Aaaah! IEPs and transitioning from EI to the schools...

[zachnsamsmommy]

I have a question for any of you moms (or dads) with little ones who are/were in early intervention. Did you have to do as much paperwork as buying a house when you transitioned to childfind/school system? .

We just came from our transistion meeting...and I must have had to sign date about 50 papers. Some medical releases, therapy releases, papers to okay different therapy evalutions, etc.

I know this is a good thing for my child, especially if he qualifies for services...but man, this was like refinancing my house.

Sorry...just a little vent, and also just curious if anyone else (here in TN or other states) had to do so much paperwork.

 

[KirstenB]

We did this 1 1/2 yrs ago. I don't remember it being as bad as I thought. Our EI coordinator filled out a bunch, the school filled out a bunch, and all I had to do was sign everything.

The hard part was after the school did their assessments. You understand your child has delays, and believe me, I'm very grateful for the help. But reading the assessments in black and white is very tough. (Your child is 3, and has expressive speech of a 9-13 mth old, gross motor skills of a 12-18 mth old, etc) I don't want to bum you out, but just want to give you a heads up. If you drink, a very stiff margarita may help with this process!!

 

[tazdev3225]

My DD did last year with her DS. He transitioned from the under 3 they come to your house to the 3-5 preschool services. I had to take her to all the interviews and testing as she doesn't have a car. I am not looking forward to this all again next year when he starts kindergarten.

 

[RangerPooh]

As a new SpEd teacher I am learning all about the transition process myself. Right now I'm working on Kindergarten transitions and there is a lot of paperwork to fill out. Plus there is the testing on my end; cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, speech/language, psychological, etc. As your child has turned 3 they are in a tranisitonal phase, and while the paperwork and scores might seem daunting and discouraging at times they are in the best interest of your child and the programs that will service him.

 

[swkmom]

I am a social worker for a combined Head Start/Preschool program. The transition into kindergarten for early intervention students can be quite overwhelming with all the paperwork! The Head Start parents are overwhelmed with even more paperwork due to the federal requirements. Best of luck to you and your little one!

 

[WDWAurora]

There is a ton of paperwork. Seriously, be kind to the school representative-that person is doing a LOT of work. Trust me, I do it! Just know that this first time it's the worst. After that, it's not nearly as bad as getting established the first time. The meeting, in NC anyway, to switch to Kindergarten is no big deal-just a couple changes on some already existing paperwork. The big change is coming from the infant/toddler program into the school program. Most of all, if you have questions-ask! That's why the school person is there! Sometimes they won't be able to answer right away because they don't have enough info yet, but they are trying to help, and will when they can.

 

[tw1nsmom]

It can be very overwhelming. If I can give you one piece of advice, I would start keeping really organized records now. The amount of paperwork that you will be inundated with can be overwhelming. Start a system now and it will make it easier in the future. Large three ring binders are good. You'll want to keep all correspondence, all evaluations, all IEP's, and a written record of all pertinent conversations. You might want to start a separate set of binders with a few key pieces of your child's work from each year (really just the stuff that shows his progress, or lack of progress, towards goals).

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

Thanks for all the replies! The meeting really did go very well...I liked the ChildFind lady that walked us thru all the paperwork.

Here in TN, the transition mtg actually takes place a few months before the third birthday (EI ends at age 3). So, the school system is involved in the preK-3s and preK-4s classes, as well as OT, PT, Sp services as well.

So it gets started pretty early here. But I'm used to the craziness...until Dec of last year, we were doing OT, PT, speech therapy, and EI...so 4x a week we were doing stuff.

 

[minkydog]

I found the transition very hard. It's just very difficult sittiing there listening to all the stuff your kid can't do. And I know they have to make it as bad as it can be so he can get the therapies and treatments he needs. but it doesn't feel good. Every year we'd have to go meet with about 12-15 teachers, admins, therapists, et al, and it was very intimidating to sit there while they bantered in their edu-speak. And his early IEPs were never less than 2 hours long. THey were exhausting.

