If you had a chance to listen to me and Jen (and the inimitable Sarah Talbot) on KQED's Forum yesterday, you may have heard me make a plug for (and have temporary stage fright amnesia regarding the decoded acronym for) supporting IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act -- the federal government's only-partially funded commitment to supplement the cost of special education for every child in this country who needs it.
Here's how you can take action and help all children in the United States who need special education -- whether you have a kid in special ed or not. I'm in California, so I have included contact information for my two senators; you should email your own senators.
I'll write more on yesterday's My Baby Rides the Short Bus events surreality later -- including why I burst into tears and couldn't do my reading, not at first. But for now, please consider writing your to your senators about IDEA, as I already have. It's easy. You can even use a form (Senators and Representative), if you'd prefer.
------
Find the Email of your Senator:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Email Senator Boxer (CA) :
https://boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/policycomments.cfm
Email Senator Feinstein (CA) :
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe
Suggested email :
Re : Full Funding IDEA Part B ( S 1652 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:SN01652: )
Dear Senator ........... :
As your constituent and a Parent of a [ age ] year old Special Education Student, I urge you to do everything within your power to support Full Funding IDEA Part B ( S 1652 ).
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) reaches every public school. Approximately 12 percent of public school students receive assistance through special education. These children deserve special attention and additional resources.
35 years ago, when IDEA was passed (1975) the law included a commitment to pay 40 percent of the average per-student cost for every special education student. That commitment has never been met.
School districts are being forced to redirect more and more dollars from their general education budget to cover the federal shortfall, which hurts all students — those in general education and those in special education. Since 1975, the unfunded federal portion has cost local schools and taxpayers more than $300 billion.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I look forward to your support.
Your name
............ ......... .....
County, [State]
Showing posts with label IDEA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IDEA. Show all posts
3.13.2010
2.25.2010
A very hard day at the end of a string of very hard days
It's been a while since I did a straight barf-style download. Blarghagahgh:
Today was a very hard day at the end of a string of very hard days. Just so tired. Literally no break for too long, except occasional 10 minutes of bath reading in the AM. I don't like living this way. It compromises parenting skills and patience, and is not ideal for anyone, no matter how many other people have it worse or harder or more intense.
Anyhow. It's been several weeks of child illness, therapist illness, partner traveling, and a full eleven days of Leelo out of school with a mom who needs to work at least part of every morning and has not had a break during the day for weeks. That latter isn't really fair to Leo, but I had to decide whether it would be better for my son if I was distracted by work or too sleep-deprived to supervise him safely, because if I don't work all morning that means I'm working far past bedtime. I must really be getting old, as I tend to err on the side of sleep more frequently. Leo did a lot of fantastic puzzling and spontaneous drawing (usually with chalk on easel) while waiting for me to finish my damn work shifts (which are going to be shorter starting next week thanks to my awesome awesome boss). Working with him at home is doable, but guilt-wracked.
And Wednesdays are always grueling, six straight hours of child errand running and hauling, though the payoff is Costco pizza for dinner so we are always motivated. (Except Leo who has been having a PB and J for dinner for six years and doesn't seem to mind.)
The day started off well -- Leo went to school! -- and then a friend called to let me know how crappily the district budget crisis meeting at her son's school went (that would be at Leo's resented former kinder site, get a copy of My Baby Rides the Short Bus for the formal rant). She said that a parent stood up and asked why all special ed kids couldn't be institutionalized, so that "regular" kids could still have their music and dance classes. Reader, I burst into tears. And then I tweeted the hell out of this SpedPro article citing my friend Lea's guest post on the Cost/Benefits of Special Education. I think Jocelyn Sloan's reaction said it best: "I pay the same taxes [that woman] does. Therefore I expect the same benefit: educated children." I also think that original woman is a total asshole. Please forward the SpedPro article to as many people as you can, to help them understand that kids with special needs do not steal education funds from regular ed kids! Or print the article out and nail it to foreheads that are particularly thick. Your choice.
