I've heard horror stories and I've heard great stories about dealing with the school district IEP committees. (In NY it's the Committee on Special Education, or CSE).

Personally, I've had nothing but praise for ours, but that's just because we got a new CSE chairman this year. We had some conflict with the previous one, but the new one is practically throwing services at us. I think he used to be a special ed teacher, so he has some background in knowing what we need instead of just being an administrator.

So, I was wondering what others experiences have been.

(I was trying to add a poll to this, but I couldn't get it to work)

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Ecki



MomMom of Kayla (Ds/Autism 4/5/04) and Laurie (PDD-NOS 7/12/01)

Our Blog - Opposite Kids
Kayla's Story http://www.ecki.com/kayla/

Up until now everything has went very smooth. Now where my son goes to school the LEA is on a power trip. It is her way or the highway. All I can say for her is that she has challenged the wrong mom! Sorry to vent.
The teacher and aide he has are WONDERFUL and I am very grateful.

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Lori
Wife to Wes (briarsdad)
Mom to Will( Briar(5)DS

my son has been in the school system for 6 years, since he was 3....

during the first 2.5 years, i'd say that EVERYTHING was perfect. we loved the staff, the staff adored him. he learned so much. he made friends with everyone. everyone was so proud of him. perfect.

when he started showing signs of 'stubborness' and rebellion, that's when things started to go awry.

the past three years are real eye-openers.

the teachers and parents are caught in the middle.

all i have to say is that the school administration and special ed department, though they may smile and talk to you in a very friendly manner, may have other agendas for your child.

remember that the school gets funding for having a sped classroom. the sped department don't want to see any issues with the school because they need the space.....

my son started getting unruly; behavior specialist involved; everyone wanting the "BEST" for him. no one could control him.

for 3 years, every time he poked, cried, screamed, yelled, whatever, got documented in an 'incidental report', filed in his record. finally, when the school had enough of him, the sped dept. had no choice but to move placement. it was very difficult for us, but if things are not working in one place, yes, let's try another setting.

same thing happened to the next school. this time, when THEY decided that they didn't want him there any more, they did not even try to de-escalate or diffuse the situation. they allowed him to have meltdowns and called the principal and asst principal to witness. then they'd call us to pick him up.

this is so long and winded, so much has happened just in the past few years.....

on our last iep meeting, the school had 17, count them, 17!, people show up to our 2 (my husband and advocate).

then there was a VOTE that my son be moved to a 'behaivorally disturbed' facility. argh. we disagreed and have kept him home since (a few months now). we had a dr. fill out a HOMEBOUND form due to stress and mental anguish. the iep committee said, "NO, we don't agree with that". can you believe it? well, my son has never done so well since he's been pulled. he knows how to read the clock on the hour and half-hour (80% accuracy on the half-hour), can subtract single-digit numbers, sight-read, can spell and write up to 4-letter words like 'boat', etc. i am working on everything that's in his iep, and then some.

anyway, getting back to the original topic, we've had both good and bad experiences.

your child's BEHAVIOR will determine how well they want to treat you. at least in my district anyway. i am in cobb county, georgia. and, as you can tell, i have dealt with both inclusive and self-contained classrooms.

all the best to you. just keep an open mind.