Making School Work, P.L.
A Private Law Firm – Allison Hertog, Esq., M.A.
Miami-Dade Schools: ESE Teachers Must be in Two Places at Once. And ESE Kids Suffer.
Oct 25th
Have you noticed that your child with Autism, ADHD, or learning disabilities is getting less attention from their special education teacher this year? That their special ed teacher is particularly worn-out, fatigued – maybe even at wit’s end this early in the year? Well, there’s a reason for that and it’s not simply that the Miami Dade School Board and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho have chosen to cut special ed (ESE) funds to the maximum extent possible. (See my prior post below for more details) I’m no accountant, but I’ve learned from a number of high-ranking sources that Miami Dade is “weighting” ESE funds against kids in general education classrooms and resource rooms. That means that using some arcane funding formula, they have intentionally ensured that there are fewer ESE teachers assigned to the same number of students. I’m not talking about over-crowding kids into classes – though that occurs as well – but requiring ESE teachers to be in two places at once, which is, of course, an impossibility.
It means that ESE students who are in general education classrooms for some portion of the day – and that’s most ESE kids – have been slammed! This is difficult to explain so let me give an example from a school I’ve visited recently. At this school, my client – let’s call her Emily – attends general education classes for Social Studies and Science but is in an ESE Resource Room for Math and Language Arts. There is only a single ESE teacher in the entire elementary school of over 700 students! That means that when this one teacher – let’s call her Mrs. Arnold – is at IEP meetings as required by law, which often sometimes multiple times per week for several hours, or when Mrs. Arnold is sick or is attending a training, etc, there is no one teaching Emily or the other ESE kids in the school. Emily is supposed to get ESE instruction in Math and Language Arts daily and is also entitled to collaboration and support in the general education setting according to her IEP. Yet, there is no ESE teacher to give her those services when Mrs. Arnold is at an IEP meeting, sick, etc. Needless to say, that is against the law known as the IDEA. In fact, it probably violates other laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Sound familiar? The reason why you may only be noticing how bad things are this year is because of the recent budget cuts (again, see my last post) and because the Miami Dade County School Board has stacked their financial books against ESE kids in general education classes. So, ESE teachers are responsible for teaching a greater number of ESE kids than they have in the past. In the past, Emily’s school might have had two ESE teachers or more. So that when Mrs. Arnold was in an IEP meeting, the other teacher could fill-in, for instance. Now, that one teacher is legally required to be in two places at once – the IEP meeting and the Resource room – something which is not humanly possible.
Parents all over the district are getting wind of this and are angry. I hear from them every day. If you think this is happening to your child, please, please contact me. The School Board will listen to parents and we need to speak-up in numbers at an upcoming school board meeting. I’ll be leading this effort and can keep you posted if you go to the facebook page link on the right hand column of this web site – ParentsforKids. Parents can fix this mess, really!
Miami-Dade School District Cut ESE Funding by Over $46 Million, Broward – $32 Million!
Oct 11th
If you’ve heard your child’s teachers complaining more than ever about scarce classroom resources – or worse, your child has lost classroom support, such as a paraprofessional or an extra teacher – there’s a reason. The most recent data gathered by Washington, DC – based Advocacy Institute shows that Miami-Dade Public School District has cut special ed funding by over $46 million dollars! And Broward by over $32 million. In my work I’ve seen some kids with Autism or severe ADHD being placed in classrooms with intellectually disabled kids because it’s cheaper than giving them the support they’re entitled to in a general ed class!
How are they able to get away with this, you ask. Well, the surprising truth is that the Obama Administration is allowing school districts, like Dade and Broward, to reduce their special education funding by these outrageous amounts – permanently and for no good reason! No one is sure exactly why the Obama Administration would expressly allow districts to do this, except perhaps to make some friends at the school districts at a time when they are low in the polls.
