BENSON WON THE NOVA LOTTERY!!!

My phone started ringing off the hook a week before school began on 8/24/09. Why? The beginning of new school year means many things to different people, if your a teacher, it means a classroom full of new minds to help inspire and teach. To parents, it means a new teacher for their child and early morning routines and homework struggles. To a parent raising a child with unique learning challenges, it means wanting to make sure proper help and support will be in place at school to help their child learn this year.

My phone started ringing daily exactly a week before August 24th with calls for help in advocating for their child and needing to know some advice on "what to do" and "what to expect" next week on the first day of school.

One mom has a little girl that is entering Kindergarten and is suppose to have a Para to ensure she recieves her G-tube feedings 2 times a day and also for help in the classroom with redirection and safety concerns. The Para was never hired and it didn't look like one would be anytime soon. This mom has spent the first 2 weeks of school on her daughters campus, to do her G-tube feedings and to make sure her daughter was SAFE doing well. She lost 2 weeks of work (so far) being on campus to help her daughter with what the IEP was suppose to provide.

Her daughter had been attending ARC BROWARD DEVELOPMENTAL PRE-SCHOOL for 2 years and at the TRANSITION IEP meeting which only had 19 people sitting around one of the biggest conference tables I have ever seen for a Broward School District IEP meeting. Mom and dad attended this meeting prepared and ready to have an IEP document written up with all the supports and services they knew their daughter needed to be safe and successful in Kindergarten. It was important for her health and safety that she have a PARA on the first day of school when she started in Kindergarten on August 24th. No matter how many district personnell show up and attend IEP meetings it's amazing sometimes how little gets done when it really comes time for the child to receive the supports and services the IEP "TEAM" had rich discussion about. Parents go thru so much stress at these IEP meetings!

Another mom, her son won the NOVA Lottery!! She applied and filled out all the papers to have her son attend the same school all his 4 sisters attend, one sister has already graduated and 3 are still attending there. Mom registered and turned in all the correct forms the school asked for, the BLUE & YELLOW medical records forms had been turned in, all the other forms & cards were filled out and turned in. On one form she even put on it that her son BENSON had Down syndrome. Everything was completed and the Kindergarten Round-Up date was next. She called me 2 days before school started upset that she was now being told her son wouldn't be able to attend Nova at all!! She never recieved anything in the mail or a letter stating this sad news. She was told that because of how his IEP document that was created on June 1st, 2009 was completed, saying he needed to be in a SEPERATE CLASS 100% that they didn't have 'the program' that was on his IEP! She was hurt and angry that this was never told to her...ever...all the way up to just 2 days before school was about to begin. How could this be? How could it go for so long that everything seemed to be going smoothly with getting her son signed up and started in Kindergarten at Nova Eisenhower Elementary? Why wasn't she notified that there was a 'glitch' with what was on his IEP!?

Mom needed me to help make sure her son BENSON attended NOVA and to help make things right. First things first...there needed to be an INTERIM IEP immediately to go over it with a fine tooth comb. She attended the last IEP on June 1st and it was completed then, it was only good for 2 days till June 3rd. Then the dates of the IEP started back up on August 24th, 2009 with his placement being 100% in a SEPERATE CLASS. (Mom did not have anyone or an advocate attend this very important transition IEP meeting with her!) This is NOT what the mom wanted for her son and let it be known at that meeting on June 1st, she said she told everyone at that June 1st meeting he had been accepted as a student at NOVA, and her desire to have him attend a 'regular Kindergarten' classroom and was not interested in anything that had to do with a 'special classroom' for BENSON because she was DONE WITH SPECIAL CLASSROOMS!

BENSON since the age of 3 years old had been attending 3 of the 4 DEVELOPMENTAL PRE-SCHOOLS in Broward County. I asked her why had he gone to 3 different DEVELOPMENTAL PRE-SCHOOLS in 2 years time? She said that too many 'things' happened to her son BENSON in those 2 years time and now she only wanted to protect him from yet another SPECIAL classroom that would not be good for him! I asked her what she felt he gained from going to all three of those SPECIAL DEVELOMENTAL SCHOOLS and she very quickly said to me:
"HE GOT BITE MARKS"
"REGRESSION"
"DEPRESSION"
"BEHAVIORS NOT RELATED TO DOWN SYNDROME'

This conversation was all within the first 10 minutes of just meeting her on the phone and her reaching out to find help for her son!

