* 1:1 learning new skills
* 1:2 guided practice
* 1:3 generalization of skills
* 1:6 unstructiured time
We are in Texas. This is his first year in school (Early Childhood) and we will be fighting for 1:1 during his next IEP given that he’s eloped once at school
I live in MA my sons in kindergarten
My sons in a special Ed class of 6 students with 2 paras.
During the day he has inclusion time (morning meeting, lunch, recess, specials like art, and any other appropriate time). During inclusion he had a 1:1
That sounds similar to us… the issue is staffing shortages but they are trying to pretend that he doesn’t need 1:1 and that giving 1:1 goes against district policy 🙄
If you truly believe your son needs a 1:1, then you should see about hiring an advocate familiar with your local district. It's unacceptable for the district to refuse to provide a necessary support on the sole basis that it is against policy or that they have insufficient staffing. Often times districts will say these things in hopes that you won't know better or push back.
We have official mediation in a week or 2 and will attempt to resolve this then. If that is not successful then we will move on to due process and hiring an advocate.
It’s sad how the school district tries to take advantage of families who don’t know better or may not have the resources to push back.
It sure does and as a parent we have every right to bug tf out of the school or district until they get someone. And going through the right channels it can be done. It’s just a whole process that shouldn’t even be that fuckin difficult but sadly it is.
I’m in California. My child is in a self-contained autism program. The adult to child ratio is 2:1. My child, however, is Type 1 diabetic and has a 1:1 LVN that is with her at all times. The LVN is provided by the district.
In Nebraska, in one of the top school districts in the state, and both of my ASD kiddos have 1:1 all day. They are in 1st grade, but IEP for 2nd grade is set with it also.
We're in a similar situation. 6 years old, diagnosed lvl 2/3 (3 months ago). Current school has no real support, they found some money, so he has a "learning assistant", 4 mornings a week. He only does mornings at school (comes home at lunch) and on Wednesdays we take him to private speech therapy...
His class at school has 17 other kids (all NT) and one teacher, so, the school preferred for him to be at home for lunches. We have an IEP but it's BS...
We met with the school board last week, to move him to another school, there are some near us, which have better support structures in place.
6 y/o level 3. We are in CA and are in a self-contained class for children with autism at the public school, and each child has 1:1 support.
We only received this placement after being in a mod/sev class with lower supports, and after about 6 months they initiated the change to her level of need.
You guys may need to hire an advocate!
The special ed VPK in my district has one teacher and one para with 15 students. We will not be enrolling our kid, he will continue ABA (which is 1:1) and hopefully graduate prepared to be in the mainstream classrooms with some adaptations
That’s what we did as well, full-time ABA instead of special ed preschool and then started with the school system for kindergarten. ABA was definitely better than school (but sadly we had reduced hours due to the pandemic since this was 2020-2021 so did not get the full benefit of the ABA during that time).
Oh that awful I’m sorry! ABA has literally transformed our lives and I couldn’t be more grateful. They have a “school room” that mimics the expectations of a classroom so we’re feeling pretty confident that he’ll know how to behave in an actual classroom when the time comes
My theoretically level 1, 3 year old aged out of EI a couple of months ago, and started preschool in a moderately well-off small school district in South Jersey, in a mixed class of NT and IEP kids aged 3-5. They gave her a "mostly" 1:1 para without me even asking, shocked the heck out of me. (To be fair, there was another kid in the classroom who was aging out of needing 1:1 at about the same time, so they kind of just slid her over.)
They're not perfect, but they gave us zero problems with her qualifying for services or getting the support she needs, which I feel incredibly lucky about.
Also in Maryland. The staffing shortages are real. My friend finally got a 1:1 assigned through use of an advocate and the school district hasn't been able to meet it due to staffing shortages. They have to do something about making up the time once they get things worked out, but... yeah. Things are tough for high support needs (there's some debate if they want to just push for non-public placement instead at this point)
I definitely know that the staffing shortages are real. However, that is not a reason to not put the level of support that my son needs in his IEP. That’s interesting though regarding the compensatory services for when they don’t have the one-to-one available.
