I'm keeping a list of destinations and locations that go beyond our expectations in regards to wheelchair accessibility. I also have a list of places that have fallen short of our expectations making our experiences on a family outing go from enjoyable to frustrating.
I'd like to start with a few places in Cincinnati that do a great job.
Of course the Zoo, Cincinnati Museum Center, Freedom Center, Coney Island, and Kings Island do a great job even when you don't call them in advance. They are prepared. Stadium Parking is great if you can find the wheelchair parking that isn't filled. Paul Brown has parking right in front arrive early or call in advance. The Great American Ballpark has a different "accessible" entrance that faces the river. You'll see everyone going into the front door but if you have a wheelchair, you'll be directed around to go the other entrance. It takes a while so if you're running late, add another 15 minutes to get to your seats.
Cintas Center, (XU) is a complete disaster. Basically, you have to drop the person off at a special "handicap" entrance and go park your car because there is a moat of levels and stairs that separate the sea of parking and the facility. If the event is on the other side, good luck.
Taft Museum's only designated wheelchair parking is on slope and there is no room for a lift. To visit the Art Museum, you have to use the back entrance. Good luck finding a parking spot near the back entrance!
At Music Hall, park in front only on Elm Street. Don't use the garages or parking anywhere on Central Parkway or near WCET. Navigation from there is a nightmare.
Good luck finding decent parking downtown Cincinnati because Fountain Square Parking is a disaster and very dangerous. The wheelchair curbs and elevators are not anywhere near the wheelchair parking. If you have children with you, it doubly dangerous. There is a blind spot corner in direct traffic to access the elevators. So if you're in a wheelchair, you're expected to go in the direct path of incoming cars to get to the elevators.
If it's raining, you can't use the Kentucky Indoor Parking lot at the Visitors and Convention Bureau because it's too low for big vans transporting a wheelchair. You'll have to park outside in a front parking lot that also doesn't have wheelchair curbs that take you directly to the building. You have to go a block and use the ramp there while everyone else can cross directly.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Autism: Specialized Schools vs. Mainstream Schools?
Mainstreaming into community through classroom doors works for some, but not for others. When a disability label is too big to put on jar, maybe schools need to rethink the "mainstream packaging" and be open to other options for children with special needs.
Parents of Disabled Students
Push for Separate Classes
By ROBERT TOMSHO
November 27, 2007; Page A1
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Last fall, groups who favor placing disabled students in regular classrooms faced opposition from an unlikely quarter: parents like Norette Travis, whose daughter Valerie has autism.
Valerie had already tried the mainstreaming approach that the disability-advocacy groups were supporting. After attending a preschool program for special-needs students, she was assigned to a regular kindergarten class. But there, her mother says, she disrupted class, ran through the hallways and lashed out at others -- at one point giving a teacher a black eye.
"She did not learn anything that year," Ms. Travis recalls. "She regressed."
As policy makers push to include more special-education students into general classrooms, factions are increasingly divided. Advocates for the disabled say special-education students benefit both academically and socially by being taught alongside typical students. Legislators often side with them, arguing that mainstreaming is productive for students and cost-effective for taxpayers.
'Fully Included'
In 2005, more than half of all special-education students were considered mainstreamed, or "fully included," nationally. These students spent 80% or more of the school day in regular classrooms, up from about a third in 1990, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
"The burden is on school districts and states to give strong justification for why a child or group of children cannot be integrated," says Thomas Hehir, an education professor at Harvard and former director of special education at the U.S. Department of Education.
That point of view frustrates many parents. Some have struggled to get services from their local school districts; others have seen their disabled children falter in integrated settings.
Mary Kaplowitz, a special-education teacher in Kingston, Pa., was a bigger supporter of mainstreaming before she had her son, Zachary, who has autism and is mildly retarded. She says his preschool classmates rarely played with him and he came home from summer camp asking why the nondisabled children laughed at him. On a visit, she saw them drawing away from her son.
"They shunned him and it broke my heart," says Ms. Kaplowitz. Earlier this year, she and other parents fought successfully to preserve separate special-education classes in Kingston like the one Zachary, now 9 years old, attends at a local elementary school.
Such parental pushback has prompted local school districts across the country to delay or downsize mainstreaming initiatives.
Last year, parents of disabled kids in Walworth County, Wis., clashed with an advocacy group over the creation of a new special-education school. As part of the battle, Disability Rights Wisconsin sued the county in Milwaukee federal court to try to block the school. The new school is currently under construction and the lawsuit is under appeal.
And earlier this year, parents in Maryland's Montgomery County asked the state to continue a special-education program their school district was scheduled to discontinue. After initial protests, the district agreed to phase out the program -- letting enrolled kids continue -- rather than close it outright.
The debate has grown contentious in New Jersey, a state with a strong tradition of separate education for the disabled. Only about 41% of the state's 230,000 special-education students are deemed fully included, compared with 54% nationwide. About 9% of the state's disabled students -- triple the national average -- attend separate schools.
New Jersey passed some of the nation's first special-education laws. In the 1950s, it began requiring public schools to pay for special-ed services that they didn't offer. State law also gave counties and groups of school districts broad powers to build stand-alone schools for the disabled. Today, there are 80 publicly funded separate schools for the disabled in New Jersey and about 175 private ones. They receive tuition from public districts for handling special-ed students.
But in 2004, the state, which had faced federal pressure to mainstream, placed a year-long moratorium on the opening of new special-education schools. Since then, it has stiffened the approval process for private facilities and bolstered funding for local districts to broaden in-house programs.
In a budget-strapped state where voters have been demanding tax relief, cost has been a factor. On average, New Jersey spends about $16,100 a year on each special-education student, including those who are mainstreamed. The average annual tuition at the various, separate public schools for the disabled range from $28,500 to $42,000; at private schools, it's $44,000.
Overall, tuition and transportation costs for out-of-district placements accounted for 39% of the $3.3 billion a year that the state spends on special education. "That's a huge cost driver for our education budget," says state Sen. John Adler, who last year co-chaired hearings on school funding reform.
Many parents, including state Sen. Stephen Sweeney, bristle at moves that could foreclose their options. His daughter, Lauren, who has Down syndrome, attends a regular middle school. But Mr. Sweeney says her nondisabled classmates never visit or ask her to hang out. Next year, he's moving Lauren to a separate high school operated by the publicly funded Gloucester County Special Services School District. The system's special-education facilities also include a new $14 million school for children with autism and multiple disabilities.
'The Choice of Parents'
"Just to put my child in a building to make people feel better because it's inclusion is outrageous," says Mr. Sweeney. "As long as I am in the legislature, they are not going to take away the choice of parents with children with disabilities."
The school funding hearings, held in various towns and cities last fall, were emotional. Ruth Lowenkron, a special-education attorney, testified that beyond being the right thing to do, mainstreaming would save money. "Repeat after me," she told the legislators, "inclusion is cheaper than segregation."
But the panel also heard often from parents who argued for continued access to separate schools.
They included Adela Maria Bolet, of Teaneck, N.J., whose suit-clad son, Michael, sat beside his mother while she testified. The 17-year-old, who has Down syndrome, now attends a private high school on the state's tab. In earlier years, Ms. Bolet fought to get Michael into regular public schools only to find that he sometimes became depressed and had little positive interaction with nondisabled peers.
Until high school, he had few friends, says Ms. Bolet. Her voice still quivers when she talks about what happened when the family rented a pool in town and invited classmates from Michael's neighborhood elementary school to a swimming party for his 13th birthday. "Nobody came," she says.
Concurrent with the funding hearings, another debate was boiling at New Jersey's publicly funded Middlesex Regional Education Services Commission. It had already supported and built a network of six special-education schools, and planned to open two more, including a 24-classroom facility. The commission, controlled by a consortium of school districts, had built its other schools using bonds guaranteed by Middlesex County's governing board. Its school projects had never faced significant opposition.
This time was different, as the proposed schools became a target for mainstreaming advocates. Critics like William England, a school board member in South River, N.J., wrote to local papers. To endorse the sort of segregated special-education schools that most of the country is busy abandoning would be "a waste of county resources," he said in a letter to the Home News Tribune, East Brunswick, N.J.
Mark Finkelstein, the Middlesex commission's superintendent, scoffs at such criticism. He estimates his schools save local districts $10 million a year over the cost of placement in privately owned facilities. "It's easy to say that all kids should be in mainstream schools but let's talk reality," he says.
On a recent morning at the Bright Beginnings Learning Center -- one of the Middlesex schools -- a hallway painted mint-green was lined with children's wheelchairs and walkers. In one classroom, a teacher and four aides were working with seven disabled students, most strapped into devices designed to help them stand or sit.
Mary Lou Walker, an aide, crouched beside the desk of Teresa Condora, a petite 7-year-old who suffers from cerebral palsy and is largely nonverbal. "All right T, come on," Ms. Walker said, gently urging the girl to press a big red plastic button attached to a buzzer. Responding with a soft moan, Teresa pushed against the button as though it were impossibly heavy.
Factions Face Off
Last September, pro- and anti-mainstreaming factions faced off at a meeting where the fate of the proposed new Middlesex schools was to be decided.
At the microphone that evening, Paula Lieb, president of the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education, cited multiple examples of severely disabled children who had been successfully mainstreamed. She said that "the vast majority of children can be included in the public schools."
But the parents of children already attending the commission's schools had also been organizing, urging each other to come to the hearing and bring their disabled children.
Sandy Epstein's family had moved to New Jersey from Oregon a decade earlier to take advantage of specialized schools for students like her son, Brandon, who has autism. For the hearing, the 48-year-old homemaker dressed her teenager in a bright red polo shirt and sat near the front. "I wanted him to stand out," she says. "I wanted these politicians to see what we are talking about."
Ms. Travis, a 41-year-old bookkeeper from Milltown, N.J., says that while waiting to speak that night, she grew angry with the criticisms of the inclusion advocates. She thought they had no idea what her daughter Valerie, now 11, needed.
The Travises had spent eight months on a waiting list to get Valerie into the Academy Learning Center, one of the Middlesex schools located in Monroe Township, N.J.
