Kimberly,
Be direct and tell them you know the law.  He's young and you can justify
more therapy if you want to much easier now then later.  Do you know any
parents or other professionals in the area.  Bring them along.  They don't
have to say a thing, you can have whomever you wish at your IEP meeting.
You are too far away for me to come so, find someone close.  It helps to
have people on your side at what can be very intimidating meetings.  Don't
let them push test scores at you.  You don't need test scores to get OT and
PT in school, they are related services.  Heck, he has to wear a coat and
put boots on and off right?  Carry a tray, brush his hair at school to be
presentable?  Make sure to have them showing you what they are doing at
school for carry over at home.  Go in with clear objectives, written down,
make sure they give you a meeting summary and don't sign off on the IEP
until you are happy.  If they don't give you what you need at the meeting,
you can always call another one, whenever you want, it's the law.  You can
also write your concerns to the next higher ups, principals, sped folks, up
the food chain.  Be precise, be calm (hardest part).  This is what you want
for your son, you want a plan on how to achieve those goals from the
players.  Also, find out your laws in your state, I tell parents here you to
ask what law, ruling, etc. are they referring to when a child can't get a
specific service.  Make them tell you the specifics.  Often times, higher
ups are telling people the wrong thing, there are always rumors, etc.

beth t the ot

-----Original Message-----
From: St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Kimberlee Ames
Sent: Saturday, April 06, 2002 5:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Living On Own


Beth,

Yes, we live in Virginia, but Stefan is only in Preschool at the moment
(through the county school district), so he's only there 1/2 a day.  I'm
sure
they would tell me that they do what they can at snack time, etc., but what
they do and what I want done are two different things.  He doesn't get
enough
"therapy time" to amount to much.  I'm trying to get info at the moment
because his IEP is coming up in about a week.  I want to push them to add
more time for OT, but they just flat out say "no" normally to everything, so
I have to find a way to show it's necessary.  He cannot do much by himself,
so I think they think it's a lost cause.  I feel like they gang up on me at
the IEP meetings, anyway.

Kimberlee, mom to Stefan (4) and Alex (9)