I hope someone can help

[Emilysmom]

I hope someone can help me with this! For years.........in fact, since Emily was about 5 years old, she has had one hour per week of "aquatherapy" (swim lessons) on her IEP as part of her physical therapy. I know that many areas would not even offer PT to a 14 year old, let alone these swim lessons but our county has done it for many years. It has been SUCH a good thing for her, and she now swims as many as 13 laps in an olympic sized pool each Friday!!! Well..............I heard recently that next year "aquatherapy" would no longer be offered. This apparently has happened because the PT who is in charge of the swim program says the pool they are using is sometimes not the cleanest, sometimes they have a hard time finding a certified life guard, etc. Ok.......I agree with all of that, and I think our kids deserve to use a CLEAN pool that has a life guard. BUT, she has told the school board that aquatherapy is simply NOT needed because other activities can provide the "same benefits". I totally disagree with her on that one, and I want to fight this!!!

Little by little in our county, special ed services have been cut. (We used to have a 2 week summer camp, and it was cut to just a one week camp, and last year........NO camp at all. This summer, ESY has also been cut to two weeks too! Aide positions have been cut, etc). It seems like these areas constantly are hit when there are financial issues in the county. Do we still have a thriving athletic program? YES. Do we still have art and theater? YES. But the special ed programs just keep getting cut.

Anyway........I think it's totally WRONG to say that the kids can get the same amount of exercise without swimming. If that was the case, why has the PT recommended this program for so many kids for the past 15+ years??? I'm looking for some research that shows the benefits of swimming, so I can help all the kids in our area continue to receive this therapy. For Emily, it is a form of exercise that she totally ENJOYS.

Anyone know of any info that I can use to try to persuade our school board to NOT cut this program??? A lot of the moms have been talking about this, and we know of at least 3 other indoor pools in our area that could possibly be used.

I hope to have Emily's IEP meeting in about 3 weeks, and this is going to be pretty high on my agenda!
Thanks,
Susan

[Emilysmom]

I've been looking online for info on the benefits of swimming and remembered the stories about Karen Gaffney, so I went to her website and there are several places where it says "how can we help you".......so, I emailed them to see if anyone connected with her organization could offer any specific ideas on how to convince our school system that swimming is worthwhile and should be continued. We'll see!!!

[Mary_L.]

Sorry I dont have any suggestions for you but I just want to say how impressed I was with Emily's swimming at some of the get togethers~she is so comfortable in the water~she's like a fish! I hope you can get them to keep offering the swimming.

[Debbie]

Swimming is sooo good for you! It exercises all the muscles in your body. I wish I could swim. When we lived in Tucson Arizona I was swimming twice a day.

When I was in school I couldn't keep up in P.E. I had to drop it. We didn't have swimming just the regular sport activities. It is too bad Emily can't continue swimming. Sorry I am not very helpful. Maybe Karen Gaffney can help in some way.

[momofrussell]

Well.. first off.. I think this says it right here.. what you said.. and needs to be part of your discussion at the IEP meeting...

Anyway........I think it's totally WRONG to say that the kids can get the same amount of exercise without swimming. If that was the case, why has the PT recommended this program for so many kids for the past 15+ years??

I'd say and ask JUST what you said. And I'd request it in writting and have them put in writting WHY they have provided it and why it will not be provided... in detail. If they offer another service and say that Emily can "get what she needs this way"... ask them to explain that in writing.

As far as aides and ESY ect... you and I both know they can't use budget and the budget cuts for cutting a program from a child's IEP.. or making the program shorter. I would gather.. they'd try to say "your child doesn't need this anymore due to ability, ect" to try to get something off of an IEP... to get around the "budget cut" excuse... so that is why getting things in writing and on IEP's are so important.

I did learn something at last week's workshop on ESY too. Most if not all districts use the "regression" excuse for most if not all ESY denials.... and we learned that is NOT the only reason to deny a child. That there are actually tons of reason TO get ESY... NOT just that I will search and post the other reasons. Also... most districts will say... "our ESY program is 4 weeks long, 3 hours a day".... and we (our child/s) are to conform within that. WELL We learned that how long per day and weeks ESY should be is BASED ON THE IEP .... NOT... what program the district has! So... if your child needs 2 months of ESY for no regression... they need to supply that Yes.. would be a big fight... but I just learned that and thought that was a FACINATING tidbit!

Good luck Susan!!!!! Let me know if I can help you find out or write anything....

A.

[CC]

K, Susan I have been thinking of how you might get around this. Is swimming listed as a separate service in her IEP or is it listed as just one of the things they work with in PT ? Do you have goals say like, Em will master swimming doing the back stroke, 80 percent of the time or something like that, KWIM Does she get the swimming in place of the PT or is that her PT for the week? Sorry for all the ?'s girl, just trying to see how you might word this to them, depending on how they have it already listed in the IEP.