During that time, she says, the progress Valerie had made learning to speak all but disappeared. Along with reports of her outbursts at school, Ms. Travis says the family had to cope with frequent meltdowns at home. Valerie slept fitfully, ripped up her homework and beat up her little brother to the point that he once needed stitches.
"It was the worst eight months of our lives," Ms. Travis told the county officials, adding that families like hers needed schools like the Academy, where Valerie is now learning geography and double-digit subtraction.
Mr. Finkelstein believes parents' testimony helped convince county officials to unanimously back the bonds needed for the new construction, which is under way.
"If inclusion worked for all of our residents," the superintendent says, "they wouldn't be fighting so hard for these new schools."
Their efforts are far from over. In June, a coalition of disability-rights groups sued the New Jersey education department in U.S. District Court in Newark. Taking a page from the racial desegregation battles of the 1960s, it alleges the department isn't moving fast enough to integrate disabled students and asks the federal court to take over the process.
Parents of Disabled Students
Push for Separate Classes
By ROBERT TOMSHO
November 27, 2007; Page A1
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Last fall, groups who favor placing disabled students in regular classrooms faced opposition from an unlikely quarter: parents like Norette Travis, whose daughter Valerie has autism.
Valerie had already tried the mainstreaming approach that the disability-advocacy groups were supporting. After attending a preschool program for special-needs students, she was assigned to a regular kindergarten class. But there, her mother says, she disrupted class, ran through the hallways and lashed out at others -- at one point giving a teacher a black eye.
"She did not learn anything that year," Ms. Travis recalls. "She regressed."
As policy makers push to include more special-education students into general classrooms, factions are increasingly divided. Advocates for the disabled say special-education students benefit both academically and socially by being taught alongside typical students. Legislators often side with them, arguing that mainstreaming is productive for students and cost-effective for taxpayers.
'Fully Included'
In 2005, more than half of all special-education students were considered mainstreamed, or "fully included," nationally. These students spent 80% or more of the school day in regular classrooms, up from about a third in 1990, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
"The burden is on school districts and states to give strong justification for why a child or group of children cannot be integrated," says Thomas Hehir, an education professor at Harvard and former director of special education at the U.S. Department of Education.
That point of view frustrates many parents. Some have struggled to get services from their local school districts; others have seen their disabled children falter in integrated settings.
Mary Kaplowitz, a special-education teacher in Kingston, Pa., was a bigger supporter of mainstreaming before she had her son, Zachary, who has autism and is mildly retarded. She says his preschool classmates rarely played with him and he came home from summer camp asking why the nondisabled children laughed at him. On a visit, she saw them drawing away from her son.
"They shunned him and it broke my heart," says Ms. Kaplowitz. Earlier this year, she and other parents fought successfully to preserve separate special-education classes in Kingston like the one Zachary, now 9 years old, attends at a local elementary school.
Such parental pushback has prompted local school districts across the country to delay or downsize mainstreaming initiatives.
Last year, parents of disabled kids in Walworth County, Wis., clashed with an advocacy group over the creation of a new special-education school. As part of the battle, Disability Rights Wisconsin sued the county in Milwaukee federal court to try to block the school. The new school is currently under construction and the lawsuit is under appeal.
And earlier this year, parents in Maryland's Montgomery County asked the state to continue a special-education program their school district was scheduled to discontinue. After initial protests, the district agreed to phase out the program -- letting enrolled kids continue -- rather than close it outright.
The debate has grown contentious in New Jersey, a state with a strong tradition of separate education for the disabled. Only about 41% of the state's 230,000 special-education students are deemed fully included, compared with 54% nationwide. About 9% of the state's disabled students -- triple the national average -- attend separate schools.
New Jersey passed some of the nation's first special-education laws. In the 1950s, it began requiring public schools to pay for special-ed services that they didn't offer. State law also gave counties and groups of school districts broad powers to build stand-alone schools for the disabled. Today, there are 80 publicly funded separate schools for the disabled in New Jersey and about 175 private ones. They receive tuition from public districts for handling special-ed students.
But in 2004, the state, which had faced federal pressure to mainstream, placed a year-long moratorium on the opening of new special-education schools. Since then, it has stiffened the approval process for private facilities and bolstered funding for local districts to broaden in-house programs.
In a budget-strapped state where voters have been demanding tax relief, cost has been a factor. On average, New Jersey spends about $16,100 a year on each special-education student, including those who are mainstreamed. The average annual tuition at the various, separate public schools for the disabled range from $28,500 to $42,000; at private schools, it's $44,000.
Overall, tuition and transportation costs for out-of-district placements accounted for 39% of the $3.3 billion a year that the state spends on special education. "That's a huge cost driver for our education budget," says state Sen. John Adler, who last year co-chaired hearings on school funding reform.
Many parents, including state Sen. Stephen Sweeney, bristle at moves that could foreclose their options. His daughter, Lauren, who has Down syndrome, attends a regular middle school. But Mr. Sweeney says her nondisabled classmates never visit or ask her to hang out. Next year, he's moving Lauren to a separate high school operated by the publicly funded Gloucester County Special Services School District. The system's special-education facilities also include a new $14 million school for children with autism and multiple disabilities.
'The Choice of Parents'
"Just to put my child in a building to make people feel better because it's inclusion is outrageous," says Mr. Sweeney. "As long as I am in the legislature, they are not going to take away the choice of parents with children with disabilities."
The school funding hearings, held in various towns and cities last fall, were emotional. Ruth Lowenkron, a special-education attorney, testified that beyond being the right thing to do, mainstreaming would save money. "Repeat after me," she told the legislators, "inclusion is cheaper than segregation."
But the panel also heard often from parents who argued for continued access to separate schools.
They included Adela Maria Bolet, of Teaneck, N.J., whose suit-clad son, Michael, sat beside his mother while she testified. The 17-year-old, who has Down syndrome, now attends a private high school on the state's tab. In earlier years, Ms. Bolet fought to get Michael into regular public schools only to find that he sometimes became depressed and had little positive interaction with nondisabled peers.
Until high school, he had few friends, says Ms. Bolet. Her voice still quivers when she talks about what happened when the family rented a pool in town and invited classmates from Michael's neighborhood elementary school to a swimming party for his 13th birthday. "Nobody came," she says.
Concurrent with the funding hearings, another debate was boiling at New Jersey's publicly funded Middlesex Regional Education Services Commission. It had already supported and built a network of six special-education schools, and planned to open two more, including a 24-classroom facility. The commission, controlled by a consortium of school districts, had built its other schools using bonds guaranteed by Middlesex County's governing board. Its school projects had never faced significant opposition.
This time was different, as the proposed schools became a target for mainstreaming advocates. Critics like William England, a school board member in South River, N.J., wrote to local papers. To endorse the sort of segregated special-education schools that most of the country is busy abandoning would be "a waste of county resources," he said in a letter to the Home News Tribune, East Brunswick, N.J.
Mark Finkelstein, the Middlesex commission's superintendent, scoffs at such criticism. He estimates his schools save local districts $10 million a year over the cost of placement in privately owned facilities. "It's easy to say that all kids should be in mainstream schools but let's talk reality," he says.
On a recent morning at the Bright Beginnings Learning Center -- one of the Middlesex schools -- a hallway painted mint-green was lined with children's wheelchairs and walkers. In one classroom, a teacher and four aides were working with seven disabled students, most strapped into devices designed to help them stand or sit.
Mary Lou Walker, an aide, crouched beside the desk of Teresa Condora, a petite 7-year-old who suffers from cerebral palsy and is largely nonverbal. "All right T, come on," Ms. Walker said, gently urging the girl to press a big red plastic button attached to a buzzer. Responding with a soft moan, Teresa pushed against the button as though it were impossibly heavy.
Factions Face Off
Last September, pro- and anti-mainstreaming factions faced off at a meeting where the fate of the proposed new Middlesex schools was to be decided.
At the microphone that evening, Paula Lieb, president of the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education, cited multiple examples of severely disabled children who had been successfully mainstreamed. She said that "the vast majority of children can be included in the public schools."
But the parents of children already attending the commission's schools had also been organizing, urging each other to come to the hearing and bring their disabled children.
Sandy Epstein's family had moved to New Jersey from Oregon a decade earlier to take advantage of specialized schools for students like her son, Brandon, who has autism. For the hearing, the 48-year-old homemaker dressed her teenager in a bright red polo shirt and sat near the front. "I wanted him to stand out," she says. "I wanted these politicians to see what we are talking about."
Ms. Travis, a 41-year-old bookkeeper from Milltown, N.J., says that while waiting to speak that night, she grew angry with the criticisms of the inclusion advocates. She thought they had no idea what her daughter Valerie, now 11, needed.
The Travises had spent eight months on a waiting list to get Valerie into the Academy Learning Center, one of the Middlesex schools located in Monroe Township, N.J.
During that time, she says, the progress Valerie had made learning to speak all but disappeared. Along with reports of her outbursts at school, Ms. Travis says the family had to cope with frequent meltdowns at home. Valerie slept fitfully, ripped up her homework and beat up her little brother to the point that he once needed stitches.
"It was the worst eight months of our lives," Ms. Travis told the county officials, adding that families like hers needed schools like the Academy, where Valerie is now learning geography and double-digit subtraction.
Mr. Finkelstein believes parents' testimony helped convince county officials to unanimously back the bonds needed for the new construction, which is under way.
"If inclusion worked for all of our residents," the superintendent says, "they wouldn't be fighting so hard for these new schools."
Their efforts are far from over. In June, a coalition of disability-rights groups sued the New Jersey education department in U.S. District Court in Newark. Taking a page from the racial desegregation battles of the 1960s, it alleges the department isn't moving fast enough to integrate disabled students and asks the federal court to take over the process.
COFFEE BREAK FOR ARTISTIC MOMS
Did I say "artistic?"
Oh ... I'm sorry, I meant AUTISTIC.
For all of us Midwestern folk who are not waiting around for the world to end in ten years, click on my title "Coffee Break for Artistic Moms" for a special read ...
