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Don’t call me on the Telephone Special Education Staff, Please Write me Letters!

2012-03-10T23:43:32Z

As an educational advocate I often wonder what advice parents think is the best advice I ever gave them. Years ago, I had a friend who has a child with Autism tell me that the best advice I ever gave her, is to stop speaking on the telephone to special education personnel, and make them send letters instead. I asked her why this was the best advice I ever gave her, and she had a few reasons.

Has this every happened to you? Have you discussed important issues with special education staff on the phone, and had them say that you said something that you did not say?

Below are my reasons, why parents should not speak to special education staff on the telephone, about important issues with their child’s education.

Verbal conversations often get misinterpreted by school staff. I have been amazed at the number of times school personnel state that a parent said something on the telephone, or gave permission for something on the telephone, and the parent insists that it never happened. Verbal conversations should only occur for minor issues such as sickness, attendance, etc. More important special education issues need to be handled by writing letters.
Sometimes parents may agree to something on the telephone that is not fully explained to them, and this is the reason why they agree. If the information was given in writing the parent could think about it and ask lots of questions to make sure that they understand what special education personnel want to do.
Special education personnel may try to run rings around you, and insist that you make important decisions right now, without thinking about things or investigating.
A lot of intimidation of parents occurs during telephone calls when there is no evidence of the intimidation. You could turn around and write a letter about the phone conversation, but it would have been better not to have the phone conversation; however let the school write you a letter about the issue.
I find a lot of special education personnel seem to misquote IDEA 2004, which is the federal special education law during phone conversations; which seem to give school districts more power than the law actually does. A lot of this misquoting has to do with behavior and discipline for children with disabilities. For Example: “We can expel your child for his behavior even if it is a manifestation of his disability.” This is not true, but if it is said verbally the parent has no proof that this was ever said.
Some parents that I have dealt with have disabilities themselves that may affect their ability to understand what is being said especially on the telephone.

The bottom line is consider not speaking to special education staff on the telephone, about important issues or disputes that you are having with them. There is no law or rule that says that you have to speak to them. When they call do not pick up the phone, and let them leave a message. You can send them a short letter the next day and tell them that you would like to keep communication to writing only. You will be glad you did, if you ever end up in a due process hearing. You will have documented proof of what was said and specifically what you agreed to or failed to agree to. If it isn’t in writing it never happened—especially at due process!

6 New advocacy tips for advocating against schools attorney at special education IEP meetings! 6 New advocacy tips for advocating against schools attorney at special education IEP meetings!

2011-12-20T00:05:49Z

Are you the parent of a child with autism or a learning disability that receives special education services? Are you having a dispute with special education personnel in your district, over services that your child needs? Have school personnel threatened to bring their attorney to the next IEP meeting? This article contains new information that you can use to advocate for your child and try to prevent the school from including their attorney in your child’s IEP meeting.

In my role as advocate I often hear from parents whose children receive special education services and who believe that it is illegal for schools to include their attorney as a member of the IEP team; which it is not. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA 2004) is silent on the subject of attorneys at IEP meetings, either the schools or the parents. This does not mean that attorneys should attend IEP meetings.

Below are six advocacy tips that you can use to increase the chance that special education personnel do not include their attorney in the meetings.

1. Check every written meeting notice that you receive about your child’s IEP meeting to see who will be in attendance. If you see that an attorney’s name is included go to #2 to begin advocating against the tactic.

2. Read and Download OSEP (Office of Special Education Programs) memorandum to Hillary Clinton (July 23, 2001). In this memorandum OSEP states: “an attorney’s presence would have the potential for creating an adversarial atmosphere that would not necessarily be in the best interests of the child. Therefore, the attendance of attorneys at IEP meetings should be strongly discouraged.” The letter can be downloaded at: www.wrightslaw.com/law/osep/usdoe.clinton.iep.pdf.

3. Read and download the above memorandum which states: “The regulations implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are found at 34 CFR Part 300 (March 12, 1999). Section 300.344 addresses the membership of the IEP team. X has highlighted §300.344(a)(6) which allows attendance at the IEP meeting, "at the discretion of the parent or the agency, other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child, including related service’s personnel as appropriate." Use this to discourage school’s attorney at your child’s IEP meeting.

4. Read and Download a copy of the OSEP memorandum to Patricia Roberts (October 23, 2009)to show that having the school district’s attorney at your child’s IEP meeting is not in the best interest of your child. Question 29 in Appendix A of the IDEA 97 regulations relies on the “best interest” of the child in answering the question of whether school attorneys at IEP meetings is allowed. The letter can be downloaded at: www.wrightslaw.com/law/memos/atty.iep.martin.pdf.

5. Send a short letter to the person that coordinates special education in your district, and make a formal request that the school not include their attorney in your child’s IEP meeting. Include your concerns, as well as copies of the two OSEP memorandum, to advocate your position. In the letter ask for a written response to your request within 5-10 days.

6. If the school refuses to back down, attend the meeting and ask that your objection to the school’s attorney presence be documented, in the notes of the IEP. Ask the attorney if they have any knowledge or expertise on your child; if they say no ask once again that they be excluded from your child’s IEP meeting. Also, if the attorney tries to run the meeting place another objection in the IEP, and consider filing a state complaint with your States Department of Education.

Following these steps will increase your chance that special education personnel will reconsider bringing their attorney to your child’s IEP meeting, which may make consensus easier to reach! Good luck

5 Top Parental Advocacy Tips

2011-11-16T17:33:02Z

Are you the parent of a child with autism, or another disability that receives special education services? Would you like to learn top advocacy tips from someone who has been a successful educational advocate for over twenty years? This article is for you. I was recently asked during an interview for my top five advocacy tips to parents, and here they are.

My top five advocacy tips:

**Trust your instincts. If you think, your child has disabilities in certain areas trust yourself. No one knows your child like you do, and you are the best judge of what will help your child learn. It is my experience that special education personnel may try and tell you that your instincts are wrong, but only accept this, if there is concrete evidence to back it up. You are the only advocate whom your child has, and they are depending on you to advocate for needed related and special education services.

**Important educational issues need to be handled by letters not telephone calls or e mails, so that you can begin developing a paper trail for documentation. You can use this documentation to prove your case in a dispute with special education personnel. Many parents like to send e-mails to special education personnel, but I do not like e-mails. The reason: e-mails are kept in an electronic record, and not in the child’s written educational record; which makes access and use more difficult.