Later I traveled to Leo's school for a Leo team meeting. We (Supervisor M, E, and Sage, Leo's dear dear speech therapist) are worried that our boy is not getting sufficiently rigorous learning at home or at school, and is not going to meet most of his IEP goals. (Though we may have set them too high to begin with, as he was on such a radiant arc during IEP April 2009). I am going to talk with his school staff about accountability and progress reports, Supervisor E and M are going to help me and Therapist V set up core home "learning" centers both in Leo's room and downstairs to supplement IEP goals. Yes the goals are the school's responsibility, but I want Leo to learn them regardless of who does the teaching. There's no room for petty or finger-pointing when it comes to my son's education.
Leo's behavioral psychiatrist then called. He wants to increase his Risperdol dosage, adding in another .5 mg right before he goes to school for 1.5 mg/day total. We think his agitation at school has less to do with medication, and more to do with the aides rotating through every 10 weeks and never really getting to know him, not really, but hey -- we've been wondering about upping that dosage anyhow. If it helps, and his aggression and sleep patterns stabilize (he was up tantrumming on Seymour's shift until around 10 tonight) yet his OCD stims persist to an interfering-with-instruction degree, then we will consider adding in anti-anxiety meds Zoloft or Luvox.
Picking up and dropping off of various trumpet-playing and jazz-dancing sisters commenced. Leo was a good sport through various interstitial errands, but was not in the mood to wait for Mali to get out of her dance class, and got quite aggressive as the girls and I walked with him from the studio to the car. Could we chance Costco? We've had a couple of really bad times at Costco. Iz pleaded with me not to go, said she didn't want to risk me getting upset. Which was so sweet of her.
I reassured Iz that we would be fine, that we would leave if anything went wrong. That Leelo hasn't had a bad time as Costco in months. And it was fine until we exited and started walking towards the car and the girls couldn't break their cycle of completely and utterly stereotypical sibling bickering and yelling. It was maddening, both to me and Leo.
Maddening especially as I had just been talking with Iz about sticky interactions with peers, in trying to take her ego out of the equation, in asking people "what makes you think that?" instead of striking out or judging. In reverting to her comic book Buddha's strategy of "I don't accept your angry words, you can keep them" when absolutely necessary. But she can't not react to Mali. She can't.
And I realized that I can't control my children, I can only control how I react to them, and how I model for them. So after five minutes of the girls refusing to stop despite pleas and threats and reassurances that not reacting to your antagonizer really does work, and as Leo's agitation increased and he kept hitting and pushing me, I disengaged. I told them I would give them a demonstration of how effective not reacting can be.
We loaded up the car. I turned on our local classical music station, and I didn't speak to them or react to Leo's pushing and hitting me for the next 20 minutes, not until we arrived home.
Leo stopped fairly quickly. He needs a steady supply of reaction fuel. Iz wailed, then wilted, then went back to reading the copy of Anne Frank's Diary that she'd swiped from Susan.
It took Mali longer, because she has the tenacity and craftiness of an oft-ignored third child. First she announced to Iz that I wasn't speaking to them because I didn't like them, even though I'd assured her moments before that I always love my children even when I don't like the way they're behaving. Then she asked me the kind of deep, complicated questions that usually keep me talking for hours, this time, "Mommy, what is a god and why did the Ewoks think C-3PO was one?" But eventually she turned back to her book.
By the time we pulled onto our street and as we crested the summit of our hill, with its truly glorious view of the San Andreas fault's valley and the rain cloud-kissed Santa Cruz mountains behind, Delibes' Lakme: Flower Duet was playing and the car was otherwise silent. For a few minutes. For a few inhalations.
And then we walked in the front door and chaos resumed. I would be okay with taking a small break from it in the near future.
Today was a very hard day at the end of a string of very hard days. Just so tired. Literally no break for too long, except occasional 10 minutes of bath reading in the AM. I don't like living this way. It compromises parenting skills and patience, and is not ideal for anyone, no matter how many other people have it worse or harder or more intense.
