Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

We got the letter that our CPSE meeting is scheduled Tues am. I am a bit stressed as we have not gotten any evaluations yet (my dc had 4 scheduled; one they canceled when I got there; so I should be getting 3 reports). I have made many calls and will pick up reports as soon as they are completed.

But that is a tangent. Who should be there? Obviously dh and I will be there and our EI coordinator ( who I have seen twice in 13 months, so not sure how well she knows what is going on), Little Village did our evals, do they will send someone, school person and parent rep. My brother offered to come and take notes and my mom made same offer. Both work and do not live in this state, but it was true offer which I haven't discounted.

Should our therapists be there or is coordinator enough?

I think someone should be there to take notes since it would be hard for dh and I do so and I heard taping is not a good idea as it puts others on defensive.

Any suggestions?

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

The parent rep - Is that the parent advocate from SEPTA. They were great. I asked my therapist and she was uncomfortable going, "didnt think theyd need her" which we didnt. If you dont get what you think dc needs just table it. Remember you dont need to make any decisions in that meeting.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

We did not move from EI to CPSE directly, there was time in between services before I contacted the SD for evaluations. Our inital CPSE meeting was me, my husband, the head teacher in DSs daycare (who had noted many of the problem behaviors), and a representative from Kidz Therapy, who did the evaluations. We had a follow-up meeting at the end of the school year (we only started services in May), and that was huge--his teacher again, myself, my husband, his speech therapist, his SEIT, his OT called in, plus a friend of mine who also happens to be a Parent Rep and someone from Nassau County.

I don't know, but I would think a therapist who has worked with him awhile would usually be there, or at least someone from the agency? If there is an area of special concern, I would like that therapist to be there actually to give examples and describe the problems he/she sees from a professional viewpoint. Is there another therapist you would like to be there? Additionally, if DC is in a daycare or PreK, I would definitely ask a teacher to be there if they are on board with you. I really think DSs teacher helped us SO much.

As for the reports, can the evaluator e-mail them to you since the meeting is coming up fast? I had to sign a waiver, but our evaluators wound up e-mailing us ours, since there was little time between the meeting and the evaluations.

Good luck! The best advice I can offer is to go in knowing what you want for DC and if it isn't offered ask for it. Another poster suggested typing points up, which I found so helpful--reading handwritten notes in the middle of these meetings isn't the best.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

The typed list is a great idea. My biggest concern is that schools will be full. My EI coordinator is supposed to be there as a stand in for my child's 3 therapists. Hopefully she is on top of it all. If not I am done with her soon as we wage out so I will just correct her and make sure all have a clear picture. My dc wanted out of the room the entire psych eval. I never saw her so agitated, so safe to guess those scores will be low. Just hoping we get a good fit.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

Where did you get your psychological evaluation? We went through Stony Brook and had the school district pay for it. The Dr. (sprafkin) is our behavioral psychologist now. They were SO thorough. See if they can fax them asap. My school didnt get them in time and we ended up having another meeting.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

Bring your child! They need to see your child. Bring any therapists that you think might help you in your claims.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

The agency should have the evals done before the meetings... I didn't get ours until 2 days before.

you can bring anyone to be an advocate for you.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

Definately make sure you see the evaluations before the meeting. If you don't get them in time I would postpone.

I would also try to get one of the therapists that is working with your son to go. They will be the most informed in answering any questions and recommending placement. Just the EI coordinator (in my opinion) is a waste of time unless they know your son. They will just read over the evals during the meeting and based on the evals give a placement opinion. But evals don't always show the true picture of what is needed so someone with first hand experience should be there. I actually got into an arguement with our EI coordinator because they were claiming things that werent true about my DD since she never met her. The CPSE chair basically ending up telling her to be quiet and directed everything to me instead.

Whoever goes to your meeting though, definately speak to them beforehand to be on the same page about what you are requesting. A united front is always best : ). and always ask for more than what you think you need, easier to bargin that way if need be.

That being said, I never had any issue getting what I asked for and for the most part pretty stress free. Good luck!!

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

We just had ours two weeks ago and the therapist who has worked with him the most came, our service coordinator was there and also the Suffolk County rep. Our district asked our therapist a lot of questions about his progress since starting. It was very helpful having her there and the district thanked her twice for coming.

Good luck!