The details: You might remember that a few years ago Obama granted economic stimulus monies (called “ARRA” funds) in the billions to school districts – particularly for special education and low-income students. That money has now been spent – no surprise there. But during that time – before it was spent – school districts were allowed to cut back on the amounts they were spending on special education because they were getting increased federal money. Well, last June the Obama administration officially told them that they can continue cutting their special education funds even though they’re no longer getting extra federal money! You might imagine that in these tough budgetary times school districts, like Dade and Broward, are just thrilled to cut back on sped funding and use the money meet other obligations.
Myself and others are working to get this changed in the coming years – this years budget is already set – and we need your help. Email the Dade and Broward Superintendents - and your school board representative (Dade and Broward) and complain about these cuts. Your voice matters – seriously!
Can A Child with Behavior Problems Survive in a Typical Classroom?
Sep 14th
This issue is really getting to me lately. It seems I have several clients right now who have bright kids who are perfectly capable of doing well in a general education classroom but for their behavior problems. The schools I’m dealing with often want to transfer the kids to special education classrooms which are exclusively for kids with “emotional or behavior disorders” or to another type of classroom purely for kids in special education, such as a class for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
“EBD” or Other Self-Contained Classrooms
EBD classrooms are generally “self-contained” that means that they have only special education students in them. Generally speaking, they have a reputation of being filled with boys with discipline problems (as opposed to kids with other kinds of behavior problems, such as distractibility or anxiety). At the very worst, some of the EBD classrooms are known for housing future or current juvenile delinquents – not a place anyone would want their kid to learn!
Labeling Kids
Though a school district is by law not supposed to place children in classrooms based on their “classification” or label, many school districts seem to require that all students in EBD or ASD classrooms be labeled as such. While generally speaking, I don’t care so much about labels – I care more about the services a child is receiving – EBD is not a label I would want my own child to have. EBD is a very broad category which tends to communicate that a child is “crazy” or has severe disciplinary problems. That label doesn’t tell anyone much about how to educate that child well. The ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) label is a different story because by definition it encompasses a “spectrum” of kids, and because there’s a lot of resources and political clout following students (and their parents) with that label.
That said, some self-contained classrooms are good ones because they are small, have well-trained teachers and provide kids with a highly structured positive behavior plan based on incentives and rewards for good behavior. As a parent, you need to ask to observe the classroom before you consent to transfer your child there and see for yourself whether it would be a good change for him or her.
How to Stay in a General Ed. Classroom
If your son or daughter has any “behaviors” which interfere with their learning, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) they are entitled to positive interventions to help them function in the “Least Restrictive Environment.” The Least Restrictive Environment means that school districts are required to educate students with disabilities in general ed. classrooms with their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate. (For more about the IDEA go to www.wrightslaw.com)
When I say “positive interventions” generally I mean a system of incentives and rewards to improve poor behavior. Under the law, students with significant behavior problems are entitled to a formal Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP). But what I’ve found in Florida is that kids don’t get a written BIP unless they have serious discipline problems. All too often schools offer a BIP, not as a true remedy, but only to “set-up” a student, that is, to create a paper trail to show he or she should be transferred to a self-contained classroom, or to create a paper trail for some other reason which is, unfortunately, not directly related to your child’s education.
What I do for my clients in this predicament is to bring as much expertise and resources – this means I try to get expert teachers and administrators to attend the school meetings who can bring critical information and training (and sometimes funds) to improve your child’s situation. I also help the school team to create or upgrade the child’s BIP so that it includes a highly structured, individualized and systematic behavior plan which is targeted to reduce that particular child’s problem behaviors. I define problem behaviors broadly to include things like: inattention, off-task behavior or obsessive-compulsive behaviors, if those behaviors are interfering with their learning.
This post was originally published in December, 2007 and was updated as recently as September, 2011.
