I.E.P.

I.E.P.

Those three little yet big letters means so much

yet can be very confusing

if you don't

have

experience.

Three of my girls have had these.

Two of them still do.

One is easy

Other is not.

 Jenny receives it for 

speech.

No modification needed in school

just gets taken out of class

for a little bit of time

each week.

Erin at 12 1/2 years old

Erin has been home just 3 years. 

 This child of my has gone through so much in this short of time.

She has faced many challenges

being abandoned at 18 months old

being an teenager

an older child adoptee

traumatized repeatedly her first 13 years

not having any study skills

enduring pain, fear 

having to learn survival skills

moving 1/2 way around the world with people she didn't like

being told she was mute and dumb

not having a voice

not having someone to fight for her

not knowing what true love is

what a mom and dad or family means

Not having God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in her life because 

she was told they were horrible

   Erin now just over 16

she is loving life

She still is an teenager

Still an older child adoptee

No longer being traumatized

is learning study skills

not living in constant fear and pain

learning independence skills and not survival

Loves her mom, dad, sister, immediate family and friends

Not Mute or dumb

Has a voice

Has people to fight for her

Learned and continues to learn what true love is

Understands what mom, dad and family means

she became Christian just over a month ago 

She is trying to learn to live God's way

and doing great with it.

 

 She has walked out of her comfort zone,

knowing that God, family and friends will walk with her

hold her hand

be a voice

and just to be with her.

 

A couple days after Erin came home

we met with the school district and it was decided the 

local deaf school would be the best option for her.

 An I.E.P. was made

Everything looked good

they addressed everything,

they gave me advice.

It was decided to fully immerse her into ASL

She would have an 1:1 that would teach her ASL.

She wasn't going to have an CSL (Chinese sign language) here as they felt it would be to confusing for her and there are many dialects of it.

She started there a week after coming home as a 7th grader

The first year they wouldn't focus much on English writing or reading.

She picked up ASL fast and at times

this created problems at home.

She liked to use it against us

as she didn't want to be with an "hearing" family,

she wanted a deaf family.

Her 1:1 went far above and also taught 

Erin what family is about.

Erin's second year in school she was moved to 8th grade.

She no longer had 1:1 full time

it was time to get more serious about learning the 

written and reading of English.  She had an 1:1 part time.

Many frustrations on everyone invovled.

It played hard on Erin's self esteem and self worth.

She took many baby steps

that turned into bigger steps

but she struggled internally believing 

people when they told her they were 

amazed on how fast she is learning and coming along.

Erin's third year she was moved to 9th grade and into High school.

The High school lost a lot of students for one reason or another.

There was only 1 other girl in her grade and 4 total in the high school

with 20+ males.

Erin had no 1:1, but in smaller classes.

Again she wrestled with a lot of self esteem issues and trying 

to believe people that she is smart when she wasn't 

learning and understanding the English like she felt she should.

Her social studies teacher gave her a project that was very difficult in Erin's mind and 

when it was completed, she realized she can do it.

Mid way thru 9th grade other problems arise.

They involved of her being bullied and harassed along with the other girl.

After multiple times, they split the boys and 2 girls up

Erin got more 1:1 from the teachers and she 

jumped huge in improvements with reading, writing and math.

She was learning why it was important to do school

to understand it.

She was motivated.

Her female friend decided to transfer to the deaf school south of us.  To far for Erin to bus back and forth. And dorm isn't an option for a few reasons:

She still learning what family is all about

including seeing first hand how family fight for each other,

to protect one another.  She was seeing how much

fun she can have with siblings and family,

She could be safe 

She can learn first handed from trusted people things she isn't sure about, has questions about vs. other kids her age that could misinformed her or tell her things that I don't want her to believe

She missed 13 years of being part of a family and when she gets older she will be moving out and getting her own place.

I also want to be a mom to her.  I lost her first 13 years without her.

Her sisters need to have her home too.

I can help her with homework.

We can do more family things as weekends always seemed busy.

She is in sports along with her sisters, we can support each other

sports.

I am there to give her hug and an shoulder when she has a bad day.

I can just listen to her and hold her.

Can't do that in a dorm.

Yes she would be more full immersion in the deaf world,

she would be around more deaf peers.

But her family family knows signs

and she has deaf peers outside of school

Plus we have the wonderful Video phone to keep in contact of deaf friends that aren't close. 

We looked for different options

and decided for her to mainstream part time starting 10th grade.

