So I feel the need to clarify, since my last post lacked an essential element of the whole IEP process. In truth I suspect this will be a topic revisited again and again. However, the main thing I forgot to mention is that Holden’s teacher can not recommend services. So, (in my best Rod Serling voice) imagine if you will, that you go to the doctor. It’s annual check up time, and you get to be poked, prodded, and wear a gown that no matter what you do, your derriere, is in the air. Your doctor checks you out, takes your pulse, blood pressure, temperature, etc. Then you put your close back on, walk into a room, where there are other doctors, and your insurance agent all sitting at a table, along with your doctor. The insurance agents asks you if you feel there is anything that requires attention. You look at your own doctor who simply smiles back at you, and says nothing. You state that you have some concerns about your cholesterol levels. The insurance agent asks the person representing the lab if there are any concerns about your cholesterol, the tech looks at your blood work up, and replies that your cholesterol is elevated since your last physical, but still at a good level for your age. Concerned that your cholesterol has elevated despite your good diet and exercise, you ask your doctor why that is, and if you should be concerned. Before your doctor can answer your insurance agent tells you that elevated cholesterol can occur for a multitude of reasons, but that since you are within a safe zone for your age, it is nothing to be concerned about. Not satisfied, you ask your doctor if there are other tests that should be done. Your doctor tells you that perhaps a more intense work up wouldn’t be a bad idea, and suggest that the lab do a more thorough work up for thyroid and anything else that can be affecting the cholesterol level. Once again your agent jumps in, saying that extra blood work for your cholesterol is okay, but a complete work up is superfluous since in two years you turn 40 and will be receiving a complete work up. This is not the Twilight Zone, this is the reality of the IEP. Okay, perhaps this is a bit of a dramatic representation, but I think most of us want our doctor to be able to suggest solutions to things they find, even if it is not the concern you came in with.
It’s like taking your car to a mechanic, and getting a 35,000 mile service. The tech looks over the car, finds that your brakes are metal to metal, but they aren’t allowed to tell you, because you did not request your brakes get serviced. If I don’t request that Holden be assessed for a specific service, and as I stated in the last post, have a good reason for him to receive that assessment, he won’t be assessed for it. Not because the teacher doesn’t think he may benefit from it, but because the school would rather not have to pay for it. So if I want my son’s teacher to have all the tools she can get, in order to teach my son as best as possible, I have to make sure I know what the hell I am talking about when I walk into that IEP. So once again, knowledge it the key. Knowing what to ask for, why to ask for it, and how to ask for it. This opportunity only happens once a year, and in terms of assessment, only once every three years for his triennial. He can certainly get services added at other times, but it is much more difficult then at the IEP time, and getting assessments at anytime other then his triennial is very difficult. So poor Holden is being assessed till his little but is going to fall off. I know it’s for the best, and besides, as the video below will show, Holden knows how to relax after a hard day of assessments!
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