What is with only 1 HOUR IEP meetings these days???

What is with only 1 HOUR IEP meetings these days??? Are these people kidding??!?! Guess it's a new 'district wide move'(Broward County Florida) Geezzzz!!!.....will have to work on this one! Even on the best days this is too short!! What can you honestly get done in an hour?? Yes it's true! Across the board many many parents are being told 1 and 2 HOUR TIME appointments for IEP meetings!!

In one hour we can say hello, go around the table and get each others names..read a little and WRAP IT UP & LEAVE we will see you next week...or next month!!...It's really getting crazy all this ESE Stuff !!! Unbelievable stuff!!

It's about creating a quality LEGAL IEP document for our Children! One hour...paleezzz! If anyone knows that's about enough time to get set up at the table with all our stuff, for those that have been sitting there for shhhhh...... the 'pre-meeting' to get some of them to 'scooch over or MOVE' a little so parents can be able to even sit up at the IEP TABLE and to have some table space ourselves, to say hello around the table, laugh a little with everyone after we first get there. The one hour can be taken up with 'greetings and setting the tone' of the meeting!

PARENTS have a right to have it take as long as it takes to finish a quality document. Absolutely teachers are being taken from their classrooms to attend IEP meetings, there are plenty of quality Substitute teachers out there that can teach for the day. Parents do not get paid for attending these meetings and they don't do them everyday like everyone else sitting at the table. Parents are intimidated most of the time and SCARED and not always sure with what the whole IEP process actually is.

To have just a 1 or 2 hour IEP meeting is NOT right..period! My average IEP meeting is 4 hours and at times longer to finish up the most important portion of the entire IEP...supports and services and let's not forget placement discussion and options! The part that almost ALL meetings love to RUSH us on!! I am done being silent about how it really is for parents! The IEP process is about CHILDREN receiving an education!

Parents let me hear from you! Is this happening for you and are you being RUSHED at the most important part of the IEP process for services, supports and placement?

Collaboration & Communication between Parents & Teachers

Collaboration & Communication with those that work with and teach my daughter is a major plus for her education if there is honest open communication on a regular basis.

To be able to have face-to-face conversations is even better but when that isn't possible because of being a bus rider, then phone calls (yeah right...not happening) and emails are the next best thing to everyone being able to communicate on a regular basis.

I find it odd that some teachers will have no problem being real and communicating with me where other teachers are so not going to allow any type of just simple conversations on a regular basis, no matter by email or picking up the phone and having a quick conversation. Seems to be this unspoken rule or fear of working with parents that want to be involved in their Child's education by daily, weekly, monthly collaboration & communication home. It places such a strain & a feel of tension on both the teachers and parents when being friendly is all it really takes to be able work together as a team for the success of their student and my Child.

Why is it this way? Why are some teachers more willing to provide open, friendly, honest, free-flowing, easy going conversations on a regular basis. We hear the buzz words of PARENT INVOLVEMENT, but what does that really mean to a teacher today? What does it mean to parents?

I know I am not the only parent that has a Child with Special Learning Needs attending our Public School System that feels this way. I hear and work with many parents that tell me this on a daily basis. Parents only want to know what is happening in their Child's classroom, our Children can't always communicate what they really did during school. It is imperative that parents and teachers talk or email on a regular basis, especially if the Child has a disability that impairs their Speech and Language abilities.

Working together with parents that want to help and be involved should be embraced not feared or ignored. Parents after all are the Child's life time teacher and know the Child best! We always hear people say, "Parents you are your Child's first teachers"...if people really believe that, than why are many teachers not wanting to work with the parents more? Especially the parents that want to help the teachers teach our Children.

There needs to be a new attitude going on with our teachers towards parents that just want to be helpful. I'm sure many teachers reading this would say the same thing about their being a new attitude with the parents that 'don't really care' or are not involved in their Child's education. We all know there are probably way more parents out there that are not actively involved in their Children's education as they should be, but what about the parents that are? Teachers, let your guard down and open up to the parents that are concerned for their Child's education.

We talk of parent involvement, it needs to start with teachers being willing and taking action to being more receptive to the parents help by having regular 'chats'. Parents are not out to tell teachers how to do their jobs as some teachers may believe, that is a misconception. Parents have known their Child the longest and know them best and absolutely what makes them tick.

Where do you fit in with all of this? Are you a parent or a teacher? How do see yourself in the way you communicate with your teacher or with the parents? Do you need to maybe be a little more honest with how you work together or does it all not really matter to you? Parents, do you need to take a more active roll in helping your Child's education, do you put it all on the teachers to 'teach' your Child? Teachers, are you open to the suggestions of what parents may have and bring to the table? Do you not really care what parents suggest or want? Are you providing a regular way to have communication with your students parents, especially those students with extra learning challenges?

Do the right thing and start now being more open to suggestions with regular communication and working together as a team for students. Collaborating on things that will help ALL students be more successful in school and with their academic progress.

"The only thing that is constant is change - Let it start with me"

Feb. 20th, 2010

Spelling City.com

Spelling City helps teach spelling words and lists.
Great FREE tool for teaching, playing games and testing spelling words.

Suppose a Child Needs.............

Suppose a child needs a specific supplementary aid or service that’s typically provided in separate environments, not in the regular education classroom? Does this mean that the needed supplementary aid or service doesn’t have to be provided? Or that the child’s placement may then be somewhere other than the regular educational environment?

No, to both questions. As mentioned above, the public agency is responsible for providing the supplementary aids and services that the IEP team determines the child needs and lists in the child’s IEP in order to enable the child to be educated in regular education settings with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate. The fact that supplementary aids and services often play a decisive role in whether or not the child can be satisfactorily educated in the regular educational environment makes it all the more important that the public agency meet its responsibility to provide them. If the IEP team has determined that the child can be satisfactorily educated in the regular classroom with the support of a given supplementary aid or service, those aids or services must be specified in the child’s IEP and must be provided to the child.
(71 Fed Reg. 46588)

http://www.nichcy.org/EducateChildren/IEP/Pages/supplementary.aspx?PrintMode=true (copy & paste into a new search window or click on the "Suppose a Child Needs.........." above, it will take you directly the link where this information came from.

Be sure to SIGN UP for NICHCY Newsletters to stay informed and on top of IDEA and other disability related information! Great organization!