IEP - Awful or Awsome?

My experience with IEP's for my son with Asperger's Syndrome has been awful for the last few years and I have heard from other parents that this is not an unusual experience. For those of you just starting out with trying to obtain educational services for your child, an IEP is an Individual Education Plan. The idea behind it is that the teachers, parents, professionals or social workers, if required, sit down together to discuss your child's strengths and weaknesses and make a plan to assist your child meet his educational goals. This plan is written down and reviewed throughout the school year.

The idea behind an IEP is great, but the actual process of going through one can be very stressful for parents and, no doubt, teachers too. The teacher is the single most important factor in whether your child is successful at school or not. If her attitude reflects the opinion that she is dealing with a spoiled, immature child and parents with poor parenting skills there is very little you can do to sway that opinion. (We know, we've tried.)

Some parents arm themselves with psychologists, pediatricians and social workers at these meetings in the hope that finally, someone will make the teacher realize that the child has a problem. Other parents just grit their teeth, get fed up and switch schools in the hope that this will solve the problem. Some really brave parents yell at the teacher to get their point across, or nag the teacher to follow the plan set down in the IEP which she agreed to but doesn't have time to do. (This can be very frustrating.)

We have attended a number of IEP's and tried everything we could think of to get the school to realize our son has Asperger's Syndrome and that's the cause of his unusual behaviour. On the one hand, they didn't dispute the diagnosis, on the other hand it seemed like they went out of their way to drive him nuts! Even after explaining that our son is sensitive to light, the teacher still flicked the classroom lights on and off to get the attention of the class and then she put an overhead projector right in front of him during math class. It is obvious to us why he would have a melt-down during math but for some teachers this whole issue of making accommodations for a special needs child becomes a control issue and the plans in the IEP fall apart.

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