Re: stimulus money - CFISD

[Guest guest]

I forgot to include the Punch line.

I was also told that the comm. device will be returned to the school at the

end of the school year. They need to keep track of these device. WHAT?

You are going to train my child to use a device to express himself and

communicate his needs then YANK it away from him in May. How stupid is

that?

Where is the logic and common sense please?

When we want to service my son's device, we send it to the company next day

FedEx and they do the same. That way, he will be without it as little as

possible.

Unbelievable!!!!!!

[Guest guest]

Sorry , we were basically allowed to purchase software to " help with

social. " Give me a break. We don't even allow our son to use a computer and

only allow a dvd on the weekend. We're working on social milestones well

using....PEOPLE. Apparently it all has to be science based/proven before

they'll allow funding to go towards something. I love that it needs to be

proven that people develop socially by being with people.

Rather than fight the system I asked to purchase paper, markers, sensory/OT

materials we use in our Son-Rise playroom. We'll see if my order is approved.

>

> I forgot to include the Punch line.

>

> I was also told that the comm. device will be returned to the school at the

> end of the school year. They need to keep track of these device. WHAT?

>

> You are going to train my child to use a device to express himself and

> communicate his needs then YANK it away from him in May. How stupid is

> that?

>

> Where is the logic and common sense please?

>

> When we want to service my son's device, we send it to the company next day

> FedEx and they do the same. That way, he will be without it as little as

> possible.

>

> Unbelievable!!!!!!

>

[Guest guest]

:Fill out a Freedom of Information Act Form and demand the records for all state and Federal monies collected for special ed (Title I, Part B funds, stimulus monies, etc...)  You, as a taxpayer want to see the books.  You have a RIGHT to see the books.  The best way is to tell them you want to " view " the books --not just receive a copy.  If you want printed copies they will drag their feet and cook the books.  Then also in the form you want to know who make the final decisions about the allocation of this money.  Stand back and see how nervous they get.  If they do not allow you to view the special ed books, then call the Department of Justice and report them.  Also call the TEA (for all the good that will do) and file a complaint.  My guess is they will be more amenable to what you want if you start asking to see the books.

On the books, if monies are allocated for a teacher salary, then you want to know WHICH teacher salary etc... make them be specific.  What is going on is that there is A LOT of special ed money floating around and very FEW people have access to that money and the determination of how it gets spent.  The people making the money decisions don't have special ed children, they've never met your child nor anybody Else's special ed child, and they are making decisions about that money without your input.

In IDEA there are provisions for spending special ed monies in other areas provided that they say special ed kids receive some benefit from it, but what is happening is that they " SAY " it is, but oftentimes it isn't benefiting special ed kids at all, and the policing of this is next to zilch.  Districts have been getting away with this for a long time because parents don't ask questions about the money.  The foxes are guarding the hen houses!

This is what needs to happen in the state of Texas:  Every school board should have one position that must be filled by a special ed parent, another position must be filled by the parent of a child with autism.  In addition, Every school district must organize a special education committee made up of special ed parents AND invited teachers AND then the wizards behind the curtain should HAVE TO meet with them and be held accountable to how the funds are spent.  Now of course school districts don't want this because they've been playing fast and loose with the money for so long --who'd want to give up that kind of freedom and power.

How do we change things?  We organize the special ed families in our districts ad stand together as ONE.  We buddy-up at ARD meetings --no more just one parent going it alone.  Many sticks in a bundle cannot be broken.  I know the tough part is the time and energy it takes to organize.  I've tried a little, but I get this " What can we do about it? " fatalism from a lot of parents.  Everybody wants to be " good " and " nice " and not ruffle any feathers.  But it is only by the ruffling of feathers that positive change occurs.  Human nature RESISTS change.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard " Well, we've always done it this way, " or " We don't do it that way here. "   Or once the principal said to me, " Well, we're not going to have a separate autism program here. "   I let it slide because I didn't know the law.  I didn't know then that if my son's unique needs determine him to have a separate program, then by law they must provide it.  If I had known then what I know now, my son would have gotten ABA by a certified therapist in those early years.

I feel just as disenfranchised as you do.  I have paid school taxes for THIRTY years.  In five of those years, I paid school taxes to two different school districts.  And I thought that when my child came along, he would get the benefit of all my years of paying those taxes.  It makes me angry.  I'm feeling a bit like the horse in " Animal Farm. "    If we want change, then we have to organize our parents in our districts, and if others don't want to work for it, then we have to work for change on our own.

