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Susan Luger
Associates Newsletter
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Happenings in the World of Special Education
November 2010
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 State Regents Plunder Autism Services
Autism Mandates Struck Down as Regents Reportedly Chuckle
Something nasty happened earlier in November. The NYS Regents met in Albany and plundered mandates that reverse a generation of established practice and medical/scientific study.
The first casualty is speech and language therapy. Firstly, the lower limit of therapy is now set to two 30-minute sessions. Is there a school district that would sanction more, based on expert testimony and medical/scientific study? I wonder ... experience tells me that "you gets the minimum you can".
Secondly, the updated Regulations limit the speech and language caseload for the teacher to no more than 65 students per week. Thank goodness -- that means that the teacher will be working 65 hours per week to provide each student with one hour of individualized speech and language therapy. Oh wait -- that's 13 hours per school day (and without a lunch or prep break!). Hmmm. The arithmetic must be wrong. I'm guessing that the average therapy teacher works four to five hours per school day (and that is not to malign these people whose work and specialty make them all Angels of Mercy). So how many students can we cram into a therapy session to meet the new mandates? The answer is "a lot!"
The second casualty is the size of the Collaborative Teaching environment. A well-known truism in teaching autistic children is that the smaller the class, the greater the progress. I have never been a fan of Collaborative Teaching since it typically operates in an open and distracting environment. But the Regents have even put a greater impediment into the Collaborative Teaching strategy by increasing the population of autistic children allowed in such a class.
Regarding that chuckle, that is an observation from a parent attendee, that the Regents voted to plunder the Regulations in the face of strong parental and organizational opposition and did indeed chuckle. The "let them eat cake" moment was topped with Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch's manicured declaration that parents always have due process to correct any perceived injustices. Thanks a lot, Lady Merryl. |
 District May Cancel Services Deemed Non-Essential to Child's Progress
Interesting court statement when party calls Kelly biased
A child with autism has an in-school paraprofessional for behavioral issues plus parental training plus one-on-one afterschool ABA services. The school district eliminated the afterschool services. The parents feel the afterschool services are necessary and go to hearing.
The IHO agreed with the school district and the SRO (our infamous Paul Kelly) agreed with the school district. So the it goes up to the District Court, Southern District of New York.
The question came down to whether the progress the student achieved in school was only possible when the afterschool services were provided. The court decided from the record that the child's school teacher was the most knowledgeable person regarding the child's needs and disregarded the parents and the parents' experts. The teacher indicated that the afterschool services were of "benefit" to the child but not necessary to meet the child's academic goals.
So the District Court rules against the parents. Its
09 Cv. 6169 (BSJ), October 25, 2010.
Read down the ruling a little further. There is some interesting stuff. Sometimes reading the backprint provides some comment-worthy dope.
The parents complained that the IHO and the SRO were biased, that the SRO was cohabitating with a State Ed attorney, that the SRO's track record shows blatant bias. [Gosh, I'll miss ol' Paul Kelly.]
The Court ruled that the evidence provided was inadmissible and hearsay. In an interesting twist on the track record statistics, the Court stated that the same numbers that are claimed to show that the SRO is biased in favor of the districts could be used to show that the IHO's are biased in favor of the parents.
The problem with that last twist is the comparison of the record of a single entity versus the record of a number of entities. I have an issue when you let attorneys argue mathematics. |
Court Rules Against District in Predetermination |
 Predetermination is the technical term for the IEP team having made up its collective mind before considering the parents' experts and documentation. Predetermination is a serious violation of procedural safeguards established by the IDEA.
At an IEP team meeting to determine the placement of an autistic child who was attending private school, the assistant superintendent stated at the beginning of the meeting that the team would be discussing transitioning the child back to the public school system.
The parent, and later the 9th Circuit Court in California, determined that the assistant superintendent's statement showed that the outcome was predetermined by the team in advance of the meeting.
