New School Safety Plan

I received Honeybunches updated Behavior/Safety Plan today from school.  It says:

"(Honeybunches) spends his day in the ILC which is designed to provide intensive behavioral and social supports along with specialized academic support.  A high staff to student ratio provides the opportunity for a great deal of proactive social support for each child.  This is a very structured setting with a predictable schedule and clearly established routines. 

There are a number of systems set up to promote pro-socieal behavior.  Students earn stars every 15 minutes for speaking appropriately, cooperating with adults, being on task, respecting adults and maintaining self=control.  A certain percentage of stars by 11:15 each morning and by 2:30 each afternoon allow them to earn breaks.  The breaks are also contingent upon safe behavior and completion of academics.  Earning stars determines the number of points for the monthy "Treatsure Box" and also counts towards a level system which allows students to earn increasing privileges as they move up through the system.  In addition, they earn stickers on a car for especially good academic efforts, positive social interactions and exercising self=-control in difficult circumstances.  Cooperative efforts are encouraged through a compliment chain and an addition classroom reward system.  

Supports outside the Classroom: The school counselor works with (Honeybunches) both individually as well as in a class wide group that focuses on social knowledge and skills.  He also has a supportive relationship with his previous teacher, principal, the district psychologist and the district BCBA behaviorist.  

Sensory: The teacher will consult with the Occupational Therapist to determine sensory breaks for (Honeybunches).  They will generally be offered after times that are typically challenging for him: unstructured times, recess, physical activities, or school-wide events. As the afternoon is generally a time when it is more challenging to sustain academic efforts breaks may be offered more frequently. These are typically short breaks of 3-5 minutes that allow him to calm down but are not so long that they will interfere significantly with academic time.  Most of the time he prefers to do his academics.  Often moving to a quiet space may be all (Honeybunches) needs to reduce sensory overload. 

Self-Regulation: The ability to be aware of their emotional state and to have skills to help themselves return to a calmer place is crucial to all students.  For the majority of the students in the ILC this has been an area of difficulty.  A 5-point scale with a 1 being his calmest and a 5 being the most agitated has been developed with (Honeybunches).  It indicates what it looks like and feels like at each level as well as what (Honeybunches) can do to return to a calmer place if he is becoming upset.  Over time it is hoped that (Honeybunches) will internalize these concepts and be more able to regulate himself.  

Target Behaviors: These behaviors are documented each day.  Currently disruptive behavior and delay in starting his academic assignments are our two priorities.  At this point unsafe behaviors such as aggression and leaving staff supervision are no longer a significant concern.

Safety: ILC staff are trained in TCIS - Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for Schools.  This model incorporates a variety of de-escalation techniques, therapeutic behavioral approaches and physical restraint (If necessary) to assure student safety.  The ILC has an adjacent time out room that is easily accessed from the classroom.  This space is available to the students assigned to the ILC anytime throughout the day - either self or staff directed.  There is no consequence to the student if used appropriately to "Take a break" and allow for improved self-regulation.  

If (Honeybunches') behavior escalates and becomes unsafe or aggressive, he will be escorted to the time out area if he does not respond immediately to a verbal prompt.  Once there he will be released and allowed to calm down unless he becomes unsafe at which point he would be restrained.  All restraints will be logged to include information related to the reason for the restrain,, time it began, time it ended and the student's behavior during the restraint.  (Honeybunches) will be released from the restraint when he is able to keep his body calm and refrain from threatening statements for one minute.  He must remain quiet and safe for a minimum of five minutes in the time out area before he is allowed to return to a prior activity.  As soon as possible following the completion of a time out he will be provided with the opportunity to have a Life Space Interview to process what led to the crisis, how the behavior was unsuccessful in getting him what he wanted and an alternative strategy for getting his needs met.  

(Honeybunches) will be closely monitored and supervised throughout the day both in the classroom and during unstructured activities (i.e. lunch, recess) by the ILC staff.  This implies both visual and physical proximity to ensure his safety.  Walkie-Talkie handsets will be used for effective and efficient communication during recess.  