Don’t Let Your School Get Away with Denying an Evaluation to Your Child
Feb 25th
Every so often the government takes a powerful stance on the side of the less powerful. January 21, 2011 was one of those moments. On that date the United States Department of Education released a memo to the State Directors of Special Education stating that schools cannot deny or delay a parent’s request for a psycho-educational evaluation of their child if the parent and the school believe that the child may be eligible for special education services. It is pretty unusual for the US Dept. of Ed to issue a memo like that, and it must be that my experience in Florida of parents being routinely denied evaluations in the name of something called “Response to Intervention” (RtI) is typical nationwide.
What this means: So, if you think or know that your child has a disability and is struggling in school, and your school official is telling you that they “don’t do evaluations anymore” or “we’re still observing him” or “we’re not ready for that yet” etc., do not accept “no” for an answer! Do This: Tell him or her that you are officially requesting an evaluation and that is your right, and if they want to deny your request they have to put it in writing. They have to give you a written notice explaining their refusal to conduct an initial evaluation. As a practical matter, in order to get them to issue that notice you’ll need what’s called a “student study team meeting.”
What Could Happen: They will either go ahead with the evaluation at which point you need to sign your consent to it in writing or they’ll give you a written notice of refusal. If you get a notice of refusal, you can pursue mediation or a hearing in administrative court. If they agree to the evaluation, they have 60 days to complete the evaluation after you sign your consent.
Finally, Some Good News for Gifted and Disabled!
Feb 6th
One of the most challenging and infuriating areas in which I practice is advocating for the gifted and disabled (called “twice exceptional”) these days. I feel particularly passionately about these cases because I fall into the category of twice exceptional (I suffer from multiple learning disabilities) and when I was a student in public school, I was left back in second grade and misdiagnosed as cognitively “slow.”
I am continually arguing to the school districts in South Florida that a gifted student should not be denied special education and related services soley because they are capable of performing at or above grade level. I understand that the denial of special ed. services to the gifted is a national problem and not just limited to Florida.
Well, now for the good news! On December 26, 2007 the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to all public school districts in the country stating that students with disabilities who otherwise qualify for enrollment cannot be denied admission to challenging academic programs, such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. Some school districts nationwide have made it a practice to deny students with disabilities admission to accelerated programs (even though they are cognitively capable of doing the work) or conditioning their admission to these programs on giving up their special education services.
For a variety of reasons, I see that problem less often than the situation where a gifted or high-achieving student is denied special education services because they are capable of performing at or above grade level despite their disability. The OCR letter addresses that situation only indirectly, but I think there is language in the letter which could be helpful for a student who is being denied services.
Here is how the letter may be helpful to you in advocating for your twice exceptional child. The OCR states the following:
a) “Discrimination prohibited by these laws [Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act] includes, on the basis of disability, denying a qualified individual with a disability the opportunity to participate in or benefit from the recipient’s aids, benefits or services, and affording a qualified individual with a disability with an opportunity to participate in or benefit from the aid, benefit or service [i.e., the accelerated program] in a manner that is not equal to that offered to individuals without disabilities.”
b) “A public entity also may not impose or apply eligibility criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or any class of individuals with disabilities from fully and equally enjoying any service, program or activity, unless such criteria can be shown to be necessary for the provision of the service, program or activity being offered.”
c) “Section 504 and Title II require that qualified students with disabilities be given the same opportunities to compete for and benefit from accelerated programs and classes as are given to students without disabilities. ”
In my opinion, one implicit interpretation of the OCR letter is: If your child is qualified to be in an accelerated program but their disability prevents them from competing fairly in that program, your child is entitled to receive special education and related services in that program (in the form of a 504 plan or IEP).
I know this is a complicated area and please feel free to email me at AllisonHertog@gmail.com or call my office at 305-777-0299 if you have any questions. Knock them dead in your next school meeting. 
© Copyright 2009 Florida School Partners, P.L.
Even If You Could Get a 1:1 Aide, Here’s Why You May Not Want One.
Feb 24th
I hear it less now than I used to, but parents still routinely ask whether I can help their child get a 1:1 aide (meaning a paraprofessional who is ostensibly hired only to support a single child). My first response is that it’s always been very difficult, but due to budget cuts, it’s more difficult now than ever. My next response is that aides are not usually the answer to helping kids stay in a mainstream or gifted class.
