Karen: I have a 14 year old daughter who has been in sped since 1st grade. She is now a 9th grader and ever since she went to middle school in 6th grade she is constantly failing where her disability is in, math. She has dyslexia and all was done for reading nothing for math. Well for the past 3 years she has been pulled from her extra curricular activities because of failing her grades. I have questioned the schools for 4 years now wanting to know why a child in SPED is failing. I worked in SPED and did all I could for my students, why is it with her its okay to fail her. They are not meeting with the IEP plans and tell me well a child in SPED can fail. Really. Why even have an IEP. Why even have a tracking teacher who doesn’t do anything. My daughter now is suffering from anxiety/depression and panic disorder. Plus dyslexic and ADHD. In her IEP it says no speeches in front of class at her discretion. Well they made her do it anyways even after she said she didnt want to. Is what they are doing wrong?
Yes, a student identified under the IDEA can fail. It is important to communicate your concerns with the IEP and document your responses. An IEP should include special education services, which is specially designed instruction AND appropriate accommodations so that the student has equal access to their educational environment. However, like anything SPED, services, and accommodations has limitations. The answer is “it depends.” For example, if a student is on an IEP for OHI and has work completion issues, the team may consider extended time to complete assignments, quality for quantity on assignments, chunking, etc. These are accommodations and should always be offered. However, there is some responsibility on the student (again, it depends on the category, situation, etc), to take advantage of the accommodations. For example, if a student is given extra time to complete assignments, and let’s say the IEP Teacher of Record, sends reminders, meets with the student, or follows the IEP and documents the attempts, if the student does not turn in the assignment, a 0 is absolutely appropriate. However, if it becomes habitual, it is the LEA’s responsibility to address the concern and come up with a plan to address the habitual failure.
Ultimately, it depends on the situation, what the IEP says, etc. Regardless, the short answer is, yes a student identified under the IDEA can fail. However, there is a massive responsibility on the LEA to address the failure and also a huge responsibility on the parent to advocate for their child, and finally, as the student get’s old, a responsibility for the student to advocate for themselves (again, depending on the situation).
kerby ellis
To:
ddouglas@mdek12.org
Sat, May 28 at 8:47 PM
Ms Douglas i am writing this letter because of a serious concern for a SPED student. I will not give his name because I have to remain anomous (cousin).
He has serious disability issues and can become violent when bullied. He is being assigned to Desoto County (Southhaven) Mississippi.
Here is his situation he is 15/16 years old he failed the 9th grade. Under IDEA no child is to be left behind and should have been promoted. Now he is also not getting help from the SPED teacher. He was placed in jailed for four months in Mississippi which is against federal law for being bullied and he reacted. He was handcuffed and police came to place him in jail. He did not receive any educational training what so ever for those four months. Again, violation of IDEA. the parents were notified as to what the county was going to do…the parents received no help. They have IEP meetings but they are being controlled by SPED teachers with not much inputs from parents in other words totally disregarded. This is in violation of IDEA….IEPS should be based on parents inputs to meet the childs needs.
This student is in (failed) the 9th grade and his studies consisted of doing his lesson on line at the school with no assistance from the SPED teacher…I am sure the SPED teacher knows his background and really does nothing. She does not float around the classroom for assistance to the student. IEPS are controlled by the SPED teacher.
I am asking for assistance at the highest level in Mississippi for this student…He weighs around 300 pounds and a good kid but just flies off the handle when bullied by other students.
I am a retired military Commander and fully certified in Mississippi/Tennessee for around 10 years working with SPED students at all levels with a Masters.
Whatever you can do for this students needs to be done ASAP. The parents are in a crisis with this students and more support needs to be done for this student. A SPED teacher should go to his home and work with him during the summer in a friendly environment…This is called home study and comes under IDEA The county/state pays for it by law
The special; ed program is not supporting this child and the student is becomming turned off.
The parents should be receiving services and pay for this student but the SPED system is not providing any accommodations as required by law under IDEA for this student.
This student should be in a HOME STUDY program with a SPED teacher visiting the house on a weekly basis…it is in IDEA.
Help
Retired SPED teacher
TK
My daughter has a similar diagnoses and she received a special Math IEP due to her “trouble” understanding word problem that require multi-steps, etc. She was diagnosed with Dysgraphia in second grade–and I just KNOW she has dyscalculia (it’s like dyslexia for math–apologies to anyone who might be offended–had to water it down). I’m happy to share my daughter’s Math IEP–It worked in 6th grade, but she is failing in seventh, hence the newly revised Math IEP.
I have Narcolepsy(sleeping disorder), Graves Disease, rheumatoid arthritis, anxiety and depression and I’m currently “failing” school from being absent to go to appointments or from being sick. All of my teachers are supposed to know about my health. I’m only 13 and that’s really kind of dumb for me to do 8th grade again
Your state parent training & information center can assist you. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center
Grades: Can the general ed teacher put the student’a grades as “N-I” even though he earned “B” for writing?
My child has IEP and is in fourth grade. In Trimester 1, my child got “B” grade for writing as per Engrade website, but his general Ed teacher put “N-I” in the school report card. When I checked with her, she replies that because as per special ed teacher my son is not meeting the IEP goals, she cannot my son “B” grade which is earned by him as per assessment. Writing is only section where there is mismatch of grades between Engrade and school report card, whereas all other subjects grades are in align with two reportings.
I want to know what the general ed teacher is right?
Please help!
If the student is failing, is it always the school’s fault? I have seen (especially in middle and high school) kids fail despite the best effort of great case managers, administrators, mentors, etc. The IEPS are strong. There are many other factors such as “failing schools”, home life, truancy, behaviors, etc. At the high school level, it is a different “ball game.” Chuck, your insight would be great. As a para, mentor and advocate–in the inner city and suburbs, I have seen kids fail (I am talking about mostly high school) despite ALL the interventions. Worse, some my teacher friends were told to just “pass” them on so the school district will not get in trouble with the state. So, many graduated with low reading and math levels because they were “passed on.” It is sad.
If a student with a disability is failing, this usually indicates that what the school is doing is not working, & something different needs to be tried. Staff at your state parent training & information center can assist you. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center
Chuck, This may be the wrong thread but I was hoping you could guide me to some resources. I am a special education teacher who is receiving pushback from the Gen Ed teachers I work with. I am trying to tell them that they must follow the appropriate accommodations and modifications set for our students with special needs prior to marking my students with failing grades. They then must provide those services if they are currently not. I constantly offer my team’s support in training them on how to provide accommodations and modifications within the General Ed setting but they are always fighting me on providing those accommodations and modifications (when necessary)
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Pbro, I would think, & hope that your state special ed website would address this. Check the IDEA rule 300.323(d) Accessibility of child’s IEP to teachers and others. This specifically addresses what you are asking for. A school attorney knowledgeable in special ed law should be aware of this rule, & the teacher’s & district’s responsibility to make these things happen. Just showing them the rules on this may not produce a change if the principal & special ed director do not work with the staff. The district more than individual staff is legally liable for not following the IEP, although there is at least one case where a teacher was found guilty in a court for not following the accommodations.