Re: info needed about word retrevial cross post

[Guest guest]

As parents we continually encounter brick walls when we attempt to use the

system established by Congress for us to express our concerns about our child’s

education.  Due process has evolved from a simple forum for parents to voice

their complaints and get a decision by an impartial hearing officer, to a

complex emotionally and financially burdensome legal process where the hearing

officers are trained by the Department of Education and they have a clear bias

against parents.  Basically, the burden lies on the parent to prove the

district’s program ineffective rather than upon the district to prove that they

are providing an education which has yielded meaningful progress.  As a result,

parents need to begin to think outside of the SPED box and find other means of

getting what their child needs.

                                                

1.  GO PUBLIC – one suggestion I have for parents is to contact the local

newspapers and ask that they do an article on your child and his/or her special

needs.  Have your child (if able and willing) speak with the reporter about the

day to day challenges they face in school, what they think might help them, and

the schools refusal or failure to provide those accommodations or

interventions.  If you can video tape the interview and post it on a blog or as

a pod cast.  Remember schools get away with so much of what they do, because

under the guise of “confidentiality” they keep all the times they breach the law

secretive.  Shining a light on the system can be an important catalyst for

change.

 

 

 

2.  THINK BIG – Think about something that your child needs, and then

investigate how that same program or intervention could help other children

within the district.  Then, write up a proposal to provide that intervention and

suggest some funding sources.  For example, if your child would benefit from a

laptop, research how laptops are being used in other districts, contact some of

the big manufacturers and ask about reduced prices for schools and funding

sources or grants.   Put this together in a brief well organized and well

documented proposal, then ask to be put on the agenda at a school board meeting

in order to present it. Try to pick a special school board meeting – such as one

where awards are being given out – so there will be a good size audience, and a

reporter present.

 

 

 

3-SPREAD THE JOY-Bottom line is you need people within the system to like you. 

Elwood P Dowd in Harvey said: “’In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart

or oh so pleasant’” Well, for years I was smart.  I recommend pleasant.”  The

fact is when parents let districts know how smart they are; districts become

extremely threatened and defensive.  But, if you are “nice” they are more likely

to acquiesce to your requests.  So, volunteer to help out during stressful

periods at the school, bring cake or cookies to meeting, drop of a rose to the

special education secretary, and smile all the time.  Even as you escalate up

the chain of command with complaints, remember to always be professional and

pleasant.

 

 

 

5-WORK ON THE PRECURSORS TO CHANGE – The first step in getting anyone to change

anything is helping them to understand the NEED for change.  This means

communicating the ways in which the present system is unsatisfactory for THEM.  

The second issue is whether or not the staff is willing or ready to experience

the anxiety or difficulty associated with the change process.  If not, you may

need to try and “tend and befriend” some key staff people to alleviate their

anxiety.  Often, problems aren’t addressed because staff isn’t aware that the

problem exists or how it is impacting everyone. Sometimes you can address this

by simply saying; “Carol, I’d like to tap your expertise, Tommy is having

problems with his homework because he doesn’t remember what was taught in

school. How do you think we could help him?”  This simple statement advises the

teacher of the problem and moves her along towards confronting the problem

because it asks

her to deliberately attend to it.  But, it still takes effort or a will to

change on the teacher’s part, so you need to be able to help the teacher

understand how the desired change will benefit her as well as your child. 

Equally, important, the teacher has to believe that there is a realistic

possibility that the change you are requesting can occur. This mean, you need to

show her how it can be done manageably. Finally, you need to obtain social

support for the change within the school system. This means building

relationships with a number of people who will support change.

 

 

 

6-FILE TARGETTED STATES COMPLAINTS-Most parents wait until they are totally

frustrated and have many complex complaints before filing formal complaints.

This automatically sets the State Department of Education on the defensive.

Alter your tactic to file single issue complaints, and to include with your

complaint a suggestion for a manageable way for the district to correct the

situation and for the state to oversee the correction. 

 

 

 

7.  EMPLOY SOME HUMOR-Change the ringtone on your cell phone to “Harper Valley

PTA”, Look up some good educational jokes and occasionally email them to

teachers and related service staff, try wearing something unusual on your head

during a meeting . . . Humor always breaks the ice and sets people at ease, keep

it in your tool kit.

