Feeding Therapy on IEP

[Monique]

Does anyone have "feeding therapy" on IEP in addition to "speech therapy". My son is receiving help with feeding through his speech therapist now in preschool.

When he goes to Kindergarten next year the program he is going to does not provide feeding therapy. We have a CSE meeting on monday and I just found this out. They said since it doesnt affect him "academically" he may not get it.

Jameson can't or won't chew food, only eats pureed, hates texture but has been making great strides lately. He is 5.

The new school says they will not do any type of feeding therapy they only do "feeding for nutrition". How ridiculous is that?!

I hate this District! Any thoughts?

Monique

[mommygwen]

I did two IEPs this morning (13 year old with Ds and 11 year old with cerebral palsy). I had a bit of wine this evening . Those IEPs are exhausting.

I have not had luck getting feeding therapy at school. There must be an academic reason. I argued that nutrition is needed for learning. My good news is; wonderful therapists have provided the therapy "off the books".
And he has been fed as he needs to be as described in a letter from the gastroenterologist. I tell the Dr. his feeding routine, she writes it and the school has to do it. Use the safety argument and medical necessity for this.
Gwen

[momofrussell]

wellllll... in our new class... they (teacher's and therapists) work on proper holding of forks, spoons, drinking from a cup, ect.. with ALL The kids..it is NOT on Russell's IEP.. it's part of the daily life skills..like brushing teeth. I have experienced some classes the DO this.. and some that don't. Since our class has kids with intensive needs, G-tubes, ect... feeding IS part of the day. But.. again, it's not on Russell's IEP.. but they did comment after he started, how they watch how he held a fork, spoon, cup, ect...

I don't know if the other kids in Russell's class has and IEP that requires feeding stuff. I Would think any good OT would work on eating and feeding above and beyond the IEP. The IEP is ONLY part of the day.

I will have to see if I can find any info for you... any precedent cases. Technically and IEP goal MUST be educationally based.. and then beyond that you have to get creative. And then beyond the IEP have a classroom that works on things that aren't on the IEP.

And maybe express to the OT and ST to work ALOT ALOT on oral motor skills.. and mouth exercises, ect... there is alot of cross over goals that could be for working on mouth forming for words and tongue control, eating, chewing, ect... I would think...

I hope this helps? Hang in there girl.. and I will see if I find anything....

A.

[laurasnowbird]

You know what, Monique? This aggravates me!

Ethan gets feeding therapy, and it is on his IEP. Quite frankly, it is in the school's best interest to address this issue. Point out to them that it is a safety issue. Play it up. I told Ethan's school (in writing) that he has extreme difficulty with food that must be chewed, that he has a tendency to swallow things without chewing, and that behavior puts him at extreme risk for choking. I pointed out that the typical "inclusive" day includes lunch in the lunch room, and asked if they were prepared to have someone supervise his eating (forever!) , as they would be liable if he choked while in school. I explained that we, his parents, and other family members who fed him had the necessary first aid training to intervene if he choked. Trust me, they got really nervous when we started talking about liability. His insurance company has come through in the same way. Everyone has gotten very cautious after we documented our concerns relative to his feeding deficits in writing.

[Connie]

Monique,

I just received this from another group I'm in. I don't know if it will have any bearing on your case or not but I don't think it could hurt to try and bring it up.

FEEDING THERAPY UNDER IFSP IS STUDENT'S STAY-PUT DURING IEP DISPUTE
A California impartial hearing officer determined that a district was obligated to continue feeding therapy for a 3-year-old with
respiratory distress and vocal cord paralysis as the child's stay-put. Los Angeles Unified Sch. Dist., 40 IDELR 273 (SEA CA 2003). The IHO concluded that because food consumption plays a part in a preschooler's school day, and may be incorporated in the curriculum, feeding therapy must be reinstituted.

