- http://
blog.friendshipcircle.org/ 2011/03/02/ 10-websites-to-find-special -needs-apps-for-the-ipad-i phone/
10 Websites to Find Special Needs Apps for the iPad & iPhone | Friendship Circle -- Special Needs Blblog.friendshipcircle.orgLooking for the special needs apps? In this post we highlight 10 Websites that give you information and reviews about Special Needs Apps for the iPad & iPhone.Helen has also shared some apps and Facebook pages that you might want to check out while we are on the subject of technology.
LINKS
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ This is Helen's favorite site for technology!
Read, Think, Write: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
http://cast.org/
FACEBOOK PAGES
Free Technology for Teachers.Technology in Special Education.
FREE DIGITAL BOOKTeaching Every Student in the Digital Age.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
iPad/iPhone/iPod Apps
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Important Questions to Ask Yourself Before Your Next IEP Meeting
There are some things you need to keep in mind when you walk into an IEP meeting. You need to know what services they get and what you think they should get. It is not uncommon for the District to make a change (usually to less) in services without specifically informing you that they are suggesting a change. If you don't know what your child currently has they may recommend a reduction in services by simply saying we recommend that Child A receive group speech therapy one time per week for 20 minutes in a small group setting. If you have forgotten that your child is currently receiving therapy twice per week in a small group setting for 30 minutes and one time per week in an individual setting for 30 minutes then you might give up two sessions and ten minutes thus resulting in a total loss of services of 80 minutes per week. If we go in unprepared we have a lot to lose. So we need to ask ourselves the following questions.
First: What are the services my child currently has?
What specific areas does my child get support in? Speech/Ot/PT/APE/ABA/other
How many hours per week/month does my child get support?
Is that support in an individual/small group/group manner?
Who is supposed to give this support? Is it the therapist or an assistant to the therapist or a specific credentialed teacher or the school psychologist or someone else?
Do they receive push-in or pull-out services?
Second: What are the services I believe my child should get that they are not currently receiving?
Do they need an increase in current services or a switch from group to individual or from individual to group?
Do they need a change to push-in or a change to pull-out services?
Third: Has my child been making progress on each goal?
Has that progress led to my child being ready to move on from the support service they have been receiving?
If they have been making progress but are not ready to move on from the support service, does this goal lead to another goal or are they ready for a new direction with help?
If they have not made progress what is the reason? Was the goal too lofty? Did the District attempt to work on the goal? Was the goal just not right for my child?
Fourth: What will I do if they District recommends reducing or eliminating a particular service?
Do I agree that the service should be reduced or discontinued? If I agree that a service should be reduced or discontinued, why do I believe that? Is my belief based on what the District is telling me? If so, have they been reasonable and trustworthy in the past? If not, do I have information from a reliable independent expert that makes me believe that the service should be reduced or eliminated? If not, I suggest asking for an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) so that you can get an unbiased opinion from an expert at the district's expense.
Going in to an IEP meeting with all of your information at your fingertips will make for less mistakes. Less mistakes means a better program for our children, and despite the fact that we will likely make some mistakes along the way, reducing those mistakes will make for the best possible program for our kids. Being prepared will make those mistakes we still make less important and have a minimal negative impact on our child's education.
First: What are the services my child currently has?
What specific areas does my child get support in? Speech/Ot/PT/APE/ABA/other
How many hours per week/month does my child get support?
Is that support in an individual/small group/group manner?
Who is supposed to give this support? Is it the therapist or an assistant to the therapist or a specific credentialed teacher or the school psychologist or someone else?
Do they receive push-in or pull-out services?
Second: What are the services I believe my child should get that they are not currently receiving?
Do they need an increase in current services or a switch from group to individual or from individual to group?
Do they need a change to push-in or a change to pull-out services?
Third: Has my child been making progress on each goal?
Has that progress led to my child being ready to move on from the support service they have been receiving?
If they have been making progress but are not ready to move on from the support service, does this goal lead to another goal or are they ready for a new direction with help?
If they have not made progress what is the reason? Was the goal too lofty? Did the District attempt to work on the goal? Was the goal just not right for my child?
Fourth: What will I do if they District recommends reducing or eliminating a particular service?
Do I agree that the service should be reduced or discontinued? If I agree that a service should be reduced or discontinued, why do I believe that? Is my belief based on what the District is telling me? If so, have they been reasonable and trustworthy in the past? If not, do I have information from a reliable independent expert that makes me believe that the service should be reduced or eliminated? If not, I suggest asking for an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) so that you can get an unbiased opinion from an expert at the district's expense.
Going in to an IEP meeting with all of your information at your fingertips will make for less mistakes. Less mistakes means a better program for our children, and despite the fact that we will likely make some mistakes along the way, reducing those mistakes will make for the best possible program for our kids. Being prepared will make those mistakes we still make less important and have a minimal negative impact on our child's education.
Dealing With Liars and Avoiders - The Public Records Act
My son is in kindergarten in a charter school in our town. At his first parent/teacher conference in November we were told he was below basic in many areas. When his report card came he got 2 "C's" and 2 "D's" along with "A's" in all of the non-core subjects. His teacher explained that his grades were based on his meeting kindergarten level standards, since he was not meeting end of year standards he had earned poor grades. My husband and I questioned this to be sure we understood, and she explained that grades are based on what he is expected to do at the end of the year, and that since he did not know all of that material - despite the fact that it had not yet been taught - he was considered to be near failing. An administrator who happened to be attending the meeting backed her up. This seemed ridiculous to me but I was of a mind that kindergarten grades are not a big deal (most schools don't even give grades until years later anyway) I felt it was best to let it go.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. My son is given his second report card. It is much better. I have pulled him out of the class and am home schooling him due to the fact that he was being bullied in the classroom and the teacher refused to even look into it. Letters to the principal brought no response. My son had responded to the bullying with aggression. It wasn't a politically correct response, but he is in kindergarten, and when he told the teacher what was happening she refused to believe him - she shared that in an IEP meeting, explaining it away by assuring everyone in the room that "no one else saw that", even when I had reported seeing it take place.