 

 

 

8. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES – Don’t copy people on your correspondence with

the school as it puts the school on the defensive. Instead, write them

individual letters about the issue and how your child is one example of the

negative impact.  For instance, if you disagreed with your child being retained

after failing your state’s NCLB testing, then write each of these individuals

forwarding them copies of the NASP policy position on retention or the

literature showing its ineffectiveness and ask them to sponsor a committee to

address the issue.  Then, explain how this is impacting your child and be

certain to include a photograph of your little one.

 

 

 

9. CAUGHT YA!  Be certain to tape record phone conversations with school

district personnel. If they tell you something you know is incorrect say:  “I

thought IDEA said …”.   Let, them blatantly misrepresent the facts. Then, copy

these recording to your computer, burn CD’s and ship them out to the new media,

the State Department of Ed, the Federal Department of Education, your Senator

and Congress person, asking each one to personally investigate the situation. Be

certain to include a copy of the actual section of IDEA that they are

misrepresenting so as to make their task easier.  As long as you are party to

the conversation it is perfectly legal for you to tape record conversations in

most states, just check your state regulation before doing this.

 

 

 

10.  CONTACT SPELLINGS: Keep Margaret Spellings, Head of US Department of

Education in the loop by emailing her on various issues that the State

Department of Education or the Federal Department of Education has failed to

address.  Remember if you can include statistics of how many children are being

impacted by a certain type of behavior, or at least raise the issue that this

might be a pervasive problem, she’ll be more apt to give the issue serious

consideration.

 

 

 

11.  CONTACT AN ACCOUNTANT FRIEND and check into the school’s finances, see if

they are billing Medicaid for services that weren’t rendered or billing for

individual sessions when they were actually group session. Check into whether or

not there are any payments to hearing officers, or if school attorneys are

illegally collecting health benefits or pension benefits, then bring your

documentation to the FBI.

 

 

 

12. ATTORNEY GENERAL- when the school attorney acts in an illegal, intimidating

or unethical fashion, first gather your solid documentation and file a complaint

with the Bar Association; but, if they fail to enforce their own ethical

standards, then send transcripts, letters, tape recorded conversations

documenting things like “exparte communications” or misrepresentations of the

law and send them to the State department of Education’s Head Attorney.

 

13.  CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES – If your child is being bullied or discriminated

against, first notify the principal of the situation and ask that it be

rectified within ten days.  If it is resolved at that point, write the principal

again to tell him or her that they have control over the location, the staff and

the students, and are in “loco parentis” while your child is at school, and you

will hold them personally responsible for any emotional or physical harm your

child sustains as a result of their intentional indifference towards this

repeated and pervasive discrimination and/or harassment.  Then, if they don’t

resolve the issue within ten days, file a formal complaint with Child Protective

Services against the principal for failing to provide adequate supervision and

for educational neglect since your child is not receiving an education when

being discriminated against or bullied.

 

 

 

14.  US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE- When the State doesn’t act on your complaints, go

beyond them to the US Department of Justice and file for violation of IDEA,

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and violations of the Freedom of

Information Act. Remember to file single issue complaints and to be very clear

about what type of resolution you want, not just for your child this particular

incident, but in terms of system wide policy and procedure changes and oversight

by the Department of Justice.

 

 

 

15. LET THE EDUCATORS EXPERIENCE BEING HANDICAPPED – Offer to run a workshop for

educators on trying to learn despite learning challenges. Make this

experiential, give them a typical assignment, but require that they do it with

their non-dominant hand to simulate dysgraphia.  Next, have them copy a homework

assignment off the board writing from the right side of the paper to the left

instead of from the left to the right to simulate one aspect of dyslexia –

directional confusion.  Have them read a story out loud from a paragraph that

lacks punctuation and capitalization to simulate tracking and chunking

problems.  Ask them to copy a diagram and a map with the item posted upside down

so they can get some sense of what it is like dealing with reversals.  Then

grade them on accuracy and neatness, as well as on their recall of the material

20 minutes later.  Next, hand out the papers and announce who had failed by

saying things like:  “Mr.

Palmer, if you only tried a bit harder, you could be a good student”.  Or, “Ms

, I see you didn’t pay attention during the lesson”.  If they moan or

complain during the assignments, write their name on the board, then give them a

check mark, then put them in a corner and so forth.  Afterwards, have a round

table discussion about how it felt, and what would have helped them.

