I Speak of Dreams

Reason #60,578 That Special Education Parents Distrust Schools

You entrust your child's needed medication to the school, and the school nurse steals it.  The unknowingly unmedicated child's  behavior deteriorates to the point that you are considering hospitalizing your child.  What does the school do?

Special Education Law: Dora Raymaker Interviews Attorney Jennifer Parker

Over at Change.org/autism, artist and adult with autism Dora Raymaker conducts interviews with attorney Jennifer Parker.

I got pretty excited about Jennifer who not only has specific expertise working with students with invisible disabilities (including autism), but is also a special education attorney. So I hit Jennifer up for more than one interview. Here's the first, continuing the themes that were explored in the "real world" post--why can it be so hard to get seemingly simple accommodations from teachers? Is this a problem with individual teachers, with teacher education, with the educational system, with--with what?

Here's the beginning of the second interview:

Thursday I posted Jennifer Parker's take on why it can be difficult for students on the autistic spectrum to get academic accommodations. Now with more of her attorney hat on, I've asked Jennifer some questions more about the legal and self-advocacy side of academic accommodations at the primary and secondary school level.

Dora: Give me a brief summary of the laws that govern special education and public school accommodations.

Jennifer: Section 504 is a civil rights law that allows medical and classroom accommodations for children with disabilities who do not require special education services. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ensures that all children with disabilities have a free appropriate public education that emphasizes education that meets their unique needs.

Attention Bay Area Parents: March 14, The Evolving Reading Brain

March 14, 2009

The Evolving Reading Brain and the Digital Age: A Tale of Caution and Optimism for Parents and Teachers

with Maryanne Wolf, EdD

Palo Alto High School's Historic Haymarket Theater

50 Embarcadero Road, Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301

corner of Embarcadero Road and El Camino in Palo Alto

9:00 am to 12:00 noon

The story of how the brain learned to read can teach us new ways to think about how every young child learns to read, why some children cannot learn to read easily but may grow up to be artists and inventors, and what some of the challenges are to the development of reading in a digital age. This is a program for parents, educators, and the community.

Spanish translation provided. Childcare available by reservation to Cristina at 650.329.3787

Brookeland School District, Texas: Teacher accused of atheism is suspended, resigns

update 2/6/09: see below. Teacher resigns

Brookland Independent School District locates itself in "Deep East Texas". It's a two-school district, the elementary school (PK-5) and the high school (6-12). The total district enrollment is about 340 students.

According to an article at Democracy for America, the teacher, Richard Mullens, taught history and government.  On  January 16, Mr. Mullens was put on paid administrative leave  for being "an atheist" and "too liberal".  

A reaction from one of  Mr. Mullens' students  at Brad Watkins' Confession of a West Tennessee Liberal:

I would like to start this comment off by saying I am a student in Brookeland ISD and have had Mr. Mullens as my history teacher since junior high. I am now a junior in school. Mr Mullens is a great teacher. Since when should we start judging teachers by their religious beliefs? What we're dealing with here is not fair. They have jumped from one thing to the next here. What's happening here is not just. I have learned so much from Mullens the past few years.

The chain of events:

Evelyn Towry, Age 8, Charged with Battery

ABC News: Parents Consider Legal Action After Autistic Girl, 8, Arrested at School.

Police in Bonner County, Idaho, charged the girl, Evelyn Towry, with battery after the arrest Friday at Kootenai Elementary School. Even though prosecutors dismissed the case Tuesday, the family is considering legal action against the school. They say their daughter was physically restrained to the point of causing bruises and is now tormented by memories of the incident.

The Bailout

The Bailout. -- nifty graphic and critique of John Thain, Merrill CEO.

The Long Saga of Julie Amero: Free but Still A Victim--Of Cyberbullying by the Police Officer in the Case

Julie Amero was the Connecticut substitute teacher whose classroom computer was taken over by malware. The response was not to fire the school's IT administrator, but to charge Ms. Amero with felony child endangerment.

Who’s To Blame for Bad Schools? Look in the Mirror at The Core Knowledge Blog

Who’s To Blame for Bad Schools? Look in the Mirror at The Core Knowledge Blog.

The state of K-16 education in Nevada is where the public–that is you out there–has allowed it to sink. Your only relationship with the education system is to ship your unprepared kids to school not with the expectation of success, but with the demand that an education system, inadequately funded, develop and/or repair children that you as a parent did not prepare for school or support while your children attended school. If you want a competent and productive education system, tell your Governor and legislators to fund it. They do what they think you want them to do. That’s why they’re called public servants. It is the public–that means you– that has created this disaster of a public education system. It’s a blistering Jeremiad. Nevadans once hoped to see their kids go to college, but today are satisfied if their children graduate from eighth grade, Rogers says. And don’t blame educators for the state’s poor schools. The founder and owner of Sunbelt Communications Company, which owns and operates 16 NBC and FOX affiliate television stations in five western states, Rogers says when he became Nevada’s chancellor five years ago he came to the job with a sense that education was “an overweight, lazy, unproductive massive intellect, with no direction and little desire to get there fast.”

FreeRice

FreeRice.

is alsomst addictive

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) from Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs

I really didn't know much about AAC before I read Rob Rummel-Hudson's book, Schuyler's Monster.  Here's an introduction:

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies assist people with severe communication disabilities to participate more fully in their social roles including interpersonal interaction, learning, education, community activities, employment, volunteerism, care management, and so on. This AAC website is designed to provide access to a wide range of information and resources related to the AAC effort. It is maintained by the Barkley AAC Center and the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska.

I found this comment at the excellent blog, Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs

Although we all have heard the rumor that some people believe implementation of AAC will impede speech development in people with developmental disabilities, most of us know this is not true. In fact most studies, as show by this frequently cited meta-analysis, indicate that speech production will either not change or will increase. Increased verbal production is by far the more likely of the two!