Write Your Congressmen | Autism PDD
To write your congressmen go to... http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ I wrote this to all 3 of mine listed this morning... I am from Texas. I moved to the lower Alabama area for the 2nd time in my life in October of 2004. My son was diagnosed on the Autism spectrum as Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. He was receiving special education services through the Lewisville Independent School District in Texas. I was assured that my probable move to Alabama in September of 2004 would not effect my son's education based on the No Child Left Behind Act. Boy were we all wrong! I've had to settle out of court with the Mobile County School District to enforce the Title 1 school to provide evaluation and services. This has minimally happened since the settlement and the law firm I was using is no longer representing me because he is retiring. My son was mis-diagnosed by two local Neurologists and only until I was referred to a Pensacola, Florida neurologist did he receive the current diagnosis of microcephaly primary & PDDNOS secondary. The lack of services in this area is not acceptable. The parents and educators concerned about this nationwide epidemic & the low numbers of local diagnosis severely effect federal funding status. We can not do this alone. I am begging you for my son's future to do something immediately. My son is labeled as Autistic in the public school now, but there are no specialists to guide the staff and no funding is not an acceptable excuse!!! Please let me know what the local government plans to do about these issues. Thank you for your time! -----Original Message----- From: jo.bonner@mail.house.gov [
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: EDUCATION
Thank you for your e-mail message. I appreciate your utilizing this method of corresponding on matters of importance to you. Your views will certainly be helpful to me in the weeks and months ahead.
Sorry to hear what you are going through..Why did you leave Lewisville (I have lived Lewisville for 12 years now:) Born and raised in Dallas. The services here are not so good either. We have Sarah in kindergarten and so far she is doing really good except in social areas. Hope you get some help as soon as possible! Tzoya is a Godsend for us parents in this area. Good luck!
Blessings,
Shelley
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Here are two recommendations for attorneys in Alabama. They are both members in good standing of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, a professional organization for lawyers and advocates who specialize in special education litigation. Most lawyers don't have a clue. Even if they live outside your area, they might have a recommendation for someone closer. Good luck.
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Thank you! Unfortuntely the need for services in lower Alabama are so great because there are no resources here. They are all in Montgomery and Birmingham and the children up north are receiving services in the state but not down here.
We're having a hard time where we are b/c we aren't located in a "big" city...it's the nation's fastest growing (literally
) but we don't have a lot of resources yet. I am running into the prob that since I have private insurance, Payne is PDD and not dx straight autistic and we make good $ that a lot of stuff isn't avail to us.
The closest city w/ decent resources is Weston (Miami) b/c of the Dan Marino Foundation...I think I've seen some stuff for Tampa as well...Jax for the number of schools for autism.
If there is a hospital in your area that offers the therapies your child needs, you can get the school to pay for them if they cannot bring in therapists. No therapists available isn't an excuse. OK, maybe at the North Pole, but not in Alabama. If there are speech therapists and OT's and PT's at the local hospital (which there are), the school CAN get your child therapy.THERE ARE NO SERVICES AVAILABLE SPECIFICALLY FOR CHILDREN ON THE SPECTRUM HERE! THERE ARE ONLY 80 CHILDREN LABELED AUTISTIC WITHIN THE MOBILE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT BECAUSE OF
1. IGNORANCE, 2. LACK OF FUNDING, 3. LACK OF INTEREST FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC.
BELIEVE ME...I'VE USED THE BEST ATTORNEY AROUND AND HE IS ACROSS THE BAY IN A BETTER PERFORMING SCHOOL DISTRICT.
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