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| Ok....we have had lots of talk about schools providing an appropriate education to kids and that frequently the schools fall far short of what they should be doing. I have a situation right now in the program I teach where we have an excellent program and provide the best program in the area, but have a family in my class that refuses to write to school in a communication notebook (and every checklist and form I have created to encourage it), refuse to attend team meetings, refuse to schedule parent trainings, and have openly admitted they doing nothing with their child at home and don't intend to. Now we provide a service that school districts "buy" as a program placement at a cost of about $95,000 a year per child. There are other programs in the area that cost significantly less, and do have people trained in children with autism. The CSE committee at this child's meeting stated that unless the family gets on board with the school's program by getting involved they will place him in a less expensive autism program. We are going to meet in a few months to review the situation. Just wondered what people thought about that. There is a waiting list for our program and many familes like the ones here who would do anything and work hard for their child in our program. Is it fair to keep a child whose family has admitted they won't do anything and we are essentially babysitting him, versus taking a family who will play an active role? This is a really tough question. I know ethically people would like to think that a school district pays for such a placement based on need and would use those dollars wisely. I am sure the child whose family is not doing alot still benefits greatly from good service at school. But with limited space there is a big ethical question about turning down other kids who would have greater potential due to greater efforts from the family. I am interested to hear what others say. I can't be opinionated about this one because I would slip into my own list of complaints about families who are NOT caring for their kids. By that I mean, not providing medical/vision/dental care, not getting kids to school regularly, not calling in to report absences, never coming to meetings returning calls, etc. Those families are not the ones who come here though, so I am interested to see what opinions are offered in this forum. Nope don't seem fair to me..I would give my right arm for my child to have a wonderful program like that for my child..I get zip..no team meetings, no parent training, no written communication book, no funds spent just for her. Why would the parents openly admit that they do nothing for their child at home or intend to~sounds so neglectful to me! What are their circumstances~are they here illegally and fear getting deported? I can't imagine not being involved or not coming to meetings, or not jotting down in a communication book?? Can a social worker look into the family through the school and find out what the dynamics are at home?? If it is a true hardship like no car, no money, gas~phone~ language issue is just blatant disregard then someone should intervene for the child sakes..the child shouldn't suffer because of neglectful parents. Shelley Wow ... if the parents are this disinterested, I'd be worried that there was even much worse going on in the home. Has the child shown any signs of abuse? Does the child appear loved by his parents, at least? Has anyone ever anonymously called child protective services? (I agree with NYMommy) I have talked to CPS many times. In one instance, the mom had left scratches, in another instance, bruises and had had admitted beating the child with a belt. (Both kids also have a disability if that matters). CPS goes and talks to the parent and follows up usually with one visit- about a month later. I know of one case reported repeatedly by our social worker for lack of medical, vision,dental, and the parent does not even live with the child- a family member is failing at providing these things. Unless the kid is missing limbs, CPS does not care. I am not saying "don't call". By all means, if you suspect- you CALL. If you are a doctor or a teacher, your job depends on you making that call if you suspect. The sad part is that after all that, not much will happen that makes any difference to the child. Boy, do I sound jaded. A lot of things come o mind, can these parents read and write, are they neglectig the child, do they even understand autism, perhaps they have a disabillity themselves and cant cope, are they just not coping themselves, is this family disfunctional? I don't understand funding in your country, we don't get any where near those kinds of services in australia. But it seems sad that services will be withdrawn because of the incompetence of the family for whatever reason. This child needs help regardless, more so than a lot of othther children who have parents that can and do help them.I'm pretty sure it would be illegal to remove the child from his current educational placement based on lack of parent participation. The extent and amount of involvement a family chooses to have is completely their choice, a public school cannot require a certain amount of participation, as it could violate cultural beliefs and IDEA regulations. Some families simply beleive that it is the soley the schools responsibility to work on skills, and there's nothing that the school can do other than encourage the parents to participate.That being said, I think it's awful that they don't participate. I know how frustrating it can be when parents are uninterested in participating in their childs education....Good Luck! (Guess I am learning something from that advocacy class!) Jessica The child has the right to be in THE LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT in which he can learn. The decision has to be made based on which placement in least restrictive and which environment is necessary for the boy to learn. I know that certain programs REQUIRE (in writing) parental participation. The truth is that, unless these parents complain about the child being moved, no one is going to stop the District from moving that child. If the child makes progress in the new environment, anyone would be hard-pressed to say that that new environment is inappropriate. The truth is, the school district can be seen as acting ethically (although ethics has NOTHING to do with IDEA) because they are saving that placement for children who can truly BENEFIT from that placement. The parents are equal members of the IEP Team. If they reject part of the IEP (the parental participation part of this placement), they are within their rights. This is THEIR child. If they decide that the sorts of requirements of this program are not for them, that is their decision. Now, where the child is placed instead may or may not be appropriate. If he makes progress in that location, then it IS FAPE. If he doesn't, that's another story. If the new placement is a more restrictive one but the parents agree to it, no problem. If the parents claim that the current program is the least restrictive one and they want their child to REMAIN in the program, the School District can choose to take the parents to Due Process or the School District can allow things to remain the same and wait for the child to fail to make progress because the parents are not participating. The parents don't have to agree to changing their child's placement. If they object, the District can use Due Process to try to force the new placement, in which case, the child gets pendency and can remain in THIS placement until the Hearing Officer makes a decision. My guess is that the SD won't spend the $$$ going to Due Process until the child starts to fail in this placement due to lack of parental participation. Of course, it wouldn't take much for the SD to ARRANGE for problems to occur. After all, how hard is it to instigate behavioral issues that would FORCE a change in placement? Too sad that the parents choose not to give this child a fair chance. You can't change that fact, however. The family has 10 children including my student so I think there just isn't time. We have covered all the issues mentioned above. He is clean and fed and has a bed to sleep in. He doesn't have any marks or anything suspicious like that so CPS don't really fit in. The thing is that in our area, unlike many areas, there are a few autism programs to choose from as well as several districts creating their own programs with outside agencies. My program is really the cadillac of programs.....since the kids make fantastic progress but it comes with a high price tag. This child is making no progress and really hasn't in years. His family readily admits that they do nothing to help or engage him. He is non-verbal, has intense stims, and lots of maladaptive behaviors. If the family was at least trying to support him, I wouldn't have an issue. This family has a huge "you owe us because our child has autism" chip on their shoulder. So the CSE chair wants to move him to a program closer to where he lives (right now he is on the bus an hour each way) that can program an appropriate program for him at a lesser cost. The CSE chair said to me at a meeting yesterday, "It is so sad that we have him with you guys....the best of the best....and his family just doesn't care that he could have a future". She also said that she senses this family will put him in a residential setting ASAP anyway.....sadly....that maybe the only decent chance this kiddo has at a decent life. The other issue is that he is due to age out of our program. Now that age can be flexible based on a child's need, but in this case....district seem to want to use that card to move him.Sometimes unfortunately, when some kids are first diagnosed some professionals tell parents there is not much they can do, just to keep the child happy. Most parents out there are unfortunately not like parents on this board. It seems to me that the parents feel there is not much that can improve this child. They have more important fish to fry than put time into him. Have any of the teachers explained to them what they can do to improve the child and tell them of other kids who make progress? Concernedpa. |
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