New ISBE booklet for Special Ed Parents

A new booklet has been published and made available by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for parents of students in Special Education. We all know how difficult it can be to keep track of our child's information for IEPs and other Special Education-related matters.

Some parents are lucky enough to have the focus, time and organizational and office management skills of a legal secretary. These parents set up filing systems and tabbed notebooks, and they religiously file papers in the right place at the right time, the first time.

ISBE's booklet is the "Illinois Student Records Keeper for Parents Whose Students Receive Special Education Services.". You can download its 56 pages from the ISBE website or from the website of the Parent & Educator Partnership, which is where I learned about this.

The publication date is October 2010. (You've already heard about this from your school district; right?)

The booklet is at http://www.pepartnership.org/media/37861/student_records_keeper.pdf

If you prefer to go directly to the Illinois State Board of Education website and download the booklet there, you can go to www.isbe.net and click through the following path to the booklet:
On the homepage, find the section near the top for "Parents/Students"
Click on "Special Education"
On the right side under Resources, click on "Parents"
Scroll down to the bottom and click on "Student Records Keeper..."

Look around while you are at this index. My guess is you'll find some other very interesting and helpful booklets and brochures.

Parent support by school districts

To what extent are parents of students in special education in schools in McHenry County provided training and support by their school districts?

Do you know that the school districts are supposed to provide support for parents of special ed students? Do they do it? Do they provide meaningful support through programs and groups?

Is there a parent support group in your school or district? Is there a parent advisory council in your district?

Parents of special ed students get smart through education. They learn what the laws are. They learn whether the IEPs of their kids are SMART IEPs (vs. "dumb" ones). Dumb IEPs are the typical, off-the-shelf IEPs with no concrete, measureable statements or requirements and no accountability on the part of the school. "Johnny will do better" is typical of statements in "dumb" IEPs.

Parents want meaningful school-home communication and not just discipline notifications days after an "event" at school.

Parents want to be valuable members of the IEP Team and partners with teachers in the education of their children.

And many teachers want also to partner up with the parents. Unfortunately, in many school districts those interested teachers (and staff members) find themselves at risk of losing their jobs, if they do so.

And that needs to change!

Parents don't have to wait forever for school districts to acknowledge their requirement to provide training and support for these parents. Parents can begin to band together now.

Want help? Let me know.

Parent survey - do it now

The Family Resource Center on Disabilities has passed along information about an important surveys prior to US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), visits in Illinois before the end of 2010. I highly recommend the FRCD. Back in 1997 I attended one of its Special Education Rights workshops, and it was a solid foundation for my advocacy for my stepson here in Woodstock.

Parents of children ages 0-3 and 3-21 are invited to complete the surveys. FRCD wrote:

Dear Illinois Families:

On November 2, 2010, the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) will be visiting:

the Illinois Department of Human Services to review the effectiveness of Illinois following the rules and regulations for Early Intervention Services under Part C (0-3) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA);

OSEP will also be visiting the Illinois State Board of Education to review the effectiveness of Illinois following the rules and regulations under Part B (3-21) of IDEA.

OSEP has requested the Parent Training and Information Centers of Illinois to survey parents about their experience and knowledge with the special education system in Illinois. This is a great opportunity for you to contribute to the improvement of the delivery of special education services for the children with disabilities in Illinois.

Please take a moment to complete the survey if you have children who have recently received or are currently receiving special education services. We invite you to forward this survey to other families for their input.

The survey links are:

Part C (0-3 year old)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W77JN97

Part B (3-21 year old)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FDJ5Z76

If you have any questions, please contact the Family Resource Center on Disabilities at (312) 939-3513.

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The Family Resource Center on Disabilities (FRCD) offers parents of children with disabilities birth to 21 years old, their helpers, relatives, professionals, and interested community members no-cost training and workshops, telephone and e-mail assistance, and resources to help claim their role as the child's most effective and significant advocate.

You are invited to contact FRCD for information, resources, support and training. FRCD is located at 20 East Jackson Blvd., Room 300, Chicago, IL 60604. For information, visit www.frcd.org/, call 312-939-3513 or write to info@frcd.org

Restraints & Seclusion - in IEPs?

Be sure to read Pete and Pam Wright's e-newsletter this week on the topic of restraints and seclusion in IEPs. Go to www.wrightslaw.com

Their lead paragraph is "To help protect all schoolchildren, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act prohibits the use of restraint and seclusion unless there is an imminent risk of physical injury that less restrictive interventions would not stop."

They urge special attention right away, because the American Association of School Administrators and other organizations are trying to water down the Act. Letters and phone calls from concerned parents of special education students are needed right now.

No one wants a school staff member or other student harmed, if a child (any child) has a meltdown at school and needs to be restrained.

