Creative Tactics to get Spec Ed Services
Creative Tactics to get Spec Ed Services
After spinning my wheels with the District and State Education Agencies just to get them to comply with local, state, and federal laws I came up with some other tactics that have been effective in getting my son Special Ed services he needs.
My son is Gifted, ADHD,
NEWS FLASH- you do not have to have an attorney or an advocate to accomplish things. I had neither, and was successful w/ a little persistence and some creative tactics! I could not find any local attorneys who were knowledgeable enough or willing to go against the district. There are only a couple of advocates in my area, and very hard to get to come to meetings b/c they are free and have a lot of people in need of their help.
What did my son get out of all of this: An independent evaluation at public expense that correctly diagnosed his disabilities, One-on-one instruction for English and Math, Assistive Technology (laptop with speech recognition software), more than tripled his GPA (from a .85 to a 2.71 in one year), he more than doubled his standardized test scores in most subject areas in one year after making little to no progress over a seven year period (Language he went from the 7th percentile to the 60th, Reading from 40th to the 90th),and most of all a much happier child with glowing self-esteem. This is how I did it using these tactics (not necessarily in this order though):
1. The below link is a short funny story on why you should never judge a book by it's cover. I use this story when I'm told my son lacks motivation, then I tell them appearances can be deceiving, it's not motivation he lacks it's appropriate instruction to meet his needs (this was not a teacher problem, it was an administrative problem, just to clarify): www.heavenr.com/railroad/
2. I use this example of Einstein: Einstein had problems at school, and was told by one of his teachers he would never amount to anything. He had difficulty with rote memorization (the main method of teaching used at his school), spelling, math, and behavior, from what I've read. Can you imagine telling Einstein he will never amount to anything? I use this one to demonstrate why we should never use the word never, and why we should keep an open mind, cause you never know who or what the child will be when all grown up.
3. I filed complaints with the Louisiana State Department of Education and the US Dept of Education Office for Civil Rights, which seemed to get their attention for a while.
4. I contacted the press and had them do an article on my son and his struggles (with his permission first).
5. I requested time to speak and addressed the district's school board, that seemed to get their attention too, since the article came out the day before the board meeting which is televised.
6. Brought homemade sugar cookies and/or cheesecake to most meetings, and typed an Agenda that I wanted to discuss for each meeting and passed out copies to everyone.
7. Changed my ring tone to the song "Harper Valley PTA" and left it on during meetings. It just happened to go off during a state mediation session, the Judge/Mediator thought it was hilarious, unfortunately the district's special ed personnel had already been removed at my request because they were badgering my son.
8. E-mailed Margaret Spellings (head of US Dept of Ed) and CC the district superintendent about my difficulties with the district and state, and their failure to process my complaints, along with failure to implement his IEP.
9. Recorded telephone conversations with the district and state supervisors (it's perfectly legal in Louisiana provided you are one of the parties in the conversation, only illegal if you are not in the conversation). Copied these recordings to my computer and burned some lovely CD's and sent them to the news media. I also scanned all of his education records and put them on CD too.
10. Filed a complaint with the US Department of Justice for violations under IDEA, Section 504 of the Rehab. Act, and violations of the Freedom of information act.
11. Filed a complaint with the FBI for criminal actions under fraud and mismanagement of funds earmarked for special ed, and for civil actions in discriminating against students with disabilities.
12. Wrote the State Department of Education's Head Attorney (supervisor of attorney's who handle/process Ed complaints for the state)and informed him I had tape recorded a conversation with one of his attorney's which has her committing a violation (age discrimination) on tape.
13. Made these ridiculous looking glasses (I didn't intentionally make them look ridiculous, just sort of happened) to simulate to the supervisors what it feels like to get headaches, watery eyes, and keep loosing your place. This was done also to simulate his problems with Written Expression (Dysgraphia).
I made them write a phrase, they had to start writing from the right side of the page (not the usual left side) with the opposite hand they usually wrote with, right handed people wrote with their left hand.
They were to be graded on accuracy and neatness, along with remembering what they wrote, and the test would be timed.
I told them to pretend their jobs, and promotions were depending on them doing well.
This test let them feel the humiliation and frustration my son feels all day everyday. It was kind of an attitude adjustment. I should have asked them why they didn't finish, and did they lack motivation, like they accuse my son of constantly, but I was trying to behave myself.
14. I requested to convene an IEP every week to work on and change teaching methods and/or strategies until we figured out why he wasn't performing in regular ed classes as expected. I knew the reason, but they ignored me and were unwilling to listen or look at the progress he made with the other instruction methods(they also didn't want to provide any resource or smaller settings/services for him), he needed more individualized instruction in a much smaller setting.
My perspective was if they were going to waste our time doing something that was apparently not working and blame him for his lack of progress, we were going to waste some of their time (mostly administrators) figuring out how to improve his academic performance. Parents have the right to request an IEP anytime they wish, I just used it to our advantage.
