Trish: I am a speech clinician in a school district, assigned to Middle & High. I’ve been told students classified Speech Lang.Impaired, must receive speech services. If the student has received services since pre-k and is now in HS, but continues to need placement in special class/supports, can they continue with their SLI classification without continuing the related service? The psychologist has indicated based on their testing scores, they don’t qualify for LD classification. So when the CSE agrees to terminate speech services, the parent is told that declassification must occur, even though the student struggles in a self contained class.
My daughter is and A and B+ student now. She has no difficulties with school or socially. I co-parent with the mother, and our court order states that “both” parents must agree on matters related to education and testing.
In our IEP meeting they discussed how well my daughter was doing, all positive comments. Then as the meeting continued I realized that the school wanted to ‘re-evaluate’ my daughter just to see if she if there was any other needs. I received the consent form and with a very polite reply and explanation I told ‘no’ on the form. I also said in my note that our CO requires both parents to agree on these matters. So, my question, can they still proceed without my consent, but with the mother’s consent ?
The federal special education law doesn’t address this issue so it is likely to depend on your state’s law.
Im so confused. The IEP team had his 3 year evaluation without me. My 13 year old son was just diagnosed with severe dyslexia and I was told he by the doctor that Johnny does not belong in a restrictive environment. They didn’t even use the psychologist testing. He just came home today with his IEP written on it “per Phone conversation” I NEVER had a conversation saying to do his IEP without me. They called me Tuesday and said the where going to change the meeting date but they didn’t and had the meeting without me. They are going to keep him in a restrictive environment because he cant read and now I know why. Is this even legal
Big red flag here. They cannot have the meeting without you. You are the parent. You need to write some good firm letters. Go up the chain starting with Special Education Director and the the Superintendent. Get an advocate to assist you. You can also refuse to sign the IEP and request for mediation.
Trish –
Although it is likely that a student classified under speech impairment will need speech therapy, it is certainly no requirement. In fact, requiring students to be receiving speech services in order to qualify under speech impairment likely violates IDEA.
In the commentary to the 2004 regulations OSEP states clearly that, “services must meet the child’s needs and cannot be determined by the child’s eligibility category.”
The eligibility category is supposed to be used for data collecting purposes only, and should have absolutely no bearing on what services and support the student needs. Those should be determined by his or her specific individual needs, as determined by evaluation.