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Education For All Kids who feel out of place in school and end up on the streets get into trouble. So how do parents, teachers and the community keep these kids in school and out of jail? How are services provided that meet their needs, so that they learn not only the basics, but also how to function in everyday life and become productive members of society? How do schools provide a comfortable environment so that kids who feel they don't fit in will still want to attend? A federal law states that every student is entitled to a free and appropriate public education. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act states any student with a qualifying disability in one of 13 categories can get that education through the implementation of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Special education services for school-aged children begin in kindergarten and continue through age 21, or until the student receives a regular high school diploma. Many students have problems that schools never notice and document.
But 11 percent of kids per district, in some cases more, require an IEP. That's one
in 10, or close to 70,000 kids in Oregon. Of those kids, a full 50 percent of them
have "invisible disabilities." That may mean a learning disability or emotional
disturbance. In this population, the dropout rate is very high. Testing & Evaluation
Special education kids receive twice the funding ($4,800) of regular education kids; money goes to pay for extra services including resource rooms, aides and instructional equipment. When an IEP is requested by a parent, or the school suspects an issue, an evaluation is done to see if the child qualifies under one of the categories, including emotional disturbance, which many behavioral problems fall under. A school psychologist often administers the test. Only if the testing reveals a problem will the child qualify. Then an IEP team meets, which according to the law, must include the parent, a district representative who has the ability to commit resources (such as the principal), a special education teacher (who could also be a resource person but no one is allowed to wear two hats) and a regular classroom teacher. Many IEP teams only involve four or five individuals, but some may increase to 15. The meeting may be as short as an hour or may go for several hours. Meetings are held once a year to see if the student is making progress. When the team meets, the parents are handed their child's evaluation and then the IEP is drawn up and becomes a legal contract stating what services the school will provide. And that's where things get tricky. The Money Factor During the IEP meeting, services such as attending the resource room a smaller room with fewer students and additional aides and counseling sessions with a school psychologhist are discussed. If parents feel their children's needs are not being properly addressed, they can appeal to the Oregon Department of Education. Parents can either file an official complaint and the department must investigate, collect information and render a decision, or the department may request a due process hearing. Usually, according to 4-J Special Education Director John Layman,
the complaints are for procedural violations more than for the judgment of the IEP
team. "The IDA is a complex law," says Layman. "The laws change frequently.
There can be some violations made." Fighting for Services Barbara has educated herself on the law and has consistently pointed out to school officials when they are in violation of it. But not all parents are so savvy, and getting them up to speed on their rights and responsibilities is crucial. "I tell parents if you want to get an IEP for your kid you better show up with a lawyer. That way you get the services you need," says Licensed Clinical Social Worker Alice Duffy, who works extensively with youth. Mary Broadhurst, an IEP lawyer who lives in Springfield but has clients throughout the state, studied to be a special education teacher, but when she found out what the burnout rate was (three years, on average) she went into law instead. In law school, she discovered the Individual with Disabilities Act, and armed with a law that spoke to her, got her degree and began enforcing it. "Education is much broader than reading, writing and math," says Broadhurst. "It also includes social and emotional development." A lot of districts make the mistake of testing students one-on-one as a part of their evaluation process. If the students pass the test, they don't need special services, she says. But one-on-one testing can throw the results, and it doesn't test for how well students are fitting in with their peers. And that matters, because kids who don't feel like they belong in school are likely to quit going. And kids not in school are going to sit around with nothing to do all day. Broadhurst says before Measure 5 impacted school districts, parents
who took their cases to hearings almost always won. They knew the law and knew when
their rights weren't being enforced. But now, she says, parents will often lose because
the district doesn't have the money to pay. "Objection! Irrevelant!" I
still have to shout, says Broadhurst. "The letter of the law states clearly
that money isn't even supposed to be mentioned." But before, when hearing officers
might have let those objections stand, they now often shrug. Residential Care Last year, Broadhurst represented a client on that very issue and prevailed. "The school districts are under incredible pressure right now. They are not being supported financially to do the job they have to do, under the law," says Broadhurst. The National Committee on Disability recently did an investigation
across all 50 states and found noncompliance in every state regarding the IDA, says
Broadhurst, who has done extensive research on the topic. "And I also found
that parents were the only ones enforcing the law. So if parents don't know the law,
