Special Education Rights

[RachelG27]

i am a 28 year old mother of an autistic four year old soon to be five year old boy. he will start school next year and i would like to know what are our rights when it comes to getting the school district to pay for his education in a school "WE" feel is appropriate for him. i found a wonderful school that has alreay transitioned two children back into "normal" classrooms, but it is private. What can i do to get the school district to agree to pay to send him there? We live in Pennsylvania and my name is rachel.

 

[truth is powerful]

I would check with an attorney but I am almost sure you can not make a public school system pay for a private school just because the services they do offer you are inadequete to you. My daughter is also autistic and if sent to a private school our district was willing to still offer speech therapy and interactive therapies at her district school. Is your son able to qualify for therapies through insurance as that has been the greatest resource for our family. She was even able to attend a preschool at the local children's hospital for a time. At this point she is expected not to need assistance in a regular kindergarten classroom next year and the school is responding to my request that they keep the head count low in her class and they will have 4 less students then the other class. Are you enrolled in an early intervention program this year and what does your eip team suggest for him? The alternative to a regular classroom for my daughter was a room of k-1rst 30% autistic 70% emotionally disturbed. therapies for emotional disturbance are so different than for autistic children that I decided not to place her there. Also autistic children learn in patterns and I did not want her learning patterns from emotionally disturbed children. Its bad enough trying to help her stop saying poopyhead in the grocery store with grandma let alone avoid some of the behaviors I observed in the classroom they offered.

 

[RachelG27]

Well my son has no speech. None of the programs offered fit his needs. They don't have anything to offer to meet his needs. So shouldn't it be their responsibiliy to pay for something that does meet his needs. They have no idea what PECS is , which is really big in the Autistic world. They also offer an emotional support class which I also did not feel meant his needs. There is another program they offered that is way below his level. The kids in this class are all severly handicapped physically and mentally. He would have no interaction there. Then there was only one other program they offered. My school district already has a child in the school where I want to send my son. So they will pay for it. It is just a matter of how to get them to pay.

 

[truth is powerful]

Find the parents of that other child and figure to do what they did. Your son has no speech? verbal? otherwise? you are his voice and if I wer you I would be persistant and vocal. Squeaky wheel so to speak. I also felt the classrooms they offered my daughter were below her level socially she has been raised in a stuctured family childcare since birth with me I have a degree in early childhood ed and am working on my bachelors. Her ability to have the same peers since birth has caused her to be interactive with those she knows well and feels safe with. 18 months ago she had very little speech but is now caught up to her age. You are your sons voice at this point and its important to push the fact that at his age he needs the help now for the chance of living a more enriched life.

 

[truth is powerful]

Hey its me again.
I looked up nolo'soverview of special education law. I do no know how to type a link, but this is where I found it.
http://nolo.com/encyclopedia/articles/kid/se-law.html
I hope it helps, I would look carefully at number
3.Instructional Setting or Placement(this mentions private schools) At the bottom of the page there is a link to OSERS which leads to OSEP also. I found phenominal amounts of information there.

 

[RachelG27]

Thank you so much for the help! It is greatly appreciated. Good luck with your little one also!

 

[dorenephilpot]

I'm an attorney who handles special ed cases for parents of autistic children -- talk about a specialized area!

But I practice in Indiana.

There is a WEALTH of information out there, and it's worthwhile to educate yourself on the issues.

Check out the Reed Martin website to get an idea. Also check out mayerslaw.com.

Here's what happens a lot of times: School systems want to shove special needs kids in a babysitting service and not allow them to make meaningful educational progress.

The best thing you can do for your child is push for an ABA program (Applied Behavioral Analysis). It WORKS for autistic kids, but it's intensive and therefore expensive, so schools don't want to do it.

That program works so well that many, many autistic children can be mainstreamed in the regular classroom, believe it or not! It's the only scientifically proven program to work for kids.

This program offers you a chance to save your child's life.

But you'll have to fight for it, and possibly take the school to due process, so bone up on your rights!

Let me know if you have further questions.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[RachelG27]

Thank you so much! One thing I do know is that they are not going to just "babysit" my son. He is extremely intelligent and witht he right foundation of education he will lead a turly productive life. I will not let them waste our time just to save them a few dollars. I eventually want him in a "typical" classroom so these early years are very important. Thank you again and I will let you know.

 

[dorenephilpot]

It's a tough fight, but it's the same thing as if your son had cancer -- you'd fight for his life.

Well, with autism, he can be saved also, unlike kids with a lot of other disabilities.

Don't give up on him.

Let me know if you want to talk more -- right now isn't a good time. I'm taking a case to due process in nine days, so it is consuming all my time, but I will have time to talk after that, if you want to call.

The office number is (317) 485-4578.