I am the original parent with the child with Autism
Submitted by mom of 2 on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 15:09.
Below is the paste of the comment I left in April. I have since had even more problems. The editor ask for more information, so I will take the time to fill in the gaps.
First my child was recognized as qualified by the system before he was 2 and has had EI before the district failed to follow through with the section C IDEA trasition and I filed a complaint with the TEA and was given compensation. He is indeed diagnosed with autism BY the DISD, so there are no grey areas. As far as rave reviews, I never heard anything nice about the DISD special Ed department from ANY service professional, in fact I am encouraged at least once a week to move out of the city. I did tell the entire school board twice for 3 minutes and there is no option for a pre schooler with high functioning autism in the DISD. All the other cities offer language disorder classes, but DISD thiks that a Spainish speaking class is just fine for an English speaking child with the primary disability of language disorder.
If the special education offered appropriate services and education then more than 20% of the children would graduate, but 80% of special education children drop out, without any skills.
I have the right for my child to be Dual Enrolled, and the district will not provide it although I have requested it numerous times. The Lies and deception and malice is all the district is willing to do, and they even reported my to CPS as retaliation to withdrawing my child and placing him privatly and making my statement to the school board. That was a civil rights violation, and the CPS case was closed immediatly as the evidence was presented, that the problems are clearly a result tot he school violating the rights of my child and causing behavior problems, that they mis-represent at the ARD meeting, so to not have to service him with FAPE. I have had mediation and the district refused to accept the IEE they agreed to have, then held a meeting 6 months later under the false pretense to go over the evaluation, then had a contract lawyer viciously attact me verbally, in order to try to legitimize the corruption that the district perpetrates on my child and my family. The staff of the special education department who are legitimate know they cannot service the kids because the administration will not allow it. Meredith Smith and her henchmen are evil liars and know exactly how to deny FAPE.
All I wanted was a bit of appropriate speech therapy and an English speaking placement for a 3 year old the DISD called autistic. Noe after 450 staff hours of lies and malice, I am heading into Due Process. My child has been placed at my expense into private school and services that the district is legally obliged to offer, but will not. He is now talking and acting almost typical. The children in the program he was at for the first 8 months of his third year, never learned to talked and the system is not supporting the teachers, and is heck bent to fight any attempt for the parent to exercise their right to have FAPE for the children. IDEA 2004 has given the parent more rights to not accept the worthless services the district offers. It is true they will give a few kids services, at the rate of 10% of the kids, but 90% are neglected, and those who are the minority white, English speaking, there is no option in the less affluent neighborhood schools.
below is the rant I posted in April. Sorry for the delayed response, but I never knew there was any feedback!
I know the only purpose the district has for my "kind" is to charge more property tax and abuse with the malicious legal sharks they retained to be sure they can get away with not providing FAPE. I accept that I need to move out of Dallas, and I will asap/
it is not Dallas Achieves, it is DALLAS DECIEVES!!!!!
Thanks for reading this,
Mom of 2
PS, DISD has the funds to have quality special ed, the administration refuse to administrate those funds correctly. Who ever thinks they havea fine program is completely deluded and mistaken!
I have a boy with autism and the district is doing everything possible to not service him appropriately. For that reason since they have wasted over 400 staff hours in ARD meetings in less than 1 year and lie and distort the truth to enable the illegal practice of not servicing the special education children with FAPE, I am against the Bond Package. I know that they are not able to manage any more bond money correctly. They simply refuse to do their job! The Evil Corruption starts at the top and goes completely through to the bottom and includes the ignorance and malice that is not only unbelievable, but consistently perpetrated from Ross Ave to Ervay to the local campus. The school board has no influence in any way and the system is just evil and malicious not to mention illegal, violating Federal Laws.
[Ed Note: I find this surprising because one of DISD's strong points is the quality of its special and remedial education. Have you contacted your board member with specifics on this situation? Not to doubt what you say, but I sure would like to see specifics on this particular case--because most people rave about the quality of the Districts special ed programs.]
Autism
Submitted by Special Ed Teacher (not verified) on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 15:11.
