Newsgroups: bit.listserv.autism
Date:         Wed, 11 Nov 1992 11:58:59 EST
              <AUTISM@SJUVM.BITNET>
From:         RJKOPP@SUVM.BITNET
Subject:      parent-teacher conference

To spend a day inside your childs head, how often I have thought that.  I
could imagine it would be a frightening experience to us that take so much
for granted, and yet it would answer so many questions.

Your teacher sounds good and like she's willing to try to pull for you.
That is a great asset and I think if you can convince her of the need for
an aide you would have a strong ally.  I have heard many option teachers
say that getting an aide is no problem.  Yet when we go to CSEs and request
aides for certain things it always comes back to the argument that other
kids similar to Shawna, don't have aides and they do fine. (or so they
say).  The last CSE we went to we were asking for an aid for Facilitation.
That was a lost cause.  We argued that this isn't just for helping around
the class and school but help in her communicating, well it came down to
that the school that we got (which is what we were dying for for 4 years)
should have some (no guarantees), in the end it wound up that there were
but we sure were not getting it on the IEP. Another argument we sometime ran
in to with this was that if your child needs an aide they are probably
misplaced and should be in a more restricted oction class.

You never really did mention where you were going in Syracuse to get the
diagnosis.  I would be really interested if it is not Dr. Coplan.  Just
curious as to who else does this and what the rest of their diagnosis and
recomendations would be, not for myself but I have had other parents
ask me at times or it has came up in meetings.

I would be real interested in seeing what a court would decide in the
case of where something has appeared in an IEP and the School District
says they just can't afford it.  It seems that with budget cuts on the
rise and such that this is a bigger and bigger possibility.  Unless they
protect themselves and make sure that things like that won't ever get to
the IEP or are put in in such a way that they are unenforceable, such
as "Occupational therapy as determined necessary", this leaves a hole in
who determines what is necessary, (you can bet it's going to be district
personnel), it also states nothing number of times per week, or time length
of sessions.  We have had some items put in our IEPs as consultations once per
week.  Which winds up being a therapist consulting with teachers and aides once
a week, but doesn't necessarily mean work with the child.  In our case this is
working out and the consultant is working with Shawna to figure things out but
then passes it on to the teachers.  It can be OK if everyone is willing to
carry it out.  However if the teacher doesn't feel qualified to do the
therapy, and the therapist is already over scheduled problems could arise.

Federal mandates say that what is on an IEP is enforceable, that is where I
would think the idea of unaffordability would be interesting as a defense.

Thanks,
Ray Kopp
Syracuse, New York
Internet:rjkopp@mailbox.syr.edu
Bitnet:RJKOPP@SUVM.BITNET
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