Yay!! !

Post Reply New Topic

Went to CPSE meeting today and my DS4.8 was approved for 10 hours of a classroom SEIT. So happy!

Yay! I'm glad things worked out for you!

I'm a bit lost on the jargon - in looking up SEIT ( http://www.vclc.org/special-education-i ... acher.html ) I thought that referred to hours outside the classroom (like at home, etc.) Can you explain what your child is getting, the more all of us learn about this stuff, the better.

Yes, that is what the SEIT is. The SEIT "shadows" the student, helps out the teachers, and intervenes when the student encounters difficulties (e.g. social interaction, attending activities, meltdowns, etc.). They are supposed to be sort of inconspicuous so as not to draw attention to themselves or the student. Apparently, a good SEIT will blend right into the classroom and any casual observer won't know which child they are assigned to. Since right now he is only in pre-K he attends 4 hrs of mainstream school (8:30am-12:30pm), so 2hrs/day is about half the day to work with him, which is great, and about the maximum hours they usually offer anyway.

VERY cool - and excellent to know! Thank you for posting, and congratulations!

That's excellent! I am so happy that you were able to get this for your son.

My son is still in pre-school and will be in his specialized school for pre-k. They are already talking about mainstreaming him for Kindergarten. How did you go about arranging for him to get classroom SEIT. Did his previous teacher recommend that he get this assistance?

My son was in intensive Early Intervention (EI) beginning at 20 mos. He was Dx'd with PDD-NOS. He went to an ABA school for 15?-20?hrs/wk plus another 10hrs/wk ABA therapy at home plus OT and ST (Speech Therapy). Once he phased out of EI, he was eligible for CPSE (special ed, preschool) and we had another round of evaluations. EI was great--his symptoms were tremendously reduced and he became quite verbal. Unfortunately at the CPSE Psych Eval, I stupidly "helped" him out too much, and he only got approved for OT, nothing else. I was also having a baby around that time so we could not go trekking him around to various therapies (in addition to running around for his other 12yo sibling), so we let the OT fall by the wayside, as he was seemingly doing so well last year. I had asked for a Psych Re-eval, but the CPSE Admin (who luckily was later fired for incompetence) talked me out of doing so and said he could reapply if his teachers indicated a need for it. At the time, I did not know I could have fought the results of the Psych Eval. But given he was mainstreaming so successfully last year, we assumed everything was going well and it wasn't necessary after all. However, this year perhaps due to the socialization dynamics getting more complex and my attention being split between him and his younger brother, he has been experiencing quite a lot of difficulty at home and in the classroom with his behaviors. The teachers called me and my husband in for a meeting and recommended we try to get him a SEIT. So starting all over again, I got assigned a new CPSE case manager, managed to get OT services reinstated (they phased out after a year last year), had a whole battery of reevaluations done by all professionals including a school psychologist (who is not a clinician so does not offer medical diagnosis) who scored him very low on the social/emotional aspect of the evaluation, and then had the CPSE meeting this morning. PHEW!

Next comes his "Turning Five" meeting which will be soon, to see what services he will get for Kindergarten. That's where my concern is, because the class size will be twice as large with half the amount of classroom help. I am very nervous for him!

That's a lot! I am so happy that you pushed for services. I could never understand why so many of these administrators try to dissuade parents from seeking the best care for their children. We had to swallow our pride and present our son in the worst possible light to get him services. I do know that he will eventually have to be mainstreamed but I am also nervous about the class size and my son zoning out it class. I hope to also get an aide to shadow him for as much of the day as possible.

So the recommendation for the aid came from the teachers, school psych and both of you? I hope we can get this together before he starts school.

My son has always been a handful, ever since he was a baby. But I figured, as long as his acting up was confined to the home and he was able to function at school, then things were not too bad (ha). However, in November 2012 (after Hurricane Sandy) there was a postponed Halloween party at the school which I attended. I noticed that my son was having a hard time getting along with other kids, arguing and getting physically aggressive, self-isolating and such, and pulled the teacher to the side shortly thereafter and asked her if that was "normal" for him, or was he just overstimulated from the party. It was then she said to me, "Oh... I've been meaning to talk to you about that." We arranged to have a joint meeting with all the teachers and me and my husband, and at the meeting I had to hold back the tears because I really thought he had been doing so well, it was a blow to me how much he was actually struggling. We left the meeting and agreed that I would contact CPSE to arrange for a reevaluation to see if I could get him a SEIT for the classroom. In the interim I have made sure to e-mail his teachers every day to get a synopsis of how his day went, his struggles, etc., so I could talk to him about those problem areas and come up with solutions. I told the teachers, I can't help if I don't know what's going on. If I don't hear anything I just assume everything is fine, and if I wait to hear about it several days later then it's already too late to address it. Now, the School Psychologist who evaluated him for the SEIT does NOT make recommendations. Their job is to describe the problems that the child has, and then the agency handling your child's case assigns a representative who will attend the meetings and advocate for the child's services for you (you and the rep will speak before going to the CPSE meeting to agree on what options you have and what you should push for). They will review all the paperwork/reports and hear your concerns and requests. It is then up to the CPSE Administrator to approve a SEIT or whatever else they deem necessary for the child.

It is unfortunate but the agency is stuck between the parents and the NYC Budget. These services cost a lot and they don't want to pay if they don't have to. But the reasoning is that it will cost them a lot less early on than if they don't work on fixing these issues and become much bigger, more expensive problems later on.

The CPSE administrator who dissuaded me from getting a psychological reevaluation was eventually fired, probably because of the way she conducted her business. The current vibe I've been getting with our new administrator is that the parents have rights and should NEVER be dissuaded from fighting for services for their kids. This is so much healthier.

