Alright – so, There are several settings for students with autism and other disabilities. And, each setting has specific requirements that the school district must follow. I actually never knew about this. I just assumed – the child’s IEP team including the parent who are equal and full partners write the goals of the child and that is what is implemented. This is not the case most of the time. Many school districts including my least-favorite district in Minnesota – Bloomington Schools District write the child’s goals and placement setting without parental input or even knowledge. The good thing about this part is that the parents must agree to it and sign it. Often parents including me just sign the IEP which has the setting and how many minutes your child will get in a special classroom and in the general education classroom. I have never really paid attention to this before and always assumed the school must know what is best for my child and just signed it. Big mistake – never assume that. Always read the IEP, understand what your rights are under the IDEIA law and ask questions. If the school can not answer your questions – let that be a red flag for you. Some of the questions my son’s school could not answer were – how do you collect progress monitoring data, can I get that data, does the data make sense, has my child learned what was in his previous IEP and can I observe my child while you are teaching.
If the school can not answer such simple answers – worry. If they get defensive – worry more. If they get their lawyer involved – be happy because then you know you hit a nerve and they most likely broke some part of the federal IDEIA law. Now – be happy but get organized and learn more about the IDEIA law, find out what they violated, file a complaint with the state department education, with the state human rights department, and/or with the state teaching board. Think about this – if you don’t fight for your child – who will? I assure you the school ain’t. More importantly look at it as a marathon not a sprint. As I said before – don’t let them overwhelm you with technical language. Take your time and educate yourself which will empower you, and fight for your kid at your own pace.
First – the school district must as the law states provide and do an appropriate evaluation of your child. So, what does this mean?
A. The evaluation must be done by a team of knowledgeable and trained evaluators, must utilize sound evaluation materials and procedures, and must be administered on a non-discriminatory basis. Often, this does not happen. I have asked my son’s school evaluators – what tools and assessments they used and they could not answer that or simply did not use any. I have asked how they measured progress and they had no idea. If you don’t know what the child learned – how the heck can you possibly write any new IEP goals. Stupid, right?
B. The laws has parent participation in the IEP team and in the placement decision. Again, I have seen where school districts simply don’t follow this. They decide what to teach and where to teach it and just give you the IEP to sign. – Please don’t sign and tell them to take a flying leap – ok maybe not in those words – fine use Minnesota nice words or passive aggressive. I personally don’t like to sugar-coat.
C. The IDEIA law emphasizes strongly on children learning in the least-restrictive learning environment – meaning with their typical peers and mimicking real life. Separate but equal did not work before and will not work now for any child especially one with autism where generalization is crucial.
So what are the settings and how do they work?
- Federal setting one states 0-21% in special education class, the rest of the time the child is learning with their typical peers or in general education.
- Federal setting two states 21-60% in special education class, the rest of the time the child is learning with their typical peers or in general education.
- Federal setting three states 60% or more in special education. In this setting, the child is taken to general classes as he can tolerate and as possible which is often written into the IEP. Note, if you don’t write the specifics into the IEP, the school will always use the excuse – we did not take him/her because today he/she was too hyper, too tired, too sleepy, it was snowing, the sky was green, yada and more stupid excuses.
- Federal setting four, this is a completely separate building where the child goes to special education class all of his/her time and does not see any typical kids. This is what we call the pipeline to prison especially for black boys. This is Harrison Education Center in Mpls where the district is more interested in getting money rather than teaching the child. This is where the buildings mimic a prison because there are so many locked doors, children learn from each-others bad behaviors. This is where children fail. This is where no parent should take their child to unless hell froze and pigs started flying. This is where they have the worst least caring teachers and staff. This is where no one cares about the child or the family. THESE ARE THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN WHO ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY MINORITIES ESPECIALLY BLACK BOYS. In real life such as grocery stories, parks, malls, etc. there is no separate section, so if the child is segregated and locked up all day – how exactly is he/she supposed to know appropriate behaviors when he/she leaves this segregated and separated hell hole setting. Think about it – when you go to Target – do you shop in a segregated section? So why would we teach any child in a segregated setting. Separate but equal did not work decades ago and it will not work now.
- Federal setting five is public hospital, day treatment, correctional facility, etc. These children are already in the criminal system and are disproportionately minorities. By the way level four is the gateway to level five for children.
If you are a parent whose child has autism, please speak for your child from every valley, river and mountain – no one else can do it better than you. Educated parents are empowered parents.
Read this as though it was fifty shades of grey.
Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.
Idil – Autism Mom