Re: Re: Services for private/homeschooled children

[Guest guest]

Hi, all!

Thank you to everyone for being so involved and for providing such a wealth

of useful information for our children.

I wanted to add my 2 cents with regards to private/homeschooled children.

We live in Bloomfield, NJ (Essex County) and have received zero services

from our school district for Gordon since he turned three and was no longer

covered under early intervention because we have chosen to send him to

non-public schools. Currently, he is in an out-of-district, full-day,

private kindergarten program because our town only has a half-day program.

We requested that Gordon get OT/PT after school at our neighborhood

elementary school (which is right down the street) and our district has done

everything they can to stall and we've spent an entire semester with no

services. I just sent them a letter which I cc " d to everyone I could think

of (mayor, congressman, senator, secretary of spec. ed in Washington, etc. )

to see if it would make a difference. Under IDEA, a school district is not

required to provide services to a child if that child is not attending a

public school! Isn't that something! They may do so at " their discretion " .

There are school districts with a conscience who do feel that they should

do something for a child if they need help, but apparently, our town is not

one of them.

We are also a family that cannot afford to hire a lawyer. As you may or may

not be aware, lawyers charge a retainer fee of upwards from $5,000. And

then, if you go to litigation, it can cost $250 an hour. Where can the

average household get that kind of money, especially if you have a child who

needs therapy? We can barely afford our insurance premiums!

I hope you all have better luck than I have had. If anyone has any

suggestions, I'd love to hear them. We understand that somehow, in

September, the way the funds are divied up will be different, so we may get

some help then, but I am not very optimistic.

The other thing that the school districts want you to do is to put your kid

in the public school and then see if it " works. " In other words, set your

kid up to fail, lose their self esteem, etc.

Sorry to get on my soap box, but is has been a very long, tiring struggle

without any success. We had to suspend my son's OT and PT for six months

because we owed the therapists so much money. We practically begged our

school district for help and just got stone walled.

Judi F.

Mom to two wonderful boys, Gordon, age 6, global dispraxia, sensory

integration dysfunction, hypotonia and Noah, 2 years 3 mos. , speech delay?

and hypotonia.

[Guest guest]

Judi, I live not too far from you. I didn't mention it before but I am also

an attorney, although my speciality is real estate, I had to learn spec. ed

very quickly. I agree with everything you said. My child actually didn't get

any services after EI for over a year from the town for the reasons you

stated and I only wish I could have known then what I know now. At the time

just from conversations with the woman who would have been our case manager,

I could tell that she would have recommended placing my child in the district

preschool disabled program and I knew it wouldn't be right for my child bec.

her delays were so significant and their program was mainly for kids with

articulation issues and some maturity issues. So, instead of getting private

evals at the time that would recommend out of district placement and getting

ready for a fight if necessary, I backed off.

There are options out there for you and I will help as much as possible.

First, if you can get the pt and ot and any other therapists you were seeing

to put in writing what is NEEDED for your child than you go to the town with

these reports and they will likely want their own evals (some do accept

private ones, I had this happen with my ot report) but then if they conflict

you can file a complaint and ask for mediation with the State Department of

Education. This is not difficult. In fact the form is in the back of the

book on NJ Spec. Ed. laws that the town is obligated to give you (I can mail

or fax you the form if desired).

When I spoke to the Depart. of Ed., they were very very sympathetic and kept

on asking me what else I wanted for my child and didn't I want this and that.

Do you have health insurance? You can also go to a dev. ped. or neurologist

in your plan who can also put in their report what is necessary for your

child's IEP. I just went to a great doctor at the University of Medicine and

Dentistry in Newark and trust me I have been to many many doctors, they were

great there! Let me know if you want a recommendation. I am so mad that I

spent so much out of pocket money for doctors at Columbia pres. and other far

off areas.

You should also contact the head of special services in your town and ask for

a meeting with her/him one on one. Advise that your child is missing

therapies and your private therapists/doctors agree that out of district

placement is necessary bec. full day is necessary, perhaps the ot needs to be

a sensory ot (many towns don't have this), you need an slp who knows prompt

therapy/oral motor/sensory therapy, etc.

You can also mention that you have already discussed this with an attorney

(me!) and are ready to file the complaint with the Depart. of Ed. in Trenton

if necessary.

When you file the complaint, you can also file for emergency relief since

your child's services have been interrupted.

My town has actually agreed to a home program and paying for my private

therapists since we couldn't find the right out of district placement and my

duaghter has different health issues that go with the hypotonia.

Let me know if I can help further. You can email me direct, if desired at

aigjr@... Carolyn