6 years - partially rejected IEP based on lack of classroom support

This is our second post IEP letter. In our first letter, we asked for special ed para support. The school again said no. We partially rejected the IEP. At this point we really believed that our son needed at least 1:1 support during academics especially writing and math. We hired an advocate (for the first time) and scheduled a new meeting with the school. I think our requests were completely reasonable and supported by the evaluation reports, which really showed my son behind in the areas we asked for additional support. The school agreed to 1:1 during academic instruction, around 10-15 hours per week.

Dear Team Leader,

Thank you for sending us the IEP proposal. Please find attached our partial rejection to this proposal together with our reasons for the rejected portions. We would like to emphasize that we appreciate the team’s effort to address The Student’s transition and academic needs. We accept all proposed goals and the corresponding service delivery. However, while very thorough in many areas, we believe the proposed IEP lacks detail regarding the support The Student will receive in the inclusion classroom during academic instructions. As described in the three year evaluation reports and noted in the IEP (page 7) The Student “requires direct assistance to initiate, sequence, and execute multi-step activities especially those that are novel”. Based on the three year evaluation reports and on our observation of the inclusion kindergarten classroom, we believe The Student requires consistent instructional support during academic activities such as writing, math instruction, and independent work, in order to have meaningful access to the curriculum.   

We request a meeting to discuss the rejected portion of the IEP. In the interest of moving the process forward and hopefully finalizing the process by the end of the school year, we ask that you let us know of your decision to schedule this meeting by Friday, May 9^th. On May 10^th we suggest that we start the mediation process.

We would like again to thank you and the whole team for your support, effort and time investment.  

Sincerely,

The Parents

May, 2014

Regarding the IEP proposal received on May 2014, we partially reject the lack of individualized support during academic instruction in the inclusion kindergarten classroom. Per The Student’s 3-year evaluation reports and based on our observation of the inclusion kindergarten classroom we believe The Student requires 1:1 instructional support during academic activities (writing, math instruction, independent work) in order to have meaningful access to the curriculum. Please see:

(1)   OT report page 6 - “The Student’s organizational skills and his ability to work independently are not functional for school performance:  “The Student has difficulty with initiating, organizing and completing tasks. The Student needs frequent reminders to keep working.”

(2)   Educational report page 2 - “During times The Student is required to write in the classroom, he works one-on-one with a teacher to help with focus and organization. Without this support, despite his knowledge of letters, The Student has a very difficult time with writing tasks.”

(3)   Educational report page 3 - ” As the demand of the task increases, The Student’s attention wanes and increased encouragement or restructuring of the activity is needed.”

(4)   SPL report page 2 - “The Student needs repetition and explicit instruction in order to recall and connect newly learned information with concepts that are already known.”