working on difficult child's iep notes now. any thoughts welcome

Jena

New Member
hi

well heading says it best. i'm have my iep mtg. on june 9th for difficult child. her final testing is trmw.

so i have the trusty the bipolar child with me at library right now. i'm in the iep section

i'm breaking it down diagnosis. than symptoms from it than working on accommodations needed.

so far i have diagnosis: bipolar, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), sensory issue

symptoms from it:

extreme anxiety which can cause

focus issues; inability to stay on task in classroom
forgets hw books, assignments, etc.
does not function well at lunch, or gym (open ended activites)
memory is compromised due to great level of anxiety
executive functioning skills are strong deficeit so gets easily overwhelmed by workload given during school/after
symptomatic complaints throughout day stomach, head etc.
very self conscious; think others are talking about her, looking it. paranoia.


also medications:

can cause frequent urination
stomach problems
some sleepiness at times


bipolar mood swings can cause

her to present differently on different days.
blow things out of proportion
her ability to do tasks differ on different days
easily offended
sleepiness on certain days due to lack of sleep night before
very hyper on certain days due to hypomania


basically now i gotta fill in the accomodations; thats' where any help would be appreciated.

so far i have:

front row seating in class
please make difficult child part of classroom chores; bring attendance down to office
help sweep room etc. (makes her feel more involved and eases anxiety)
redirection by teacher when needed to an extent
bathroom privledges upon request (yet gotta put a cap on it to some extent?)
nurse visits 3 a day to start than taper down as mos progress
assistance at end of day with books, hw assignments etc. making sure she has it all from locker
also preferred seating in that lovely lunchroom with group of girls from class
gym i have no idea what to write? was thinking have gym teacher call upon her and also use her to assist with getting props balls etc.
notes copied from teachers plan for her
weekly guidance counselor visits upon first mos. to decrease if she excels and does well
extended time on standardized tests;
chunk out work for her so that it doesnt' overwhelm her
when presenting hyper, fidgety allowed to take walks fora few min. to get it outta her.

i can't think of anything else right now. anyone have any ideas?? i'm going to be pushing to have her in inclusionary classroom come fall.


sorry this was long.... thanks for reading :)
 

shellyd67

Active Member
I think it sounds good Jena. I should have you help write my difficult child's (lol) anyhow, the bathroom request I would put a cap on. If her medications make her have to pee often she may have an accident and then she will be humiliated.

We are in the early stages of our IEP (haven't even heard back from SpecEd Director yet)

I may be coming to you for advice. Good Luck and let me know if they agree to all your requests and goals you suggested. Shelly
 

Jena

New Member
shelly thanks yet i feel like i am missing something and i dont' know what. i want to throw alot out so that i can negotiate down if need be. make sense?? yes your right on bathroom. i'm just afraid she'll avoid and go there to escape yet you are right. no cap.

its' fascinating if you ever read the bipolar child book. they state in their to allow kids to start later in the day. yea ok like any school would ever go for that. great guy great mind yet let's be realistic to the carppy schools we handle!

you should get the book even though it doesn't look like your child has BiPolar (BP). it gives a good idea of how to go about it. i got trained in this also years back when i worked with kids so i have a little bit of a clue. yet till this day i get intimidated slightly till i find my place in the meetings.

one trick i've learned my husband taught me if you ever feel like your losing your way in the mtg. you can table it at any point. so simple right?

good luck i guess that means you'll have to go through the testing thru the school also? our testing process is a joke. the last time they did a test on difficult child for the 504 they said she's great she's fine no problems lol
 
..... they state in their to allow kids to start later in the day. yea ok like any school would ever go for that. great guy great mind yet let's be realistic to the carppy schools we handle!

actually, we did exactly that last year-we modified her day so she didnt come in until 9:30 and then was tutored 1:1 in a core class after school for an hour 3X week to meet the requirements.

it only required a doctors note--it was no big deal at all.

if its something that your difficult child might benefit from it might be worth asking the question.....she wont be the first kid in your district on a modified day, nor will she be the last.
 

