Seriously!?! IEP Let Down

I went to an IEP today.
 It was for a wonderful, sweet, hard-working 8th grade girl I have in my 5th period science class.

 She comes in as the meeting has already started. One of the testing facilitators tells her that she scored average on her IQ test and this is a good thing but she scored low on everything else. The next 30 minutes is a list of all her deficits (and there are many).

 Her older sister was there in place of her mom. The sister mentions how in first grade it was mentioned that "Kassie" was having trouble and mixing up letters. She was held back that year, as the teacher thought she was just lazy.

 It was noted that there was a possibility for dyslexia in her IEP file during our meeting. As the meeting was drawing towards it's conclusion I realized, with shock, that NO ONE was going to offer suggestions for how to help her with possible dyslexia. There is no assessment for it according to the IEP facilitator, therefore there were no assessment deficits to rattle off and discuss.

 I was so upset and disgusted that our educational system had let this young lady go from 1st through 8th grade without acknowledgment or offering of help for the family to figure out what was going on. The older sister confirms that she's been trying to get help for years.

 It turns out the counselor did have a sheet of colored overlays that she was able to try out. I was able to look up and give some possible options for discovering what works best for her.

 Another colleague had brought to my attention that IEP's have become so disassociated to the actual human students. It has become a reading of data and discussion about how to "improve" those data scores.

 These are our children, our future. I am thankful I was there today to stand up for one of my beloved students. She deserves to really be looked at and listened to. Come On education! Seriously!

Till Next Time,
Another Day In Paradise,

 ~Mr. McKinney