Home/School Communication: A "Daily Communication Sheet" is sent home to provide (Honeybunches) family with a short narrative of his day along with information on his status on the Level System, Time Outs (If any), Restraints (If any) and Homework.  There is a place for adult's signature as well as a place for comments and questions.  Serious incidents will also be communicated to his family through a phone call."

Revised Acceptable IEP

To know what is going on with this post please read about his IEP Annual Review Meeting and his IEP I received last week after that meeting which resulted in a Dispute Resolution Reconvene Meeting. Anyways, today I got his new IEP.  This one is much more acceptable. It's even better than the previous one! 

They gave him back his "Longer School Year" stating Honeybunches "Is to receive tutoring for four days a week, two hours a day for four weeks. It is essential that ---'s tutor is someone he is familiar and comfortable with." That is even better than before, because it stipulates who is to do the tutoring. They also added in his Assigned Seat under transportation and gave him a "Transportation Support Plan" that says "If members of the team identify an increase in the number of refusals to board the general education bus or an increase in the number of behavioral incidents that occur related to transportation service and/or if there is an observed change in ---'s attitude toward riding the general education bus, the following steps will be taken to provide additional levels of transportation support:

A monitor will be added to the general education bus to support (Honeybunches).

If further support is required, special education transportation will be provided, and the team will evaluate the need for a monitor using available data."

That's so much better and more clear than it even was before. They also put home use for the Ipad back into the IEP, moved the Ipad to PLEP A and PLEP B as an "Assistive Technology Device" which the OT agreed it was and put it under "Student Strengths" like I requested. 

Turns out going to Due Process was not necessary, at least this time! I feel like the school must hate me now, but I try to look at things as what will matter in five to ten years. Will it matter I made them hate me? Will I remember that part of things? I doubt it. What will matter is that I did everything I could to get Honeybunches the help he needed in school. Honestly, it does bother my heart a bit though. I've been that way my whole life... wanting everyone to be happy. Anyways, I got all I wanted for Honeybunches in the IEP... and then some! I guess that means I did a good job advocating for him, even if the school thinks I am a #&*!$ (Fill in the symbols with whatever word you want lol...)

IEP meeting round #2: Dispute Resolution

When I got the IEP in the mail, I noticed the IEP chairperson made several changes:

• Took "Longer School Year" out of the IEP moving "Tutoring" to "Additional Information".
• Changed the wording regarding his Ipad, took out home-use. 
• Some dates were wrong. 
• Changed wording in the transportation area and took things out so basically he had him on regular transportation with no supports. 

First I sent an email to the IEP Chairperson trying to work things out in a nice way.  He was not willing to negotiate at all and justified every single change he made.  After that, I emailed the SPED Director and Superintendent telling them I was partially rejecting his IEP and looking forward to Due Process lol.  I did partially reject his IEP (Brought it to the office, had the secretary initial/date/stamp it received and mailed a copy to the DOE/DESE Bureau of Special Education Appeals).  I wrote the IEP chairperson and SpEd Director a nice 5 page letter stating the regulations, why he needed what I requested, what regulation it went along with, etc. The school district requesting a meeting. So that's how we ended up at today...

I walked in with my big rolley cooler type bag on wheels. It has 3 big binders (2'' with info regarding this mess, 3'' with his most recent IEPs/Evals + other recent materials and the third 3'' with his old IEPs and other old info), Wright's Law, The Complete IEP Guide, a copy of the state regs, my notebook and other info I might have needed.  The secretary joked asking if I was moving in.  Things went very well.  I requested his old teacher Mrs. Understanding and the new SpEd Director's presence.  Also there were OT, PT, Principal, School Psych, School Counselor, his current teacher and the IEP chairperson. I walked in, opened the bag, sat the Wright's Law book on the table, opened one binder to the Mass Regulations and sat where I knew the SpEd Director and IEP Chair could be close by to see it lol.

