Rolls Royce or FAPE

The rolls royce for autism is 3-5 years of ABA coupled with complimentary services such as speech, ot, structured play “lessons”, social stories (when higher functioning), etc. What is truly ironic is that the heavy investment initially actually can reduce the overall lifetime costs associated with children with autism. (No method is 100% for autistic kids; Lovaas found and others have replicated ABA helps approx. 50% of the low to mid range functioning kids recover enough to survive in typical class settings with minimal support.)

I am willing to wager that given more effective services for other classification of kids early (AIT , Orton-Gilliam, etc.) will also reduce the overall “career” costs for the schools.

Couple that with the idea that a child in recovery or remediation will be more likely to not be a major discipline problem (read major headache for teachers and other staff) and I think that providing a costlier but more effective service is actually in the long run a true bargain.

The problem is that administrators, whether in state offices, local school boards or wherever are not very likely to look farther than this year’s budget when making their decisions.

> Are you sure that this “mentally retarded” child is not
> autistic? The standard for autistic kids in our school
> district is a a 1:1 aide (with the level of inclusion based
> on individual needs/strengths) and 1:1 time with a special
> ed teacher, 1 1/2- 2 1/2 hours per week of speech therapy, 1
> 1/2 - 2 1/2 hours per week of occupational therapy, and
> physical therapy, if needed. I know of at least 5 early
> elementary kids that get this level of service; those
> autistic kids that don’t need as much academic support still
> typically have a 1:1 to 1:3 aide in the inclusive classroom.

Placement, by law, shouldn’t be dictated by disabling condition, but rather by the goals and objectives established by the IEP team. Kids with various disabling conditions might have the regular classroom as a placement because that is where the GnO’s may best be implemented based on many, many factors.
>
> What you call a Rolls Royce is actually a Chevy sedan in
> terms of FAPE for autistic children.

Or other children for that matter. A Rolls Royce placement is one that costs big bucks for a district. Out-of-district placements are generally the most expensive; however, hiring of any personnel is at least a little costly. Having a 1:1 aide would be more like a nice Buick Regal or maybe a Honda Accord than an Rolls Royce, in my book. Hiring a private sign language interpreter more on the Accura or Lincoln level…

Can we put any price tag on FAPE? No, because districts can generally prove it without much problem if there is any educational benefit at all.

The true bottom line is student outcome: productive, independent members of society who are literate and possess the ability to use critical thinking skills. I personally believe in maximizing the educational potential for each student—but that is way beyond what FAPE requires.

Sending kids to school to be taught by ineffective programs is very costly no matter the child teacher ratio.

The child has Down Syndrome.

No child in public education is entitled to the maximum education or the maximum achievement they can attain. Were this the case, our nondisabled children would be getting far more, too.

Somehow when we use tax dollars to provide public education we do have to have some limits. We cannot provide more and more and more. The time is not available, other things in life are important, too, families have at least half the responsibility historically for preparing their children for adulthood.

Public education is a service, it is not perfect because it deals with educating the masses on a budget. Probably things could be better, but I am concerned about the need for a balance between the family/school, between academic learning time and nonacademic down time, between what we parents should and do teach our children.

We seem to talk as though we can just fix everything with public education. I don’t think we can, nor do I think it is practical. We cannot administer a massive program in a huge country and have every single parent or teacher happy. The only way to ever get this in any service sector is to pay for private services yourself.

I do think many of us who do the teaching care and want to serve the children and their families, but we cannot deliver the equivalent of private, 1:1 therapy to families on the publics’ dime.

No, I would not agree that a 1:1 aide, 1:1 therapy on the school site is a Chevy sedan. Lots of 1:1 in public school on the taxpayers’ dime is anywhere from Cadillac to Rolls Royce in my experience and this much service is not required to show progress as progress can be achieved in small group instruction for almost all children. Typical services in my area for high function autism include resource room time and speech time in a small group setting with a credentialed specialist. There is almost no such thing as 1:1 therapy with caseloads the size we are required to teach.

I don’t know how to import your comments here, so I will add that it seems that what constitutes a Chevy, Buick or Honda may vary from locale to locale. For many, many children having a 1:1 aide is certainly more than the Chevy or Honda, we hardly ever provide this for any child in my district.