**If you have a verbal conversation with school personnel and want to document the conversation, you can always write a short letter to the person that you had the conversation with. Try and keep the letter to one page, date it, and give a summary of the conversation. Also, keep a copy for yourself, as part of your paper trail.

**If special education personnel say something that does not sound right to you, ask them: “Please show me in writing where in Federal or State law it states you have the right to do what you want to do or not do what I asked you to do to benefit my child’s education.” In my opinion, this is one of the most important advocacy skills that parents need to learn, because of the amount of misinformation that is given to parents. If school personnel cannot show you in writing from Federal or State law where it states they have the right to do something or do not have to do something you asked them to do, you know that they are not being truthful.

Use the same procedure if school personnel state that they have to do something, or cannot do something because it is school policy—ask to see the policy in writing, and also ask for a transcript of the board meeting where the policy was passed.

** If your school district evaluates your child for disabilities and states that your child does not have any disabilities (even though you believe they do), and is not eligible for special education services, you have the right to an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense (which means that the school district pays for it). You must disagree with the school’s evaluation, (could be over the actual testing, the areas tested, the interpretation of the testing, the findings and conclusion of the testing, etc) to be able to obtain an IEE at public expense.

**Educate yourself on all laws related to special education, disabilities, and requirements so that when your school district tries to say things that are not truthful, you have the information to stand up to them. Learn about State Complaints, Mediation and Due Process to help you resolve any disputes that you have with special education personnel.

By following my top five tips you will well be on your way to successfully advocating for needed services for your child!

Obama allowing States to seek waivers from NCLB

2011-09-27T00:28:00Z

No Child Left Behind Reauthorization In 2002, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was Reauthorized and named the No Child Left Behind Act (NCL of 2002. I remember saying at the time that NCLB was going to be a blessing for children with disabilities, and that many children with disabilities would learn to read and write due to NCLB. I will later discuss my opinion of the Acts effectiveness but would like to discuss the main components of NCLB.

According to the No Child Left Behind Parent Guide published by the US Department of Education in 2003, NCLB would do for parents and children:

Support learning in the early years, thereby preventing many learning difficulties that may arise later
Provide more information for parents about their child’s progress
Alert parents to important information on the performance of their child’s school
Give children and parents a lifeline
Improve teaching and learning by providing better information to teachers and principals
Ensure that teacher quality is a high priority
Gives more resources to schools
It allows more flexibility and
It focuses on what works

No Child Left Behind was finally focusing on school accountability, and had sanctions in place for schools that did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). According to NCLB, schools had to have 100% of their student’s proficient by the year 2013-2014.

Has NCLB been successful, in my opinion? Absolutely not!! Why? Because the US Department of Education (US DOE) immediately started watering down NCLB.. According to Arne Duncan, the Head of the US. DOE 82% of the school districts in the US will not meet AYP this year 2011-2012, and would be considered failing schools. So instead of standing up to school districts Arne Duncan and President Obama have decided to make changes to NCLB, and begin giving waivers to all states that ask, so that they will not receive the sanctions put in place when NCLB became law. This is because Congress cannot come to an agreement on how to change NCLB in the reauthorization.

Melody Barnes the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council has told states: “We want to deliver a very important message: Relief is on the way.” The Obama administration has a plan to offer flexibility to states by using its waiver authority. Parents and advocates for children with disabilities have been extremely upset by this announcement by the Obama administration. To placate parents Duncan states that the applications for Waivers will be Peer Reviewed, whatever that means!

Three states have already applied for these waivers: Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky; while three other states (Idaho, South Dakota, and Montana) have given notice that they will be applying. I believe in the end-all states will apply for waivers and NCLB will be dead in the water!!! More children harmed!

If I could I would scream at Arne Duncan and President Obama: “We had state flexibility, and many children were left behind without learning to read and write!! Wake up and stop letting school districts get away with not teaching our children. What a waste of good public money!! Nothing will change until the US Department of Education stops catering to school districts and starts catering to their constituents—which are children!! Children whose lives are being wasted and ruined forever, because schools refuse to give them an appropriate education to allow them to work and participate in their adult lives!

Rebuttal to No Certified Letters in Special Education Article

2011-08-07T23:38:08Z

I recently read an article on a special education Website that I disagreed with. The article is about the ramifications of parents sending certified letters, to their school districts. The author of the article believes that certified letters put special education personnel on the defensive, and may believe that you want evidence of delivery, for future litigation.

In my opinion, this is ridiculous; and is another way that many attorneys and parents are giving in to school personnel’s nastiness, and making their advocacy weaker. Why is this ridiculous, in my opinion? I absolutely refuse to change my advocacy because special education personnel do not like what I am doing! Besides it is not usually parents and advocates who escalate special education disputes, but it is usually determined school personnel that do. So why back down by refusing to send letters certified with a return receipt. I will continue my advocacy in an assertive and persistent manner, no matter how special education personnel act.

I have seen a lot in my 20 years of advocacy: I have almost been hit a few times, once had a school employee almost jump on a table and try to choke me, called every name in the book, and that is just the things I can share with you. I will say again: no matter how mean and nasty I will not stop fighting for the child who needs services to benefit from their education.

If at all possible, I do recommend hand delivering letters, but that is not always possible. If impossible, I always recommend sending letters by the Postal Service certified with a return receipt. When my son Shaun was 17 years old and I was in a dispute with my school district, both of us sent so many certified letters that I thought we were pen pals.

I do not believe that we should back down from our advocacy efforts because it might upset the school district. I absolutely do not care if they are upset by my advocacy. When Angelina was around 11 years old, the special education coordinator in my district was leaving, to accept another position. Her and I usually got along okay, she at least was willing to listen to my input and suggestions. I went to her office to bring her a plant, and she ushered me into her office (where she preceded to close all the blinds). This is what she said to me: “JoAnn I never got why you fought so hard for your children—until I had children of my own. I get it now! Please promise me that you will never stop fighting for what your children need!” I was so stunned I was crying my head off, and all I could do was shake my head yes!” I have never forgotten that to this day!