I would also like to hear the specifics of the autism parent's case. The problem with autism in this country is that its full name is "Autism Spectrum Disorder" and the "Spectrum" part means there is a HUGE range...from Asperger's kids who function almost normally, to the extreme kids who freak out if you deviate from their routines. There are also a lot of kids who present with autism-like symptoms but do not qualify because they only meet two or 3 items on the checklist when they are tested-- for example, they may have the lack of speech, mental retardation, and repetitive behaviors, but because they do connect with people, they're not considered autistic. So there's all this grey area that confuses a lot of parents and teachers. The bottom line is, it's up to the ARD committee to decide what is best for each student, regardless of how they are classified. If they do ok in regular ed, let them stay in regular ed. We have an autistic student in regular ed right now in our school, and to the best of my knowledge he's doing fine. The kids and teachers are used to his quirks and are very supportive. For other kids, their autism is so severe that do they need the specialized Total Communication class. The ARD Committee decides, and the administration is bound by IDEA to uphold the ARD decisions. That's why an administrator is required to be present at each and every ARD meeting. If they don't show up, the ARD is invalid and illegal. Parents need to be VERY familiar with the Procedural Safeguards that are supposed to be given to them at EVERY annual meeting; the document has changed recently so make sure you have the latest version that's compliant with IDEA 2007.
Raving about Special Ed Programs
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 04/13/2008 - 14:48.
I find that remark interesting, Ed, because "most people" I know do not "rave about the quality of the District's special ed programs"; they RAGE about it! They RAGE about high school principals disolving self-contained classrooms and forcing MR students into general education classes without notifying parents, without holding federally mandated ARDs, and without any regard for the student's needs. They rage about SPED administrators eliminating Content Mastery and Resource Rooms on SOME campuses, but not others, even though such a continuum of educational service is mandated under IDEA and FAPE. The people I know rage over the many District misinterpretations of federal law and the corresponding edicts that corrupt the ARD Committee's purpose and weaken its authority to make appropriate decisions for students with disabilities. For example, DISD now limits the number of SPED students on each campus that can be ARDed TAKS exempt to only 3% of the school's total student population. For one DISD high school, this means that the remaining 18% of SPED students; including many MR students and/or student's with disabilities that preclude basic reading, are now forced into taking (and failing) their ARD recommended grade-level and exit-level TAKS tests. And finally, Ed, the people I know rage because, at one high school, an assistant principal over discipline (who was escorted off campus recently by DISD cops when the long-rumored criminal "romance" he was having with a cheerleader was finally confirmed by District officials) was finally reprimanded; not for targeting special education students for transfer to Village Fair, but for forging signatures on documents to get them there. I guess we just don't know the same people.
[Ed Note: Well an audit in 2001 found some deficiencies in how the District approached handling students living in residential facilities (institutionalized), but most have been complimentary.
I am willing to grant that we may know different parents throughout the District. But virtually every parent (of a special needs kid) I have talked to has credited DISD with giving extraordinary care and attention to his or her needs.
Now to your claims: you make quite a few that are very general. I'd like to see you come up with more specifics. Which school, in particular, are you talking about? We'd like to pay the school a visit and confirm your claims before just agreeing with them.]
Re: Raving about Special Ed
Submitted by Special Ed Teacher (not verified) on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 17:02.
I'd like to help clarify some of "Raver's" comments.
"They RAGE about high school principals disolving self-contained classrooms and forcing MR students into general education classes without notifying parents, without holding federally mandated ARDs, and without any regard for the student's needs."
Actually, that was the District's call to dissolve the Self-Contained classrooms, and many teachers, including myself, think that was a short-sighted decision. The rationale was indeed to force more students into "inclusion" (which is still getting a bad rap because the majority of regular ed and special ed teachers have NOT been properly trained), but what REALLY happened is that only a handful of them went to Inclusion, and the rest of the Self-Contained students went to Functional Living Skills classes on separate campuses, out of sight and out of mind with the more severely MR students. And that, dear readers, is a totally different soapbox that I will get on in another post. Suffice it to say that yes, there should have been ARDs to justify those decisions, but just because an ARD was held doesn't make it right.
"For example, DISD now limits the number of SPED students on each campus that can be ARDed TAKS exempt to only 3% of the school's total student population."
First of all, no one is "TAKS-Exempt" anymore (except for first-year immigrant students in TAKS Reading). Even the most severely handicapped kids have to take the TAKS-Alt. And the 3% rule is frequently misquoted/ misunderstood. No Child Left Behind is who you have to thank for that, but many folks in the district misinterpreted it to mean that a school can't have more than 3% of the kids not taking the full-blown TAKS. That is NOT true. According to TEA, the Feds require a cap on the number of scores from alternate assessments that can be counted as "proficient" in the 2008 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) calculations. No Child Left Behind requires the "proficient" results from the TAKS-Alternate (TAKS-Alt) assessment to be limited to a 1% cap and "proficient" results from the TAKS-Modified (TAKS-M) limited to a 2% cap. (Now, HOW they decide which scores get picked is a matter still being debated in Texas.)