Oh ... I'm sorry, I meant AUTISTIC.
For all of us Midwestern folk who are not waiting around for the world to end in ten years, click on my title "Coffee Break for Artistic Moms" for a special read ...
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Inclusion Delusion Exclusion
My 12 year old went to Starbucks yesterday for a field trip. It was an opportunity arranged by a very creative special education teacher who seeks out multisensory opportunities within the community for her students who follow a very different pattern of physical and emotional development.
Her student's lips and tongues felt the steam of warm milk and their nose absorbed the aroma of vanilla, chocolate, and hazelnut. Their ears were filled with soft music while their eyes gazed upon blurrs of energy created by the sounds and motions unlike their usual environment. Their fingertips touched foamy cream and nutbread.
It is no ordinary school my daughter attends. It is one of the remaining therapy centers supported by voters through the property taxes they elect to pay and the local school districts who can afford to pay. It is a school designed to offer individualized education opportunities for children like my daughter based on their their emerging abilities. It is one of the remaining MR/dd therapy centers throughout Ohio serving children like my daughter who cannot benefit from being in a cognition-driven school environment.
The federal and state government would like to see these therapy centers close forever because instead of seeing opportunity for our children with severe disabilities, they see a pile of money that could be used elsewhere. So they spin the a delusion through legislation and paperwork that district schools can somehow re-create these same opportunities within their own districts. Districts with crowded schools and crippled finances. Districts that cannot pass tax levies to support opportunities for typical developing youth. Schools designed for and driven by cognition, proficiency, and product.
Our US government has gone as far as mandating and enforcing all Ohio school districts to mainstream all the children within their district boundaries without offering additional funding or facilitities or staffing to re-create the environments and related learning opportunties. Mainsteaming driven by economics, not education and certainly not according to the individual child's ability.
The US government has taken a law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act established in 1975, and turned it around to be used against the individual. A law that we created to protect the individual rights of a child is now being used by the government giving this child no alternative except for what is offered through their district schools. A law that once protected the individual has become a law protecting the federal government from guarenteeing what rightfully belongs to the child.
The federal and state government has gone as far as creating a system weighted down by paperwork designed to "include" children like my daughter in their district's classroom but in reality exclude our children from the money that was inititially used to support alternative educational opportunities so they can have the same leverage as their biological peers. The paperwork they created signs away the right of the individual to the right of the school district so instead of our kids flying through a window of independence by their own design, they are expected to gain their independence forced through a one size fits all window.
Even more paperwork was created so our children can be removed from the classroom when they become a distraction or when the activity or subject matter goes beyond their ability or skill level instead of providing supplemental tools or adaptive equipment so the children can fully partipate same as their peers. It also excludes our children from learning in an environment designed to meet their individual developing abilities.
It also excludes some schools from providing nothing more for our children than a special ed teacher or specialist who travel from school to school to look in on our children for about 15 minutes a week or half hour twice a month in room with children with varying physical, cognition, and emotional disabilities and disorders. And the money that was once earmarked for our children's alternative opportunties goes into another pocket of the government.
In Ohio, it was the old "bait and switch" used on Ohio voters. A politician claiming he or she can save the voter 8 billion dollars here and there. A politician whose soap box supporting "values" stands in the middle of a dumping ground filled with "government waste. " The "government waste" money once earmarked for the therapy schools is earmarked for something else in government.
It's a scam made possible by eight years of political corruption that started at the federal level by creating the inclusion exclusion delusion.
Her student's lips and tongues felt the steam of warm milk and their nose absorbed the aroma of vanilla, chocolate, and hazelnut. Their ears were filled with soft music while their eyes gazed upon blurrs of energy created by the sounds and motions unlike their usual environment. Their fingertips touched foamy cream and nutbread.
It is no ordinary school my daughter attends. It is one of the remaining therapy centers supported by voters through the property taxes they elect to pay and the local school districts who can afford to pay. It is a school designed to offer individualized education opportunities for children like my daughter based on their their emerging abilities. It is one of the remaining MR/dd therapy centers throughout Ohio serving children like my daughter who cannot benefit from being in a cognition-driven school environment.
The federal and state government would like to see these therapy centers close forever because instead of seeing opportunity for our children with severe disabilities, they see a pile of money that could be used elsewhere. So they spin the a delusion through legislation and paperwork that district schools can somehow re-create these same opportunities within their own districts. Districts with crowded schools and crippled finances. Districts that cannot pass tax levies to support opportunities for typical developing youth. Schools designed for and driven by cognition, proficiency, and product.
Our US government has gone as far as mandating and enforcing all Ohio school districts to mainstream all the children within their district boundaries without offering additional funding or facilitities or staffing to re-create the environments and related learning opportunties. Mainsteaming driven by economics, not education and certainly not according to the individual child's ability.
The US government has taken a law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act established in 1975, and turned it around to be used against the individual. A law that we created to protect the individual rights of a child is now being used by the government giving this child no alternative except for what is offered through their district schools. A law that once protected the individual has become a law protecting the federal government from guarenteeing what rightfully belongs to the child.
The federal and state government has gone as far as creating a system weighted down by paperwork designed to "include" children like my daughter in their district's classroom but in reality exclude our children from the money that was inititially used to support alternative educational opportunities so they can have the same leverage as their biological peers. The paperwork they created signs away the right of the individual to the right of the school district so instead of our kids flying through a window of independence by their own design, they are expected to gain their independence forced through a one size fits all window.
Even more paperwork was created so our children can be removed from the classroom when they become a distraction or when the activity or subject matter goes beyond their ability or skill level instead of providing supplemental tools or adaptive equipment so the children can fully partipate same as their peers. It also excludes our children from learning in an environment designed to meet their individual developing abilities.
It also excludes some schools from providing nothing more for our children than a special ed teacher or specialist who travel from school to school to look in on our children for about 15 minutes a week or half hour twice a month in room with children with varying physical, cognition, and emotional disabilities and disorders. And the money that was once earmarked for our children's alternative opportunties goes into another pocket of the government.
In Ohio, it was the old "bait and switch" used on Ohio voters. A politician claiming he or she can save the voter 8 billion dollars here and there. A politician whose soap box supporting "values" stands in the middle of a dumping ground filled with "government waste. " The "government waste" money once earmarked for the therapy schools is earmarked for something else in government.
It's a scam made possible by eight years of political corruption that started at the federal level by creating the inclusion exclusion delusion.
Children's Disabilities Information
Another resource for new parents. Just click on the title above or go here:
http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/articles.html
http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/articles.html
Autism and Fad Treatments
By Jeff Grabmeier
Ohio State University
August 20, 2007
Copyright © 2007 Ohio State University
This article is used with permission from:
The Ohio State University Research News
Ineffective or even dangerous fad treatments for autism, always a problem, seem to be growing more pervasive, according to researchers who studied the problem.
“Developmental disabilities like autism are a magnet for all kinds of unsupported or disproved therapies, and it has gotten worse as more children have been diagnosed with autism,” said James Mulick, professor of pediatrics and psychology at Ohio State University .”
“There's no cure for autism, and many parents are willing to believe anything if they come to think it could help their child.”
"Outrageous Developmental Disabilities Treatments"
Mulick chaired a symposium on “Outrageous Developmental Disabilities Treatments” Aug. 20 in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. The symposium included presentations by several of Mulick's students at Ohio State who participated in a graduate seminar on fad treatments in autism.
“We're not saying that all of these treatments don't work or that they are all dangerous,” Kettering said. “But the research hasn't been done to suggest that most of them are effective or even safe.” Many of the treatments may have just enough basis in scientific fact to attract attention, even if the treatment itself is unproven.
Tracy Kettering, a doctoral student in special education at Ohio State , said a Google search for the phrase “autism treatment” yields more than 2.2 million matches.
“You get hundreds of different types of therapies that come up, and many have quotes from parents that claim a particular therapy ‘cured' their child,” Kettering said.
“It's no wonder that parents want to believe. But very few of these treatments have any evidence to support them.”
The number and range of fad treatments has seemed to grow in recent years as more children have been diagnosed with autism, said Mulick, who is also editor of a book on fad treatments called Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities: Fad, Fashion, and Science in Professional Practice.
Mulick said when he began treating autism in the 1970s about 3 children in 10,000 were said to have autism. Now, reports are 1 in 166 children have the condition. The number of cases has mushroomed because of better diagnoses, and a changing definition of autism that includes a broader range of disorders.
Some of the newer, more popular fad treatments for autism involve special diets or nutritional supplements. Megadoses of Vitamins C and B6 are popular, as well as supplements with fatty acids like omega-3s.
A casein and/or gluten-free diet, which involves eliminating dairy and wheat products, has also gained favor with some parents.
While many of these treatments have never been adequately studied, that doesn't mean they aren't promoted.
“One of the characteristics of fad treatments is that they are discussed in the media and on the internet, where many parents can be exposed to them,” said Anne Snow, an Ohio State psychology graduate student.
And while some fads are simply ineffective, others can even be dangerous, Mulick said. Chelation therapy, which involves taking medicines to remove the heavy metal mercury from the body, has reportedly led to the death of at least one autistic boy receiving that treatment. Chelation therapy was also touted years ago as a new treatment against some forms of cancer but was eventually shown to have no helpful effect.
Many parents try multiple approaches, hoping at least one will help. Kettering said one survey she found suggests that the average parent of a child with autism has tried seven different therapies.
“We're not saying that all of these treatments don't work or that they are all dangerous,” Kettering said. “But the research hasn't been done to suggest that most of them are effective or even safe.”
More Scientific Evidence Needed to Support Most Claims
Many of the treatments may have just enough basis in scientific fact to attract attention, even if the treatment itself is unproven.
For instance, most scientists believe that many cases of autism are caused by genetic mutations, and some mutations can be caused by various chemicals that we encounter in our everyday lives, Mulick said.
But still, there is no evidence that any particular chemical causes mutations that lead to autism, as some have claimed.
“There's a shred of truth in the rationale presented for some fad treatments, and that is enough for some people to go with,” he said.