As parents and advocates we must fight for children with disabilities so that they can receive an appropriate education and have a chance at a great adult life! I do not care if I upset special education personnel because I know that I am doing the right thing.

My hope is that you will continue to fight for your children, continue documenting what is going on, and keep sending those certified letters! JoAnn

8 Parental Causes for Denial of Special Education FAPE for Children with Disabilities

2011-07-21T03:10:23Z

Are you the parent of a child with a disability receiving special education services? Have you been fighting for your child to receive an appropriate education but are afraid that you are losing the battle. This article will be addressing the definition of FAPE as well as 8 parental reasons that may be contributing to your child not receiving a free appropriate public education.

Definition of FAPE

In a US Court of Appeals Case in the Third Circuit N.R. vs. Kingwood Township FAPE is defined as: a satisfactory IEP must provide significant learning and confer meaningful benefit. The definition of FAPE in IDEA 2004 states that FAPE means related and special education services that are free to the parent, and meet the standards of the State Educational Agency. Recently, many states have passed National Core Educational Standards to make the standards more uniform from state to state.

Possible Parental Causes

Some parents may not educate themselves about all of the federal and state laws that they can use to advocate for their child. These laws are: IDEA 2004, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, ADAAA, etc. It is critical that parents read books, and attend conferences to educate themselves. My book Disability Deception is filled with lots of easy to use advocacy tips.
Parents may be unwilling to confront or stand up to special education personnel who are refusing to provide FAPE to their child. This may be due to parents upbringing of not confronting authorities or educators
Schools have low expectations of what a child can learn in academic and functional areas. Parents must stand up to low expectations by some special education personnel, to the benefit of their child.
Not making sure that their child is held to the same educational standards as children without disabilities. If children do not learn academics and functional areas they could be hindered in their adult life.
Some parents may not learn appropriate remediation that their child needs to help them in their education.
Some parents may be unwilling to file a state complaint, 504 complaint, or file for a due process. As an advocate for over 20 years I have seen many school personnel draw a line in the sand, and absolutely refuse to listen to any parental input on services that their child needs. This situation requires going outside of the school district in the filing of complaints or due process, in a timely manner.
Some parents may accept lack of FAPE year after year without doing anything about it, even trying to find private services (and asking for school reimbursement). I recently read about a family in San Francisco that fought their school by filing for a due process hearing when the school district refused to provide their 3 year old child with Autism Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) services, even though independent evaluators stated that the child needed this service. The parents did not wait year after year to let their child fail, they filed immediately. The family won after a 7 month fight, and was reimbursed for the private ABA services, that was given to their child.
Parents often approach school districts asking for the best services for their child. IDEA 2004 does not require that schools offer the best, but just related and special education services that are appropriate to meet the child’s educational needs.

How can parents turn this around? By educating themselves about special education law and research based remediation for their child. They also must be assertively persistent in their advocacy, for as long as it takes for their child to receive an appropriate education. Going outside the school district the first time they deny your child FAPE sends a message that you will not tolerate the civil rights violations to your child. Parents have a tough job, but if they work hard and advocate hard their child can receive an appropriate education.

10 School Causes for Denial of Special Education FAPE for Children with Disabilities! 10 School Causes for Denial of Special Education FAPE for Children with Disabilities!

2011-07-21T03:08:39Z

Do you have a child with Autism or other disabilities that is currently not receiving a free appropriate public education (FAPE), despite your continued advocacy? Would you like to learn about a few school causes to help you in your advocacy? This article will be discussing 10 school reasons why few children in special education truly receive a free appropriate public education, that is required by federal special education law.

Many schools require parents to pay for independent educational evaluations (IEE) to prove that their child needs related and special education services. If parents are paying for experts to help them determine needed services for their child, the education is not free.
Most school district evaluations are not comprehensive enough to identify all of a child’s disabilities. Disabilities must be known before appropriate services can be determined.
The continual use of deny and/or delay tactics by many special education personnel prevent children from receiving an appropriate education.
Special education personnel sometimes refuse to take responsibility for a child’s lack of educational progress. Blaming the parent and child is a prevalent tactic that harms children.
The use of old antiquated non-scientifically based research in curriculums used to teach children. IDEA 2004 and No Child Left Behind do not allow this, but lack of enforcement is causing schools to continue this practice.
Minimal remediation given for children’s disabilities, in academic and functional areas. As children get older many schools want to use modifications for disabilities, rather than offer remediation.
Predetermination by many special education personnel of services that will be offered to children. This practice harms children by not taking their individual disabilities into account as is required by IDEA 2004.
Low expectations by most school personnel prevent children from learning academics that they need for their adult life.
Lack of teacher training in scientifically research based curriculums is harming children and preventing them from receiving FAPE.
Failure of many school districts to deal with negative behavior in the research based way, but continue the use of suspensions and expulsions. Functional Behavioral Assessments, development and use of positive behavior plans have been shown by research to work to increase a child’s positive school behavior, while decreasing their negative school behavior.

What could change this for children with disabilities? If school districts would work with parents to determine a child’s disabilities, educational needs, and offer remediation that is scientifically research based more children would receive an appropriate education. Also, educating school staff on research based ways of dealing with negative behavior, and teaching deescalating techniques to help children. Expectations must be high for all children with disabilities so that they will be prepared for post school learning, jobs and independent living.

You Can Fight Back Against Special Education Denials that Hurt your Child!

2011-06-20T17:08:15Z

Are you the parent of a child with autism, learning disabilities, or another disability receiving special education services? Are you sick and tired of special education personnel in your district denying your child needed related and special education services? This article will empower you to fight back for your child by addressing important advocacy skills.

Advocacy Strategy 1: Educate yourself about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA 2004) and your states regulations on special education. You can do this by reading books, attending conferences and developing friendships with more experienced parents of children with disabilities. By being educated on federal and state law your chances of success with your advocacy increase.

Advocacy Strategy 2: Documentation is critical in winning a special education dispute. Begin sending letters to document what is occurring in your child’s education. Important verbal conversations must be followed up by a short letter, to the person you spoke to. For Example: Your child’s teacher states in a phone conversation that your child is not progressing, and needs more intense related and special education services. Immediately write a letter to the teacher, including the date and time of the conversation, and what was said. The letter needs to be Hand delivered to the teacher, or sent certified with a return receipt. This will document what the teacher said, even if she denies that she ever said it.

