I Am So Confused??? - Chandler,AZ

I suggest you may have misunderstood. I suggest you talk some more with the person who oversees his IEP. Poor handwriting by itself is not cause for an IEP.

find someone smart to be an advocate to come with you to meetings and explain it to you. someone you work with, someone in your family, someone from church.

it can be confusing but your question shows you don't even have the basics of what is going on right. you need someone to help you.

edited: Looking back at your prior questions I think something more than handwriting is going on.

I can understand why you are confused. I am too. Kids don't get an IEP for a certain subject. They get an IEP for a learning disability or some other medical diagnosis that requires special attention (ADHD or ASD for example).

You should get a copy of the IEP (ask if you don't have it) and talk to someone who understands it.

Hi Cancermom,

There is a lot of stuff that should have come before this. Your son should not be on an IEP unless there is testing and a diagnosis of disability to support the need. They can't just randomly pull out IEP paperwork and say, "I choose you, little Johnny!"

So, if they did testing there should be copies of those tests. You should have had a meeting to go over the results to that testing and their diagnosis and justification for needing the interventions and mediations they are writing on the IEP. You should have a copy of ALL the testing and results as well as the IEP.

There is NOTHING that can be done without your signature. You have to sign off on the IEP and interventions. If you don't agree with them, they must be taken off, because they can't do ANY of it without your approval. Don't ever sign a piece of paper from the school unless you understand and agree, because the diagnosis used to get the IEP will belong to your son, potentially, for 3 years. They only have to test every three years to check progress and, while they might say they will retest if you feel there is a need, they don't have to and often won't want to spend the money, time or resources when they already have a diagnosis that is good for two or three more years. If you have not already, schedule and appointment with the teacher, the principle, the school psychologist and any people involved in his interventive education and make them go over it with you until you understand. You can pull the plug any time you want to.

My son has a written expression learning disability for which he was put on an IEP. It is called dysgraphia. If this is what they are talking about with your son, then it doesn't just mean neat penmanship. It means a difficulty with spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and cohesive writing. It can effect any or all of these components. For my son it effects all of them. It will effect every class he takes including math because what he knows in his head he can't necessarily translate to paper. It helped us for him to do all his math on graph paper because the squares helped him keep the math aligned so that he didn't make math errors caused by his writing.

If you are confused go back to the school and have them show you and go over every part of the testing and diagnosis with you until you understand, and go back and go back and go back as many times as it takes. If you have concerns at any time during the year, or suggestions that you think might be affective or you see things that aren't working schedule another meeting and have your concerns addressed. YOU can schedule an IEP meeting, they aren't the only ones. Never, ever, ever leave the school without a copy of every piece of paper they have for your own personal records. Keep it in a binder or folder so you can reference it when necessary.

Hope this helps.

You need to sit down and read the IEP paperwork that you signed. There should be very specific issues and goals, and they should have gone over each part of the report with you, in detail.
If you have a hard time reading it then schedule a meeting with his teacher so she can walk you through it.
You shouldn't be confused about this, you need to understand exactly what support your son needs!

You can amend your child's IEP at anytime. However you have to draw it to the attention of the service that your child is receiving. Once your child is receiving a service its easier to add another, then it is to initiate services. My only advice is to follow the "chain of command" and ask the handwriting person where to go from there to start math services. For my child.... It's been super easy once she was getting speech help, I said she trips a lot and seems clumsy. I had a meeting with the speech teacher and APE teacher and two days later she started APE services.
You need to advocate, if no one is initiating for you. Have solid examples of what you see at home. Don't hire a tutor till you go up the chain. Tutors are expensive and they're not as specialized in my opinion as the excellent people employed by the consortiums that teach the services. Unless you plan to delay, then hire a tutor. It should take maybe a few days only to start a new service once added on to the IEP.
I would just advise; to stay with the chain. It doesn't seem to sit well with the people who are actually hands on working with your child, and damages the relationship if you just call to the director. Notify the person working with your child for handwriting that you feel you need math. If they don't initiate a reevaluation then contact the person listed on your IEP who is likely the director. It's been my experience that once your child is receiving special services that they are very receptive to parent input and initiating or canceling services between IEP's.
Good luck. Keep a note for maybe a day to a max of a week of solid observations of why you feel your child is needing assistance.

