ADVOCATING 4 KIDS

I was asked to write some information about how you as a parent can file for a state complaint. A state complaint can be filed for any violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The complaint must very specifically state what the violation is and what evidence you have of the violation.

A state complaint should focus on procedural violations of IDEA 2004. For Example: IDEA 2004 states that special education personnel must send parents a 10 day written notice for all meetings. If your school district failed to do that, you may file for a state complaint alleging, that they did not send you the 10 day written meeting notice.

The complaint must include these things:

1. A statement that your school district has violated a requirement of Part B of IDEA (Part B covers children receiving special education services from the age of 3 until 21).

2. The facts of the violation, and any evidence you have of the violation (include copies of the evidence with the complaint).

3. Signature and contact information for the person filing the complaint.

4. The name and address of the child that the complaint is filed for, as well as name of school they are attending.

5. A proposed resolution of the violation, to the extent that you know.

If your complaint is related to services not given that you think your child needs, or any other issue where quality of your child’s education is involved, this is best handled at a due process hearing.

The state complaint is filed with your state board of education. I found a great resource for parents, that will have the contact information for your state board of education. The Autism Society of America and Easter Seals has put together State Autism Profiles for every state. You can find this at the Website: www.autism-Society.org/Site/PageServer?pagename=research_advo_states. Click on your state and under education you will find the state board of educations Website. Click on the Website and find the contact information for your state. Each state is supposed to have a form for filing a state complaint on the state board of education’s Website. Go to the Website and download a form if you would like to use it. The form may make it easier to file a complaint. You might want to type the information first to decide what information you want to put where. Then handwrite the complaint on the form, and do not forget to attach any evidence you have of the complaint. Mail the letter to your state board of education and put Attention: Special Education Department.

My book Disability Deception: Lies Disability Educators Tell and How Parents Can Beat Them at Their Own Game has a sample of a letter for a state complaint, if you prefer to write a letter. The book can be found at www.amazon.com or www.disabilitydeception.com.

The state has 10 days in which to respond to your complaint. I tell parents not to speak to any representative of the state board of education, but make them contact you by letter. In fact I suggest that you write in the complaint, that you prefer all contact to be in writing. The reason for this is, because some state board of education employees, may try and talk you out of your complaint. If you speak to them, do not agree to drop your complaint, even if they tell you that you are going to lose. I have had this happen many times myself, I always refused to drop the complaint, and most times ended up winning the complaint.

The state board of education must resolve the complaint within 60 days. There is a statue of limitations of 2 years in IDEA; which means that complaints must not be over 2 years old. Some states may have longer statues of limitations, check your state rules for special education.

State complaints may be hit or miss, but for particular procedural violations they can be very helpful.

JoAnn Collins

JoAnn is the parent of two adults with disabilities and has been an educational advocate for over 15 years. She is the author of Disability Deception.

Last month I put in information about a newspaper article that was in my local newspaper the Daily Journal in Kankakee Ill. The article was entitled “The Agony of Autism.” The article was about a 13 year old Minnesota boy who was banned from church for being disruptive. I asked parents to please E mail me with answers to some questions:

a. Are you sometimes concerned that your child may be disruptive in public?

b. Would you leave a setting where your child was screaming or running

c. Have you been asked to leave a setting where your child was loud, screaming, or touching others?

d. Have you altered where you take your child because of their behavior? In what way have you altered where you take your child?

e. Have you come up with easy solutions to keep your child calm in public that you would be willing to share with others?

I would like to keep this open for one more month for more responses. Any parent of a child with any disability may respond, as well as professionals in the educational field. Next month I will print some of the responses, (without names or identifying information) to share with other readers of this newsletter. I will also include some of my comments and things that I have used for my daughter Angelina in public settings. To send an E mail response send it to: JoAnn@disabilitydeception.com

As a parent of three adult children two who have disabilities, I have been lied to many times by some special education personnel. But I also have been very fortunate, to meet some wonderful disability educators, that absolutely refuse to lie to parents. The sad thing is they are few and far between. The disability educators that do not tell parents the truth, about the law or about their child’s education, negatively affect the child for the rest of their life. This is the reason that I wrote Disability Deception; Lies Disability Educators Tell and How Parents Can Beat Them at Their Own Game! I want to help parents of children with disabilities, to be able to determine when they are being lied to, by some special education personnel. Once a parent learns that they are being lied to, they can learn advocacy skills to overcome the lies, for the benefit of their child’s education.