Anyhow. It's been several weeks of child illness, therapist illness, partner traveling, and a full eleven days of Leelo out of school with a mom who needs to work at least part of every morning and has not had a break during the day for weeks. That latter isn't really fair to Leo, but I had to decide whether it would be better for my son if I was distracted by work or too sleep-deprived to supervise him safely, because if I don't work all morning that means I'm working far past bedtime. I must really be getting old, as I tend to err on the side of sleep more frequently. Leo did a lot of fantastic puzzling and spontaneous drawing (usually with chalk on easel) while waiting for me to finish my damn work shifts (which are going to be shorter starting next week thanks to my awesome awesome boss). Working with him at home is doable, but guilt-wracked.
And Wednesdays are always grueling, six straight hours of child errand running and hauling, though the payoff is Costco pizza for dinner so we are always motivated. (Except Leo who has been having a PB and J for dinner for six years and doesn't seem to mind.)
The day started off well -- Leo went to school! -- and then a friend called to let me know how crappily the district budget crisis meeting at her son's school went (that would be at Leo's resented former kinder site, get a copy of My Baby Rides the Short Bus for the formal rant). She said that a parent stood up and asked why all special ed kids couldn't be institutionalized, so that "regular" kids could still have their music and dance classes. Reader, I burst into tears. And then I tweeted the hell out of this SpedPro article citing my friend Lea's guest post on the Cost/Benefits of Special Education. I think Jocelyn Sloan's reaction said it best: "I pay the same taxes [that woman] does. Therefore I expect the same benefit: educated children." I also think that original woman is a total asshole. Please forward the SpedPro article to as many people as you can, to help them understand that kids with special needs do not steal education funds from regular ed kids! Or print the article out and nail it to foreheads that are particularly thick. Your choice.
Later I traveled to Leo's school for a Leo team meeting. We (Supervisor M, E, and Sage, Leo's dear dear speech therapist) are worried that our boy is not getting sufficiently rigorous learning at home or at school, and is not going to meet most of his IEP goals. (Though we may have set them too high to begin with, as he was on such a radiant arc during IEP April 2009). I am going to talk with his school staff about accountability and progress reports, Supervisor E and M are going to help me and Therapist V set up core home "learning" centers both in Leo's room and downstairs to supplement IEP goals. Yes the goals are the school's responsibility, but I want Leo to learn them regardless of who does the teaching. There's no room for petty or finger-pointing when it comes to my son's education.
Leo's behavioral psychiatrist then called. He wants to increase his Risperdol dosage, adding in another .5 mg right before he goes to school for 1.5 mg/day total. We think his agitation at school has less to do with medication, and more to do with the aides rotating through every 10 weeks and never really getting to know him, not really, but hey -- we've been wondering about upping that dosage anyhow. If it helps, and his aggression and sleep patterns stabilize (he was up tantrumming on Seymour's shift until around 10 tonight) yet his OCD stims persist to an interfering-with-instruction degree, then we will consider adding in anti-anxiety meds Zoloft or Luvox.
Picking up and dropping off of various trumpet-playing and jazz-dancing sisters commenced. Leo was a good sport through various interstitial errands, but was not in the mood to wait for Mali to get out of her dance class, and got quite aggressive as the girls and I walked with him from the studio to the car. Could we chance Costco? We've had a couple of really bad times at Costco. Iz pleaded with me not to go, said she didn't want to risk me getting upset. Which was so sweet of her.
I reassured Iz that we would be fine, that we would leave if anything went wrong. That Leelo hasn't had a bad time as Costco in months. And it was fine until we exited and started walking towards the car and the girls couldn't break their cycle of completely and utterly stereotypical sibling bickering and yelling. It was maddening, both to me and Leo.
Maddening especially as I had just been talking with Iz about sticky interactions with peers, in trying to take her ego out of the equation, in asking people "what makes you think that?" instead of striking out or judging. In reverting to her comic book Buddha's strategy of "I don't accept your angry words, you can keep them" when absolutely necessary. But she can't not react to Mali. She can't.