One thing I have found is its much harder for the schools to take away a service that is stated in ones IEP already. Chris gets an hour outside of school every week of extra speech and every year they try to get this service to go away. The proof of why he no longer needs it is on them and they can't just say we don't want to pay for it, KWIM. For Chris this is a service he needs and they darn well know it but let me tell you if they could find a way legally BAM they would.

If the swimming is not covered in your IEP specifically I will say you may run into a road block cause with any school they can make general cuts. Like our middle school cut out wood shop, some parents were pretty ticked off but the schools can do that. A few years back our High School was going to cut the Latin program as there were just a few kids that were taking it BUT all the kids taking Latin and their parents banned together and went to the Board meeting and presented their case. From that what came to be is they decided to keep the program but just for the ones already taking it but no longer would it be offered for anyone new to take on. Kind of their way of weaning the program out. So I am thinking the wording in Em's IEP could be the best answer here for you girl.

You said
"the PT who is in charge of the swim program says the pool they are using is sometimes not the cleanest, sometimes they have a hard time finding a certified life guard, etc."
Hmm well they better come up with a better reason to cut the program all together other then what your PT stated. Geez come on has this PT person ever visited say a Big city school, OMG their are some that are in such poor shape Hmm wonder if her theory would be lets just not have school then, LOL K, that is a bit over but you get what I mean

I would question how today Em needs swimming and tomorrow she doesn't KWIM. Do they feel she has met all her goals with that??

Hope I am making sense girl BUT depending on how you have this already worded in your IEP could make a big difference or at least easier for you to keep this service. If you don't mind sharing a little how its worded in your IEP, maybe the answer to keeping this for Em is right there. Just a thought..

If its more of an extra group service and not really given as an individual need then I might suggest you parents as a group do the leg work for the school and come to the table with a place that is clean has a life guard and has a spot during the week the kids could go there. I am thinking if they are her real only reasons to stop the program and you all come to the table with the solutions, not much more she could say

BEST of Luck girl

CC ~

[cindylou]

I have to agree with CC Susan--if there are actually PE goals regarding swimming in her IEP then they can't discontinue it--and you always have the option of calling an IEP meeting to tweek goals--maybe act a bit niave about the possibility of the swim program shutting down. Come to the meeting and bring some seriously well written goals about swimming? --goals that can only be met with the swimming program? Is that the only area in her week at school that she has to change clothes and shower appropriately? That could be a goal that you would add--appropriate behavior in a public setting for self-care after swim? You could even 'pretend' you're concerned about her doing things on her own..does that make sense--kinda tired and rambling. I've always been jealous that Emily gets this!! I hope she doesn't loose it!!!

[momofrussell]

Susan and I talked last night about this. I asked her that same thing.... is this on the IEP.. she said it's a related service... I said there HAS to be IEP goals that they use the swimming therapy for (technically) for it to be on there... and to find some goals pertaining to the therapy and go that route.

Like... Russell has Music Therapy but when he has MT... they have to work on IEP goals within that 1:1 time

A.

[Emilysmom]

I went to a meeting with the special ed director of our county today. She was extremely nice, but also very cut and dried about the fact that there will be NO swimming next year "as a therapy". Apparently, the REAL reason for this is that the physical therapist who is contracted by the school system has told them she does not WANT to do the swim therapy any longer. She said she will give them plenty of other activities that are just as good for the kids, and the school feels like they have to go along with her. GRRRRRR. The director told me that the kids would still be allowed to have "recreational swim" classes every other Friday and there would be a life guard and college students in the water with the kids. It just can not count as "therapy" because there will be no therapists in the water like there has been for years. We discussed this on and on.................I feel that swimming is such good aerobic exercise for Emily (better than she gets during PE, and less damaging to her joints), and it strengthens her shoulders (something her OT works on all the time). She totally agreed with me and said that she swims 3 X per week herself, so she didn't need to be sold on the merits of swimming at all. She said she is encouraging each parent who has issues with this to request that the PT be present for their child's IEP meeting. She didn't come out and say this, but I wondered if she is thinking that if enough parents request for the PT to be at their IEP meeting and they verbalize their feelings.......maybe the PT will change her mind??? Who knows? One good thing is that Emily has always been allowed to go to her swim class at 7:45 (other kids go with their classes during the middle of the day) and she gets a full hour in the pool. The director said, as long as we were still willing to transport her to the pool, this would still be an option for Em. So, really.......not much will change for HER. I plan to request that the PT come to her IEP meeting so I can share my opinions with her and see if it might help any of the other kids.

We have never had to prove that this therapy serves a purpose educationally. "Aquatherapy" has always been on her IEP as a part of physical therapy. She receives 1.5 hrs of PT each week..............30 minutes at school in the therapy gym, and the hour long swimming.