how are they going to enforce it?" Equal Partners
Deb Depew is a volunteer advocate, someone who will go to an IEP meeting with a parent. "I'm your eyes and ears and not emotionally tied to the child," she says. "It's kind of like going to a doctor's office when you might be getting bad news." Because of her experience, Depew can also explain what services are being talked about. "If you're a parent and you don't understand the shorthand they're using, you start off at a disadvantage," she says. Conversely, parents who do know the system can be better advocates for their kids. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease," says Broadhurst. Knowing the right questions to ask and getting a draft version of the IEP before the meeting are two crucial steps she sees for a successful meeting. Crystal Barnes, a regular education teacher at Monroe Middle School who has taught special ed at Cal Young and Roosevelt Middle Schools, agrees. "So many changes in special education law have been spearheaded by parents. They're often in support groups or mailing lists and know the law and court cases before the teacher might," she says. But some parents don't have any clue what they're in for when they walk into that first meeting. "My hope as an educator is that if we sense a parent is not
comfortable, we wouldn't try to do too much at that meeting. We might just share
test results, then do a follow-up appointment to discuss needs. This is very hard
for parents." Creative Solutions "I don't know if it's related to funding or an evolution of the understanding of the law," says Barnes, but "people used to write on the IEP coversheet that the student will have a one-on-one aide, but not anymore." Now, "needs adult supervision through all settings" may be written instead. And that might include a teacher, counselor, or a number of different teachers. "It's up to the team to figure out how services can be provided. There are creative ways to provide the support a child needs," she says. Anne Jones, executive director of the Oregon COPE (Coalition in Oregon for Parent Education) project, a statewide, non-profit federally mandated program that exists to educate parents and educators on special education law, agrees. "So much of what you can do for these kids has nothing to do with dollars. It has to do with a change in teaching philosophy; thinking outside the box. Respecting the students and the role of the family. How much effort does it take to ask a parent 'What do I do if your kid is looking stressed?' How much effort does it take to whisper to a kid 'Are you OK? Is there anything I can do?'" For those reasons, Jones and others find it hard to believe that districts would withhold IEP classifications that would result in special services for kids who need them. She also agrees that parent education benefits kids. "Some school districts think the better educated the parent, the more problems there are. But when parents find out their kid could have gotten more, they get angry that the school held out on them," she says. "It's not them versus us. I never see this as school district versus parent. You focus on the kids. And my position has always been that parents are the only experts on their kids." Barnes points out that nine times out of 10, the IEP team works well in getting all voices heard and creating a constructive plan for the student. The less restrictive, less stigmatizing plan is the best, she says. And that would mean as little time spent in the resource room as possible; and if an aide is needed, a group of adults is better so the student doesn't look like he has someone following him around all day. "A lot of kids don't want to be labeled and have these special deals at school," says Jon Garlinghouse, a counselor who works with adolescents. "Many kids don't want to go to the resource room because it's called the 'retard' room," says Broadhurst. "Harassment must be addressed. Especially if the harassment
is around the disability at school. Schools have to provide a hostile-free environment,"
she says. Mainstreaming
He says a good team would consist of a therapist to help them learn how to function in everyday life and deal with the kind of rejection they're going to encounter, a psychiatrist to handle medication, a family doctor, a family member who has the major organizing role and gets help and advocates for the child, and someone in the school system experienced with mental illness. "Most of these kids just want to have a regular life like everybody else and live like everybody else and not have those symptoms all the time," says Garlinghouse. Teachers want that for the kids, too. With IEP kids being mainstreamed as much as possible 80 percent are in regular classrooms 50 percent of the day or more the bulk of their education falls on the regular teacher. "There's a lot that regular ed teachers can do," says Barnes. In the IEP meeting, the teacher can talk about the student's strengths and progress, not just about the problems. It also helps, she says, if the regular ed teacher shows specifically how accommodations will be worked into a lesson plan. "Show specific work samples. Take in concepts you're expecting the whole class to master and how you'll translate that to the student's needs," she says. Modifications might include alternative projects, how core concepts will be taught, or how oral testing might be appropriate. Because so many special education kids have been mainstreamed, "a wonderful thing has happened in the past few years," says Barnes. "There's total school ownership of all students." "For the most part, people who are in education are in it because they care about kids," says Broadhurst. "If you gave them all the money they needed to do what's right by the kids, they would do what's right by the kids."
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Why
are kids diagnosed with mental illness not getting services they need?