Is anyone out there going through hell grps special ed?? or is just me???
Im asking this question in general reason, and yes I am having a bad experience at this time with a specific grps school (which name I wont dissclose here), The lack of educating the parent on what is going on and a timeline on what this process is on evaluated a child is beyond me. I contacted grps to enroll my child in early childhood aware that he had a few issues but not to the degree of what was revealed at our first evalution meeting. I was informed that my child showed signs of asd and that it was best not get him "medically evaluated" because educational and medical were two different things. That we should go home and do research on autism and get him enrolled right away to get him in the swing of things, his father and I agreed. So that in the mean time they would be evaluting him and updating us on the next step. Time came and went and I'm asking where our son stands with asd and yet they have "No Answers". So as we continue to educate ourselves and research we recently found out as parents we are just as much in control of our son's IEP which was another thing we really didnt fully no about were told "oh this is a report card and progress report. Which isnt true, The IEP is the plan in which is to help the child progress in his gray areas and for the parent and staff to reinforce in the child daily lifestyle. AND NONE OF THAT IS HAPPENING SO IM FUSTRATED AS A PARENT
Join a parent support group and find a child advocate. Many experiences in school.....special or regular do seem like Hell and must be endured with no other school choice. Looking for a positive lesson about life might make it a little easier.
We have been fortunate our son has attended excellent GRPS run special ed programs - GR Oral Deaf School and Lincoln School. We have had nothing but top notch teachers and loads of help with our IEPs. I think the teacher or therapist or whoever is working with your child makes the program good or bad. I'm sure there are teachers we could've had that wouldn't have been as good.
I would suggest contacting the Autism Society of Kent County and getting to know other parents who have been through this before. They are one of your best resources. The society's website is http://www.autismsocietyofkentcounty.org.
There is also a WrightsLaw conference and resource fair this weekend at Grand Valley State University. This is a national law and advocacy group that helps parents of special needs children. They will be focusing on special ed rights, laws, tests & measurements, IEPs, and strategies for effective advocacy for your child. I believe the flyer I saw on it said they will have a bunch of agencies present in booths but I'm not sure. It's kind of pricey though. The West Shore chapter is one of the sponsors of the event. You can see info on their website at http://www.asws.org/ and then on the right side of the page under local events there's a link for the WrightsLaw conference.
The Kent County Health Dept can be helpful too. The Children's Special Health Care people may be able to point you in the direction of resources. They could also tell you when their support group for parents of special needs children meets. I know there are parents dealing with autism at those meetings.
I am currently working in Special Ed as an assistant. What is grps special ed?
Are you referring to public elem schools?
With all the cuts GRPS has been making over the last few years, it doesn't surprise me that spec ed has suffered too. The entire school system is going in the gutter. If GRPS can't give your special needs child the help and education he needs, they are required to send him to a school that can. Check with Godfrey-Lee. They're spec ed program is pretty good, but it all depends upon what your childs disabilities are.
Call Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service, Inc. This is a non profit disabilities rights organization. Check them out www.mpas.org 1-800-288-5923
I live in Elk Rapids and my son is in the early childhood special ed program. He was also in Early On and then the local intermediate school district's Infant-Toddler program which is where he had his first IFSP (now an IEP because he is 3 and required to be in special ed at the public school).
In my experience no one goes overboard to tell you how this stuff works, but if you ask they will tell you what they know.
I strongly disagree with their opinion not to get your son medically evaluated. True, you might want to think about insurance implications if he is medically diagnosed, but insurance won't pay for anything to help the asd (autism spectrum disorder?) unless there is a medical diagnosis, anyway. The medical diagnosis doesn't have to be as specific as asd until they rule other things out. For example, my son's diagnosis was "hypotonia" (low muscle tone) for a long time. It turns out he has sensory processing disorder, which we are still learning about. I'm not sure if it is a medical diagnosis or not.
There is a difference between medical and educational. Your health insurance will not pay for anything they judge to be educational because it is required to be provided by the school district. But you can also walk that line - I don't know many specifics about autism, but if you can find an occupational therapist that can state the child's needs in medical terms, insurance may pay for therapy. That is what happened with us.
Anyway, back to the schools and explaining what an IEP means. Look for the special ed office of your school district and see if someone there can give you a better overview. In Elk Rapids we have a coordinator for the district and she has started holding parent support meetings so people can ask questions like what happens next, do you transition out of special ed, what are the requirements for having an aide in the classroom, etc. This also gives us the chance to meet other parents and learn sort of informally.
It is going to be a dialogue between you and the schools, and it may be a long-term relationship, so try to look at it that way. Be polite and respectful but ask questions, questions, questions! You have a right to know.
For example, I recently learned an IEP has to be renewed every year but eligibility for services is only evaluated every 3 years unless you request a re-evaluation sooner for purposes of changing the services he gets, etc. That helped me plan for what classroom my son might be in next year when he was 4.
One last bit of advice - don't let the special ed people at school be your only source of information. Work with doctors, other parents, research online... unfortunately once your son turns 3 in Michigan the services are all provided through the public school, so that "seems" to be your only source. But it's not - seek out knowledgeable and helpful people and learn from them.
Feel free to message me privately with specific questions. -S.
P.S. It can also be good to get therapies for your son privately, because at school they are not going to help him with things that don't apply to school, only in daily life. For example, eating. If he can get through lunch period at school without too much trouble, they will leave it be at that. A qualified therapist might help him tolerate more textures of foods or get better at chewing fully before he swallows, cutting his food, whatever the issue might be. Therapists outside the school can help with more things than the school therapists, whose job is just to make sure he can function in class.
I am not sure what your question is? Are you asking about public schools and special education? Are you having trouble getting services or are you having trouble with the services that you already have?
Some are absolutely terrible, some are phenom. It totally depends on the program and the people running it. Google "Special Ed Advocacy" to get tips/ tricks/ help/ commiseration/ ideas/ & support.
R
