Webinar on RTI
Here is a webinar on the every popular topic of RTI from Council for Exceptional Children.
Here is a webinar on the every popular topic of RTI from Council for Exceptional Children.
Milwaukee Public Schools have been cited in a recent report for the overuse of suspensions. Over reliance on suspensions reflect a lack of effective positive behavioral interventions in favor of "remove the child, remove the problem." The reality is that when the student comes back to school he or she is even more likely to offend again because he or she is now behind in work, class is not relevant and so the cycle goes. The process too often ends with students with special needs dropping out or becoming involved in criminal activity while out of school on suspension. I fully appreciate that order and discipline need to be maintained in school but more constructive and positive means need to used to prevent this harmful cycle that does not help students, schools or the larger community.
I am presenting tomorrow at a conference on Dravet's syndrome which is a rare type of seizure disorder. Here is an excellent resource on this rare disorder. If your child has Dravet's it is important that you work to educate the school, especially the nurse and the SLP, since schools are often slow to accept new information even on more well-known disorders such as autism or similar conditions.
Video games are being cast in a different light than simply activities which encourage becoming couch potatoes. A new company has come out with a set of video games to encourage and educate children and young adults as to the importance of taking their chemotherapy medications. In a real turn of events some insurance companies are considering covering the cost of these programs if they can be shown to make a measurable difference in the costs and outcomes for patient.
I have never been much of a Ben Stiller fan. Now is another reason for me and perhaps others to dim his star as an actor. The Dreamworks movie Tropic Thunder, which stars Ben Stiller who also wrote and directed the film, due to be released next week apparently uses many outdated and degrading terms and depictions of people with disabilities. I have not seen the movie yet so I can not register a full opinion. It appears from preview information that again the mainstream community still has no realization that denigrating descriptions of the disabled are as hurtful, hateful and outdated as similar statements against groups based upon age, religion, gender and race. It appears, however, that executives from Dreamworks are willing to meet with disability rights groups to discuss their concerns which to me should be obvious based upon available information. Dreamworks has also taken a website that was promoting the movie off the internet. That million wheelchair march is sounding more important by the day!
The following is a press release from Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah who along with Senator Harkin of Iowa have sponsored a bi-partisan bill to overturn the Supreme Court's narrowing of the scope and application of the ADA. Here is an un-annotated version of the pending bill. Download ada_restoration_bill.doc The bill has already passed the House. The reforms in the bill would also apply to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. (Nod to Jess Butler of COPAA for making both the draft bill and press release available)
Paula Jackson, a special education teacher in Naperville , Illinois is suing her school district because of physical and emotional injuries she suffered during an altercation with a 4th grade student with special needs. This story is unfortunate no matter the perspective. Any time staff a teacher is injured while working with a student my sympathies go out to the teacher. However, even from the small description of the case in the news story that the student had serious behaviors on a frequent basis suggests to me that his IEP was likely not appropriate and the system failed both the student and the teacher. The incident where the teacher was injured she was removing a chair from his hands after he was in a full blown tantrum. I do not know if there was a behavior plan or whether the teacher has crisis intervention training. In my experience generally (and not in specific regarding this district) is that she likely did not have adequate training, the staffing may have been insufficient and and the plan lacking or altogether non-existent. In those instances where staff is injured lack of training, staffing or planning (or all three) are a prime cause or factor. There is a large body of information as to how to address behavioral issues in school that need to be employed, so that staff and student are not injured, and teachers are able to teach and students are able to learn.
A recent study from CADRE, a federally-funded organization that studies and trains interested parties in dispute resolution in special education cases, found that 80% of due process cases that were filed resolved through mediation, resolution sessions or other informal means. State by state data on resolution of disputes is available here.
This report is totally consistent with my experiences and supports several of my long held beliefs and refutes myths about parents, their attorneys and the system:
The simple reality is that parents file due process in incredibly small numbers relative to the violations of the law that occur systematically and frequently. The reason for the small number of filings are numerous among them are a deep-seated need and desire to work with the school, limited personal resources which are already taxed when raising a child with special needs, and the enormous disparity of know-how and expertise that schools have relative to parents. Schools need to stop complaining of parents' imaginary abuses of the due process system and stick to the facts.
The amount of research or advances as to the understanding of the causes and remedies for Cerebral Palsey ("CP") has been pathetically little. Most treatment consist of surgery or bracing which have been around for decades without much change in technique or success rates. Other than the baclofen pump and botox (yes it is used for things other than wrinkles) there have been few new medical avenues to address the spasticity that children and adults with CP often face. There is some hope on the horizon, however, with a large genetic study about to begin as to the possible genetic basis for this disabling condition.
In Maryland there has been an unusual spike in test scores among public school students. Some of the increases are so high that questions are being raised as to whether the scores are valid. In particular an expert in education policy stated:
" I think most people are trying to do the right thing," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy. "But the pressure to get results is enormous, and some people fail. Some people sin."
Apparently, Denver and Texas have also experienced remarkable reversals in test scores in its schools. Huntsville, Alabama elementary schools are showing incredible gains over last year as well, even though some of its high schools are still lagging. Bragging rights in Alabama go to Birmingham where the majority of schools met most of their NCLB goals. However, Springfield, Missouri fell short on its NCLB testing but that is ok with the superintendent because it was the students with special needs who fell short. However, state-wide in Minnesota more schools were not making the NCLB grade. This latest bit of information only makes the other state's data even more suspect since Minnesota is historically a state that invests a lot in education and achieves excellent results. Similarly Massachusetts and Pittsburgh schools are lagging on NCLB standardized. testing. The standard answer at least in Pittsburgh is that we generally are doing fine but it was those special education students that pulled us down.
Continue reading "Unusual Pattern of Gains and Failures in NCLB Test Scores" »