On the other side of predetermination and in California too, a different case determined that preconferences of team members to discuss possible placement offers does not constitute predetermination. There was no indication that a draft IEP was set in stone, nor was there a transition plan to move this child to the district school. |
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Community Corner | |
Susan Luger Workshops 2010-11 Announced
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Stuart Flaum will be speaking on Special Needs Trusts on December 9th at 11AM and with an encore presentation at 6PM. Registration will be "up" shortly. Remember to register early, as Stuart's talk is always filled to capacity.
In January, Dr. Peter Piegari will speak to parents about neuro-psych reports.
Keep an eye on our website for details and registration. |
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Fidget Toys Help with OCD, ADD/ADHD, SPD | |
Who wants to play with the Wii when kids can play with squishy eyeballs, flavored pencil toppers and squiggly worms? Children with ADHD/ADD, Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) or Autism can find comfort in fidget toys, also known as stress relievers.
Some useful tactile fidget toys include Atom Ball fidgets and the Nubby Stretch balls. These toys typically have nubs, spikes and bumpy surfaces. Children with Sensory Processing Disorder have difficulty regulating information from the five senses and these toys help the regulation process.
Children with ADHD may benefit from fidget toys, which can be used to stimulate the arousal level so the child becomes more attentive.
Tangles are recommended for who have children with ADHD and Autism. This toy is a series of curves and pivots that has no end and no beginning. Tangles help redirects maladaptive behaviors, improves hand coordination, strengthens fine motor skills and keeps those little fingers occupied.
It's no wonder children and even adults love the Fidget Toys!
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Therapy Dogs are a Twist on Service Animals | |
Just as we are bracing for service animals in the classroom, we have a new twist -- the therapy dog. While service animals are trained to work with a single individual, therapy dogs are trained to work with a variety of children. Therapy dogs are beginning to appear in residential schools and treatment centers.
Therapy dogs are capable of withstanding high stress situations, and provide a calming influence on children and provide a channel of communication and relaxation often needed by the children.
See the NY Times 11/11 for an expanded description. | |
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End Notes
It must be that "the moon is in the Seventh House, and Jupiter aligns with Mars" in some Age of Evil Aquarius. And maybe, too, we are having a month of full moons. The news portends sturm und drang for all concerned with the special education process.
The first foreshadowing of ill tidings is the resignation of Joel 'Mini-Me' Klein as Chancellor of the DOE and the prospective appointment by Mayor Michael 'No Public School Left Standing' Bloomberg of Catherine Black. Ms. Black is a known formidable executive in the publishing world. But, by her own admission, she knows diddley about education. By projection, she must know diddley-squat about special education.
The mayor was wrong in the first place hiring Klein who, too, had no educational experience. Under the Klein/Bloomberg tenure, masses of experienced teachers were pressured to early retirement (a cost savings indeed but an experience drain that was irreparable), a test-and-accountability strategy was installed where false results were touted as successes, special education programs were ransacked and diminished, and under-qualified principals were appointed and given control of the special education budgets and programs. Whoo-ey! With a resume like that, no wonder Mr. Klein landed a cushy job with a big-wig enterprise.
Imagine what we are in for when Ms. Black takes the reins. Hopefully, the State Ed Department will not grant her the waiver that would allow her to take the Chancellorship without education credentials. The Department did that for Klein and the results were ... bad.
The second omen of ill tidings is a statement by Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo. No doubt, he faces budgetary problems of huge proportion. But he disconcerted me when he said that two areas were going to be "hit": education and health care.
There is no argument that both of these areas are rife with overpayment and corruption, and an investigation to rout these offenses should be taken immediately. The offenders should be punished for harming children (and the elderly, in the case of health care).
But, I just don't get the feeling that that is what Mr. Cuomo meant. State funding of health care is for those with few or no means to obtain their own health care -- that used to be the impoverished, but now it includes the non-working, under-working and working middle class. Not the upper classes. State funding for education means public school funding. And, don't forget, special education funding is the oft-forgotten, orphaned step-child of the education system.
I believe we have our work cut out for us in the current and upcoming school years.
Sincerely,
Susan Luger Associates
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