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

Call LV and get a copy of the evals. If your child can't make it bring a photo. We opted out for a parent rep. We brought his team leader and on a conference call we had his teachers and all of his therapists.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

Just wanted to add, I think a previous suggestion to talk to anyone going and make sure you are all on the same page is a good one. People may have suggestions for things to ask for that you would never even have considered. I had no idea integrated classrooms existed until my SEIT told me about them.

As for bringing your child, that's up to you. If you think bringing DC would further your cause, then I would, but in our case, I actually thought having DS there might detract since he does very well with adults generally. A photo is fine though, either way.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

I definitely would not go to the meeting before getting the evaluations. Why wasn't the 4th one re-scheduled? I poured over the evals before the meeting to be sure I knew what I wanted to ask for. If you don't have enough time to do that, reschedule the meeting, even if it just gives you another week to get everything.

I taped my second meeting, and I will tell you it went VERY differently from the first one. I am not sure I would recommend it for your first meeting with CPSE, but if you don't get what you ask for and table the meeting, it's a good thing to think about down the road.

It probably would help to have someone there to take notes, since you get distracted. If you have someone offering to do it, I would take them up on it.

We had a wonderful EI coordinator, but she really only knew my DS through evals and reports. If one or more of your therapists can be there, even if via phone, I would ask them to attend. Usually, they want to help and if they can make it, they will.

We dealt with Little Village - they sent the social worker, who gives an overview of all the evaluations done. I found it helpful to have DS's teacher and therapists involved because they give a better picture of what he is doing and what he is struggling with, because they are the ones who actually work with him. They can't recommend specific services, like speech 3 times a week, but they can give specific examples of how he is deficient. It definitely helps having them there if they are going to advocate for your DC.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

Thanks to all for your thoughtful responses. We're taking our daughter, her special Ed therapist is coming as well and the speech therapist will be available by phone. I signed the form last week that said I wanted a parent rep. I don't know if my coordinator is coming after all and it doesn't matter now that I have a therapist there.

I finally got my evaluations from LV Friday when I drove over and picked them up. I like LV but there are errors in the report, I.e., wrong school district and facts wrong which are sometimes unimportant,I.e., every report says my child can throw a ball which she can't, to more serious, I.e., "does not consistently use 2 word sentences" when she never has. She doesn't say full one syllable words. They said articulation was progressing without delay and so I called to say how can you judge that when a child does not speak? When I say my child doesn't speak I mean what I say. She's never said "mommy", "hi", "dog" or the 100s of words you would expect of a child almost 3. They had to shut down testing twice and remove things from the room ( an ABC poster and an object with a barcode) because she couldn't focus on anything else, but no mention of any of that and they found her (somehow and I was at her evals so I know what happened) <-2 differential so I called LV and they said best to bring child and at least one therapist to prove speech needed. I was told program unlikely due to evals, but to fight for speech. Going in without anyone to take notes since I really didn't want to ask anyone in my family to take off of work and travel from out of state.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

For pediatric neurologist, EI strongly recommended we go via our insurance. It is a woman in Mineola. Her name is escaping me. The appt is in 2 weeks. Also thinking of seeing Dr. Agin in November as those who spend time with my daughter think Apraxia.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

I completely feel for you because it sounds like your dd's language is a lot like mine. I was really all set to see Dr. Agin as well.

RMA9728 took her son to Dr. Shulman (I believe in Stony Brook). She is a neurologist that understands "apraxia" as well as sensory processing/auditory processing etc. RMA was really happy with her, you should FM her.

I believe it was Donna Lederman who recommended that neurologist.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

I talked to LV social worker who they are sending to the meeting for about 45-50 minutes re my concerns and I have to say, I thought she was really listening.

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

Re: Who should I bring to CPSE meeting?

Well we had our meeting today and it went well. My EI coordinator showed up with copies of the most recent reports from special Ed and speech (my OT therapist is the weak link so she didn't bother with her reports). My daughter's special Ed therapist changed her whole schedule and was there over an hour and was such a wonderful resource and advocate. Her speech therapist participated over the phone and the team really came together and I am so grateful. We brought our daughter and she was in the room the whole time (we had our nanny in the hall in case we wanted to take her out). I think seeing her made a BIG difference.

They recommended FT program for Fall- 10:1:2 with 3xs/week speech and 2xs/week OT (all individual therapy). Schools they are sending packet to are:

Little Village (super unlikely I know ...)
Barbara C. Wilson
Brookville Marcus Ave
ACDS
BOCES
Variety

Any feedback is welcome!