IEPS, Extended School Year, and Resource Rooms, Oh My!

For those of you with children with developmental disabilities, it's that time of year again. The end of the year Individualized Education Plan must be written for next year. A determination must be made for Extended School Year Services. And for Short Stack, a move into Kindergarten (seriously, where in the hell has the time gone?) and a decision as to whether resource supports are necessary for her to meet her goals for the program.

I am honestly dreading this meeting next month. I have already learned that her school wishes to give her 60 minutes of in-class resource instruction, which is under the direction of a special education teacher, but in addition to that, another 60-90 minutes of pulling her out into a resource classroom, with only children with disabilities, to help her learn. This is in addition to two sessions of speech therapy, which take place outside her class, one session of occupational therapy, which takes place outside her class, Adaptive Physical Education, which takes place outside her class, and Applied Behavior Analysis therapy which also takes place outside her class (NOTE: We are paying for ABA, not the school, don't get excited, you know they suck on that type of useful therapy, sorry folks). So my question is, when exactly will she be in her general education classroom, learning with her peers? When she says the Pledge of Allegiance, goes to lunch, and gets in line to go home?

So, that is a tricky issue, as her teacher thinks resource is a helpful thing she should start out with, not build up to as needed. I love, no adore her teacher, her school, most of the staff and those who love to teach Short Stack, but I gotta stand my ground. I am sorry, but that just isn't going to work for Short Stack. Any sort of additional pulling out of her classroom that has not been proven to be necessary will not be written into her IEP because "that's how we handle it with other children" or "more instruction is better for her, in a one on one setting". Not a good enough reason, even if everyone thinks it's a good idea. I would like to see her excel with the minimum accommodations needed, to get her learning and growing as close to a typical child as possible.

So, if you are facing your own issues with end of year IEPs, tell me about it. What's working for you? What have you done to make it an easy transition? What issues have you stood your ground on?