hardofhearingchildren.com by PAM Candlish MLS
"What did you say?" "Eh?" "WHAT did you say?" "MM?" "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" oh "PARDON ME!"

IEP Stresses

IEP time.

The IEP stands for Individual Education Plan. During the past ten years the IEP has changed from an informal piece of paper in the child's teachers' day planner to a formal, negotiated legal piece of documentation which indicates a contract between the child, the teachers, the school, and the school system. 

April is the stressful time for preparing for the IEP for the child. This stress has grown exponentially as more parents learn it is possible for the school system to help more, and more children are identified with special needs earlier. 

Onus on Teachers to Offer more Help 

The teachers need to admit that the issues of education are changing, and they need more preparation for children with special needs if they are going to be in the classrooms. The teachers also must find another way of increasing their own incomes than by accepting all children as teachable in a class of 25-30. On a basic level teachers determine the environment in their classrooms. I have waited for many years to hear teachers say collectively "we need more information about learning disabilities and the effects of many common conditions such as a mild or moderate hearing loss." We need a better acoustic environment in the schools. 

School staff cannot be in two places at once, so April often is the end of support services at school. November is the beginning of getting things to happen which were agreed on the previous April. All part of the mysterious process of life.

THE ISA letter or equivalent

In some school systems two letters will be sent to a "special child" parents. One letter, the ISA Request from the school principal  is to collect information about the child from audiologists, psychologists, doctors, occupational therapists, social workers, adaptive technologists... 

The ISA documentation not accountable to the Parents.

 The ISA documentation is generated by a letter of request from the school's principal. The parent signs the letter, and the school board is supposed to collect information about the child's special needs. Originally this information was supposed to be on the child's OSR which would then bring the services he or she were entitled to to the individual child, accountable to the child's OSR number.

Because the school boards were able to obviate the child's individual needs, this documentation is now collected, and is not shared with the parent. This means the child has documentation generated by the school system which the parents cannot control and do not see. Until this problem is rectified, I suggest that you should not sign the ISA permission, and send a letter to the Minister of Education outlining your refusal reason.

Invitation to the IPRC (Irritating Parents Request Conditions) or something like that!!!!

The Second Letter is from the school, school board or education authority. It is probably the most important communication you receive on behalf of your child, an invitation to the IPRC. 

The IPRC is a negotiated process which determines the child's special support at school. The process has become more stressful each year as there are more children being identified with special needs earlier and the school administration fervently believes in mainstreaming for every child (except those who masturbate publically.) In the education law this is referred to as likely to inflict self-harm.

Observing what other parents accomplish at an IPRC leads me to the conclusion that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. As my child's needs are never met, the complications grow each year. There must be consensus between the administrators and the parents and the child for the child's placement in the education system. This can vary from a mainstream placement with no help, mainstream placement with resource withdrawal, in a large special ed class in a small special ed class, and the provision of assistance from EA's, educational assistants.

Mainstream best for language but need careful documentation for resource support

From language acquisition aspect, there is no doubt that a mainstream placement is best for a hard of hearing child. The child hears a "better" background sound of children who are accomplishing, as opposed to children who are not accomplishing. Sending a hard of hearing child into the school system is like throwing chocolate cheese cake at pigs. They know enough to eat it, but perhaps not savour the taste. The mainstream teachers and school system expect a hard of hearing child to hear, all day long. When you point out that the child gets tired, or might behave badly for one reason or another, you get labeled as a difficult parent. The school system does not expect to do much for any child. Their level of support is defined by as little individual support as possible because it is the cheapest way.

Our choices for Reid at the IPRC before kindergarten included: mainstream placement in the local school; mainstream placement in the local school with resource withdrawal; or placement in another school board's oral program for deaf and hard of hearing children. We choose mainstream placement with resource withdrawal. This has been so unsuccessful for us that we suggested that a neighbour send their hard of hearing child to the oral school in another school board.

PARENT DOCUMENTATION AT IPRC is a new privilege, use it.

I am quite sure that our school board records our meetings as positive in outcome. They take three years to respond to a letter, and when I point out that the basics of the letter are wrong they do not respond. Our school board is knowlegeable about equipment for hard of hearing children.