And I realized that I can't control my children, I can only control how I react to them, and how I model for them. So after five minutes of the girls refusing to stop despite pleas and threats and reassurances that not reacting to your antagonizer really does work, and as Leo's agitation increased and he kept hitting and pushing me, I disengaged. I told them I would give them a demonstration of how effective not reacting can be.
We loaded up the car. I turned on our local classical music station, and I didn't speak to them or react to Leo's pushing and hitting me for the next 20 minutes, not until we arrived home.
Leo stopped fairly quickly. He needs a steady supply of reaction fuel. Iz wailed, then wilted, then went back to reading the copy of Anne Frank's Diary that she'd swiped from Susan.
It took Mali longer, because she has the tenacity and craftiness of an oft-ignored third child. First she announced to Iz that I wasn't speaking to them because I didn't like them, even though I'd assured her moments before that I always love my children even when I don't like the way they're behaving. Then she asked me the kind of deep, complicated questions that usually keep me talking for hours, this time, "Mommy, what is a god and why did the Ewoks think C-3PO was one?" But eventually she turned back to her book.
By the time we pulled onto our street and as we crested the summit of our hill, with its truly glorious view of the San Andreas fault's valley and the rain cloud-kissed Santa Cruz mountains behind, Delibes' Lakme: Flower Duet was playing and the car was otherwise silent. For a few minutes. For a few inhalations.
And then we walked in the front door and chaos resumed. I would be okay with taking a small break from it in the near future.
2.02.2010
We Are Not Sparta: The Real, Justified Costs of Educating Kids With Special Needs
I am posting this with permission from my smart, tenacious, Italian-from-Italy friend Lea. Our sons went to kindergarten together.
Special Needs Children and Public Education
by Lea Cuniberti-Duran
Raising and educating children with special needs is expensive. That's just a fact.
I have attended many school district budget meetings in which officials blurted to their audience, "We cannot pay for XYZ because of our financial responsibility toward children with special needs: to educate one special needs student can cost the district $100,000 a year." I also hear about how the district has "an unfunded mandate to educate children with special needs, and how this results into an encroachment to the general fund."
As one can imagine this argument is not always well received by parents of typical kids who want a great education for their children, and are lead to believe that "all those quirky kids" are in the way. It is easy to believe the encroachment argument: how can one argue with the fact that our district has to transfer $7M from general fund to the special education department?
The school district's argument has been so effective that a good friend recently confronted my husband and me. She said she couldn't see why the district had to spend so much money to educate special need children. She resented spending $100,000 for a child who will may never be a fully contributing member of our society. Why not spend that money toward the education of all the other children, those who will be able to contribute, go to university, and have a career?
Don’t Be Fooled By the Numbers
Districts use children with special needs the way a magician uses props: as a distraction, a way to divert attention from schools underperforming because of problems that have nothing to do with special needs. Just look at the numbers: Redwood City School District spends about $10,000 per student (according to the latest data released by the district). RCSD is rated a 5 out of 10 based on State and Federal tests results for the school year 2008-09
If we look at districts around the Bay Area that, like Redwood City, are revenue-limit (meaning, they rely heavily on state funding), have the same proportion of students with special needs, YET are rated higher by GreatSchools.net; we will see that these districts spend less money per student. From this we can infer that special needs students are not the reason why school districts underperform:
A Good Investment
Allowing people with disabilities to reach their full potential is a good investment. With appropriate services and support, people with disabilities can lead full and productive lives. And helping those who may never be fully independent reach their full potential costs taxpayers less than funding 24/7 assistance for the rest of their lives.
We, as society, need to move away from thinking that people with a mental or physical disability cannot be contributing members of society. Just look around in your daily life, and notice some examples of people who have gone and beyond those simple expectations: my children’s occupational therapist who is missing an arm, or a tax accountant who happen to be dyslexic, or one of my personal heroes, Dr. Temple Grandin, PhD, who is a leading expert in livestock management as well as an advocate for the autism community.
