Taping IEP meeetings?

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Registered: 04-15-2004
Taping IEP meeetings?
3
Sun, 05-21-2006 - 6:42pm

Does anone tape record IEP meetings?

I feel like I need to start doing this given all the efforts by the school system to portray my DS as normal and get him out of services.

Can anyone comment on whether or not taping is working for you?

Does is make your school district more inclined to help you or less?

Paula G. (with Joel, 10, Aspergers, very verbal, very poor social skills, high IQ)

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-21-2006 - 7:15pm

We tape often. Not always but I really should. I typically use it to have a record of what we agreed on because everything never gets written down and I forget things. So do teachers. Later we can say, see we talked about this! This is for if we agree to do something or also if there is some important information about the child that is said anecdotally but not on written record. For instance, when an evaluation is done often the person reporting may comment on how the child did during the testing more indepth than is in the report. This may be of importance later. All of us can say well didn't we talk about that at the meeting, but in meetings that last like 2-3 hours and cover so much material it is easy to forget things or in my case of multiple IEP's to get one confused with another.

Cait's teacher was miffed with me because I asked half way trhough testing that Cait be allowed to have modifications for one portion of the test. She was having a bad day. I had discussed this with her at the meeting but all she had in writing was the paperwork that had said Cait would test without modifications. I had to remind her that we agreed to this.

Second, I don't think it helps gain services, however, it can make the team more wary of being careful what you say. Some schools and personel try to get away with saying things that are illegal, like the district doesn't have enough money to pay for x, or a myriad of other no no's. They will be more careful to refrain from saying that on tape. That is the reason most people tape.

Renee

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Avatar for betz67
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-21-2006 - 9:25pm

I've never done this, but I have a friend that does every single time. She refuses to sign the IEPs and insists that they always have a 2nd meeting after she's had time to review what the team members said during the initial IEP and then she goes and does her research and comes back with replies and ideas for how they should proceed. It worked pretty well w/ her for awhile but now that her son is in highschool it's not doing much anymore. She can't get them to do anything. The SD has been slapped on the wrist several times by the state dept of ed and still nothing changes-- pretty much my experience w/ this (and our district in WI) in middleschool and highschool.

I don't know if I will have to resort to this, but it's always an option to get what's best for my kids!

betsy

Avatar for insideout418
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 05-21-2006 - 10:43pm

I have my first one on Wednesday and I do plan on taping it.


I never thought of it as being helpful to hold them accountable, like they'd be more apt to listen to me - I was just hoping to have something to go back to if I don't have time to take all the notes I'd like to.

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