In other words, a school CAN have more Special Ed kids, but only 3% of the "proficient" (what used to be known as "Meets Expectations") will count toward AYP. So the most severe 1% of students would take the TAKS-Alt, but since a lot of those kids are shuttled off to separate campuses, that number in DISD schools may be a bit skewed. That leaves 2% of Special Ed kids to be counted with the slightly easier but still on grade level TAKS-M. The problem with TAKS-M, as many people are just now finding out, is that students who were tested on a Kindergarten level last year with the SDAA are going to flunk this year's on-grade-level TAKS-M. It's good to have higher expectations, but not so good to expect a kid to go from Kinder to 5th grade in one year. So expect many Special Ed kids to do poorly on the TAKS or TAKS-M for the next couple of years while parents and teachers scramble to get them caught up. It's our own fault for not expecting anything better of these kids, it's just really sad that the kids are the ones paying the price for it now.
And yeah, we're in a really weird mess in this district. Depending on who you talk to, we either have way too many kids in Special Ed because the teachers and principals push to get them out of regular ed, the diagnosticians are married to only one intelligence test, and the parents like those SSI checks.....OR, too many kids fall through the cracks and don't get the help they need because the Special Ed referral process is too cumbersome for well-meaning teachers to jump through all the hoops. Strangely enough, the answer is...it's both.
Frustrated Teacher-Special Ed
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 04/12/2008 - 18:29.
I am a teacher in DISD and am frustrated with how long it takes to test any student that we feel has learning disability. It seems that less and less students are qualifying and being offered additional services. It seems it is all being left up to the teacher to "differentiate" instruction. I have yet to see "inclusion" actually taking place in the class rooms where a special ed teacher comes in to work with learning disabled students.
[Ed Note: As you can tell, we're starting to get interested in special education. It seems that, based on another poster's comments, the door is certainly open for questions to be asked.]
Special Ed - "Inclusion"
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 11:36.
You have hit on a sore spot that when investigated, will find much disservice to the very students in need.
I taught at a DISD middle school last year - I saw and met only one of the "inclusion" teachers one time during the entire school year. She walked into my classroom and stood around for a few minutes, and then left. I never talked with her and I never knew what she was doing or even WHO she was supposed to be helping! I NEVER received a list of special education students and so had no idea of who legally was in need of modified work. However, I could pretty much figure it out based on the student's behavior and work product.
The question was asked over and over again by fellow teachers, "Just what do these special ed teachers do?" And what help is actually being given to the special ed students??? On several occasions I went to the special ed teachers' workspace - only to find them all sitting around. They didn't have any desire to talk with me, as a teacher. Just what do these people do???
I'm sure there are laws and regulations broken but no one seems to care! It's a scandal waiting to be investigated!
[Ed Note: I'm getting the feeling that they are, in some schools, very good--and in others, perhaps, not so good. However DISD has been recognized in the past for the way they approach special needs kids.
One of ours took speech therapy when he was pre-K. I was very pleased with the outcome and quality.
But I'm getting the idea that there are some areas that are in need of a little "light" being shined. Now somebody message me and tell me where those areas are!]
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I Do Not
I do not, perhaps others do. Just for the record; I am a MOM, on SBDM, memeber of PTA at two schools, regularly visit both, and even visit several times during year to previous schools my children have attended. I am thankful for Teachers far more than words can express, that does not mean I think ALL Teachers are professionals, some may not even be fully qualified. I do my job, MOM, with a great deal of pride, respect, honesty, struggle, and hopefully an "audit" every now-and-then to help me keep up to par. Question back: will it make a difference if RUDESLP is/is not an employee?
I think it matters
A lot of the comments from "Mom of 2" refers to Rudeslp as a professional that works at the school. It matters to me because I want to know if if Rudeslp is a random blogger having a bad day or is this person a teacher, diagnostician, or psychologist that must actually work with children. If this person is not an employee, I would like that distinction made clear, if Rudeslp is an employee, then perhaps some sensitivity training is in order. Dallas ISD gets a lot a lot of bad press and unfortunately much of it is deserved, the last thing we need is for negative comments to be falsely attributed to one of our professionals.
the term SLP means Speech and Language Pathologist
mom of 2
The issue I raise is of sensitivity and integrity and the comments the RUDESLP are VERY CONSISTENT with the attitude the DISD has and expresses. I would be extremely surprised if RUDESLP is not a DISD speech employee, since the typical, independent SPL is most considerate of the needs and does not need to have a "case" articulated with perfection to comprehend the fact that children with autism and language disorders need services and an English placement to facilitate their education correctly.