Thanks to everyone for your responses!!!

[SuziF]

Why won't the PT be replaced ? That's like you going into work, Susan & saying "I'll no longer administed patient's meds" ~ you'd be replaced because it's part of your job.Here, our district doesn't have a pool~ the SO kids are bussed to a YMCA. Transportation should fall on their shoulders as well. If they want her there at 7:45 they should send transport for her.

[momofrussell]

Not to jump in and take over Susan's post heehee... but I just went to second workshop this past Monday... this week was about resolution. We talked about stuff like this. From what we learned... they can't just take it out of your IEP mid year... just stop it for no reason.. but they CAN tell you it won't be avail next year and give their reasons why. Their reasons would have to be along the lines of education reasons. Visa Versa.. they can't omit a service if it IS for educational purposes. Right or wrong? who knows.. that is where Due Process comes in to place if you disagree

So.... Susan stated she had PT... and part of the minutes was swimming. From what I gather from Susan.. they aren't omitting PT completely.. they are omitting the swimming as part of the PT. I would gather that the other minutes of PT would still be on her IEP and if the IEP team decides that the minutes she still has aren't enough, they can add more PT minutes and a different "related service" for Emily.

Susan said Emily will STILL have swimming... so there is not threat of Emily not having it.. it will be avail to them... it just won't be on the IEP as a related service anymore. (I hope I got that right Susan LOL)

From what Susan is saying... and from what we talked about in our workshop... in which I did bring this situation up "in theory" because I was curious... this is legal.. CRAPPY as heck.. but they CAN try to omit a service if they feel it isn't necessary anymore... at the end of the year/IEP.

Then what happens... is that if you can't agree on some other service.. or they say "your child doens't need PT anymore" and you say "my child needs X amount of PT" and you can't agree.. and you try lowest level of resolution and it doesn't work.. that is where due process comes in

A.

[CC]

Hmm Susan, am I getting this right?? Are you saying all the kids, including Em will get recreation swim one time a week, instead of therapy swim for next year? Is that the only difference here therapy vs recreational swim?

CC

[Emilysmom]

They did exactly as Adrienne said...........they did not cut this program halfway through the year, as all the kids had the swimming program on their IEP's under physical therapy. What they did do was to let us all know that this would no longer be available next year. All of us thought there would be no swimming at all, BUT...........instead, it is being changed to a recreational swim time rather than part of PT with physical therapists in the water with the kids. I do not know how this will work for the other kids who do not actually "swim". For Emily, I am going to make sure that she continues to get an aerobic workout in the pool by swimming laps as she has for years. For her, it has never been simply a fun hour in the pool. It has been a time for her to exercise, and I will fight for that to continue if it comes to that. (If they change their mind and stop the swimming altogether).

Emily has always gotten 1.5 hrs of PT per week at school. Thirty minutes of this time is spent with a PT doing various things like jumping on a mini tramp, riding a stationary bike, jumping rope, running up and down the stairs, etc. The other hour is the weekly swim program. She has been fortunate enough to be allowed to swim every single week, instead of every other week like most of the kids have been doing this past year or so.

Adrienne~ We have never had a question about Emily receiving PT services over the years. And, they have never mentioned or written anything about how it helps her "educationally". She needs it because she has gross motor delays, period. And, they have always been good to work on what I think is most important for her. Same with OT. Of course, they work on things like cursive handwriting, but most times her OT does stuff to improve her fine motor skills in order to help her do simple tasks like buttoning her jeans, etc. Maybe you are correct in saying that each goal has to be educationally based, but that has never been mentioned and her goals have never been worked around any educational purpose.

Now, it's time to prepare for the IEP meeting................no one has mentioned a date yet, but it has to be around the corner. I have to sit still long enough to think about what we should focus on for next year.

Susan

[momofrussell]

I hear what you are saying about PT Susan.. I wasn't trying to argue.. sorry if I sounded like I was. Russell has PT, OT, ST, Music Therapy, APE, a PT consult and Vision consult.. all listed on the "related services" page and the minutes, just like what you are saying with Emily. The reason I was talking about educational "goals" with that.. is because like I want Russell to continue to learn to ride a bike and scooter.. the PT WILL work on that with Russell.. but it can NOT be written in the IEP because it has nothing to do with education and/or safety type of stuff. His goals are like to be able to walk up and down stairs independently to independently function in a school setting.

So.. he qualifies for all this stuff.. and they work on all sorts of stuff.. but the IEP goals can only apply to educational stuff Like I know the MT was working on stuff NOT on the IEP the other day and I think the teacher actually questioned me with that LOL.

I think I told you this.. but oddly... depth perception and issues that arise with that.. are NOT vision acuity issues and therefore "technically" do not qualify for vision therapy. We DO get a VT consult but we can't get more VT minutes based on his depth perception issues. I may have to question that a bit more...

A.