Guest guest Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 Does anyone have any experience with living abroad with your child and knowing what kind of international services are available for apraxia? We're military and will probably be moving to EurAsia next year. Ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 > Does anyone have any experience with living abroad with your child > and knowing what kind of international services are available for > apraxia? We're military and will probably be moving to EurAsia next > year. > > Ann Hi Ann, Do you know specifically where you would be going? I could look up some international speech and hearing associations, that might be able to help. Jeanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 26, 2004 Report Share Posted March 26, 2004 Ann and others, First of all, I want to warn you all that this email is pretty blunt. Much of this is info I am passing on from other military fmailies who have overseas experience. I have no overseas experience of my own. I am a military dependent and actually just got back from a rally in Washington DC where parents were expressing their opinions to Senate members about S. 1248 (the legislation to reauthorize IDEA '97) which the senate is expected to vote on any time now. First of all, of all the families that came down, a large percentage was military which really suprised me. Anyway, many of the meetings focused on how more flexible federal laws would be so destructive to military kids in particular since DoDEA schools aren't governed by any state laws. There are DoDEA " directives " in place but they are ridiculous and flimsy and provide no extra procedural safeguards for the child. From what I understand, the Dept. of Defense (DOD) schools only recieve money from the DOD and none from the Dept. of Ed (DOE). They used to get money from both the DOD and DOE but that was changed a few years back. DoDEA doesn't get state funding so the DoDEA schools are underfunded. I was told this but havne't been able to check the facts on this one. Anyway, when I (and other military families) brought up this loop hole in the proposed revisions to IDEA, I was told by EVERY OFFICE that they hadn't considered how more flexibel federal laws woudl affect military kids and it NEEDED consideration. Hopefully it wasn't just lipservice. Here are opinions of families that I ahve talked to: The majority of the military families were complaining the most about DoDEA schools overseas and how there truly were no serices for special needs over there. The DoDEA schools *claim* to have services but they don't deliver. I have heard this over and over. I have yet to hear from a special needs family overseas that had a positive experience. One family even touched on tricare's role in remediating our kids. There were families that recieved tricare insurance approval for ABA, speech, etc while overseas but never were able to find a provider. Tricare claims no responsibility for the lack of providers. The schools....they are very " old school " in their approaches to therapy. Plus the DoDEA schools are very stingy with services becuase of the lack there of. What baffles me is WHY the military is still sending families over seas. Two years ago the military told us that we did not have the option of going overseas becuase of our son's speech challenges. They felt that his needs wouldn't be met overseas. That was good news to me but I am bothered when they are sending other families over. I am not sure if they gave us this limitation becuase I inundated EFMP with info, letters, etc. Sen. Bill from Florida (on the Armed services COmmittee) actually asked to meet with us specifically about military issues becuase he wanted feedback. He did not care that none of the military families were in his consituency. We talked primary about problems with military kids constnatly moving and how that ultimately denied them access to education. The DoDEA schools are great at feet-dragging so that they don't have to dleiver. They drag out evalutions, getting IEP meetings scheduled, etc so taht the families figure, " oh well...we are moving in a year anyway so I will just let this one go and get a good educational program for my child at the next duty station. " It is awful! We stressed to him that further weakening of the federal law through legislation like S. 1248 woudl be a severe blow to civiliain kids and most certainly military kids. The other issue that the some of the military families with experiences overseas brought up is how continental europe views disabled children. They said that continental europe is back in the ice ages when it comes to disabled kids. The overall philosophy is don't give them the care they need and then institutionalize them when they can't function as adults. THis shocked me becuase I have always thought of europe as being ahead of the US in terms of therapies, etc. I was told by the families that the UK and Scandanavia indeed are ahead of the US but the rest of europe isn't. THis was just the opinion of the military families at this particular event...keep that in mind. I am sorry this is so long, I just want to explain where I am coming from on. I am hoping to change the way military kids are handled in the school system. IEPs need to be honored when kids move. They shouldn't have to be requalified each time they move. This shoudl be true for obth DoDEA and civilian schools! I am working on this with my contacts in DC as well as a committe that gives feedback to DoDEA. We will see if some changes can get made! Honestly, I would highly discourage you from moving overseas. I can put you in touch with some other military members with overseas experience if you wish. I have no direct experience of my own. I just know what I hear over and over again about overseas services about non-existant educaitonal opportunities and insufficient medical care for military kids. Have you heard of STOMP? They ahve a listserver with military families with special needs. Some of the families on there might be able to help. Let me know if you want more info about STOMP. Keep in mind that it is a *highly censored* list as it is funded by a grant from the US Dept of education. Anyway, i can email you off list about how to sign up for the STOMP list if you wish. I am sorry I don't have good opinions about overseas assignemnts. Please let me know if I can help you more. I know how rough it is to move! Hang in there and keep looking for info! TRicia Morin North Carolina > Do you know specifically where you would be going? I could look up > some international speech and hearing associations, that might be > able to help. Jeanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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