Accommodations on IEP?

Question

Hello, I am a special education teacher that is fighting wiht the regular education teachers about extended time on homework. If a special ed students gets the same assignment as his/her peers, what is a reasonable amount of time to get it in? We have teachers giving detentions based on missing work w/o calling the parent or telling me. If you have any information or have a website that I can print and send to my boss, PLMK. I am to the point where I want to quit it is so bad! These kids can't do the work and the IEP is not being followed. Now I have to go to the next teacher's meeting to present my case in front of the district. I am in the minority. Please tell me how you deal with this and what your policy is.

Thanks

Answer 1

Here in Minnesota we have an organization called PACER. Here is a link:

http://www.pacer.org/index.asp

They help families and children with disabilities in all sorts of ways. And they're bulldogs. They will help you find ways of working with these people, you can even get legal help sometimes.

A reasonable amount of time is what the student, teachers, special ed staff, parents and principals and stuff decide that it is in the IEP meeting where everybody gets together. The staff should not be supporting detentions that do not follow the IEP. The students also have to learn to self-advocate.

Answer 2

As a special ed teacher, in your state you may or may not be authorized to do this. If you are not, then get with the parent and have them do it - they have the right in ALL states.

You (or parents) need to call an IEP meeting and quickly. Important - request (this is actually a demand that must be met) that the "regular ed" teacher be there, the special education head, the assistant principal (unless a very small school it is the asst principal that handles these matters), the child's case manager and VERY IMPORTANT, the next level up from the school in the special ed department of the city/county (usually a regional director).

Often, once this is called, the teacher will often magically "understand" the accomodation. But even if this happens, hold the IEP meeting.

In this meeting, identify the accomodation set forth in the IEP and information that identifies that the accomodation is not being provided. The group of people identified above will understand the seriousness of the situation (and ramifications to the school) and also will understand the YOU know the seriousness of the situation and ramifications to the school.

This will often take care of the problem. But warning, in this (or any other IEP meeting), do not put anything on a form with a designator of "Parent's concerns", "Teacher's concerns" or the like. Those are placebo forms, not a part of the IEP contract even though they are often attached. Schools often like to put stuff on these forms because there is no legal obligation to actually do anything. Make sure everything is put in the actual IEP, not an addendum, not an attachment.

Answer 3

Try this preferably at the beginning of the year
There is a form called Notification of Teacher Responsibility for Accommodations and Modifications
http://www.pent.ca.gov/forms.htm
So that they are duly noticed.. you can unlock the form and type any additional information you want.
Get the parents involved if possible. A school district may not put up with you because you are an employee whose salary they pay, but they might see the light if the parents become positive advocates for their children and threaten legal action for not following an IEP.
Put the parents in the direction of www.wrightslaw.com for advocacy information.
The point of the I in IEP is individualized so there is not a right amount of time. Some of my special ed. students do half the homework of the general education students and in some situations I have had 75% of homework waved and in other cases it has just been an extra week to get work done. Even at the high school a lot of general education teachers will let my kids turn things in up to the end of each reporting period without a penalty if "extra time" is part of their IEP.
I don't think you are going to find a website that says extra time should be x number of days or anything like that, but there is plenty of information on how districts and individual teachers or administrators can be held personally liable if they intentionally and personally refuse to execute an IEP as written. Where is your director of special education?
If you are getting no support don't stop teaching, just find a new district. There is a huge shortage of special education teachers in general and a person who sounds as skilled as you would not have problem finding a job elsewhere.

Answer 4

If the teacher's have been informed of any adaptations in the IEP that require additional time for completion of work (and it would have to be in the IEP expressly...you could request it otherwise, but you have no legal grounds to insist on it if it is not expressly stated) and are ignoring them, immediately report them to the administration and the special ed co-ordinators office. All you need to do at the meeting is point out that by not following the accomodations of the IEP, these teachers are breaking federal law and exsposing the schools to the very real risk of a lawsuit from some angry parents. I would suggest you contact the parents if possible...find out if they feel the extra time is needed and have them document any issues they are having. If possible, have them write letters supporting the need for the IEP accomodations. You may want to suggest they send letters to the appropriate personel every time the child is punished, even though the accomodations clearly state what should be being done.

I would also suggest a quick check of the behavior management program for these students. I am willing to bet that by putting them in detention without prior discussion with the parents, they are violating those terms as well...another point to illustrate to the board.