It's not for the handwriting.

An IEP, or Individualized Education Program, is not a bad thing. Go to the meeting and find out what the IEP is for. Ask questions until you understand.

Will he be getting OT for the handwriting issue? My son has a 504 for his handwriting issue but we had to go to a specialist to confirm his diagnosis, which is Graphomotor dysfunction.

You don't have to go along with the IEP for handwriting but if teacher's can't read his handwriting than the extra assistance might be helpful. As far as the math, he may need to go for tutoring.

then you need to go to the school and sit down with them and listen carefully until your confusion lifts. there's no way your son should have an IEP at all if you don't understand it and haven't agreed to it.
no child gets an IEP for handwriting.
make an appointment, write down your questions in advance, and take notes as to their answers.
khairete
S.

Do you mean a 504? An IEP is usually for a child who has a developmental disability that will be a life long disability...

If your son is not disabled you need to google IEP and see what it is defined as and then tell the school you'd like them to explain why he qualifies for special education services.

A 504 on the other hand is designed to give students assistance so they will be successful in school, be able to have some help in an area or two, etc...not a label or anything like that.

It really doesn't sound like they know what they're doing.

It's up to you to be his advocate, his voice, in this instance.

Mom,

They cannot put your son on an IEP unless you signed it. Read the paperwork and the accommodations they are making for him.

An IEP for "poor handwriting"? I don't think so. Sorry - but IEP's are for much more than poor handwriting. Has your child been diagnosed with ADD, Dyslexia, ADHD, or any other type of "disfunction"?

You need to hire a tutor for your son for Math. If he's not clicking with his teacher at school - look to another math teacher and see how they click/work with your son.

Who tested him? When did they test him? your post is confusing me!! Sorry - but I don't get how your son got an IEP and you don't know what it's for - or at least believe it's only for handwriting...Are you SURE it's an IEP and NOT a 504 Plan? There's a difference between the two.

An IEP ensures your child who has a disability will receive specialized instruction.

A 504 ensures that your child with a disability receives special accommodations.

Please contact your school counselor and principal and the psychologist or psychiatrist who diagnosed your child - to have a meeting and to know and understand what your child is diagnosed with and what they are doing to help him.

Good luck!

An IEP "guides the delivery of special education supports and services for the student with a disability". I don't think bad handwriting is a disability. I would demand another IEP meeting and ask more questions. Good Luck!

Test is too easy but real world application is not. He may need extra time and would be able to get it right.

Keep talking to the school until it is pinpointed and you get him the help he needs. I had the same problem with my son but it was in reading (so sometimes it affected math). If you gave him the tests after reading something to him, he knew it (would only get stuff wrong when he misread the question). Verbal testing he aced.

An IEP is not for "handwriting." An IEP, Individual Education Plan, never ever occurs without a PPT, Planning and Placement Team meeting of which there are several... and once an IEP is established there are at least two a year... and the parents are the biggest part of the PPT. A PPT can NOT OCCUR without parental permission or involvement which means an IEP can NOT occur without a parent signing off on every single aspect of what will become involved in that IEP.

What you're describing doesn't make sense. I have a child that has an IEP. I'm very, very involved in her PPT meetings and the IEP itself. She has cognitive delays, social developmental delays, and global developmental delays due to having Autism. She had (has every 3 years) an evaluation by the school every three years to help pinpoint exactly what concerns needs to be targeted and aid in transitionary issues. The evaluations always back up the private independent diagnoses of her ASD and related issues. It's a complicated process. Most parents that are involved in PPT's and IEP's know this and are very involved step by step by step.

I also have a child with a 504. That's a bit less complicated, sounds a little bit more like what you might be talking about. But not quite.

If your son has an IEP it's not "for math" or "for handwriting." You need a copy of the IEP, which the school gives you anyway, and read it. You need to talk to your child's school social worker and school psychologist at the school and include your child's teacher in the meeting. Tell them you need clarification about the IEP.

Get a math tutor. Challenge the IEP. Do not allow this label.