Finally, this last week I had a couple of conversations with different people. The Speech therapist who works with my son told me that she had to insist repeatedly that the teacher base my son's grades on the most recent information she had, she said the teacher was planning to grade him on earlier information despite the fact that he is currently completing first grade level writing. He can write a full sentence properly, with a capital at the start, spaces between the letters, and a period at the end. She intended to give him a "D". her reasoning was that many of her other students were doing no better now than at mid-term so using mid-term grades was reasonable despite the fact that he had been tested the week before and had aced the writing portion of the test.
Then a couple of days later I spoke to some mom's of other kindergartners at the same charter school that I have known for a few years. Their kids are not being graded on the principal of meeting end of year standards. Their kids are being graded on what they have been taught, not on what they will be taught in the future. Imagine that, being graded reasonably. So the next question is what to do with this information. I decided it was time to write a letter asking for the schools actual policies. This seemed pretty reasonable to me. I asked what the policy is for grading kindergartners both in regards to academic standards and regarding the use of time sensitive testing. I figured an honest and forthcoming administrator would be happy to share policy with me.
Apparently I was wrong to assume I would reach an honest (forget forthcoming) administrator. I was told to "ask the teacher". If I wasn't happy with that answer "ask the principal". So ask the teacher who I already suspect has lied to me and ask the principal who completely ignored my concerns about my child being bullied. Besides, I was just asking for a copy of a written policy, why the run around? Not only was I told that he would not answer my questions, but he sent this letter at 9:18 on the Saturday night before Easter, and included a "have a happy holiday" as though he was being friendly and helpful.
Well, this is exactly why our legislators have made a policy that requires that public entities must make their records open to public scrutiny. The thinking is that we, the public are their owners, since it is our taxes that pay for their programs, and so we have the right to view how they are using that money. We have the right to keep them accountable.
So I sent a request for public records. I asked that they supply me with copies of their written internal grading policies for kindergartners in regards to academic standards, copies of their written internal policies regarding current v. older testing. I also asked for copies of my son's specific testing just prior to both grading periods, copies of the e-mail transaction between the teacher and the SLP who shared that they had gone back and forth several times over how the teacher was choosing to grade my son (using old information when she had new information). Copies of e-mails between the teacher and the school administrator who had backed up what appears to be a flawed method of grading. Finally I requested their e-mail destruction policy, because without a policy they may not legally destroy any e-mails legally.
They have now boxed themselves into corner. If they don't give me the information I have requested, including the emails, they set themselves up for criminal charges. Once we get the information it is likely it will be obvious that they are covering up a for a bad teacher. Either way, it doesn't look good for them. It would have been best if they had realized early on that this teacher is trouble. I have been told that several other parents have written letters of complaint about her methods. It should have been obvious to the administration that this was not the person that should be teaching kindergarten. But this is the way it usually goes. It is rare that administration want to face the fact that they have made a mistake in hiring. They may meet with the teacher and try to ensure change, but as long as the masses quiet down, one child being harmed just isn't worth the effort. It is nerve wracking and anxiety producing to take these battles on, but if we don't who will be the teacher's victim next year? We can't fix it for my child, but maybe we can keep kids safe from this kind of treatment in the future.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. My son is given his second report card. It is much better. I have pulled him out of the class and am home schooling him due to the fact that he was being bullied in the classroom and the teacher refused to even look into it. Letters to the principal brought no response. My son had responded to the bullying with aggression. It wasn't a politically correct response, but he is in kindergarten, and when he told the teacher what was happening she refused to believe him - she shared that in an IEP meeting, explaining it away by assuring everyone in the room that "no one else saw that", even when I had reported seeing it take place.
Finally, this last week I had a couple of conversations with different people. The Speech therapist who works with my son told me that she had to insist repeatedly that the teacher base my son's grades on the most recent information she had, she said the teacher was planning to grade him on earlier information despite the fact that he is currently completing first grade level writing. He can write a full sentence properly, with a capital at the start, spaces between the letters, and a period at the end. She intended to give him a "D". her reasoning was that many of her other students were doing no better now than at mid-term so using mid-term grades was reasonable despite the fact that he had been tested the week before and had aced the writing portion of the test.
Then a couple of days later I spoke to some mom's of other kindergartners at the same charter school that I have known for a few years. Their kids are not being graded on the principal of meeting end of year standards. Their kids are being graded on what they have been taught, not on what they will be taught in the future. Imagine that, being graded reasonably. So the next question is what to do with this information. I decided it was time to write a letter asking for the schools actual policies. This seemed pretty reasonable to me. I asked what the policy is for grading kindergartners both in regards to academic standards and regarding the use of time sensitive testing. I figured an honest and forthcoming administrator would be happy to share policy with me.
Apparently I was wrong to assume I would reach an honest (forget forthcoming) administrator. I was told to "ask the teacher". If I wasn't happy with that answer "ask the principal". So ask the teacher who I already suspect has lied to me and ask the principal who completely ignored my concerns about my child being bullied. Besides, I was just asking for a copy of a written policy, why the run around? Not only was I told that he would not answer my questions, but he sent this letter at 9:18 on the Saturday night before Easter, and included a "have a happy holiday" as though he was being friendly and helpful.