They agreed to put the Longer School Year back in his IEP specifying the 2 hours per day, 4 days a week for 4 weeks he's been getting for the past few Summers.  He said he learned something.  He came from the high school as a SpEd teacher where at that school they had a complete Summer school program.  There that's what they consider ESY/Longer-School-Year.  There tutoring is not, when in the elementary school it is.  Although we agreed upon that, I don't see it in the meeting notes....
 
At the end of the meeting I asked if what we agreed upon was actually going to make it in the IEP.  I also asked Mrs. SpEd Director lady if she ever proof-reads IEPs.  She said randomly.  I asked her if she could read (Honeybunches)'s before it goes out.  She said she would.  School psych and Mrs. Principal described the "Historical patterns of events regarding transportation." (OT) discussed the Ipad's benefits of being an "Assistive Technology Device" and agreed it was such. She brought up the question if we write it with a time stipulated such as for the duration of his involvement with special education... what if something better comes out in a couple years? I agreed to leave that part out based on her point that technology is improving and their agreement to place it in the other areas.   School psych made the point that it should also go under PLEP A and PLEP B which everyone agreed upon. 

As for transportation: School psych lady and I went over his history. (Basically in a nut-shell for Kindergarten he was on the van, but was aggressive with the bus driver and other students some of whom were medically fragile so I drove him the rest of that year and got reimbursed from the school district; In grades 1-4 he had a 1:1 on the regular bus.) School psych pointed out how he has difficulty with any transitions and gave examples.  They are making changes regarding what IEP Chairperson called his "Transportation Support Plan" which will state "Criteria for enacting the transportation support plan:
- Increased number of refusals, increased number of behavioral incidents
-Change in (Honeybunches)'s attitude towards riding the bus. 
The plan will state:
Step 1: Addition of a monitor to the general education bus.
Step 2: Include special transportation and evaluate the need for a monitor"

They also agreed to write in the IEP his assigned seat behind the bus driver by himself, although I don't see that in the meeting notes. They clarified "Proximity to teacher" which will be changed to "Seat within 15 feet of teacher" or "Seat within 15 feet of instruction".  I let Sped teacher determine the exact number of feet.

I was pleased with how the meeting turned out.  I got the important stuff. (Or shall I say, at least it seems that way now, but I'll see when the IEP comes if what we agreed upon today actually makes it's way into this IEP.) We did agree to leave out an accommodation that the IEP chair and teacher took out that stated "Counting in real life situations to be implemented throughout his day", because he's way past that now with his math skills.  Basically I threw that in there to have something to negotiate with so it looks like I was cooperating.

I told them it was important for things to be clarified and the reason I nitpicked through the IEP (Which I would have anyways) was because since my father died last year, my mother's been having a hard time affording to keep the house.  I don't know if we'll have to move in the next year or so.  I told them that's why it's important things be written in a certain way so if we were to move and he went to a different school district things would be clear.  IEP chairperson said that gave him a different perspective.  He talks a lot about this school district. Sometimes things in life happen and children move or get school choiced out of here (Which is something I've always debated regarding when Honeybunches gets to middle school).

All in All this meeting went well.  I was determined it would.  I feel accomplished!  My advocating skills and knowledge of the federal laws plus state regulations needed to be polished off anyways lol.  I guess I am thankful that I was given this challenge in life so I had the opportunity to do that.  Now I sit and wait for the IEP to come in the mail probably sometime next week.  Then I'll see if what we agreed upon makes it's way into this one.  At the last meeting we signed off on the meeting notes.  Certain things were in those notes that IEP chairperson decided to change in the IEP.  Hopefully now that they know I am knowledgeable regarding the laws/regulations and not scared of Due Process they will be more cooperative. 

I am also the SEPAC (Special Education Parent's Advisory Council) Chairperson.  The DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) is coming in a few weeks to review certain programs including the special education system here.  They want to interview me as I represent the SEPAC group.  Hmmm maybe that worked to my advantage as well?