I know my advocacy has made some difference -- at least in the PPCD room.  My son didn't reap the benefits of that, but I also think my advocacy may have had something to do with most administrators leaving in '07, and we got a new principal, and she is much easier to work with.  I don't always agree with her, but she is not a manipulative shrew like the last one, so things are getting better.  My bottom line is, " Is my child making adequate yearly progress? "

Well, I know he didn't from 2002 - 2009, but I see some good signs.  i will have my son re-tested soon and that will be the real test.  The sad part is that you can't ever relax your guard and stop advocating.  I'm too afraid they would go right back to the way they did things before.

[Guest guest]

Dear Haven,

What school district do you live in?

BTW,

I asked who made the decision re: stimulus money and they said the school committee based on parents survey related to different money.

I really loathe dealing with people that have no common sense or hide behind the so-called law every time I have a question. That is why I opted to homeschool and save my time , energy, and sanity to help my son..

“We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God.” St. Francis de Sales

Re: stimulus money - CFISD

:Fill out a Freedom of Information Act Form and demand the records for all state and Federal monies collected for special ed (Title I, Part B funds, stimulus monies, etc...) You, as a taxpayer want to see the books. You have a RIGHT to see the books. The best way is to tell them you want to "view" the books --not just receive a copy. If you want printed copies they will drag their feet and cook the books. Then also in the form you want to know who make the final decisions about the allocation of this money. Stand back and see how nervous they get. If they do not allow you to view the special ed books, then call the Department of Justice and report them. Also call the TEA (for all the good that will do) and file a complaint. My guess is they will be more amenable to what you want if you start asking to see the books.On the books, if monies are allocated for a teacher salary, then you want to know WHICH teacher salary etc... make them be specific. What is going on is that there is A LOT of special ed money floating around and very FEW people have access to that money and the determination of how it gets spent. The people making the money decisions don't have special ed children, they've never met your child nor anybody Else's special ed child, and they are making decisions about that money without your input.In IDEA there are provisions for spending special ed monies in other areas provided that they say special ed kids receive some benefit from it, but what is happening is that they "SAY" it is, but oftentimes it isn't benefiting special ed kids at all, and the policing of this is next to zilch. Districts have been getting away with this for a long time because parents don't ask questions about the money. The foxes are guarding the hen houses!This is what needs to happen in the state of Texas: Every school board should have one position that must be filled by a special ed parent, another position must be filled by the parent of a child with autism. In addition, Every school district must organize a special education committee made up of special ed parents AND invited teachers AND then the wizards behind the curtain should HAVE TO meet with them and be held accountable to how the funds are spent. Now of course school districts don't want this because they've been playing fast and loose with the money for so long --who'd want to give up that kind of freedom and power.How do we change things? We organize the special ed families in our districts ad stand together as ONE. We buddy-up at ARD meetings --no more just one parent going it alone. Many sticks in a bundle cannot be broken. I know the tough part is the time and energy it takes to organize. I've tried a little, but I get this "What can we do about it?" fatalism from a lot of parents. Everybody wants to be "good" and "nice" and not ruffle any feathers. But it is only by the ruffling of feathers that positive change occurs. Human nature RESISTS change.If I had a dollar for every time I heard "Well, we've always done it this way," or "We don't do it that way here." Or once the principal said to me, "Well, we're not going to have a separate autism program here." I let it slide because I didn't know the law. I didn't know then that if my son's unique needs determine him to have a separate program, then by law they must provide it. If I had known then what I know now, my son would have gotten ABA by a certified therapist in those early years.I feel just as disenfranchised as you do. I have paid school taxes for THIRTY years. In five of those years, I paid school taxes to two different school districts. And I thought that when my child came along, he would get the benefit of all my years of paying those taxes. It makes me angry. I'm feeling a bit like the horse in "Animal Farm." If we want change, then we have to organize our parents in our districts, and if others don't want to work for it, then we have to work for change on our own.I know my advocacy has made some difference -- at least in the PPCD room. My son didn't reap the benefits of that, but I also think my advocacy may have had something to do with most administrators leaving in '07, and we got a new principal, and she is much easier to work with. I don't always agree with her, but she is not a manipulative shrew like the last one, so things are getting better. My bottom line is, "Is my child making adequate yearly progress?"Well, I know he didn't from 2002 - 2009, but I see some good signs. i will have my son re-tested soon and that will be the real test. The sad part is that you can't ever relax your guard and stop advocating. I'm too afraid they would go right back to the way they did things before.

[Guest guest]

So is it the committee of each sd that decides what the stimulus funding for homeschoolers is spent on? I wonder what document or law they are going by to state this? Or is this just another make the rules as you go by certain school districts? I will try to find out about this and let you know.

[Guest guest]

Did you get to fill out this parent survey???  My guess is there never really was one.