But staff can't "jump the gun" and apply excessive means just because they "think" a meltdown is about to occur.

Read www.wrightslaw.com (you may need to search for "restraint" or "seclusion") and call or write to your elected representative. Tell him or her what you want and what you don't want. Ask how that rep will vote. Don't settle for "s/he will look into it." Ask for a response.

Then check to see how your rep voted, when it was time to vote. And remember that when you vote on November 2.

Attn. Woodstock D200 Parents

Do you have a child in the Age 18-21 Transition Program of Woodstock District 200 School District? Or a child in Special Education in Woodstock? Or know someone who does? If so, I'd like to hear from you.

The Age 18-21 Program is for students in special education who have earned their credits for their diploma but who have elected to take a Certificate, in order to remain eligible for special education services until the day before their 22nd birthday.

The program in D200 has three tiers, and the student is supposed to progress through them, becoming more independent as each year passes. The classes are conducted in the morning at McHenry County College. Most of the Transition students are not college students; the classes merely meet at MCC.

One thought is that by meeting at MCC, the students are supposed to begin having the college experience. But is that the case? Do they really just meet at the College for classes? If that's the case, why not meet in a D200 building?

It seems to me that the word "inclusion" does not exist in the vocabulary of the D200 Special Education Department. Special Education students are supposed to be included in mainstream activities. For high school students is this really done, or are they mostly kept isolated from mainstream students?

The Transition students could be integrated into MCC activities by assisting them in enrolling in and being successful in MCC classes and activities. Instead, D200 has chosen a hands-off position. A D200 Transition Program teacher cannot be in contact with the MCC instructor regarding a student's progress.

This needs to change in District 200. But it will only change after all parents of Transition students learn what is really going on and provide input to the D200 Special Education Department.

I would like to see a support group for parents of students in Special Education get established in District 200. I would like for it to parent-led. Most parents of Special Education students have learned a fair amount about IEPs and Special Education laws. We who have slugged through the system for 12 years have tried to get permanent improvements made, so that parents who follow won't have such a hard time. But we wonder whether we have achieved that.

There are over 1,000 Special Education students in District 200. Most are K-12; some are the Transition Program students mentioned above.

Contact Gus Philpott at gusphilpot@aol.com (N.B., one -t- in my AOL email address), so that an email distribution list can be built to inform you of developments. Please forward this to every parent of a special ed student in Woodstock District 200. The list will be used only for this purpose. Thanks!

ATTN. Woodstock Special Ed Parents

You'll want to become aware of parent activity in School District 158 (Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, Lakewood, Huntley, Union), where parents have banded together to address the services that their special education children are (not) getting. Somehow, in some way, they found one another and, through the power of numbers, they now have the attention of the school district administrators.

Three of the four key special education department administrators left District 158 recently. Is that merely a coincidence? Did they all end up in the same (new) school district?

What does District 200 do for parents of students in Special Education? Anything, except the direct education (we hope) of the students?

A few years ago District 200 started a support group for parents of students in Special Education called Parent-2oo-Parent. I think it lasted one year - maybe two. They kicked me out because I wasn't a "parent". No matter that I was the very involved ex-step-parent in the child's life. That was why I got kicked out; I was asking too many questions and informing other parents of the special education rights of their children.

In District 200 parents of special education students are pretty much kept isolated from one another. No support group exists. No education or training for parents of special education students is provided. No meetings of parents. So parents don't get a chance to meet one another and find out who is satisfied and who is not.

An IEP is supposed to be a "team" effort; a partnership, a collaboration, a working together by parents, teachers and staff for the benefit of the student.

The efforts of special education parents in District 158 should be a model for District 200. And it can be, IF enough parents show up and speak out.

Contact me at gusphilpot@aol.com and I shall build an email distribution list of parents in D200 for communication about special education services and programs that we'd like to have. Or just email me your suggestions. Better yet - post them right here as Comments for all to read.

District 200 will get a bunch of stimulus money. Let's see how they are supposed to spend it and how they do spend it.

I can tell you how quickly 12 years pass. The parents of younger students now in D200 Special Education should not have to fight all the same battles that those of us who have learned the rights of our children had to fight. Somewhere, there should be progress that stays in place.

Read the articles in local papers that followed Thursday night's meeting. Yes! Thursday night - the night before a holiday week-end!

www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/07/02/r_4rdpzzoxr8ynqcj1l7rclg/index.xml

www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=304531

Chicago Abilities Expo - June 25-27

A national expo for persons with disabilities (and their familes and caregivers) will be held this Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Schaumburg.

Admission is free. For complete information, go to www.abilitiesexpo.com/chicago/index.html

Day One: Focused for professional therapists and healthcare workers who will attend dynamic educational seminars (earning CEU's to comply with their professional requirements) and a relaxed, informal networking reception at the end of the day.

