Wednesday, 22 June 2011

• Advocating for your Child's Education

  
  

  
  "Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely."
  

  Henry Ford
  
  

  This weekend my educational consultant asked me to be on a panel for a class about special education advocacy. My Educational Consultant also co-authored a book "Special Needs Advocacy Resource Book: What You Can Do Now to Advocate For Your Exceptional Child's Education"
  
  The class teaches advocacy to anyone who might be interested. In this particular class, general education teachers, special education directors and other experts were there to learn more about special education advocacy either to help them in their jobs or as a possible career change. 

  
  After the panel of parents spoke and answered questions, the class had a special education attorney, who who has argued two special education cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and "lost" both. It was really interesting listening to him talk about how his losses where more successful than his wins. He felt this way about both the supreme court cases and the various special education due process hearings a long the way.
  
  The timing of Saturday was perfect. Friday, Scott and I met with the school team for a third time last week to discuss Jonathan's weaknesses. (For those new to the blog or haven't read in awhile, I'm sorry. You'll have to read a few more posts in order to understand. It's too long to rehash again.)
  
  Jonathan will have everything we wanted an Individualized Educational Plan to provide him. He'll have all these under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. (We tried to get Jonathan an Individualized Educational Plan under the federal law Individuals with Disabilities Act.) The plan Jonathan will now receive is called a Section 504 Plan. This plan provides accommodations and modifications to Jonathan's environment to make sure he is on a level playing ground in school. (An Individualized Educational Plan provides specially designed instruction to remediate learning disabilities along with accommodations and modifications.)
  
  As I explained before under a Section 504 Jonathan will be given extra time to complete his assignments and he'll even be given a access to a keyboard, a spell checker and a writing program to help him complete his work. While I appreciate these things to accommodate Jonathan's weaknesses, it does not teach him the proper mechanics of writing so that he will be able to advance to college or apply for a job.
  
  What we wanted from the Individualized Educational Plan was some to sit down with him and provide instruction as to why his writing mechanics were wrong across all areas of curriculum. (He was only being graded on his writing mechanics during the grammar section of the day, he was not held to the same standard during social studies, science, literacy, etc. Therefore Jonathan was learning that proper writing mechanics don't matter except in certain cases.) 
  
  We also wanted someone to  show him strategies for self monitoring the quality of his work. For example give him a mnemonic to help him edit after each assignment. In this case C.O.P.S. Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation and Spelling. Of course, we can teach these things at home, but if they are not being reinforced in the classroom, Jonathan won't "get it." 
  
  The good news is that Jonathan's 504 Plan now includes these pieces. A teacher (not just his current general education teacher, but any teacher working with him) will need to go over his papers and tell him why they circled his mistakes an how he needs to go about correcting them. (Up until Friday, his mistakes were circled but no one sat him down and explained to him why he was wrong or how he could improve the next time. Many of the skills Jonathan learns have to be broken down into small pieces and explicitly taught to him. He doesn't "just get it" like his peers will.) The good news is that Jonathan is smart enough that it won't take long for him to learn these skills. Even the school team agreed that while it might take some initial extra time and work up front for staff, in the long run, it will save everyone a lot of time and effort.
  
  I won't go into all the things negotiated out between us and the school, but just wanted to let you know that while we "failed" to get Jonathan an Individualized Educational Plan, but we did "succeed" in getting Jonathan everything we wanted on that plan. The school wants to meet again at the end of the school year to make sure it is all working before he moves up into 5th grade. His 5th grade teacher will be hand-selected again and towards the end of 6th grade, the elementary school will facilitate a meeting between them, the middle school and Jonathan's parents to provide a smooth transition. 
  
  
  I'm sure none of this would've happened had I not educated myself on the laws, Jonathan's disability and how to become an effective advocate. Part of my desire in writing this blog about Jonathan, and attempting to keep my focus on him, is to be a resource for other parents in similar circumstances. 
  
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  Have you considered writing about your circumstances?  Why? Why not?
   

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