 

 

 We had a big I.E.P. meeting in June with the home school district and the deaf school.

Made the decision that she would take Math, Reading and Writing at the deaf school.  I assumed (never good thing) that she would get at least one or two of the same teachers that she had currently with math, reading and writing.

At the hearing school she was going to take Science/social studies and an elective.

We talked about the different types of classes at the hearing school.

Decided on Co-taught science class and cooking class.

Was written that she would have dhh (deaf and hard of hearing )services at the deaf school and classes modify and use the self advocacy skills. She would also have indirect dhh services at hearing school

I also assumed at the time, everyone especially the deaf school understood Erin's needs and her unique situation.  

Again, assuming usually never a good thing.

Assume the dhh services at the deaf school was going to help with the hearing school, modify things, expand on vocabulary, etc.

 Everyone is unique.

With an older adoptee that also is deaf,

the situation is a normal deaf child situation.

You have the lack of English language for however many years.

ASL is similar to spoken language in that just because you learn ASL fast or learn to speak English good, doesn't mean it the same for reading and writing.

ASL doesn't use the same sentence structure as English speaking people.

Deaf can't sound out the words

it all on memorization skills.

Even though I knew sign before adopting Erin, I wasn't completely fluent in it.  That has caused problems in the past.  I am way more fluent in it and Erin is more patient with me.

Most of the time older adoptee that is also deaf depending which country they were born in are treated very different.  Erin's birth country labeled her mute and dumb.

Being told that while growing up, doesn't do anything but bring your spirit down and make you feel worthless.

This girl is far from mute and dumb.

She is amazingly smart and does have a voice and opinions that counts.

Having to do whatever you can do to survive, even if that includes stealing (we lucked out she doesn't do that), lie (she did that to protect herself initially), be destructive, be mean, having to test everyone to see if they will abandon them.

5 days before school starts,  Erin had  her first  volleyball game.

A dear friend of my A.M. (an dhh teacher) and her son who also is an older deaf adoptee came to watch the game.

Right away we noticed the interpreter not signing all the time, just the time when it directly impacted on Erin.  

Talking to Erin after the game.  She didn't know the interpreters were suppose to sign all the time, didn't know that the coach was yelling out guidance to the players on the court, didn't know the coach was talking.  

That sent a big red flag up.

As A.M. and I started to talk, she asked to see Erin's I.E.P. and there was huge confusion on who was responsible for what and she felt that the I.E.P. was very weak for someone like Erin.

This was now 2 days before school.

Learned that a lot of interpreters sign in a mix of English and ASL, like a pidgin language.

That it isn't the interpreters responsibility to do expanding explanations of all the words that Erin doesn't know that the teacher said because the interpreter will then miss a lot of what the teacher said because she was to busy explaining vocabulary words to Erin.

Didn't say how they were going to modify her assignments or lecture notes

that it didn't say who was doing the dhh services.

Who was going to teach her advocacy skills when she didn't even know what the interpreter requirements were.

and the list went on and on.

Quickly realized Erin was going to fail mainstreaming before she even step inside the school.

My friend and I prayed

Prayed for wisdom, strength and courage.

There was going to be a lot of discussion on who was responsible for what and possible parties saying it was the other parties responsiblity.

That Erin was going to left dangling or  having to be put in a situation that makes her uncomfortable or unsafe or make her feel she isn't smart enough.

I spend long hours writing to the 

district casework listing all my concerns about the current way we have the I.E.P.

She said we need another meeting to answer them.

Emailed Erin's case worker at the deaf school as they had the I.E.P.

to set up a meeting up.

I requested for some extra people to be involved.

 Erin first 3 days at the hearing school was great.  She said the teachers were nice and helpful, the kids acted a lot more respectful to each other and teachers.

They didn't screw around once class started.

She was picking up new vocabulary.

She was seeing some of her volleyball teammates 

and kids from badminton.

She wasn't feeling lost among 2000+ students.

Before the I.E.P. meeting, both me and A.M. talked with Erin, we explained to her that this was focusing on what she needs.  That she needs to remember that she is a smart girl, and so forth and it will appear that we are all negative because we are fighting for her needs. 

She understood that, so we thought.  

20 minutes into the meeting, I notice her to shut down.

not really paying attention, sliding down in her chair and looking down instead of watching the interpreter.

Basically the deaf school said they will teach Erin what she needs at the deaf school.  They can't help out at all at the hearing school and can't accept assignments from there to teach Erin.