The Audiologist can help with a strong letter

Your child's audiologist must write a forceful letter stating the child's placement, and all needed equipment. Our audiologists have tended to not express the needs to the school, which the school interprets readily as "does not have special needs". Several years ago we had a terrific audiologist who wrote very good letters of support, and the school did what was ordered. Most of the audiologists I know do not think of themselves as educational advocates. 

For example, an overhead projector to replace a blackboard in all the child's classrooms means the teacher does hot have his or her back to the child while writing on the blackboard. Of course there must be a demand for a FM and head mounted mike. Our school board has bought individual mikes for each teacher, and Reid carries the little blue FM box from class to class. This reduces teacher anxiety about bugs on the mike from someone else. The little box is the expensive part.

Once you have determined the educational placement of the child, and you sign the papers, the IPRC meeting is over.  

If you are not happy with the outcome of the IPRC meeting, do not sign the papers.

Hire your Own Consultant.

This year we have hired an educational consultant to negotiate and write Reid's IEP with the school board. Reid has not had a signed IEP for over a year. If you would to connect with our educational consultant, click the email link at the bottom of the page and I will send your name to her.

Building an IEP

The IEP is now a negotiated document requiring consent from the parents, the child if he or she is over 16, the teachers and the principal. It should determine the child's special needs, and talents, and state by name who is going to provide the services. For many years, Reid's IEP was twisted to make Reid responsible for all his problems. This is not fair.

The education law has been made accountable to the parents of the children with special needs. This is fine if the parents are lawyers. For the rest of us, we need to have legal recourse provided free for our children when the school or school board or minister fail to obey the law. The Minister of Education should be responsible for the enforcement of the education legislation. 

PARENTS PROBABLY KNOW THE MOST ABOUT THE CHILD'S PROBLEMS

The parents of a child with special needs have been around since the child made the journey from "normal" to "special". The parents are the most important part of the whole team, and should be respected by the teachers and the school. 

I do not know a single parent who does not research solutions for the child's problems. The parent gets the child for the rest of the day and night as part of the family. Parents know much more about the child's problems, and can make valid suggestions which should be respected. 

For the first ten years of my son's process through school we were not allowed to put anything into the school record to indicate our requests at the IPRC even though I brought copies for all. Last year was the first time an addition was made from the parents for the child. The bureaucratic process looks good but kept no record of disagreement. When the school system looks at their record, there is no indication of disagreement. When I look at my documentation, there are many issues which were repeatedly raised and ignored.

Make every action for your child accountable to the person who is supposed to carry out the support.

Make sure every child with a hearing problem has technological support for the hearing, and language support.

Help all those unemployed psychologists, speech therapists to get jobs by insisting on regular professional evaluation provided by the school.

Coping with Endless Battles 

new material added October 2001

The battles with the education system seem to go on indefinitely. Kneeding bread is always a great release for me. When the first loafs are risen, I punch the "edureaucrats" down and they expell the gases and collapse. Yahoo!

I made up this name myself. What do you call the administrators of the school system?

May I suggest homemade bread after the IEP!

Should I get a Lawyer?

If you are really having trouble with the school authorities, consider getting a lawyer, or an educational consultant. At the very least, you should be aware that many other parents with children with special needs are vying for the special education dollars, and some of them can afford lawyers. This changes the ball park two ways. The standards of what a school can get away with not doing may be changed by other parents' lawsuits, especially if enough lawsuits happen. The downside to involving a lawyer is that the settlements are often big which shrinks the rest of the budget. 

We have been told it costs $11,000 to organize a suit on behalf of our son, and another $11,000 to bring the suit to court. In Canada, legal aid is only available if you are poor and do not own a house. I think this is unfair because the child is usually poor and does not own a house. As parents of a hard of hearing child, previously we only had to buy hearing aids (Thousands of discretionary family dollars) Now we have to hire lawyers to sue the school system. Do they even take Visa, assuming it is not already maxed with the hearing aids?

May I suggest mothers from hell as a breather.

http://www.mothersfromhell2.org/

-PAM