Hi and thanks for your responses. I agree that parents must advocate for our children and be intimately familiar with state law. Perhaps it is foolhardy to believe that educators truly would be invested in our kids' education -- concerned about their future, particularly when the almighty dollar takes precedence over anything else.
I assert that most parents have a "business relationship" with their district, but still getting shafted time and time again as parental/children's rights continue to erode.
Please note that I am very acquainted with many of NJ stipulations re: special ed as I have already taken our district to court. But now, it seems that we have little legal ground to stand on as 1) There exists no formal criteria what constitutes an ABA therapist; 2) Parents have no voice in who the district hires (unless they prove the person has a callous disregard for a child/completely incompetent, etc.); and 3) District provides an "appropriate" education regardless of the given incompetent boob that they hire.
Indeed, so many of us work so hard with our kids at home that our children do make progress. (Again, to add insult to injury, districts only have to say that the child has made "measurable progress" and provide even less support. Again, much of the progress is attributable to our efforts and not reflective of their program/efforts!)
Yes, I have seen the "emotions to advocacy" book that you mention. But I am very emotional and yet still able to advocate tirelessly. Again, I am in good company with the parents on this forum in that regard, I venture to say. It is just that I am looking for advice when the district can take our therapist away -- trying to leave no stone unturned.
Yes, I have to mold and redefine the term, "appropriate." I am just looking for other strategies. I hope that you understand and look for further support.
NJ, You may want to rephrase your assertion that "it is foolhardy to believe that educators truly would be invested in our kids' education -- concerned about their future, particularly when the almighty dollar takes precedence over anything else" and perhaps say that
it is foolhardy to believe that school administrators truly would be invested in our kids' education -- concerned about their future, particularly when the almighty dollar takes precedence over anything else
After all, I am a special education teacher- VERY invested in my students' education, and handicapped by a government that does not finance it. Write your legislators. After all, a school district MUST operate on a budget, and after all these years is still fronting the money for special ed that comes to the school district 2 YEARS after services have been delivered. I am not in NJ, I am in MN- where funding for education stayed the same for 8 years in a row despite inflation, etc. This is a problem for state and federal government.
I do not know much about your state NJ? The public school system here in NC does not offer ABA. I feel the same way you do that the best education of the kids is not the primary consideration. There are lots of knowledgeable people on this web site. Someone who knows more about your state will come on. I just want to let you know that I am gathering that it seems parents have to do a lot at home by themselves. That is what I have a problem with. The school day is long enough and the kids do not have the time to waste. So their school day should be used in the best way possible to advance them. Till we reach that wonderful place where we can entrust the children's future to the school system, we have to keep advocating. Goodluck.
Concernedpa.
Hi everyone,
I am sick and tired of hearing my school district proclaim that their staff is "trained." Suffice to say that attending several ABA workshops is sufficient to deem one trained.
My school district is now looking to reduce or eliminate the hours of our proficient, knowledgeable and "high-priced" ABA therapist with someone who is much less qualified and less expensive.
Several questions arise:
1. Can I establish a modified home school program next year without running into any school interference? I am thinking of sending my child to school in the morning (for the social component) and then taking him home so that he can receive crucial 1:1 ABA therapy in the afternoon, going over relevant curriculum. My child is slated to go into 1st grade next year.
2. Can our ABA therapist (hired by the school) facilitate 1:1 instruction at the school? The Director of Special Education asserts that the ABA therapist cannot offer this service because she is not a certified teacher in special education. However, I know that there are aides in the school who offer this 1:1 instruction.
I believe that as long as a therapist is observed by a certified teacher periodically, he/she can provide this 1:1 instruction.
3. Can I ask for a series of independent evaluations as none have been done for over a year?
On an unrelated note, who else is so disillusioned and despondent hearing, "We don't have to provide the best education, only an appropriate one?" I find it very interesting that the school constantly tells me that they want me to trust them despite their aforementioned mantra, (i.e., providing only an APPROPRIATE education). Trying to shake their collective conscience is a futile endeavor.
4. Can you offer any creative responses when the district asserts that they don't have to provide the best education, only an appropriate one?
I truly need your feedback. Please help!!!
The district is 100% correct when they say they don't have to provide the BEST education, only an APPROPRIATE one. ROWLEY is the caselaw that states this. Go to www.wrightslaw.com and search this and you can read the entire case if you like. But what the Supreme Court decided many years ago is that a student must have ACCESS to education, but that the school cannot be required to provide the best. However, "appropriate" goes a long way. You'll be shaping the definition of what "appropriate" means for YOUR child for the next years.
