Can a district close an IEP w/o parent's written consent ?

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Just came across a Wrightslaw article about exiting from IEP. It doesn't go into behavior or functional skills specifically, but might be some good background info:

http://www.wrightslaw.com/heath/elig.eval.read.htm

Hi, can you explain more ? Are your boy's advocacy skills part of an IEP ?

Some additional info - the ONLY tests conducted as part of the triennial were the CASL (Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language) and the THS-R (Test of Handwriting Skills - Revised).

Is this even legit that they did not do a comprehensive educational assessment on him, just because he got such high grades ? BTW, Principal has been hounding Mum to sign the darn 504 already ! We are actively shopping around for an advocate, but this is looking like it's headed for Due Process.

BTW, is asking for additional time during testing or one-on-one testing (instead of small group testing) an IEP goal or a 504 accommodation ?

Additional time I would assume can be added through either an IEP or 504, since my son does have that in his 504.

But I still want your friend's child to have an IEP. Because of Middle School.

My son's pragmatic speech therapy is under an IEP. Last year, for instance, one of his goals was that he would give someone in his speech group an appropriate compliment that did not sound sarcastic at least once during the hour. They measured how often he succeeded and gave him a "grade" (this goal was exceptionally difficult for him, but eventually he successfully completed the goal 80% of the time, so every eight out of ten classes he complimented someone appropriately)

Self-advocacy skills can be taught and measured with goals as well: for instance, a child's goal could simply be raising his or her hand and saying "I need help" when they need help. You would have to backtrack through the child's classwork to figure out how often the child is just living with confusion, and then you assign some kind of numerical value to measure that. So, the goal would read "Student will raise his or her hand and say "I need help" when appropriate, at least 1 time per class period during ___________ class."

I found this really good PowerPoint on IEPs in California...you might just want to print it out and bring it to the school so they know you know all of it: http://californiacasa.org/wp-content/up ... Ashman.pdf There is a section on testing that shows that they are required to test "all areas of suspected disability" which it's clear they did not. There's also a requirement to provide a translator and testing in the child's native language.

You might also check out their website: http://californiacasa.org/ Looks like you might be able to find direct support there.

It could be in a 504 plan alone. It could be in the accommodations section of an IEP. While it's legal to have both a 504 and an IEP, Wrightslaw recommends just having the IEP because it has stronger legal protection.


Doubtful. I would think at minimum they would need a general test of academic achievement like the Woodcock-Johnson, and for a school psychologist to observe him in class. His mom should probably request that the TOPL (Test of Pragmatic Language) be done.

My head is spinning and this is what I've come up with. I think I have seriously over-thought this, and your feedback would help a lot with clearing my mind / thoughts. Thank you !


Dear Principal,

I do not agree with my son, X, being moved from an IEP to a 504 plan. His social and educational needs are such as to be best served within the framework of an IEP, especially considering his imminent transition to middle school and the challenges typically associated with that transition. While I appreciate your referral to the <social skills training program>, I believe that my child would best benefit from meeting with a guidance counselor on a weekly basis.

I am requesting a thorough and complete educational assessment for him in all suspected areas of disability, including :

Academic,
Cognitive
Perceptual
Psychomotor
Communication
Social/Emotional/Behavioral
Self help/Daily Living Skills
Middle School Transition Needs

I am also requesting the TOPL (Test of Pragmatic Language) be done on him..

Finally, although there was discussion of keyboard skills training and OT classroom consults, these services were not offered via the 504 plan. I am asking for these to be offered via his IEP.

Sincerely,

Mrs. XYZ.

CC: Middle School Principal, Middle School
CC: District Special Education Administrtor

This just caught my eye again. The boy IS very careless, and has often "lost" homework and classwork. In fact, his mother was showing me all the notes coming home from school that said he was unprepared for his book reading project or that he was missing homework etc, so this is very concerning to me, too. How were you able to get the academic support / teacher liaison for him ? Was it a specific goal on his IEP or something more ?

