Showing posts with label SER (Special Education Reform). Show all posts
Showing posts with label SER (Special Education Reform). Show all posts
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Write A Letter To Arne Duncan
Sherri R. Tucker
1200 SE London Way
Lee’s Summit, MO 64081
816-554-3017
autism@kc.rr.com
Arne Duncan
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202
To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing to you for advice. My child, Jacob Tucker, attended Lee’s Summit High School in the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District. We are in the state of Missouri. He was forced to drop out of school because he was receiving no services and was no longer progressing academically. He required medication to attend school because of the anxiety that attending caused him. He does not require this medication for any other part of his life. Once he was removed from the situation the medication was no longer needed.
The local school district, as well as the state education department, is unresponsive to our needs, and refuses to obey the regulations set down in IDEA. As result, my child, as well as others, are suffering and not receiving FAPE. Child complaints are not sufficiently researched and are almost always found in the favor of the districts. Even when the parent has documentation that the district is out of compliance the State finds in the district’s favor. Due process is out of the question as most parents cannot afford it and rarely prevail. The State and the district are co dysfunctional. Even the Special Education Advisory Panel is not set up in such a manner that it would be parent friendly.
My son has a diagnosis of Kanner’s Syndrome/Early Infantile Autism, Dysgraphia, Inattentive and Impulsive ADHD, and Anxiety Disorder. I requested, and received, an IEE but the district did not discuss it at the follow up meeting and simply stated, “We have all read the IEE.” That was the extent that it was considered.
My son has had an educational diagnosis of Autism since 1998. He had never received any services related to his autism. He has a nonverbal IQ of 123 and the interpersonal skills of a one year old. He received no OT services for his dysgraphia and was in regular education classes all day. He had an IEP, but it did not address his issues and the State and the district refused to allow his evaluation scores to be put in his present level of performance.
They also refused to allow the parent full participation in the IEP meeting. When we complained to the State we were told that parents do not have a right to be an equal partner on the IEP team. I have documentation for all of the claims that I am making and can provide them to you at any time.
I filed an OCR complaint. They found that my son’s IEP was not being implemented, but that it did not materially affect his education.
I would appreciate your guidance in helping me to explain the Federal regulations to the school district in such a way that they will comply with current special education law.
Sincerely,
Sherri R. Tucker
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Don't Allow Your Child To Have Vocational Testing
Sherri R. Tucker
1200 SE London Way
Lee’s Summit, MO 64081
816-554-3017
autism@kc.rr.com
Mr. Jerry Semsch
Acting Director
Herndon Career Center
11501 E. 350 Highway
Raytown, MO 64138
Mr. Semsch,
My son attended Lee’s Summit High School and he was referred to your center for vocational testing. My son has a diagnosis of Early Infantile Autism/Kanner’s Syndrome, Inattentive and Impulsive ADHD, Dysgraphia, and Anxiety Disorder. These diagnoses are documented in his IEP.
I have never allowed my son to attend an IEP meeting because the environment is negative and can do nothing but harm him and as his mother I have carefully avoided that. He has always disliked school and I was trying very hard to avoid giving him further reason to hate it.
I was under the impression that attending the meeting to discuss his evaluation at your center would be harmless and might even be helpful for him. Therefore, I allowed him to attend. It was worse than any IEP meeting that I have ever attended.
The woman that represented your center was very negative toward my son and obviously did not understand his disabilities. She berated him during the entire meeting and he kept telling her that he was sorry and that he had not meant to offend her. The issues that she had with my son were behaviors that are due to his disability. I kept trying to explain that to her, but she kept telling me that I better straighten him out.
Following are examples of her evaluation and the inappropriateness of her demeanor and her evaluation of my son:
Although Jacob has the motor visual skills to complete this basic assembly type of work, his results were not encouraging. This was due to failure to follow his instructions and lack of attention to detail. He did not seem to follow videotaped instructions well. He work style reflected the issues with his work behaviors. Jacob was consistently very impulsive, very impatient with instructions (and demonstrations) and often inappropriate in the way he interacted with his supervisors and his task. He often cut his supervisors off in the middle of instructions, once even grabbing materials out of the supervisor’s hands. Clearly Jacob has some understanding of his problematic behaviors. At one juncture he was asked if could do a required task, even if he did not want to. His answer: “I can. But, will I?”
Jacob was so confused that he didn’t even know what he was doing there. They asked him what area he wanted to work in and he didn’t know which to pick. He picked electronics assembly because his uncle is an electrician and it was the only thing that seemed remotely familiar.
Jacob was asked to pretend that he was an employee and the instructor was his supervisor. Children with autism do not know how to pretend play. He had no idea what that relationship would look like and he was asked to do something that he is incapable of doing.
A quick glance at Jake’s IEP would have let the instructor know that Jake cannot follow instructions that are more than two steps and that they have to be written down for him. Repeatedly going over the instructions will only overwhelm him and cause him great anxiety. This is common with children with autism and should be known by someone that is trying to evaluate children with autism.
Social concerns are also an issue for children with autism. They have no idea how to interact with other people in an appropriate manner. That is not a problematic behavior. It is a disability.
