HOWEVER, sometimes, there are rotten teams. Crummy administrators. Gatekeepers who care only about reducing cost, no matter what the cost to the child's education is.
So, here are some true stories (names changed) of bad IEP experiences:
1. We moved to a new district and bought a house because the elementary school we were zoned for was supposed to be the best for special needs kids. When my son with autism, Jaden, was enrolled, the school tested him and showed that he miraculously was "all better", and didn't need all the services his IEP required, despite meltdowns and him constantly trying to escape. They told me to read the book "How to Raise a Strong Willed Child". After several months of fighting, we pulled him out and homeschooled.
2. At my son's IEP meeting, the principal (who has never met Levi) was on his phone the whole time, kept referring to Levi as "Thomas", then asked if he really had autism, since he is in regular education, so he couldn't be that affected.
3. We had an occupational therapist who really didn't like Teresa. They didn't connect, and I don't think she liked me (the mom) either. To get us off her caseload, she challenged Teresa's diagnosis ataxia cerebral palsy, and had a neurologist look at her. They changed it to hypotonia, and Teresa was removed from the entire program, and lost weekly OT and PT from a medical unit forever because of that wretched woman.
4. Lydia was given a name stamp so she could "write her name" on her papers at school. When I asked the school to make an IEP goal of helping her learn to write her name, they told me it wasn't educationally necessary, and a rubber stamp was an accommodation. It seemed to me that if she can't even write her name, she isn't getting much of an education at all!
5. Calvin is fluent in sign language, but completely non-verbal, and the school refused an interpreting aide, or to provide training for the staff working with him because it would be too expensive.
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