Work programs can specialize in employing individuals in areas where they excel, like complex but repetitive tasks that a neurotypical person cannot perform with consistent precision. I was told of a woman with Down syndrome whose job is to prepare all the instruments for the surgeons in a mid-west hospital. Educating and teaching skills to a person with a disability may require extra resources, but it leads to more independence – so it’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s the least expensive approach.
We Are Not Sparta
We, as society, value life, and have laws to protect it. We also value diversity. Long gone is the time of Sparta when people with differences were thrown off a cliff. But in the not-so-distant past, American children with disabilities were taken away from their families and put in institutions, where they were often left in very desperate conditions: with minimal food, clothing and shelter and terrible unhygienic conditions. In 1967, for example, state institutions were homes for almost 200,000 persons with significant disabilities. Some of these institutes still exist, like the NAPA State Hospital outside Sacramento, California which has been investigate by the State as recently as 2005 for abuses and infractions against patients.
The birth of IDEA
“In the 1950s and 1960s, the Federal government, with the strong support and advocacy of family associations, such as The ARC, began to develop and validate practices for children with disabilities and their families. These practices, in turn, laid the foundation for implementing effective programs and services of early intervention and special education in states and localities across the country.” (From the US Department of Education)
This lead to the creation of IDEA (Individual with Disabilities Educational Act), which gives children with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate public education, in the least restrictive environment, with accommodations, modifications and support so that children can access their education. This law benefits ALL children with an IEP, no matter how few services he or she is receiving.
What Has IDEA Accomplished?
A few examples from the US Dept of Education:
In a year like 2010, when schools are squeezed by a state in financial disarray, when budgets and programs are slashed with a hatchet; when the panic feeling of saving money makes people cut corners; special needs children will be the easy target for blaming and the victims of further cuts. As a parent and an advocate for my children, I have pledged to stay involved, informed and calm; attend as many school board meetings as I can, and share information with other parents.
I also pledged to monitor closely the next November election, when we will elect a new governor, a US senator, and, here in San Mateo County, two new state representative (both assemblyman Ruskin and senator Simitian are out of term).
For those of us who want to make a difference, this is the time to get informed, contact the candidates, hear their prospective on issues and flex our political muscles on election day.
I am committed to push further and follow in the footsteps of the parents and advocates before us, who fought for their children to have a more appropriate education and a dignified life.
Special Needs Children and Public Education
by Lea Cuniberti-Duran
Raising and educating children with special needs is expensive. That's just a fact.
I have attended many school district budget meetings in which officials blurted to their audience, "We cannot pay for XYZ because of our financial responsibility toward children with special needs: to educate one special needs student can cost the district $100,000 a year." I also hear about how the district has "an unfunded mandate to educate children with special needs, and how this results into an encroachment to the general fund."
As one can imagine this argument is not always well received by parents of typical kids who want a great education for their children, and are lead to believe that "all those quirky kids" are in the way. It is easy to believe the encroachment argument: how can one argue with the fact that our district has to transfer $7M from general fund to the special education department?
The school district's argument has been so effective that a good friend recently confronted my husband and me. She said she couldn't see why the district had to spend so much money to educate special need children. She resented spending $100,000 for a child who will may never be a fully contributing member of our society. Why not spend that money toward the education of all the other children, those who will be able to contribute, go to university, and have a career?
Don’t Be Fooled By the Numbers
Districts use children with special needs the way a magician uses props: as a distraction, a way to divert attention from schools underperforming because of problems that have nothing to do with special needs. Just look at the numbers: Redwood City School District spends about $10,000 per student (according to the latest data released by the district). RCSD is rated a 5 out of 10 based on State and Federal tests results for the school year 2008-09
If we look at districts around the Bay Area that, like Redwood City, are revenue-limit (meaning, they rely heavily on state funding), have the same proportion of students with special needs, YET are rated higher by GreatSchools.net; we will see that these districts spend less money per student. From this we can infer that special needs students are not the reason why school districts underperform:
- Cabrillo Unified (Half Moon Bay)
- Rated 7 out of 10
- Spending per pupil: $7,477
- San Mateo-Foster City
- Rated 7 out of 10
- Spending per pupil: $7,917
- Mountain View
- Rated 7 out of 10
- Spending per pupil: $8,433
- San Francisco
- Rated 7 out of 10
- Spending per pupil: $8,357
- Millbrae
- Rated 8 out of 10
- Spending per pupil: $7,203
- Novato
- Rated 8 out of 10
- Spending per pupil: $7,283
- Walnut Creek
- Rated 10 out of 10
- Spending per pupil: $7,281
A Good Investment
Allowing people with disabilities to reach their full potential is a good investment. With appropriate services and support, people with disabilities can lead full and productive lives. And helping those who may never be fully independent reach their full potential costs taxpayers less than funding 24/7 assistance for the rest of their lives.