Hearing school saying they don't have it in their schedule to add direct dhh person.  They have her listed as indirect.  Hearing school also didn't realize that Erin's English is as limited as it is.  The I.E.P. didn't reflect that clearly enough and wasn't clear when we had the meeting in June.

It was quickly realized that her current situation at the hearing school wasn't going to work, and going back to the deaf school full time wasn't an option either if we wanted to be safe.

One of the unique things with Erin, she catches on fast with ASL.  You explain something to her once or twice and she gets it, she has an amazing memory when it comes to explaining in ASL.  Get her to read or write it and everything crumbles. 

In the hearing school it is fast past.  The interpreter need to be able to expand on certain topics or words.  In Erin's case, because her vocabulary in English isn't that high because she hasn't learned all the words.  It is hard to go that fast past without missing things.  If the interpreter expands to much, the interpreter is going to forget what the teacher had said.

Then you add on the reading part and that blows everything out of the water.  The first day of school she came home with homework that was 4 pages long.  I couldn't even explain 1/2 of it because I didn't have the ASL abilities to explain the science to her.  

Things that I discovered that were weak in Erin's I.E.P. because I am not experience with this kind of wording and just assumed (there I go again with assume) that the team of teachers and educators were the experts and  I believe whatever was said.

This is what I have learned about I.E.P.

They are one of the most important documents for your child.

They will protect your child rights to the education they will receive.

That it can be modified to your child individual needs

I= Individualized

E= Education

P= Plan

You child's need, not under the majority need.

YOUR CHILD.

After 1 hour and 40 minutes of decision, I walked out of that meeting with 

a daughter that once again felt she was mute and dumb.

mom and dad more frustrated at the situation.

The hearing school is very willing to do whatever they could do to help Erin and make it as much of a positive experience at the hearing school, their resources at the moment are on the more limited side due to the I.E.P. and needing to go to the drawing board.  They offer suggestions, they thought out of the box, they gave us ideas.  They really wanted to make it work.  

Dave and I sat down at home and went through the eight options, 2 options were veto.  

Full time at the local deaf school (not an comfortable environment for her)

Go to the State deaf school and dorm (which I already mentioned early why we won't do that).

We presented the hearing school with the other 5 options, they came back with 2 that they can do right now for this trimester, and we let Erin decide which one she wanted.

She chose to stay at the hearing school for the two classes.  These two classes will be more for the experiences vs. credit classes, and for the next couple of months we ware working on a better plan for the hearing school, they have already had a couple of suggestions and we are going to look into it more.

What I learned about I.E.P.'s

They need to be specific and to the point.

They need to say who is doing what specifically, not to be put under a umbrella group

Dealing with deaf I.E.P. you need an interpreter that is a language facilitator, to expand vocab. language.

If you have a hearing challenged child, you need direct DHH teacher at the hearing school to help with the academic support, to help modify the assignments, and help expand vocabulary they need to learn.

Need a goal on how to teach Advocacy Skills.  Has to be taught, how to use and interpreter, how to ask for clarification, how to approach an teacher about questions, etc.

When providing multi media, someone like Erin need more then just close captions as her reading skills aren't at that level.  The interpreter needs to be able to sign to the student but if room is dark how does that work.  Modifying the lightening.

Who is the bldg special ed teacher contact and what will their role in your child education.

In Erin's situation, the DHH person fluent in signs or able help with the modified assignments.

How many minutes will your child receive for DHH services and who is providing it.

Support services, who? how often? where?

Parents have the power to request and refuse I.E.P. until it to the best possible help for your child. 

Tonight she experienced a little bit of Cued speech.  She picked up on a little of it.  It was interesting watching it being done and explained how it was done.

Makes a lot of sense to me.  Erin already takes speech therapy sporadically (when time allows).  She does a good job with speech even though she is very self conscious of it.

She has great mouth movement while she is signing.  Erin wants to learn cued speech, she thought it was interesting.  

So as door get shut in one spot, God always makes sure he opens another door.

 

Tonight before Erin went to bed.

She thanked me for supporting her.

She said she needs to be patience.

God has a plan for her.

And she knows I will find them to help her.

She also knows she has the voice,

to be involved in decision making

to say she not comfortable with that idea

or she thinks she can try that idea

She also knows she not alone in this.

 That people that love her

will fight for her.

Erin  you future is unlimited.

You have overcome so much in 3 short years.

You have challenged yourself in both the

deaf world 

and the 

hearing world.

Keep snapping away those memories you are making.