Well, this is exactly why our legislators have made a policy that requires that public entities must make their records open to public scrutiny. The thinking is that we, the public are their owners, since it is our taxes that pay for their programs, and so we have the right to view how they are using that money. We have the right to keep them accountable.
So I sent a request for public records. I asked that they supply me with copies of their written internal grading policies for kindergartners in regards to academic standards, copies of their written internal policies regarding current v. older testing. I also asked for copies of my son's specific testing just prior to both grading periods, copies of the e-mail transaction between the teacher and the SLP who shared that they had gone back and forth several times over how the teacher was choosing to grade my son (using old information when she had new information). Copies of e-mails between the teacher and the school administrator who had backed up what appears to be a flawed method of grading. Finally I requested their e-mail destruction policy, because without a policy they may not legally destroy any e-mails legally.
They have now boxed themselves into corner. If they don't give me the information I have requested, including the emails, they set themselves up for criminal charges. Once we get the information it is likely it will be obvious that they are covering up a for a bad teacher. Either way, it doesn't look good for them. It would have been best if they had realized early on that this teacher is trouble. I have been told that several other parents have written letters of complaint about her methods. It should have been obvious to the administration that this was not the person that should be teaching kindergarten. But this is the way it usually goes. It is rare that administration want to face the fact that they have made a mistake in hiring. They may meet with the teacher and try to ensure change, but as long as the masses quiet down, one child being harmed just isn't worth the effort. It is nerve wracking and anxiety producing to take these battles on, but if we don't who will be the teacher's victim next year? We can't fix it for my child, but maybe we can keep kids safe from this kind of treatment in the future.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
The"Nice" IEP Meeting
The last IEP I attended was much "nicer" than previous meetings. The "team" was very positive about my daughter with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. She is doing "great" in all of her classes, she is a "superb" student, she is "well organized" and is "turning in her assignments on time". Her IQ total has climbed a whopping 23 points since she was first tested at age 6. She is incredibly pleasant to have in class, she is a leader, she is well liked by peers and staff alike! They all seem to believe that she is very talented, creative, and going to have great opportunities to excel at a University. All those quotations marks? Yes, they are actual quotes from the IEP notes page! So, maybe you, like me are wondering why she is in Special Education and why she needs an IEP.
Before I go any further. My oldest daughter is one of the hardest working kids you will ever find. Fortunately she doesn't have the aggressive tendencies of FASD that her brother who we also adopted has. She doesn't do all of her work but she does a lot, she often times forgets to turn in completed or near completed work though. She has a good strong work ethic and she has come so far, I am really proud of her. At the same time I am not the type of parent that thinks my kid can't do anything wrong. I know she needs extra help and I know that I have to keep on top of her or she will miss turning in (or maybe even doing) assignments, and she has never studied for a test without my bugging her to do it. She thinks she is smarter than she is - she thinks she is smarter than her dad and me (what 15 year old doesn't) and because of that she doesn't think she needs to study for tests. She can be a really pain around the house, but she behaves very well at school and at others' homes, typical for 15 years old I think. She is more like her non-disabled peers than she is different, I take heart in that fact!
She has good grades, a "B" average, with one "D" due to her general ed teacher not being informed of the accommodations he was to have been giving, so the first half of the semester really brought her grade down. Once she got the accommodations and I was on her to make sure she got every piece of work done and studied for all of her tests she squeaked through. But, my concern is, is she going to get those accommodations at a University? And, even though I would be paying for it, is anyone going to send me e-mails telling me that she is falling behind so I can light a fire under her? I don't think so.
Fortunately, the meeting had to be continued because others had to leave and I had to go pick up a child from another school. This was the best thing that could have happened! I took home all of the paperwork that I hadn't received ahead of time, I read over all the comments in the notes section of the IEP, "superb" (really?), I hadn't heard that comment but it sure did make the my daughter look good didn't it? And I got to think, something there is too little time to do in a meeting with many people talking at the same time. I find I spend a lot of my time trying to figure out who is trustworthy (sort of) in the meeting and who I need to be very leery of this time around. That is why I never sign an IEP at the meeting unless they offer to give every service I went in to ask for and even then, I usually want to read the fine print, and then I still often times look back the next year and wish I had objected to something I didn't object to!
Well, after checking my feelings about the meeting, looking over the paperwork, and spending a bit of time realizing that there was a reason for all of the insanity, I got to work. First, the reason for trying to make it seem like my daughter is the first kid in the special ed system at her school that should go to a University and major in a creative major is that they have everything to gain from making it seem she is super-girl! It will cost them a lot less in services and special classes if they can make her seem like the "Incredible Super Smarter Kid". So then I was able to get to the details. They weren't actually suggesting that she leave special ed, of course not, they get Federal funds if they can keep her in Special Ed and yet give her nothing over and above the regular special ed classes. So they want to keep her just disabled enough to need a few special ed classes but not disabled enough that she needs any services - even the ones they just started giving her last year! Here are a few of the things I found were in that paperwork and were to have been suggested at the meeting - since they included recommendations in the notes - written before hand since they knew what the recommendations would be even before the meeting (called predetermination).
They say she is organized - probably a lead in to not needing any more OT services! Just two weeks before she had received a progress report and in one class she had not turned in 8 assignments out of about 20! That does not signal organization to me! She had missed 4 assignments in another class and in another she was behind by only one assignment, but it was worth almost half of her grade so she was suddenly getting a "D" in that class too! She is in an English 9 class, but since it isn't called "language arts" her teachers determined that she did not need to work on the goal that was related to her language arts class! I think English 9 is a language arts class, and that isn't a big stretch.