It would be nice to maximize educational potential, but I would be the first to stand up and tell you that neither my GATE child or my high average child is anywhere close to maximized in the public education system. And, I think you showed rather nicely that determining what maximizing actually is in any case may be debatable when you shared how your own child’s IQ scores increased after you worked very diligently to enrich his experiences. Potentially we could do this with any child, but is the public willing to pay for public education to become that intensively therapy-oriented in 1:1 or very small groups for many children?

My concerns are we can share what we dream of and what we want for our own children and those we teach, but there is always the practicality of life in the day-to-day realm to deal with and where and when do we determine we have done enough?

I know it is easy to come back with getting a child reading on grade level, and so on and so forth. Believe me, I support that goal, but not all dyslexic children ever become really proficient readers. When the parent of a child who has Down Syndrome comes in demanding 1:1 services out the wazoo, so to speak, I sympathize. I suspect that parent is thinking their child can achieve more than any “Down Syndrome” child has ever achieved, I have no doubt that the parent wants to smash the heretofore limits of Down Syndrome. I would, too. However, I do not believe it is the responsibility of the public school to make that particular dream come true for that parent. I believe the parent who has that dream maybe better get cracking at home, enriching and exposing and reading and working daily toward this worthy goal and that parent might have huge success. But, it is a gamble and it is time consuming and expensive, not something I believe we should all be hammered into manifesting for this eager parent.

My district has rolls royce funds and they squander it on whole language one on one. They have 2 teachers for 20 kids in second grade inclusive class which is better than most private schools.

I think that schools could do better with the funds they have. I also happen to believe most parents could do better as well. It’s hard work but so is anything worthwhile in life.

Thing is, each has to buy into this. Most on both sides say “I do all I can.”

I do alot but am always interested in finding what else I could or should be doing. I think that teachers and the school district should have the same attitude when it comes to all children. What else can we do? What really works?
My experience is that no matter the funding they don’t!

I’m hoping this does not come out as callous or mean-spirited, but here is the realization that I came to when I had to become educated about special education. So this is fact and not a slam or blame game.

Special education today has taken over for the institutions that disabled children were placed in years ago. When public schools would not take handicapped children, they were sent to private schools (if families could afford it) or institutions to receive their special care along with their education.

In no way am I saying that they deserve any less but, now everything has changed and the public schools become the caretakers of handicapped and disabled children. Special services need to be provided in order for some children to just make it to the school or make it through the day. These services are expensive, but by law they take priority over education, because the child must be accomodated to attend school with his non-disabled peers.

LD children are placed under the same special education umbrella as all disabled children. Therefore by the time the budget is prioritized and distributed, guess who comes up short?

I had no idea that this was the case when my son first needed academic special services. I only found out by joining the parent support group through the school.

I know its only a dream, but I do not believe that a child should have to go to school for 7 hours and then have to go to a tutor because he didn’t get what he needed academically during the school day. That is just wrong.

Sure my child could use some OT, but I never considered that to be the school’s job. I want them to teach him how to read, to spell and to understand the concept of math. Instead, they are more than happy to do the OT if I want it, but teaching how to read, well, I’m on my own with that one.

It just makes absolutely no sense to me.

Parents can wish for and chat about whatever they desire. Who am I to say something is impossible? I can only serve those children whose paths I cross. I’m also sure that Rolls Royce looks like Buick in Beverly Hills so it’s all relative…

I find I make and sustain better collaborative relationships and get better student results when I expect more of myself and my students. FAPE is the minimum. “Maximum results” is, indeed a moving target, but one worthy of continued effort. How do we know when we win? I don’t know…I’m not finished yet. Perhaps maximum results might be defined in a new thread…sort of like the yogurt commercials: “Shoe shoppin’ good”.

Sometimes, perhaps, parents of reg. ed. and gifted students feel that too much money is spent on sped kiddos in a shrinking school economy. Did I detect just a hint of that in your post? I’ve never perceived it before in your professional posts. A very dear friend of mine, and parent of G & T student, admits to such feelings. Sometimes, as the parent of a sped student, it makes me twinge a little, but I generally work through it. I always seem to remember it, though.

The entitlement is a FAPE for ALL, not what’s best or reaching one’s potential. What is a FAPE? Preparation for employment and independent living (better known as educational benefit). Anything beyond is Cadillac education. Talented, gifted, and advanced placement services exceed FAPE for a limited number of the student population. This seems to violate the terms of federal funding.