 

 

 

16.   GET CLOSE WITH THE IEP TEAM – If your child isn’t doing well, don’t wait

until the progress reports come out.  Every time a paper comes home incomplete

or your child can’t do the homework, or gets a low grade on a test, call an IEP

meeting.  Say to the team:  “Clearly, what we are doing isn’t working, so let’s

talk about what the reasons are, and what changes we need to make to our

methods”.   Also, be certain to use a daily measure of accomplishment that is

objective, so that you can track progress each week.  This measure might be

something like the number of math problems completed correctly within a two

minute period.  Do this for each subject, and it will be very easier to

determine whether or not real progress is being made when you sit down in your

weekly IEP meetings.

 

 

 

17.  INCLUDE YOUR CHILD – in every parent-teacher meeting, every meeting with

the principal, the guidance counselor and the IEP team. This serves multiple

functions. It gives your child a superb role model for self-advocacy. It assures

them that you are their best lobbyist.  It curbs the expression of hostility

during meetings.  It avoids staff misrepresenting what is said to your child and

trying to drive a wedge between you. It requires the staff to hear your child’s

side of the story.  It permits your child to feel they have a voice. It forces

staff to witness and validate your child’s difficulties. 

 

 

 

18.  HAVE A COFFEE CLUTCH – IEP meetings are historically intimidating with

eight or more school professionals and mom. Change this situation, bring your

hubby, your parents, your siblings, your neighbors, your best friends, your

child and their friends, your spiritual leader, your Scout leader, and bring

some munchies and some water bottles to share.  Make sure you have your digital

voice recorder in your pocket and that several people have laptops.  Settle in

for a long chatty session talking about your child’s current level of

performance, challenges, and how the school staff and the child’s support team

will work together as a unified IEP team to enable your child to make meaningful

educational progress.

 

 

 

19.  BRING A BOOK OF FAITH – If most of the IEP team members are alleged

Christian’s bring a Bible and set it conspicuously on the table. It serves as a

silent reminder that they are accountable to a higher authority. If their

Mormon, bring the Book of Latter Day Saints, for Muslim’s bring the Koran.

 

 

 

20. BE A DRIVING BILLBOARD- Have a sign made up that says:  “Even in STATE, all

children are legally entitled to a free and appropriate public education. If

your child is not receiving the education they should, file a complaint at

1-800-872-5327 or write to US Department of Education, 400 land Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC  20202.

 

 

 

21.  GET A BUMPER STICKER:   If your State is out of Compliance with IDEA get a

bumper sticker that says: 

 

 

 

“ After 30 years, STATE is still violating education law, go to

http://z22.whitehouse.gov/interactive/ to ask why our State is allowed to

continue deny special needs children their rights.”

 

 

 

 

22.  COPY THE CELEB’S:  The Office of Civil Rights is notorious for not

responding to parent complaints regarding discrimination, but, that doesn’t mean

you should stop filing complaints.  No, instead, when you do file your

complaint, submit a copy of your complaint and your documentation to Oprah,

Ellen DeGeneres,  Heraldo , and other big TV host or news investigators.

Note on your complaint that you are copying these people, so OCR will be more

apt to actually investigate and respond.

 

 

 

23.  GO TO SCHOOL:  You and your spouse, parents, siblings, friends, should take

turns popping into the front office on different days at different periods to

sit in your child’s class to observe.  During these visits take careful notes of

any problems your child, what happened to contribute to those problems and how

they were addressed.  These will provide valuable information for brainstorming

during your weekly IEP meetings.

 

 

 

24.  CHECK THE SUFFICIENTY OF SCHOOL DISTRICT EVALUATIONS – If you log onto

www.specialeducationsupport.org you will find an Evaluation Checklist that

permit you to determine whether or not the evaluations performed by your school

district were sufficient. If they were not, you need to send a written request

for an Independent IEE (to include a neuropsychological evaluation and any other

evaluations you consider necessary) at public expense.  Hand deliver this letter

and get a signed date and time stamped copy. Then, wait 75 days. If the district

hasn’t taken you to due process in that time in order to prove their evaluations

were sufficient, you can schedule with evaluators of your choice and notify them

to contact the district for reimbursement.

