to Technology for Writing Assignments", this is also NOT listed as "based on observation" or "by teacher discretion". Caitlyn should have had access to the AT since the first day of school for all subjects noted in her IEP which are checked, which are: ELA; Reading; Social Studies; Science; Electives. The laptop should, based on her IEP, be available in all classrooms where she MIGHT need access to it at any given time. She should not be required to fetch it from another classroom or to lose instructional time to retrieve it.

In the area of "Organizational Help w/binder(s) including notes/homework" we request to add the word "agenda" or "planner" to this area. She is required to receive this during all of her classes, every day. We believe that this would require excessive teacher attention to do so by her General Education teacher and that the school and Caitlyn would be better served by having this done by her aide at the beginning and end of each class listed in the IEP (All subjects including electives, except Gym).

Request for Implementation as written of the IEP accomodations above, commencing on today's date, consistently and with accountability.

Request addition of the word "agenda" or "planner" to the subject area "Organizational Help". This is page 17 of 26 in her IEP.

Written Notice of Refusal

Written Notice of a Refused or Tabled Action

Student Name: ________________________________________      Birth date: _____________

Parent(s): ____________________________________________       Date: _________________

IDEA (20 U.S.C. 1415(c)) requires "an explanation of why the agency proposes or refuses to take the action and a description of each evaluation procedure, assessment, record or report the agency used as a basis for the proposed or refused action;"

The Texas Notice of Procedural Safeguards states that "A prior written notice must describe what the school is proposing to do or refusing to do. It must explain why the action is proposed or refused. It must describe other options that were considered by the ARD committee and why those options were rejected. It must describe each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report the school used as a basis for what it proposes or refuses, and any other factors relevant to what is proposed or refused."

Purpose of this notice:

___ An action being refused by the LEA

___ An action being tabled by the LEA             Date of next consideration: __________________

Notice:

1. A description of the action refused [or tabled] by the local education agency.

2. An explanation of why the local education agency refuses to take the action [or tables it].

3. A description of any other options the ARD team considered and the reasons for the rejection of those options.

4. A description of each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report the local education agency used as a basis for the refused [or tabled] action.

5. A description of any other factors that is relevant to the local education agency's refusal.

___________________________________       _______________________________________

                    (Signature)                                                    (LEA Position)

Parent Agenda for IEP Meeting

November 7, 2011

ARD/IEP Meeting for Caitlyn XXXX, grade 6A

XXXXX School of XXXXXXXXX

Parent Concerns Agenda

Procedural Issues:

1. Did not receive Teacher Input For ARD Meeting Form A from each instructor prior to ARD
2. Did not receive printed Occupational Therapist report for first or second six weeks grading period (20 minute consult per 6 weeks) 5 business days before ARD/IEP meeting
3. Original Occupational Consult performed on 9/12 did not include sensory assessment of the Assistive Technology supplement in the area of sensory items
4. Did not receive proposed new XXXXXXXX written IEP 5 business days before ARD/IEP meeting

Parent Concerns:

·                     Define what a reasonable time period for getting response from Special Education is

·                     Define exactly who our point of contact is, singular – Mr H, Ms G, or Ms M?

·                     Inclusion/Aide Time

·                     Access to Assistive Technology and Training for Assistive Technology

·                     Teacher provided handouts and notes

·                     Parent Training and Support

·                     Staff to Student Ratio (independence, transitions)/ Daily Schedules Autism Supp

·                     Educator Support and Training

·                     Accomodations (page 17 of IEP)

·                     OT needs to assess AT needs for sensory items and not just BIP needs for behavior (page 18)

·                     Supplemental aids and services (adding Self Help and Organizational under Student Needs - rationale: would require excessive teacher attention without aide)