Also, save any letters or other documentation sent from special education personnel. You should save important school papers, any notes about negative behavior, any documentation that you need to strengthen your advocacy position. I once advocated for a young boy who had negative behavior at school. The school was sending home daily behavior sheets, and I advised the mother to date them, and not throw them away. We used them at a due process to show that when the school district stated the child’s behavior was out of control, the behavior sheet said he was fine. Documentation can win a case, or lack of documentation can lose a case.

Advocacy Strategy 3: Tape record all IEP meetings, and if possible and necessary have a transcriber transcribe them for future use. Transcriptions of IEP meetings can be used at due process as documentation.

In all my years of advocacy, I have never been a huge fan of tape recording, but I have recently changed my mind. School districts have become so bold in denying things they tell parents, that it is critical that parents have documentation of what is being said in meetings, and what the school district is agreeing to. I find a huge discrepancy between what many special education personnel agree to in a meeting, and what is being documented in a child’s IEP. A transcript of a tape recorded meeting could be used as evidence in a due process hearing, to show what the school district agreed to.

Advocacy Strategy 4: Whenever special education personnel want to change a child’s label placement or refuse to change your child’s label or placement, they must give prior written notice (PWN) to you. Also, if they deny services that your child needs, they must also give PWN. For example: If you take your child to an independent evaluator and bring the report of recommendations to the school district, and they refuse to follow the recommendations, they must give you PWN, on why they are not following the recommendations.

Advocacy Strategy 5: Be willing to file state complaints or due process for non compliance with IDEA 2004, or if the school district does not give your child FAPE. Going over the school districts head is the best way to ensure that your child is getting the appropriate services that they need.

With these advocacy strategies under your belt, you will have a better chance of prevailing in a dispute with your school district. Your child is depending on you so work hard for their benefit.

3 Parenting Tips to Help You Advocate for Functional Skill Training for Your Child in Special Education! 3 Parenting Tips to Help You Advocate for Functional Skill Training for Your Child in Special Education!

2011-06-14T19:15:15Z

Continuing on the subject of functional skill training is information on how to advocate for such training for your child!

Are you the parent of a child with autism or another disability receiving special education services? Is your child struggling with academics, and you think could benefit from learning functional skills? Learning to read and write are important, but so are functional skills, that can help a child live a full and enriched life! This article will be discussing 3 parenting tips that you can use in your advocacy efforts!

Tip 1: Use Federal special education law Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA 2004 to strengthen your advocacy efforts for functional skill training. IDEA states that every IEP that is developed for a child must contain a statement of the child’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance. What does this mean for your child? Your child’s IEP should state what level your child is at in the area of functional skills. Make sure that these statements are based on objective data such as tests and not subjective opinion.

The law also states that the child’s IEP must contain a statement of annual goals in not only academic areas, but functional areas as well. Make sure that the functional goals are specific and are measurable.

Also, make sure that any skills training given to your child is written clearly on your child’s IEP and has specific amount of times that the training will be given. Training needs to be given in natural environments and at natural times. For example: Teeth brushing training needs to be given after the child has eaten, either after lunch or after a snack. Training also needs to be community based, so that the child will be able to generalize the skills to all environments.

Tip 2: Use the purpose and findings of IDEA 2004 to convince special education personnel how important functional skill training is for your child. The purpose of IDEA is to help prepare children for further education, employment and independent living. Children must have appropriate functional skills in order to be prepared for their adult life.

The findings of IDEA 2004 from Congress state that the law is to help improve educational results for children with disabilities, so that there is equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self sufficiency.

Behavior and social skills are two areas of functional skills that are often overlooked by parents and advocates. Ensure that appropriate social skills and behavior is being taught to your child, so that he or she will be able to be a full participant in the community, when they are an adult.

Tip 3: According to IDEA parents have the right to be full participants in any decision that is made regarding their child’s education. The law also includes a section under IEPs, where any information provided by parents needs to be included. Educating yourself not only on why functional skills are important but what is the appropriate type of training that a child needs is important.

Consider writing your own parent input statement about what type of functional skill training needs to be given to your child. Bring this input statement to your child’s IEP meeting, and make sure that it is attached to your child’s IEP.

Anticipated needs must be addressed by special education personnel and parents. This is a good time to think ahead of the skills that your child will need as an adult, and include functional skill training in your child’s IEP or transition plan.

Use these three tips to help you succeed in your attempt to include functional skills training in your child’s IEP. They will appreciate your efforts to make sure that they are prepared for adult life!

Functional Skills and Why Every Child with a Disability Should be Taught Them!!

2011-06-04T23:57:17Z

Since my book Disability Deception came out, I have written over 160 free articles on special education! If you are interested in finding my articles, please go to: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=JoAnn_Collins. Feel free to share the above address with other parents.

One of my most popular articles is: “What are Functional Skills and How Can They Help my Child?” Since I wrote this article a few years ago, I decided to update the article here on my blog, and also add updated information.

Functional Skills are defined as life skills that persons use every day, in different environments. Functional skills focus on different areas such as home, family, self help skills, social skills, independent living skills. Also skills needed for employment and job retention, recreation, community living, as well as functional academics that can be used every day.

Skills are broken down by using task analysis to determine the component parts of a skill. The amount of steps in a skill needs to be determined on an individual basis. If at all possible the skill training should start at the beginning of a task and finish at the end of a task. For Example: If a child is working on cooking, the task should begin by determining what will be cooked. The next steps would include putting together a shopping list (pictures can be used), determining how much money the ingredients will cost, and going to the store to purchase the food. The last step of the task would be the actual cooking of the food, and sampling what was cooked. Breaking down the tasks in this way not only is teaching the child cooking, but also shopping for the food, money skills, etc.

While academic skills are important for all children with disabilities, many parents and advocates seem to overlook, the importance of functional skill training and instruction. These skills need to be addressed during a child’s school career, but absolutely during the child’s transition from high school to adulthood.

Adaptive skills are often discussed rather than functional skills, when a child is being considered for school reevaluation, but I consider adaptive and functional skills similar.

Why does a child need functional and adaptive skills?

1. To be prepared for post school learning. One functional skill that is often overlooked is social skills, but is important for not only post school learning but in every aspect of a child’s life. If the child attends a vocational program after high school they need to learn to interact with other students as well as teachers.