 

 

 

25. CHECK THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE IEP – Log onto www.specialeducationsupport.org

and download the IEP checklist.  At the end of the IEP meeting, indicate in

writing on the IEP:  “I am signing to verify my attendance at this meeting, but,

need time to review it completely before determining whether or not I am in

agreement with it”. Then, go home with the proposed IEP and compare it to the

checklist item by item. If there are any areas that are not appropriately

address, write a letter to the IEP team stating:  I am in disagreement with the

following items on the IEP.  List the item and the desired resolution along with

your reason. Then, conclude the letter by requesting another IEP meeting within

the week to address these issues.

 

 

 

26. FERPA Confidentiality in the same sentence with Special Education is an

oxymoron.  It often seems that the only ones who aren’t given full access to a

child’s records are the parents!  Moreover, when parents include breaches of

confidentiality in their due process hearings, they are frequently told that

it’s a FERPA issue and outside the preview of the hearing officer. This is NOT

true. But, to avoid spinning your wheels, file your complaints about violations

of confidentiality directly with FERPA.  You can complain by calling

202-260-3887 or writing Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of

Education, 400 land Avenue, SW, Washington, DC  20202-5920.  Meanwhile, I

suggest you carry a copy of FERPA with you to all meetings.

 

 

 

27. GET ON FRIENDLY TERMS WITH OSEP-When the State doesn’t effective address

your complaints, call the Office of Special Education Programs and speak with

them, let them know about the situation from your child’s perspective. Then,

follow up with a formal written complaint asking them to investigate the

district for a system wide pattern of violating IDEA, and to enforce sanctions

against the State Department of Education for not enforcing the law.  This is

one time you do want to send copies to your senators, congress people, governor,

and ask each one to make certain that OSEP doesn’t let the issue drop.  Write

OSEP every 30 days to ask about their progress on addressing the State’s failure

to comply with IDEA.

 

 

 

28. LET THE LIGHT SHINE – Don’t exaggerate or invent issues. Always report the

truth. But, when you do a due process hearing, if you find school personnel

making indefensible statements and lying under oath.  A good strategy is to

quote the transcript verbatim and then underneath the quote place the relevant

section of law, and quotes any document you have that proves any lies. Then, you

need to blog, blog and blog some more. When you blog be certain to site the

transcript number, page and line, as well as to provide the name, address and

home phone number of the school personnel being quoted. Remember it is harder to

persist with violations when they are made public.

 

 

 

29. OFFICE IN YOUR TRUNK – You need to be prepared at all times. To do this get

multiple copies of 504, ADA, IDEA, FERPA, Your procedural safeguards and put

them in a file box in your car in neatly labeled files.  Include multiple copies

of your child’s neuropsychological, neurological, psychiatric, speech, OT, PT

most recent evaluations and progress reports, so you can reference them on the

spur of the moment and share them with any school staff who hasn’t read them. 

Also keep in your trunk, copies of your State approved request for mediation,

and your State approved request for due process; after all, you never know when

you need to fill one out on the spot and get a signed, date and time stamped

copy.  Also make certain you have a digital voice activated pocket tape recorder

so you can record any and all conversations with school staff. Additionally,

have a pen and paper or a pc tablet handy to write down anything they say to you

so you can

easily send off your follow up letters of understanding.  And, certainly do not

forget, your portable scanner to scan paperwork into your pc tablet, and your

digital camera to take pictures of records so you don’t need to pay the district

per page, and can upload them into your computer.  You also need the camera

handy at all times (along with a portable photo printer) so you can attach a

photo of your child to all correspondence with the school in order to constantly

remind them who they are denying services.  Finally, since I have an interest in

art, I like to keep a supply of art materials so when I pop into to visit the

class, I can always offer to teach an art class. This makes me a favorite with

the kids who love the medium, and most teachers appreciate the break.

 

 

 

30. Network and Delegate.  If you are thinking that getting your child an

appropriate education is a full-time job, you are correct.  Since, most of us

also have to hold down paying jobs, manage our home and care for our children;

this means we need to learn the art of delegation. Tap all of your resources. 