Day Two:Focused for adult consumers and those with age-related fitness issues. This day will feature sessions about intimacy for people with disabilities, fashion and cooking shows, workshops on caring for a growing population and much more.

Day Three: Focused for families with sessions and activities for the entire family from kids to grandparents and those in between. Families come to Abilities Expo for a well-rounded experience that is both informative and fun.

Saturday's family day will be 10:00AM-5:00PM. Location? Schaumburg Convention Center, which is located on the east side of Meacham Road, north of the Illinois Tollway, south of Algonquin Road (Route 62). For those with GPSs, just plug in 1551 North Thoreau Drive, Schaumburg, IL 60173.

For advocacy information, be sure to attend Myra Christian's presentation at 2:00PM on Saturday, "Preparing for your child's future as an independent adult." Myra is with the Family Resource Center on Disabilities (FRCD). I met Myra in about 1997, and FRCD gave me a good start on my path of educational advocacy.

For information about FRCD and its programs and services, visit http://www.frcd.org/

When schools interfere with parents

Do schools have the right to interfere with a parent's inquiry into a student's educational progress?

Parents turn over their children to schools for major parts of a kid's life. We expect them to educate our children and to be fair in their treatment and decisions involving the students.

What happens when a staff person at a school interferes with a parent who is seeking information about the services required to be provided to his student?

In my case, I am the ex-step-parent of a 20-year-old student in the Age 18-21 Transition Program here in Woodstock. I say "ex-step-parent", because his mother and I divorced nine years ago. I'm sure the District would prefer that I would had abandoned him and left Woodstock in 2000, but I didn't. For all practical purposes I'm his dad.

For legal purposes he signed a very broad Authorization recently that permits the school district to give me anything I ask for in terms of records and reports about the school year. It was unlimited in scope. It did not give me the authority to make any changes in his Individualized Education Program (IEP), but I could get the reports which were not presented at the Annual Review required of every IEP.

One week before the IEP I requested the reports, in order to study them and be able to ask questions. Not only did I not receive the reports, I didn't even receive an acknowledgement of my request!

At the IEP the Case Manager's supervisor ran the meeting and jumped right over any discussion of what had transpired during the past nine months.

After the meeting the Authorization was presented to the school district and I requested the missing reports. And so what happened?

The student got called into the Case Manager's supervisor's office and asked if he really wanted me to have what I was asking for! How's that for undermining a parent's role in a student's life??? What she should have done was provide the information. His Authorization was complete.

According to the Illinois State Board of Education, a school district cannot unilaterally refuse or fail to provide a service or program of instruction that the IEP Team has agreed to.

In this case the student refused to participate in a special reading program. I don't have all the details about it yet, but I understand that it was well below his reading level, rather than being structured to advance his reading level. They should have selected an appropriate program and administered it correctly. And then, if he still refused, an IEP meeting should have been called to discuss the problems. As a last resort, the program could have been removed from the IEP.

But a school cannot just decide, on its own, to drop a program that is in the IEP. And that's exactly what they did.

I'm not done with my complaint about the actions of the district's special education administrative supervisor in this case. We're going to get to the bottom of it, and in a way that such an action is never repeated.

Very Important Memo for Parents

One of the best-kept secrets in Woodstock, perhaps throughout the State of Illinois, is a Memorandum written in 2003 by the then-Director of Special Education for the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). On April 10, 2003, Dr. Chris Koch issued a Memorandum entitled "Appropriate Procedures for Determining Placement in the Least Restrictive Environment."

At the top of Page 2 he wrote, "Because it is important that all stakeholders receive consistent information, we ask that special educator directors assist us by disseminating copies of this memorandum to all school administrators, teachers, related services personnel, and parents of students with disabilities in their district...

"Additionally, given the importance of these issues, we encourage district superintendents to discuss the implications of this procedural guidance of this with their administrators at an upcoming staff meeting.

"Finally, we ask that parent organizations distribute copies to persons who access their services
and/or by posting it on their websites."

The Memo is about ten pages in length, easily printed from your home computer. I urge you to read it carefully, print copies, and then highlight the paragraphs that are important to you.

The Memo is found on the webpages of the Special Education Division of ISBE:
Go to www.isbe.net/spec-ed
Click on Parents (right side)
Under Advocacy Resources see the article (first article at this writing) with the above title. Disregard the year (2001) shown; it may be corrected by the time you read this. That's the Memo.

Or you can click on http://isbe.net/SPEC-ED/pdfs/lre_guidance.pdf

I learned of this Memo in January 2004 at a parent support group meeting in Rockford. Shortly after that, I approached the District 200 headquarters to inquire about it and learned they did not know of it. They did, after I provided the web address to them and then met with them.