We have faith in our spouses, we have faith in our friends, we have faith in the Almighty, but the School District is not an entity that has the same sort of relationship with us, nor we with them. "Having faith in" a school district, even a very well-intentioned school district, is foolhardy. It's like "having faith in" the car dealer. We need well-informed business relationships with our schools. Find out your child's rights. The best way to do that is to get a copy of NJ's special education law and become VERY famliar with it. The Federal law, IDEA 2004, provides a minimum level of protection, but many states provide more, so it makes sense to go by your state's law. The state CANNOT provide less than IDEA requires.
The Wrightslaw site will also tell you all about requesting Independent Educational Evalutions. If you are interested in learning more so that "faith" never again comes into the picture, get a copy of From Emotions to Advocacy and join that discussion here.
Hi Karolysgirl,
I was going to change the term, "educators" to "school officials" but then I truly believe that too many teachers and other staff members are extremely reticent to speak out about the inappropriate services that so many children on the spectrum receive. In my own district, two teachers confided that their jobs were "on the line" if they protested -- at least publicly. Needless to say, they did not voice an opinion contrary to the district and would have readily gone against us in a court of law if our case was not settled.
This is NOT an unusual circumstance. I have heard this same story (i.e., lack of support from teachers -- in terms of speaking out publicly against the powers that be) too many times from so many other parents. There are not as many "Erin Brockovich's" as you think.
And while I commend you for your dedication and commitment to your students, there are too many teachers that are not prepared, motivated and competent to make the proverbial difference in a child's life -- especially teaching those on the spectrum, particularly when there are too many children in the classroom. There is a high burnout rate, too, especially when educating those who are manifesting extreme behaviors.
We often talk about a child's program. While acknowledging the importance of a program, I contend that it is equally/perhaps more important WHO the child's teacher is and shadow/therapist.
Get the best EVIDENCE you can about your particular child. That is how to stop them from playing games. If we parents INDIVIDUALLY get what our INDIVIDUAL child needs because we learn to play the game, I believe the system as a whole will improve. I can barely get what I need for my own son without trying to change the system as a whole for everyone. What we ALL need to do is (and even doing this is no guarantee, but without this, thing will be hopeless):
1. Become VERY familiar with your state's laws. Learn the rights we have through No Child Left Behind, too. That's what gen. ed. kids are promised and our kids have a right to those protections as well.
2. Get regular testing in EVERY suspected area of disability using the school district's own testing, IEE's and private pay evals.
3. Make SURE what your child needs is written in clear, observable and measurable language in the IEP every single year.
4. Make sure your child's progress is tested OFTEN, just as it is with gen. ed. kids. Monitor that progress. Ask questions about ANYTHING that doesn't make sense to you.
5. Put EVERYTHING in writing. Keep a written log of phone contacts with school personnel. Print out emails and keep a chron file. Send snail mail letters and copy the world. Go to from Emotions to Advocacy and follow the instructions on keeping your child's file EXACTLY. I've tried many ways of keeping track of this info and this is the ONLY way that worked for me (tho I keep the file in reverse chron order).
6. Get as much training in advocacy as you can. Hire an advocate if you have to and can afford it.
7. DO NOT BURN BRIDGES with anyone in the Spec. Ed. world in your area. It's a small world and you'll pay the price.
8. On the other hand, keep your relationships businesslike and don't let them sweettalk you.
9. Write formal complimentary letters to all and anyone in the schools who have helped your child. Send copies to their supervisors. A 39 cent letter is the best present you'll ever buy the people who are doing a good job for your child and they will go out on a limb for you. The corollary to this is NEVER PUT NEGATIVE THINGS ABOUT SOMEONE IN WRITING. I guarantee something like that will come back to bite you. Keep your negative correspondence as fact based and impersonal as possible.
10. Once again, if it isn't in writing, it wasn't said.
Hi Dad2Luke&Alan,
I think that you raise some excellent points. Assuredly, those in power get the credit, if not the cash, by slashing budgetary expenses -- particularly those allocated to special needs chilldren.