However, I have been told that there are parents who DO get services for their kids who do NOT need services, and this pisses me off. Basically, they fake the kids' problems because they want to get their kids some sort of "advantage" with free teachers, therapies and such. I guess that's why the CPSE administrators have to be tough so that they try to prevent this sort of abuse from becoming rampant.

I think this is a myth - one that benefits administrators because it makes parents question their motives and might get them off the hook in providing FAPE to all children. There might possibly be individuals who do this, but I am guessing they are so few in number that they don't really affect a school's budget. I've had this discussion with my husband - One of the major points I hear discussed regarding this myth is that kids get accommodations for extra time to take tests just so they can do better than the other kids and get into a good college, etc. etc.

Think about this carefully. Timed tests are not set up to be a race: the reason they are timed is so they can be administrated efficiently and effectively. Students can either show how well they know the material in the time allotted, or they can't. If the goal of the test (as is the case in standardized testing) is to show how well students know the material, then giving time to kids who need it is a reasonable accommodation. If they score higher with the accommodation than without it, isn't that a sign it is working?

Kids who don't need this accommodation but still get it will be sitting there after the timed part is over, tapping their pencil and being disruptive - and their test scores will remain the same.

The idea that administrators are presenting parents whose children succeed with therapies, etc. as "gaming the system" is unconscionable and illustrates an underlying bias against high-functioning special needs children in your district. Why would ANYBODY ask for OT, Speech therapy, etc. unless their child needed it? Kids who don't need these services would be unnecessarily missing classes, and be distracted from work they are able to do - they would wind up behind, rather than ahead. There is also the issue of the bullying that oftentimes goes with the label of "special needs" - not saying it's right, but it's there - why would a parent risk that?

Sorry to derail your thread, but it was discrimination exactly like this that prevented us from getting help for my son until he was suicidal and we got outside support to pressure our school district to get him what he needed. I am certain that accommodating his needs is cheaper than cleaning up the mess when he's not supported appropriately, but not doing it did make him and us easier to scapegoat. We lost several years of precious time because the social worker and administrators at our school kept calling him "quirky," and "fine," and then blaming us for his occasional violent outbursts and frequent disruptive behavior.

I'm only relating what I've heard from therapists who have worked with many, many kids--not the CPSE administrators whose jobs it is to grant the services. Why would those therapists jeopardize their own bread and butter and spread those rumors? That is elusive to me.

I do know there are plenty of people who get themselves admitted into (publicly funded) psychiatric wards feigning schizophrenia so they can score free drugs by acting out and threatening violence, then gloat about it to their cohorts afterwards. One would argue: Why would anyone willingly risk their freedom just to score some drugs here and there? The reasons don't have to be logical just because we think they should be, but that doesn't make it not true!

This abuse mainly applies to Early Intervention and CPSE, not for CSE. If a kid gets pulled aside for therapies during preschool, there is really not much of a loss there. A child can be phased out of Early Intervention, and there is a great push to show that these services help "kids outgrow their diagnoses" and the providers keep their jobs and livelihoods by proving it works. I will say EI helped my son tremendously, and he was not rediagnosed with PDD-NOS after he phased out of EI, even though he should have been. So, if kids "outgrow their symptoms" if they never have a real problem to begin with, the kid doesn't keep any stigma attached once they get out of EI or preschool--they don't have to go into Special Ed at all when they reach grade school. For many, from what I've heard, these services provide stimulation and glorified "babysitting" for entitled parents who hope their toddlers gain some sort of advantage--no matter how small--from their taxpaying dollars. No matter what system there is offering benefits to truly deserving people, there will always be some people out there trying to abuse it. And all those services do cost A LOT of money.

I asked a friend of mine who is an OT in the NYC public school. She said she has heard of parents who put their kids in the special ed preschool and pre-K (3-5 yo) so they can get free school and bus. I believe her but I think it is crazy for any parent to think it's a good idea. She had warned me in the past to make sure my son was mainstreamed after he turned 5 to avoid him mimicking any harmful or odd behaviors. I would never put my son in CPSE if he didn't need to be there.

It is totally crazy, but unfortunately not surprising. I too am hoping that my son will not need CSE services when he goes to Kindergarten because of the exact same concerns you mentioned. He is also very bright and will be bored and act out more if he is not being challenged enough. But, I don't want him getting bullied or ostracized because he can't control his outbursts in school. It is a very nervewracking spot to be in as a parent to see your child face these difficulties, but I have to count my blessings as he is otherwise a very healthy boy.

was a special ed teacher...there is very little leeway to get a kid services. One is test scores. They HAVE TO TEST at a 33% delay in one area, or 25% in 2 areas. Otherwise a child has to be a HUGE behavior issue in a class, etc..

In CPSE there seems to be more of te teachers input to keep services, but if your kid doesnt qualify, they dont get it. It has to go to a committe, not even the one you sit at. That is sent to the committe (usually county rep there, etc...) and they HAVE to justify it.

I personally know a lot of people who's kids had LEGIT issues, tested low enough for services, and those parents said that the district was just fudging to get the kid in the class. NOT the case. These kids seriously had issues. Remember a lot of parents are in denial, and will make excuses as to why their kid is in a special ed class. I have heard a lot of stories, but knowing what I know from teh profesion I was in, having gone thru it myslef with my own kid, and personally being freinds and FAMILY with those who are in denial and blame the district for just wanting a kid in special ed, which is laughable, this is not possible.

Why a professional woud say that? beyond me.

I think our general misunderstanding here is that much of the alleged abuse of the system happens for Early Intervention services and subsequently CPSE. My presumption is that this sort of abuse occurs MUCH less with children attending Kindergarten, because there would cease to be any advantages to non-spectrum children at that phase.