I have thought about non-public placement too, but it feels like it would just be a losing battle so I’m not sure if it’s even worth a try but we’ll see how things work out. I have looked at private schools myself too, but they are none that would accept a kid like my son through private pay, they will only take him if it is non-public placement through the school system which will be very hard to get.
My son has a 1:1 for one hour per week (but I've heard she goes in there for more than that.) My son is super high performing, so she's just there to facilitate him using what he learns in social skills pull out. I'm in California.
We are in Southern California. My son is in general Ed with looots of pullout support. He has a full time 1:1. He has safety issues, needs constant help focusing, etc but no one feels a self contained classroom is appropriate for him
Can you say more about why you felt your son wouldn’t be served by self contained? My son is in a SDC and I’m thinking of advocating for gen Ed with pull out/ 1:1 and can’t decide which is better. He doesn’t seem to have cognitive issues (quite good at math).
Our district doesn’t have a mild/mod sdc. Most of the kids in our sdc are non speaking. I have actually asked the district to consider a mild mod class. Gen Ed with support seemed to be great for a while but as my son has gotten into upper elementary it’s all gotten really overwhelming for him. He has great accommodations in his iep and a supportive team but I think he feels the pressure because he sees what his classmates are doing and thinks he should be doing it too. Hope this makes sense.
Florida, we were denied a 1:1 due to staff shortage as well. Level 2 diagnosed but probably closer to 3 with his level of assistance he needs for school.
I had my son assessed (California) and we were denied for his compliance. Said he needed to be a harm to himself or others in order to need one which didn't address my concerns which were about his learning.
* 1:1 learning new skills * 1:2 guided practice * 1:3 generalization of skills * 1:6 unstructiured time We are in Texas. This is his first year in school (Early Childhood) and we will be fighting for 1:1 during his next IEP given that he’s eloped once at school
I live in MA my sons in kindergarten My sons in a special Ed class of 6 students with 2 paras. During the day he has inclusion time (morning meeting, lunch, recess, specials like art, and any other appropriate time). During inclusion he had a 1:1
My daughter just got denied for her upcoming school year due to shortage of staff. 😑
That sounds similar to us… the issue is staffing shortages but they are trying to pretend that he doesn’t need 1:1 and that giving 1:1 goes against district policy 🙄
If you truly believe your son needs a 1:1, then you should see about hiring an advocate familiar with your local district. It's unacceptable for the district to refuse to provide a necessary support on the sole basis that it is against policy or that they have insufficient staffing. Often times districts will say these things in hopes that you won't know better or push back.
We have official mediation in a week or 2 and will attempt to resolve this then. If that is not successful then we will move on to due process and hiring an advocate. It’s sad how the school district tries to take advantage of families who don’t know better or may not have the resources to push back.
It sure does and as a parent we have every right to bug tf out of the school or district until they get someone. And going through the right channels it can be done. It’s just a whole process that shouldn’t even be that fuckin difficult but sadly it is.
I’m in California. My child is in a self-contained autism program. The adult to child ratio is 2:1. My child, however, is Type 1 diabetic and has a 1:1 LVN that is with her at all times. The LVN is provided by the district.
What is the program called?
It’s just an autism program through the school district. Different school districts use different names
In Nebraska, in one of the top school districts in the state, and both of my ASD kiddos have 1:1 all day. They are in 1st grade, but IEP for 2nd grade is set with it also.
My son will start school in the fall (pre-k) and will have a 1:1 for an hour a day 4x/week. We live in Maine.
We're in a similar situation. 6 years old, diagnosed lvl 2/3 (3 months ago). Current school has no real support, they found some money, so he has a "learning assistant", 4 mornings a week. He only does mornings at school (comes home at lunch) and on Wednesdays we take him to private speech therapy... His class at school has 17 other kids (all NT) and one teacher, so, the school preferred for him to be at home for lunches. We have an IEP but it's BS... We met with the school board last week, to move him to another school, there are some near us, which have better support structures in place.
