Last night a parent a parent asked me what time her son's class met. The boy has ADD and takes a medication in the morning that wears off by late afternoon. Then she looked at me and said, "But of course you know this, it is right on his IEP." Mom was shocked when I said , "No, main stream teachers have no access to these documents." I told her I knew he had extended time and that was being taken care of, but that was all I knew. No one gave me any other information about this boy. In fact, I only knew he was entitled to extra time by talking to him. The ISS department missed notifying his teachers about his accommodations until the second test was well over. (I got an e-mail giving me a "heads up" about the oversight.)
I still have been given no information about my inclusion student. I know his needs are more extreme than the regular ISS kids but I don't know what these needs are. I don't even know what makes this young man different from the other kids. So far, he is great but, I feel there are things I should know. His mom didn't make it in for parent teacher conferences but he did tell me she wants to meet with me at some point. I'm guessing she will not react to positively to my lack of information. Oh well, I guess his special ed teacher will be catching some heat for this one.
I always said I wouldn't read IEPs but I was wrong. The more ISS kids I teach, the more I realize I have to learn to be able to help them. If these documents were accessible, I would definitely check them out.
I still have been given no information about my inclusion student. I know his needs are more extreme than the regular ISS kids but I don't know what these needs are. I don't even know what makes this young man different from the other kids. So far, he is great but, I feel there are things I should know. His mom didn't make it in for parent teacher conferences but he did tell me she wants to meet with me at some point. I'm guessing she will not react to positively to my lack of information. Oh well, I guess his special ed teacher will be catching some heat for this one.
I always said I wouldn't read IEPs but I was wrong. The more ISS kids I teach, the more I realize I have to learn to be able to help them. If these documents were accessible, I would definitely check them out.
10 comments:
I had the opposite impression. last year I was encouraged to view the IEP's of any students in my classes. We have already passed around IEP's at meetings of students we share. How else can you understand any special needs or afflictions?
I thought we were legally responsible to know what was on the IEP and comply with it. I also thought teachers were, as a general rule, supposed to have access to IEPs for that reason, they are liable.
I think they are confusing IEPs and 504s.
No confusion on my part--I know the difference. WE HAVE NO ACCESS TO IEPs and are often not told which students have them.
It is not the fault or responsibility of the special ed teacher, but the supervisor and the Principal. Administration is required by law to provide general ed teachers with IEPs of students who receive services in their classes. Go to UFT.org, click on the No Excuses icon, and file a special ed complaint with Carmen Alvarez.
They have to give you access to the IEPs of any student you teach. But they can severely restrict access because of confidentiality issues. However, most IEPs are not very accurate and poorly updated. Most schools randomly assign the ISS teachers to update the IEPs of students without ever having taught them and without reaching out to current classroom teachers until it is time to sign the documents. I have found them to be, by and large, a very inaccurate representation of the student and rely on parental information, student information, and student performance in my classroom. I have sometimes had to argue to get the IEP updated after many years of unchanging learning objectives (probably from middle school).
For the most part, I agree that IEPs are probably useless but, this year, talking to parents,I gained valuable knowledge that I should have known. Both parents told me the information is one IEP.
And, the school should provide us with time to read these (which they don't.)
Fortunately in my building we have sent out IEP's, unfortunately we have not shared information on how to read them!
Anon 100pm, Oct 31:
If you have a student in your class with an IEP, you must have the IEP, physically or electronically. Period. Only Paras have access to but not a physical or electronic copy if they are working with that child. You are responsible for keeping the information confidential by securing it. If your access is being restricted by the IEP being locked in a cabinet or on a PC in an AP ISS' office, this is a violation of the law. If information is redacted, it is a violation of the law. If you only get a few pages of the IEP or just the test modification, also a violation. You can't have the IEP on a flash drive or in a file and then leave it in an unlocked desk so anyone can look at it.
IEPs were e-mailed to us with no instructions. I downloaded them at home but I could have just as easily downloaded them on a shared computer since no one told us of this law.
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