I recently heard a prominent Miami-Dade school official say at an IEP meeting for a disabled who qualified to be in the gifted program but needs support – “Aides are for students who can barely keep their heads above water, not for a child like this.” But I think that response was disingenuous because most school districts don’t offer aides for kids who “can barely keep their heads above water” either – their solution for those kids (despite the federal legal requirement to keep kids with mainstream kids as much as possible) is to place them in “self-contained” classrooms of purely disabled kids. Who can blame them really. Assigning a 1:1 aide to a child means spending that person’s salary on only one child. That’s an enormous amount of money in these tight-budget times. But my point is this: 1:1 aides in and of themselves don’t generally help kids stay in mainstream classrooms. As a matter of Florida law (and the laws of many other states), only certified teachers can teach kids, not aides who generally have paltry qualifications and need not even have mastery of the English language. So, officially the aide can only keep the child on-task and following directions. I’ve observed a few aides who without formal training are simply natural educators and actually help kids to “access their education.” The majority of aides in my experience have no training in education (e.g., former bus drivers) and no training in behavior management – so they don’t even know how to effectively keep a child on-task, let alone keeping his or her impulses or emotions under control. Most of the aides I’ve observed are useless, quite honestly, to help the kids their assigned to; sometimes the aide causes the child to act-out against her aggravating the child’s behavior problems. As a child gets older he or she becomes very self-conscious, even resentful, of having an aide sit next to them. The aides often become the teacher’s helper with administrative tasks, like passing out worksheets, and the child makes little progress accessing his or her education. Ultimately, the child can’t survive in the mainstream classroom and is moved to a more restrictive special education environment. So, rather than fighting for an aide, I suggest getting your child the proper accommodations for his or her disability. One effective accommodation, is a peer “buddy” who is strong in the areas your child is weak will sit next to him or her, model good behavior, and depending upon his or her personality, will actually help your child follow directions and stay on-task.
UPDATE - September 20, 2009 – My position on this issue has changed and deepened slightly in the past few months to a year. Safety is a key and necessary justification for a 1:1 aide. Certainly there are those with physical or medical disabilities who absolutely could not join in a mainstream public school classroom without an aide. And some students with behavior problems (I’m thinking right now of high-functioning students on the Autism Spectrum, but there are others) can rise to the occasion, even flourish, in a mainstream classroom with the extra support of an aide. Those are often children who would pose a threat to themselves or others (usually unintentionally) without an aide. True miracles to see.
Can that IQ be Right? Autism and IQ
Jan 7th
Article first published 1/7/2007. See update below.
More and more often I am advocating for children on the autism spectrum who are achieving at or above grade level, but whose IQ scores show them to have below average or even mentally deficient intelligence levels. The IQ score is supposed to represent a person’s ability to learn so, how could it be that a child could be learning so well but be mentally retarded?
The answer is that it can’t be; it makes no sense. New research shows that the IQ scores of children on the autism spectrum may not be accurate reflections of their innate intellectual potential. While in the past many psychologists have believed that the vast majority of children with autism had below normal intelligence, recent scientific studies have questioned it.
As it turns out, the standard IQ tests (the WISC-IV and the Stanford-Binet), which school psychologists and others often use, do not tap the true cognitive ability of many children on the autistic spectrum. According to the highly respected National Research Council, in order for an autistic child to perform to their ability on a standard IQ test, they must be able to quickly respond to verbal questions and have well developed motor skills. But if your disability by definition prevents you from doing that with the test administrator (as autism often does), you may not be able to demonstrate your true intelligence.
Some people might say “Well, if you can’t engage interpersonally, listen and express yourself, then you’re just not very smart, and you deserve the low IQ score you received.” But, the truth is that IQ tests are supposed to measure a person’s intellectual potential, and not their ability to communicate what they know to a stranger. Other people might say “Well, who cares if my child’s IQ score is inaccurately low — it might actually help me get disability benefits.”
