Fall, 2012, Lafayette, Indiana, Date TBA Special Education Advocacy Training-Tippecanoe (SEATT).

Special Education Consulting will sponsor another advocacy training this fall for parents of children enrolled in, or who should be enrolled in, special education or Section 504 programs.

This program focuses on Tippecanoe County, but we welcome parents in surrounding counties to attend and learn advocacy skills.

This fall, we will focus on your child's psychoeducational evaluations: how to read and understand them, what the numbers mean, and are they comprehensive and appropriate to meet your child's needs.

If you have a child who is struggling in a general or special education program, please email Pat at:

specialedconsulting@gmail.com

When we get enough interest, we will schedule the training.

Special Education Advocacy Training for Tippecanoe County

Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at the Tippecanoe County Library Public Meeting Room.

Special Education Consulting is proud to sponsor an introductory special education advocacy training meeting for parents within Lafayette School Corporation, West Lafayette Community School Corporation, and Tippecanoe School Corporation.

This is an informational and organizational meeting for a new advocacy training group for parents of special needs children in the Greater Lafayette Area Special Services (GLASS) catchment area. If you have a child enrolled in special education or have a child that you think should be enrolled but has been denied services, you will want to attend this meeting.

Light refreshments will be served and parents who helped shape today's special education programs will be available for questions.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Tippecanoe Parents and Professionals for Special Education (TPPSE) was an active special education advocacy group. Interest waned and the group disbanded. Perhaps it is time for a refresher course in special education advocacy. If there is enough interest, we can regenerate an advocacy group.

Three drawings will be held. You will have a chance to win one of three Wrightslaw books, From Emotions to Advocacy, All About IEPs, or Special Education Law. I look forward to meeting you all on May 2.

INSTITUTE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVOCACY APPLICATION IS UP!

The Conference page is up with the application form for the William and Mary College of Law Institute of Special Education Advocacy. Class size is limited. Get your application in early. Experienced advocates, law students, new lawyers, lawyers new to special education: This is the program you need to expand your horizons. Expanded curriculum and experienced faculty make this a premium program. CLEs will be available. Find the conference page here.

William & Mary College, School of Law Institute of Special Education Advocacy

For those of you who have been asking about the annual Institute of Special Education Advocacy: Look for the application late today or tomorrow on the Wrightslaw website: http://www.wrightslaw.com. We look forward to seeing you in July. Do not miss this opportunity! I will also have the application form on my website: http://www.patriciahowey.com

When Is An Accommodation a "Crutch?"

QUESTION:  Is it appropriate to use a scribe for high stakes testing for kids with dyslexia and kids on the autism spectrem who cannot concentrate well?

Here are my thoughts on accommodations on school work and on tests, in general:

What does the assignment or test purport to measure? Accommodations are intended to "level the playing field" for kids with disabilities. If an accommodation changes the fundamental purpose of what the testing is intended to reveal, it is no longer an accommodation. It is a crutch and does not serve the purpose of preparing the child for "further education, employment, and independent living."

A child may need a scribe because of muscle weakness or fatigue that interferes with the actual act of writing. In that case, a scribe is an appropriate accommodation. However, it is not appropriate for a school to provide a scribe to a child who is unable to write properly because of a lack of instruction to remediate dyslexia or other learning disability. That child needs specialized reading, spelling, and writing instruction. The scribe, in that example is not an accommodation but a crutch.

An "accommodation" that expects less of a student than for students without disabilities is not an "accommodation." For example, when a teacher assigns first grade work to a fourth grade student as an "accommodation" has lowered the bar for that student. As long as the "accommodation" is temporary, and the teacher is also providing specialized instruction, that might be appropriate. 

But it is not appropriate to assign a scribe for a student who cannot perform at grade level on the writing portion of a test because the test score will be reduced due to spelling or reading errors. The scribe is simply covering up an area that requires more special instruction. The student may score at grade level, but the student is not really doing the work; the scribe is doing the work. This gives students and parents a false sense of complacency, each believing the student is performing better then s/he really is.

I am much more an advocate for technology than accommodations. Technology follows the student throughout his/her life. Does the student really want a scribe following him/her throughout further education, employment, and independent living? (Is living really independent if the student needs a scribe as an adult?)

Can the student do the written part of the test on a computer without spell or grammer check? That tests what the student can or cannot do. That type of information actually helps a student, because then we KNOW the student needs specialized instruction.

We continue to have kids "graduating" from high school (with dyslexia and other learning disabilities), with normal or above normal IQs, who cannot read, write, or do math. This is mainly because schools are happy to provide "accommodations" and loath to provide specialized instruction to students with disabilities. While it may seem "kinder" to students to give them copious accommodations, unless they learn to read, write, and do math at a functional level, we have not really done them any favors.

The intent should be to provide accommodations for kids with a normal IQ and a learning disability to get them by while they are being taught to read, write, and do math. Once that is accomplished, then they will no longer need accommodations.

As for students on the autism spectrum, I would ask, what is the purpose of providing a scribe? How would a scribe assist a student with autism? Isn't there some other means of allowing the student to provide proof of mastery of the skill being tested? How does providing a scribe prepare the student with autism for "further education, employment, and independent living?"

There's got to be a better way than continually lowering the bar on a test to such a level that anyone could pass as long as they have aposable thumb.

The William & Mary Law Clinic's Institute of Special Education Advocacy

Well, it is over until next July. The first class of the W&M ISEA graduated yesterday, benefiting from the teaching of the best experts in the United States, Pete and Pam Wright, Mark Kamleiter, Jim Comstock-Galagan, Harry Gewanter, Kayla Bower, Bill Hurd, Tom Coe, Joy Turner, Bill Reichardt, and Lori Kornek. If you don't know who these folks are, you are missing several essential tools in your special education advocacy toolbox. The W&M ISEA is held at the W&M Law School Campus in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Especially interesting was being able to hear the school attorney's perspective of Jason Ballum of Smith Reed, who was expectedly unflappable in the midst of this group of advocates who did not fear questioning him about how to better advocate with school districts. I thank Jason for being willing to help the W&M ISEA participants learn how to be more professional in their advocacy efforts. I explained to Jason that now, perhaps, he better understands how parents feel when they walk into the IEP room filled with school staff.

Congratulations to all of this year's graduates. I enjoyed meeting you and teaching you some of the finer points of preparing for IEP meetings. I look forward to networking with you all in the future and sharing advocacy tips. Go forth into the world, teach others, and advocate professionally.

Next year's ISEA is set for the week of July 23, 2012 and will include an advanced track for parent attorneys held simultaneously with the advocate track. This will be a great way to network with parent attorneys and learn what they expect from advocates.

Watch the Wrightslaw website for further details and when registration comes online, do not wait. The 2011 session sold out within two weeks and the ISEA's popularity is expected to increase and slots are limited.

New: Special Education Lay Advocate Training

August 9-12, 2011: Williamsburg, VA - The William & Mary Law Institute of Special Education Advocacy is a four-day training program in special education advocacy hosted by the William & Mary School of Law, and co-sponsored by the PELE Special Education Advocacy Clinic, Wrightslaw, and The Oklahoma Disability Law Center. Attendance is limited to 20. Attendees will be selected by an application process. Click here for the application. Cost: $495. Pat is delighted to be a member of the faculty for this training.

Pat will be training on Friday on the topics of Preparing Parents for Meetings and Client Management.