I’m probably going to get “creamed” for saying this - I did last time on another board. It doesn’t change my opinion.

The school would have provided my dyslexic (for lack of a better word which most understand) daughter with “direct instruction” resource at the beginning of 2nd grade. They said this was a program that they had good success with. I told them she had very specialized needs and what they offered wasn’t good enough. I did not place her there. I CHOSE to pull her from school and place her in 1:1 LMB tutoring as well as a host of other interventions which I am privately paying for. That’s my choice. As I told the guidance counselor, it is not the school’s “fault or problem” that my daughter has a learning disability. It’s not her fault either. It’s reality. We will provide the best that my pocketbook can provide. We will research, we will discuss with other parents and specialists and we will go to the ends of the earth to find what supports her best. However, I do expect a partnership with the school to accommodate her, to encourage and support her and to provide her with all the intervention she needs that they currently provide. She does receive OT through the school in addition to private OT.

I could fight. I could demand LMB or 1:1, but I spend my time and money (and we DON’T have a lot of it) on getting her the best intervention possible.

I received a phone call just yesterday from the AT special for my county telling me of new software they had just received that might benefit my child. You know, I’m happy with that. We have a hard won, but pretty good relationship. They know I want my daughter to succeed and they are willing to help with the resources they currently have. Most of my daughter’s teachers and I get along great. Basically, they have all wanted her to succeed and she has. But NOT because of what the school provided in the way of reading instruction.

Alot of parents don’t like my theory. I’m sorry. But it doesn’t change how I will address my daughter’s needs. Currently, she is not the same child she was 2 years ago. I have kept all her paperwork over the years and when I see the difference and the attitude and the perserverance, I know we HAVE succeeded.

Will she every read like me? I doubt it. Will she ever spell well? I doubt it. Will she have a good self esteem and realize her limitations and find work in an area she loves? I hope so. Isn’t that what we all want?

Education policy and funding are issues of local control, often funded largely by property taxes and state income tax, and local taxpayers make funding decisions that influence ed. policy. What is a rolls royce placement in your community may not be one in my community; that’s where being specific in postings in a BB is important. In my small uppermiddle class suburban Massachusetts community the largest number of out-of district placements is for multiply handicapped students, followed by services for teens with a combination of mental health, substance abuse and academic issues; none of these are seen as outrageous. No my town does not have a gifted and talented program and it is not because of special ed. costs; Mass. ranks near the bottom of states setting aside funds for gifted and talented student programs.

I don’t understand your point about OT. It is the school’s job to teach my kid to write and since he has dysgraphia, she is the most qualified person to do this. In fact, he has made tremondous progress with his writing ability thanks to the OT he has received.

I’m with you, Leah. I do not expect the schools to do everything. yes, they need to improve reading instruction across the board. But if I want “the best”, I’ll pay for it privately.

Janis

Great posts, Anitya! I totally agree…as a parent of a child with special needs and an academically gifted child and as a special ed. teacher.

Janis

My point would be that we (meaning us at our school) can get many more physical-related disabilities addressed with specialized therapy before the school is willing to remediate basic academic skillls in the same manner.

In my opinion, I would rather them spend their energy teaching my child to read. He will have very limited access to the world and extremely limited success if he cannot master this basic skill. His sloppy handwriting (which is what they are willing to address) can be worked around in the future. Most likely any field he chooses will require typing over handwriting anyway (unless he becomes a physician, his awful handwriting will come in handy, ha, ha!). Yes, I want him to have the basic knowledge of the mechanics of writing, but in his case, reading is the more serious issue and the school believes that it should be handled by outside tutors to see results. This is not right.

I would say that you are very lucky that the school will even acknowledge dysgraphia. We were just told that it is too difficult for the teachers to read his papers so we need to work on it.

I didn’t realize your were in Massachusetts, SAR? I thought that you were in California? I am not sure why that sticks in my head, but it is what I remember??

Where do you teach? Special ed or SLP??

K.

I know where you are coming from except I started with the school. They really didn’t do even the minimal—and I pulled him out in second grade and partially homeschooled him. In third grade we got a properly trained resource teacher.

I turned to private help when it became clear that the school was useless. I was not going to let my son fail. We continued the work privately, even after getting a much better resource teacher, and I have got to the point of feeling that I want a partnership with the school. I want them to work with me—not against me. This even was not happening before the new resource teacher. There are many kids who can be remediated in a group setting with a properly trained teacher. My son is not one of them.

