Quote:
Originally Posted by ArtleyWilkins
About the school thing . . . Since your daughter is served under special education, you have the right to call an IEP meeting and have her accommodations and modifications reviewed in light of virtual learning. Schools really do want to get this right, but everything is so abnormal right now and we're feeling our way through things ourselves. We feel like a dog chasing its tail most of the time. Call, ask for an IEP meeting. They need to come up with a reasonable plan that will work under the circumstances.
The state education agencies aren't giving us much leeway on educational goals right now. The powers that be seem to think we should have the same educational goals and expectations as we do in person. It's coming from those bureaucrats who are almost never educators. It's a mess.
Make the phone call. Get the meeting set. They can change her plan to make it more workable. Be the squeaky wheel.
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Thanks, Artley. We did get an...ASDM? ADSM? Some sort of revised version of her services. So she is now getting, say, speech, OT, etc. virtually (she didn't get that in the spring).
We talked to her special educator (we've worked with her a few years--she's awesome, and she and my D love each other) right before school started. I said I was worried she'd fail the year, especially if the whole year ends up being virtual (so far, it's through end of January). And the educator said they wouldn't let that happen.
One of the things she's supposed to do, in addition to about 3.5 hours of synchronous learning 4 days a week, is spend 15 minutes each on a math and a reading app all 5 days. And doing that is a part of her grade. We told the educator that we're having trouble getting her to do that, and she said if she just does it on Wednesdays (the one asynchronous day), it will be fine. But I suppose it would be better to get something like that formalized on an IEP.
My T said how this must be especially difficult for me because of my perfectionist tendencies. And that I was a really dedicated student. Which made lots of sense. But he talked about how they do grades (this is also the first year--third grade--that she gets actual letter grades). And said how they're likely to grade on a curve and would pass her to the next grade. That there's a chance she could have to repeat a particular class, say, but doubtful. He also shared the other day that his son got his first D ever on a quiz (via virtual learning). That everyone is having trouble.
But you're right that maybe we should call an actual IEP meeting. We do have the option to have a meeting about the ADSM (ASDM?), so maybe we could start there? The problem was, we didn't really know how all of this would go and what the requirements would be until it started, so I didn't know what amendments to request at first. But now we have a better sense of what's feasible for her--and for us.