[blindkid] Putting pressure on the school district

[holly miller]

Hi!
I popped in a few weeks ago asking for some LMA evaluator names.  It turns
out asking for an independant LMA didn't come up in the meeting we held but
I've got new questions.

Recap...my son is 8 yrs old, 2nd grade, has Albinsim (legally blind,
nystagmus) and was adopted from China in July 2006.  We're in NJ.
I've been very fortunate to have some great conversations with Carol
Castellano (thank you Carol!!!!) but wanted to toss this out there for
everyone.

Very little vision accomodatoins have been provided aside from the most
basic things like enlarging work, a slant board, dark pencils, preferential
seating.
We did finally get a CCTV at home 3 weeks ago, does not have one at school
yet.
The first week in October I called an IEP meeting with the district staff
and the TVI (tvi is a state employee, not district) and said I wanted Hank
to get started in Braille.  TVI said an LMA would need to be done, she'd get
right on it.  Months dragged by, I followed up regularly but kept getting
pushed off.
In the mean time, his teachers were getting very little guidance about how
to make things managable for Hank.  I was trying to educate them the best I
could but it always seemed to be fixing things after the fact, they weren't
troubleshooting on their own or coming to me with questions.

Feb 18th we had a "momma ain't happy" meeting with the district caseworker,
district sp-ed director and the TVI.
His annual IEP review meeting was already scheduled for 3/2 and I explained
I had huge issues with what was & wasn't happening this year that I wanted
to get cleared up before trying to construct a plan for next year.

At the 2/18 meeting I felt I made a lot of progress with the district staff
& getting them to understand why Hank needs Braille (as well as pointing out
the law says he's entitled to it).  The TVI comes across as very
anti-braille if the student has any sight and I am not pleased with her at
all but I *was* feeling hopefull about the district staff and a newfound
understanding.

The meeting ended with the TVI saying she could offer him once a week of
"pre-braille" (the other thread was very interesting to read!) for the rest
of the year *if* her supervisor would sign off on it, and he would be out of
the office for two weeks.  After the TVI left, I informed the district
ladies that once a week was *not* sufficient.  The director said she wanted
to see what the TVI supervisior had to say and would work from there.

Two weeks would put us right at the already scheduled IEP meeting so I was
willing to wait.

We had a huge snowstorm here last week and due to a delayed opening, our 3/2
IEP meeting was cancelled.
I emailed the caseworker & director on that day to let me know of the new
date ASAP and send me a copy of the IEP draft for review.
I called two days later, the secretary informed me a new date hadn't been
set but she'd call me back by the end of the day.
Today I emailed the caseworker & director again to let them know I hadn't
been given a new meeting date or the IEP draft.
The director emailed me back saying a new meeting has not been schedule,
his IEP "due date" is 4/2 so they have until then.
No mention of sending me a copy of the draft. No mention of any follow up
with the TVI about braille.
Now, school was closed 1 day and a 2 hr delay the 2nd day.  Exactly how many
meetings really have to be rescheduled?? 10 at the most???  We're a teeny
tiny district....  I am not feeling so hopeful anymore.

I need to reply to her email letting her know I don't intend to let them
sweep all of March under the rug without addressing getting him started in
Braille.
Of course I should probably use some tact & decorum ::::grin:::::
Any suggestions and wording would be greatly appreciated.

Holly