I struggle with what this should mean. With the help of family and our own resources we have provided him with a lot of private help. Should the school be required to do this for a child like him? I honestly do not know. It seems to me to go beyond what the mandates for public education are. Yet, I know we are fortunate to be able to do what we have done. What about the child like mine who was born into very different circumstances?

I don’t have any answers for that but it seems to me that a fundamental inequality is built into a market based economy. Those with more money have more options. My grandmother, when very elderly, could afford an assisted care facility (and she was a German immigrant with an 8th grade education). It didn’t change the fact that her body was failing. We provide Medicaid to pay for nursing home care because we don’t want the elderly to be on the streets. We don’t pay for the elderly to have a Cadallac either.

Beth

I did two years of Early Intervention work

My agency ran a small playgroup for delayed kids and, simply put, the autistic kids and severely handicapped(wheelchair,tube fed, etc) needed far more attention than those there for other delays. A child with nothing but a speech delay was pretty much on their own.

As the teacher, I felt confident I was doing the best I could but….the agency later started a separate class for kids with just speech delays. I made awesome gains with those kids-3-4 times the gains I was able to make when those type kids were mixed in a ‘special needs’ classroom. And it wasnt the numbers-I actually had MORE kids-it was the time gained by not dealing with severe conditions

My ds, who is borderline to even receive services, has to be at the bottom of the list

Beth, you hit the nail on the head! In a capitalistic society, there will always be those that have and those that don’t. It took me awhile (years) to think all that through. I used to advocate for the “best” for all special needs students. And I still do within reason. But I came to realize that “somebody” was going to have to pay for it all. And the average masses are honestly taxed to an extreme as it is. The alternative if one desires true “equality”, I suppose means communism, which certainly hasn’t been good for the masses either. So we are basically stuck in a system that will generally provide mediocrity at best, and those who can afford it will pay for the “best” elsewhere.

Now, realistic ways the system can be improved are numerous. The recent report on improving IDEA was a great start. If research based reading programs were used in every elementary school in America, I predict we’d drastically cut the numbers of kids who end up LD Reading. For those who have true processing disorders (like yours and mine!), they need MSSL programs from resource teachers or SLP’s…and EARLY! It may not be one-on-one, but still, if the right methods were used, I think we’d be a little better off than we are now.

Janis

I don’t really understand the voucher system, but if parents got certain voucher-credits representing their tax dollars plus the advantage to the society of helping autistic, deaf , handicapped , dyslexic children for example be productive adults and parents could then apply those where they will would it not have the advantage of encouraging private research and methods of remediation that work while freeing schools to teach again? Parents who lost the roulette game and got kids that need more expensive treatments might get more voucher-credits which they could take wherever they liked. Other parents could use theirs to encourage charter schools whatever they chose?I think it’s signifigant that most of the methods that really work to teach LD children to read were developed privately, for profit and not within the school system. Beaurocracies just don’t encourage innovations. Also it seems like there ought to be some kind of insurance policy available for a lot of treatments. Dyslexia is physical,not academic. Another difference I notice is that in Europe and the UK paretns expect and don’t resent helping out schools and teachers. Paretns regularly go in and read with students, raise money for special equipment, and act as governors for the school. There is a consciousness that the school will be as good as the effort put into it. It seems like that used to be true in the U.S., but with the loss of communities adn rise of suburbs it’s been lost.

I have a number of unresolved issues with regard to public education: what should be delivered, etc. I may never resolve them all, there is too much we really cannot know for certain. I also have a personal belief system that implores me to rely upon myself and my family first and to be distrustful of government. Public education is a social service and I largely don’t believe that socialism or socialistic programs really work very well, by definition. They never will be the answer we are all looking for. Socialistic programs will offer, at best, factory assemblyline-style programs that help many, many people a little bit and very few a lot.

I don’t, for the most part, believe money spent on special ed. is stolen or robbed from general ed. I do know of, from first hand experience, a couple of profoundly (truly profound) retarded youngsters whose parents continue to insist on general ed. placement, and every service under the sun, for a child who is non-verbal, nonabulatory, in diapers, unable to use any communication devices (due to developmental level not being high enough)…..these cases drain much from the budget and provide little to the child. Something is due the child, of course, I do think there is some budget spend that is not yielding any return and in this business that is a shame.