Another reason that fad treatments persist has to do with the natural course of autism, Mulick said.
Autism, like many conditions, has cycles in which symptoms get worse and then get better. Parents tend to search for treatments when symptoms are getting worse, and when their children get better – as they do in the normal course of disease – parents credit the new therapy.
“It's natural to have this bias that the therapy you're trying has had some positive effect,” he said. “People want to believe.”
Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention Can Have Positive Effects
While other treatments are still being investigated, right now the only therapy that has been shown to have a long-term positive affect on autism is called Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention, Mulick said.
EIBI is a highly structured approach to learning, in which children with autism are taught first to imitate their teachers. But this treatment is very time-consuming and labor intensive. It involves one-on-one behavioral treatment with the child for up to 40 hours a week for several years.
“It's expensive and difficult for many parents to use,” Mulick said. “That's got to be one reason other treatments look attractive to them.”
Mulick said other treatments and therapies are being studied. However, it takes years to test treatments for autism because of the nature of the disease and problems with proving effectiveness.
“Autism studies are a long, time-consuming, and expensive process,” Mulick said. “And some of the fad treatments being used today would never be approved for testing – they are just too dangerous.”
In addition to Mulick, Kettering and Snow, other presenters at the symposium included Ohio State graduate students Cristan Farmer, Megan Norris, Andrea Witwer and Jill Hollway.
Copyright © 2007 Ohio State University
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/fadaut.htm
Ohio State University
August 20, 2007
Copyright © 2007 Ohio State University
This article is used with permission from:
The Ohio State University Research News
Ineffective or even dangerous fad treatments for autism, always a problem, seem to be growing more pervasive, according to researchers who studied the problem.
“Developmental disabilities like autism are a magnet for all kinds of unsupported or disproved therapies, and it has gotten worse as more children have been diagnosed with autism,” said James Mulick, professor of pediatrics and psychology at Ohio State University .”
“There's no cure for autism, and many parents are willing to believe anything if they come to think it could help their child.”
"Outrageous Developmental Disabilities Treatments"
Mulick chaired a symposium on “Outrageous Developmental Disabilities Treatments” Aug. 20 in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. The symposium included presentations by several of Mulick's students at Ohio State who participated in a graduate seminar on fad treatments in autism.
“We're not saying that all of these treatments don't work or that they are all dangerous,” Kettering said. “But the research hasn't been done to suggest that most of them are effective or even safe.” Many of the treatments may have just enough basis in scientific fact to attract attention, even if the treatment itself is unproven.
Tracy Kettering, a doctoral student in special education at Ohio State , said a Google search for the phrase “autism treatment” yields more than 2.2 million matches.
“You get hundreds of different types of therapies that come up, and many have quotes from parents that claim a particular therapy ‘cured' their child,” Kettering said.
“It's no wonder that parents want to believe. But very few of these treatments have any evidence to support them.”
The number and range of fad treatments has seemed to grow in recent years as more children have been diagnosed with autism, said Mulick, who is also editor of a book on fad treatments called Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities: Fad, Fashion, and Science in Professional Practice.
Mulick said when he began treating autism in the 1970s about 3 children in 10,000 were said to have autism. Now, reports are 1 in 166 children have the condition. The number of cases has mushroomed because of better diagnoses, and a changing definition of autism that includes a broader range of disorders.
Some of the newer, more popular fad treatments for autism involve special diets or nutritional supplements. Megadoses of Vitamins C and B6 are popular, as well as supplements with fatty acids like omega-3s.
A casein and/or gluten-free diet, which involves eliminating dairy and wheat products, has also gained favor with some parents.
While many of these treatments have never been adequately studied, that doesn't mean they aren't promoted.
“One of the characteristics of fad treatments is that they are discussed in the media and on the internet, where many parents can be exposed to them,” said Anne Snow, an Ohio State psychology graduate student.
And while some fads are simply ineffective, others can even be dangerous, Mulick said. Chelation therapy, which involves taking medicines to remove the heavy metal mercury from the body, has reportedly led to the death of at least one autistic boy receiving that treatment. Chelation therapy was also touted years ago as a new treatment against some forms of cancer but was eventually shown to have no helpful effect.
Many parents try multiple approaches, hoping at least one will help. Kettering said one survey she found suggests that the average parent of a child with autism has tried seven different therapies.
“We're not saying that all of these treatments don't work or that they are all dangerous,” Kettering said. “But the research hasn't been done to suggest that most of them are effective or even safe.”
More Scientific Evidence Needed to Support Most Claims
Many of the treatments may have just enough basis in scientific fact to attract attention, even if the treatment itself is unproven.
For instance, most scientists believe that many cases of autism are caused by genetic mutations, and some mutations can be caused by various chemicals that we encounter in our everyday lives, Mulick said.
But still, there is no evidence that any particular chemical causes mutations that lead to autism, as some have claimed.
“There's a shred of truth in the rationale presented for some fad treatments, and that is enough for some people to go with,” he said.
Another reason that fad treatments persist has to do with the natural course of autism, Mulick said.
Autism, like many conditions, has cycles in which symptoms get worse and then get better. Parents tend to search for treatments when symptoms are getting worse, and when their children get better – as they do in the normal course of disease – parents credit the new therapy.
“It's natural to have this bias that the therapy you're trying has had some positive effect,” he said. “People want to believe.”
Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention Can Have Positive Effects
While other treatments are still being investigated, right now the only therapy that has been shown to have a long-term positive affect on autism is called Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention, Mulick said.
EIBI is a highly structured approach to learning, in which children with autism are taught first to imitate their teachers. But this treatment is very time-consuming and labor intensive. It involves one-on-one behavioral treatment with the child for up to 40 hours a week for several years.
“It's expensive and difficult for many parents to use,” Mulick said. “That's got to be one reason other treatments look attractive to them.”
Mulick said other treatments and therapies are being studied. However, it takes years to test treatments for autism because of the nature of the disease and problems with proving effectiveness.
“Autism studies are a long, time-consuming, and expensive process,” Mulick said. “And some of the fad treatments being used today would never be approved for testing – they are just too dangerous.”
In addition to Mulick, Kettering and Snow, other presenters at the symposium included Ohio State graduate students Cristan Farmer, Megan Norris, Andrea Witwer and Jill Hollway.
Copyright © 2007 Ohio State University
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/fadaut.htm
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
For The Disabled, Age 18 Brings Difficult Choice
For the Disabled, Age 18 Brings Difficult Choices
By MARC SANTORA
Published: May 14, 2008
Outside Sam Stabiner’s room pumps the steady drone of ventilators, giving life to his neighbors breath by breath. Most are in their 80s and 90s, in the twilight of their years.
The Stabiners’ predicament, however, is far from unique. As medical advances have allowed patients who might have died as children to survive into adulthood, the patients are falling into a void in a health care system that has yet to develop institutions for the young and “medically fragile.”
Each year 500,000 youths in the United States with special health care needs resulting from ailments like congenital heart disease, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, renal disease and sickle cell turn 18, according to a survey conducted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Many of these young people will transition to adulthood smoothly, but for the most seriously disabled, the options for care often prove limited. As a result, about 8,000 people under age 30 are among roughly 1.4 million nursing home residents, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“This is a problem that has gone largely unrecognized and is only going to grow,” said Dr. Edwin F. Simpser, the chief medical officer at St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, the largest provider of intensive rehabilitation and specialized care for severely ill and disabled children in New York.
At St. Mary’s alone there are some 200 children aging out of its program in the next few years. “We could be talking about 70 percent of those kids ending up in a nursing home if we don’t find an alternative,” he said.
While the situation is not confined to New York, it varies state by state. “The people we are talking about did not exist 50 years ago,” said Dr. Miriam Kaufman, founder of the Good 2 Go Transition Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. “We simply don’t have a model for these children.”
As the children grow older, so do the parents, making intensive home care more difficult, if it was even possible to begin with.
At 15, Sam Stabiner was a picture of health, with a perfect attendance record at his school and a normal life.
Then the headaches started, growing mysteriously more severe until he had to be hospitalized, fell into a coma and barely survived what doctors now believe was a rare form of meningitis.
For the next five years, he received intensive care at St. Mary’s, which provides care for some 4,000 children through inpatient, home-care, and community-based programs. The demand on the institution is so great, it is planning a major expansion of its Queens center in coming months.
Mr. Stabiner made slow progress, using a wheelchair and with only limited use of his hands. He cannot communicate by speaking, but seems fully aware of his surroundings, smiling when happy and able to slap high five. Beyond the care at St. Mary’s, he attended classes at Public School 79 in Manhattan, which is for children with special needs. He will age out of that program next year, his parents said.
His care is complicated because he had a tracheotomy and needs assistance eating, via a feeding tube. While he has regained some motor skills, the continuing medical care required by the tracheotomy led to his being categorized as medically fragile.
Still, when he turned 18, his parents were shocked to learn how that categorization significantly limited the options for their son’s care.
Erroll Stabiner, 67, said he contacted 87 institutions across the city, the vast majority traditional nursing homes, and found only three that had clusters of young adults. All of those were far from his home and none were particularly appealing, leaving him to try to place his son at the Isabella campus at Audubon Avenue and 190th Street, which had no history of working with young adults.
The administration at Isabella’s was initially reluctant, but after executives at St. Mary’s pressed the case, officials at Isabella’s relented.
The setting that the young Mr. Stabiner left could hardly be more different from the one he entered.
At St. Mary’s, which was the first inpatient palliative care center for children in the country, there is one health worker for every four patients. The rooms are brightly painted, with separate areas for school, recreation and physical rehabilitation. There is an attempt to allow even the most severely disabled patients to develop a routine and build relationships.
Mr. Stabiner’s old room is right off one of the main playrooms, filled with games and toys.
Michael, 17, whose family did not want to give a last name, is now residing on the hall after a nearly fatal car crash left him with a severe head injury. While he has no feeding tube, Michael will also be aging out of St. Mary’s soon and his family could face a similar quandary.
The doctors and psychologists at St. Mary’s believe the group setting and the encouragement of other children with similar ailments help speed rehabilitation, or at least provide comfort, because they are reminders that the children are not alone.