For reading, the only goal is for increasing fluency. Okay, fluency is nice, it is important, but what good does it do to increase her reading fluency if she isn't understanding what she is reading? Her comprehension is at fifth grade level, but they want her to read faster at the ninth grade level, even her Language Arts (oops, English) teacher said that increasing fluency will come from reading things that are below her actual reading level so the whole thing seems to make no sense.
One goal was written that she will "complete ---- at 80% 4 out of 5 times". So 4 out of 5 times is already 80% and then 80% of 80% is actually 64%, is "D" level work an appropriate goal? I don't think so. My daughter may do her best and end up doing 64% but that should not be the GOAL!
Another suggested goal was for her to complete a resume that is 80% correct. Is a resume that 80% correct okay? I say keep having her do that task until it is 100% correct.
She has auditory processing disorder so she has been given a listening device that helps her to focus on what is said and screen out background noise. She has been forgetting to use it but they have objected to a goal for that. A simple "------ will wear her listening device 90% of the time" seems easy enough, but they don't want that. Okay, why?
Everyone admitted that my daughter sounds very young for her age yet the SLP denies hearing her speak in anything other than a perfectly appropriate voice. Funny how in a room full of people the only person who doesn't hear how young she sounds is the person who is supposed to help her with her speech. And really, try getting anyone to take you seriously when you sound like you are in early elementary school.
Goals were written with a baseline that says "student had difficulty with --------- in her triannual evaluation". So even if she regresses by next year we won't know that because we don't know what she can do now.
These are the kinds of things that we need to go over privately, away from the IEP team, when we can think. The goals drive the services so goals need to be good. We should to be able to recognize the kid they are talking about in their evaluations and in the notes. If they say our kid can cut normally we should ask them to cut in front of us so we can see if they really can cut. We can't test everything, but there are many things we can test. I know my daughter behaves better away from home than at home - I probably did too, but she should not be unrecognizable.
"Nice" is just a way to act, and it probably fools a lot of us into believing that they really care, but the two are very different, and the best IEP teams are made up of people who will tell you the truth. Talking about your child's strengths is "nice" but talking about their weaknesses and and how to help your child overcome them is what makes an IEP meeting helpful.
Before I go any further. My oldest daughter is one of the hardest working kids you will ever find. Fortunately she doesn't have the aggressive tendencies of FASD that her brother who we also adopted has. She doesn't do all of her work but she does a lot, she often times forgets to turn in completed or near completed work though. She has a good strong work ethic and she has come so far, I am really proud of her. At the same time I am not the type of parent that thinks my kid can't do anything wrong. I know she needs extra help and I know that I have to keep on top of her or she will miss turning in (or maybe even doing) assignments, and she has never studied for a test without my bugging her to do it. She thinks she is smarter than she is - she thinks she is smarter than her dad and me (what 15 year old doesn't) and because of that she doesn't think she needs to study for tests. She can be a really pain around the house, but she behaves very well at school and at others' homes, typical for 15 years old I think. She is more like her non-disabled peers than she is different, I take heart in that fact!
She has good grades, a "B" average, with one "D" due to her general ed teacher not being informed of the accommodations he was to have been giving, so the first half of the semester really brought her grade down. Once she got the accommodations and I was on her to make sure she got every piece of work done and studied for all of her tests she squeaked through. But, my concern is, is she going to get those accommodations at a University? And, even though I would be paying for it, is anyone going to send me e-mails telling me that she is falling behind so I can light a fire under her? I don't think so.
Fortunately, the meeting had to be continued because others had to leave and I had to go pick up a child from another school. This was the best thing that could have happened! I took home all of the paperwork that I hadn't received ahead of time, I read over all the comments in the notes section of the IEP, "superb" (really?), I hadn't heard that comment but it sure did make the my daughter look good didn't it? And I got to think, something there is too little time to do in a meeting with many people talking at the same time. I find I spend a lot of my time trying to figure out who is trustworthy (sort of) in the meeting and who I need to be very leery of this time around. That is why I never sign an IEP at the meeting unless they offer to give every service I went in to ask for and even then, I usually want to read the fine print, and then I still often times look back the next year and wish I had objected to something I didn't object to!
Well, after checking my feelings about the meeting, looking over the paperwork, and spending a bit of time realizing that there was a reason for all of the insanity, I got to work. First, the reason for trying to make it seem like my daughter is the first kid in the special ed system at her school that should go to a University and major in a creative major is that they have everything to gain from making it seem she is super-girl! It will cost them a lot less in services and special classes if they can make her seem like the "Incredible Super Smarter Kid". So then I was able to get to the details. They weren't actually suggesting that she leave special ed, of course not, they get Federal funds if they can keep her in Special Ed and yet give her nothing over and above the regular special ed classes. So they want to keep her just disabled enough to need a few special ed classes but not disabled enough that she needs any services - even the ones they just started giving her last year! Here are a few of the things I found were in that paperwork and were to have been suggested at the meeting - since they included recommendations in the notes - written before hand since they knew what the recommendations would be even before the meeting (called predetermination).
They say she is organized - probably a lead in to not needing any more OT services! Just two weeks before she had received a progress report and in one class she had not turned in 8 assignments out of about 20! That does not signal organization to me! She had missed 4 assignments in another class and in another she was behind by only one assignment, but it was worth almost half of her grade so she was suddenly getting a "D" in that class too! She is in an English 9 class, but since it isn't called "language arts" her teachers determined that she did not need to work on the goal that was related to her language arts class! I think English 9 is a language arts class, and that isn't a big stretch.
