|
January
22, 2009 - Many twice-exceptional children
(gifted with disabilities) have been forced out
of Eanes ISD and other Texas schools
districts when the school leadership refuses to
meet their special needs. Is there
hope on the horizon?
The recent victory
in Klein ISD may give hope to parents who choose
to advocate for their child's right to an
appropriate education. The
legal decision includes
reimbursement for private school tuition:
"Based upon the testimony presented, the
district shall reimburse the petitioner in the
amount of $66,630.00 which represents the moneys
that the petitioner has paid to date."
The story and decision follow.
"You're on
your own, pal."
Opening Statement
from Due Process:
The student
is a 19-year-old high school student whose
family lives within the boundaries of Klein ISD,
but he currently attends Landmark, a private out
of state residential school for bright students
with learning disabilities.
This case was pretty simple: The student
couldn't write. The school was supposed to at
least attempt to teach him to write. The school
was charged with exposing him to instruction
that will teach him to write. Yet year after
year his IEP goals,
objectives and services never, ever addressed
how to teach him the basic skills so that he
would be able to write.
The school basically said to to the student, via
his IEPs: "You're on your own, pal."
Proof of their failure is
objectively and measurably evidenced by his
failure to pass theTAKS in writing. This is the
absolute bare minimum standard set by the state
of Texas for students in writing. He couldn't do
it, and when you review his IEPs, it will become
clear to you why Klein Collins failed to teach
this bright young man to write.
He's teachable, as Landmark is in fact showing
him how to learn the basics of writing, reading
and spell. His skills in those areas have
MARKEDLY improved since his enrollment there.
The student has diagnosed learning disabilities
in nonverbal problem solving, written expression
and working memory/processing speed. These
learning disabilities are not new. They have
been with him the entire eight years he had been
at Klein ISD.
He is unique that he is learning disabled AND
of gifted intelligence. In fact, his verbal
comprehension score of 142 probably surpasses
that of a lot of the rest of us. But despite
this superior intellect, this is a young man who
cannot take even a phone message. He cannot take
notes in class, cannot write an essay
unassisted, cannot use spellcheck on a computer,
cannot surf the web and took five hours over the
course of several days to write his one-page
application for Landmark.
Despite these challenges and the school's
knowledge of them, the evidence showed that
there have never been goals or objectives or
services to assist him in any way in learning
organizational skills, memory skills, social
skills, homework completion or addressing his
considerable post-school transitional needs.
None. Even though these had all repeatedly
been identified as areas of need in the school's
own evaluations and ARD documenbts.
As his transition document, despite his
considerable needs, the school used
check-the-box forms that had such a lack of
individualization that if you were to cross out
the student's name and identification number and
found this document lying on the floor, you
would have no way of knowing that it was this
particular student's or any other student's in
the entire state of Texas.
Remarkably, despite how very little was done for
him, he managed to pass his classes at Klein
Collins High School even though in testing done
by outside evaluators in the spring of 2008, the
parents learned that this young man was
performing at a 5.1 grade equivalent in word
identification, a 2.0 in word attack, at 5.4 GE
in rate of reading, 2.4 in accuracy of reading
and 3.7 in fluency of reading.
What was this bright, talented young man
supposed to be working for every single year he
was at high school in Klein? To merely
pass his classes and to use a
portable speller. That is the entirety
of his goals and objectives for several years
running.
In the ARD just prior to the hearing request
being filed, the school folks said no to
Landmark without having researched the program,
without having ever visited it and without ever
having called to talk to anyone there.
The family asked to go to mediation in this
case. The school said no.
This was a sweet victory for a deserving family.
A copy of the decision is shared with
permission.
If
Eanes ISD
doesn’t respond to seeing a
child in a wheelchair stuck
behind a chain-link fence
watching her friends play at
recess ... imagine what they
do to children with invisible
disabilities. - Dianna
Pharr, March 2008
Related story
posted December 2008:
What happens when
a school district refuses to allow a gifted
child with disabilities to access AP classes?
 Attention: Eanes ISD
It's time to end the district's long practice of discrimination.
This just in from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights:
December 26, 2007 - I am writing to advise you of an issue involving students with disabilities seeking enrollment in challenging academic programs, such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes or programs (accelerated programs). Specifically, it has been reported that some schools and school districts have refused to allow qualified students with disabilities to participate in such programs. Similarly, we are informed of schools and school districts that, as a condition of participation in such programs, have required qualified students with disabilities to give up the services that have been designed to meet their individual needs. These practices are inconsistent with Federal law, and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education will continue to act promptly to remedy such violations where they occur.
The practice of denying, on the basis of disability, a qualified student with a disability the opportunity to participate in an accelerated program violates both Section 504 and Title II. Discrimination prohibited by these laws includes, on the basis of disability, denying a qualified individual with a disability the opportunity to participate in or benefit from the recipient's aids, benefits, or services, and affording a qualified individual with a disability with an opportunity to participate in or benefit from the aid, benefit or service in a manner that is not equal to that offered to individuals without disabilities. 34 CFR 104.4(a), (b)(1)(i), (b)(1)(ii); 28 CFR 35.130(a), (b)(1)(i), (b)(1)(ii).
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST: Access by Students with Disabilities to Accelerated Programs
Is your child twice-exceptional?
Since re-authorization of the IDEA, twice exceptional students (students with gifted abilities or talents and LDs) have qualified for individualized educational support in the form of 504 accommodations or an IEP. That said, twice exceptional students are often overlooked in conventional school settings because their gifts may compensate enough
to avoid identification for help, but not enough to avoid emotional problems and often gross academic achievement. Keep reading.
More ...
Often it is only parents or teachers who develop a close relationship with a student who notice advanced conceptual ability, abstract reasoning, self-initiated creative activities in the presence of otherwise lackluster academic performances. It's also worthwhile noting how often secondary social, emotional, or behavioral problems erupt
making the sources of school underachievement difficult to identify. Keep reading.
|