[Guest guest]

I filled out a survey in the summer for a different money pot, nothing to do with stimulus.

I am going to an ARD next week for the speech therapy. It is going to be entertaining more than any thing. Would you like to come along ?

“We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God.” St. Francis de Sales

Re: stimulus money - CFISD

Did you get to fill out this parent survey??? My guess is there never really was one.

[Guest guest]

What district?

[Guest guest]

CFISD in Houston

“We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God.” St. Francis de Sales

Re: stimulus money - CFISD

What district?

[Guest guest]

In smaller districts and " coops " it is usually no more than one or two people making the decisions w/o any input from special ed parents.

[Guest guest]

We’re

in a small district that coops with others for Sp Ed services & I can

assure you parents are not included on committees unless they are handpicked

and real quiet about it. I’m active and well know in our small

community to the point other parents have approached me for help in the grocery

store but have never served on any school related committee nor know of a

single other parent in the area that has. Don’t expected to be

invited to serve either! {wink}

Tonya

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy

[mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ] On Behalf Of Haven DeLay

Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 9:47 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: Re: Re: stimulus money - CFISD

In smaller districts and " coops " it is usually no more than one or

two people making the decisions w/o any input from special ed parents.

[Guest guest]

,

I can't say how much I admire you as a parent. And it is absolutely NOT fair or

right ... of course I have always believed the ISDs should give Special Need

families their taxes in full to be used in the best possible way to help a loved

one.

It is beyond me to understand how arrogant this system is that allows private

attorneys to keep funds away from super MOMs like you.

I will never understand why Texas can't allow taxpayers to do the BEST for their

child from a parent's perspective ... and by God we love them the most ... case

closed :>)

Mark

>

> Few months ago, I called the school and asked if any of the money is

> allocated to homeschoolers, and no one even knew what I was talking about.

>

> I just found out recently (a couple of days ago) that there was a portion of

> the stimulus money allocated for homeschoolers/private schoolers.

>

> The " committee " has decided (no one informed me of the decision) to spend it

> on communication devices. When I indicated that my son already has the

> Dynavox. The answer was " then he does need not one " . So, I asked whether

> I can use the money on other therapies or, for a mobile communication device

> such as the IPOD touch or something else educational since I homeschool my

> son and spend close to $300/month on his educational materials, I was given

> the run-around, and was scoffed at.

>

> How can the school district get away with treating us (tax payers) as

> garbage while they are supposed to serve our needs?

>

> I have been saving the school district thousands of dollars every year for

> the last 10 years, not to mention all the hard work, hassles, meetings,

> ARDS, lawsuits, sweat and tears that I have to endure to do their job. I

> play the role of the principal, the diagnostician, the ST, the OT, the

> special ed teacher, the behaviorist, the Music teacher, the PE teacher, the

> autism chair, the janitor, para-professional, the cook, and the HR dept, the

> training dept, and more...and I can say without hesitation and (with a lot

> of humility) that I am doing a more decent job than that you could have done

> with my son....

>

> Not only for free, but I pay school taxes every year and spend more than

> $5000 on materials and therapies out of pocket.

>

> How is that fair?

>

>

>

> " We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right,

> our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God. "

> St. Francis de Sales

>

[Guest guest]

:I wish I could go with you!, we parents are going to have to bring about change.  I believe every district or coop should have a special education advisory committee made up of special ed parents and invited special ed teachers, and the " wizards behind the curtains " should have to listen to our suggestions and concerns.

One problem is commitment.  I try to talk to other parents in my coop, but they have been so beaten down.  I hear " what can we do? " with the sound of fatalism in it.I want to Region 10's parental input forum a couple of weeks ago, what struck me most was : THERE WERE SO FEW PARENTS THERE!  Those who were there had a lot of good input, but I feel like the things we talked about won't get implemented. 

I suggested the need for special ed advisory committees and the need for a minimum of two spaces to be held on every school board -- one for special education as a whole and one space for the parent of a child with an ASD disorder (this would include ADD and ADHD parents).

Unfortunately at this time, you can NEVER say " best " when advocating for a special needs child.  I think the way to get this changed is that everyone needs to find their district's mission statement.  Take a picture of it.  Our district's mission statement is painted on the wall in the room where the school board meets.  It states that the district is DEDICATED to providing EXCELLENCE in education to ALL students regardless of ethnicity or disability.  It states that it does not discriminate.  BUT IT DOES discriminate.  So I 'm thinking that maybe a charge of False advertising is in order here or maybe a civil rights discrimination law suit is in order here.