2. To be prepared for employment. A lot of functional skills are used every day, during job hours. For example: Employers expect workers to come in clean, and in uniform. The functional skill of grooming and making sure that they are groomed properly and in uniform, may need to be taught to some children with disabilities, as it may not come natural to them.

3. To be prepared for independent living. Some children with severe disabilities may never be able to live by themselves, but can be taught skills to be independent, in certain areas. These areas could be dressing and grooming, picking what they are going to wear, learning to match clothing to the weather, etc.

Accessing transportation is another functional skill that children with disabilities may need specific instruction in. For example: How to access the bus system, how to read the bus schedule, and how to determine what bus to take to make it to work on time, and back home. Being independent in the area of transportation is an important skill for a child with disabilities to have.

Money skills are also important for children with disabilities to learn. Other skills that are critical to learn for independent living are: How to open a bank account, how to sign checks, how to set up a budget and how to pay bills. Cooking and shopping is are other functional skills that young people with disabilities need to receive instruction in.

Functional skills are important for all children and soon to be adults with disabilities to learn! They will help the child become as independent as possible as they can be in their life!

Next Blog Post: IDEA and Functional Skills

5 Tips to Increase Success for Grandparents raising Grandchildren with Disabilities

2011-05-01T01:22:00Z

Are you raising your grandchild with Autism, or other disabilities? Are you having difficulties in financial areas, health insurance areas, or special education? Would you like to learn a few tips about these issues to help you in this journey? This article is filled with 5 tips to make your job easier so that you can enjoy your grandchild.

Tip 1: If your grandchild’s disability qualifies they may be able to receive SSI, which would give you additional income every month. SSI takes into account a parents income when the child is below 18 years old, but exempts grandparent’s income from the consideration. What Social Security does count as income is Child Support for the child, any work of the child, and other public benefits. If you are not receiving any support for the child, and the child’s disability qualifies you may be able to receive SSI for the child. Your Social Security Office may decrease the child’s benefits due to the amount that you are giving the child based on room and board; be sure and check out whether your state does this.

Tip 2: If the child is eligible for SSI they should be eligible for Medicaid to pay for medical costs, and other public benefits. Since many children with disabilities have medical issues this would help decrease your financial responsibility. Keep in mind though that Medicaid may not pay for everything the child needs (counseling, equipment etc), so you may have some expenses out of pocket. Each State may have different benefits under Medicaid, so be sure that you check your States benefits.

Tip 3: If you are retired or on Disability and receiving Social Security your grandchild may be able to receive benefits, based on your lifetime earnings. I would only consider this if the child was found ineligible for SSI, because receiving SSI makes the child eligible for other public benefits.

Tip 4: Check out various disability organizations in your area and see if they have any groups for grandparents raising grandchildren with disabilities. The support you receive could be very helpful, and this could be a way to make friends with other grandparents.

Tip 5: Check out the information from the Children’s Defense Fund because they have a lot of information on grandparents raising grandchildren with disabilities. They can be found at: http://www.childrensdefense.org.

Grandparents can become isolated but should seek out services and help when needed. JoAnn

Issues affecting grandparents raising grandchildren with disabilities

2011-04-16T23:12:00Z

During my advocacy career I have had the pleasure to work with a few grandparents raising their grandchildren that have disabilities. It can be a little difficult but I believe with the proper information grandparents can be great advocates for their grand children.

I decided to post this blog because I have been contacted in recent weeks by a few grandparents, and wanted to discuss the issues affecting grandparents and also to add a few great resources. JoAnn

Are you a grandparent of a child with a disability who has recently come to live with you, or who has lived with you for a while? Would you like to learn more about the issues affecting you and others? This article will be discussing issues affecting grandparents, and resources to help you overcome the issues.

According to the Website Raising Your Grandchildren more than 6 million children are living in households headed by grandparents or other relatives. A lot of these children may have disabilities, which may worsen the situation. Below are 3 Issues affecting grandparents which is followed by resources to make your journey a little easier.

Issue 1: Financial Issues

In a study by Minkler & Roe 1993 they found that grandparent headed families have high rates of poverty, which is made worse when the costs of care giving for their grandchildren is added. This study did not take into account the increased cost of caring for a child with disabilities, which I think may cause more economic hardship. While there may be public financial benefits available for children with disabilities, many grandparents are not familiar with these benefits, and may not try and access them.

Issue 2: Health Insurance Issues

Some grandparents insurance may not cover their grandchildren, even if they live with the grandparents; or the insurance company may call the disability a preexisting condition, and refuse to cover the child or the disability.

Issue 3: Difficulty with navigating the special education system to ensure that the child receives an appropriate education

Many grandparents may not understand Federal and State Special Education Laws, which could make it difficult for them to navigate the special education system. Also, some school districts insist that the grandparent must have custody or guardianship, before the grandparent can register the child for school. This is not true, but the information may not be common knowledge.

There are specific issues that grandparents may have related to special education such as not wanting to offend special education personnel while advocating for their grandchild, not knowing what specific remediation the child needs, not understanding what school personnel’s responsibility is to provide services that the child needs.

Below are a few resources to help you with the above issues:

This document is filled with easy and practical information for grandparents raising a child with a disability. The document is: The Grandparent’s and Other Relative Caregiver’s Guide to Raising Children with Disabilities, and can be found at www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/grandparents-relative-caregivers-guide-raising-children-with-disabilities.pdf. Lots of discussion about special education and also public benefits that a child may receive.
A wonderful Website Raising Your Grandchild has a lot of
different information that could help you. This Website can be found at: http://www.raisingyourgrandchildren.com/.
National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY) can be found at: www.nichcy.org. This is a great resource for information on disabilities as well as how to navigate the special education system.

While this can be a difficult situation there are resources available to help you on your journey. Grandparents can learn the about government benefits and special education, and can be very effective advocates for their grandchild! Good Luck!

Trust and special education personnel’s subjective opinions Part II

2011-03-25T20:29:00Z

I noticed in my post on trust and special education personnel’s subjective opinions that I left out some important information about subjective opinions. This is the reason I decided to write a Part II.

While standardized testing is important for determining disabilities, and also determining if a child is making progress, I left out an important issue.