What is FAPE? Read a few court cases as see how *little* meaningful instruction it takes for a school district to show that it provided a free and appropriate public eduation.

They provide choice and a way for parents to disagree with educational decisions without having to go to hearings over it all.

I just don’t believe that government is necessarily “good” or “bad” or that public education must always produce volumes of “factory workers.” I am, I realize, the eternal optimist and I doubt that anyone will change me at this late date.

I do, however, appreciate your right to your own opinion.

***

Vouchers provide a system closer to what we are used to in this country. A free market one. One where systems that fail disappear because they are squeezed out by competition.
A free market system would educate all children more effectively and efficiently. If schools can’t get it right they should not collect public funds.

Japan has had a 10 year recession. This is because Japan doesn’t let capitalism work. The government consistantly bails out businesses and banks. They don’t allow the weak to be weeded out. They are left with inefficient systems that drag the whole country down.

We have a school system that although it fails in many areas is not allowed to go away. It just continues to collect public money.

Exactly - very well stated Linda!

It’s very noble for parents to assume the legal responsibility of public education. However, every one of us is either part of the problem, or part of the solution. We all share responsibility for maintaining the current system. Our system of education is perfectly designed to achieve poor outcomes for LD students and there is little motivation to improve - largely because those who are able to influence global improvement, while meeting their individual child’s needs, opt out of the system. I’m sure you have an excellent relationship with your child’s school, Leah – they like parents like you and would prefer that all parents of LD students would pull them out for private parent-funded services.

You’re right. They do like me. And my daughter loves school. To have a severely LD daughter who loves school, in my opinion, is success.

I went to a advocacy conference once and they really “fussed” at me b/c I am paying for what the school, in their opinion, should pay for. They said I wasn’t helping anyone else with the way I was doing it.

You know what? I agreed with them. But I also told them that I was unwilling to sacrifice my daughter’s education and self esteem on the altar of who’s going to pay. If I fought with them, and won, it might be 2 years later. And I might have won financially, but the toll it would have taken on my daughter was, in my opinion, too high a price.

I’m learning alot. I’m more than likely going to have LD grandchildren. Probably by then they will have programs in the schools for dyslexics and LD children. You know what? If I have the money, I will probably pay for my grandchildren to go to private 1:1 tutoring b/c that is where their needs will be best addressed.

I won’t apologize for doing the best I can for my daughter.

Who and how is a school’s reading program determined. Is it the curriculum director and does every teacher have to use one method or are they free to do what they feel fits the class or their preference?(run on sentence, I know, sorry).

Oftentimes the dysgraphia is a combination of fine motor AND visual processing problems which is an LD. Many times you find out that the same child who is dysgraphic will also have other LDs (as mine does), visual processing, motor planning, etc. Yes, the handwriting can be addressed by OT; however, they also need to accommodate the visual processing problems. B/c of help in OT my daughter now has handwriting = to other children her age. She still, however, continues to have trouble with copying from the board and slow writing. I guess my point is that sometimes even when the writing improves there are other problems that are not going away.

I used to get just stompin’ upset about the unfairness I saw parents being dealt in IEP meetings and school situations. I saw them get ulcers fighting schools and not win a thing. Their kids were miserable and so goes the whole family. Only you can determine what stress level is acceptable for your family and how many lawyers you will personally save from the welfare lines. They are the big winners, here, you know ;-)

I finally decided that the only way I could have a positive impact on this whole convoluted mess was to get certified and teach. Then at least I could try my best to help some kids learn. My district is very receptive to letting me group & teach however best works for children.

I think that teachers are not really prepared to deliver all the helpful instruction that they should be. They certainly aren’t paid big bucks to sit back in apathy. I see dedication but not the surgeon’s skill needed to teach our most difficult to reach students. They pay for 6 years of school (with M.S.) and then have to take many more classes in order to be able to really teach reading. (I was fortunate to take those classes first…then sit back with glazed eyes during the whole language classes required for certification. (I learned some very nice things there, as well. It just wasn’t comprehensive enough to reach all learners.)

I think we are shooting at the wrong target here. Could the real “villians” be those white-haired demi-gods in higher education who haven’t been in a classroom for a hundred years but keep pushing out the same non-research-based pedagogy? They seem to be illusively untouchable because they “hold the key” to certification. I kept my mouth clamped shut in order not to be driven out of the education program. Teachers teach how they are prepared to teach. Most do wish to help kids, I think.