Yes, the "no experience necessary" aide entrusted to care, help educate and provide 1:1 intervention with our children is enough to make any thinking parent disillusioned with the system. This is precisely what our district intends to do: Discard the services of our fantastic ABA therapist with 10 years experience and replace her with someone with little training and even less skill. This is unbelievable when school work will only get more abstract and difficult at each grade level.
I can write to legislators, file a complaint, take them to court in due process proceedings but it appears to be hopeless. They CAN hire anyone they want, fall back to the "appropriate" education mantra and call releasing our therapist a change in personnel.
The system is blatantly unfair (families with children on the spectrum are just another minority) and I am TRYING to figure out how to best navigate a corrupt system. It is much easier to fight a type of program than it is to fight which personnel should be utilized for the program. Again, I believe the people involved in educating our children may be more important than the type of program in place. A great program with incompetent staff is meaningless; a suspect program with great staff can still produce meaningful benefit.
Can anyone tell me what NJ School district we are particularly talking about.
Hi Tzoya and Nick'smom,
Thanks for your responses. Tzoya, you are asking a lot! :) Well, Grandma always tells me that "All the world's a stage," but can I be that convincing an actor? I'm sure that the district will say their personnel will perform the tests (at least the ones that they can perform) and will be very reluctant to suggest any outside testing, esp. if they have to pay for it. Still, I think your advice is great and I can try to get an "Academy Award" performance for my WORK!
Still, it will be much harder to disguise my feelings and filter my comments when they try to take our ABA therapist out of the picture.
Nick'smom, our district has placed my son (who is moderate-mild on the spectrum, closer to moderate) in a typical Kindergarten class with only a shadow. The only reason that we agreed to this placement is because the shadow is a fantastic ABA shadow who has been with my son for three years. Now, they intend to "change personnel" which will change everything.
While we could try to get our son in a school with other autistic children, I believe that his best hope in reaching his true potential is to be around neurotypical peers for part of the day and receive 1:1 ABA-based therapy for the remainder of the day, reviewing curriculum and addressing his unique needs.
I DON'T want him to be in a "catch all" disabled class where the work is so watered down as to render it meaningless. Moreover, I DON'T want him in a typical class if the shadow does not know what he/she is doing and incapable of instructing effectively in a 1:1 setting. (Of course, I should add that anyone working with our kids must be passionate, compassionate, nurturing, motivated, skilled, intelligent, creative, etc.!)
I would certainly appreciate it if you can let me know the experiences of the other parents in northern NJ. My guess is that some of them took their districts to court. Of course, I am so sorry with the lack of support you are experiencing in Colorado. I still think that the most important piece of the educational puzzle is to find that therapist / tutor who can effectively facilitate 1:1 lessons.
Our oldest son was in a non-catagorical special day class [aka: special day care] for 2 years. B. Siegel in her book Helping Autistic Children Learn (or similar title) recommends against it because the emotionally disturbed kids end up serving as role models for the ASD kids who don't know social roles well enough to know any better. Which is what we saw.
Once the District personnel have their shot at the testing, you ask for Independent Educational Evaluations at PUBLIC EXPENSE. They THEY pay for a second opinion. As painful as it is to keep your emotions out of the IEP arena, I can tell you that THEY think that THEY have won once you show your emotions. Use that anger to get what your child needs. Read and believe from Emotions to Advocacy. Pete and Pam Wright walked that walk. They are the pioneers. I have yet to find any of their advice to not work. They've honed what they learned in their own lives through YEARS of advocacy for others. What Pete says about using your emotions to get the SD's is totally true. We parents have a choice. To get justifiably angry or to get what our kids need. It's just about as simple as that. We CANNOT be both emotional and effective.
Thank you for posting this comprehensive list! I agree with what you've written.
I was thinking about asking for a complete battery of independent evaluations (paid by the district), inclusive of the following:
- Speech Therapy
- Physical Therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Functional Behavioral Assessment
- Auditory Processing Issues
- Learning style/progress via a neurodevelopmental specialist's report
I have to find ground as to why such reports are necessary. (We have not had any testing in these areas for over a year.) However, this request alone is enough to draw the ire/revenge from a district so it may be counter-productive, in the long run, to pursue this matter. I am weighing options.
[QUOTE=tzoya]7. DO NOT BURN BRIDGES with anyone in the Spec. Ed. world in your area. It's a small world and you'll pay the price.
8. On the other hand, keep your relationships businesslike and don't let them sweettalk you.
[/QUOTE]