Are you dealing with doing an IEP with your child's school? Whether you are experienced or new to the process, or simply are saying, "What is an IEP?" (It's an individualized education plan for any child receiving special services), this website by the gov't. is invaluable.

Archived: Guide to the Individualized Education Program

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thanks. my daughters is coming up in Nov.

Thanks for the great site!!

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Jen

Don't know if everyone has this resource... But we have an organization here called Families Helping Families. They have an education specialist that will discuss your child's needs with you and attend your IEP meetings with you. The lady I have worked with here is exceptional. She knows the law and will fight for parents, but she also know when a parent is asking for too much and will ease them in the right direction!

We have a few advocates here, and although they are nice, have been through it themselves, and all, the minimum to pay is $1500, not covered by insurance. I can't pay that. I wish we had a service that was free or low cost.

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We have our first meeting coming up very soon. If all teachers were like the one we have this year, we wouldn't even need to do this. But, my son is moving on to the next school, next year, so it's good that we are getting everything in place now.

I do have a question though. This year's teacher has given my son reduced homework because it takes him longer to do it than most kids. Is this something that can be put into an IEP for next year?

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Treehugger, the answer is YES. However, your definition and the teacher's definition may be different. One thing that may help is to ask this year's teacher if they could either write a note to next year's teacher (you could even hand-deliver it to this teacher) or have a short conversation with him/her next year.

Either way, I found it imperative that I have a meeting with the new teacher, resource teacher and any pertinent staff either just before or just after a new year begins, especially if you're dealing with a totally new school/staff. DS principal resisted the idea, saying that they simply don't have the time to do that for each Special Needs child. Well, I'm sorry, but it was the best way for me to feel comfortable, and I found it to be the best way to establish a two-way relationship and to ensure that the IEP would be followed. I'd heard too often of teachers getting IEP copies and not having time to really read them. I actually feel bad for the kids of those parents who don't request or get that meeting. Then our kids get misunderstood. I had to wait 2 weeks for the meeting to happen, and in that time, there were incidents that told me that nobody had clued this teacher in on Aspergers (I was right). Even though I had met the teacher on Meet the Teacher Night, it was too brief and chaotic.

Next year, I think I'm going to do a brief overview bulletpointing issues and hints. This will be on top of the IEP.

But yes, if something is working, be sure it is in the IEP, but as you already know and are great about doing, you have to be involved to be sure it's happening, but also to be sure that he's not getting too little homework/classwork, either. Those minds need to be stretched. A good teacher would communicate any changes to you.

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I'm a special education teacher and wanted to give you all this websiteWrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy There is a lot of information there, but it's organized well. You can also go to the department of education and look up IEP or IDEA and get info there, but the wrightslaw site is easier to navigate. I hope it's ok to post a link to it.

Absolutely on the link. I've got other articles linked on here to that website, and many on my Aspergers board extol its virtues. Books by Tony Atwood (Amazon is one of the cheapest places to look for his books) are valuable, too.

Thank you!

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