School districts need to show parents data, to determine if a child is making educational progress, not just subjective opinions of special education staff. How is this data collected--by conducting progress monitoring? According to the National Center on Student Progress Monitoring sponsored by the US Department of Education (http://www.studentprogress.org), “Progress monitoring is a scientifically based practice that is used to assess students academic performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. . . “ Pre testing at the beginning of the school year and post testing at the end of the school year can be considered a type of progress monitoring; but should be included with monthly progress monitoring. This is critical so that the curriculum and services can be intensified or changed, if a child is not learning, and showing appropriate progress.

Information on progress monitoring measures can be found at: http://www.rti4success.org/tools_charts/progress.php. As a parent you should insist on monthly progress monitoring as well as pre and post testing (pre testing at beginning of school year—post testing at end of the school year). Ask for progress monitoring information in writing, and make sure that this is listed in your child’s IEP.

Core National Standards:

When discussing your child’s educational progress make sure that your child is being held to the same Core academic standards as students without disabilities. This will keep the expectations high and give your child a great chance for educational success. The difficulty has been that every state had their own standards, some low and some high. There is a national push for Core Standards. More info can be found at: http://www.corestandards.org/. Currently, 43 states have passed the Core National Standards, which is fantastic! These standards are set high, and it is very clear that these standards apply to all children, even children with disabilities.

Outside help for children:

Many children with disabilities are making educational progress because their parents are spending hour after hour, teaching their child at home, and assisting them with their homework. School personnel often refuse to take this into consideration. In an OSEP policy letter dated January 13, 2010 it states: “. . . It has been the Departments long standing position that in general it would be appropriate for the evaluation team to consider information about outside or extra learning support provided to the child, to determine whether the child’s current academic achievement reflects the service augmentation, and not what the child’s academic achievement would be without such help.”

I have heard special education personnel state that a child is doing “fine” in school and does not need special education. Of course I address the subjective nature of these comments, but I also bring up help that a child receives at home or from private service providers.

I once advocated for a little girl of a single mother, who was spending hours every evening helping her daughter with her homework. I figured out pretty quickly what was happening with the little girl. The child was struggling so much in all academic areas, that she did not complete her work at school, so the teacher sent it home. Bringing the time spent at home to the schools attention fell on deaf ears. So I told her to stop helping her daughter for hours—only one hour a night—and then send the work back! I also recommended writing on the homework how much help she gave her daughter. The mom was very reluctant to do this, but eventually agreed. It took only about a week for the school to wake up, and realize that the child needed special education services. While what I asked the parent to do is drastic, unfortunately some situations require drastic measures.

To determine educational progress ask for data from progress monitoring, and do not listen to subjective comments made by special education personnel. Grades are also subjective and should never be used. JoAnn

Trust and special education personnels subjective opinions

2011-03-21T18:05:00Z

I have been thinking lately about trust and school personnel giving subjective opinions. Every parent who I know came into special education with trust toward school personnel. Many parents, including myself trusted special education personnel when our children were young, because we thought that they cared for our children, and knew what was best for them. We continued to trust them when they made blanket statements about our children’s abilities and/or disabilities, but hopefully this will be your wake-up call! If you are a parent of a child with a disability reading this blog do not trust special education personnel that make blanket statements and opinions about your child’s abilities without backing up their statements with standardized testing (to the amount possible).

I learned this early with my son Shaun, who is now a tall 25 year old. When Shaun was 2 and ½ years old he was diagnosed with severe ADHD and speech delays. When he was 6 years old he was reevaluated for special education. It was obvious to me, that Shaun may have other disabilities that would explain his academic difficulties. I believed after a lot of research that Shaun was also Learning Disabled. I became convinced of this especially when I learned that 75% of children with ADHD have learning disabilities! I approached the school before the evaluation and made very clear that I wanted Shaun tested for Learning Disabilities. I brought it up at the testing meeting, and if I can remember correctly I wrote them a letter also. An LD teacher was part of the evaluation, but I did not learn until much later that she actually never tested Shaun for Learning Disabilities.

I was shocked when I went to the IEP meeting and found a box of Kleenex in the middle of the table—it was my prediction that we were in big trouble, and I was not wrong.

The school psychologist tried to convince me that my son had Mental Retardation and not Learning Disabilities; which I absolutely did not agree with!! I ran out of the room crying only 1 of 2 times I ever did that. Remember I did not know at that time that the LD teacher had never tested him—so I was really confused about how the school could say that my son’s IQ was so low, when it was obvious that it was not. When I disagreed with the opinion of the school psychologist he tried to say that I was in denial and needed to face the truth.

This is when I first learned about the importance of Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE), which I took my son for shortly after the school testing. The Clinical Psychologist found that my son did have several Learning Disabilities, and that the school had lost over 50 points of my son’s IQ (They said his IQ was 70 plus and the independent evaluator found that his true IQ was over 120).

I immediately sent a copy of the evaluation to the school and asked for an IEP meeting. I will never forget the reaction that I received from the special education personnel when I walked into the IEP meeting. The special education director looked like she was going to burst in tears when she asked me what I wanted! I told her that I want my son found eligible under Learning Disabilities, and I want him taught to do academics just like other children—they gave me everything I asked for and changed his “label.”

Since that time, I have dealt with this issue many times with other children. Special education personnel making blanket statements and opinions, about children’s disabilities or abilities, without testing the child. Below are two further examples:

School psychologists stating that a child does not have Autism, without giving them a rating scale, or doing any other type of evaluation. What I mean is using an ADOS which stands for Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale, etc. I am not specifically recommending this type of evaluation, just giving examples of types that are available. I actually prefer the CARS, because it is easy for parents to fill out and easy for trained personnel to score.
Special education personnel stating that a child is making academic progress, without standardized testing to prove it. I have seen this many times and it causes harm to children; that need more intensive special education services.

Parents do not accept subjective opinions about your child’s disabilities or academic and educational progress, only accept standardized testing! Why? It is my opinion that many school personnel are biased and do not want to provide more intense special education services—so they state that the child is making progress, even though they may have no standardized testing to prove the progress. Many school personnel also state that grades can determine progress, which in my opinion, is not true. Grades are subjective and should not be used to determine if a child is making progress. Though downloading your states core standards, and using those to determine progress, is less subjective than grades.