Jena

New Member
thats' awesome. we've asked before for later start yet they won't do it. it gets more confusing now with middle school and brunt of classes. yet i am going to start slowly putting her back into the bldg. in 2 weeks. just to sit in guidance counselor's office at first, than do that fora week see how she is. than maybe a language class shes' good at that.

she has to get her feet wet before summer and september so she doesnt' tank again.
 

klmno

Active Member
If this is the meeting to see if she qualifies for an IEP, I'd suggest taking something in writing from profs stating that she has those diagnosis's. If you can get them to include any specific ways she is effected by them that impede her learning or any ideas for accommodations they think will help her, all the better. Otherwise it is possible that her IEP won't have those diagnosis's listed as the reason she needs accommodations. Some might say that isn't important but depending on the sd, it can make a difference if something comes up in the future- like being late or absent from school. If there is a diagnosis documented in the IEP it goes a lot further if they are trying to approach it all like she just needs discipline.
 

klmno

Active Member
PS Jen, if you have something documented from a dr stating her diagnosis, it is a lot harder for them to say their tests didn't reveal anything so she doesn't qualify. The reason- you can come back with "did you test her for BiPolar (BP)" No- because there isn't a test for it. And they aren't qualified to diagnosis it.
 

Jena

New Member
good points...... i went thru this for her 504 do you remember? i brought in the diagnosis's and they did their b.s. evaluation and said oh she's fine LOL>

i am getting everyone though to rewrite their letters with diagnosis's. it seems like this will be easy this time. yet i'm not going to relax about it till it's done. this school has done some messed up stuff in the past....
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
I would add that she should have a second set of books to keep at home. I did this with my oldest boy and then the next year they gave all the kids a second set other than LOTE books so I kept that in his IEP.

Also, one of my difficult child's teachers pointed out that sitting in the front of the class is not always the best place - it depends on where the teacher likes to stand, etc. I now have in my kids IEPs that they will have "preferential seating" but I don't specify front row (although I did for baby boy till he got used to his bifocals). difficult child often sits in the back, he's more comfy there and he does interact.

Can she keyboard and is she comfortable with it? If yes, have them give her access to one or have her given a scribe and separate location for testing. My difficult child HATED that but easy child 14 and babyboy have no issues with an aide or scribing. difficult child go an aide in 3rd grade but was told she was a student teacher helping his teacher (who was a first year teacher in a second career. When the aide went up with him the next year, he came home and said "Guess what, Ms. X got promoted to 4th grade, too, and now she's learning from an old guy teacher!" He'll be a senior next year and still doesn't know he ever had an aide!). Anyway, I think you should push for an aide - ask for it for the first semester and say you'll be willing to revisit it after that time.

She should also get extra time and separate location for testing at least at the beginning. I assume she'll have resource room and/or be in an inclusion class?

My babyboy is classified with an unspecified Learning Disability (LD) and has had an aide since K. I don't even think he really needs one but the school keeps assigning one and who am I to say no? I think it's because they know I could sue their butts off over what they did to difficult child. PC14 doesn't have an aide but he does have a scribe for his math tests and he went from a D first quarter without one to an A. He is dyslexic.

Have you thought about getting an advocate? There's at least one low cost/free place that handles both counties. I spoke with them about difficult child and they were very helpful.

Good luck.
 

Jena

New Member
awesome thank you! the second set of books! thats what i forgot. i'll go thru the rest tmrw. i'll have to print this out if i can. i was an advocate lol so this is supposedly right up my alley.....

i am trying to get her therapist to come with me. i thought that woudl be good! yes?
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
If the therapist is on the same page as you and can explain clinically why these accommodations are necessary and how the school can best work with difficult child, then it might be a great idea.

Make sure you get the subscores on the testing.
 

Jena

New Member
thanks!!! i will def. thanks for reminding me! therapist is going with us that day. i'm thrilled. it's very soon now. excited that it will be over. one battle down. ten million to go lol
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
For k having a signal that only her and the teacher knows about is key- the signal is so that she doesn't have to stand out when she needs a break or is stressed or flat out losing it. The teacher will see the sign and discretely walk over to help- it is also written in her IEP that she gets breaks when needed and has a safe person to go to when needed.
we use our Pyschologist and have used our nuero-psychiatric in the past as our advocate. SD still Hoovers but we have a great IEP! :)
 
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