I feel my daughters teacher is trying to force me to enroll her in special ed.but i feel diffrently about it?

Question

MY CHILD TEACHER APPROACED ME TO SIGN SPECIAL ED. PAPERS FOR MY DAUGHTER,BUT WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCHOOL YEAR,AND THE FACT THIS TEACHER HAD MY SON FIRST AND SHE COMPARES,MY DAUGHTER TO HIM AND WHEN MY DAUGHTER RAISES HER HAND AND TELLS THIS TEACHER,SHE DOSENT UNDERSTAND SHE ASSIGNS A STUDENT TO HELP INSTEAD OF DOING IT HERSELF.AND WHEN I SUGGESTED A CONFERENCE SHE NEARLY FLEW OFF THE HANDLE AND WENT TO TELL THE SCHOOL ADMIN.ON ME .AND AT THAT POINT I SEEN A SIDE OF HER I DISLIKED,AND AT THAT POINT IT SHOWED ME INPATIENCE AND THAT SHE LIKES THINGS TO GO HER WAY,AND SO I PERFER A 2ND. OPINION.MEANING WERE MOVING AND ID,LIKE TO SEE HOW THINGS WOULD GO BEFOR I SIGN PAPERS AND IF MY CHILD HAS THE SAME ACADEMIC PROBLEMS,OR NOTHING CHANGES I WOULD RECONSIDER,AND DO WHATS BEST FOR MY DAUGHTER,BUT I FEEL HER TEACHER ISNT QUALIFIED TO MAKE THIS JUDGEMENT.I WANNA MAKE SURE IAM NOT JUST GOING BY WHAT THE TEACHER SAYS,BECAUSE MY DAUGHTER IS WHAT MATTERS................!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

First, let's determine what the teacher was attempting to have you sign.  For your daughter to be in special education, the following must happen:

1. You consent to an evaluation.  This means that the school psychologist and others administer tests.  If you disagree with the results of the test, you can have an Independent Educational Evaluation. An IEE means an independent professional does the same or similar tests.  The school pays for an IEE.

2. An eligibility meeting is called.  You will receive written  notice of this meeting and have every opportunity to attend.  There, you and several specific school personnel will decide if your daughter is eligible for special education.  The school can take you to "due process,"  (a kind of legal proceeding) to force evaluation and eligibility.

3.  If your child is eligible for special education, you and the team (mostly the same people) develop an individualized educational plan for her.  You can refuse to do this step, your daughter will get no special education services, and the school can't force you.  The IEP meeting is also a meeting for which you will receive formal, prior written notice and have every opportunity to attend.  

So, a single teacher standing in the hallway with a paper for you to sign cannot enroll your daughter in special education.  I suspect she was asking for your consent to evaluate her for eligibility. The law agrees with you:  no one person is qualified and no one test is capable of determining whether your daughter requires special education.  That said, there is no harm in the evaluation.  You will learn more about your daughter, and can get a second opinion if you disagree.  You won't be forced to enroll your daughter in special education.  

If your daughter were enrolled in special education, she would have access to specially trained teachers to help her with her questions rather than another student.  

Lastly, I suggest that you politely ask the teacher to not compare your daughter to your son.

Answer 2

I am not an expert, and I don't know your whole situation, but it seems to make sense to me that you should wait until you move and see how things go.

Answer 3

You know your daughter better than any one else does so do what is right for her. Don't let the school or the teacher bully you into things you don't want. If you are really unhappy with this teacher I think you should go into the school and speak to the headteacher about how you feel. You don't mention how old your daughter is or her academic ability. For what reason does she want your daughter to be placed in to special ed? I really think you should go into school and talk to them about this, but do take a big deep breath before you go and do it calmly. If you talk to them in a reasonable way they are much more likely to listen to you. I know this from personal experience.

Answer 4

take your child to a child psychologist they can do an evaluation, we can't just trust our teachers, just look at the news.

Answer 5

wow.  ok from experience.

work with the school.  talk with the principal and ask if there is a school board psychologist that can assess your daughter.  (where i am this is what we did with our son).  there are other resources too they can utilize.  there psychoeducational analyists that they can bring in to evaluate their academic performance.  

the principal would be the best way to start.  be cautious of criticizing the teacher because i've found that they usually stick together.

if that doesn't help, maybe u can switch schools.

btw, some teachers assign students to help other students because they are overwhelmed with work.  personally my son would pick up more from other students.

good luck with your daughter.

Answer 6

You have every right to a second opinion.  I would get your daughter assess by a professional.  Maybe she will respond better to a different teacher!

Answer 7

The need for special education should be based on more than poor academic performance as witnessed by one teacher. Has a specialist observed your child? Has medical and psychological testing been performed? Have you had tests conducted to measure intelligence and development?

There may be a problem. But signing papers to have your child given an alternative type of education is not a solution until you are sure of the problem. Could the problem be this class environment? Is she bullied? How has she performed in previous years?

I would meet with the administration to inquire as to the process they use to determine special needs. You need to be sure this is truely an academic problem.

Answer 8

Everyone here has given great advice. Listen to them. Start with getting the test that need to done first. Then go from there util then keep your cool with this teacher.Good luck

Answer 9

First of all the teacher can't just have you to sign papers for her to be in special ed.  In order for a child to be in specila ed and recieve the services,   The school is suppose to go thru a legal step by step process that is outlined in the federal special education law IDEA 'individuals with disabilities education act'

A good site to learn about this is www.wrightslaw.com

This teacher is NOT the one who decides if your child should recieve special ed services.

YOU have to agree for your child to be in special ed and if you DON"T, all you have to do is  ---

Tell the teacher you want a copy of that paper she wants you to sign so you can have time to think over your decision. DO NOT SIGN IT.  Then,  write a letter to the district special ed director stating what this teacher has said and done (wanting you to sign that paper)

DO NOT tell the teacher you are going to write to the special ed director.

Send a copy of the paper the teacher gives you in with the letter to the district sped director as proof of what this teacher is doing.

If you can't get a copy of the paper the teacher wants you to sign , just state in the letter 'what' the teacher wants you to sign and 'why' she wants you to sign it.

State in the letter the EXACT words that you DO NOT AGREE for your child to recieve special ed services,   and send a copy of this letter  to the principal . I highly doubt either of them know what this teacher is doing. It is ILLEGAL.  When you put IN WRITING that you DISAGREE with your child being in special ed, everything stops right there.

When you send this letter to the district sped director, he will KNOW  the teacher is not following the federal legal process in having your child in special ed. So he should stop her from pursuing this any further with you, and the teacher should not say another word about it again.

I think the reason your teacher got mad is that she is wanting to put your child off in special ed so she won't have to deal with her, plus do it in an ILLEGAL way so the school won't know she is doing this. That is why she got mad about you asking for a meeting. She doesn't want the principal and others over her to know she doesn't want to help your child.

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On the other hand, If you DO want to see if your child can get help thru special ed services, you have to follow the legal step by step process in the laws.   The first step is to write a letter to the district special ed director requesting a full educational evaluation to determine if your child can qualfiy for special education.

This teacher has NOTHING to do with the process of special education and if she wants you to sign papers, this is ILLEGAL and your child will NOT be considered to be in special education  if you sign those papers.

I would also write a letter to the principal stating that the teacher is getting other students to teach your child instead of doing her own job and that you want it stopped immediately, or put her in a classroom where the teacher DOES teach her OWN students.