Monique: My child is in high school and her Spanish teacher is refusing her to use her notes on test and quiz. Her IEP ACCOMMODATIONS on her IEP is that she can have use of notes generated in class and go to testing center. What can i do?
IEP Compliance: TEACHER REFUSING TO GIVE ACCOMMODATIONS
Hi, I have a question my daughter is IEP student with slow processing information and other disabilities and she is receiving accommodations like extended time not exceeded two blocks or class periods for her assignment and quizzes and shortened long assignments, quizzes but this year her math teacher refused to give her her full extended time she said that she can finish her assignment at home and suppose to submit it at the beginning of the next class period and before the quizz in otherwise will not be graded for her . Does that mean she gaves my daughter two blocks extended time to finish her assignments I want someone to explain to me what not exceeded two blocks extended time means ?
Hello,
I have a question from a teacher stand point… If you have a child that is gifted and not hard of hearing but their parent is hard of hearing. Can the parent demand the teacher to create closed captioning videos during this covid pandemic. We don’t have the technology, and use it on zoom but the material does not translate correctly. So words and content is then not correct in the video (closed captioning). This is not needed for the child but the parent who wants to help her child. Just curious what the law states.
Vicki, your state parent training & information project or disability rights project should be able to answer this. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center
My sons school is allowing teachers to
Pick and choose what accommodations they want to follow. I have stressed his learning disability and dyslexia requires certain accomplishments to be followed. Teachers straight up say no they will not allow it. Principal supports them. What can I do to
Give my son the opportunity he deserves?
If you have not contacted the district special ed director, I suggest that you do that. If that does not help the situation you can use the dispute resolution processes that the law gives parents. Your state parent training & information project, can assist you in understanding these options. . http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center
Sounds familiar to what I am dealing with. My son is literally considered patient 0 w all his medical issues requiring extensive care and multiple doctors appointments. He is sick all the time. Last year we had no choice to put him on Homebound. Well, this year was a nightmare! They did refusal after refusal and ended up not being able to get any type of education until the 11th of October and we started school in early August. The teacher for math then decided to penalize him further and fail him for the 1st quarter.ghag alone dropped his 4.38 GPA down to a 4.1 Now again school is letting the teacher have the discretion to not accept his work if late. Even while knowing all his issues bc they make me send in his testing reports. Which I don’t know how that’s legal. The principal went as far as calling and communicating w his physician office.. is this all legal?
My daughter has an IEP that requires the use of graphic organizers for writing assignments. The teacher is not furnishing her with the graphic organizers, has requested she be moved into a special education class, and said she uses graphic organizers in her inclusion class, indicating that unless I move Olivia, she will not furnish her with graphic organizers but has offered to give her a general graphic organizer. As a teacher, I know that a ‘general graphic organizer will not help her.
I have an IEP and one of my teachers would not let me go to my small group testing, and I couldn’t find anything about the rules on that.
Then this should not have happened. I suggest “politely” talking about this to the principal. If this continues, you may want to discuss this with the special ed department.
Hi Zach, thanks for your question. Do you have a copy of your IEP? (if you don’t, you need to get a copy) Does the IEP specify that you are to have small group testing?
IEPs are often locked away and are difficult or impossible for teachers to view. When students gets to high school, they often have several teachers so it’s almost inevitable that some teachers (1) don’t know you have an IEP or (2) don’t know what they are supposed to do, if anything. See “Does Your Child’s Teacher See the IEP??
I have an idea. My nephew has learning disabilities. In high school, he had problems similar to yours so he developed a plan. Early in the school year, he asked each teacher if he could have a few minutes to describe his disabilities and how he learns. After the discussion, he asked each teacher if they would like a copy of his IEP. This worked well for him and may work for you too.
Please keep us posted.
Excellent suggestions!!
At my child’s school IEP’S are changed without any type of meeting or notification and placements can be changed as well. Teacher are allowed to decide if they feel like following an IEP or 504 plan. Principal says its his school and he will do what he wants. Superintendent backs him up and complaining to the state is not helping. My sons placement is now a self contained Autism classroom instead of being mainstreamed and his goals are all vague now. What should I do now?
If a complaint to the state is not working, request for mediation or a due process hearing could be tried. Usually, you have to go to due process before you can file a suit in a court. Your state parent training and information center can assist you. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center
Nakova, are you involved in a group of parents of kids with disabilities? These groups can be invaluable . Other parents will have experience w your sch district and may be a good source of info.
Agree with Chuck re: contacting your state Parent Training & Info.
If still need help, contact your state Disability Rights org (may be called Protection and Advocacy). Go to this page to get contact info for your state: https://www.ndrn.org/about/ndrn-member-agencies/
Your next step needs to be in writing. First, write a query note to the teacher (if you haven’t already), copy the principal and sp.ed. director, and state that your daughter (or whomever) says she has not been allowed to use her accoms in class and could teacher explain why. That should get the wheels cranking at the admin level. If you already know all of this, I would recommend sending a letter of inquiry to the principal and sped director, asking for a clear, board approved policy (there won’t be one) which allows the teacher to refuse to provide accommodations, and give a reasonable date by which you expect a reply. If still nothing, file a complaint, attaching your paper trail.
The case Chuck referred to is “Doe v. Withers,” decided by a WV jury in 1992. Doe v. Withers was also the first special education dollar damages case. The jury awarded $15,000 in damages to the student.
Facts: history teacher refused to provide accommodations in child’s IEP (oral testing by an LD teacher), despite being told that he needed to do so by the principal, special ed director, and special ed teacher. The child failed history. The history teacher belittled the boy in front of his classmates. Later the school had to retest the boy’s knowledge of history. The boy spent hours studying for this retest. This caused his grades in other classes to drop. And he failed history.
The complaint & jury instructions are here:
https://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/ltrs/Why_doe_withers.html
It is possible that the teacher in question may not know what to do. In this case, a person from the Special Education program should step in and assist the teacher. In addition, the campus’ leadership team should step in and provide training in understanding the basics of Special Education program. Not a lot of teacher education program provides a succulent understanding of this federal-backed program.
Do you find that more and more teachers are non compliant in this matter? I do. Worse, some principals, etc. are not enforcing the teachers to accommodate. I find this more at the middle and high school level. For some friends, it has been very frustrating. In one case, the principal moved my friend’s son out of one class into another of a more accommodating teacher. The principal and special ed director had NO influence on the non compliant teacher–small town, politics, nepotism, etc.
The union made sure in my dd elementary school that teachers weren’t forced to do a thing. They attacked the parent in retaliation for trying. The middle school is much better in our case
I am a special educator and have been for 22+ years. This is part of the problem. Most sped teachers I know will always do what is best for the child and step in as a team. Personally I have given copy of notes or whatever the accommodation happens to be for the child. It is districts not providing enough PD on special education and that’s sad.
You can discuss this, verbally, & in writing with the principal, & special ed director. There is a case from 10+ years ago, where a HS teacher was sued by the parent for not providing accommodations. The teacher lost & had to pay some $. School attorneys use this case to remind educators to follow the IEP. Wrightslaw should know the citation for this case.
I am facing this issue with my daughter whose Science teacher refused to provide accommodations throughout the year and even laughed when another student pulled a chair out from under my daughter. The Science teacher gave her a D on her final exam, no accommodations (she got A and Bs on her other subjects that provided accommodations) and her study guide was blank. I have been arguing with the district for re-testing. They are saying they can not accommodate my request because the school year is now over. Any advice on what step I should take next?
If I were you bring it up with BOE or your school committee