For us, the IEPs got better when Christian was about 8. I"m pleased to report that the IEP meetings have gotten a lot better, less formal and more welcoming. As the teachers have gotten to know Christian better I think we've all been able to hone in on the main issues better. No more pie in the sky goals that he will never reach if he lives to be 100! Now when I go for the IEP meeting I don't feel like I"ve given a quart of blood.

 

[WDWAurora]

Yeah, schools take over at 3 and our responsibility is to ensure no gaps in services, so things start at about 2.9, with some meetings starting a little earlier to get preliminary stuff done.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Here it can be the opposite.

My son was in EI for some health related feeding issues, and because he was considered to be "at risk" for developmental delays because his health problems often coincide with delays.

By age 2 it was clear that he no longer needed services. I'm special ed teacher and I knew that feeding issues alone won't qualify a child for an IEP, and didn't see any other reasons to qualify him. I pulled him out of EI and put him in a wonderful local preschool/daycare.

A couple of days before he turned three the school system called me to tell me that they held (yes, in the past tense) his IEP and assigned him to a school. They wanted to let me know before the bus showed up at my house to take him to school on his birthday.

So, no paperwork from me, noone has seen him in the 10 months since I pulled him, and yet somehow they qualified him. Furthermore they expected me to simply put him on the bus to head to a school I'd never seen or heard of. When I objected and told them that the eligibility and IEP were invalid because I hadn't participated or signed they were baffled -- they had never heard of such an objection and asked why I wasn't glad that I hadn't had to miss work.

 

[WDWAurora]

Mickey'sNewestFan-that scares me. I mean honestly? You didn't even sign permission to place or anything, I don't see how they could do that. Do you mind if I ask what state? Although, it doesn't sound as though it should happen in your state anyway, since you're in the field and know better...I just don't get it!

 

[Val]

DD12 is hearing impaired, a straight A student, but gets speech and has a "teacher of the deaf" or TOD on a consultant basis. She also has preferential seating, adapted spelling tests (given 1:1 in a quiet room so she can hear the words!) and uses an FM system with her hearing aids. Her IEP was almost 15 PAGES long for 7th grade next year!

You do have to be on your toes. If the district thinks you don't know your rights or aren't on the ball, they may try to sneak by with fewer services or not exactly following rules. I taught many of the school psych/spec services people at the university, but I have a hyphenated last name, DD12 has DH's last name. IEP people don't always catch that, and try and pull stuff. I just counter with "and I PASSED you in that class about these rules!?!?!" and that usually gets their attention!

Good luck....stay on top of things and you will be fine. Now, handling him going off to "real school" is a whole other emotional ball game. Can't help you with that one- I still cry on the first day of school, and my "kids" are DD12, DS14, DD18 and DD22!

 

[Cindy B]

Wait until the high school verison of the IEP-- It's an interesting process to say the least. And yes, I keep on the teachers like a hawk- just in case we get something marked incorrectly!

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Mickey'sNewestFan-that scares me. I mean honestly? You didn't even sign permission to place or anything, I don't see how they could do that. Do you mind if I ask what state? Although, it doesn't sound as though it should happen in your state anyway, since you're in the field and know better...I just don't get it!

It was in the District of Columbia, where sadly these things have been quite common, and no it's not legal. Federal law applies everywhere in the country. Luckily things are changing here, but not quickly enough.

As someone who works with young kids with disabilities, I understand how things like this happens. There are families with children who need help, who because of severe environmental stress, and lack of parent understanding and skill are operating at a crisis level. Things like attending IEPs, or filling out paperwork don't rise to the top of their priority list because they're worried about finding shelter and food for today and tomorrow, not about having the skills for Kindergarten. In those cases, sometimes it does make more sense to temporarily find a child eligible as a child with a "developmental delay" so that they can get a priority spot for Headstart, ride the school bus, and be evaluated, because waiting for the parents to bring the child in several times for OT, SLP, psychoed etc . . . means that child may not get services for months and months.

But first of all, you don't assume that a parent isn't going to be able to participate until they show or tell you that repeatedly over time, and then you make home visits to get the signatures to do things legally. In my son's case, they didn't do any of those things. Literally, this was the first time I had spoken to them, received a phone call or letter from them, in 10 months.