The reason why as an advocate I care is because schools use the IQ score to place children. Often children with below average or mentally deficient IQ scores are placed in classrooms in which students are not expected to meet grade level standards (i.e. Sunshine State standards) and teachers are not held accountable under the No Child Left Behind Act for student progress. Once a child has been in that type of classroom for a few years, it becomes extremely difficult to catch up to their mainstream peers.
What Can You Do About It?
I like to give my readers practical solutions in this newsletter, and not just talk about theory. I have a few recommendations depending upon your specific circumstances:
- If your child on the autism spectrum has never had an IQ test, I do not see why you need to run out and get one. A child can be diagnosed with and treated for autism without having a traditional IQ test. And schools can legally make decisions about classroom placement without knowing your child’s IQ.
- If your child’s public school evaluates him or her for special education services, the school psychologist will often want to do an IQ test. If your child is on the spectrum and you think they might not do so well on a standard IQ test, you can either:
- Refuse to consent to any IQ test — when you sign the parental consent form authorizing the public school to evaluate your child, you could write-in that you do not agree to any IQ test. Be polite and simply say something like you “don’t believe in the IQ test –never have.” You wouldn’t be the first one to have major problems with IQ testing — it’s falling out of favor in many quarters of the field of education, including in Gifted Education;
- Refuse to consent to standard IQ tests (the WISC-IV and the Stanford Binet), but authorize the school to use other reputable IQ tests which may be more valid assessments of intellectual ability with autistic kids. Three of those other IQ tests are: i) the Raven Progressive Matrices test; ii) the Leiter International Performance Scale (your child needs to be able to communicate by gesturing for this test); and iii) the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. Understand that it is not clear whether or not a parent has the legal right to tell the school district which IQ test you want administered. However, you can try this approach and see if it sticks.
- If the school insists on performing an IQ test, show them this recent “Newsweek” article which talks about the problems with giving standard IQ tests to autistic children and hope that they take heed.
- If the public school has recently evaluated your child for special education services, there will be a meeting during which the results of the evaluation are discussed. If the school psychologist administered an IQ test and you believe that the results may not be accurate, you have the legal right to request that the school district pay for a private evaluation called an “Independent Educational Evaluation.” For more information on your right to an “IEE,” look it up on www.wrightslaw.com
- If you want or need to pay for a privately administered IQ test, this article by Gary J. Heffner, M.A. has some good tips on how to best ensure a valid test administration. Some parents get a private IQ test done if they feel pretty confident that the school psychologist won’t have the time and the resources to do a good enough job with their child, yet someone they trust has recommended that one be done.
I know this is a very complicated issue and I hope I’ve shed some light on it. If you have any questions, or want to share your personal experiences with the IQ test and the school system, please send me an email or call.
UPDATE
In a 2009 study*, children with autism and typically-developing children were given two IQ tests: the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (a widely used IQ test involving a great deal of language) and the Raven’s Progressive Matrices (a measure of nonverbal, “fluid intelligence”).
Results of the study revealed: Typically-developing children scored similarly on both tests, but results of two tests were significantly different for children with autism. None of the children with autism in the study scored above average on the WISC, but 33% percent did so on the Raven’s Progressive Matrices. 33% percent of the children with autism scored in the range of mental retardation on the WISC, but only 5% scored in this range on the Raven’s Progressive Matrices.
Judith Migoya, Psy.D, of Pediatric Psychology Associates, advises that parents request that psychologist use the Ravens or another test of intelligence which is less language-laden called the Leiter-R. These tests can be administered in addition to the WISC or on their own. Dr. Migoya also suggests that psychologists employ some of the following testing accommodations when administering assessments: Presenting one item at a time to reduce stimuli; Using a visual schedule to reduce anxiety; and Providing positive reinforcement to help students to finish an exam which may not appear relevant to them.
