Interestingly too Donna, here in the UK, many parents are not even aware f
IEPs and do not know that they have ever bee written. So what the child
needs is decided without any home input at all.
Recently one parent who asked directly to se her sons IEP was told 'you
really don't need to worry about them Mrs. X, there's nothing to them'!
Gill.
Gill Dixon BHSc Hons, RGN
Independent Dyspraxia Advisor/Trainer.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask]
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of donam
> Sent: 31 July 1999 15:16
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: RE: IEP's
>
>
> Hi,
>
> What both Gill and Johnson say about IEPs resonates with my
> experience; but there was also an attitude that got to me, and which
> might very well be termed 'the individualization of disability.'
>
> The Scene: teachers, principal, PT, OT, and social worker, lined up
> on one side of a long conference table; facing highly intimidated
> single parent across the table, slowly slinking into a catatonic
> slump, with each 'expert's' accusation that her child is deficient, a
> 'classic' example of some 4-syllable Latinate disease, a 'textbook
> case' of desperate need of 'fix.'
>
> Yeah, these shooting squads did individualize us (my son, who was not
> invited, and myself, as parent who had failed) as having disabilities
> that needed cure. Sure, the 'experts' were 'only thinking of what is
> best for the child,' and were genuinely caring and kind as they set
> out 'goals' to be achieved in the next six months. But there was no
> getting 'round the fact that Lynn's disabilities were presented as
> *his individual deficiencies*, and that it was *his responsibility*
> (and mine and the teachers/therapists) to fix *his problem*.
>
> As much as the Dis. Movement might argue against generalizations, and
> demand that disabled persons be seen as unique individuals, here is
> an instance where I would have preferred less personal (or at least
> less damning) treatment.
>
> In some ways, it was a good thing that Lynn was not included in these
> IEP sessions. No one needs to listen to a litany of their 'problems'
> presented in such a lopsided scene of power relations.
>
>
> Dona M. Avery
> Arizona State University
> Tempe, AZ 85287-0302
> www.public.asu.edu/~donam
>
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