Special Education Law Blog

Keeping All Students Safe Act Introduced in Congress

The “Keeping All Students Safe Act,” which was introduced in the U.S. Senate last December, would limit the use of physical restraint and seclusion of students who are out of control or may pose harm to themselves or others.  According to Senator Harkin, the Democratic sponsor of the bill, “Every child should be educated in a supportive, caring, stimulating environment in which they are treated as an individual and provided with the tools they need to succeed.  They should never be subjected to abusive or violent disciplinary strategies or left alone and unsupervised.  This bill will set long-overdue standards to protect children from physical and psychological harm and ensure a safe learning environment for teachers and students alike.”

People With Disabilities Greatly Under-represented on Television

The annual “Where We Are on TV” report issued last September by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) indicates that characters with disabilities are almost invisible on scripted primetime television (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox, and NBC).  Of 647 regular characters who appear on these networks, only five (less than 1%) have disabilities. In addition to regular roles, three recurring characters on primetime television have disabilities.  Cable networks have done comparatively better providing more regular  and recurring characters with disabilities.  In contrast, the American Community Survey from the US Census Bureau reported that 12% of Americans (36.4 million) have disabilities.  Christine Bruno, co-chair of the Tri-Union I AM PWD campaign which promotes inclusion of persons with disabilities in the arts and helped conduct research for the GLAAD study said, “We look to our stages and screens not only for entertainment, but to hold a mirror up to society.  Our industry has a responsibility to its artists and the viewing public to accurately reflect what we see on our streets and in our communities.”

Romney's Stance on Special Education

The presidential election is more than one year away but is never too early to learn about the candidate's positions on matters related to education and special education. As it appears likely that Mitt Romney is the likely Republican candidate his positions bear particular scrutiny. In a recent newspaper interview with a traditionally Republican New Hampshire paper (e-edition),  Romney made the following statements:

"In a Romney administration, he said, the federal responsibility for public education from kindergarten through Grade 12 would be limited to providing data to the states.

“The federal government being a funder of state and local education is not in my opinion a necessary responsibility,” he said.

Special education “is a choice we can make, but it doesn't necessarily strike me as a responsibility of the federal government. It could be a responsibility of state governments.”

He said, however, that the federal government traditionally “picks up some portion of funding for special education, and I'm not proposing eliminating that or shifting that to the states. But it's not constitutionally required that the federal government deals with special education or other education programs.”

While these statements are not clear at all, and he seems to be taking the position that little will change in terms of the role of the federal government relative to the states on special education, he leaves open the significant possibility/probability of wholesale changes with each state having responsibility for special education. On issues related to funding, even in this one interview, he waffles from no federal funding for education to possibly continuing "some portion" of funding for special education. No funding to states for special education, if that is where he ultimately came out on the issue, would be nothing less than catastrophic!  Bottom line for me is that any one who cares about special education could not possibly feel confident or rest easy, if Mitt Romney were to make it to the White House. Let's also remember that the next reauthorization of IDEA will likely come up during the next presidential term.

 

Transition Amendment Bill A Step Up for Students

Congressman Gregg Harper is the only member of Congress with a child with Fragile X. He is putting his life experience to good use in his proposed amendment to the transition provisions of IDEIA. He has proposed a bill that contains a significant set of amendments to the transition sections of IDEIA, which would greatly bolster the rights of students to have more robust transition planning. (see copy of the bill by clicking on the pdf Download 4926_0001). This bill proposes to reduce the age that transition planning begins to 14 from the federal level of 16 in the current IDEIA (in Illinois it is 14.5 years of age). It calls for the development of objectives as part of the transition plan and that the IEP should contain:

"a strategy to address the needs of the child related to academic and school-based prepatory experiences, work and career readiness, youth development and leadership..."

Sounds very good to me expecially compared to the often non-plans that I see every day in my office that are generic and missing in any real specifics. We need strategies and we need enhanced definitions and delineation of transition needs that this bill provides. I hope Rep. Harper will be able to shepard this bill through as things heat up in the reauthorization processs.

Local School Districts Already Facing Big Cuts

The GOP recently proposed a $500 million cut from special education when local school districts are contemplating and about to approve stiff cuts in funding and services.  Fortunately President Obama has come out for more spending for special education. Big cuts are being proposed at the state level as well. Of course, in times of crisis, the first line of attack is to blame the special education students for causing ruination to the overall state educational budgets. The issues is systemic and not caused by the needed funding for the special education. 