At Isabella’s, Mr. Stabiner is often without any diversions. His parents, who visit six days a week, fear that he will feel isolated and have asked the nurses to put him out by their station so he can get more daily stimulation. To help make him feel young, the Stabiners bought him an array of T-shirts with smart-alecky sayings that make their son laugh.
Despite the doting of the nurses, there is no question that the parents feel something has been lost.
“When we found out Sam was aging out, we were devastated,” said his mother, Leslie Stabiner, 66. “It was very depressing to realize that in a city like New York there are just no facilities.”
And it was not just her son who missed the company. Mrs. Stabiner said she and her husband had developed friendships with other parents at St. Mary’s, some of whom are now facing a similar problem.
For instance, one of the children from their son’s floor at St. Mary’s, Justin, just moved into Isabella’s on the floor above his after the Stabiners told them about their experience.
Mark J. Kator, the chief executive officer of Isabella’s, said that having only one or two people as young as Mr. Stabiner in the 700-bed institution created obvious difficulties.
“It presents challenges in that we are responsible for creating an environment that is good for the patient,” he said. But despite their best efforts, he said, “we are not going to create a milieu that is best for them.”
The situation has propelled the administration at St. Mary’s to begin an aggressive effort to establish a clinical model for new institutions equipped to handle medically fragile children as they age out of existing programs.
“It’s something totally new, so part of it is just educating people about the situation,” Dr. Simpser said. “We may also need to push for specific legislation.”
He said that St. Mary’s officials were exploring the idea of establishing small institutions in homelike settings — with perhaps as few as six young adults — where there would be one or two health professionals on duty at all times.
But Dr. Simpser said that if his institution did not push patients out after they turned 18, it could no longer accept new patients.
“It is a terrible dilemma,” he said.
By MARC SANTORA
Published: May 14, 2008
Outside Sam Stabiner’s room pumps the steady drone of ventilators, giving life to his neighbors breath by breath. Most are in their 80s and 90s, in the twilight of their years.
The Stabiners’ predicament, however, is far from unique. As medical advances have allowed patients who might have died as children to survive into adulthood, the patients are falling into a void in a health care system that has yet to develop institutions for the young and “medically fragile.”
Each year 500,000 youths in the United States with special health care needs resulting from ailments like congenital heart disease, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, renal disease and sickle cell turn 18, according to a survey conducted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Many of these young people will transition to adulthood smoothly, but for the most seriously disabled, the options for care often prove limited. As a result, about 8,000 people under age 30 are among roughly 1.4 million nursing home residents, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“This is a problem that has gone largely unrecognized and is only going to grow,” said Dr. Edwin F. Simpser, the chief medical officer at St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, the largest provider of intensive rehabilitation and specialized care for severely ill and disabled children in New York.
At St. Mary’s alone there are some 200 children aging out of its program in the next few years. “We could be talking about 70 percent of those kids ending up in a nursing home if we don’t find an alternative,” he said.
While the situation is not confined to New York, it varies state by state. “The people we are talking about did not exist 50 years ago,” said Dr. Miriam Kaufman, founder of the Good 2 Go Transition Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. “We simply don’t have a model for these children.”
As the children grow older, so do the parents, making intensive home care more difficult, if it was even possible to begin with.
At 15, Sam Stabiner was a picture of health, with a perfect attendance record at his school and a normal life.
Then the headaches started, growing mysteriously more severe until he had to be hospitalized, fell into a coma and barely survived what doctors now believe was a rare form of meningitis.
For the next five years, he received intensive care at St. Mary’s, which provides care for some 4,000 children through inpatient, home-care, and community-based programs. The demand on the institution is so great, it is planning a major expansion of its Queens center in coming months.
Mr. Stabiner made slow progress, using a wheelchair and with only limited use of his hands. He cannot communicate by speaking, but seems fully aware of his surroundings, smiling when happy and able to slap high five. Beyond the care at St. Mary’s, he attended classes at Public School 79 in Manhattan, which is for children with special needs. He will age out of that program next year, his parents said.
His care is complicated because he had a tracheotomy and needs assistance eating, via a feeding tube. While he has regained some motor skills, the continuing medical care required by the tracheotomy led to his being categorized as medically fragile.
Still, when he turned 18, his parents were shocked to learn how that categorization significantly limited the options for their son’s care.
Erroll Stabiner, 67, said he contacted 87 institutions across the city, the vast majority traditional nursing homes, and found only three that had clusters of young adults. All of those were far from his home and none were particularly appealing, leaving him to try to place his son at the Isabella campus at Audubon Avenue and 190th Street, which had no history of working with young adults.
The administration at Isabella’s was initially reluctant, but after executives at St. Mary’s pressed the case, officials at Isabella’s relented.
The setting that the young Mr. Stabiner left could hardly be more different from the one he entered.
At St. Mary’s, which was the first inpatient palliative care center for children in the country, there is one health worker for every four patients. The rooms are brightly painted, with separate areas for school, recreation and physical rehabilitation. There is an attempt to allow even the most severely disabled patients to develop a routine and build relationships.
Mr. Stabiner’s old room is right off one of the main playrooms, filled with games and toys.
Michael, 17, whose family did not want to give a last name, is now residing on the hall after a nearly fatal car crash left him with a severe head injury. While he has no feeding tube, Michael will also be aging out of St. Mary’s soon and his family could face a similar quandary.
The doctors and psychologists at St. Mary’s believe the group setting and the encouragement of other children with similar ailments help speed rehabilitation, or at least provide comfort, because they are reminders that the children are not alone.
At Isabella’s, Mr. Stabiner is often without any diversions. His parents, who visit six days a week, fear that he will feel isolated and have asked the nurses to put him out by their station so he can get more daily stimulation. To help make him feel young, the Stabiners bought him an array of T-shirts with smart-alecky sayings that make their son laugh.
Despite the doting of the nurses, there is no question that the parents feel something has been lost.
“When we found out Sam was aging out, we were devastated,” said his mother, Leslie Stabiner, 66. “It was very depressing to realize that in a city like New York there are just no facilities.”
And it was not just her son who missed the company. Mrs. Stabiner said she and her husband had developed friendships with other parents at St. Mary’s, some of whom are now facing a similar problem.
For instance, one of the children from their son’s floor at St. Mary’s, Justin, just moved into Isabella’s on the floor above his after the Stabiners told them about their experience.
Mark J. Kator, the chief executive officer of Isabella’s, said that having only one or two people as young as Mr. Stabiner in the 700-bed institution created obvious difficulties.
“It presents challenges in that we are responsible for creating an environment that is good for the patient,” he said. But despite their best efforts, he said, “we are not going to create a milieu that is best for them.”
The situation has propelled the administration at St. Mary’s to begin an aggressive effort to establish a clinical model for new institutions equipped to handle medically fragile children as they age out of existing programs.
“It’s something totally new, so part of it is just educating people about the situation,” Dr. Simpser said. “We may also need to push for specific legislation.”
He said that St. Mary’s officials were exploring the idea of establishing small institutions in homelike settings — with perhaps as few as six young adults — where there would be one or two health professionals on duty at all times.
But Dr. Simpser said that if his institution did not push patients out after they turned 18, it could no longer accept new patients.
“It is a terrible dilemma,” he said.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
AICARDI SYNDROME
Here's are two linka for information & research for Aicardi Syndrome site:
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/aicardi/aicardi.htm
http://www.aicardisyndrome.org/index.php?pname=whatis
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/aicardi/aicardi.htm
http://www.aicardisyndrome.org/index.php?pname=whatis
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The More Things Change: Part One
One of the my child's advocates early on suggested reading a book called, "The Child That Never Grew" by Pearl Buck. What I found interesting about Pearl Buck's journey is how our attitude toward disability in general hasn't changed all that much. The way we treated "disability" back in Pearl's day was to send our children off to a public or private institution where they were cut off from society. They were never seen again.
Although we see our children out and about, many still exist on the margins because instead of "warehousing" their bodies in institutions, we are "warehousing" their needs in public schools burying them under paperwork created from the legislation that was put there to protect them. We are warehousing their "needs" instead of building on their ability.
Many children with atypical needs today are being "warehoused" in public schools where they are "rolled" in and out of classrooms at what is considered "appropriate" and "inappropriate" times and then used as instrument to be measured once or three times a week because of what is written their Individualized Education Plan or IEP. They are children first, not instruments to be measured.
"No Child Left Behind" legislation stole away from my daughter her right to a free public education guaranteed by The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA laws established in 1974 by enforcing curriculum guidelines into her IEP among other things which is illegal. It also serves as the future "green light" for her to be pulled in and out of a typical classroom at someone else's will. It is this IDEA 1974 law that safeguards her rights to receive an appropriate education based on her atypical needs and "No Child Left Behind" legislation that takes this right away from her.
The Frederick A. Breyer School was a school that served kids in the community with atypical needs through their atypical classrooms; it was a school where children were allowed to be children first, not instruments to be measured. It was a school that offered therapies for children with severe disabilities to develop independent life-skills according to each child's need which takes time, patience, and focus. It has been closed by the HC/dd formally known as MR/dd Superintendent and Board and these services will be lost forever to children in our community.
When I read from e-mail transmission from a tax levy review committee member that it was HC/dd who suggested (i) closing one of three adult education centers and (ii) shifting some of the MR/dd-provided services to children onto the respective school districts; and when I became personally involved in the carnival of politics and associated business that determined where my child goes to school, how her classroom should look, and what therapies she should receive, it is at most a very sad commentary of corrupted and failed local, state, and federal government.
The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Post, Cincinnati WCPO-TV and other television news stations refused to investigate what qualifications"Maximus," the Columbus, Ohio company, hired by the Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee, had to determine how special education classrooms for severely disabled children should look like and how services should be rendered to children with severe disabilities.