I too, joined the PTA and SBDM for my home school and from those committees I understand the school recieves a very large fund for my pre schooler with autism and it is not used in the least to fund HIS education. In fact the only thing the district will do is have attitudes like RUDESLP and fund the endless arguments and nitpicking that are exactly like RUDESLP expresses. The school district needs to have audits and be punished for dishonesty. The bad press is called for and justified and if the district wants to not have it they need to do the job without the type of comments the RUDESLP add to the discussion on a consistent basis. Where are the teachers and staff that do a good job? oh yeah, look at the April posts about how they agree with the problems in the special ed. Where are the inclusion help? I saw the one assigned to my kid at the Central Market during school hours. I was encouraged to give more indepth comments, so here it is.
With the bad comes some good
Lets discuss a real kid story; kindergarten clings to pole outside,too scared to enter and has to be taken away. Parent discusses and returns, child agrees to go to school and teacher is very patient, child makes it through first day, rest of year is hard for child, teacher and parents. 1st grade child struggles with reading, "hates" school, does not do homework without exhaustive effort by parent and child. 2nd grade can read but not interested, "hates" school, teachers frustrated, other children talk with child to help them, they make only few friends but do consult with the few. 3rd grade sleeps, teacher allows it. 4th grade hard struggle to make every day, bangs head on walls, crumples papers, hates other kids and feels teachers don't care. 5th grade teachers assist with organization skills, work close with child, take extra time (saturdays at Denny's) to help with work (not paid either!) child feels better assisted but still melts down often, still able to talk with the few students who do not judge (they actually write notes of support to each other), child finished year frustrated, undereducated, but proud to have made it through the year with peers. 6th grade, head banging, suicidal, failing, teachers resentful and have frustration. After suicidal interventions parents demand evaluation to point out educational inability. WOW, tests and evaluations show child is mentally on task with all core subjects but has a hand writting disability which does not allow the childs hand to interpret what the brain tells it to do. 7th grade teachers are SUPER SUPPORTIVE, child is given technical equipment which aids in completing written work at a pace equal to other students, English teachers gives student work with expectations on how the student "can" do it, and positive support. Childs work improves and continues to improve, student stops banging head, stop wanting to kill themself, and no longer feels the problems with education were not simply that they were too stupid. Child goes to high school, ARD held and parent makes sure all teachers are there, makes sure all understand it's not a small issue and goes over every detail. Now, the best part, the person who assists the "special" children takes a personal interest in the child, makes sure the child knows unquestionably that if there is any problem SHE could be talked with, SHE was available, SHE would help and, best, SHE DID JUST THAT! All the way through high school. Oh, child; joined swim team (was Captain too!), had confidence, friends, good grades (still struggles on some subjects), graduated and is now in college.
What's my point here; Teachers and support staff make the difference to children when they take the time and effort! Parents, we make a difference when we help our children no matter what. I have been told so many times that it is not comon for a parent to be so involved. That's sad, it's sad that too many parents have to work too much and children are left to the school staff, but if your the staffer: STEP UP AND DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE. If your the parent who can't get off work, call in a conference, send a fax, write a letter and ask for a reply note. Get your kids teacher schedule so you know when they are not instructing, then call at that time. Go during lunches, right after school or just before the bell rings. Most of all: SUPPORT YOUR CHILD, HELP YOUR CHILD, UNDERSTAND THERE MAY BE SOMETHING AN ADULT MUST UNDERSTAND AND ACT UPON FOR THE CHILD. If you can't, who can?
P.S. I hope my fudamental message is not lost because I may have mis-spelled words, or used poor punctuation, truly
thanks again open minded
Your inspiring story is a classic example of how a teacher and parent MUST work together. In the case of high functioning autism, there are no and I repeat NO appropriate classes in DISD for an Early Intervention transition child age three and that is the MOST crucial time of the child's potential. Many times the high functioning children are left under a rock and the staff often times claim they "cannot" do anything, even though they are required to by the IDEA or NCLB. The administration will do everything including wasting vast amounts of dollars FIGHTING against the parents, who like myself, have stopped working because of the responsibility I have to be sure my children are educated and not suicidal, as the staff like RUDE SLP have caused incredible behavior issues with my 3 year old and are not willing to discuss the real issues of how they need to do the job as the LAW REQUIRES. The entire fight is a personal attack on myself as a parent unable to make my child behave and attend an abusive and hostile school.