I think this is the same situation in all districts.  If they are publicizing " excellent education for ALL students, then they have to provide this for ASD kids too.We parents need to make our presence known at school board meetings.  We parents need to invoke the Freedom of Information ACT and demand to see the special ed books and account for the monies and start asking some very hard questions. 

At our last ARD we agreed that " observation would not be used as a measurement of mastery UNLESS observation checklists were used.  Also, I have in writing that work samples that correspond to the IEP objectives would be attached to his IEP progress report.  Well, I get the report and there are NO checklists and no work samples attached, yet these were the only means by which they said my son had achieved mastery of thirty three out of thirty nine objectives that were just introduced in November?  My answer to them?  PROVE it!  We must hold them accountable!

In addition, my son was tested by the district last March and received standard scores in the seventies and eighties.  Sounds great, right?  But if the standard scores are converted to percentile ranks, what we saw was stagnation/regression!  They HATE it when a parent knows this.  The diagnostician even actually tried to get me to believe that a 0.02 percentile rank was actually a " grade equivalent. "   I gave her a look like, " Do you really think I'm going to buy that crap? "   Of course I didn't say that, but I emphatically assured her that I know how to convert standard scores into percentile ranks.

You have to be on your toes all the time.  Districts want you to just look at your child and not see the big picture.  They will say, " Oh look, little ny gained two percentage points in reading. "   But if Little ny gained 2% while his peers gained 10% in reading.  THIS IS NOT PROGRESS; THIS IS REGRESSION! "   And the LAW says that special ed students must show progress, and the LAW defines progress as that which CLOSES THE GAP between the child and his peer group --NOT widens it!  The law also realizes that MOST children perform between the 17th and 84th percentiles, so the goal is to get a child with ASD performing within that area.  I have been waiting SEVEN years for them to get my child to the seventeenth percentile!  I am not going to stand by and watch him stagnate at the second percentile!

So, I am having him retested and I am going to have them test him on some of his objectives that they say he has " mastered. "   If he still shows stagnation/regression, then I have had enough.  God knows I have given them long enough and I have shown great restraint in not filing complaints -- I fear too much restraint, but I honestly wanted my son to get an appropriate education in his home district and I hoped all along that the district would change what it needed to change in order to provide it, but they have dragged their feet in cement every step of the way!    The new administration has been somewhat better, but they still just don't get it!  They have made things better for the children in the PPCD (that took years and a lot of me being demanding).  But the changes did not come soon enough to benefit my child, and what they provide for children with autism who are in inclusion is not adequate.

I'm sorry for venting.  Sometimes it helps.  I think of all the time wasted and the long ARDS, and it would have saved everybody a lot of time, money, and energy if they would have just gotten enough training in autism and implemented research-based strategies and had real programs, including appropriate ESY for older kids with ASD disorders.

If I'm " in " I'm in for the long haul.  I won't quit until Day O'Connor tells me I'm wrong.I hope it doesn't come to this.  I truly do, but if this is the only way they will change and provide an appropriate education to children with ASD, then this is the only way...

I just can't stand by and watch my son be educated for nothing more than life in an institution and work in a supervised workshop --not when he has a beautiful mind.He got hold of a drafting program somewhere.  He taught himself to use it.  This weekend, this kid was designing buildings!  By the end of the weekend, he had designed and built a whole town!  If this weren't enough, my husband said he even did the interiors of the buildings, so I had him go " inside " his buildings, and sure enough, he had built in bathrooms!  I think my son could be the next Lloyd !  Now, if he could just learn to comprehend what he reads!!!!

Yet, when I asked the school to teach him keyboarding, the teacher rolled her eyes at me!It took me years to get them to give him anything above kindergarten words to spell, even though he almost always makes 100's on his spelling.  Even now with third grade words, he makes 100.  I did get the principal to agree that we would raise him to fourth-grade level words right away.  Given Ethan's amazing computer skills, I do not think that it would be inappropriate for me to have them provide him with a keyboarding class and a computer class.  I'm even thinking that they could send him over to the junior high or high school with his aide.  Ethan has always shown better social adaptability with teenagers and adults.  I think my son would make an " A " in these classes, even though he is only ten.  I have always told them that you have to address areas of strong abilities, as well.  Why make him wait until he gets to high school?

I grew up with a boy who was a genius.  When we were in elementary, he was a least two years ahead of us in everything, and he was learning French and other languages by the time we were in fifth grade.  He wound up skipping a few grades and went to college at fifteen.  Now, emotionally for him this wasn't a good idea, but he survived and became quite successful.  Would it be wrong for me to want Ethan to get the computer class he appears to be so ready for?  I just feel he needs to be challenged.  I am not saying he is a genius, but in computers....I don't understand half of what he does!  He gets frustrated with me because I don't understand it.

Haven