Progress is being made

UPDATE: Meeting with the school went well. They have agreed to do testing on little man. They have agreed to do a psychological evaluation, OT evaluation and speech evaluation per my request. YIPPEE! Well I say that now anyway. 

I spoke with a special education attorney FREE of CHARGE about the whole school situation as well. Folks, I'm not kidding around this time. I am putting my youngest son back in school despite the many reasons I chose to pull the other kids out of school. I am not, however, going to go in with my eyes closed, nor am I going to be a pushover this time around. I told the school that the ONLY reason I'm putting him back in school is because his learning disabilities are not being addressed properly at home. I do not know how to teach someone with dysgraphia or with dyslexia or both. Plus he has so many other issues and I'm afraid I'm doing him, myself and my other kids a disservice by not at least being willing to try public school as an option. So he's going back to public school. That being said, here's what the attorney shared with me. 

First, she highly recommended that I audio tape all IEP intake and other meetings and can do this by giving the school 24 hour notice. 

Second she said that if I chose not to retain her that I should, at the very least, hire an advocate. DONE! I had actually retained one prior even meeting with the school. My advocate is the one that convinced me to give public school a try for my little man. 

Third, she explained to me that if I am not happy with the results of any of the testing there is a way that I can request that the school district pay for private testing and consultations! This is good to know just in case. 

Fourth she said to request any cancellations in services in writing prior to the services being cancelled. 

Lastly she said to take his diagnoses, especially the bipolar and the traumatic brain injury, to the school in writing and have them put it in his file because these are qualifiers for IEPS in our county. This is good because if/when my son gets into trouble he will need it on file that he has a mental illness so they don't just deal out a punishment without trying to first help him!

All in all I'm very pleased about the results of both meetings. The school has until May of this year to schedule all of the testing and get results. Cross your fingers for me!