Thank you so much for sharing ! !

I have always been asked if I would waive autism testing b/c they were not fighting it, and hey did not want to pay for it. I was OK with that, but they were not attempting to take away our IEP, either. Some people agree to waive it, some don't, depending on if they want new baselines. It is expensive testing so asking for it might make them more willing to give her what she wants, though obviously I cannot be certain of that. I always found that when they knew I had a super-strong case they would just give me what I asked for rather than have to pay for the testing and then pay for what I wanted. Since they are not giving him much right now, anyway, it might be worth doing.

Did they give her the results of the CASL? We had splinter skills going on there. He might also. If he has poor skills in some of it, then that would wa

I was asked if I would waive doing the autism testing b/c they were not fighting it, and they did not want to pay for it. I was OK with that, at that time, but they were not attempting to take away our IEP, either. Some people agree to waive it, some don't, depending on if they want new baselines, or have particular contested issues.

It is expensive testing, so asking for it might make them more willing to give her what she wants, instead, so as not to have to pay for it. Obviously, I cannot be certain of that. I always found that when they knew I had a super-strong case they would just give me what I asked for rather than have to pay for the testing and then pay for what I wanted. Since they are not giving her son much right now, anyway, it might be worth doing the testing.

Did they give her the results of the CASL? We had splinter skills going on there, as we do in most things. He might also. If he has poor skills in some of the splinter skills, then that would warrant speech, regardless of overall results.

They never had anything official and spendy test-wise for handwriting and they gave us what we wanted (not reducing services) rather then spend for it. I therefore know nothing about that test. Did you get the results? I bet someone here knows how to parse it.

As for the executive functioning goals, we had written into our IEP that DS would get "check-in, check-out" services (so a teacher or other person had to check if he had everything with him going into and out of school and if necessary each class) and that they had to sign off on his assignment notebook. We also had that he was supposed to write something in his assignment notebook EVERY TIME, even when there wasn't homework. These were more accommodations than goals, but we did wind up doing a kind of prompt/fade and DS has learned to do most of this himself.

He may need to be taught HOW to write assignments down - that's something that you can convert to a goal. DS was forever writing something like "writing" which didn't give him enough information to do the work when he got home. If that's the case, it means again that the assessment needs to figure out what the problem is (is he not understanding, is he unable to assess what information is important and what isn't, is he unable to physically write more than a word, etc.) and then create a goal.

The key is that goals come after assessments - goals are a response to a problem that has been broken down into its component maladaptions. So, in my son's case, writing "writing" was a maladaption to time management (he would panic at the end of class) and a maladaption in the amount of information offered vs needed.

Nope. they did not. All the IEP notes say is that the CASL was administered and he scored at the 91 percentile which means that he no longer meets the requirement for speech and OT services.

He did struggle with all of these. There was a time (last year) when he kept coming home without needed information or materials to complete his homework for the day. It was finally fixed after the teacher gave him extra attention at the end of each day, reviewing the information with him and checking his bag to ensure all of the homework materials were indeed in his backpack before he left the school for the day.

But this was last year, and the 4th grade teacher did this after Mum (informally) asked for her help. He is now able to do this himself, but is it better to add this as an accommodation ?

BTW, stupid question, but can he have a 504 and an IEP at the same time ?

Last edited by HisMom on 14 Oct 2014, 11:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

I would also request they give her a written copy of the results of the testing they did, including the breakdowns.

Accommodations of a 504 are covered under the IEP. That said, a 504 will go with the child outside of high school, an IEP expires when they graduate; middle school is not too soon to be thinking about what his needs might be in college or in a job search. I'm not sure how you make that transition.

Yes, you can ask for this accommodation to whatever degree it is needed.

Yes, he can. Wrightslaw says not to, but momsparky has a good point about college. Add it to your list of questions to ask the advocate.

I agree the letter should also ask for the test reports for the two tests that were given so far.