Ms. Bruner,
I received your email from Judy Rohrbach. She has been kind enough
to help me with correspondence that I have been sending to
legislators. We understand that there is a need, in the state of
Missouri, for legislative change. Our state is not up to the same
standards as many others in the country and we understand that DESE
has only so much power to make districts do their jobs.
I am the co-founder of the Lee's Summit Autism Support Group. We are
parents of children that have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum
Disorders. Our children attend schools in the Lee's Summit R-VII
School District.
I have members that are dissatisfied with the services that our
children are receiving through the district. The complaints run from
IEPs that are not implemented, services that are inappropriate or not
offered, students being put in closets, students being sent to
schools other than their home school because their home school has
nothing to offer them, and under diagnosed.
Our special education director won't even tell you how he is going to
implement an IEP until you agree to the IEP. How can you agree to
something without knowing what you are agreeing to? He will not
discuss methodology without an agreement on goals. How does one know
if the goals are good if they don't know how they will be addressed?
When asked to have a child put in adaptive PE because of an abusive
PE teacher and offered extensive information on why children with
autism should be in adaptive PE, he said the child had to be in
regular PE or have a note from his physician excusing him from PE.
The child's psychologist wrote the note stating that it would be
emotionally damaging for this child to remain in this class.
When offered information about autism, from experts, he has told me
that you can't believe everything that you read. I believe that his
degree is in history. How can he ignore the advice of experts when
he obviously has no expertise in the area?
Our district has 210 children with a diagnosis of autism that is
medical, educational, or both. Yet, the district states that they
only have 83-88 children with an educational diagnosis of autism.
Where are the rest? How can there be such a discrepancy?
There was a recent due process case filed and won against the
district. It was about the treatment of a child with autism. There
are several more that are going to be filed.
That is an expensive and unnecessary step for parents to take. They
should not have to decide between housing their families and fighting
for their child's education. Yet, that is the only action that will
ensure that their child gets what is legally their right.
Our district has several autism directors. They are highly trained
in this area. They know what they should be doing. We have been
told that our children will learn social skills simply by being in a
regular classroom with their peers. Yet, the district's training
materials state that no child with autism will learn social skills
simply by being in an inclusive classroom.
We have been told that our children don't need to have FBAs done.
They state that these are only for severely disruptive students.
Yet, our children are punished for behaviors that are due to their
disabilities. My child has been disciplined for things that would
not happen if his teachers simply followed his IEP.
I filed a complaint with the OCR. They stated that the district had
failed to implement my son's IEP, but it didn't materially effect his
education. Well, it effected his emotional well being. He wanted to
die to make my life easier. I have so much information that I could
share with you. Did my school eventually follow my son's IEP? Yes
and no. They do once they are forced. Then they quit following it
until enforced again. I shouldn't have to report them every time
that they won't do their job. They should face repercussions for not
doing their job and they should be forced to do what is federally
mandated. They shouldn't have a certain amount of time to do it.
They should do it on the first day of school until the last day of
school. Why should my son continuously be forced to pay an emotional
price for the district's inconsistencies?
My son has the intelligence to work in a regular classroom without
modifications to his work. He was even on the honor roll. He also
has the interpersonal skills of a three year old. This has lead to
severe depression, talk of wanting to die, and being medicated. The
school district believes that they are doing their job because he is
at grade level. He is not at grade level on the MAP tests. They
believe that he will learn social skills simply by being in the
classroom with his peers. The special education director, for my
district, says that it is not feasible for him to train regular
education teachers or paras in my son's disability. Therefore, he is
with seven different teachers, with different expectations, that know
nothing about autism.
I'm sure that you will be able to conclude that the district is not
out of compliance at the moment. When they are out of compliance you
will be able to conclude that they got into compliance when you
scolded them, but at what price? How many of our children are going
to suffer and be left behind because the letter of the law allows the
experts to do part of their job? When is someone going to say enough
is enough and start making the experts do what is morally and legally
the right thing to do?
Thank you for time and attention to this matter. You may contact me
at any time. I have group meetings on the first Monday of each
month. I would love to have you attend one so that you could talk to
my members and see, first hand, what is happening in the world of
special education.
Sincerely,
Sherri Tucker
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