IEP Question

The school is only required to do a full re-evaluation every three years, and yes, they MUST have your permission before they can begin the process.

ADHD is a medical diagnosis, so you are correct, the school can't help you with that, but the learning difficulties can be helped with different strategies based on what the problems are.

Talk to his case manager about your concerns. Set up an appointment with her/him and take in a list of questions and comments. Try to be specific- don't just say he's struggling. Tell them exactly the problems as you see them.

You should have an annual IEP meeting, but you can call a meeting at any time, not just when the IEP states. Give them a call and see what you can set up. Good luck and please keep us posted!

I don't work in the States, but in any case you should contact the school or whoever the case manager is (the teacher? OT?) and state what you have noticed. It's not uncommon for kids to have a hard time in third grade, since the demands suddenly increase dramatically. Ask them if they reevaluate (I assume they do) and if they don't, ask them to. Good luck

At the IEP meeting they will be talking about the plan you made for this last year. They most likely will not be re-evaluating him this year (it's required every 3 years) unless new concerns (like the one's you're having) are being brought to the table. So I would definitely express your concerns, and it may be a good idea to express them before the IEP meeting so that the team members can be prepared to discuss it at the meeting. It will be more efficient for all of you. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Hi Rachel,

You should be having an annual review meeting to discuss his current progress in the classroom and with his IEP goals. That should be happening soon since his current IEP ends in November.

I do not believe that he will be reevaluated right now. Typically, I believe that kiddos are reevaluated with a full evaluation every 3 years, but I could be mistaken.

Your best bet is to contact your son's teacher and/or case manager. You are your child's biggest and best advocate, so you have every right to ask these questions.

Good luck!

I'm a teacher in Maine, but I'm fairly certain that standard procedure across the US is that a student is evaluated each year to see if they are meeting their IEP goals, but only every 3 years do they go through the full battery of testing (unless some new issue comes up). Therefore, it sounds to me like you should be receiving an invitation to a meeting to see if your son is meeting IEP goals, but you probably don't need to give permission for more testing. However, I think it is perfectly appropriate to call and ask when you will have your annual review. Good luck!

Rachel,

Every child has a reevaluation every three years. If your IEP was written to include the first three months of this school year, then you would not be having an anual IEP meeting until it was about to expire, but generally, most schools will have a meeting for the whole next year in the spring. If you did not have a spring meeting, it should be time for a meeting.

There is good news here, once a child qualifies for IDEA services, his diagnosis does not matter. He is to be served according to need, so if you see needs, then you can bring these up at the IEP meeting and ask for goals to be added in those areas. Chances are, if you see need, the school will too. The school will do some testing before an annual meeting, that will be to determine his present levels of academic performance. These may be classroom records as well, but if you were able to get any testing or evaluation named in the IEP to measure his progress, they would have to do these too. That is a good idea...you would probably need help to get these listed in his IEP if the school did not already do this on their own.

An OT should be at the meeting to discuss his progress, and will have new goals.

You may need assessment if you are asking for services and the school does not see need. This is where owning your own private educational and developmental evaluation is essential. You never want to know less than the school does about your son. I would suggest a visit to a psychiatrist who works closely with a nerupsycholgist, you can get a fairly quick evaluation that way. You will also know for sure if he has ADHD so that you can offer him all the treatment that will help him get better, and a great deal of his treatment will occur privately in cognative behaviroal therapy, private OT, speech, social skills classes, and medical intervention. The school is only required to make your son "functional" in school, and you really want so much more than that. In any case, you may need to prove that he has educational needs (grades should do this-but the school may want more) you will also want to know what kind of intervention is going to work for him, because evaluation will tell you that. Evaluation will also tell you if he made progress...

I would suggest that you log on to www.wrightslaw.com and start reading about advocacy. A good place to start is with Understanding Tests and Measurments for parents and advocates, it is an article that will explain assessment and how to understand what it means, and how to use it to your advantage to get your son what he needs. If you feel overwhelmed, find the wrightslaw yellow pages, and find an educational advocate in your area, they can guide you.

Any time that you have new assessment, or a reevaluation, they must get your consent, however, they can, and should, do cuiriculum based evaluation to determine his present levels of performance before your meeting, and they do not need your consent for that.

Finally, you should not call and ask for anything regaurding the IEP. Write, always write, or it never happened.

M.

By law you an annual review is required. Ours is always scheduled at the prior IEP. If you look over your last report it might even be listed. If not, call your IEP coordinator or school administrator to see if or when will be scheduled. When you meet, they will talk about what goals have been met, which need to be revised, and if any new goals should be added. Was he ever evaluated outside of the school system? Most state mandate required services based on an official diagnosis. Without an official diagnosis, it is hard to request more help, so I would recommend getting it. As others have stated, the re-evaluation is only every three years, but you can request an IEP at any time. It would be really helpful for you to be prepared when you go to the next meeting with your concerns. I am in a great school system, but lots of districts try to push the kids out as fast as possible. So, you should be prepared for them to tell you that services may end. You will need to give concrete examples of the problems that your child is having that can be addressed within the curriculum.
Good luck,
C.
C.