For reading, the only goal is for increasing fluency. Okay, fluency is nice, it is important, but what good does it do to increase her reading fluency if she isn't understanding what she is reading? Her comprehension is at fifth grade level, but they want her to read faster at the ninth grade level, even her Language Arts (oops, English) teacher said that increasing fluency will come from reading things that are below her actual reading level so the whole thing seems to make no sense.
One goal was written that she will "complete ---- at 80% 4 out of 5 times". So 4 out of 5 times is already 80% and then 80% of 80% is actually 64%, is "D" level work an appropriate goal? I don't think so. My daughter may do her best and end up doing 64% but that should not be the GOAL!
Another suggested goal was for her to complete a resume that is 80% correct. Is a resume that 80% correct okay? I say keep having her do that task until it is 100% correct.
She has auditory processing disorder so she has been given a listening device that helps her to focus on what is said and screen out background noise. She has been forgetting to use it but they have objected to a goal for that. A simple "------ will wear her listening device 90% of the time" seems easy enough, but they don't want that. Okay, why?
Everyone admitted that my daughter sounds very young for her age yet the SLP denies hearing her speak in anything other than a perfectly appropriate voice. Funny how in a room full of people the only person who doesn't hear how young she sounds is the person who is supposed to help her with her speech. And really, try getting anyone to take you seriously when you sound like you are in early elementary school.
Goals were written with a baseline that says "student had difficulty with --------- in her triannual evaluation". So even if she regresses by next year we won't know that because we don't know what she can do now.
These are the kinds of things that we need to go over privately, away from the IEP team, when we can think. The goals drive the services so goals need to be good. We should to be able to recognize the kid they are talking about in their evaluations and in the notes. If they say our kid can cut normally we should ask them to cut in front of us so we can see if they really can cut. We can't test everything, but there are many things we can test. I know my daughter behaves better away from home than at home - I probably did too, but she should not be unrecognizable.
"Nice" is just a way to act, and it probably fools a lot of us into believing that they really care, but the two are very different, and the best IEP teams are made up of people who will tell you the truth. Talking about your child's strengths is "nice" but talking about their weaknesses and and how to help your child overcome them is what makes an IEP meeting helpful.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Things I'm Learning From Megan - 1
I have to stop myself from saying - "She just said hello to you" - with some attitude when people ignore my daughter's cheerful "Hi". She is teaching me that it doesn't matter how they react to her, that I should just do the kind thing, the nice thing, the loving thing, like her.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Do I Seem Upset?
“It seems like we’re all getting a little upset here”.
I’ve heard this a lot lately at IEP meetings. This is the statement made when the district doesn’t have an answer for a question that parents or advocates pose. It can also come when the parents seem to be unhappy with the responses the district gives. It’s said in order to slow things down and its said in a tone of voice that intimates that the parent is getting overly emotional when in fact I haven’t seen that to be the case.
Hey, district personal needs to be prepared for parents not being happy with their proposals, especially since most often those proposals are for far less than experts in the field suggest is needed for growth. When non-verbal children are given one 20 minute session of speech per week, and that’s usually in a small group which most experts will tell you isn’t appropriate for non-verbal children, parents tend to get upset. When a child with sensory issues that keep them from learning are given no OT services because they can write, as if writing is the only OT issue to address in the schools it isn’t so good. Hey, we even knew that before the expert told us and we’ve been advocating for more and better services before we got here with the expert, and you have the audacity to tell me that my kid doesn’t need what it is so obvious he or she needs. Yeah, I get a bit upset. But I don’t think that fact is important unless I start looking like I’m about to pull out a machine gun.
I think the next time someone says they think the group is getting upset I will say something to the effect of “So, what are you upset about?” Let them get on the defensive for a change.
Civil Rights
My husband and I have spent the last several months putting together a complaint for the Office of Civil Rights regarding their treatment of our children and of us. While discussing this today, as we wrap up and ready the complaint to send to the OCR I shared my feelings with my husband about why it is so important that we send this. I believe this will probably be the introduction to our complaint, but regardless I hope others understand how important it is that we parents look at what is going on at school and that we demand that our districts meet our children's needs.
The law says that I must send my disabled child to school because EVERY child deserves and MUST get an education. If you are going to insist that I send my child to school then the least you can do is avoid hurting her, and really don’t you believe educating her would be necessary?
If she must go to school then the district has every obligation to make sure that they do not abuse or harm her in any way. Is it okay to say she “must” go to school and then abuse her? Dragging her across blacktop like a bag of trash? Or to cause her so much upset that she does not want to go to the classroom so that staff feels it is okay to drag her to the room as she screams and cries? Or is it okay to be so incapable of meeting her needs and teaching her so that she becomes so frustrated and upset that she is hitting herself in the face and head hundreds of times during the school day? Should we accept that this is an appropriate education for our child? Should we have to enter into Due Process to prove that the district isn’t doing their job in educating our daughter? And what about the children whose parents don’t know how they are being hurt at school because they implicitly trust the district to have their child’s best interests in mind? As we did until our daughter was in fourth grade, we had been duped for years. This is what CVUSD does to every child whose needs they don’t meet. They dupe parents into believing that they have been educating their child with special needs. This is a travesty, an injustice, ineptitude, and just one example of their complete lack of regard for the civil rights of children with disabilities.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Transportation
I've been running into a lot of people with transportation issues lately, and I've had some myself so I think it's time to address transportation. I'm betting it's due to the budget issues everyone is facing with our economy and also the price of gas going up and down. No one can really budget properly for transportation so many districts are trying to get out of providing transportation at all.
