Evacuation plans are often a missing part of an IEP. The normal fire drill simply does not work very well for students who are physically challenged, those who have extreme anxiety or sensory integration disorders or other disabilities. A school district in Janesville, Wisconsin is confronting these issues and contemplating moving special education students to the first floor. I am not sure how that can work when students should be integrated in regular class and therefore would distributed throughout the building. The answer is not as simple as moving "those kids downstairs." It requires thoughtful planning, rehearsal, training, staffing and maybe even special equipement. I am not a fire expert but simply moving a whole population to the first floor even in the name of safety is another simple solution to a complex problem.
Strange School Signs
I have always known that school people can say and do some strange things. Here are some examples of signs showing what a strange place schools can be:
Guidelines for Working With A Special Education Attorney
The simple truth is that parents on balance achieve better results when they are working with an attorney. Of course, there are notable exceptions such as the very able and courageous parents in the Winkleman case. Nevertheless, especially in the current environment which seems more charged and polarized attorney help can be critical. The following is my distilled wisdom on how to make the most out of attorney representation and strategic approaches to working with an attorney:
Next Time Just Ask….
Behavior, behavior, behavior everything is a behavior in the minds of many school people. Sometimes my head could explode trying to explain to school people that if you simply asked some basic questions, you would discover that there are other non-behavioral explanations for actions of students. Failing to ask, everything appears to be a behavior. Here are some prime anecdotes that illustrate the point.
Analyzing the Role of Paraprofessionals
Paraprofessionals play an essential role for many children with disabilities under IDEA. Personally, my son has had a great paraprofessional for many years. She has had just the right balance of being supportive and backing off. She has been an advocate for him and a team player (in the non-negative sense) with the other school personnel. In a word she has been a crucial and wonderful part of my son’s education.
However, the question is to what extent do schools overuse paraprofessionals as a quick and inexpensive "fix" instead of providing a certified teacher to teach students. This question is addressed in a set of guidelines and worksheets from the University of Vermont’s Center on Disability and Community Inclusion as part of Project Evolve.
Police Elopement Guidelines
The F.B.I. and other law enforcement agencies have developed guidelines for people with autism, families and police to address elopement behaviors. The topics are as follows:
- What Families Can Do To Lessen Police Interactions
- Information for Persons with Autism
- Information for Law Enforcement Officers
- Police Training Sessions
The guidelines are intended for people with autism, but have application to any person who exhibits elopement behaviors.
Guidelines for Choosing an ABA Provider
Parents of children with autism often face a momentous decision: do I initiate a home-based ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis sometimes referred to as Lovass) program, or do I enroll my child in the school’s program or continue with the existing program. However, of even greater moment if the answer is in favor of a home-based ABA program, who do I hire to run this program. The stakes are enormously high from an educational, financial and legal perspective. Fortunately there is a "consumer’s guide" to assist in making this latter decision.
NEA Guidelines For Teaching Children with Autism
NEA is one of the primary national teacher’s unions. On many issues the NEA takes positions that are adverse to the interests of special education students particularly regarding behavioral protections. Recently, however, the NEA has come out with guidelines and an overview for working with children with autism.[ Download NEA Autism Guidelines.pdf
] While it is by no means as authoritative as other texts, the fact that the NEA has officially endorsed these guidelines has an undeniable authority that schools would be hard pressed to dismiss.
Read Your IEP Backwards
As any avid reader of the sports section of a tabloid-style newspaper knows, the way to read the paper is to start at the back and work forwards. IEPs should be given similar back to front attention.
Guidelines for Parents to Select an Evaluator
A high priority item for successful advocacy in special education is to have a good quality data based evaluation from a private evaluator. Such evaluations are not required in every situation; typically,however, when a parent calls an attorney or advocate it is time to seek private evaluations. These evaluations can be from a doctor, therapist, consultant or psychologist, but they all must hit the mark to be of any real value. The following are my highlights of the criteria to evaluate the evaluators.