Furthermore, the Cincinnati media did a terrible disservice to all our children with disabilities by failing to report to the public exactly who was responsible for closing the school or asking why MR/dd administration denied this information to their clients and Hamilton County property owners by hiding it as "continuing children services" on compaign cards until after the Mental Retardation tax levy was passed and why the teacher were told not to tell the parents. Why in April in 2005, there was still discussion with PTA personnel atBreyer about options still being considered and waiting until 2 weeks before summer vacation to notify parents the school was closing.
MR/dd refused to consider the available "financial" alternatives and solutions to keeping the school open and told the commissioners that closing the school was only a matter of "inconvenience" to a few families. The media fell short of investigative reporting by refusing to look at the attempted HC/dd school closing in 1997 and why suddenly it was okay to close one in 2006 based on "declining" attendance -- a manipulation in its worse form due to the fact that from 1997 until 2004 parents like me were told by CPS teachers that the therapeutic services offered through HC/dd schools were not available because "they were working to capacity."
No statistics were gathered as to why so many children with serious disabilities and developmental delays are "homeschooled" or why so many parents do not know about HC/dd services. An even sadder commentary is how some of our children remain only a footnote in history when their freedoms are taken away while others are allowed to make history with their freedoms that are bought and sold for them. When a government places the needs of its own children into "stipulations" then it is no longer a government for the people.
Although we see our children out and about, many still exist on the margins because instead of "warehousing" their bodies in institutions, we are "warehousing" their needs in public schools burying them under paperwork created from the legislation that was put there to protect them. We are warehousing their "needs" instead of building on their ability.
Many children with atypical needs today are being "warehoused" in public schools where they are "rolled" in and out of classrooms at what is considered "appropriate" and "inappropriate" times and then used as instrument to be measured once or three times a week because of what is written their Individualized Education Plan or IEP. They are children first, not instruments to be measured.
"No Child Left Behind" legislation stole away from my daughter her right to a free public education guaranteed by The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA laws established in 1974 by enforcing curriculum guidelines into her IEP among other things which is illegal. It also serves as the future "green light" for her to be pulled in and out of a typical classroom at someone else's will. It is this IDEA 1974 law that safeguards her rights to receive an appropriate education based on her atypical needs and "No Child Left Behind" legislation that takes this right away from her.
The Frederick A. Breyer School was a school that served kids in the community with atypical needs through their atypical classrooms; it was a school where children were allowed to be children first, not instruments to be measured. It was a school that offered therapies for children with severe disabilities to develop independent life-skills according to each child's need which takes time, patience, and focus. It has been closed by the HC/dd formally known as MR/dd Superintendent and Board and these services will be lost forever to children in our community.
When I read from e-mail transmission from a tax levy review committee member that it was HC/dd who suggested (i) closing one of three adult education centers and (ii) shifting some of the MR/dd-provided services to children onto the respective school districts; and when I became personally involved in the carnival of politics and associated business that determined where my child goes to school, how her classroom should look, and what therapies she should receive, it is at most a very sad commentary of corrupted and failed local, state, and federal government.
The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Post, Cincinnati WCPO-TV and other television news stations refused to investigate what qualifications"Maximus," the Columbus, Ohio company, hired by the Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee, had to determine how special education classrooms for severely disabled children should look like and how services should be rendered to children with severe disabilities.
Furthermore, the Cincinnati media did a terrible disservice to all our children with disabilities by failing to report to the public exactly who was responsible for closing the school or asking why MR/dd administration denied this information to their clients and Hamilton County property owners by hiding it as "continuing children services" on compaign cards until after the Mental Retardation tax levy was passed and why the teacher were told not to tell the parents. Why in April in 2005, there was still discussion with PTA personnel atBreyer about options still being considered and waiting until 2 weeks before summer vacation to notify parents the school was closing.
MR/dd refused to consider the available "financial" alternatives and solutions to keeping the school open and told the commissioners that closing the school was only a matter of "inconvenience" to a few families. The media fell short of investigative reporting by refusing to look at the attempted HC/dd school closing in 1997 and why suddenly it was okay to close one in 2006 based on "declining" attendance -- a manipulation in its worse form due to the fact that from 1997 until 2004 parents like me were told by CPS teachers that the therapeutic services offered through HC/dd schools were not available because "they were working to capacity."
No statistics were gathered as to why so many children with serious disabilities and developmental delays are "homeschooled" or why so many parents do not know about HC/dd services. An even sadder commentary is how some of our children remain only a footnote in history when their freedoms are taken away while others are allowed to make history with their freedoms that are bought and sold for them. When a government places the needs of its own children into "stipulations" then it is no longer a government for the people.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Inclusion Solutions
Here's a website for families and friend looking for ideas about inclusion concerns:
http://www.inclusionsolutions.com/
http://www.inclusionsolutions.com/
Friday, April 11, 2008
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY: CREATING POSSIBILITIES
April 30, 2008
Assistive Technology: Creating Possibilities
Register by calling Kari Edwards
513-803-0052/800-344-2462
Child care will be provided by trained professionals and there is no cost
Assistive Technology: Creating Possibilities
Register by calling Kari Edwards
513-803-0052/800-344-2462
Child care will be provided by trained professionals and there is no cost
Big Momma's Breakfast of Champions
By looking at Sarai Jackson, one would never guess her nickname in the neighborhood was "Big Mama." She was a petite, frail, and distinguished looking woman even at 88 years old. Or was she 94 or 101? No one ever knew. I didn't know about her nickname until I read it in her obituary.
She died 5 years ago on this day.
Each Saturday at 4 p.m., Mrs. Jackson left her home for about two hours or so dressed like she had just stepped off the pages of Town & Country from the early 60s. Wearing gloves, hat, purse and shoes in coordinating colors to a trim A-line double breasted, soft pastel cashmire coat, I wondered when I first moved into the neighorhood, "is she going to a country club for dinner?"
It was 20 years ago I met her personally while taking my daughter out for a stroller ride conveniently coordinating the time to coincide with her "steppin out" time one Saturday. I waved a "hello" and said a few words admiring her hat, gloves, heels, and coat. She waved back. Smiling. Never saying a word.
During the week, I saw she was out sitting in her screened porch so I stopped over to say "hello" and this time I was "invited" to come up and chat. We had many conversations over the years when she was up to it. I always started with "did you see that article about....?" and she would answer with a soft "mmm, mmm, mmm." Then, she would let go with a deep sigh and a short sermon on the stoop about what life was like when she was growing up.
One day while visiting we saw a patrol car drive by. There was some trouble in the neighborhood with the boys who lived at the house on the corner. Mrs. Jackson referred to them as "hoodlums" and "no good." I mentioned the one time I had a run in with one of the boy's friends who insisted on blaring his "boom-boom" music in the wee hours of the morning parked in front of our house.
"Mmmm, mmm, mmm. No good those boys. Up to no good. Trouble. Those boys should be in bed. It's a school night. What's wrong with that mother," she would ask, not expecting an answer from me.
I mentioned something about how hard it must be for a single parent mother working the 3rd shift, trying to pay her mortgage, insurance, and raising children without any support or back up.
Mrs. Jackson went quiet. Very quiet. Did I jumped protocol and speak out of turn? Did I offend her?
Then finally she let out a "no excuse for that. No excuse for that at all. Those boys are bad because the mother has her priorities all wrong. I raised 8 children and had a full time job. My kid's were not running around the neighborhood like hoodlums. Like the way the kids are running around today. No excuse for this generation of hoodlums. No excuse at all."
Then she went on about what it was like working in the late 50s and early 60s getting up early in the morning making breakfast and lunches for her kids and catching the bus by 8:30 to go downtown to get to her job by 9:00 a.m.
"I had breakfast for my children at the table every morning."
I don't remember Mrs. Jackson's exact words for her sermon that day but she said it was the least a mother or father could do for their child; to provide a good breakfast. To sit down together in the morning when they are very young to establish a good pattern for social development. Young enough to sit at a high chair or table because if they have table time in the morning, they'll have a good disposition throughout the rest of their life. Children need to feel that somebody is in control and that somebody is caring for them.
In so many words, Mrs. Jackson said if children can't trust their own parent to give them the basic neccessities of feeling secure, wanted, and loved, then how can we expect them to ever trust other people?
Ever since that day with Mrs. Jackson, my children have never ever gone a day without sitting down for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
She died 5 years ago on this day.
Each Saturday at 4 p.m., Mrs. Jackson left her home for about two hours or so dressed like she had just stepped off the pages of Town & Country from the early 60s. Wearing gloves, hat, purse and shoes in coordinating colors to a trim A-line double breasted, soft pastel cashmire coat, I wondered when I first moved into the neighorhood, "is she going to a country club for dinner?"
It was 20 years ago I met her personally while taking my daughter out for a stroller ride conveniently coordinating the time to coincide with her "steppin out" time one Saturday. I waved a "hello" and said a few words admiring her hat, gloves, heels, and coat. She waved back. Smiling. Never saying a word.
During the week, I saw she was out sitting in her screened porch so I stopped over to say "hello" and this time I was "invited" to come up and chat. We had many conversations over the years when she was up to it. I always started with "did you see that article about....?" and she would answer with a soft "mmm, mmm, mmm." Then, she would let go with a deep sigh and a short sermon on the stoop about what life was like when she was growing up.
One day while visiting we saw a patrol car drive by. There was some trouble in the neighborhood with the boys who lived at the house on the corner. Mrs. Jackson referred to them as "hoodlums" and "no good." I mentioned the one time I had a run in with one of the boy's friends who insisted on blaring his "boom-boom" music in the wee hours of the morning parked in front of our house.
"Mmmm, mmm, mmm. No good those boys. Up to no good. Trouble. Those boys should be in bed. It's a school night. What's wrong with that mother," she would ask, not expecting an answer from me.
I mentioned something about how hard it must be for a single parent mother working the 3rd shift, trying to pay her mortgage, insurance, and raising children without any support or back up.
Mrs. Jackson went quiet. Very quiet. Did I jumped protocol and speak out of turn? Did I offend her?
Then finally she let out a "no excuse for that. No excuse for that at all. Those boys are bad because the mother has her priorities all wrong. I raised 8 children and had a full time job. My kid's were not running around the neighborhood like hoodlums. Like the way the kids are running around today. No excuse for this generation of hoodlums. No excuse at all."
