Follow Up On Our Experience With The School District
April 02, 2008
I really appreciate the comments people have left
here. We have gotten a lot of support from people -
both real-world family and friends as well as our
online buddies. Our social worker who did our home
studies for both adoptions even called and offered a
lot of great suggestions and resources.
So we stewed all weekend over what happened on Friday, and how we would respond to it. After careful consideration, I called the district's Office of Special Education and spoke with the assistant director, who is the speech pathologist's boss. I made her listen to a long rambling reconstruction of our recent encounter. I was very calm, but I was also very thorough. My main grievance at this point is the language used by the speech pathologist in our meeting, and I was very clear about what was said, and how I felt about it.
On top of that though, is the fact that we keep getting turned down in our request for a "full speech evaluation". I made it very clear that my understanding of the reason given by the speech pathologist for this is Kai's early childhood experience in terms of language exposure. However, it has yet to have been clearly shown to me by the district that this would somehow legally prevent him from qualifying for services. If it does, I would not be happy about it, but I would accept it. But I truly believe it does not, and until they show me otherwise, it really does feel as though he is being discriminated against.
I was very clear with the director, that we are very happy with Kai's teacher and the program he is in. I also said that we are very grateful that Kai will be receiving speech services. Still, I question how effective this will be if we don't have a baseline of what Kai's problem areas are beyond general observations made by Tina and me. Or even those of his teacher or speech therapist, if we aren't specifically inventorying his skills.
I repeated for her the comments made during Friday's meeting that we found offensive, and she understood why we were upset by them. She told me that she is the speech pathologist's supervisor and she would talk with her about my complaint. She said that she would also talk with the other attendees of the meeting as well. She also said she would look into the issue of Kai receiving a formal evaluation. She then promised to call me back on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Well, I'm writing this Wednesday evening and I haven't heard back from her. I have to say I'm more than a little disappointed. I do understand that she is probably very busy, and that she needed to speak with the speech pathologist, the psychologist and Kai's teacher before she would have anything to say. But she very clearly promised me a call back within two days. I really would have been happy with a simple call to let me know that she needed more time and to set another call-back time. Instead, I carried my cell phone with me all day, and when it was going on 5:00 I decided to call her. I got her secretary who told me she was on another call, but I could leave a voice-mail for her. I left a brief message saying that I was hoping to talk with her today still and left my cell phone number again. At 6:00 I figured the call wasn't coming so I decided to follow up with an email. Her email address isn't listed on the district's website (teacher's addresses are) so I googled her name and the district's internet domain name. Bingo! I sent her the following message:
Hi L_____,
I spoke with you on the phone Monday morning regarding my son Kai and our experiences in trying to get a speech evaluation for him. I was hoping to hear from you earlier today, but I understand that you and the other people involved in this matter are very busy. I would very much like to talk with you before spring break as our family will be out of town for part of next week.
Because the issues we need to discuss can be difficult ones to deal with over the phone, I would appreciate meeting with you in person. My work schedule is relatively flexible so I can probably make myself available to meet in your office at a time that is convenient for you. Would you be available anytime on Thursday April 3rd, or Friday April 4th? Please call me to let me know.
Thank You,
Scott Ocheltree
Cell: XXX-XXXX
Home: XXX-XXXX
Office: XXX-XXXX
A minute later I got an auto-response from her account letting me know that she would be out of town representing the district at a career fair and would respond to my email as soon as she could when she got back. So if she was in fact on the phone when I called an hour earlier, instead of checking her voicemail and returning my call, she set her email's auto-reply and left the office. She seemed so sincere when she promised to call me back in two days. I'm really trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I was really hoping to feel like something was going to be happening by today. Instead, we continue to stew.
So we stewed all weekend over what happened on Friday, and how we would respond to it. After careful consideration, I called the district's Office of Special Education and spoke with the assistant director, who is the speech pathologist's boss. I made her listen to a long rambling reconstruction of our recent encounter. I was very calm, but I was also very thorough. My main grievance at this point is the language used by the speech pathologist in our meeting, and I was very clear about what was said, and how I felt about it.
On top of that though, is the fact that we keep getting turned down in our request for a "full speech evaluation". I made it very clear that my understanding of the reason given by the speech pathologist for this is Kai's early childhood experience in terms of language exposure. However, it has yet to have been clearly shown to me by the district that this would somehow legally prevent him from qualifying for services. If it does, I would not be happy about it, but I would accept it. But I truly believe it does not, and until they show me otherwise, it really does feel as though he is being discriminated against.
I was very clear with the director, that we are very happy with Kai's teacher and the program he is in. I also said that we are very grateful that Kai will be receiving speech services. Still, I question how effective this will be if we don't have a baseline of what Kai's problem areas are beyond general observations made by Tina and me. Or even those of his teacher or speech therapist, if we aren't specifically inventorying his skills.
I repeated for her the comments made during Friday's meeting that we found offensive, and she understood why we were upset by them. She told me that she is the speech pathologist's supervisor and she would talk with her about my complaint. She said that she would also talk with the other attendees of the meeting as well. She also said she would look into the issue of Kai receiving a formal evaluation. She then promised to call me back on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Well, I'm writing this Wednesday evening and I haven't heard back from her. I have to say I'm more than a little disappointed. I do understand that she is probably very busy, and that she needed to speak with the speech pathologist, the psychologist and Kai's teacher before she would have anything to say. But she very clearly promised me a call back within two days. I really would have been happy with a simple call to let me know that she needed more time and to set another call-back time. Instead, I carried my cell phone with me all day, and when it was going on 5:00 I decided to call her. I got her secretary who told me she was on another call, but I could leave a voice-mail for her. I left a brief message saying that I was hoping to talk with her today still and left my cell phone number again. At 6:00 I figured the call wasn't coming so I decided to follow up with an email. Her email address isn't listed on the district's website (teacher's addresses are) so I googled her name and the district's internet domain name. Bingo! I sent her the following message:
Hi L_____,
I spoke with you on the phone Monday morning regarding my son Kai and our experiences in trying to get a speech evaluation for him. I was hoping to hear from you earlier today, but I understand that you and the other people involved in this matter are very busy. I would very much like to talk with you before spring break as our family will be out of town for part of next week.
Because the issues we need to discuss can be difficult ones to deal with over the phone, I would appreciate meeting with you in person. My work schedule is relatively flexible so I can probably make myself available to meet in your office at a time that is convenient for you. Would you be available anytime on Thursday April 3rd, or Friday April 4th? Please call me to let me know.
Thank You,
Scott Ocheltree
Cell: XXX-XXXX
Home: XXX-XXXX
Office: XXX-XXXX
A minute later I got an auto-response from her account letting me know that she would be out of town representing the district at a career fair and would respond to my email as soon as she could when she got back. So if she was in fact on the phone when I called an hour earlier, instead of checking her voicemail and returning my call, she set her email's auto-reply and left the office. She seemed so sincere when she promised to call me back in two days. I'm really trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I was really hoping to feel like something was going to be happening by today. Instead, we continue to stew.