Are they allowed to do this?

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When I got home this evening, my husband told me he got a call from the school psychologist at our son's school (our son is not diagnosed or in special education). She had (without us giving permission or even knowing about this) gone into his classroom and observed him for about a half hour, and she now wants to talk with us privately (without our son).

I do not want to talk with her (and will consult with our own resources regarding this). I am not at all impressed with what the school district has to offer. I am also concerned about him being diagnosed by them and then losing control and choices regarding his educational placement.

Our son told us, she observed him during a social studies lesson and she kept peeking over his shoulder. She asked him why he wasn't taking notes like the rest of the kids. He told her that he had his own style of learning.

Is the school district allowed to do such observations without the parent's permission? Does anyone know how far they can go with this?

Sincerely
Scribe

I should think they are allowed to observe him in the classroom. I can't see why they shouldn't be allowed. Whether it be another person, or just the teacher keeping an extra eye on him. At least they don't bother him when he doesn't write. When I went to school, they would practically force you to write things down. No matter that your hand cramps, or that you don't read it again after having written it. It was just the done thing. Sounds like he has it good.

I wouldn't mind the observation if the purpose were to give the classroom teacher some ideas on how to work with my son.

My concern is that the reason the school psychologist was there is that they are starting a formal evaluation of our son without our permission. I'm also concerned the psychologist might put her notes or observation in his school record.


Regarding my son's lack of interest in classroom notetaking, I have discovered that what the elementary school sometimes calls "note taking" is just an impressive word for "copying off the board." It's very tedious and automatic, so I have some sympathy for my son's point of view.

Scribe

I'm not sure if they are allowed to do that. Even if they are, I think that a formal diagnosis can be a helpful thing. I was formally diagnosed in middle school and it helped me a lot in getting the teachers to understand my differences. Schools generally have a student's best interests in mind, even if they end up doing things which conflict with those very interests.

I am almost 100% sure that in the US, the school can not do a formal evaluation without your writen permission. Certainly they can not make changes in his placement without your approval. You might want to visit www.wrightslaw.com and see if you can find more detail.

An evaluation and placement review is a very formal process. At least one parent (or guardian), a mainstream teacher, and a district representative must be involved. There must be meetings and you must be invited, in writing, at least 10 days prior to the meetings. Your child must be educated in the LRE-least resistive enviroment. If they plan on a placement change outside of mainstream, they must justify it in writing and you must agree to the change. If you disagree, the child "stays-put" until the disagreement is resolved.

I suggest you call your state's nearest federally funded Parent Training Center http://www.taalliance.org/centers/index.htm
and ask for a copy of state laws regarding placement.

Having said all that, many services and accomidations are avialable in the mainstream classroom. My personal favorite--my son doesn't have to copy off the boards as teachers are required to give him a copy of whatever they write! No more stupid busy work! : ) I'd hear the psychologist out; you don't have to agree with her. Yet, as Alex said, it helps the teachers to know a student is trying but is different, rather than just thinking the student is being a pain.

Regarding the school files, you can request to review them at any time. I do suggest you do that once in a while. Its amazing what can end up in there.

BeeBee

BeeBee

Thank you, Bee Bee and Alex for the helpful information and perspective. I will definitely hear her out.
Scribe

I wonder if they are allowed to do that as well. I thought they could observe and recommend a formal evaluation, but the parents ultimately have the last word. When I was a kid, I thought schools tended to stick their noses into things that were none of their business and my parents, and others, often thought I was just rebelling against school. Today I find that alot of parents actually agreed with what I thought back then,

If you do decide on a formal evaluation, I think you should pick which doctor, which instituation, etc. does it. Schools do tend to be extremely biased and do what is best for them, which isn't always what is best for a child who is different or may have special needs. An independent evaluation would probably give better results than the school will.

The school gets first rights on educational evaluations. If the parent gets an independent one first, the school must "consider" it but there is no requirement that they follow the recommendations. If the parent questions or disagrees with the school evaluation, they can then request an independent evaluation at school expense which becomes the baseline for determining services.

Of course, if the parent does have an independant one and the school refuses to implement a recommidation, it is the parent's right to ask for an explaination in writing. Schools don't like to do that. I've gotten several accomidations implemented because no one wanted to be held accountable for saying no.

BeeBee

I agree with Bee Bee. We went through this with J. The school could evaluate J, but only we could request a formal evaluation be done. However, we went to a private phychologist first for a dx and then brought it to the school. The school performed their own eval, but we were not given any options on who would perform the evaluation. The school invariably disagreed with our psych's dx, so we requested an independant psych test J for a third time. The school gave us a list of dr.s on their approved list, and I chose which one would do the eval. The school is required to go by the independant psych's eval, and in our case the psych agreed with our psych's dx.

I do not regret getting the dx because it opened up a whole set of benefits J might not have otherwise received.

If you are anywhere near San Diego, get the listing for Eastfield Ming-Quong (EMQ). If not, get the listing for the same organization in Campbell, CA, or Los Gatos, CA, or Sacramento CA.

They have people who know the ins and outs of this.

Better still, contact a guy named Earl Kelly in the Campbell office. They're in the phone book, and he is a very knowledgeable individual.

If you need more information, you can pm me, and I'll give you the direct info.

EMQ does not charge for their services.

I can appreciate a parent's apprehension about labelling in public schools. I'm from the generation where all the 'different' kids ended up in "The Sunshine Room", and you only saw them rarely if at all. Of course, the stigma was insurmountable from either side.

Fortunately, my spouse worked in Early Intervention Education, so we had some idea of what to expect from the modern school systems as we were working through this.

From our perspective, we always knew our son was 'different'. While everyone else was telling us 'it's a phase, he'll grow out of it', we were going from specialist to specialist to try to figure out what was going on. He was struggling in school, and we had to fight for the very generic (and wrong) "Learning Disabled" classification so he could receive basic speech and occupational therapies, but he got no other considerations at all.

Eventually, I heard about Aspergers from a co-worker, and we finally found a specialist who was able to evaluate and diagnose our son. The difference at school was amazing. The teachers now understand that his 'differences' aren't rudeness, or bad behavior, or stupidness, or 'a phase that will pass'. Many of them arranged to attend special seminars to learn more about Aspergers. They learned to understand and predict situations that could trigger my son's outbursts, and they were able to head most of them off, and if they couldn't they had strategies ready to handle it so it didn't become disruptive to the class. Most importantly, several accomodations are made that allow my son's higher-than-average intelligence to shine through. For example, where he had trouble finishing tests because he has trouble writing, he is allowed extra time or a scribe to write for him. We are fortunate that we were able to do this in early grade school, before he suffered any serious setbacks in his school career.

Best of all, my son suffers no stigma. There are no more "Sunshine Rooms". Among his peers, he is just another 'smart' kid.

Of course, we run into the occassional hard-headed, bean counting administrator. Sometimes we have to insist on whats best for our son. We know the truth, we have specialists and teachers on our side, and we know our rights. We get my son what he needs to succeed, and definately no less.