Connie

[Jackie]

I quizzed a woman who is an expert on IEP issues here in Texas and this is what she responded...it might help. Jackie



There is no cut and dried answer. I know that there are many issues over
feeding. What I have seen happen is that the School Nurse will not do
anything that she says may cause choking. They will ask for a swallow test
for those kids who are tube fed and need to be weened to eat. There are too
many issues here that need to be explored. Is the issue "I want my child to
eat like others so that he will not stand out", which is social in nature,
but still very appropriate. A Court of Appeals in the east held, several
months ago, that a child who has Aspergers Syndrome and did not have any
need for academic support DID need to have social issues addressed because
it would affect whether he would be able to work..Some times it is issues of
texture and very difficult to address (children with autism for example)
The parent needs to get into the IEP minutes what they want

[Monique]

Okay. We had the meeting. It was 3 hours long and we didnt even get the goals done (we are getting the therapists and teachers to write up goals and submit and then we will finalize the IEP.....don't ask , they do it ass backwards here).

Anyways, the meeting was for placement in summer and fall and what services. So we agreed to send him to the BOCES school that the District wanted him to go to (its okay, the best alternative so far besides in district of course but we'll try it) .

So ..... guess what?! right now Jameson has 4 ST a week but his teachers in class help him every day at snack time and lunch with feeding. They carry over what the ST does.

I said since the new school placement can't guarantee that the class teachers will continue to do this I wanted Speech/Language to be seperate from feeding. So long story short JAMESON STILL GETS 4 SPEECH A WEEK AND 3 Feeding therapies a week at the scheduled snack or Lunch time. WOOO HOOO. Plus they added one more OT (from 2 to 3x) and one more PT (from 2 to 3x).

The double edge sword is that at first she was fighting me on it then she looked at the "magical" scores Jameson got on his evals (which he is -3 on the scale if that means anything to anyone) and she said "OHHH... with that score he does need it". So thats good I guess but may be an issue some other time as they may use that as a reason to keep from progressing to a less restrictive setting (ie public school) but I'll worry about that next year. Cuz he looks worse on paper than in real life but hey... he got extra services.

Now of course I do not want him in therapy all day so any extra therapies they granted us have to be in the classroom setting (called a "push in" here). He will be in a 6:1:1 class (meaning six students, one spec ed teacher, and an aide) plus we still got to keep his one on one but I think we will try and drop that later if he is doing okay which i think he will.

So the other thing is.. this Special Ed Director has only been doing this 3 years and has never even seen the school he is going to be placed per "their recommendation". Her assistant Director has but not her. Shame on her. So she doesnt even know that they told us that they dont do "feeding" therapy (which they refused to call it, they insisted it must be called Oral/motor but he has oral motor goals so i requested specific FEEDING goals). So hopefully, they will follow through with a therapist who is trained in this.

So we still arnt there 100% cuz we don't have the official IEP yet. They have two weeks to get the goals together and submit them to me so I can review them and then we can finalize and she said if we wanted to do another meeting we can have the therapist and teacher there.

So she was a little nicer this time and she apologized for getting off on the wrong foot last year which was surprising but appreciated. But I still dont completely trust it all.

BUT THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!! AND ADVICE AND KNOWLEDGE! I had it all with me and ready to pull out and I used the sample feeding goals that I think Ade posted the website for.

I am completely exhausted and feel like we all comprimised (im not totally into the school he is being placed at) but maybe I'll be surprised. I was today!

So all you Long Islanders.......don't take no for an answer.. it is possible. We set precedent with him going to pre-school past age 5 and now we set precedent with feeding therapy in their program!

There is POWER on this site! Since I moved here i have not found a support group and we were very involved with the Down Syndrome Assoc in Orlando. So you are all I've got!

Thank you God and Unomas!

Monique

[momofrussell]

AWESOME MONIQUE!!! You know... We all need to get what we want for our kids, and you have prove AWESOME in that! And an important key thing WAS the compromise... compromising now can actually help down the road for something else! It all works out!

You know, this past IEP we had for Russell we did kinda like you described. Since we were changing his placement and we (Kevin, teachers and I) wanted to do a whole new IEP and goals, we did more of a "roundtable" discussion IEP meeting. We talked in great lengths about Russell, his strenghts, weaknesses, ect.. submitting our written notes, and wrote up goals and the IEP and they presented it to me later. I actually LOVED it this way!!! I don't know if that is exactly what you are talking about... but that is how it was done this last time for us.

HUGS MY DEAR!!!!! AND YAHOOOO!!!!

A.