Then she went on about what it was like working in the late 50s and early 60s getting up early in the morning making breakfast and lunches for her kids and catching the bus by 8:30 to go downtown to get to her job by 9:00 a.m.
"I had breakfast for my children at the table every morning."
I don't remember Mrs. Jackson's exact words for her sermon that day but she said it was the least a mother or father could do for their child; to provide a good breakfast. To sit down together in the morning when they are very young to establish a good pattern for social development. Young enough to sit at a high chair or table because if they have table time in the morning, they'll have a good disposition throughout the rest of their life. Children need to feel that somebody is in control and that somebody is caring for them.
In so many words, Mrs. Jackson said if children can't trust their own parent to give them the basic neccessities of feeling secure, wanted, and loved, then how can we expect them to ever trust other people?
Ever since that day with Mrs. Jackson, my children have never ever gone a day without sitting down for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Friday, March 14, 2008
New Rules for IDEA Meeting
Ohio's New Rules For Special Education Services- IDEA 2004
Date: March 25, 2008
Time: 7:00 pm to 8:15 pm
Location: The First Baptist Church of Mason
Sponsor: C.H.A.D.D.
Related Diagnosis / Condition: Attention Deficit Disorder
How to Register: 513-459-6080 Fee: $3.00 for non-members and free for C.H.A.D.D. members
Date: March 25, 2008
Time: 7:00 pm to 8:15 pm
Location: The First Baptist Church of Mason
Sponsor: C.H.A.D.D.
Related Diagnosis / Condition: Attention Deficit Disorder
How to Register: 513-459-6080 Fee: $3.00 for non-members and free for C.H.A.D.D. members
SECURING YOUR DREAMS
Securing Your Dreams: Legal and Financial Strategies for Special Needs
Date: April 5, 2008
Time: 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Location: Drake Center, Level A,
151 E. Galbraith Rd. Sponsor: Arc-Hamilton CountyRelated Diagnosis / Condition: AllHow to Register: Arc-Hamilton County, 513-821-2113, ext. 113Fee: $15 (includes lunch)
CP Education Series: Assistive Technology
Date: April 30, 2008
Time: 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Location: Cincinnati Children's, Loc. E, 4th Fl., Rm. 353
Sponsor: Cincinnati Children's and UCP's Perlman CenterRelated Diagnosis / Condition: Cerebral Palsy
How to Register: Kari Edwards, kari.edwards@cchmc.org, 513-803-0052 / 800-344-2462 by April 16Fee: None
Date: April 5, 2008
Time: 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Location: Drake Center, Level A,
151 E. Galbraith Rd. Sponsor: Arc-Hamilton CountyRelated Diagnosis / Condition: AllHow to Register: Arc-Hamilton County, 513-821-2113, ext. 113Fee: $15 (includes lunch)
CP Education Series: Assistive Technology
Date: April 30, 2008
Time: 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Location: Cincinnati Children's, Loc. E, 4th Fl., Rm. 353
Sponsor: Cincinnati Children's and UCP's Perlman CenterRelated Diagnosis / Condition: Cerebral Palsy
How to Register: Kari Edwards, kari.edwards@cchmc.org, 513-803-0052 / 800-344-2462 by April 16Fee: None
The Light at the end of the Tunnel ...
"I love my work, I love this state and I'm confident this will all work out," the state schools superintendent told The Plain Dealer Friday. "I'm not going to stop until Ohio is seen as the best state in the United States in terms of offering a world-class education." - Susan Zelman,
I've had personal conversations with Susan Zelman and I can honestly say that she is so far removed from reality when it comes to understanding the needs of children living in Ohio school systems, mainstreaming, and proficiency testing, I would go as far as saying that this system she created was ingenius at capturing how children do on test but it does not fully measure the direct application of this newly found knowledge which is keystone to learning processes.
My children, for example, score in advance levels of the proficiency tests, but do poorly explaining how they arrived at the answers outside of showing me how they figured out how to answer the question from all the practice tests.
For our children who are excluded from a individualized education based on their ability, for our children who are mainsteamed but not included, and for the ones who are given alternative assessments, it's a political white wash.
Here's the report from Cincinnati's Enquirer:
Strickland rips schools chief
Governor wants control of state education department
BY BEN FISCHER
Gov. Ted Strickland slammed Ohio's top education official Thursday, saying the independently appointed state superintendent lacks the vision to take the next step in school reform.
His unsolicited, strongly worded criticism of Susan Tave Zelman came a month after he proposed taking control of the state Education Department, a move that would relegate her to an advisory role.
Until Thursday, the governor had not publicly assessed her abilities.
"I like Susan Zelman, she's a nice person," Strickland, a Democrat, said during a meeting with The Enquirer's editorial board. "But she's not a leader, she's not an advocate, she's not a good manager.
"She's an academician, a psychometrician, a statistician. But she's not an Eric Fingerhut, a visionary leader."
Fingerhut, a former state senator, is Strickland's hand-picked higher education czar after his successful takeover of the state's network of universities and colleges last year.
Strickland continued on Zelman: "She's a very bright person who contributes a lot to education, but she's not carrying out that vision," the first-term governor said.
Zelman was traveling Thursday and unavailable to respond, Education Department spokeswoman Karla Carruthers said. Her supporters, initially stunned by Strickland's comments, rose to her defense.
Jennifer Sheets, the Republican-appointed president of the Ohio Board of Education, said Zelman's record as superintendent is outstanding. She called Strickland's comparison to Fingerhut "ridiculous."
"I certainly have to disagree with him entirely on this issue," Sheets said. "He is absolutely mistaken if he thinks Dr. Zelman is not a leader."
In his State of the State address Feb. 9, Strickland proposed creating a cabinet-level director of education who would report directly to him. This would effectively neuter, but not eliminate, Zelman's position and the state school board, which has 11 elected members and eight members appointed by governors.
Since then, Strickland has defended his proposal as a way to bring more accountability to the state's educational bureaucracy. In making his case, he had previously focused on what he called the unwieldy and splintered educational system, not the individuals currently serving.
Thursday, he radically changed course.
"I want to find someone who can serve elementary and secondary education like Eric Fingerhut serves higher education," Strickland said.
Strickland has also promised to present a major education funding overhaul proposal next year, and he said Thursday that he can't do so credibly if he doesn't have a closer tie to the department.
State Sen. Joy Padgett, R-Coshocton, said it was unfair for Strickland to compare Zelman, a veteran of the system, to Fingerhut, who only has one year under his belt running a very different higher education system.
"I have a very high opinion of both of them," said Padgett, chairwoman of the Senate education committee.
Zelman has overseen Ohio's rise from the middle of the pack to seventh among the states in Education Week magazine's Quality Counts reports, Sheets said. The superintendent also commissioned a study last year that compared Ohio to international educational standards for the first time, with some findings Strickland himself has embraced, she said.
She said the governor's comments are only his next step in ginning up support for his takeover plan after his initial attempts at persuasion yielded little support.
"It's totally unfair for him to make unfounded personal attacks in an effort just to support this desire to change the educational governance system," Sheets said.
Strickland said his plan already has significant legislative support.
A spokeswoman for state House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, declined comment.
State school board member Sam Schloemer, of Wyoming, said he suspected that Strickland's motive from the beginning was to oust Zelman. If that's true, he'll have an opportunity to do that at the end of the year, when as many as 11 seats on the 19-member board could turn over. Strickland will get to directly appoint four.
"If he wants a change in the superintendent, and he wants to discuss those things with the board, then I'm quite sure the board would be open to that," Schloemer said.
Sue Taylor, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the state's second-largest teachers' union, would not say whether she agreed with Strickland's comments, only acknowledging that Fingerhut and Zelman have different styles and skills.
The union has expressed tentative support for Strickland's takeover plan.
"Perhaps he feels the need to educate the public on his assessment of the situation," she
I've had personal conversations with Susan Zelman and I can honestly say that she is so far removed from reality when it comes to understanding the needs of children living in Ohio school systems, mainstreaming, and proficiency testing, I would go as far as saying that this system she created was ingenius at capturing how children do on test but it does not fully measure the direct application of this newly found knowledge which is keystone to learning processes.
My children, for example, score in advance levels of the proficiency tests, but do poorly explaining how they arrived at the answers outside of showing me how they figured out how to answer the question from all the practice tests.
For our children who are excluded from a individualized education based on their ability, for our children who are mainsteamed but not included, and for the ones who are given alternative assessments, it's a political white wash.
Here's the report from Cincinnati's Enquirer:
Strickland rips schools chief
Governor wants control of state education department
BY BEN FISCHER
Gov. Ted Strickland slammed Ohio's top education official Thursday, saying the independently appointed state superintendent lacks the vision to take the next step in school reform.
His unsolicited, strongly worded criticism of Susan Tave Zelman came a month after he proposed taking control of the state Education Department, a move that would relegate her to an advisory role.
Until Thursday, the governor had not publicly assessed her abilities.
"I like Susan Zelman, she's a nice person," Strickland, a Democrat, said during a meeting with The Enquirer's editorial board. "But she's not a leader, she's not an advocate, she's not a good manager.
"She's an academician, a psychometrician, a statistician. But she's not an Eric Fingerhut, a visionary leader."
Fingerhut, a former state senator, is Strickland's hand-picked higher education czar after his successful takeover of the state's network of universities and colleges last year.
Strickland continued on Zelman: "She's a very bright person who contributes a lot to education, but she's not carrying out that vision," the first-term governor said.
Zelman was traveling Thursday and unavailable to respond, Education Department spokeswoman Karla Carruthers said. Her supporters, initially stunned by Strickland's comments, rose to her defense.
Jennifer Sheets, the Republican-appointed president of the Ohio Board of Education, said Zelman's record as superintendent is outstanding. She called Strickland's comparison to Fingerhut "ridiculous."
"I certainly have to disagree with him entirely on this issue," Sheets said. "He is absolutely mistaken if he thinks Dr. Zelman is not a leader."