Ask everyone to commit to helping out.  Ask Uncle Pete to visit your son’s

school once, a month.  Get Grandpa to make the same commitment. Ask your mom to

handle all letters to Margaret Spelling, and your mother-in-law to take on the

responsibility of writing State representatives.  Perhaps your sister, can write

the State Department of Education, and maybe your minister would be willing to

contact the Governor.  Maybe your child’s scout troop can write OCR about

discrimination against the disabled at their school.  There could be a special

education major at the local college, who’d be willing to handle complaints to

OSEP in exchange

for some college credit.  Your neighbor might be willing to accompany you to

that parent-principal conference, if you go with her one.  Ask your child’s

father to assume responsibility for hand delivering letters to the school and

obtaining signed, date and time stamp receipts.   You know the people in your

life and what their strengths are, you know the tasks that need to be done.  Ask

each person to do one task that you know they are capable of, and ask in a way

that increases the likelihood of their cooperation by making what you ask clear,

concrete and finite.  For instance, don’t ask mom if she’ll write every letter

to Margaret Spellings.  Ask her to write this one.  Then, later you can ask her

to follow up.  And remember to have your child thank everyone who helps with a

tiny token of appreciation (i.e. a piece of art the child made, some cookies

they baked, raking their leaves).   You need these relationships to get your

child

the education needed to survive in this world.  Be careful to cultivate them

and to actively involve these people throughout your child’s educational

process.

 

 

 

Presented as a community service by,

L. Crum, Ph.D.

Special Needs Coach

Able2Learn

Email:  able2learn@...

Website: www.specialeducationsupport.org

Voice and Fax :  863-471-0281

 

 

 

To be added to our email list, go to www.specialeducationsupport.org and click

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Sharon Lang

From: juleeff <juleeff@...>

Subject: [ ] info needed about word retrevial

Date: Thursday, January 1, 2009, 6:21 PM

Does someone have a website or book that talks about word retrevial

issues? I'm thinking that this may be an issue with my 4 year old DS.

He has a great vocabulary (just occurred in the last 6 months), has a

biligual background (hears 2 languages but currently speaks only

English) and has made great strides in intelligiblity (from 3% to 65%

in a year). I have noticed though that he sometimes forgets words

that should come naturally, words that he has used many times before

and will have no problem with later.

For instance we were talking about how we have to use a seat belt to

keep to ouselves safe in the car. A few minutes later when we got in

the car he said, " mom, I can't reach .... what's that thing that we

were talking about before? " " A seat belt " I relplied. " yeah, I can't

reach my seat belt. " He has done the same thing with words like

food items, school related words.

I don't notice the groping for words as much as when he had less

vocabulary so I'm not sure if he can't remember how the word should

be said and he is waiting for a model or if he truly can't remember

the word. He has great strategies for getting around the owrds he

doesn't remember, either asking direct (like example above), using a

similar meaning word and then adding 'but not exactly what I word it

is' after, using a description, or round about story telling to get

to the point.

Does anyone have info on this? Has anyone else had a child with a

similar situation? What did you do?

Thanks in advance,

Julee

[Guest guest]

Is this O.K. to copy for future use?

--------- [ ] info needed about word retrevial

>

> Date: Thursday, January 1, 2009, 6:21 PM

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Does someone have a website or book that talks about word retrevial

> issues? I'm thinking that this may be an issue with my 4 year old DS.

> He has a great vocabulary (just occurred in the last 6 months), has a

> biligual background (hears 2 languages but currently speaks only

> English) and has made great strides in intelligiblity (from 3% to 65%

> in a year). I have noticed though that he sometimes forgets words

> that should come naturally, words that he has used many times before

> and will have no problem with later.

>

> For instance we were talking about how we have to use a seat belt to

> keep to ouselves safe in the car. A few minutes later when we got in

> the car he said, " mom, I can't reach .... what's that thing that we

> were talking about before? " " A seat belt " I relplied. " yeah, I can't

> reach my seat belt. " He has done the same thing with words like

> food items, school related words.

>

> I don't notice the groping for words as much as when he had less

> vocabulary so I'm not sure if he can't remember how the word should

> be said and he is waiting for a model or if he truly can't remember

> the word. He has great strategies for getting around the owrds he

> doesn't remember, either asking direct (like example above), using a

> similar meaning word and then adding 'but not exactly what I word it

> is' after, using a description, or round about story telling to get

> to the point.

>

> Does anyone have info on this? Has anyone else had a child with a

> similar situation? What did you do?

>

> Thanks in advance,

>

> Julee

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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>

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