Recent Update:
Our advocate has spoken to the HISD district reps and got them to agree that they have not been following or implementing the IEP as it was written. This is a FAPE violation and that exposes them to action and so the district came down on the school and told them to basically give us what we want. Also, our old IEP had expired and we needed to update the current one with an ARD meeting. But of course, FBMS officials couldn't help but be fuck-ups.
We have asked for paperwork on how they have tracked progress for some organizational goals (that were started in October) and one of the forms they sent us looks like it was filled out on the same day with the same pen. For a series of other tracked progress we have them talking about improvements that were from when the kid was at OFE or showing nearly ZERO progress, but the FBMS reps talking about how good he is doing. Zero progress is good after 39 weeks? Some of the filings were outright fiction. If the kid experiences a troubling event he will be able to return to class and get back on track. They showed improvement. His absentee and leaving early due to anxiety seems to indicate otherwise (this was not really an issue at OFE after the 4th grade). The dyslexia teacher, couldn't provide a single piece of work performed by the kid, she went away from the meeting to fetch some examples but in spite of the meeting running for approximately 2 hours later she couldn't return and come up with anything. Which was expected as the the recent functional behavior assessment reported that our son was sitting in dyslexia class (and some others) spacing out, watching youtube or playing video games in class, yet, he is making perfect scores all year long.
We find out the SPED coordinator allegedly tracks behavior and performance by weekly checking in with teacher and casually asking them how he is doing and he just records that info later on. Then their district staff member steps in with this idea that we can push the responsibility onto the kid to fill out daily forms in each class. (Hey kid, I know you have organizational challenges and you don't engage in class often, and demand avoidance is your go to default while here, so let's add another task for you to complete!) They still do not understand.
Since a few months ago we also learned that the teachers had no access to his IEP or other information and they are just handed a series of accommodations they are to enact, then rubber stamp every assignment with those. I asked if we track how those accommodations are working and crickets. No, they don't track that either. So we have no idea how effective each strategy is, or what techniques they are using to modify behavior or reduce anxiety. Nothing.
I want to share how out there some of our demands are. We asked that the SPED coordinator get trained on Anxiety (he has autism training), and we asked that his teachers get trained on Autism/Anxiety and coordinate with SPED before the start of classes. We asked that the SPED teacher come in to help keep the kid engaged. We asked that they teach him the material he missed while vegging out. We asked that if he does get overwhelmed and cannot attend school they come to the house to help him here. Of course, it was mentioned that the HISD district cannot help here, because there are no Autism specialists anymore, so all the training has to come from the current SPED coordinator. However, a psychologist from the district is now involved and will be coming in and overseeing it.
Tangentially, I was recently in a therapy session with the kid. He didn't want to do it. He covered himself with a blanket, and despite knowing he needs to sit in the chair and be on camera, he opted to lay on the floor out of site. The therapist who has never met him in person, who is part of a research study, was able to get this child to come out of his shell, engage, speak up, smile, be playful, all by deftly talking with him about music and asking him to play a song for her that she never heard of. The kid started dancing during the song even. She even asked him to write a story (which he hates doing above all else, but he did it for her). Watching her at work and him respond was shocking. It was also infuriating. How so many specialists, councilors, instructors, with all their training, bosses, etc. cannot help this kid but this woman can. I shared that with his other psychologist and she was like "yeah, stupid this is what we do."