To my knowledge District 200 still has never provided copies to parents of special education students. Why not?

Parents must learn of memos like this one. You shouldn't have to fight to find out about important memos like this one.

Dr. Koch is now the State Superintendent of ISBE, and special education students and their parents are fortunate that he is there, because he understands Special Education. However, until all parents know their students' rights and learn about these Memos much sooner than 4 1/2 years after they are written, there is much work to do done to provide this information to parents.

Parents - Want a Support Group?

Hello, parents of students in Special Education in Woodstock (or anywhere in McHenry County):

Would you like a support group in Woodstock? A support group that actually supported you?

If you would like a group formed that allowed you to participate in person, online, by email, by phone - a group that is convenient for you - let me know.

There are parents in Woodstock who would like this type of group. For those interested in a meeting, a meeting place can be arranged. There are several locations available close to the Square.

Tired? Burned out? Frustrated? Feel there is no sense trying to change something that doesn't want to change?

Let me know that you are interested, and I'll let you know when the group will meet. Plus I'll announce it here.

Email: gusphilpot@aol.com (N.B., one "t" (although my last name has two t's)
Phone: 815.338.2666

WrightsLaw

An excellent resource for parents of children in special education is www.wrightslaw.com

Pete and Pam Wright have been writing articles and doing workshops for ten years about Special Education.

Visit www.wrightslaw.com and sign up for free e-newsletter. It contains a wealth of information and many links.

You might also monitor their travel schedule and attend one of their workshops. You'll find the time and money well-spent!

What Help is Needed?

What kind of help do parents of children with special needs want and need, with regard to the education of their children?

There is a huge amount of information available from many resources. So much information is available that parents often do not know where to start. At the same time, many parents are so overwhelmed with day-to-day caring for and providing for their children that they do not have time, energy or expertise to investigate the resources available to them.

Needs are often so complex that careful evaluation is needed to design just the right educational package. State and Federal laws are in place to guarantee certain rights.

As one wise person said a while back, "If you don't know what your rights are, you don't have any."

School personnel should be in one of the best positions to know the educational rights of a student in a special education program. After all, who should know the rules better?

Unfortunately, while personnel may know the rules, they may be under pressure to refrain from providing complete information and services to a special education student because of the cost involved. The old "We can't afford that" routine.

While schools might be caught between a rock and a hard place, they don't have a choice. If a special education student needs a service, then the law says he is to have it. The law does not say, "If the school district can't afford it, it does not have to provide a needed service."

In following articles I shall write about some of my experiences with the Woodstock (Illinois) District 200 Schools from 1996 to present. It may appear that I am "picking" on them, but I have no doubt that what I have experienced has been experienced by tens of thousands of other parents across the United States.

Along the way I'll share resources that you may find valuable as your child and you go along the special education highway.

Welcome, Parents of Children with Special Needs

For several years I have contemplated launching a website for parents of children with special needs. Talk is cheap, you say? And right you are.

Since 1996 I have advocated for my stepson. Perhaps I now need to say my ex-stepson, but that's not right. I met him when he was seven; now he's 20. His mother and I married just before he was 8; we divorced shortly before he was 12. I've stayed in Woodstock since the year 2000 to remain in his life. He's very important in my life, and I like to think that I am very important in his life.

OK, so why today? I've got 12 years of stories, experiences, heart ache, heartbreak, satisfaction, happiness, joy, love; so why today?

About ten days ago at a meeting of the Family Council of the Family CARE Project of the McHenry County Mental Health Board, I picked up a flyer for a workshop that was held today. The title grabbed me, "Strategies to create a calm home for intense children." Now, who can't use those?

The presenter this morning was Kirk Martin, founder and director of "Celebrate Calm". Kirk's message was clear - identify and build on the talents, skills and passions of your child. Kirk's program was scheduled for 9:30-11:00AM in Woodstock; most were still there at noon, as the program wound down. Kirk's 15-year-old son, Casey, was traveling with him and participated in the program. This was one of the best workshops that I have attended! And it was presented without charge.

Information about Kirk and his program can be found at www.CelebrateCalm.com I have no doubt that his CD programs on Parenting and the Brain Boosters Academics are worth every penny.

What's coming up in Woodstock?

Our area has for a long time needed an independent support group for parents of children with special needs. There is a huge amount of information available to parents, many of whom are already overwhelmed with information and the stresses of life with a special-needs child. Parents must know the Special Education Rights granted to their children under Federal and Illinois laws. Most don't.

This forum (blog) will be a resource and also a source. I myself advocate for children with special needs by helping parents find what they need. Parents helping parents; that's what this will be all about.

Welcome!