Update and Rant

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2001
Update and Rant
7
Tue, 08-09-2005 - 12:04pm

Bobby was diagnosed AS in April

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Tue, 08-09-2005 - 5:12pm

Tina,

As he is 3yo you should be going through the school district, not EI, unless PA is different than most states. (according to your profile, you are in PA).

Regardless, it sounds like you are getting the tunaround. Usually if the timeframe is stated as 60 days, that means that they should have *completed* the evaluation and scheduled an IEP meeting within 60 days of receiving your written request. It is a legal requirement, per the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) -Having said that, check if "60 days" actually means 60 days, 60 *weekdays*, or 60 *school* days). There may be some wiggleroom for them around the long school break, but you are right to let them know that this behaviour is uncceptable. I would double-check that you are with the right agency -my fear is that EI will faff around until he ages out (I think at 3y, 3mos or 3.5), then send you to the school disrict where you will be back at square 1. I don't mean to scare you, but please check.

I had a little look online, and found your state's home page for special ed. It looks like there is good info on there, including a hotline for advice and complaints (and a task force on Autism).

http://www.pde.state.pa.us/special_edu/site/default.asp?g=0&special_eduNav=|978|&k12Nav=|1141|

You may find some useful and pertinant information thereon. In my experience is is helpful to know something about the law and your rights within it, and to make it (nicely) clear that you do. Some agencies can take little liberties with the law otherwise.

HTH and good luck.

-Paula R.

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2005
Tue, 08-09-2005 - 7:29pm

Tina,

Are you, by any chance, in Chester County, PA? The reason I ask is because I just finished my son's IEP with the Intermediate Unit last week (he turns 3 tomorrow). He is going to in the Autistic Support Classroom 6 hours a day, 4 days a week. I'm actually worried that he's going to be the highest functioning kid in the class within a couple months...but that's another story...

Anyways, yup...the IE does go on vacation for 3 weeks in August and yes, it does seem that you have been given the runaround. They also take two weeks around the 4th of July, so it makes for a very tricky period for IEPs and whatnot in the summer. However, I have found that extensive bitching, while it can sometimes get you services, does not always get them faster and can label you as a "problem parent."

If you at all worried about your son not doing well in a regular preschool, I would leave a message with your service coordinator through IE and ask her to give you a call on Aug 29 or 30th and see what special ed classrooms they have available that would perhaps be a good fit for an AS child (they don't necessarily have space in all of the classes that would benefit your son). IF you are in Chester Co, I can tell you exactly what they have, since I just toured a few of them myself last week.

BTW, my son's case coordinator, Lisa, has also been out of the office all summer. Hmmmm, we very well might be neighbors...or in the same school district anyway.... small world, huh?

Good Luck!
Gemma
Mommy to Kieran (almost 3 and ASD)

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2001
Tue, 08-09-2005 - 8:19pm
Yes it is a small world! lol

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-09-2005
Tue, 08-09-2005 - 9:37pm

Hello All!

I don't post much.. just lurk..but just thought I'd clarify. PA is weird in that in many counties the preschool services (for 3-5 yr olds) are handled through the intermediate units.. and they call that program "early intervention" which in many other states is the name for the 0-3 program, I think. I'm not sure if all PA counties work this way but mine does (Schuylkill) as well as a few others I know. The school district might be funding the services.. or contributing in some way.. but the actual services are run by the IU. My son Ryan is 6, and has been receiving services throught the IU since he was 4. As you found out .. the 2nd IU summer session ended last week. Ryan's an aspie, and he is just starting Kindy in the fall, and he will transition to receiving services from the school district. For Kindy on up, some school districts handle the special ed services themselves.. and some school districts contract with the IU, it's become a big issue in my county.. not sure what's happening in Chester.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 08-10-2005 - 1:09am

Paula, you da best.

Only one thing to add. If they are going past the 60 days then you should file an out of compliance complaint with the state. You should have recieve a parents rights brochure when you agreed to have him evaluated and signed the evaluation plan. The information on how to file a grievance is in there.

Typically in most states, 60 days means calendar days but with the exception of long breaks. Now depending on PA, long break may be the 3 weeks that the IU is off or it may be the entire summer that the school district is off. However, even counting summer I would be willing to bet that October is past the 60 day mark. I am going to go back and look at your original post to see when you requested testing. Typically the time starts from the day you signed the assessment plan. Then it is either 60 calendar days or 60 school days. I think most places are calendar days with the exception of breaks longer than a certain time frame (in California any break over 10 school days is a long one).

If they are going to be out of compliance, then one thing you may want to do is call who ever it is you get a hold of. If they are not available then go to thier supervisor and so on until you get a human being in charge. Tell them that the dates you were given are unacceptable, that it goes well beyond the timelines established through IDEA and the state of pennsylvania. That you would like to schedule a meeting right away and have these issues taken care of before the end of the timeline.

Honestly, according to DH (autism specialist in large district and admin type guy) there is no acceptable excuse to go beyond the timeline unless you were having an eval done that could only be provided outside the district that they had to pay private and there wasn't anyone available. That is not the case here. He tells me that is federal. You can tell them flat out that you are unwilling to go beyond the timeline. If they do then they are out of compliance for those days and will owe you compensatory services for all the services that he didn't recieve.

Dang, I get long winded about education stuff. Sorry.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-09-2005
Wed, 08-10-2005 - 8:34am

I reread the original post. This is really stupid.. but I wonder if your case manager was off for the summer session? Which is NO EXCUSE, but I know in our case the OT and PT work year round.. but the developmental person (also his case manager) and ST don't work during the summer. But they should have known that at the time of the screening in June and assigned someone else to manage the case and work on pulling the evals together during the 6 week summer session. Just a warning.. our IU was not very good about explaining their schedule, procedures, etc. I was lucky that some of the therapists were, but it was frustrating.

When we started.. we also got a screening in June.. evals in July.. and got the comprehensive report and IEP in August just before the end of the summer session. The case manager who did the report and handled the meetings in aug was not the same one we had in Sept.

Got to go..DS has to go to preschool carnival

Kate

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2001
Wed, 08-10-2005 - 9:31am
Thank you all for your advice and insight!

 


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