{"id":66,"date":"2018-12-27T10:30:44","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T14:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=66"},"modified":"2018-12-27T11:16:05","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T15:16:05","slug":"why-no-may-not-mean-no-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/why-no-may-not-mean-no-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Why &#8220;No&#8221; May Not Really Mean &#8220;No&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Why%20%22No%22%20May%20Not%20Really%20Mean%20%22No%22\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>As a parent, have you asked the school to help your child only to have the school dismiss or deny your request? What did you do?<\/p>\n<p>Most parents seem to believe that &#8220;no&#8221; means &#8220;no&#8221; forever. They give up. Other parents view a &#8220;no&#8221; from the school in the same light as the denial of a health insurance claim. <strong>They don&#8217;t give up. They persevere.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Faced with an arbitrary &#8220;no&#8221; about an important issue, these parents write a polite letter that describes their request, the school&#8217;s response, their disagreement with the school&#8217;s decision &nbsp;&#8211; &nbsp;and that they cannot accept this denial &#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>I appreciate your efforts to help my child but these problems are too important to ignore. &nbsp;We need to have another meeting to resolve these issues. Please send some available dates for the next meeting.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22911\" style=\"border: 1px solid #000000;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sign.document.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"502\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sign.document.jpg 851w, https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sign.document-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sign.document-768x509.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 502px) 100vw, 502px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If the parent presents more information (evidence) that supports their request at the next meeting,&nbsp;they will often get the services they seek.<\/p>\n<p>We received this email from a parent who described what she did when the school said &#8220;no&#8221; and the outcome:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Last year I requested in writing that my son be assessed for eligibility for special ed services. The Admissions and Release Committee (ARC) decided <strong>not<\/strong> to refer my son. They said he could not be eligible for special ed because his grades did not fall below 80%.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>This year my son was diagnosed with Aspergers\/OCD\/ADHD\/Temper issues.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>After this diagnosis, I requested another meeting. This time, I brought representative samples of his school work over the past several months and the psychiatrist&#8217;s diagnosis. This time, the team referred him for a special education evaluation, even though his grades are not below 80%. <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Why did the school react differently this time? &nbsp;Their decisions seem so arbitrary and unpredictable.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What led to the different outcome?&nbsp;We don&#8217;t know for sure.<\/p>\n<p>At the second meeting, the parent presented additional information and evidence of need &#8211; this may have persuaded the team. Before that meeting, the parent <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">wrote a letter<\/span> describing the child&#8217;s problems and what happened at the earlier meeting.<\/p>\n<p>This letter may have caused some team members to have doubts about their earlier decision. They may be relieved that the parent keep the issue alive.<\/p>\n<p>And she explained that because the issue was important, she could not take &nbsp;&#8220;no&#8221; for an answer &#8212; so <strong>the team knew she would persevere.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The next challenge is to ensure that the educational program provided by the school is designed to meet the child&#8217;s unique needs and that the child receives &#8220;<span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">educational benefit.<\/span>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Before you can answer that question, you need to answer questions like these:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are your child&#8217;s unique needs that affect his ability to learn?<\/li>\n<li>In what areas is he behind?<\/li>\n<li>Specifically, what type of help does he need?<\/li>\n<li>Will the school provide that help?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Many parents don&#8217;t realize that school staff may not be &nbsp;savvy about the needs of children with complex neurologically based problems like Asperger&#8217;s Syndrome or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Educators often think negative behavior is under the child&#8217;s control (&#8220;he&#8217;s just spoiled.&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p>As a parent, you may need to (tactfully) educate the educators about your child&#8217;s disability and unique needs. <em>Don&#8217;t be surprised if you encounter resistance<\/em>. Some teachers view themselves as the experts on all children.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTE: <\/strong>The special ed law and regulations <strong>do not mention grades as a criteria<\/strong> for referring a child for a special education evaluation or finding a child eligible for special education services. Think about it. If schools made these decisions based on a child&#8217;s grades, they could avoid providing services simply by giving everyone passing grades!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>You may also like&#8230;.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fetaweb.com\/02\/10_reasons.no.htm\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\">10 Reasons Why Schools Say No<\/span><\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fetaweb.com\/02\/gatekeepers.htm\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\">Gatekeepers: Their Job is to Say &#8220;No!&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fetaweb.com\/101.htm\">Advocacy 101<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/nltr\/16\/nl.1206.htm\">FAPE: Measuring Educational Benefit<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/is-child-with-passing-grades-eligible-for-special-ed-under-idea\/\">Is a Child with Passing Grades Eligible for Special Ed under IDEA?<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><em>Re-edited from a post originally published 07\/23\/2008<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a parent, have you asked the school to help your child only to have the school dismiss or deny your request? What did you do? Most parents seem to <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/why-no-may-not-mean-no-forever\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35,5,18,150],"tags":[156,1301,155,1299,1321,121],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy","category-eligibility","category-idea-2004","category-ieps","category-letters","tag-denial-of-request","tag-eligibility","tag-gatekeeper","tag-ieps","tag-letters","tag-unique-needs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23711,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions\/23711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}