It varies by district.

In our district: The regular ed curriculum is selected at the top for K-3 and includes LiPS modified for the classroom. Children receive clincician-level support if they are not successful with classroom-level instruction. It matters not if they have a label, they get help anyway. Title I is also supposed to support, however, some aren’t LiPS focused—deeply believe in Reading Recovery, for example.

Past Gr 3, it varies by building. Some use Wilson, some SPIRE, some Reading Recovery. Many other programs, too. SRA seems to be popular with the billions of little tiny flash cards to scatter in floor.

Some principals dictate. Most don’t. Why: Because you can’t make a teacher use P.A. if they have poor P.A. themselves. (One reason I get all P.A. kids is because I’m good at it and one of my colleagues is not.)

If a teacher has been taught certain philosophies in school, it is hard to convince them differently. Those professors have a powerful impact on what young teaching minds believe is true.

>>I finally decided that the only way I could have a positive impact on this whole convoluted mess was to get certified and teach.<<

Me too!
I’m starting my masters in teaching program next May.
In the mean time I sub as a sped aide.
A real eye opener!
It is like juggling 25 different shaped objects while
peddling backwards, gracefully, on a unicycle ;-)

As much as I have, for the most part, been just
fine with our teachers and experience ( except middle
school - oh, my!) I always knew it wouldn’t be
enough.

I wish it was enough, in a perfect world we would have
money and resources for all the kids - but I knew it wouldn’t
happen for us. So this old ‘Dick and Jane, look and say’ reader
learned phonics from the ground up and my son reads, still below
grade level but we’re getting there.
I was so lucky that his problem is learning and remembering the
decoding with a little short term memory problem thrown in.
I really feel for parents and kids with more difficult rows to hoe.

Anne

I totally understand. My child has visual processing problems as well. That is how we even found out he had LDs. But our OT would not address these issues. We had to go outside and ended up in vision therapy (which was unsuccessful). His problems with copying from the board etc. were written as accomodations such as “give him extra time to copy” and slow writing was addressed as “permit short answers and limit writing exercises.”

So, I guess every school has a different definition of what their OT will work on. Ours will not even touch visual processing which totally effects everything in the learning process. Who knows what their thinking when they determine this on their continuum.

Its a constant uphill battle. As I said before, you are truly lucky if they will address these issues for you. We are very BIG on getting around them by accomodating, not remediating.

I don’t think you should apologize for doing the best for your daugther. But, at the same time, I think parents who go through the intense work of finding all of this out should use it for the good of every child who struggles under our current system.

They truly do love the parents who say nothing, sit there and nod their heads assuming that the “professionals” know what is best for their child or they really love the ones who just give up.

By all means, waste no time in privately intervening for your child, but it is up to us parents who have been through this to make sure that the school learns from their mistakes. And who should they learn from but those who have had to scratch and sometimes beg for every little scrap that they would throw us.

This is wrong and children who have parents who do not have the finances, motivation whatever, should not have to suffer in the future. Like “take action” said, we are all either part of the problem or part of the solution.

As a side note: Not implying that you are, but anyone who believes that this “game” is a popularity contest for “nicest parents” will lose the ballgame. I have seen this be the case many times in my school district.

Would having a voucher program mean that a private school would have to take a student? I have just been through the experience in which a parochial (Catholic) school decided they could not “meet the needs” of my son since one of the “concerns” on his IEP from his school this past year was that he may not behave appropriately in the general classroom setting it was recommended he be in for the next year. I agree, that school cannot meet the needs of my son because they would not even give him the chance to go to the school he wanted to attend (he has not wanted to go to school for quite a while) because has only friend goes there. I am very concerned since I have been a member of this parish for many years, and I thought a Christian environment and environment would help him with his social skills and empathy needs. Anyway, they won’t take him, and I personally would not want my tax money to be given to that school or any other school who gets to pick and choose who comes and who does not.

with your statements.

I also believe that if cognitive skills were addressed early in school (K-gr. 2) we would see fewer kids “labeled” later.

I believe we are going to see major changes in the way reading is approached the next few years by the major textbook companies for regular ed material. Change takes a while.

