I am a big fan of not wasting peoples time. When I was a PTA/PTO president I always started on time, if you were late, you not only missed the first few minutes of the meeting but you also more than likely missed the whole meeting. I didn't waste time, we got right into it and I made it go fast. 

This school year I have been invited to a few eligibility results meetings, the meeting with the school psychologist to go over comprehensive testing of a student. In the past meetings like this took place, which for the record is considered an IEP meeting, and after the team heard the results the team decided if the child qualified for an IEP. If the answer was yes, a draft IEP was presented. I always tried to make sure that parents were prepared for this IEP and had their parent concerns written down already. (I HIGHLY recommend parents do this. It is so hard to remember your concerns when everyone is looking at you.) No time was being wasted.

This year however, I have attended eligibility meetings and then an IEP meeting would be scheduled at a separate time. Waste of time right?

I totally understand why the TN state school board made this amendment, having a draft before a meeting would definitely save time and IEP meetings can be long. I agree with this decision on that point. However, when it comes to  having an eligibility meeting and then scheduling an IEP meeting to make an IEP, we just wasted more time than ever before. (Previously, the district I live in has always agreed to give me or my client a draft before the meeting but I have attended meetings in other districts where they have not been so willing to provide a copy. In those cases this amendment has helped.)

The TN department of Education addresses this amendment on this form, Parent Participation Memo.

#7 caught my eye. 

Does the new rule require separate meetings for initial eligibility and IEP development?

No. While it is inappropriate to develop a draft IEP prior to determining eligibility, the IEP team has two options once eligibility has been determined:
          Move forward with developing the IEP at the eligibility meeting; OR
        Reconvene within 30 calendar days to develop the IEP. If the team decides to reconvene, a draft IEP could be created prior to the meeting and provided to the parent in accordance with the state rule. 

Hmmmmm. I get it but maybe sometimes, moving forward with developing the IEP at the eligibility meeting, with the whole team might not be a bad idea either. 
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My daughter is in 8th grade currently and like most of you probably think about your children, I don't know how this happened so fast. I recently attended my daughters annual IEP and I am happy to say it went very well and frankly it was very fast, only an hour this time. LOL

In the spring however, we will be having another meeting, a transition meeting, to make sure her IEP is set for high school. As a parent, this terrifies me. My son is currently in Chemistry and that class is HARD. It really worries me how she be able to get through that class. But, as an advocate, I know she will be fine, and I am writing this blog post for all you parents so you can rest assured, you will go into your child's transition meetings prepared.

First, I need to say not all middle schools will schedule a transition meeting. The law says schools need to schedule transition meetings when a student leaves high school, not just changing schools, however, as you know you can request an IEP meeting at any time so go ahead and ask for a transition meeting and ask for a high school representative to be present at that meeting. 

My daughter originally got her IEP when she was at the end of third grade and it was for Basic Reading and Reading Fluency. At the time she was also struggling with math but her reading was so low the elementary school decided to pick one over the other so reading it was. Once she hit middle school her school was also addressing the math but it didn't really fall below to a point of major concern until 7th grade. (We are currently monitoring her on both reading and math this year and we may possibly need to change her disability category to SLD math before the end of the year.)

Because my daughter struggles with math I found out that in high school she would be put in classes that would not give her the opportunity to take a higher level math like algebra 2. She can still graduate with a full diploma but because of the missing algebra 2 she would only be able to attend a 2 year college. Now, my daughter plays softball and I know I am a bit biased but she is pretty good and when she gets ready to graduate from high school and a 4 year college wants her to play for them and she has to turn that down because of math....that will make me very angry. Same thing goes for a foreign language, a student can get a waiver on the foreign language requirement (they would have to decide on a different course track to take) but again, could only go to a 2 year college. 

So how do you avoid these problems? Well, as long as TN has free 2 year college my children will go there so it won't even matter, but like I said earlier, it could be an issue for my daughter. Luckily my daughter will be attending a high school that does block scheduling every other day, meaning there are 4 classes one day, 4 the next and they just go back and forth between those days all year long. So in her case, she will just take math everyday instead of every other day and then she will be able to take algebra 2. Check with your high school and see how they do their schedules and as a team figure out how to make sure your student takes the required math classes.

As for the foreign language. The state of TN allows sign language to be used as a foreign language but not all schools offer that. There are a couple in my district that do, but using the local 2 year college sign language class is acceptable as well. 

I can't wait for my daughter to hit high school, I know she will love the experience but I also need to make sure that she is covered so that she can play softball if she makes the team. Failing a class won't necessarily mean she won't be able to play, they will look at her overall GPA but most schools will be on top of that anyway. High schools offer tutoring before and after school to help all students so we won't need to worry about that but make sure you bring this up in your transition meeting. Find out what the school policy is and how the IEP team can help make sure your child can continue to play. Remind everyone that your child with a learning disability more than likely excels in a sport or some other kind of activity, and like in my daughters case, it makes being in school easier because she has her sport to look forward to.

None of this is an easy process but remember, there are people out there that want to do what is best for your child, seek them out and ask questions. That is what we are all here for.