DownSyn Forum

[wmartv]

This was touched on in another thread but I'd like even more opinions/experiences. The school and I disagree on how to modify the work and still grant access to the grade level curriculum. They claim that since I've refused the alt-MSA that puts Becca on the diploma track (which is what I want for now) and they therefore cannot modify/simplify her work too much. I feel like as long as she's covering the same topics as her classmates she shouldn't be expected to learn it at the same depth. For example during the unit on telling time she was bringing home homework with clocks requiring answers to the minute when Becca can't even tell you the hours and half hours yet. When I asked why can't they let her master that baby step first I was told that's not allowed. As a result, she has made very little progress this year. I think she's just too overwhelmed by it all. They don't allow her the time to master anything. She doesn't seem to have alot of actual IEP goals and the ones she does have are very basic...nowhere near grade level. Do I need to insist that all the major topics be written into the IEP so that they can be broken down into achievable goals?

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Marge
mom to Michelle 4/7/98
and Rebecca 9/30/03 (DS)

[Jennasmom]

In my experience as a classroom teacher (Canada) the students who are not able to work at grade level expectations are on IEP's. If the child is not on an IEP for a said curriculum outcome I must evaluate them at grade level. If significant modifications must be made to an outcome for mastery then it should be in an IEP. For instance one of my students is on an IEP for math. This student is expected to skip count by 2's to 10 while the rest of the class is expected to skip count by 2' to 100. He is doing time to the hour while his peers are working on half hour and quarter to/past. If he was not on the IEP he would be failing math.

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Laura mom to Jenna DS 10/08-06/09 (angel baby), Ava DS 06/11 (gotcha day 08/11)

[TheBradyBunch]

If you refused the modified curriculum, wouldn't they have to mark her according to the non-modified? Do they not cover the same topics in the modified cirriculum but have them tailored to goals that she can achieve? I'm asking because I don't know. I don't intend to have Noah follow the regular cirriculum, he can't do it and that would be setting him up for failure...that doesn't mean I don't want him a part of it, it just means I want his marks to reflect his capabilities (like in the IEP that was previously mentioned having a child count by 2's to 10 as opposed to 100 which is what would be expected without the modification for that child)

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Mom to: Nicholas (May/02), Nathan (April/04), Charlene (June/06), Noah (DS, ASD) (May/07), Jesse Lynn (July/08 ), Tessa (Apr/10), Kaitlyn (Jun/12)

"Sometimes the things we can't change end up changing us"

[wmartv]

Is there a limit to the number of goals you can have on an IEP? She only had 2 math goals this year and one was counting/recognizing numbers to 100 and yet she was being asked to do 3 digit addition and subtraction. Does that make sense? There were no goals about telling time or recognizing/counting money but they were part of the regular curriculum. I honestly don't care about what grade she earns as long as she's making progress.

My fear with deciding on certificate track this early is that the school will figure that since she won't be getting a diploma anyway they can slack off and not push her or themselves as hard. I know that having Becca in a regular classroom is more work for all involved but I believe that with the right help she can succeed...diploma or not. I get so angry when I hear school personnel talk about how great the "life skills" program is because they teach the kids to cook, do the laundry and go out to restaurants. I can do that myself darnit! Just teach her to read, write and do math!

_________________
Marge
mom to Michelle 4/7/98
and Rebecca 9/30/03 (DS)

[Jennasmom]

I fully agree that your daughter should be in the regular classroom. Her IEP should have more than two math goals in my opinion. When I look at writing academic goals for IEP I go back through the grades to find outcomes that are at my student's level. If she is working in math at a grade 1 level then pull outcomes from the grade 1 curriculum that she can master or develop. I would try to have a few goals from each math strand so she can be working in the same strand as her classmates (Numeration, Operations, Geometry, Measurement, Data/Probability). I would do the same thing with each subject.

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Laura mom to Jenna DS 10/08-06/09 (angel baby), Ava DS 06/11 (gotcha day 08/11)

[Jennasmom]

I had to go take care of Ava ...

Once a good IEP is written, your daughter should not be given work that is not covered in her IEP to master. I do at times have the students on IEP's participate in activities that are working on outcomes that are not in their IEP's for simple inclusion reasons. Sometimes the interactions with peers are more important than the activity itself. Often these are the 'fun' academic lessons. For example my students are workings of fractions so they made paper pizza's. My IEP student made a pizza too even though I don't expect him to do fractions but because the talk at his table group important.


It sounds like you really need to be a strong advocate for your daughter in your school. I work in a system that integrates all students in the regular classroom from P-6 and then pull-out is used as needed into the Learning Center (SN resource classroom).

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Laura mom to Jenna DS 10/08-06/09 (angel baby), Ava DS 06/11 (gotcha day 08/11)