*Isabelle Soulieres, Ph.D., post-doctoral fellow, Harvard University, Boston; Laurent Mottron, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, University of Montreal; Brenda Smith Myles, Ph.D., chief of programs, Autism Society of America; June 2009, Human Brain Mapping.
McKay Scholarship Expansion – 504 Plans Can Get $ for Private School
Jun 20th
If your disabled child has a written school plan giving him or her accommodations (called a “504 Plan“), that plan can translate into a dollar amount, and you can use that money to pay for private school tuition. Governor Scott signed a new law expanding the McKay Scholarship program to cover students with 504 Plans, and that law goes into effect on July 1, 2011. Prior to this expansion, only children with Individual Education Plans (“IEPs”) were eligible for the McKay Scholarship. 504 Plans are named after the law which authorizes them – Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
So, here’s how it works. On July 1st, go to www.floridaschoolchoice.org and click on “McKay Scholarship.” Then click on “Apply for a McKay Scholarship.” Because the law just passed, it looks as though you only have until July 3, 2011 to apply for a fully-funded McKay Scholarship using a 504 Plan. If you apply after July 3, 2011, you may be eligible for a partial year scholarship – see Messages for Parents for more information on deadlines.
I’m not an expert in Florida special education funding, but it seems pretty clear to me that the amount of a McKay Scholarship for a student who has a 504 Plan will be much less than the amount of even the lowest funding level of a McKay Scholarship for a student who has an IEP. That’s because the amount of a scholarship for a student eligible under Section 504 will be equal to the amount of funding the school district currently receives for the student through basic program funding (known as the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP)), and will not include what’s called the ESE Guaranteed Allocation from the state, which is only for students who receive special education. And a 504 Plan is not legally considered “special education.”
Note that any child who uses the McKay Scholarship can only take state funds with them – not federal funds which stay with the school district or state, even if your child is in private school. Also, if the private school tuition is more than your McKay Scholarship amount, the parent is responsible for covering the remaining tuition cost. Temporary 504 Plans (lasting 6 months or less) are not eligible for the McKay Scholarship.
Bullying May Violate Disabled Child’s Civil Rights
Nov 1st
Bullying is a hot topic in the news lately as well it should. And as a special education attorney I hear about students with disabilities being bullied frequently. See this article from StopBullingNow.com and this site EyesonBullying for good advice about what to do if your child is being bullied.
The Obama administration is pressuring schools to help curb bullying, particularly when the victim it targeted because he or she has a disability, is gay or is part of another protected group (such as a racial or ethnic minority). Last week, the U.S. Department of Ed. released some formal federal guidance to schools about when bullying can violate the victim’s federal civil rights. This is important because if schools fail to appropriately respond to bullying, parents of the victim now have added ammunition to seek legal recourse against schools.
One example of bullying the federal guidance addresses is what’s called “disability harassment.” Here’s the example they gave of disability harassment: “Several classmates repeatedly called a student with a learning disability “stupid,” “idiot,” and “retard” while in school and on the school bus. On one occasion, these students tackled him, hit him with a school binder, and threw his personal items into the garbage. The student complained to his teachers and guidance counselor that he was continually being taunted and teased. School officials offered him counseling services and a psychiatric evaluation, but did not discipline the offending students. As a result, the harassment continued. This student, who had been performing well academically, became angry, frustrated, and depressed, and often refused to go to school to avoid the harassment.” The Obama administration goes on to say that the school in their example violated federal civil rights laws (i.e., Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and TItle II of the Americans with Disabilities Act) because the school failed to fully investigate and remedy the misconduct. The fact that the victim in this example missed school as a result of the harassment appears to be an especially important trigger to the school’s legal responsibilities.