We, as society, need to move away from thinking that people with a mental or physical disability cannot be contributing members of society. Just look around in your daily life, and notice some examples of people who have gone and beyond those simple expectations: my children’s occupational therapist who is missing an arm, or a tax accountant who happen to be dyslexic, or one of my personal heroes, Dr. Temple Grandin, PhD, who is a leading expert in livestock management as well as an advocate for the autism community.
Work programs can specialize in employing individuals in areas where they excel, like complex but repetitive tasks that a neurotypical person cannot perform with consistent precision. I was told of a woman with Down syndrome whose job is to prepare all the instruments for the surgeons in a mid-west hospital. Educating and teaching skills to a person with a disability may require extra resources, but it leads to more independence – so it’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s the least expensive approach.
We Are Not Sparta
We, as society, value life, and have laws to protect it. We also value diversity. Long gone is the time of Sparta when people with differences were thrown off a cliff. But in the not-so-distant past, American children with disabilities were taken away from their families and put in institutions, where they were often left in very desperate conditions: with minimal food, clothing and shelter and terrible unhygienic conditions. In 1967, for example, state institutions were homes for almost 200,000 persons with significant disabilities. Some of these institutes still exist, like the NAPA State Hospital outside Sacramento, California which has been investigate by the State as recently as 2005 for abuses and infractions against patients.
The birth of IDEA
“In the 1950s and 1960s, the Federal government, with the strong support and advocacy of family associations, such as The ARC, began to develop and validate practices for children with disabilities and their families. These practices, in turn, laid the foundation for implementing effective programs and services of early intervention and special education in states and localities across the country.” (From the US Department of Education)
This lead to the creation of IDEA (Individual with Disabilities Educational Act), which gives children with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate public education, in the least restrictive environment, with accommodations, modifications and support so that children can access their education. This law benefits ALL children with an IEP, no matter how few services he or she is receiving.
What Has IDEA Accomplished?
A few examples from the US Dept of Education:
- The majority of children with disabilities are now being educated in their neighborhood schools in regular classrooms with their non-disabled peers.
- High school graduation rates and employment rates among youth with disabilities have increased dramatically. For example, graduation rates increased 14 percent from 1984 to 1997.
- Today, post-school employment rates for youth served under IDEA are twice those of older adults with similar disabilities who did not have the benefit of IDEA.
- Post-secondary enrollments among individuals with disabilities receiving IDEA services have also sharply increased, with the percentage of college freshmen reporting disabilities more than tripling since 1978.
In a year like 2010, when schools are squeezed by a state in financial disarray, when budgets and programs are slashed with a hatchet; when the panic feeling of saving money makes people cut corners; special needs children will be the easy target for blaming and the victims of further cuts. As a parent and an advocate for my children, I have pledged to stay involved, informed and calm; attend as many school board meetings as I can, and share information with other parents.
I also pledged to monitor closely the next November election, when we will elect a new governor, a US senator, and, here in San Mateo County, two new state representative (both assemblyman Ruskin and senator Simitian are out of term).
For those of us who want to make a difference, this is the time to get informed, contact the candidates, hear their prospective on issues and flex our political muscles on election day.
I am committed to push further and follow in the footsteps of the parents and advocates before us, who fought for their children to have a more appropriate education and a dignified life.
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