Eleanor...what's due process?

January 31, 2006

I have a son in the 2nd grade with DS also. He is being pulled alot of his

day too and I would love for him to be in the classroom more. Kristi

January 31, 2006

Kristi (and everyone),

Having been forced to go through DP in order to get our daughter included in

the reg ed environment, I can say sincerely I would go to any length to

avoid it. We tried to avoid it; tried to work with the school system for

many, many months; through 6 or 7 IEP meetings that were nothing short of

h***, tried to implore the school board, superintendent, assistant

superintendent, etc to help us - to no avail. It was most definitely a last

resort when we hired an attorney and filed for dp. The dp was very hard on

us, but I would do it again for the benefits my child has achieved. It was

the right decision for us, but I wouldn't guess it's the right decision for

everyone. Most school districts will go to any length to avoid a DP, but

ours was hungry to beat us in court and they didn't. We won huge.

The new IDEA doesn't protect families nearly as much as the old IDEA (1997)

did. Families need to nurture relationships with teachers and school

systems and try to avoid DP, IMHO. Having said that, it doesn't hurt to get

educated on what it means to have your child included appropriately with the

appropriate supports and services your child is entitled to. If folks don't

know what " differentiated instruction " means, make it a point to get

educated on it. Do your best to urge your school systems to get educated on

it too. There are great materials that are parent friendly out there. If

you can, go to a conference on this subject. The one in Colorado, held

yearly in late January is excellent. Even if you can't go, go to the web

site for PEAK Parent Center and check out their speakers. Look for their

books or order them online. There are a lot of good national speakers who

travel the country and those sessions are usually very affordable. Every

state has a Center for Excellence in Disabilities. The one in Indiana (at

IU) is doing a great job aiding school systems in the move toward inclusive

education. If you contact them, they'll send you a packet.

Speaking only for our family's situation, if we had not filed for DP, our

daughter would probably not be reading and speaking so well. The school

system floated all those words about the material being too hard, " above her

level, " etc. Well, if you want a child to learn good language (and

sometimes bad ), you don't hide her in a coat closet with 3 or 4 other non

verbal kids, you put her square in a reg ed language rich environment.

went into Kindergarten speaking only a little and my gosh did her

language bloom after that year! I'm 's troop leader and we have a

large group of girls, 2 of whom have ds. The other girl has not been

included at all for years (she's in 7th grade). Her demeanor and speech are

quite different than 's. Now, I know some of it is specific to each

child, but after only 3 meetings the other girl is starting to make eye

contact with a couple of girls, answer questions and she even stood in front

of the whole group to present her report on peace in the world. I think

this is the first time she has ever been included in anything, other than

special olympics.

Years ago a mother of an adult with special needs said to me, " The world

doesn't have 2 grocery stores; what are our children supposed to do if they

don't know how to get along with regular society? " I was very affected by

the question.

I hope this helps.

Eleanor