The first transportation issue I saw was districts saying they would not provide transportation to children if the special education was offered at their home school. There is nothing in special ed law that makes this legal. If your child requires any kind of special assistance to get to and from school then they qualify for transportation. If they would not be safe walking to and from school when other kids their age would be able to walk then they qualify for transportation. If you were to drive your child to school and you cannot drop them off as you would another child the same age, they require transportation. If your child requires SDC (Special Day Class) instruction you can be sure they qualify for transportation. Children who only require RSP services usually don't qualify for transportation, but this is not set in stone. If you have a child who only requires RSP services but has wandered off and gotten lost you have every right for them to receive transportation. If another child who only receives RSP doesn't have an understanding of safety issues, they qualify for transportation. This is about their individual needs as set forth in the IEP, it isn't about some "policy" set by the district that doesn't take your child's individual needs into account.
Another question that came up is of the district telling a parent that should they decide that their child should be in a program other than what the district suggests then transportation will no longer be available. I'm sorry, but the parent is a part of the IEP TEAM and it is not appropriate to manipulate a TEAM member into agreeing to what the district wants by threatening to take away a service that is guaranteed by law. I'm sure there are many other versions of this particular "policy", er manipulation, coercion, or threat, but none of them is legal. Transportation is guaranteed by law. Districts cannot just decide to use transportation to get what they want.
I read about a district near here that had instituted a policy that all children requiring transportation would have to go to their home school to be picked up to be transported to the location of their special education class. This didn't last long! And that's because it was so obviously out of compliance with federal law. These parents were having to take their children to their home school up to an hour before school started so that the child could then be transported to another school (because of course they were picking up children from several different home schools), in the afternoon they would have to be at the home school to pick up the children. So, if you have other children and they attend the home school these parents would have to go and drop off the child in special ed and then go back and take any other children to school and in the afternoon the process would just be reversed, adding up to a couple of extra hours per day of drop off and pick up to the mix. And then it gets really confusing when you have kids at different schools, say a couple in elementary and one in Jr. high and then, the real fun starts when you have another one in high school too! Forget trying to plan for after school activities! And really, isn't this just insulting when we would really prefer that our child attends his or her home school with their siblings anyway?
Then there is the family that had transportation taken away in a settlement agreement. It was just sort of "slipped" in there by the district's attorney, even though no one had agreed to it. When confronted about the sleazeball tactic the attorney refused to go back and redraft the agreement, making a statement similar to "Let's not make trouble over something that small". Hey if it was that SMALL why slip it in there in the first place? The family went along just because the day had been so long and they didn't have anymore fight in them, but that was a poor decision. It turns out there was more sleaze in that agreement - if you see a little sleaze inserted into an agreement, assume there is more and take your time! Ask questions about what things mean that you may not understand. Ask the district to leave the room so you can concentrate or you leave the room so you can concentrate on reading the entire agreement.
We have an issue with timing for transportation. The district states they cannot transport after a certain time and our child will still need transportation after that time. There is a solution, they can pay us to transport. We will be paid for our mileage. It doesn't help with figuring out how to manage after school activities for the other kids and getting her home, but at least it reduces the cost of transporting her that we have been covering for the last several months. It may not be everything we had hoped for, but in the end it's better than what we were getting, and with everything else that is working so well I have to say life is getting pretty good!
The first transportation issue I saw was districts saying they would not provide transportation to children if the special education was offered at their home school. There is nothing in special ed law that makes this legal. If your child requires any kind of special assistance to get to and from school then they qualify for transportation. If they would not be safe walking to and from school when other kids their age would be able to walk then they qualify for transportation. If you were to drive your child to school and you cannot drop them off as you would another child the same age, they require transportation. If your child requires SDC (Special Day Class) instruction you can be sure they qualify for transportation. Children who only require RSP services usually don't qualify for transportation, but this is not set in stone. If you have a child who only requires RSP services but has wandered off and gotten lost you have every right for them to receive transportation. If another child who only receives RSP doesn't have an understanding of safety issues, they qualify for transportation. This is about their individual needs as set forth in the IEP, it isn't about some "policy" set by the district that doesn't take your child's individual needs into account.
Another question that came up is of the district telling a parent that should they decide that their child should be in a program other than what the district suggests then transportation will no longer be available. I'm sorry, but the parent is a part of the IEP TEAM and it is not appropriate to manipulate a TEAM member into agreeing to what the district wants by threatening to take away a service that is guaranteed by law. I'm sure there are many other versions of this particular "policy", er manipulation, coercion, or threat, but none of them is legal. Transportation is guaranteed by law. Districts cannot just decide to use transportation to get what they want.
I read about a district near here that had instituted a policy that all children requiring transportation would have to go to their home school to be picked up to be transported to the location of their special education class. This didn't last long! And that's because it was so obviously out of compliance with federal law. These parents were having to take their children to their home school up to an hour before school started so that the child could then be transported to another school (because of course they were picking up children from several different home schools), in the afternoon they would have to be at the home school to pick up the children. So, if you have other children and they attend the home school these parents would have to go and drop off the child in special ed and then go back and take any other children to school and in the afternoon the process would just be reversed, adding up to a couple of extra hours per day of drop off and pick up to the mix. And then it gets really confusing when you have kids at different schools, say a couple in elementary and one in Jr. high and then, the real fun starts when you have another one in high school too! Forget trying to plan for after school activities! And really, isn't this just insulting when we would really prefer that our child attends his or her home school with their siblings anyway?
