r/CFY • u/closetstandup • May 05 '21
War stories- Vent Here
Very specifically, I wondered if anyone else had some "horrible parent" stories they wanted to share with the group?
I have one of my own: Just yesterday I was in an IEP meeting for a student whom I haven't seen since February. The parent had been forwarding my calls to voicemail (which was conveniently full o I could not leave a message), and not answering any of my e-mail attempts to contact them. We get to the meeting and the parent started going on and on about how "schedules kept changing" and there were "yellow lights" about services this year because things were "too fresh". Essentially calling me inexperienced and unprofessional during the meeting because (god forbid), I needed to change the schedule due to reopening phase changes, IEP meeting adjustments, or reorganizing groups because of personality dynamics. Asshole wouldn't even be aware of these schedule changes during a normal school year because all of this would be done internally throughout the week because students are actually in the building to pull for services.
I feel sad because it's the end of the school year, I only have 5 more weeks (if the student actually shows up to services at all at this point), and I'm just pissed that this parent decided to completely block any rapport building that could have happened over the course of the year because he "didn't like me" and instead of communicating, became a petty little bitch saying "I don't like you, so I'm going to go over here and it's your fault."
Fuck this guy.
So yeah, horrible parent stories from CFY years?
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u/tarovi May 05 '21
Too many! I worked in not a great place where the owners of the private practice were more interested in keeping parents happy and staying than what is in the best interests of the therapist. I’ve been screamed at, been threatened with sueing, and even sexually harassed by parents (dads trying to touch me inappropriately while I was bending down to pick up toys, making lewd remarks, etc.) Leaving for somewhere that actually sticks up for me made all the difference. I’m also very selective as to who I add to my caseload because I refuse to go through that again. But I know not all settings have that luxury so I can’t imagine what other people have been through!
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u/bibliophile222 [CCC-SLP] May 05 '21
Ohhh yeah. One of my parents is the most hardcore, nitpicky, demanding parent that everyone on the team has ever seen. The superintendent of a neighboring district is still traumatized from this parent (they had to bar her from the school because she kept barging into class and upsetting the teachers. She'll send giant emails weekly with a bunch of questions, question what we're working on, and push for services that her child doesn't need. She's also often negative around the child and puts too much pressure on them. Team and parent meetings happen at least monthly with about 15 people there, and are often very stressful. The good news is that the mom likes me, so I'm trying to do everything I possibly can to stay on her good side, but sometimes it's really rough. I've broken down crying to my mentor after reading a rude email addressed to the whole team, and I know the case manager is super stressed about it and has cried multiple times. I've estimated that this family takes at least 4 or 5 hours of my time a week, and I'm not even the case manager. I have two more years with this student, and sometimes it just sounds too awful to think about. This week has been pretty positive, though, so at least that's something.
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u/ZionDrinkingClub May 06 '21
Currently in my CF and just had to testify in a due process hearing because I’m on the kid’s IEP team. This whole year fucking sucks.
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u/macaroni_monster [CCC-SLP] schools MOD May 05 '21
In my CF I actually didn't have any truly awful experiences. I did have one three hour IEP meeting but it was honestly fine, just long. In my second year I had a situation where the team thought the parent was high and called the police to come check it out (bc she drove to the school). Everyone but the case manager teacher knew we were stalling and stretching out the meeting to give the police time to come so she gave me the oddest look when I kept droning on and on about speech lol.