Under this new guidance, schools must do the following: 1. Recognize when harassment or bullying is based on a student’s disability, and consult with the district’s 504/ADA coordinator; and 2. Adopt a “comprehensive approach to eliminating the hostile environment” for the victim by disciplining the bully, training school staff on recognizing and responding to bullying, and monitoring the situation so that the bullying does not recur.**
If your child is being bullied or harassed and you don’t feel the school is doing enough, you should consider filing an Office of Civil Rights (OCR) complaint against the school and they will investigate. Here is the link to the online OCR complaint form. Another option is to lobby your state legislature to enact a broad anti-bullying law – the New Jersey legislature has recently introduced a bipartisan “anti-bullying bill of rights” which, if enacted, would probably be the toughest in the nation. It looks to be a good model for other states because it requires that school staff be trained to spot and curb bullying in ways which are based on scientific research.
** Note that since I wrote this post the National School Boards Association has stated that the federal guidance is too broad – that it provides too large a burden on the schools – and it is illegal under a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision. That decision required that in order for schools to be liable under federal law for a student’s harassment of a peer, the school must have “actual knowledge” of the harassment, and that the harassment is “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it can be said to deprive the victims of access to the educational opportunities or benefits provided by the school.”
Gov Christ Signs Law on Restraint and Seclusion of Students with Disabilities
Jun 28th
On June 4, Gov Charlie Christ signed into law the state’s first regulations for the use of restraint and seclusion on public school students with disabilities. The law requires that a school prepare an incident report within a specified period after each occasion of student restraint or seclusion and that the school notify the student’s parent or guardian if manual physical restraint or seclusion is used. It also prohibits school employees from using certain types of restrictions and restraints. These include forbidding a mechanical or manual restraint that restricts breathing, and prohibiting school employees from locking a disabled student in a room that fails to meet state fire marshal rules.
Though this is an important step in the right direction, many advocates and legislators have criticized the bill as providing only minimal protections for children with disabilities. For example, the bill does not address the use of prone restraint, which is a face down hold that puts many children at risk for serious injury and death. Additionally, does prohibiting a student from being locked in a room that fails to meet state fire marshal rules imply that students will continue to be locked away as long as the room meets these fire marshal requirements? Laura Pinkus, the Director of Exceptional Student Education for the Palm Beach County School District, noted that the state bill doesn’t go as far in protecting students’ rights as the policies that the school district already has in place. Others argue that Christ made the right decision to sign the bill into law because it at least sets standards that can be further examined and enhanced in the future.
BREAKING NEWS – FL Will Pay for Private PreK Therapies
Jun 6th
Yesterday Governor Crist signed into law what appears to be an extraordinary program for disabled prekindergarten children beginning with the 2012-13 school year. The details are not clear yet, but here’s the deal in brief.
If your disabled child will be 4 years old by September 1, 2012 and he or she gets an Individualized Education Plan (“IEP”), which includes “specialized instructional services” (For example, ABA therapy, speech-language therapy, occupational therapy), Florida will reimburse the private therapy provider for a set number of therapy hours. In other words, beginning in 2012 the State of Florida will reimburse certain therapists for a certain number of services provided to your 4 year old until he or she turns five years old. It appears to be a kind of Florida special needs voucher program for PreK kids. It looks like a parent whose 4 year old has an IEP authorizing therapy services will be able to approach a private therapist and get those services without paying for them – the State will reimburse the therapist for their services. This is truly a revolutionary change in Florida – if it works out as planned, of course.
What this new law is not: It does not allow your child in the Florida Voluntary Prekindergarten program to use the Mckay Scholarship to pay for private school beginning in kindergarten even if he or she gets an IEP at the end of their PreK year. If does not go into effect until the 2012-13 school year, It does not appear to allow a PreK student to enroll in a PreK special education class AND get therapies under this program – it’s one or the other. It will not allow a PreK disabled child to get unlimited therapy hours from any provider – the number of therapy hours will be capped and the providers will be on a State-approved list.
Are You an Extreme Chooser? (How Far Would You Go to Find the Right School?)
May 3rd
Most parents are advocates of school choice -whether we identify ourselves that way or not. We would choose to send our children to the best school in our neighborhood over the one which was just simply around the corner, that is, if we could. Upper middle class parents routinely choose to buy homes in neighborhoods where the schools are superior – that was the earliest, and is still the most common, form of school choice.
