About IEPs,why doesn't the school tell the parents?

Question

of their child they will not get a real diploma and

a Certificate of completion instead? I have LD

and went to a special school for LD kids and I got

a Certificate and was never told before hand.I asked why they could not come up with an answer.

I never went to college because I am afraid it would

be too difficult,I do not see how I passed the GED

on the first try at 28 years old in 1989.

Answer 1

I know several kids who were in special education and received a 'real' diploma at graduation. And then they entered college with no problems. It all has to do with the parents, not the schools.

In the end, it's not the diploma that counts, colleges don't even LOOK at them. They ask for a transcript. It's probable that your transcript did not reflect the classes appropriate to gain college admittance. Schools SHOULD tell parents that their children need to take the same classes, but their IEPs should provide supports for that.

If you got a certificate of completion, why did you take the GED?

Answer 2

I'm so sick of this same question over and over by the same user.  It was a long, long, long time ago.  Things have changed.  I'm sorry your school screwed you over, but move on with your life.  Aren't you in your forties?  Move on from high school.  Go to the community college and advance your education there.  If you were ten or twenty years younger, you wouldn't have been allowed to go to school.

Answer 3

These days US Schools are required to start talking about transitions to post-secondary education or work from the year the child turns 14, and to document certain aspects of those discussions, by IDEIA 2004 and the regs that came out later. The first discussions may be as simple as "Have you thought about what you want to do when you finish school?" In some cases, the transition plan involves the school and family working together with colleges and outside agencies.

I don't know what the law was like when you were in school, except that there wasn't nearly as much of it back then! I can tell you that just because the school tells the parent doesn't mean the parent understood it, will remember it, or will pass that information on to the student.

The law also requires that students with disabilities be educated with their non-disabled peers to the greatest extent practical. Not too many kids go to a separate public school for kids with learning disabilites anymore. What you experienced would not be considered a Least Restrictive Environment these days. In fact, most of our students with learning disabilities spend the majority of the day in general education classes with everybody else.

If the day comes that they don't need specially designed instruction anymore, we're more than happy to kick them out of special education! For most students, that's the goal we're working towards, though some of the students and their families would prefer the less-pressured environment of Special Education. To me, it's like training wheels. Once the kid is ready, it doesn't do the kid a bit of good to leave them on, no matter how difficult it is for us to see them fly down the street without help.

Things are getting better, which is hopeful, but stories like yours still make me a little bit sad and even angry, even though I'm younger than you!