The 45 hours of ARD and mediation meetings I have invested in thus far, have been nothing short of character attacks by the district with none of the time spent on the school offering the truth of the events that happend in the class, or discussing any alternative to the inappropriate class placement to service the pre school child needs. All the district is willing to do is falsify the records that indicate non-compliance to the IEP, and blame me for birthing a child they need to educate in a way that is outside the way they educate. That is not FAPE. They need to, by law, figure out the child's need and service them. People like Rudeslp should not be near children, much less paid to provide service to children with special needs.
Teachers like open minded are the godsend our kids need and deserve! Unfortunately the majority of the staff are like RUDESLP. Too bad for society.
Many times the parents have problems.....
mom of 2 It is true I am far from the perfect literate. I barely got through high school due to unrecognized learning differences that the PUBLIC SCHOOL is to BLAME indeed! But despite my odd way of composition, I have a heart and feelings and know right from wrong. I completed college with a bachelor of science degree from a large university, where the staff helped me a zillion times more than the high school ever could. There are responsibilities the public school has by law and the staff like RUDESLP are the reason the system is a mess, and the ARD meetings are worthless. The TEA know me and have respect for my situation with my children. They know staff like RUDE SLP are the real problem, and that the staff are closed minded to creating solutions. Children with disabilities cannot change their disabilities as the school and SLP expect them to. The school needs to change how they teach and give appropriate and sufficient therapy to SERVICE NEEDS as a requirement of FEDERAL LAW!!!!!!! I realize that takes imagination and creativity, something rude staff persons often are unable to do because they are too busy being judgemental and close minded!
Thank you Rude SLP for showing your true colors
I apologize for being imperfect.!
I am not a professional in the school like the rude SLP who is beyond being a nice person! RUDESLP makes a clear illustration of my point that the school is rude and attacks the parent rather than solve the problem. It is consistant and an honest representation of how the district works. You put the air back into my argument that my disability makes pin hole leaks in. Thank you for clarifying my point of how abusive the district "unprofessionals" are to the taxpayer parents of the kids the school refuses to service.
Question...
Do we know for certain that Rudeslp is a professional in the school district?
Distasteful
I find it distasteful when others comment about a parents misspelled wording or improper use of punctuation. The individual's point of conversation might better be the focus of attention. Perhaps that is why students drop out.
[Ed Note: I always get concerned when things get reduced to a "spelling flame war." Usually it is a red herring substitute for substantive discussion. Sticking to the topic is usually the best approach.]
Oh ed there you are
mom of 2
The spelling errors I created are truly embarrasing, but I did not take the time to check myself. The comment the RUDESLP made is consistent with the type of "red herring" off topic attacks I have from the district on a regular basis when advocating for my child's right to FAPE, Free and Appropriate Education, that is a right from an Act of Congress, IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, that was reformed in 2004 to offer Parents the right to have more influence on the schools and the education they provide to the child.
thank you open minded, you are that indeed!
mom of 2
I think we choose call names that describe us the best!
That is the truth!
original parent
Ugh! You have to love when someone (mom of 2) rants on and on about how bad the public education system is and yet they themselves can't even compose the most basic of cohesive sentences. Is she going to blame that on the public education system as well? Her written limitations really suck a lot of the credibility out of her argument. The plethora of misspelled words didn’t really help her issue either.
Ugh is an onomatopoeiac representation
Your use of words like caveman talk show your level of uncivility. Do you blame that on your professional training?
I am on www.dictionary right now
Onomo, Onoto, no. Onomatop... uh, I gotta look that up. ohhh; Rhetoric
LOL
I think your call name of RUDE is quite appropriate
Now try to service the kids appropriately! Wow what a concept! Rude, you are and that is just the beginning.
Ed the comments you made at raving is pasted and contradicts you
mom of 2
Improve special education services. DISD's special education program has serious and persistent problems. The district has failed to identify, evaluate and appropriately serve children with disabilities living in residential facilities for a number of years. As a result of this persistent failure, TEA assigned a special education monitor to DISD in February 2000. DISD should reorganize its special education personnel, provide them with annual training and create an automated tracking system to ensure that DISD adheres to the mandated timelines for student special education assessments.
Ed this is from the link you referred to at the note audit in 2001 on Raving's comment There was a problem you are just not obliged to be realistic!