All of this will only work if the IEP has specific accomodations requesting additional time for the completion of class work and homework. You could have a tough time arguing if homework is not mentioned specifically or there are no accomodations for completing work. If this is the case, suggesting to the parents the need to modify the IEP could be needed. Of course, as the special ed teacher for these children, you can request the need for modifications and beging the process as well!

Answer 5

I am also a special education teacher and I have a child with autism (he's fully included in a general education class). Now that he's a 4th grader....the HW has become more intense. So, his work is modified and he has to turn it in the next day. When the modifications still aren't enough, I write a note to the teacher and ask for more time (over the weekend if it's a lot). And, we turn it in. I don't think it's unreasonable to give a student possibly a packet of HW and request that it get turned in on Friday. The family can figure out how much or how little to assign over the week. Also, the IEP should drive the student's assignments (not the agenda of the the GEN ED teacher). My students are part of a kinder autism focus class. A few of my students will get HW packets very similar to the GEN ED kinder students. However, I also have students who have IEP goals like "student will identify his/her name among a field of 3 names". A HW packet for my students who are more challenged would be a waste of time unless it was designed with their goals in mind.

Keep fighting!! Not everyone gets it. The district might not even get it....but present your case well and you might just get something done that will benefit a lot of kids. GOOD LUCK!

Answer 6

It sounds like the teacher(s) need to be educated about what IEPs are and that they are not guidelines, but legal documents.

Unless additonal time for assignments is specified, maybe they would be open to modifying the assignment. What is homework, after all, but the practice and demonstration of the understanding of a new idea or skill. Say for math, if the homework assignment is 15 problems, the teacher could choose 8 that are representative. For writing, modify the requirement of 5 supporting sentences to 3. There is also the option of setting a time limit for each subject each night. When my son was in 4th grade, he was spending 1 1/2 hrs on math alone. I contacted the teacher and she said he should spend no more than 30 minutes. He could stop after that. We made sure he was working during those 30 min and guess what. He's in 8th grade now and has been pulling straight A's in math for the last 2 years.

Wrights law is an excellent source of information.
http://www.wrightslaw.com

There is a nice discussion about homework in it at
http://www.wrightslaw.com/howey/tchr.mods.unfair.htm

Answer 7

I have the same problem with reg. ed. and there are days when I too want to quit..and I've been at it 28 years!
I assume the IEP has "extended time" down for all assignments? Sometimes teachers just don't get it and you have to sit down with them and go over each accomodation/modification and explain what it means. They should not be giving detentions for late work if it is in the IEP.
You are not the minority if you are following the federal law. Sounds like they all need an education- I am surprised your principal isn't on board with the law.
You mean the district isn't supporting the IEP? You know the parental rights you hand out? There ought to be some numbers on that where you can contact for your state.

scroll down to IDEA:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/cguide.htm
this is for Mass. but good ideas:
http://www.concordspedpac.org/Problems.html

Answer 8

As an involved parent of a moderately autistic child...I would think that all the parents involved would be screaming as well. What is the purpose of having an IEP in the first place if teachers are not following it--to the detriment of those students? At my son's school, his IEP team met last year to find a way deal with that kind of situation. He wasn't successful in regular education classrooms despite the fact that his IQ says he should be able to deal with it. If the parents aren't already involved in your situation, I would certainly contact them.

Answer 9

I am also a sped teacher. First of all, make sure that "extended time" is on their modification pages in their IEP. Next, make sure ALL regular ed teachers have copies of these modification pages (I always go thru and highlight the modifications each of my students have so there isnt the excuse that "oh, I missed that one" or whatever). Then, if they still are not following these modifications, you need to let them, and your principal know that they are BREAKING THE LAW!!! Do you have the IDEA parent rights book?? Should be something in there that can help..... I understand what it is to be the "minority". I am as well! Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!!

Answer 10

I would first remind that Principal that they aren't abiding by the IEP which is a legal document which is leaving them open to law suits, That usually get their attention, if that does not work than talk to at least one of the parents and see if their willing to go to the principal and or the press and than let the principal know that this parent is willing to go to the press to say that their child's needs aren't being met. I was able to make sure that my daughter's IEP wasn't being met by the school. AS soon as my child's principal and the committee on special ed found out with in four days my daughter was set up for her OT. Believe me the talk of the press or an attorney does wonders. I wish you luck it can work if you get the parents to work it. To many times they ignore what their child need, You have to make sure that they don't do that.