Today was GB's Annual Review. I brought my big girl's panties with me and a determination to keep the meeting civil, regardless of what Mrs. Very Stupid Chairperson did.
Usually, in CSE meetings in our district, parents start out by saying what they want. I was very non-committal and said I wanted to hear everybody else first. Mr. Teacher went first and said his class was a very good fit for GB's needs. He also said that besides recommending that she stay in his class, he would like to have her for the six week summer program. We agreed that as long as he was teaching it, so that she wouldn't have to adjust to a new teacher for six weeks, we would agree to it.
Mrs. Speech Therapist was next. She recommended adding an additional speech therapy to work on scripts to help GB organize her thoughts when trying to communicate specific ideas. She also recommended making the social groups part of GB's IEP. Way to go, Mrs. Speech Therapist!
Mrs. OT (Occupational Therapist) went next. She had a two page report that documented how GB's disabilities affect her learning in a class room environment. She also documented delays greater than 1 SD in fine motor skills, manual dexterity, and motor planning. She added an additional OT session to GB's IEP. Mrs. OT rocks.
Mrs. SW (Social Worker) went next. She said GB was starting to open up and she would like to take advantage of this by adding a session. Thank you, Mrs. SW.
Great stuff and I hadn't even opened my mouth yet. Then came my turn. I want door to door busing. I refused to agree to anything else. The Dad played good cop to my bad cop. I had lots of support from everybody but Mrs. Very Stupid Chairperson. She said it was illegal and kept repeating herself over and over. I refused to sign off, the Dad encouraged her to contact the bus company. I think I will call a lawyer tomorrow and get educated about the special ed transportation law.
All in all, a good start.
2 comments:
Door to door bussing is standard for all special needs students where I live. I suddenly feel so blessed.
That sounds like it started off great. I don’t know about transportation for older children, but in EI, they are required to provide transportation of give mileage. My nephew has door to door transportation in his IEP, but whether that is just his district or because of his degree of autism I do not know. I know that a lot of times if you don’t push you don’t get it.
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