For diagnosis of some disabilities, you may need to depend on a person’s experience or training, but I would not depend on school personnel for this; only independent personnel. I recommend independent evaluations with either a Clinical Psychologist or a Neuropsychologist. Opinions are subjective and can be changed by pressure from school administration or by other special education personnel.

Standardized testing is the way to determine if your child has a particular disability (whenever possible) not a subjective opinion from special education personnel. Even if they test a child for a particular disability, they may not test the child correctly. For Example: A child that is suspected of Dyslexia must be tested in specific areas for the testing to be accurate.

A wonderful document that I use often that contains great information about school evaluations as well as independent evaluations is entitled “How to Prepare a Psychoeducational Evaluation Report &Testify as an Expert Witness”by Margaret J. Kay, Ed.D, NCSP, DABPS, Licensed Psychologist, Nationally Certified School Psychologist. Dr. Kay has given me permission to reprint some of her document in this book. Dr. Kay can be reached at: http://www.MargaretKay.com or 717-569-6223.

Dr. Kay States that: . . “Psychologists who are aware of current, best practice guidelines for assessing dyslexia know that the assessment must contain measures of phonological processing, rapid naming, phonological memory, nonsense word reading, real word reading, reading comprehension, spelling and written expression.”

I have seen many testing for Dyslexia that does not test the areas that Dr. Kay mentions. How can the testing be accurate if the needed tests are not conducted?

Parents, do not trust school personnel who make blanket statements about your child’s abilities and disabilities, without conducting appropriate standardized testing on them. Children should also undergo progress monitoring on a regular basis to allow school personnel to change curriculum if a child is not learning.

Would love to hear your comments, questions and experiences in this area! Feel free to leave a comment! JoAnn

Negative book review turned around to positive

2011-03-15T17:29:00Z

Last evening I was checking Amazon for any new book reviews of my book Disability Deception: Lies Disability Educators Tell and How Parents Can Beat Them at Their Own Game. I came across a negative review that was left in October 2010 by a School Psychologist. My book has been out since September 2007, and honestly I expected more negative reviews from school personnel, way before now!

When the book first came out I was afraid of the amount of negative reviews, I would get. Why? Because no one ever wrote a book about special education and lies before, at least not that I know of. Before I wrote the book, I did a lot of checking, and I came up empty--so I was the first person either bold enough, or stupid enough to do it!

I noticed in looking at the review that as much as I could tell the reviewer never said that the book was untruthful! It does not matter that the reviewer does not like the book, nor does it matter that she does not see things the way I do--because I did not write the book for School Psychologists! I wrote the book for parents who were struggling with getting their child an appropriate education, and could not figure out why this is almost impossible! It is almost impossible because many special education personnel are not honest with parents.

I have heard from parents from probably every state in the US, telling me how much they not only appreciate my book, but also appreciate my Ezine articles (these can be found at www.ezinearticles.com)! I have testimonies on the wall of my office reminding me of who I wrote the book for--parents! I have heard from parents that have used the book to finally get their child related and special education services that they need, and are entitled to!!

I have heard from parents who state that they like my book better than Peter Wrights (If Peter is listening--not sure that I agree—I am a great fan of his work and own several of his books)! I have heard from parents who have left the book on the table at IEP meetings, and E mailed me with school personnel’s reaction to the book (it is good for a long laugh)! I have also heard from parents who have been successful in getting special education personnel to back down, when confronted with their lies and deceptions. These lies and deceptions, hurt children and cause them irreparable damage, that will affect them for the rest of their life!

I have recognized grammatical and punctuation errors in the book, that should have been picked up in the editing process. I promise to do a better job in my next book, so as to not take away my credibility!

Was I hurt by the review, especially when the reviewer stated that the book is bad--I was. I am a sensitive person, which is probably why I am a good advocate! Will I let the review stop me from continuing to tell the truth about special education--absolutely not! In my new upcoming book Disability Deception 2 I have this included in the Introduction to the book:

The article talks about a quote from Robert F. Kennedy that Reed Martin (an awesome special education attorney and civil rights advocate who recently passed away) used in a speech; this is the quote: “Those who want to work for change will always be opposed. Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance!” Robert F. Kennedy Day of Affirmation Speech, June 6, 1966 (The article on Reed Martin can be found at: http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/reed.martin.htm).

I will continue to fight, until all children with disabilities have the right to receive an appropriate education that allows them to live the kind of life, that they deserve! I would rather have bad reviews for doing what God asked me to do, then to face him on judgment day, because I refused to be honest, and do what he asked me to do.

Bring them on--they only encourage me to fight harder! It is interesting though that she called me hostile, and yet what she said appears hostile to me! Of course these are just my thoughts, which may or may not mean much!
Always fighting—JoAnn

PS: I run all of my blog posts through grammar and punctuation software, so hopefully this will help improve my writing!

5 Lies about Special Education Transportation and how to overcome these lies!

2011-02-24T00:36:00Z

Are you the parent of a child with autism or a physical disability, that receives special education services? Does your child need transportation services? Do you think that special education personnel are not being truthful about what the federal special education law (IDEA 2004) says about transportation? This article will be discussing 5 lies that are commonly told to parents about transportation. Also, discussion on how to overcome these lies to help your child receive needed, transportation services.

Lie 1: “We can keep your child on the bus for as long as we want.” While IDEA 2004 does not address length of bus ride, long bus rides can be negatively affecting a child’s education (causing stress, negative behavior).The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) stated in a policy letter to anonymous (1993) that lengthy bus rides may be discriminatory, and may result in denial of FAPE. Why could a long bus ride be discriminatory? If children with disabilities are on the bus longer than children without disabilities, this could be considered discrimination.

Lie 2: “No one says that we have to provide transportation to your child, and we are not going to.” Transportation is considered a related service and needs to be given to a child, if they need the service so that they can receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

Lie 3: “The transportation director makes decisions about whether a child needs transportation not the IEP team.” In a document from OSEP entitled Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Eligible for Transportation OSEP states “The IEP team is responsible for determining if transportation is required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education and related services . . . “ If your child needs transportation make sure that it is listed in your child’s IEP as a related service (if child not riding regular education bus).

