Out of compliance w/ I.E.P.!!?

Question

My step daughter's Occupational Therapist has been out of compliance with her IEP.She is supposed to see her every Friday for 30 minutes.She has not seen her all year!I just found a note from the Therapist to the teacher asking her to put a note on my step daughter's desk to remind her to go.This note was crumpled up in her backpack!My step daughter told me she has tried to go but the teacher told her to put her hand down.I know my step daughter also dislikes this Therapist and hates going to her!I have an IEP meeting today.Who's fault is this?Shouldn't the Therapist have called the room through the office?

I had the meeting and the Occupational Therapist was not there.Her regular teacher,myself and the school Psychologist attended.The regular teacher told all of us that my daughter WENT EVERY FRIDAY!Ya,right!!!I came home,confirmed she was not attending and was back at the school with my daughter this morning!I talked to the vice principal and we called the Therapist in.She confirmed she had only seen her 1x THE WHOLE YEAR! She blamed the teacher by saying that she would never send her,the office was always so busy at 1:30 that she couldn't get through to call her up,she didn't think anybody cared etc.I AM MAD and the teacher LIED LIED LIED to the Vice Principal yesterday!I should also note that I usually work for this same school district but I am on Medical leave right now!Ouch!Any more sugestions?

Answer 1

Both the teacher and the OT are at fault. The teacher should know the schedule for your step daughter, and the OT should come down and get her, if she has not been sent down at the correct time. If it was a one, maybe two time thing I could understand, but ALL YEAR? That is just wrong and something needs to be done! IEP's MUST be followed by LAW! There should be a director of special services or special eduacation for your school district. I would go straight to them to avoid the run around. I hope things work out for you and your step daughter.

Answer 2

Since your daughter has an IEP you have the right (and the obligation) to call an IEP meeting with your daughter's team and discuss why the OT has been out of compliance. your daughter's teacher is also part of the problem if she is not letting her leave the classroom. These problems need to start being corrected at school level with the teacher, to the principal, and up the ladder to the Superintendent if the problem is not solved. If you have difficulty expressing your needs and/or those of your daughter, get an advocate. you also did not say what your daughter's main disability is, since OT is not a stand alone disability. Should her disability be severe (MR or MH, TBI) , OT can play a big part in her services. Anything that is written in an IEP must be followed to the letter and your daughter is entitled to compensation if the services are not provided. Be sure to attend any Special Education Advisory Committee meetings held in your school district. This is a meeting of parents and educators getting together to discuss problems such as yours and the best way to solve them. Best of luck with getting your problem solved.

Answer 3

Definitely do not let this go! The therapist is contracted to do a certain number of hours for the child. If they are not doing what they were contracted for, they are in non-compliance. That means that they can't possibly be effective in the child's IEP! The therapist should have (at the VERY least) called after a few missed appointments to see what was up. If the child was forgetting, or the teacher wasn't allowing her to go, or if the child was absent.... She should have followed up on the child- and the teacher should know who has to go where, when! What happened on the teacher's end? Why was she not sending the child if the therapist wasnt' coming to get her, or why was she not following up on the therapist's visits as well? Both of these people need to be questioned at the IEP to see where the communication breakdown was to fix it! I'd be furious if this were my child! They count on the therapy for progress, and it is mandated as well by the state and federal government as a right. Follow up on this and make sure it is fixed for your step-daughter. Good luck!

Answer 4

It is the schools responsibility to be sure the IEP is being followed. To trust the student to go on her own when she does not like it is irresponsible and, after the first time or two she didn't show, the OT should have not only called to the class, but gone and got her if she still failed to show up at the appropriate time. You need to make it clear to everyone at the meeting that this situation has been grossly midhandled and it will not be allowed to continue. My suggestion would be, if they insist that your daughter still take responsibility on some level, to have a small notebook in your daughter's desk. When she raises her hand with the notebook in her fist, her teacher will know she is signalling it is time for OT. Thet eacher will immediately acknowledge she has seen the notebook and allow your daughter to leave. If she does not show to her OT within five minutes of the assigned time, the OT will then call the class and tell the teacher she is on her way to get her. Have both the classroom teacher and the OT sign and date the book when she leaves one place and arrives at the other. Then asak them how they plan to make up for all the sessions your daughter has missed. Legally, they are still bound to provide the missed time...be sure they find a way to provide it. I would also inform the school administrator that if your daughter misses any more sessions and/or both teacher and therapist fail to sign the notebook, you will be forced to go to the district special ed committee.

Answer 5

I am a speech therapy assistant and in my opinion I wouldn't "blame" anyone at the meeting because they're just going to get defensive and you won't get anything accomplished. Try to talk it out and resolve it at the meeting-a lot of teachers I've come to realize don't respect us therapists and the services we provide for the children, so they disregard our schedule and times. If nothing can be resolved, (on our IEP's in the state of Indiana) you can write a letter to the district supervisor or to us personally and we are legally obligated to write/type verbatim on the last page that requires the parent signature a letter that is given to us-which a copy is given to you so that you can see what is typed before you sign the form. You can also make a formal complaint to the special education program that provides the services. I'm sure there are phone numbers that you can call and just keep going up the ladder until you find someone to help you with this-because this is unacceptable .
My question to you is even though your stepdaughter hates the therapist, is she making adequate progress working with her? That's also an important factor to the whole situation and needs to be resolved one way or another.

Answer 6

Is it necessary to determine who to blame, or would it be better to come up with a solution to the problem?

IEPs are rarely written with the specifics like "30 minutes every Friday." It would more likely read something like "2 hours per month."

It seems as if the O.T. should have taken the responsibility of connecting directly with the classroom teacher if your stepdaughter was not attending the scheduled therapy appointments. But if your stepdaughter "dislikes this Therapist and hates going to her," there may be more to this than what your stepdaughter has reported to you.

Could you approach this as a problem to be solved rather than a judgment of whose fault it is? Perhaps you could say something like, "I am concerned because I understand that Susy has not seen the OT all year. Is this true? How can we insure that she is getting the OT services that are specified on her IEP?"

Answer 7

You need to bring all this up at the meeting. Maybe the group can come up with some way to get your daughter to go to her O.P. session. Maybe the therapist will have to walk down to the classroom. Perhaps the teacher will try to remind your daughter that it's time for her to go.

Is there any other Occupational Therapists available? Maybe switching would be beneficial to your daughter. But if she hasn't been going to any of the sessions, that's really not conducive to her special ed needs.

Good luck!

Answer 8

I would bring it up at the meeting. Try and problem-solve ways to make this a positive experience for your step-daughter since the goal of everyone should be to help her and increase her skills. I would give the school a chance to resolve the issue before bringing it up with the special education director, but I would definately keep on top of this issue.

Answer 9

The next legal step is to file a formal state compliant with your state dept of education.
Also write a letter with a full explaination, and send it to the district sped director. Send a copy of this letter to the district superintendent and your state dept of educations special ed dept. Keep a copy for yourself.
Everything has to be in writing. If it is just 'said' they will deny everything.

Answer 10

If the IEP says how often the Speech teacher is to be in the building and work with your child. She isn't following the IEP! BRING IT UP AT THE IEP MEETING AND DON'T TAKE ANY EXCUSES FOR AN ANSWER!!!
TINA