Then there is the family that had transportation taken away in a settlement agreement. It was just sort of "slipped" in there by the district's attorney, even though no one had agreed to it. When confronted about the sleazeball tactic the attorney refused to go back and redraft the agreement, making a statement similar to "Let's not make trouble over something that small". Hey if it was that SMALL why slip it in there in the first place? The family went along just because the day had been so long and they didn't have anymore fight in them, but that was a poor decision. It turns out there was more sleaze in that agreement - if you see a little sleaze inserted into an agreement, assume there is more and take your time! Ask questions about what things mean that you may not understand. Ask the district to leave the room so you can concentrate or you leave the room so you can concentrate on reading the entire agreement.
We have an issue with timing for transportation. The district states they cannot transport after a certain time and our child will still need transportation after that time. There is a solution, they can pay us to transport. We will be paid for our mileage. It doesn't help with figuring out how to manage after school activities for the other kids and getting her home, but at least it reduces the cost of transporting her that we have been covering for the last several months. It may not be everything we had hoped for, but in the end it's better than what we were getting, and with everything else that is working so well I have to say life is getting pretty good!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Why Should I use a Neuropsychologist?
Someone I have worked with recently shared that they were not sure why they should use a Neuropsychologist rather than someone else to diagnose their three year old child in an IEE. This had seemed obvious to me as someone who had a background in Clinical Psychology, but others don't necessarily understand the different classifications within the world of clinical psychology and why one title may be preferred over others in different situations.
A neuropsychologist is the elite in the world of educational testing. They have the most education, the most training,, and the most experience. All Neurop0sychologists will have a Bachelor's degree (either B.A. or B.S.). Many have a Masters degree (either M.A. or M.S.). They will have a doctoral degree (either Ph.D. or PsyD.), and they will have additional education in Neuropsychology. In addition they must have completed all training as a psychologist, and completed additional training in neuropsychology. After completing all of the above training and education, they also must past state tests that prove competency. A neuropsychologist is more than able to diagnose anyone with learning problems and in some ways may be 'overkill' for a younger or more disabled student, but their degree of fitness as an expert is pretty unimpeachable. The "neuro" part means they have studied the brain in more depth and they are able to administer tests that allow them to make more detailed assumptions about the brain.
A clinical psychologist is also someone that would make an excellent expert, although they have not spent the additional time studying neuropsychology. For many children this would be adequate, but districts are less likely to admit to the expertness of the Clinical psychologist than the Neuropsychologist. Keep in mind though, that districts rarely use Clinical psychologists to test the children in the district, so their "experts" in most cases are not as educated or trained as vigorously as most Clinical psychologists. Testing is the specialty of the Clinical psychologist, although their testing strength may not be in educational testing. Most often they test for psychological disorders. They will have had to complete state testing to ensure competency.
A school psychologist must have a Master's Degree and pass a state competency test. They are allowed only to practice in schools and their education focuses almost exclusively on learning to administer and evaluate educational tests. They have no continuing education requirements.
An LCSW or Licensed Clinical Social Worker is trained and licensed to be a counselor or therapist. This person would have an M.S.W. (Master's of Social Work). They must also complete hours of training and pass a state competency test. They have some training in administering and evaluating tests, but they have not specialized in educational testing and would not be considered an expert for the purposes of educational testing.
An MFT or Marriage and Family Therapist is very similar to an LCSW, except that their specialty is in relationships and they would receive either an M.A. or and M.S. in Clinical Psychology. They would also not have the necessary requirements to be considered an expert in educational testing.
A Psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in administering medications for psychiatric conditions. Many children in special education may see a psychiatrist for medication management but they would not be considered experts in educational testing. They might be an excellent witness for some aspects of a case involving special education, but they would not be a expert in the area of testing.
Choosing the Right School
Our school district has a policy that disallows what they call "school shopping". Their opinion is that each of their school sites that offers certain programs all offer THE SAME program. Of course we all know that this isn't true - otherwise why would parents prefer one school site over another? This isn't to say that one is necessarily better than another (although that may be the case), but could it be that one site is better or more appropriate for a specific child? I believe so. I believe it is disingenuous for the district to state that they are all THE SAME and therefore transfers are not necessary.
When our oldest was returning to district after having gotten all he could from the county program for kids with severe emotional difficulties he wanted to attend a particular high school that was not our neighborhood high school. It wasn't that our neighborhood high school was so bad, but he had made some enemies before going into the county program and he was nervous about how he would be welcomed back. The last time he had seen a group of about 6-8 boys was when they were chasing him and threatening to do him harm. The district agreed that he would be transferred to the other school site as part of his IEP.
My oldest daughter has had some difficulty in our neighborhood elementary school, mostly teasing and great difficulty making any friends. She is quite a cute girl, she is sweet and a good friend once she is your friend, but she is also painfully shy, has a great deal of anxiety, and if she is not diagnosable as depressed, she is very close. Her most recent psychological evaluation suggested that she is clinically depressed, but the district prefers to ignore that since she is not taking a specifically antidepressant medication - just a medication that is used for depression and anxiety. I have actually avoided making a big deal out of the depression with the school because from everything we have seen and discussed with various professionals her depression is primarily driven by her anxiety - so working on the anxiety helps to diminish the depression so we have chosen to work on the cause of the depression rather than focusing on what seems to be a diagnosis of outcome rather than a primary diagnosis. She has also been diagnosed with Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - which tells us that she is a follower and that she is likely to follow anyone who accepts her down whatever rabbit hole they might lead her. All kids are like this to a certain degree, but kids with pFAS are especially vulnerable to this.