Chapter 1 of Disability Deception gives several reasons why some school personnel lie to parents. I will list a couple for you:

1. Special education personnel sometimes lie because, they do not want to provide special education programs and related services, to children with disabilities. I was once interviewed and asked why schools do not want to give services to children, and of course some of the answer is money. I do not believe though that it is all related to money, some of it is that they do not want to take the time that is needed, to help children with disabilities reach their full potential.

2. School personnel sometimes lie to parents when they ask for a specific service, because they do not want to set a precedent. Especially services like tutoring, or Applied Behavioral Analysis. The school districts are scared that if they give the service to one parent, many more will want the same service for their child. I think this is ridiculous because, schools are required by law to give every child with a disability a free appropriate public education.

3. Special Education personnel often lie to parents, that they consider vulnerable (for instance a single parent or a parent going through a divorce). This hit home for me when this happened to me. I was going through a terrible divorce and having a dispute with my school district over services for my son. I refused to give in and eventually settled my dispute with the school district. Remember, it is not that the parent is vulnerable, it is that the special education personnel think they are!

Here are a few of my best advocacy techniques:

1. Any important educational issue must be handled in writing and not handled verbally. You are not obligated to speak to school personnel. Letters are documentation that you will need, in case of a future dispute between yourself and school personnel.

2. Stand up to disability educators in an assertively persistent manner, if you are told something that you are not sure is true! Ask them for written proof from the federal or state special education law that what they are saying is true! The more you let them get away with deceptions, the more they will speak deceptions!

3. Develop a working knowledge of federal and state special education laws, and No Child Left Behind. This will help you recognize when you are being lied to! You do not have to memorize the law, but just know where to find something if you need it.

4. Purchase Disability Deception at www.amazon.com or www.disabilitydeception.com. The book is affordable and will help give you ammunitionm in your fight for your child’s life! For reviews and testimonials by parents go to the two above Web sites.

Questions

Have you been lied to by special education personnel?

Would you like to share what the lie was about?

Were you able to overcome the lie for the good of your child?

Would you tell us how?

Lets share how to overcome deceptions told by some special education personnel; to help our children receive a free and appropriate public education, and live fulfilled lives!

JoAnn Collins

JoAnn has been an educational advocate for over 15 years helping parents navigate the special education system. JoAnn is the author of Disability Deception.

Dear Friends of Children with special education needs:

I ask that you support the 1,000’s of children and parents in the state of Virginia by sending our Governor an email addressing the issues below.

Please help protect the rights of children in need of services to access an appropriated public education.

Thank you for your support

Advocating 4 kids

Email Address: tkaine@governor.virginia.gov

Sample letter to submit:

Dear Governor Kaine

I would like to share my continued concerns about the Board approved Regulations and ask that NOT approve the Regulations until these issues are addressed:

List of concerns that harm children with disabilities:

In public comments and your March memo to the Board of Education you stated you would not approve special education regulations “that reduce parental involvement in key decisions made about their children.” 

The Board approved significant reductions in EXISTING rights and protections for children with disabilities and their parents.  Parents aren’t asking for new rights or protections, only that what we currently have isn’t taken away.

In approving these regs, the Board failed to favorably respond to the majority of the 38,000 comments they received - the greatest number of comments ever made on any proposed regulation in Virginia .  There was broad consensus from the public on retaining the rights and protections in the current regs, which the Board ignored.

The Board failed to maintain your specific promise to completely retain the right of parental consent for transfer students AND to guarantee parents the right to participate in Functional Behavioral Assessments for their children. 

The approved regulations also harm children with disabilities by:

Denying parents the right to participate in the screening process for eligibility through the elimination of “Child Study Committees” which require state-wide uniform procedures and timelines.

Denying parents the right to receive timely findings of eligibility by extending the evaluation timeline longer than the federal guideline.

Denying parents the right to receive timely revaluation reports.

Denying parents the right to ensure the inclusion of short-term objectives or benchmarks in their children’s IEPs.

Denying children with disabilities access to appropriate services due to NEW restrictive eligibility criteria.

Denying young children with disabilities access to appropriate services due to NEW limits on the label of “developmental delay”.

Thank you for your time and consideration

Sincerely,

(Insert your name)