CelebrateCALM - this Saturday, Elmhurst

Kirk Martin and his son, Casey, will present a free program on Saturday, March 6, in Elmhurt. Please see a full description of the program on www.woodstockadvocate.com

Huntley's Special Ed PAC

The Huntley School Distrcit 158 has a Special Education Parent Advisory Committee that meets monthly. Generally speaking, the group meets on the second Thursday at 6:00PM. Parents have been extremely vocal in their demands for services for their children and for proper allocation of stimulus funds anticipated by the District.

The PAC has a presence on the School District's website. You can view it at www.district158.org/special/Special%20Needs%20Parent%20Network.htm

The group meets from 6:00-7:30PM, which is probably pretty hard on parents with little ones at home who expect a meal about that time but, for whatever reason, that's the time the group meets.

When viewing the webpage recently, this particular sentence (the original is in Red) caught my eye:

(*Note- Our meetings will begin and end promptly as scheduled, allowing staff and community to respect professional and personal commitments. "Please drive safely, everyone.")

When I read that the first time, I felt my stomach muscles tighten. My first reaction was, "What do they (the school staff, who wrote it) really mean? Do they mean, 'Look, you all. We have worked hard all day and we're not going to spend the entire night here."'

Then I thought, "Oh, maybe I'm just being too sensitive (or too critical)", so I did a little checking. The first call I may confirmed my suspicion. That's exactly what is meant. When 7:30PM comes, they are out the door.

I'm all for meetings that start on time and end on time. But this in-your-face announcement came across immediately as disrespectful and impolite.

The same objective (to end a meeting on time) could be accomplished by good time management during the meeting and an agenda that is not too full and which allows adequate time to address the concerns of the parents and the staff. As the meeting approaches the scheduled End time, the evening's moderator could arrange for unfinished business (and there is probably a lot of that) to addressed between meetings or at the next meeting.

Considering the Special Education turnover in D-158, parents probably have many, many questions.

TACA Meeting a success

This afternoon's TACA support group meeting was the best support group meeting I have ever attended. The local chapter of Talk About Curing Autism met at Home State Bank, Crystal Lake, and there were about 32 parents there, plus the organizers and presenters.

The organizers, Linda Betzold and Sara DiFucci, opened the meeting with announcements about upcoming meetings, information resources for parents, respite offerings and an overnight camp for kids. Then the speakers were introduced. Sonja Hintz, a nurse, and Barry Smeltzer, a phyician's assistant, gave very interesting information about their work with patients diagnosed with autism, and then they answered questions which had been submitted before the meeting. In addition, they answered many questions from the audience.

The chapter operates a lending library, and it also gives parents a free copy of The Families of Autism Journey Guide. One of the local chapter's members says, "It's a 300+ page book that includes everything we wish we had been told when our kids were diagnosed."

Occasional fundraisers are organized so that the support group services are available to families without charge. A website may soon be available for donations to the local chapter; in the meantime, donations can be sent to Linda Betzold or to Sara DeFucci.

What made this support group so positive was the strong interaction between the speakers and the audience and their willing to address fully the questions and topics from the audience.

The speakers were from True Health Medical, 603 Diehl Road, Ste 135, Naperville, IL; phone (630) 995-4242

For information about TACA and the local chapter, contact Linda.Betzold@tacanow.org or Sara.DiFucci@tacanow.org

Also, visit www.tacanow.org/; it's loaded with information for parents. It contains tons of information on diet, biomedical treatments, special education law, dealing with insurance and more.

Future local meetings will be March 20 and April 17.

On February 27 TACA chapters in Wisconsin will hold a conference. Information at http://www.realhelpnowconference.org/

Information about a conference in Baltimore on Aptil 8-11 is available at http://www.defeatautismnow.com/

The AutismOne conference in Rosemont, Ill. will be May 24-30. Information at www.autismone.org/content/world-changes-may

Parent Conference - 3/13/10 at MCC

Option & Advocacy's 2010 Parent Conference will be held at McHenry County College on Saturday, March 13. Co-sponsors are Family CARE and SEDOM. This conference is specifically designed for parents of children with disabilities/delays from birth through 21 years of age.

Complete details for the conference can be viewed at www.optionsandadvocacy.org/

Cost is $35.00 per participant ($50.00/per couple), and scholarships may be available through the Arc of Illlinois (www.thearcofil.org/document.asp?did=35) and STARNET (www.thecenterweb.org/starnet/fund-fellow.html).

Register and apply early.

Schools - gotta love 'em

Some days you have to have a lot of love to love schools (or, more correctly, teachers and staff).

I happen to be picky about things being done correctly. To me it is one demonstration that people care, especially in written communications.

I'm thinking right now of a couple of meeting notices that have been mailed to me this school year and also of my stepson's IEP.

First, the notices. Like, today's notice. In today's mail came a Notification of Conference. It used to be that the Special Ed staff would check around to learn if a given date and time would be convenient. I guess those days are gone. What happens now? They just mail out the Notice.

But here's the part of the Notice that gets me. I've been called a lot of things in my life, but today the school district reached a new high. Or low. Over the years I've been called my stepson's father. Or stepfather. Or even ex-step-father. But now? I have finally graduated to "Other."

"Other"? What's that? Even my stepson's mother got the title of "Other" on this notice. And it had to be typed. It wasn't a simple box to be checked.

I think I'll show up at the meeting with my own name badge: "Gus Philpott - Other"

Wait; there's more.