I had been thinking about doing this, but now after this last discussion on the board I think I’m going to go in this year and talk to my daughter’s ESE teacher and guidance counselor. I am going to remind them about my daughter’s success with LMB and ask them why they are not providing an equivalent to it at the school. I plan to tell them to look at my daughter’s progress and show me any child in their special ed program who has made these gains in 2 years. I KNOW she would not be where she is today if I had let the school be responsible. I am going to ask them if they have ever even considered a multisensory approach like Wilson, or LMB.

My evaluator told me that (Alachua County I think) a nearby county is now providing LMB and Wilson in the public school. I will bring that to their attention and ask them who is in charge of deciding the curriculum for special ed for the district. Maybe I will even write them a letter… Maybe our county should contact the nearby county and find out their success rate… Hmmm. I could be on to something….

I had been thinking about doing this, but now after this last discussion on the board I think I’m going to go in this year and talk to my daughter’s ESE teacher and guidance counselor. I am going to remind them about my daughter’s success with LMB and ask them why they are not providing an equivalent to it at the school. I plan to tell them to look at my daughter’s progress and show me any child in their special ed program who has made these gains in 2 years. I KNOW she would not be where she is today if I had let the school be responsible. I am going to ask them if they have ever even considered a multisensory approach like Wilson, or LMB.

My evaluator told me that (Alachua County I think) a nearby county is now providing LMB and Wilson in the public school. I will bring that to their attention and ask them who is in charge of deciding the curriculum for special ed for the district. Maybe I will even write them a letter… Maybe our county should contact the nearby county and find out their success rate… Hmmm. I could be on to something….

That is perfect. You are in a great position to make this point and possibly make a difference because you have facts and results to back you up! Please keep us posted if you decide to go in there. I’d love to know what happens. Good Luck!

Oh, gosh, I’ll probably go in there. I’ll have to just drop by one day with a “you know, I’ve been thinking….” Honestly, they really don’t like me very much. Mainly b/c I don’t defer to them and their “knowledge”. Also, because I go find out stuff by attending workshops, seminars and the like. When I spent 2 yrs telling them my daughter had a problem and they kept telling me I was wrong (I didn’t know enough then to even put a evaluation request in writing and mail it) and I went out and spent my $$$ to get an evaluation b/c I KNEW something was wrong. And then I walked in with a “severe specific LDs in all areas and significant processing delays, both auditory and visual”, evaluation, they almost pooped! (sorry). After that 1st mtg., and I explained to them that obviously I knew alot more than they did… - they havent’ really liked me since. The one that does like me is the assistive technology supervisor b/c my daughter uses the computer and software with great success.

So, I really don’t think they like me, but I think they have a healthy - respect is not the word - it’s more like uh, oh, this one knows what’s going on.

Gosh, you know, my evaluator is in the county that uses the LMB and Wilson, and she recommended it. Maybe she can point me in the direction of who to talk to regarding their success with the program. She’s a former school psychologist. Hmm, Yeah, Little Lulu, I’ll let you know what I am able to find out.

If, as parents, we continue to pay privately for our children’s entitlement, we can expect to pass down the current system of education to our grandchildren - better up those retirement account contributions.

The system I imagine would NOT force a private school to take your son. But hopefully it would provide so much competition that you would have your pick of schools or that private school would have so much competition they couldn’t afford to be so choosey. Hopefully it would lead to small neighborhood schools again. It seems where there are a lot of homeschoolers parents are organizing classes together and in effect forming small schools. This in effect was what I was wanting to try to form here- a small coop of about 5 kids with parents pooling and sharing resources. I might just do it if I can get my husband to do the training to become a fencing master and we can offer those classes as a pull. The English are much slower to try new things -more inclined to muddle thru and hope for the best.

I really admire Janis. Her school administrators refused to pay for her PG training or Lips even though there was a workshop right nearby this summer. So she scraped up some frequent flyer miles and got tickets for two administrators from her school to fly down to New Orleans with her for the PG and found a way to get some LIPS training. All on her own initiative and money while juggling her own family. Now THAT is the kind of advocacy that I think gets results. Maybe if you talk to your evaluater the two of you can find someone like Janis in Spec Ed and start a pincer movement on the admin.