Of course I was upset to hear this, who wouldn't be upset...no one wants to hear of a child 'being hurt' in anyway...especially at places we entrust our precious little ones to everyday 'for school'!

In our world of raising a child with Down syndrome, we look for the best place to have them to go so they will learn and do well, not a place that is going to make their 'disability worse'!!

I want to help BENSON, I want to help this mom, I want to help BENSON get into a Kindergarten classroom that will ACCEPT and help him progress. I want to make sure that what has possibly happened to BENSON is known about and doesn't happen to another. I WANT TO HELP BENSON and his mom. I am going to do the best I can to help get BENSON into Kindergarten at NOVA Eisenhower or even NOVA Blanche Elementary. It doesn't matter which NOVA, but he won't be 100% IN A SEPERATE CLASS according to his mom! This is the school her 4 daughters, BENSON'S 4 older sisters go to. Three of them will be able to ride the morning bus with BENSON! His sister's are excited about that! They were arguing about who was going to get to video tape BENSON on his first day of going to a REAL SCHOOL! That day never came for this family...BENSON wasn't allowed to go to Kindergarten on the first day of school, or the next day or even the next week...BENSON IS STILL AT HOME WAITING....BENSON didn't get to have his first day of Kindergarten like anyone else. BENSON sits at home everyday with his mom. BENSON'S mom has lost her job because of this! She is a single mom and now has to watch him instead of going to work! What has happened to BENSON and his family should never happen to anyone! Why did things turn out like this for BENSON and his mom? Because mom just didn't know how important it was to have the IEP 'document' say the right things for BENSON'S sake. Now BENSON didn't get to experience the first day of Kindergarten like most 5 year olds.

BENSON HAS BEEN LEFT BEHIND before the his first day of school!!

BENSON WON THE NOVA LOTTERY!!!

*I have permission from BENSON'S mom to retell this story and to use his REAL NAME.

Thank you BENSON'S mom!

INCLUSION VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9-XX9227ek

Nova Lottery Window Opens to the Public Nova Schools applications will be accepted through March 31 for the 2009/10 school year. An online application is available on the District’s Web site homepage at (www.browardschools.com) or accessible directly at (www.broward.k12.fl.us/casdl/reassignmentproject/checkstdt.asp). Copies of the application are also available at the NCLB & Reassignments Department at 7770 W Oakland Park Blvd. in Sunrise. Applying online is recommended. When applying online, print confirmation page to acknowledge processed application. Only one application per student can be submitted during the window.

For additional information, contact:

NCLB & Reassignments Department, 754-321-3035.

FAQ ~ NOVA LOTTERY
http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/educationalprograms/pdf/NovaSchoolsFAQs09v2.pdf

A PURPOSE

Each life has a purpose,
Each purpose a plan;
Great minds find a reason
To do what they can...
A hope for tomorrow,
A task for today,
Through troubles or sorrow...
Each trial on life's way...
A purpose for living,
A test you must meet,
Accepting each challenge,
The bitter, the sweet...
Cast aside every problem,
Rise above endless fears,
Keep the dream you are dreaming,
Wipe away hurtful tears...
Understanding - forgiveness,
A soul that knows peace,
The joy of believing
As heartaches then cease...
The courage that's needed
To travel each mile,
A purpose unequaled -
A life that's worthwhile.

by Garnett Ann Schultz

DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOLS

Developmental Preschools are available for our children that need extra help developing the milestones that come naturally for some. These schools are great for our little kiddo's that need help with walking, talking, coloring and socializing.....Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Speech and Language Therapies are provided at these schools with a doctors script. Thru the early intervention program these therapies can be provided when a little one attends a developmental preschool.

Some counties don't have these places and other counties do. Broward County happens to have a nice handful of about 5 of them. They are all located in different parts of town, so no matter where a family lives, one is sort of nearby or they can have their child take a Broward County school bus to one. Our developmental preschools in Broward provide early intervention services and supports and also have classrooms set up for 3-5 year old that qualify for Exceptional Student Education supports and services.

As an a Advocate, I love working with families that have children that need to access the full spectrum of supports for their child in order for their child to move forward in their development. Parents are provided information and the option of placing their Child in one of these DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOLS so they can receive OT-PT-ST therapies during their school day and be provided a language enriched classroom to get them ready for Kindergarten at 5 years old.