In his State of the State address Feb. 9, Strickland proposed creating a cabinet-level director of education who would report directly to him. This would effectively neuter, but not eliminate, Zelman's position and the state school board, which has 11 elected members and eight members appointed by governors.
Since then, Strickland has defended his proposal as a way to bring more accountability to the state's educational bureaucracy. In making his case, he had previously focused on what he called the unwieldy and splintered educational system, not the individuals currently serving.
Thursday, he radically changed course.
"I want to find someone who can serve elementary and secondary education like Eric Fingerhut serves higher education," Strickland said.
Strickland has also promised to present a major education funding overhaul proposal next year, and he said Thursday that he can't do so credibly if he doesn't have a closer tie to the department.
State Sen. Joy Padgett, R-Coshocton, said it was unfair for Strickland to compare Zelman, a veteran of the system, to Fingerhut, who only has one year under his belt running a very different higher education system.
"I have a very high opinion of both of them," said Padgett, chairwoman of the Senate education committee.
Zelman has overseen Ohio's rise from the middle of the pack to seventh among the states in Education Week magazine's Quality Counts reports, Sheets said. The superintendent also commissioned a study last year that compared Ohio to international educational standards for the first time, with some findings Strickland himself has embraced, she said.
She said the governor's comments are only his next step in ginning up support for his takeover plan after his initial attempts at persuasion yielded little support.
"It's totally unfair for him to make unfounded personal attacks in an effort just to support this desire to change the educational governance system," Sheets said.
Strickland said his plan already has significant legislative support.
A spokeswoman for state House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, declined comment.
State school board member Sam Schloemer, of Wyoming, said he suspected that Strickland's motive from the beginning was to oust Zelman. If that's true, he'll have an opportunity to do that at the end of the year, when as many as 11 seats on the 19-member board could turn over. Strickland will get to directly appoint four.
"If he wants a change in the superintendent, and he wants to discuss those things with the board, then I'm quite sure the board would be open to that," Schloemer said.
Sue Taylor, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the state's second-largest teachers' union, would not say whether she agreed with Strickland's comments, only acknowledging that Fingerhut and Zelman have different styles and skills.
The union has expressed tentative support for Strickland's takeover plan.
"Perhaps he feels the need to educate the public on his assessment of the situation," she
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
CP Education Classes for IEP
at Children's Hospital Medical Center
Location E
4th Floor
5:30 to 6 p.m.
Pizza and social
6-8 p.m.
Wednesday
March 5, 2008
Your Child's IEP
April 30, 2008
Assistive Technology: Creating Possibilities
Register by calling Kari Edwards
513-803-0052/800-344-2462
Child care will be provided by trained professionals and there is no cost
Location E
4th Floor
5:30 to 6 p.m.
Pizza and social
6-8 p.m.
Wednesday
March 5, 2008
Your Child's IEP
April 30, 2008
Assistive Technology: Creating Possibilities
Register by calling Kari Edwards
513-803-0052/800-344-2462
Child care will be provided by trained professionals and there is no cost
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Editorial from Cleveland Plain Dealer
Editorial: Changes atop Ohio's K-12 education bureaucracy probably wouldn't hurt
Friday, February 15, 2008
Posted by the editors at blog.cleveland.com/ post_riposte/ on 02/11/2008 at 5:15 p.m.
Gov. Ted Strickland didn't put it this bluntly in his State of the State speech, but it's clear he wants to junk the State Board of Education and the state superintendent.
That's fine with us - with a few caveats.
Strickland's plan would turn state Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman and the board into advisers. A K-12 education czar would report directly to Strickland, in an arrangement similar to the job held by Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of higher education.
Under the governor's proposal, decisions to reform K-12 education would ultimately be his responsibility - and everybody would know it.
Zelman isn't eager to take a back seat to a new Cabinet member. And her annual salary of $217,000 seems a little pricey for an adviser. If the legislature goes along with Strickland's plan, Zelman's position should be eliminated.
As for the state board, half the members already are appointed by the governor, and even the ones elected by the voters are just about anonymous.
Their lack of accountability has been evident from the board's stumbling on several key educational issues. Members have been slow, for instance, to make the Department of Education divulge information about teachers who abuse youngsters - something that is of great concern, especially to parents.
But if all of Ohio's education decisions were left to this governor, parents might find they have new concerns.
In an effort to appease supporters in organized labor, Strickland has adopted inflexible and wrongheaded positions on charter schools and school vouchers. He wants a moratorium on new charters, a ban on for-profit charters and restrictions established so the school voucher program cannot spread beyond Cleveland.
The governor's ideas in the area of school choice are nothing short of awful. Choice is a concept that has been far from perfect in its implementation, but families deserve educational options. Strickland and his aides should shut down charter schools that fail, but they should reward the ones that succeed.
Strickland could change the administrative structure of education in Ohio without doing any damage. But the General Assembly would have to keep a close watch on how such changes affect education policy and use its powers to ensure that parents, children and taxpayers are well served.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Posted by the editors at blog.cleveland.com/ post_riposte/ on 02/11/2008 at 5:15 p.m.
Gov. Ted Strickland didn't put it this bluntly in his State of the State speech, but it's clear he wants to junk the State Board of Education and the state superintendent.
That's fine with us - with a few caveats.
Strickland's plan would turn state Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman and the board into advisers. A K-12 education czar would report directly to Strickland, in an arrangement similar to the job held by Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of higher education.
Under the governor's proposal, decisions to reform K-12 education would ultimately be his responsibility - and everybody would know it.
Zelman isn't eager to take a back seat to a new Cabinet member. And her annual salary of $217,000 seems a little pricey for an adviser. If the legislature goes along with Strickland's plan, Zelman's position should be eliminated.
As for the state board, half the members already are appointed by the governor, and even the ones elected by the voters are just about anonymous.
Their lack of accountability has been evident from the board's stumbling on several key educational issues. Members have been slow, for instance, to make the Department of Education divulge information about teachers who abuse youngsters - something that is of great concern, especially to parents.
But if all of Ohio's education decisions were left to this governor, parents might find they have new concerns.
In an effort to appease supporters in organized labor, Strickland has adopted inflexible and wrongheaded positions on charter schools and school vouchers. He wants a moratorium on new charters, a ban on for-profit charters and restrictions established so the school voucher program cannot spread beyond Cleveland.
The governor's ideas in the area of school choice are nothing short of awful. Choice is a concept that has been far from perfect in its implementation, but families deserve educational options. Strickland and his aides should shut down charter schools that fail, but they should reward the ones that succeed.
Strickland could change the administrative structure of education in Ohio without doing any damage. But the General Assembly would have to keep a close watch on how such changes affect education policy and use its powers to ensure that parents, children and taxpayers are well served.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Cleveland Plain Dealer's Version of Zelman vs. Strickland Battle for Ohio Education
Zelman, state superintendent, disagrees with Strickland's proposed shake-up
Schools boss, Strickland disagree
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Scott StephensPlain Dealer Reporter
An upbeat Susan Tave Zelman shrugged off an apparent no- confidence vote from the governor and vowed to continue mov ing the state's 1.8 million-student public school system forward.
"I love my work, I love this state and I'm confident this will all work out," the state schools superintendent told The Plain Dealer Friday. "I'm not going to stop until Ohio is seen as the best state in the United States in terms of offering a world-class education."
Zelman's remarks were her first public comments since Gov. Ted Strickland, in his State of the State speech Wednesday, called for creation of a Cabinet- level director of education who would report directly to him. The new position, which would have to be created by the legislature, would relegate Zelman and the 19-member State Board of Education to advisory roles.
In his speech, Strickland acknowledged the state has moved up in national education rankings, but said the public schools system could not be run by an "unwieldy department with splintered accountability."
The announcement, and its timing, surprised some. Zelman said she was on her way to a social event late Tuesday evening when she was summoned to the governor's office. She said an aide showed her portions of Strickland's address.
"I was very surprised," she said, adding that she and the governor have not spoken since his Wednesday speech.
The bombshell also surprised State Board of Education President Jennifer Sheets.
"I have had a fairly good professional and personal relationship with the governor, who was my congressman," said Sheets, of Pomeroy. "I'm disappointed he didn't see a need to contact me ahead of time."
Zelman, who begins her 10th year as the state's superintendent of schools March 8, said she sharply disagreed with the governor's proposal, but did not take it as a personal rebuke.
"I understand politics," she said.
Schools boss, Strickland disagree
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Scott StephensPlain Dealer Reporter
An upbeat Susan Tave Zelman shrugged off an apparent no- confidence vote from the governor and vowed to continue mov ing the state's 1.8 million-student public school system forward.
"I love my work, I love this state and I'm confident this will all work out," the state schools superintendent told The Plain Dealer Friday. "I'm not going to stop until Ohio is seen as the best state in the United States in terms of offering a world-class education."
Zelman's remarks were her first public comments since Gov. Ted Strickland, in his State of the State speech Wednesday, called for creation of a Cabinet- level director of education who would report directly to him. The new position, which would have to be created by the legislature, would relegate Zelman and the 19-member State Board of Education to advisory roles.
In his speech, Strickland acknowledged the state has moved up in national education rankings, but said the public schools system could not be run by an "unwieldy department with splintered accountability."
The announcement, and its timing, surprised some. Zelman said she was on her way to a social event late Tuesday evening when she was summoned to the governor's office. She said an aide showed her portions of Strickland's address.
"I was very surprised," she said, adding that she and the governor have not spoken since his Wednesday speech.
The bombshell also surprised State Board of Education President Jennifer Sheets.
"I have had a fairly good professional and personal relationship with the governor, who was my congressman," said Sheets, of Pomeroy. "I'm disappointed he didn't see a need to contact me ahead of time."
Zelman, who begins her 10th year as the state's superintendent of schools March 8, said she sharply disagreed with the governor's proposal, but did not take it as a personal rebuke.
"I understand politics," she said.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Children's Hospital Advocacy & Resources Page
Can't think of going one week without using this link to look something up ...
http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/svc/alpha/c/special-needs/resources/advocacy.htm
http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/svc/alpha/c/special-needs/resources/advocacy.htm
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