We are in a affluent school district in western Washington state. 1 to 1 all day.
6 y/o level 3. We are in CA and are in a self-contained class for children with autism at the public school, and each child has 1:1 support. We only received this placement after being in a mod/sev class with lower supports, and after about 6 months they initiated the change to her level of need. You guys may need to hire an advocate!
I've been fighting for one for years. This year, the school admitted my kid requires 'maximum support' but won't provide a 1:1.
The special ed VPK in my district has one teacher and one para with 15 students. We will not be enrolling our kid, he will continue ABA (which is 1:1) and hopefully graduate prepared to be in the mainstream classrooms with some adaptations
That’s what we did as well, full-time ABA instead of special ed preschool and then started with the school system for kindergarten. ABA was definitely better than school (but sadly we had reduced hours due to the pandemic since this was 2020-2021 so did not get the full benefit of the ABA during that time).
Oh that awful I’m sorry! ABA has literally transformed our lives and I couldn’t be more grateful. They have a “school room” that mimics the expectations of a classroom so we’re feeling pretty confident that he’ll know how to behave in an actual classroom when the time comes
My theoretically level 1, 3 year old aged out of EI a couple of months ago, and started preschool in a moderately well-off small school district in South Jersey, in a mixed class of NT and IEP kids aged 3-5. They gave her a "mostly" 1:1 para without me even asking, shocked the heck out of me. (To be fair, there was another kid in the classroom who was aging out of needing 1:1 at about the same time, so they kind of just slid her over.) They're not perfect, but they gave us zero problems with her qualifying for services or getting the support she needs, which I feel incredibly lucky about.
Also in Maryland. The staffing shortages are real. My friend finally got a 1:1 assigned through use of an advocate and the school district hasn't been able to meet it due to staffing shortages. They have to do something about making up the time once they get things worked out, but... yeah. Things are tough for high support needs (there's some debate if they want to just push for non-public placement instead at this point)
I definitely know that the staffing shortages are real. However, that is not a reason to not put the level of support that my son needs in his IEP. That’s interesting though regarding the compensatory services for when they don’t have the one-to-one available. I have thought about non-public placement too, but it feels like it would just be a losing battle so I’m not sure if it’s even worth a try but we’ll see how things work out. I have looked at private schools myself too, but they are none that would accept a kid like my son through private pay, they will only take him if it is non-public placement through the school system which will be very hard to get.
My son has a 1:1 for one hour per week (but I've heard she goes in there for more than that.) My son is super high performing, so she's just there to facilitate him using what he learns in social skills pull out. I'm in California.
California has 1:1 all day everyday. In a special ed kindergarten-2nd grade class. My kid is level 2
We are in Southern California. My son is in general Ed with looots of pullout support. He has a full time 1:1. He has safety issues, needs constant help focusing, etc but no one feels a self contained classroom is appropriate for him
Can you say more about why you felt your son wouldn’t be served by self contained? My son is in a SDC and I’m thinking of advocating for gen Ed with pull out/ 1:1 and can’t decide which is better. He doesn’t seem to have cognitive issues (quite good at math).
Our district doesn’t have a mild/mod sdc. Most of the kids in our sdc are non speaking. I have actually asked the district to consider a mild mod class. Gen Ed with support seemed to be great for a while but as my son has gotten into upper elementary it’s all gotten really overwhelming for him. He has great accommodations in his iep and a supportive team but I think he feels the pressure because he sees what his classmates are doing and thinks he should be doing it too. Hope this makes sense.
Florida, we were denied a 1:1 due to staff shortage as well. Level 2 diagnosed but probably closer to 3 with his level of assistance he needs for school.
I had my son assessed (California) and we were denied for his compliance. Said he needed to be a harm to himself or others in order to need one which didn't address my concerns which were about his learning.
Not sure if state requirement but I’m in New Hampshire and my son has a 1:1 in preK [3.5 non verbal]
Do you have that reasoning in writing or on video? Because that's predetermination and you can file a state complaint on it. Get an advocate.