Lie 4: “The state says that we can bring your child to school 15 minutes late every day, and take her out 15 minutes early due to transportation issues.” Ask the school to show you in writing any documentation that proves that they have the right to do what they want to do. In the above example you could ask for “Please show me in writing where it states that our State Department of Education is allowing cutting short of education due to transportation issues!”

Actually the above OSEP document makes it clear that the school day for a child with a disability should not be longer or shorter than the school day for general education students. Since a child would receive less educational time this could also be a denial of FAPE.

Lie 5: “If you want your child to participate in extracurricular activities then you must provide transportation—we do not have to.” Actually IDEA 2004 states that a child with a disability has a right to transportation for required after school activities as well as for extracurricular activities. Make sure that the extracurricular activity is listed on your child’s IEP, and also listed that they require transportation in order to participate in the activity.

How do you overcome these transportation lies?

Learn about transportation requirements in IDEA 2004 (which is the federal special education law). I use the book “Special Education Law 2nd edition” from Peter and Pam Wright, which is fantastic. This book as well as a lot more advocacy information for parents can be found at: www.wrightslaw.com.

OSEP’s document “Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Eligible for Transportation” can be found at: idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,dynamic,QaCorner,1. Download this document and bring it to your child’s IEP meeting, so that you can use it in your advocacy.

Call your states Parent Training and Information Center (PTIC) for help with advocating for transportation issues.
Bring all of the above information to an IEP meeting to assist you in your advocacy.

Do you have a transportation question or a story about how you were able to advocate for needed transportation--please comment on my post. JoAnn

Special Education Transportation

2011-02-08T01:21:00Z

My second blog entry will be about transportation.

Question: “Does IDEA 2004 state the amount of time that a child with disabilities can be on a bus?

Answer: No it does not. I think if this issue was actually covered in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA 2004), a lot fewer transportation issues would come up between parents and school districts! What is important to know about this particular issue is whether a long bus ride negatively affects the child with disabilities. For example: Is the child developing negative behavior on the bus? Is the child stressed out when they get to school, which is interfering with their education? If either one of these things are occurring, then the child cannot tolerate, the long bus ride. Also, in the OSEP policy letter to Anonymous (OSEP 1993) OSEP found that lengthy bus rides may be discriminatory, and may result in denial of FAPE.

Transportation is considered a related service in IDEA 2004. Under definitions “Related Services are defined as: transportation, and such developmental, corrective and other supportive services . . . designed to enable a child with a disability to receive a free appropriate public education as described in the IEP of the child, counseling services, medical services . . . . medical services shall be for diagnostic and evaluation purposes only. . . as may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education . . . .”

Another issue that comes up quite often is that children with disabilities are often brought to school late, or leave school early. OSEP has an awesome document that addresses both issues of transportation. The document is entitled: “Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Eligible for Transportation” and can be found at: http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,dynamic,QaCorner,1, Below is a question and answer on transportation:

B. Duration of Travel and Time on Learning

Authority: The term “school day” is defined in the regulations in 34 CFR §300.11(c).

Question B-1: If a child with a disability spends a significant amount of time being transported to and from school, as well as to and from another location to receive special education and related services, is the child entitled to receive additional school time to make up for the time lost in transportation.

Answer: Neither Part B of the IDEA nor the regulations address the issue of the length of a school day. Determining the length of a school day is a decision left to the SEA. However, the IDEA defines school day as any day, including a partial day, that children are in attendance at school for instructional purposes. Additionally, school day has the same meaning for all children in school, including both those with and without disabilities. In general, a school day for a child with a disability should not be longer or shorter than a school day for general education students. However, if a child’s IEP Team determines a child needs a shorter or extended school day in order to receive FAPE, then appropriate modifications should be incorporated into the IEP. However, these modifications must be based on the unique needs of the child, as determined by the IEP team, and not solely based on the child’s transportation time.

Do you have a transportation question? What is your transportation experience?

Do you have a story about successfully advocating for transportation for your child—that you would like to share? Please feel free to comment on your transportation experience, it may help other parents. JoAnn Collins

Welcome to Special Education Truths for Parents!

2011-02-03T17:22:00Z

Hello: Welcome to my new blog--Special Education Spotlight--shining the light on truths and deceptions in Special Education. For those new to me and my mission to educate parents on how to successfully advocate for special education for their chilld, a short bio is below:

I live in Bradley Illinois (small town--middle of Illinois) and have 2 fantastic dogs. I have three great adult children Angelina almost 30, Courtney age 27 and Shaun age 25. I came to special education in the way most of us do--Angelina and Shaun have disabilities. In 1984 when Angelina was 3 I was thrown into special education head first! I had no idea what was going on, and that I even had rights. A wonderful mom who was further along on her journey educated me about the Education for all Handicapped Children Act (which is what the federal law was called before IDEA). I never looked back, advocating for my children and other peoples children for over 20 years. I have been very lucky to be successful in my advocacy--not making a lot of school friends--butalways fighting for the child!

   In 2006 I began thinking about writing a book on special education--to educate a new generation of parents, about the law and advocacy techniques. I realized that most of my phone calls were about lies that were being told by some special education personnel--notice I said some! Disability Deception was born--took me about a year to write and self publish. The book was released in September 2007!

I have been humbled and thrilled by the reaction to my book! Parents E mailing me telling me how refreshing to finally find a book about special education that is honest! One mom in Texas E mailed me and told me that I saved her sanity. I E mailed her back because I had lost my sanity a long time ago, and wondered how I had saved hers! She said that she had a perpetual pit in her stomach every time she had a meeting with special education personnel about her son with a disability--but she did not know why. After reading my book she said she figured it out--the pit was because she was being lied to--and her subconscious was letting her know! Since that time I have been told by a few parents that it is the best advocacy book they ever read (not sure I agree with that), and that they recommend it to other parents.

I want this blog to be an addition to my book! I want to address questions, specific subjects and even give some advocacy advice. I also want to keep you up to date on my new projectsm and get some input on what issues are important to you as a parent of a child receiving special education services.

If you want the truth about special education, and you want to learn how to advocate for your child--then this blog is for you!

  My first topic will be about special education transportation as I seem to get a lot of questions about that. Please send your questions about transportation, and also any succes stories you have about getting your school to provide transportation for your child! Thank you in advance! JoAnn Collins

Welcome

2011-02-01T22:18:14Z

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.