We struggled with this. Basically where we came out was that the school could not comply and the reason is that they were unwilling. Unwillingness it turns out is the same as unable. Youu can't ultimately force people to be enlightened or compassionate; if that's the situation youu find yourself in you should explore other options for educating your kid. We found that even with a high functioning youngster there was limited upside to public schooling as it meant a struggle for our son to maintain his self esteem. We made a mistake keeping him in a school that wasn't all that interested in helping him - and if I had it to do again I'd have insteadd spent all the energy that I expected fighting with the school finding a better place for hiim instead.

The IEP is a legal contract that has to be followed, no mater if it was done by another school or not. If the director of special ed in the district is not willing to help you need to go over their head. Have you tried to threaten them with a lawyer? sometimes the threat is all that it takes. We had something like that happen where my sons IEP said he was to have his own aid in the class, and they decided to just keep one for the entire class of eight and not have two because no one else had and IEP for one. When we found out we complained and they said it was not in the budget and they had to cut the other aid and the other children would suffer. We told them we did not care about the other kids, that is their parents job, but they still refused. We went to the director of special ed and she did not want to help because she said the school would loose ratings points, so we told them we would have a lawyer contact them, and within two days the aid was back.

The first place to draw the line is in conflict resolution since most counties have a dedicated department to lower the burden on the court system and resolve certain disputes. It also marshals arguments on both sides before going into court. If the child has medicaid he should have a medicaid services coordinator whom is also the child's advocate. It is also possible the child can have pro bono representation in the event of an action since path of least resistance is a federal mandate.

This is against the law. Contact your local ARC to get a liason!!

Having a legal contract is not the issue. And nobody is disputing the legality of the IEP. What I'm saying is that once you've reached a point in the relationship between you and your school where you have to apply the blunt instrument of ENFORCEMENT you've already lost the battle. My point is that you cannot enforce the underlying compassion and understanding that creates the spirit of the IEP contract regarldess of the letter of the contract. If you're satisfied with rote compliance with a list of tasks that the school must perform, fine; I just find that this is a hollow approach.