Parents of children with special needs have been called “extreme choosers” when it comes to finding the right school for their child. That’s because their children’s needs often don’t fit the mold, and some differences in schools, which may be small to most people, are often critical to parents of special needs children. Here’s a good example – a 5 year old child with ADHD or a high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder is entering Kindergarten. Let’s call him “Arne.” Arne’s bright and is ready for school academically, but he has a lot of trouble paying attention, staying in his seat and successfully transitioning from one class or activity to another. Transitions are very disruptive for him, and routine is very important.
Ordinarily, I would recommend that Arne’s family use public school choice to transfer to one of the best public elementary schools in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the county, which happens to be under-enrolled (i.e., it has open seats). That school – let’s call it Crestview Elementary – has some of the most skilled teachers in the county who could surely use winning strategies to keep him on task. Why is Arne’s family an “extreme chooser?” Because Crestview is not a good fit for their special needs child. Crestview’s kindergartners have different teachers for Math and Reading – not one teacher like most kindergarten program around the country. That means Crestview has too many points of transition for Arne. It would add another layer of adjustment for him – one which he may not be able to overcome easily.
So, Arne’s family is looking at all their options – private school using the McKay Scholarship, public school choice to another under-enrolled school in the county, and charter schools. A charter school is a public school which operates more like a private school, more independently, than your neighborhood public school which answers directly to the school board. Like all schools, some charter schools are good and others are not – they simply provide another choice for kids like Arne who have great potential in the right classroom setting. But your child can’t just show up at the doorstep of a charter school and apply – kids usually win admission through a lottery system. There are over a million students being served in about 3,500 charter schools nationwide, and as you might imagine, most of those schools are designed for general education students. In fact, in some quarters charter schools are under attack for serving fewer special needs students than traditional schools do.
On the other hand, there are a growing number of charter schools which invite or even cater to special needs students. We have an excellent example of a superb special needs charter school in Miami – the South Florida Autism Charter School. A year or so ago group of professional parents who have children with moderate to severe autism started that school, which uses ABA therapeutic interventions. It is now overrun with applicants, “extreme choosers” who are willing to travel to a far-flung part of Miami to get their children a good education. I believe charter schools for kids with disabilities represent a tremendous opportunity for children whose needs are not being met in traditional public schools. Special needs private schools are often just too costly for the vast majority of parents to afford – even with the McKay Scholarship – and in the end, these children, who often don’t score well on standardized tests, such as the FCAT, are not wanted by, and perceived as a drain on, the traditional public system.
To learn more about charter schools, see this PBS FAQ. And to find out how to start your own charter school, see this U.S. Department of Education web site.
Transition to the “Real” World from FL Public Schools (in a bleak economy no less)
Jan 29th
The IEP meetings are crucial for not only diploma planning, but also for transition planning and career preparation. Good transition goals in the IEP (which are critical years prior to high school graduation) can include workplace experiences that help students learn about employment settings and vocational opportunities and specific plans for developing self-determination skills. IDEA requires that in addition to parents, the student, and school personnel, the other agency representatives that are likely to be responsible for providing or paying for transition services must participate in the meetings. Outside agency representatives may include: vocational rehabilitation counselors, county social workers, secondary education or technical center staff, independent living center staff etc.
If your son or daughter cannot attend a college or university, consider enrolling him or her in one of Florida’s local technical centers. Technical centers have a variety of vocational/technical training programs for standard and special diploma students, career preparation workshops, and apprenticeship programs. The PASS program at the FL Atlantic Technical Center, for example, is a transition employment program for 18 to 22 year old students with disabilities. Other opportunities for community based employment and internship opportunities for your teenager include: Project SEARCH, STEPS (see Special Needs Section) or the Florida High School/High Tech (HS/HT) Program.
More FL Transition Services Resources:
· Broward County Transition Services
· Dade County Transition Services
· NICHY Transition Guide
. UM/NSU CARD – for ASD kids