Jacob likes to think that he can be a comedian. He often tries, unsuccessfully, to be funny. One of his favorite things to say is, “I can. But will I?” Of course he then complies. Once again this is not an acknowledgement by him of knowing that he has problematic behavior. It was a child that has no social skills trying to be social.
To say that this meeting was less than productive would be an understatement. My child was berated and treated like he had committed some major crime. He was so concerned that he had offended this woman and in reality she had offended me. Clearly, she had no knowledge of the disabilities that my son has and the behaviors that come with them. She just kept saying that he would never have a job and that he needed to work on these issues.
I was going to just let this go. I removed my son from school the following week. He has now joined the ranks of high school dropouts. It was clear to me that children with disabilities are not going to get the services that they need or the respect that they deserve and it was time to remove him from the care of these type of people. But, the more I have thought about this the more I felt that it was my duty to bring this to your attention. I would be just as responsible for letting happen to other children if I didn’t notify those that were in a position to remedy this situation.
I hope that you take the time to read this and address this. I would hate to see other disabled children be forced to endure this same treatment.
Sincerely,
Sherri R. Tucker
"It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home." Carl T. Rowan
Sherri R. Tucker
President, SER (Special Education Reform)
President, Lee's Summit Autism Support Group
autism@kc.rr.com
http://www.lsautism.org/
1200 SE London Way
Lee’s Summit, MO 64081
816-554-3017
autism@kc.rr.com
Mr. Jerry Semsch
Acting Director
Herndon Career Center
11501 E. 350 Highway
Raytown, MO 64138
Mr. Semsch,
My son attended Lee’s Summit High School and he was referred to your center for vocational testing. My son has a diagnosis of Early Infantile Autism/Kanner’s Syndrome, Inattentive and Impulsive ADHD, Dysgraphia, and Anxiety Disorder. These diagnoses are documented in his IEP.
I have never allowed my son to attend an IEP meeting because the environment is negative and can do nothing but harm him and as his mother I have carefully avoided that. He has always disliked school and I was trying very hard to avoid giving him further reason to hate it.
I was under the impression that attending the meeting to discuss his evaluation at your center would be harmless and might even be helpful for him. Therefore, I allowed him to attend. It was worse than any IEP meeting that I have ever attended.
The woman that represented your center was very negative toward my son and obviously did not understand his disabilities. She berated him during the entire meeting and he kept telling her that he was sorry and that he had not meant to offend her. The issues that she had with my son were behaviors that are due to his disability. I kept trying to explain that to her, but she kept telling me that I better straighten him out.
Following are examples of her evaluation and the inappropriateness of her demeanor and her evaluation of my son:
Although Jacob has the motor visual skills to complete this basic assembly type of work, his results were not encouraging. This was due to failure to follow his instructions and lack of attention to detail. He did not seem to follow videotaped instructions well. He work style reflected the issues with his work behaviors. Jacob was consistently very impulsive, very impatient with instructions (and demonstrations) and often inappropriate in the way he interacted with his supervisors and his task. He often cut his supervisors off in the middle of instructions, once even grabbing materials out of the supervisor’s hands. Clearly Jacob has some understanding of his problematic behaviors. At one juncture he was asked if could do a required task, even if he did not want to. His answer: “I can. But, will I?”
Jacob was so confused that he didn’t even know what he was doing there. They asked him what area he wanted to work in and he didn’t know which to pick. He picked electronics assembly because his uncle is an electrician and it was the only thing that seemed remotely familiar.
Jacob was asked to pretend that he was an employee and the instructor was his supervisor. Children with autism do not know how to pretend play. He had no idea what that relationship would look like and he was asked to do something that he is incapable of doing.
A quick glance at Jake’s IEP would have let the instructor know that Jake cannot follow instructions that are more than two steps and that they have to be written down for him. Repeatedly going over the instructions will only overwhelm him and cause him great anxiety. This is common with children with autism and should be known by someone that is trying to evaluate children with autism.
Social concerns are also an issue for children with autism. They have no idea how to interact with other people in an appropriate manner. That is not a problematic behavior. It is a disability.
Jacob likes to think that he can be a comedian. He often tries, unsuccessfully, to be funny. One of his favorite things to say is, “I can. But will I?” Of course he then complies. Once again this is not an acknowledgement by him of knowing that he has problematic behavior. It was a child that has no social skills trying to be social.
To say that this meeting was less than productive would be an understatement. My child was berated and treated like he had committed some major crime. He was so concerned that he had offended this woman and in reality she had offended me. Clearly, she had no knowledge of the disabilities that my son has and the behaviors that come with them. She just kept saying that he would never have a job and that he needed to work on these issues.
I was going to just let this go. I removed my son from school the following week. He has now joined the ranks of high school dropouts. It was clear to me that children with disabilities are not going to get the services that they need or the respect that they deserve and it was time to remove him from the care of these type of people. But, the more I have thought about this the more I felt that it was my duty to bring this to your attention. I would be just as responsible for letting happen to other children if I didn’t notify those that were in a position to remedy this situation.
I hope that you take the time to read this and address this. I would hate to see other disabled children be forced to endure this same treatment.
Sincerely,
Sherri R. Tucker
"It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home." Carl T. Rowan
Sherri R. Tucker
President, SER (Special Education Reform)
President, Lee's Summit Autism Support Group
autism@kc.rr.com
http://www.lsautism.org/
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