A previous Notification of Conference arrived with my name wrong. Actually, not wrong. Somebody else's name. Ever since 1996, the school district has known me as Gus Philpott. That's Philpott; P-h-i-l-p-o-t-t. Not all that hard. I might even forgive them if they dropped the last -t-.

But on that notice, for the first time ever, the school district put my last name down as my stepson's last name. Apparently, I was the only one who noticed it. At the meeting I waited for someone to acknowledge the error, but it didn't happen.

The pecking order of names on Notices is also important to me, because I "get" the subliminal message that is sent. For a meeting involving a student, it seems to me that the student's name ought to be the first name on the list. Or the second, or maybe the third. Not the last!

Other errors? How about typos and misspelled words? They are different, you know. We all know what typos are. But when a word is misspelled, that's not a typo. Like some examples?

How about quaterly? And Quartelry? Don't you think that at least one person on an IEP Team of 7-10 school employees would notice a typo and call it to the attention of the high-priced person who typed it? Apparently, no one is brave enough.

But the prize word of the year was "upserp". That's not a typo. Here was the sentence. "(Student) will accept the decisions/directions he is given without trying to upserp the hierarchy in a given situation." And it has been that way for over a year. At a meeting last spring a teacher read the sentence. I thought she might just read the correct word ("usurp"), but she hesitated and then read "upserp". And none on the school staff batted an eye.

There must have been $400,000 worth of payroll in that room, and no one said, "What was that word?"

TACA meets 2/20/10 4:30PM

For information about tomorrow's meeting in Crystal Lake, Ill. hosted by TACA (Talk About Curing Autism), please see the article on www.woodstockadvocate.com

ADHD Roundtable/Gurnee - tonight

Tonight (Tuesday) at 6:30PM the ADHD Roundtable will sponsor a workshop for those interested in ADHD in Gurnee at the Warren Township Youth and Family Services, 17801 W. Washington St., Gurnee, Ill. (corner of Washington and Almond, enter on Almond).

Attorney and Special Education Law Consultant Maureen Lowry-Fritz, J.D., M.A., will present the program, titled "Understanding the Body of Special Education Law... From Head to Toe" from 6:30PM-8:00PM.

To register for this free program, go to http://wtysroundtable.eventbrite.com/

About tonight's program: "American law is much like the human body. It is an assembly of independent components, each of which 'gives life' to the legal system as a whole. Special education law is no exception. Parents and educators alike must understand how the Constitution, statutes, regulations and case law interrelate to generate what we know as 'special education law.' When all parties understand the sources and roles of the law in special education, they can more effectively and efficiently work together to develop optimal special education programs for children with disabilities."

If you'd like to talk with Maureen Lowry-Fritz about hiring her as a consultant for your child's IEP or other services, she can be reached at 630-222-9735.

Ten Seconds will change your life forever

Woodstock School District 200 will present "Ten Seconds Will Change Your Life Forever" on Monday, March 22, from 7:00-8:00PM at Woodstock North High School, 3000 Raffel Road.

This program will be a follow-up to a presentation to students by Bobby Petrocelli on today's youth and the decisions they make. Topics of discussion will include substance abuse, dating, bullying and self-worth.

Light refreshments will be served from 6:00-7:00PM.

For more information, visit www.10seconds.org/

D-200 to cut pre-school?

D-200 will hold an important school board meeting tonight, when it discusses cuts to the pre-school program. State-funding cuts are blamed for the decision to alter the program and change it to a tuition-based program. The school board meets at 7:00PM at Clay Professional Development Center (sorry, but I have to laugh at that name every time), 112 Grove Street, Woodstock.

According to the article this morning in the Northwest Herald, the program is "for at-risk children who are eligible under the state grant guidelines. Specifically, the student are low income and have academic status and family issues. The students often come from the homes of single parents or young parents."

Right.... and these are just the ones who can afford to pay tuition for their pre-school children to enroll in the D200 pre-school. Right?

Helloooooooo......

Cut these services now, and guess what? More problems in the lower grades - in grade school, middle school and high school. And more problems mean higher expenses.

The Verda Dierzen School principal told the NWH reporter, "We definitely will be losing some fabulous staff members." While she didn't say "teachers", is those the "staff members" to whom she is referring?

D200 opened a number of new schools recently, but didn't the student population explosion fail to materialize when the housing bubble burst?

Why not close some of the now-unneeded schools, cut expenses there, and save important programs that prepare the youngest students for a better chance to succeed?

Or does pre-school do that? Maybe pre-school isn't needed for any student. Whatever happened to kids enrolling in kindergarten and starting their education then?

Help me out here, parents and teachers.

Bullying - does it happen?

Is your child being bullied in school?

I recall visiting my sister and her husband in Atlanta in about 1976. My nephew came home from school and complained of being bullied. I took him out into the backyard and had a little "chat" with him. My advice? The next time the bully attacked him, start swinging. Go in hard and fast and get in a few good licks before he got pounded.

Good advice? Probably not. And today? It would land you in the clink, and the bully would probably not even get taken away. Fair? No.

We can legalize kick-boxing and cage matches, but heaven help the kid who defends himself or finally gets so fed up with the bullying that he reacts, either the same day or after.

Read this week's edition of www.wrightslaw.com about bullying.

There are plenty of books, too, about bullying, including good books by Barbara Coloroso, who travels worldwide to lecture and train teachers and parents how to spot bullying and stop it. The first book written by Barbara that I read was Kids are Worth It: Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline.

Her second book was The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander: from Pre-school to High School, How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle.

Each is worth reading and owning.