Elopement or running away behaviors are certainly at the top of the list of most serious behaviors that must be eliminated from the range of behaviors that a student with special needs experiences in school. I have had several families where elopement has been a frequent and tortuous experience. While some have been injured fortunately none have died. For students with autism there is a great propensity to elope from school supervision and put themselves in danger.
According to a study just published in Pediatrics on elopement behaviors, 49% of parents reported that their child had attempted to elope at least once. Of these children, 65% had a “close call” with traffic whereas another 24% were at risk of drowning. Children who elope leave their homes (74%), stores (40%), and schools (29%). Researchers were able to compare the rate at which children with an autism spectrum disorder eloped compared with that of their typical siblings. Between ages 4 and 7 (4 being the developmental age when children can be expected to not wander off), 46% of children with an autism spectrum disorder eloped compared to 11% of their siblings. And between ages 8 and 11, 27% of children on the spectrum wandered compared with just 1% of their siblings.
Special Education Advocacy Training from COPAA
Over the years the question has come up frequently: how do I become a trained special education advocate ? My answer is usually along the lines of read various books such as material from Pete Wright, attend legal and substantive seminars and apprentice with an exeperienced advocate or attorney. For the first time thanks to the innovative efforts of COPAA, there is finally an advocacy training course being offered. The Special Education Advocate Training (SEAT) is a year-long course that
provides participants with training to become a special education advocate. The
course is based in part on the SEAT Curriculum ® developed through partnership
between COPAA and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) University Center
for Excellence, University of Southern California on a three year demonstration
grant funded by the US Department of Education. The grant funded portion of the
project ended in 2009, resulting in development of a model curriculum for advocacy
training that was vetted through 3 cohorts under the direction of a 10 member
National Advisory Board and members of COPAA's Training Committee – all of whom
are nationally recognized special education advocates.
Education Advisors to Presidential Candidates to Debate
Here is another forum to view the candidate's respective positions on matters related to education and hopefully special education. Education Advisers to Obama
and Romney to Engage in a Live Debate at Teachers College, Columbia University on
Monday, Oct. 15, 7 p.m. ET
Exclusive Live Webcast Hosted by Education Week on
edweek.org
Teachers
College, Columbia University, will host "Taking the Election to School:
Making Education
a Focus of the 2012 Election," a debate between Jon Schnur, education
adviser to President Barack Obama, and Phil Handy, education adviser to
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, on Monday, October 15, at
7:00 pm Eastern. Teachers College President Susan H. Fuhrman will
moderate
the debate, which will take place at Teachers College's Cowin Conference
Center. The event will be webcast live by Education Week on edweek.org.
Participants:
- Jon Schnur
is co-founder of America
Achieves. Previously, Mr. Schnur co-founded and served as CEO of New
Leaders for New Schools. He has also served as senior adviser to U.S.
Secretary
of Education Arne Duncan and co-chairman of the Obama for America
Education Policy Committee. - Phil Handy
is
the higher education co-chair of Mr. Romney's Education Policy Advisory
Group. Mr. Handy is CEO of Strategic Industries; former chairman of the
Florida State Board of Education; twice appointed by President George W.
Bush as vice chairman of the National Board for Education Sciences; and
a
member of the board of directors of the Foundation for Excellence in
Education.
A panel discussion featuring education journalists and other experts will immediately follow the debate.
Register free to view the live webcast on edweek.org.
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Effects of Romney/Ryan Health Plan on Children and Adults with Disabilities
Bill Clinton, in his address to the Democratic convention this month, decried the effects of the proposed Medicaid restructuring on the elderly, the poor, and families with children who have autism, Down syndrome, or other severe disabilities. Clinton, who said that he didn’t know what these families would do under these cuts, asserted that he knew what he would do: “I’m going to do everything I can to see that it doesn’t happen. We can’t let it happen.” We as parents of children with disabilities and those that care about children with disabilities need to vote for the vital interests of our children, and make sure our children with disabilities, who are over 18, register to vote and do vote. Medicaid is just one of the many issues that must be on the radar of voters for this election.Approximately 60 million Americans—including 29.5 million children, 15.2 million adults, 8.2 million people with disabilities, and 6.1 million seniors–rely on Medicaid to meet their health care needs. These numbers include 40% of our nation’s poor, 20% of those with severe disabilities, and nearly two thirds of residents of nursing homes.
Romney’s Educational Vouchers a Disaster for Special Education Students
Schools are not like private corporations. Governor Romney’s
goal to privatize, voucherize, and let the market determine winners and losers
is simplistic. The reality is we do not have to wait to project that under his
system special education students will be losers. To be clear, I advocate on a
regular basis in appropriate cases for students to be tuitioned out to private
schools with their IEPs intact, even if that school is more restrictive because
it has what the child needs to receive a FAPE.
As a primary part of his education platform, Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney is proposing a pro-choice, pro-voucher
system that will allow parents to choose which schools their children can
attend. Romney is arguing that market
forces and competition will force improvements in public schools. Additionally, Romney is proposing to allow
federal Title I and IDEA funds (which will also likely be cut) to become
“portable” for low income and special needs students. These funds would follow the students to any
district or public charter school, private school where permitted by state law,
or toward tutoring or online courses. In theory, these proposals sound
wonderful. Who wouldn’t want their
children, both regular and special education, to go to the best possible
schools? These proposals, however, could
be disastrous for special education students.