We had this particular child transferred in Jr High as the school in our area was in "Program Improvement" meaning they were not doing well at teaching the children that attended there. We had allowed her to attend a "Program Improvement" school prior to this and had seen her skills slip - especially her oral language skills. She went from a child who spoke mostly appropriately to a child who wouldn't use proper tenses and would use double negatives with regularity. We had seen her propensity for following the crowd already.
The school that she transferred to has been a wonderful opportunity for her. Her language didn't really improve, but then it didn't get worse either. She did however find a small group of caring and compassionate friends who although they don't invite her often or include her in all of their activities, are open to having her come along at times and treat her with caring and respect. This group is among the popular kids which then helps her to be treated kindly by other kids at the school. If someone is mean to her, the "cool kids" stand up for her, and so teasing and humiliation have been at a minimum. I don't think there are many kids who get through Jr. High completely unscathed so this was really a great situation for her.
Now, as it is time to move on to High School, the IEP "team" refuses to send her to the High School that her current Jr. High feeds into. They say she must return to her "home school". This decision of course does not take into account her Generalized Anxiety Disorder, her Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or her Clinical Depression that is included in her most recent Neuropsychogical Evaluation even though I have not made a big deal out it with the district. Their excuse is that the law states that when possible a child should be educated at the school of residence. We all know that the law they are referring to was intended to PROTECT our children, and is in this case being used to imprison this child in a situation where she will once again be placed with the children who have previously humiliated and teased this child. She will also have no group of friends who will stick up for her so she will hang out with whoever will tolerate her quirkiness, and she will once again be vulnerable to all manner of abuse since she will do whatever it takes to "have friends". Wouldn't we all be willing to go outside of our comfort zone if otherwise we were left with no one to have lunch with or talk about our favorite shows or tars or whatever with? Being lonely is a great motivator - most of us will do whatever it takes to avoid isolation.
Was the IEP process meant to force children to attend the local school even when their psychological diagnoses would recommend against it? Was it meant to allow a district to avoid taking responsibility for a child's well being? Was it meant to set up a pretense that all schools are equal for all children? I believe that emotional diagnoses are supposed to be considered as a part of the IEP process as well as educational diagnoses. I also believe that if all of the schools programs were actually the same then parents wouldn't prefer one setting over others.
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I always use the Lite versions first to see if my kids are interested. Sometimes what looks like a lot of fun to me will not interest my kids at all. I have wasted a few apps, but with the lite versions when they are available I can pretest and avoid wasted money. Luckily though most of the apps I have purchased are less than $2 so not a great waste. Sometimes you have to take the risk! =)
Pocket Phonics: My kids love this one! They learn letter sounds and practice making the sounds into words. The also get to practice making the letter with their finger. It covers so many of the bases on letters and it's a game and it's fun. I have accidentally purchased apps (usually only free ones though) that aren't fun - why bother? My kids wont play with them! They even have a free trial that you can use to see if your child will enjoy it.
Tangrams: It seems like it's just about fun, but these puzzles go from simple to complex and puzzle skills are great for building a good math brain!
Any of the Kindergarten.com apps are good if they are interactive - the flash card apps were not at all entertaining but the apps that have you find the right object or person are great! Some kids like flash cards though so if your kid likes to do flash cards those would probably be good.
Different Roads to Learning has several fun apps - I have chosen different apps of theirs based on my kids' particular needs.
Voice Memos is cool for your child to hear themselves. Audio Note - Lite - might be just as good as Voice memos depending on your kid.
Fun Rhyming is a lot of fun and rhyming is a skill taught in kindergarten so important to practice. This would be a great kindergarten prep activity than can be used through at least the kindergarten year and most likely beyond.
Autism Xpress - great for learning a few facial expressions - but you might find something with even more expressions once you've gone through these.
Peekaboo Barn - fun for the very young -hear animal sounds and try to guess with animal it is - great for building auditory discrimination skills.
Cake Doodle - great for working with your child - you can pull more language out of a reluctant speaker by having them name what they want to do - the reward is a beautifully or goofily or crazily decorated cake!
The Monster at the End of This of This Book - and The Monster at the End of the Book 2 - My kids love these very interactive books - seriously this is why books on an iPad (or other fun device like this) were created! Kids help the monsters get to the end of the book despite a certain monster's every effort from keeping them back - so fun and encourages reading!
Starfall ABCs - Starfall is a premier in educational learning
Alligator Apps has many entertaining and educational apps - just depends on what you child needs and likes - I would check out their selection.
Bigitech Matching Games - free trial and you get six matching games for just $ .99! This includes cars, flags, smiley faces, traffic signs, and animals. Great for improving memory!
FizzBrain's Eye Contact - great for kids with autism though it can be hard to get them to play so depends on your child.
Dot to Dot Numbers and Letters - great for developing alphabet and counting skills - my kids love do to dot and this doesn't waste a ton of paper! There is a free trial app you can use to see if your kids will like it - could be too hard for kids with fine motor issues on the iPhone and iPod - great on the iPad for almost anyone.
Super Duper has a number of great apps - they are a bit expensive - $2.99 so pick carefully the ones your child needs. And most of them require that you are working with your child so if you don't want to sit with them regularly don't waste your money. If you enjoy working with them, these are worth the cost for those apps that your child needs.
Speech with Milo interactive storybook - Fun and interactive - but it requires that you be able to hear the app well so some devices may need additional speakers or headphones - it is great on our iPad, but too quiet on my iPhone - it really depends on your device.
Steam Draw - great for developing letter writing skills - the kids like it because it's like drawing on the shower door
Below are the places you kind find apps for autism and other special needs:
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TweetInstead of making folks ferret out multiple posts for apps info, I've put together a categorized spreadsheet of iPad apps for people with autism.