Community member Jen was talking about IEP revisions relating to changes to her daughter’s IEP to help with some of the issues she’s experiencing.

FROM JEN: She is SO unhappy right now. And she’s only 7. It worries me a lot. We are taking her fully out of lunch for now to see if it helps. Then slowly add it back in, and see what happens. I wish they had a lunch bunch bc I think she would like a few kids to eat with, just not a whole, loud cafe full. They are adding more adult support time, some out of class work time, so she can work quietly in the special ed room, hopefully easing overstimulation and anxiety. She’ll get way more academic support now that we know what an issue comprehension is. But, the majority of her day, aide or not, will be with 26 other kids in an environment that is too much for her. There is no other class. There is one pdd class at another school, but it isn’t as academically challenging and the kids have different behaviors, like swearing and hitting teachers, being violent, etc. That is not appropriate either. Some of the kids in the pdd class don’t even have an asd dx…they are just behavior kids without a class themselves.

If the class size was substantially smaller, I think it would be better…it’s just too much. Plus, she needs a lot of prompting socially, and in a big class like that, with a lot going on, there are a ton of missed opportunities.

My daughter has issues with developmental delays and attachment disorders and has a lot of social anxiety. It’s a difficult issue – how do you meet her academic needs but in an environment where she is not overstimulated – or over fearful – of the chaos that can be the elementary school classroom?

First, what social skill development goals are on her IEP? Throughout elementary school my daughter had two supports – a “lunch bunch” where twice a week, she and a few other students with social skill development needs had lunch with a counselor away from the crazy lunch room to talk about and practice social interactions in a lunch room setting. The other is a social skills counseling session once a week with the same counselor where the kids get together and model social interactions. She retains these supports to this day, even in high school.

As far as the classroom goes, I don’t know that there is much choice but a self-contained class or an alternate placement like a therapeutic day school. My daughter was in a self contained class until jr high, when she was mainstreamed for science and history but stayed in the self-contained class for the bulk of the day. She has this model in high school as well, but our district is big enough to do that.

The biggest thing to remember is if the team identifies a need, but the school doesn’t have it, it doesn’t matter – they MUST get it, even if they have to place the child in an alternate school at their expense, or pay for someone to come in. “We don’t have that” is not a valid excuse, according to IDEA law. You may need to hire an advocate to help you in negotiations with the school district. The few hundred you pay an advocate that knows your district and knows what to do could help you get the supports your daughter needs in short order. Also, http://www.wrightslaw.com has a wealth of information on supports that schools often don’t tell you about because they don’t want to pay for them. It’s sort of a shell game, isn’t it?

Best of luck, and keep us updated!