I know where you are coming from. I thought about going to due process with my son when I hit a stalemate with the district. My parents even offerred to pay for a lawyer. I pulled him out instead. Suddenly I could sleep at night. I realized I could not put myself and my family through it for the good of everyone who came behind me. I also realized to have a strong case I needed to let my son fail in the public school system. I have no doubt that he would have but I simply could not stand by and let it happen so that other children would benefit some day. This was my child and general principles of justice just wouldn’t let me sleep at night. At one level I feel like I was a coward but on another, I couldn’t have lived with myself if I had knowingly let him fail for some principle.

My school respects me too. I fought with a new OT to not have him dropped from OT last fall. In the end, she kept him there. I had an audiologist who was attending the meeting (because of a request for a sound field system) tell me that my son was always going to be OK with me as his advocate. I have learned the language and how the system works.

It does gull me at some level when the school district is always taking credit for how well my son is doing (and he isn’t doing nearly as well as your daughter). But I just smile—and work on getting them to provide what I can.

Beth

There are indeed many ways to make positive changes. uk mom is doing some herself. It took me awhile to realize the new handle! :-)

Thank you for your kind words. I have been out of town and really busy lately and have not been on this board much. But I will have to say I find that the majority here are exceptional parents and teachers. Sometimes I read posts that exactly express my feelings. Maybe the President ought to make a committee made up of us to change the special ed. laws here. It has to be done with the realization that the public will never pay for the Cadillac. But a good quality and reliable Honda Accord would be very nice!

Janis

I have found that I can do more good by being nice. I have bought books for my son’s teachers on reading reflex. I always try to take a postitive but persistant approach. I know that I have garnered respect because of my approach.
I get what I want for my son. I don’t fight. I state the facts, I present the research. People understand research and they understand results. I have gotten results with the methods I have employed with my son. When I demonstrate this to the powers that be it speaks volumes.
I have been in many places in my life where it was my goal to orchestrate change.
This has been the only method I have found that works.

Well I must say I too am an optimist and it has paid off for my boys. My oldest son is in his last few days of summer school, he is currently preparing for his 1st final. I know I know all 9th graders eventually get to this point but with my sons LD’s I was told just lower your expectations and he will do fine. He is doing more then just fine this child who had severe difficulties learning to read, to write, to understand is passing freshman health with minimal help. He has a long way to go still greater then 2 years behind in reading, but is writing skills, his organizational skills, motivation ect have really sky rocketed since receiving appropriatte intervention. He is maintaining a 86 average in this class. I have reviewed the work it was not dummied down, matter of fact he learned more in freshman health then I did in 12 years of public school on the subject. What amazed me most though was his notes. YES notes, he took notes, detailed notes, did homework and classwork assignments with little prompting, ect. This is a child who 3 years ago I was told needed to be medicated, counsiled, and sent to vocational type school. I advocated for him to be taught, I worked with him myself 1 on 1 after doing research and here the child who I should not expect much from entering high school ahead of his peers with 2 classes sucessfully passed under his belt. The self confidence he has earned will make his transition easier. I realize he has a way to go but I so very pleased with how far he has come. He has worked so hard on his reading skills and still has not given up. I just wanted other parents to know there is hope do not give up. If I would of listened to the experts and wrote my son off he would not of made such strides.

I just don’t see how we can run huge numbers of youngsters through public schools and get much individualization or responsiveness. Also, as we see more and more federal involvement in public education, it becomes even more skewed in the mass teaching direction.

I do know that private institutions can and must be more responsive to the needs they serve. They are smaller and don’t have to answer to the myriad of issues and concerns that pop up in the general public. It is possible that smaller schools could improve things, but I don’t see that as the answer.

We also have to contend with the fact that American people stand at often very different points along certain issues. One parent tells me she wants children grouped for instruction in reading and math so her child will receive instruction at her level. Another parent files a discrimination suit against the district if too many minority children are in lower groups. Judges rule on these kinds of issues. For any proposed solution there is always a drawback, so reform is not necessarily an easy matter. Not all people believe in the same route to reform, what reform should look like as an end product. So, we pretty much keep the status quo, which has served this country far, far better than not.

The further and further the “governance” of our school moves from the local communities they serve, the less responsive they can be to meeting the needs of that community.

Even charter schools are still public schools and are placed under the state and federal guidelines that mandate to schools “what,” by “whom,” and increasingly “how.”

We Americans seem to see this system of passing laws to force this or that as a positive. I fear, however, the end result is far, far from positive.