Proud mama moment

[ntburns22]

My DD brought home her second quarter report card today and she got straight A's. We are so proud of her. The only downside is when we go to renew her IEP next year for speech she won't qualify.

 

[Hedy]

My DD brought home her second quarter report card today and she got straight A's. We are so proud of her. The only downside is when we go to renew her IEP next year for speech she won't qualify.

Congrats to your DD! Is it possible to look into speech therapy outside of her school?

 

[ntburns22]

Congrats to your DD! Is it possible to look into speech therapy outside of her school?

Our insurance will not cover it until after she has her surgery (Binders Syndrome, severe underbite). It would cost us about $400 a month if we went privately.

 

[tw1nsmom]

Congratulations to your DD! If you don't mind me asking, why would her good grades disqualify her for speech, or are they two seperate issues?

 

[ntburns22]

Congratulations to your DD! If you don't mind me asking, why would her good grades disqualify her for speech, or are they two seperate issues?

I don't mind at all. The laws in Ohio have changed. Your speech has to have an impact on your learning ability in order to quailfy for speech with the school district. At the end of the year in kindergarten we had her tested because she was having a hard time with letter sounds. Since she could make the sounds of certain letters she was able to get in the program. For 1 example when she would stay girl it sounded like dirl. And she would try and spell it with a D. Now with her reading and spelling grades and at A and A+ they won't be able to take her. SHe still has issues with her speech and will into her tweens when her surgery is done. It was just nice for her to get the help she needed at school.

 

[tw1nsmom]

That's totally against federal law! IDEA2004 clearly states that student academic performance canNOT be the sole determination of eligibility. I get so fed up with the states trying to get away with this garbage. Can I ask who told you it was a new state law? If it was the district, I wouldn't immediately believe it.

Here's some information I was able to quickly look up:

Q.: Does the new law cut back on eligibility for special education?
A.: No. The disability categories for special education have not been changed. Children with qualifying disabilities will continue to be eligible for special education from the age of three until their 22nd birthdays.

The new law does, however, allow schools to deny eligibility for special education services in cases where the “determinant factor” in a child’s disability is the lack of essential reading instruction, as addressed by the No Child Left Behind Act. If the child’s disability is not a function of poor reading instruction, he or she remains eligible for special education services.

Q.: What about learning disabilities - any changes?
A.: Under the old law, evidence of a discrepancy between achievement and ability was commonly used to identify children with learning disabilities. Under the new law, such evidence is not required. The new law says that children’s disabilities may be identified based on whether the child responds to scientific, research-based methods of teaching reading. Parents also may ask schools to use other methods that assess the child’s ability to remember and manipulate the sound units of the alphabet, to understand language, or to retrieve words from memory—all factors that may cause a reading disability.

Here's the link to the site where I found that: http://www.ohiobar.org/pub/lycu/index.asp?articleid=389

Can your child be easily understood? If not, it will inhibit her ability to make her thoughts known to her teachers. Just because her current teacher may have gotten used to her speech patterns doesn't mean everyone can understand her. Does her speech get in the way of her social interactions? I would emphasize that peer interactions are an essential part of the learning process, both for the benefit of sociallization itself as well as the ability to fully participate in the collaberative learning process. They can't take her off an IEP without a full evaluation. Once they do that, you have the right to request an independent educational evaluation (IEE) as well as the right to due process before they can declassify her.

Sorry if I came on too strong. Some of these interpretations of the laws really frost my shorts. I had a superintendent who was teaching one of my graduate classes once tell me that they'll do what they want, regardless of the actual law, until someone sues them.

 

[ntburns22]

I will look into all the great info you gave me. I was told she needs to have 2 strikes (or 3 ) against her to make the program. Her syndrome is 1 and her grades were the second. Next time around we won't have the grades as her #2. Thanks for everything.

I was told this by 2 different districts. I tried to get her in the preschool program and she didn't quailfy because she tested too high academically. .

 

[kaddjr]

Hmmm...that's really odd. My DS had speach in school from first grade until the first part of fourth grade and the whole time he was a straight A student.

 

[SandiH]

Her disability needs to impact her education in some way. If she is getting good grades and isn't affected socially, she probably isn't being educationally impacted at this time by her disability.

It sounds like she's not substituting her letters any more. How is her overall articulation? To disqualify her, they speech therapist should probably re-do testing to show that she is articulating appropriately.

Grades do not necessarily disqualify a student but it can be a factor. Students are typically pulled out of class for speech therapy and her participation in class with feedback on her articulation issues may be all she needs.

I would at least want information on how her articulation is and if you think it's still significant, you can ask for the speech therapist to re-evaluate this area to show she no longer qualifies.

You don't need to be adversarial but at least have complete information.

 

[ntburns22]

Her disability needs to impact her education in some way. If she is getting good grades and isn't affected socially, she probably isn't being educationally impacted at this time by her disability.

At this time she is not affected socially. She is really good at memorizing things. Spelling is a breeze for her. Now she is spelling them correctly but still not saying them correctly.



It sounds like she's not substituting her letters any more. How is her overall articulation? To disqualify her, they speech therapist should probably re-do testing to show that she is articulating appropriately.
SHe is still substituting but not like she was. She is currently working on using K,G,Sh and Th to help with her communication.


Grades do not necessarily disqualify a student but it can be a factor. Students are typically pulled out of class for speech therapy and her participation in class with feedback on her articulation issues may be all she needs.
Her grades in the beginning of the first quarter was what brought the testing up again. I honestly feel if she was making good grades then she would be in speech.

I would at least want information on how her articulation is and if you think it's still significant, you can ask for the speech therapist to re-evaluate this area to show she no longer qualifies.

You don't need to be adversarial but at least have complete information.

I know I have some time before her IEP needs redone. But when I say her report card this was the first thing that came to my mind. When she called DH, it was his first thought too. WE just want the best for her. What parents don't?

 

[chris1gill]

We hit this road block when our son turned 4 years old. He was evaluated in the system & the school disqualified our son because he was not academically impacted. For three years we went round and round & he got private lessons twice a week. When we started he could make ONE letter sound correctly.... ONE... We fought our insurance company as they said it was the responsibility of the school, when we showed the law indicating that the disability did not impact his academics and thus he did not qualify for public school help in Mass, they finally caved. Honestly, the bill was around 15K for the 3 years and we would have paid it if the insurance hadn't covered it... Our son got the help he needed very early on, and today at age 11, you would NEVER know he ever had a problem...

Fight the school system, but also fight the insurance company... It is such a long process...

BUT, on the bright side, kudo's to your daughter for her wonderful grades!

 

[SandiH]

Sounds like she could still benefit from speech therapy. Her substitutions are still there and articulation still sounds like an issue. I'm a special education teacher who works closely with our speech therapist so I do have some real life practical knowledge of similar situations. We talk about these type of issues regularly and it doesn't sound like your daughter is ready to be dismissed from speech. Good grades (although fabulous and great job to your daughter) shouldn't automatically dismiss her from therapy.

 

[ntburns22]

Sounds like she could still benefit from speech therapy. Her substitutions are still there and articulation still sounds like an issue. I'm a special education teacher who works closely with our speech therapist so I do have some real life practical knowledge of similar situations. We talk about these type of issues regularly and it doesn't sound like your daughter is ready to be dismissed from speech. Good grades (although fabulous and great job to your daughter) shouldn't automatically dismiss her from therapy.

Thanks for all your knowledge, it really does help. I guess I just have to wait and see how the rest of the year goes.

 

[Serena]

Congratulations!