Virtual Law Office to Allow Parents Access to Legal Representation

I am proud to announce that today I have launched the first virtual law office that represents parents of special needs in the area of special education law and guardianship! (This virtual law office will be in addition to my bricks and mortar office in Northbrook, Illinois.) The access point for my virtual law office is my website foxspecialedlaw.com.

Just a few months ago I read about a new concept in the practice of law--Virtual Law Office ("VLO").  As I looked into VLO, I realized that this new way to practice would allow my office to more effectively represent parents nearby, and provide access to those families who are outside of more urban centers who otherwise have not had access to legal services at all. The concept is to offer full service, and more limited representation (the new term is "unbundled services") but still effective legal services (e.g. counseling prior to a meeting, reviewing letters and input statements). I have had numerous encounters with parents where I have given them some critical advice on the phone or reviewed a document that has changed the course of an upcoming meeting in favor of the parent. 

Tell Congress to Oppose Bill which Cuts Half a Billion Dollars in Special Education Funding

This is a critical time to step up make your voice heard. Congress and especially the Tea Party members think the way to balance the budget is to make drastic cuts to special education. If you have never called or written Congress before this is the time to do it. Below is an urgent appeal from CEC with the salient points.

New Report on STDs and Teens

A recent report finds that  many students who claim to be abstinent from sexual activity are testing positive for STDs. The conclusion is that doctors need to do more than just take the teen patients word on their sexual activity and more outreach needs to take place.  While the report focuses on teenaged students generally, it further highlights students with special needs, who are especially vulnerable for a variety of reasons.  For many students that I represent there are particular issues of impulsive behaviors, lower self-esteem making them vulnerable to peer pressure, and lack of a meaningful curriculum that applies to them.

I was recently at an IEP meeting where the teacher actually modified the curriculum and adopted curriculum for her self contained class of students providing a diagnostic report at the end of the unit.  The teacher is young and enthusiastic about teaching, but most importantly she had the support of her special education director and superintendent. Without this leadership she would not have had the leeway to take such an innovative approach to her teaching.  Hopefully this new report will put even more emphasis on appropriate teaching to keep all students safe, and especially those who are the most vulnerable, students with special needs.

Autism Rates Triple in California Since 2002

A just released study shows that from 2002 to the present the rate of autism being diagnosed has tripled in the last 8 years in California. That is a simply shocking statistic that should be on the front page of every newspaper in this country. In a time when many cancer rates have declined, there is stubborn and decided increase in the numbers of children with autism.

We can no longer accept outdated explanations like the now discredited report from Andrew Wakefield that MMR vaccines are causing autism, especially since the vaccines have been reformulated and the rates keep going up. These numbers are real and are not simply a matter of better identification (although some disagree) or labeling children autistic who once were labeled intellectually challenged.  The data shows, and frankly my personal experience over the last 16+ years of practice in the area of special education confirms, an absolute increase in the numbers.  I have asked many OTs and SLPs, who have been treating children for years, and their anecdotal accounts are all the same; the numbers in real terms are way up and at an accelerated rate over the last decade. My anecdotal data, although not scientific, is consistent with the information coming out of California. 

We need to vote our interests and spend even more public funds on autism research. We need to stop wasting time money and energy on nonsense like Wakefield. Subscribing to nonsense, divides parents and only discredits all parents no matter the dissability.

Candidates for office, especially at the top of the ticket, must have well developed and affirmative position papers on autism, special education and other disabilities, if they intend to receive support. My review of the various presidential candidates websites, a few years ago showed that only candidate Hilary Clinton had position papers on autism. We must make decisions based upon data not hype from people like Jenny McCarthy and Andrew Wakefield. We all want a magic bullet to cure and remediate the issues affecting our children, but there is no such thing and no single boogie man (e.g. vaccines) to heap scorn and blame. We need sound and early diagnosics, treatment, planning, teaching and training for school personnel based upon hard data not fraud or conjecture. The work ahead involves heavy lifting that does not lend itself to easy or magic answers like Wakefield.

Emergency Evacuation Should be Part of the IEP

One of the most overlooked parts of an IEP is what happens in the event of a fire or  natural catastrophe and students need to be evacuated from school building. For me personally, the thought is always an issue of accessibility but that is not the only issue. Some time ago, I represented a child in a Early Childhood program who had a terrible fright reaction associated with loud noises, and fire alarms certainly fell  into that category. According to her mother she could run and hide when faced with loud noises, and could very hard to find or even run out of the building; both situations present obvious and extreme dangers.