15. When the incompetent Special Ed Co-coordinator for the school told my son if he wasn't going to do his work why didn't he just go into the Option-3 Pre-GED program instead of working towards his regular diploma, which is the main form of education available for students with disabilities that affect learning due to a lack of special ed setting and services available at the school, I told them my son had only one option and that was Option-1 a Regular High School Diploma, and should they wish to discuss any other options with him they needed to contact me or my attorney FIRST.
Needless to say we didn't have that problem anymore.
16) After the principal told me I couldn't sit quietly in the class to observe my son because of some kind of bull he was trying to feed me about the children's privacy (I didn't want to observe anyone else nor view their records), I went to the main district office and got a permission slip to sit in the class any time I wished.
17. I first started learning mine and my son's rights pertaining to special ed, after having a very intimidating and demeaning IEP meeting the previous time, I studied the FAPE book I received at that meeting, and researched the laws, etc..
After doing this research, etc., the next meeting I went alone, but was prepared;
I highlighted and sticky noted the entire book (you know the one that says FAPE on it they give you at every meeting, that nobody understands nor where to look up these laws listed in)
I brought a tape recorder to the meeting plopped the FAPE book down on the table and placed the recorder in the center of the table, and politely asked "ya'll don't mind if I record this meeting, do you?" You could have heard a pin drop in the room, from the shock and horror on their faces.
You know if they weren't doing anything wrong, they wouldn't have to worry about the meeting being recorded, would they?
18) Wrote letters to the governor's office of disability, and to my senators, congressmen, and the state board of education elected members.
19) Disagreed with district evaluation and requested and got an independent evaluation (IEE) at public expense, and they paid for his private evaluation.
20) Posted signs on my rear window and two rear side windows of my SUV, with very large print that said (that are still on my SUV):
"Got an Education Complaint regarding Special Ed or Discrimination, Students are NOT the only ones required to follow rules. Here's were you can file your complaint." Then I listed the US Dept of Education's telephone number and their fax number. You should have seen some of the faces when I first did this going through the parent pickup lines at school, that was entertainment at it's finest.
21) After the State Department of Education returned my complaints without investigating for bogus reasons, I forwarded them to the US Dept of Ed's Office of Special Ed Programs (OSEP), who oversees compliance of the states with federal regulations pertaining to Special Ed , OSEP forced the State Dept of Ed to process my complaint.
22) My son did this tactic; The Assistant Supervisor of Special Ed was my son's ODR for his IEP meetings, she asked my son the same ridiculous question at every meeting and he gave the same answer each time, I guess he was just having one of those days and decided to mess with her when she asked him the question.
The Assistant Special Ed Supervisor asked, "What are your plans after high school?" At this IEP meeting my son replied differently then all the times before and replied, "I watched Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo last night, and decided that is the vocation I wish to seek." Then he said " Mr. (no-name), my school counselor never mentioned this option to me." I almost fell out of my chair with laughing; even the rigid Assistant Supervisor cracked a smile.
Apparently she got the point, because I don't recall her asking him this question again, I think he embarrassed her in front of the other IEP team members who worked under her.
23) I requested that the School's Special Ed Coordinator be removed from my son's IEP team, and any decisions concerning him due to her incompetence, and she was removed.
She didn't even know what accommodations were permitted on the high stakes (high school exam) test, and wrote on my son's IEP "mother will investigate permissible accommodations for the GEE." If she didn't know this basic info then she wasn't ensuring that the students under her care were receiving all of their accommodations on this test and others. I think she just did extended time across the board and forgot about doing the rest.
24) I requested that the District Assistant Supervisor of Special Ed be removed as the ODR from my son's IEP team, and from the IEP team altogether, and the district complied with my request. She was processing my complaints from the US Dept. of Ed's Office for Civil Rights, and I felt she was biased, and it was a conflict of interest for her to be handling the complaints and be in charge of or even on my son's IEP team.
25) During the IEP meetings the district Spec Ed supervisors kept telling my son that they were trying to prepare him for the "Real World", and using this as an excuse not to provide specialized instruction, accommodations, and other spec ed services. My son, after hearing this one too many times, asked them " where is this "real world"? If we are not in the "real world" where are we, in a alternate reality? A wormhole? When and how do we get to this "real world"? What on earth are you people talking about, when referring to this "real world", it's seems I'm in the "real world" now, so one of us must be hallucinating right now, I wonder who it could be?" Needless to say they never mentioned this "real world" to him again.
26) While asking questions to the spec ed supervisors (I already looked up the answers to) during an IEP meeting, the supervisors kept lying to me, giving me these ridiculous answers to my questions, I finally told them that I had a Bull Sh_t detector and it was about to blow up from over detection of bull in the room.
Please feel free to add your own "Creative Tactics" to this list, to share w/ others!
Disclaimer: Please do not take this as advice for you to do the same, nor should you substitute this for legal, educational professional, or other proffesional/legal advice. This is a summary of some of the things that I felt would assist my son in getting what he needed in order to learn. I did the best that I could with the information I had at the time. Each person has different circumstances and variables that makes their situation unique, and each situation should be handled as such.