One District’s Effort to Educate Parents on Unilateral Placements
It is always nice when district's go out of their way to educate parents on the need to provide a 10 day notice prior to making a unilateral placment see
Download 2500_0001. What this notice neglects to inform parents is that the statute carves out certain exceptions to the need to give notice, such as, when the parent is illiterate,the school district "prevented the parent from providing notice" or providing the notice "would likely result in serious emotional harm to the child." 20 USC section 1412(a)(10)(C)(iii)(III)(iv) [the good stuff is always in the fine print]. Nor does this notice inform parents that even if notice is given late, that there is a line of cases that allow for reimbursement after the 10 day notice period has run, or emphasizing that this provision is discretionary using the word "may" not "shall". While I subscribe no ill-intent to this notice, I am sure that it would be used against a parent if they failed to comply with the exact terms, as expressed in the notice, even though it does not fully advise parents of all of their legal rights. Thanks school district (and their attorney who undoubtably drew this form up), but let the parents' attorneys do their job protecting and fully advising parents of their rights.
The Epidemic Effects of Non-Vaccination
As an unfortunate legacy of the now discredited Wakefield
“study” in many areas of the country, it has become too common that parents are
opting out of vaccinating their youngsters before entering kindergarten. The
negative consequences for their children is obvious, but for the school and the
community as a whole the results can be quite significant. While some parents
are legitimately opting out of vaccinations for medical, religious or
philosophical exemptions from vaccinating their children. In the cases where
parents have a sincerely held religious belief that prohibits vaccinations,
those beliefs need to be respected; that is the small minority of cases.
Similarly some children must not be vaccinated, either because
they have medical conditions or have had adverse reactions which contraindicate
their receiving vaccinations. These
children depend upon what is known as herd immunity to protect them against
serious if not lethal cases of contagious but preventable diseases. To achieve herd immunity, a critical mass of
the population must be vaccinated, usually about 95% depending on the illness
being vaccinated against. At this level,
disease transmission is contained because it cannot be transferred. Outbreaks of disease, however, can occur in
areas where this threshold is unmet, and those individuals who are not
vaccinated; e.g., the young, the immunocompromised, the medically vulnerable,
or those who are vaccinated but for whom the vaccine is not working, all become
at risk.
It’s Time for Individuals with Disabilities to Vote
Given the current environment where the rights of a segments
of society to vote is being limited and challenged, it is especially important
to examine the rights of people with disabilities to vote. While often an
overlooked and ignored segment of society, people with disabilities need to
make their voices heard in the political process. As President Bill Clinton
expressed in his nominating speech on September 5, 2012, this election will
have a significant effect on the health care and educational rights of all
citizens but especially the most vulnerable among us which obviously includes
people with disabilities. Make no mistake voting for the Ryan budget and
overall plan will have a permanent and regressively harmful effect on my
clients, my son, families of children with disabilities and many people who I
care about. It is time to register all people with disabilities and to in fact
vote. We must be active citizens in the
political process.
Minority Students & Students with Disabilities Suspended at a Higher Rate
The Civil Rights Project (Proyecto Derechos Civiles) released
a study in March demonstrating that minority students and students with
disabilities are suspended at a far higher rate than their non-disabled or
non-minority peers. At first blush,
this is not news. Other researchers have
already documented these disproportionate rates, which have even been discussed
in this blog. But the new study, “Opportunities
Suspended: The Disparate Impact of
Disciplinary Exclusion from School,” is different for two primary reasons.
First, the authors, Daniel Losen and Jonathan Gillespie, use data from the
Civil Rights Data Collection survey from the Department of Education,
thereby providing the most comprehensive and exhaustive review of what is
happening in our nation’s schools. These
DOE data are from 7000 schools districts and represent 85% of our nation’s
students. Second, the Civil Rights
Project does not solely focus on the problem states or the problem districts
that are suspending students at such horrific rates. The study also provides the data for those
states and districts that are not
engaging in high suspension rates. These
districts have figured out how to keep students in school and engage them in
learning. These are the districts from which
we need to learn.
Romney on Common Core Standards
The Common Core standards were developed in 2010 as an effort to create voluntary national standards for learning in math and reading. The effort, which was spearheaded by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers and funded by among others the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is to ensure our nation’s students are more globally competitive and better prepared for college or the workforce. Although voluntary, all but four states have adopted the standards, which are just now starting to be implemented by the states. Embraced by the Obama administration and vilified by some members of the far right, the standards are not without controversy, and may or may not become an issue in the upcoming presidential election as President Obama and Mitt Romney jockey to define education policies apart from one another.
According to the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the standards are designed to help students think more critically and not just be able to “fill in the blanks on standardized tests.” Teachers who are familiar with the standards believe that topics will be taught in much greater depth than previously. Critics, including NYU education historian Diane Ravitch, argue that the standards are untested and that no one knows if they are “good or bad, whether they will improve academic achievement or widen the achievement gap.” The Brookings Institution suggests that since existing state standards, which are being replaced by Common Core, have had little impact on academic achievement within individual states, there is little reason to believe the Common Core standards will improve our nation’s schools.
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