My daughter attended UCP and I have only good things to say about UCP and the teachers she had when she was there for such a short time between the age of 3 - 4 years old. The BEST teacher in the entire world there was Mrs. Gayle Clinker!! She cared so much about each and every child that came into the ENTIRE school and it showed by how much FUN she made sure each Child had on any given day. For example she took pictures of her students with a different seasonal theme...like for April it was "April Showers". She would dress them in a raincoat holding an umbrella...take the picture and laminate these pictures onto different colored heavy construction paper and made them into their lunch time placemats that thay used for that entire month...each month was a different theme. My daughter was a popular "June Bride", she had several 'boyfriends' and absolutely LOVED putting on the wedding dress her teacher brought in for that 'theme'!! I still have these beautiful placemats of my daughters moments in time...and what a wonderful time it was for me as a mom...to have her at a place that was going to help her be successful! Having her as Mariah's first 'real teacher' was a great experience for me as a 'nervous mom' sending my Child off to school at 3 years old! Mariah was provided with a quality foundation to her future learning because we did have a good experience and she did have a teacher that truely cared. Attending a developmental preschool for my daughter was a good thing!


The one thing that was hard for me to accept was when my daughter first started attending UCP at 3 years old was that she was not provided with any of the OT-PT-ST therapies that she had been recieving while under the Early Intervention 'umbrella' aka Part C services. I was amazed that she was able to go from having so many daily therapies to not receiving not even one therapy service!...NOT ONE THERAPY!!! NOT ONE!!


Her first 6 months of attending a DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL SHE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY OT-PT-ST SERVICES!! She only started receiving her therapies only because I was persistent in FIGHTING FOR HER to receive any of those therapy services! I didn't get it...why did I have to fight so hard at the beginning of her journey of going to school? I had no idea what was going on or why all of a sudden my daugher that has Down syndrome could go from having so many different therapies everyday from birth to 3, that now as soon as she was under the 'umbrella' of DOE = Department of Education aka Part B services, that she 'didn't qualify for'....NOT ONE THERAPY!! I didn't get it...I was mad, I was lost, I was confused and very very ANGRY! My daughter needed her therapies and she was loosing precious time with her development by not receiving them! Didn't they care??!

It was at this time I learned very quickly what an IEP was!! I had an IEP EVERY MONTH (about every 4 weeks!!) for the first 5 months after she turned 3 years old and started attending a "DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL". I had an advocate with me for my first three IEP meetings and quickly found out that 'my advocate' wasn't really speaking up or for me during those first three meetings. I even asked her to step outside during one of those first IEP meetings and had to ask her, "Why aren't you speeking up in there for me??"...her answer was, "You are doing fine on your own in there!" ~ That was the last time I had 'my advocate' attend any of my IEP meetings ever again! I wanted someone that was going to teach me how to be a good advocate and how to help get my daughter what she really needed while in school. The only thing I learned from her was, she always told me to, "learn the language"....learn the language of what? Learn the same language that 'they' the IEP "TEAM" uses...but what did that really mean to me then? I didn't understand what she was saying...really....but I do now! Boy do I understand 'their language now'!!! I read the STATE RULES ON SPECIAL EDUCATION now in my 'spare time'!! I pass out 'the RED BOOK' like it's candy, if you don't know what one is...call or email me and I will make sure you get you first copy! *This is the STATE RULES for Special Education, if you don't know what the rules are, how can you play the game and advocate for something you don't know what your Child is entitled to receive! Call or email me!


I fought hard to have my daughter evaluated for her to receive Speech and Language Therapies, Occupational and Physical Therapies while attending UCP DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL. It only took me 5 months to FINALLY get her 'approved to be tested' for her Speech! What a joke my first IEP meetings were! I learned so much during those first five meetings! I learned very quickly that all the time that seems to be wasted on these IEP meetings, they could have spent what they pay their employees on providing therapies for a Child instead of having the therapist attend all those stressful and negative IEP meetings to talk such nonsense on what the Child CAN NOT DO and WHY THEY CAN NOT RECEIVE THERAPIES at their DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL!...what the heck is going on? What is the point of having our Chilren that are classified as 'developmentally delayed' and eligible to receive ESE supports and services attend these kinds of places, if they won't provide to them such basic supports such as OT-PT-ST therapies? Does this make any sense?!

After I was able to "learn the ropes" of just what these IEP meetings were suppose to accomplish....which from the parent perspective is to get us all stressed out and turn us down for our Child to NOT receive anything other than just being able to 'attend their Develpmental Preschool'....nothing more than that...they do not want to provide the very therapies we parents know our Child needs!


After her first 6 months I was finally able to secure all her OT-PT-ST supports and services that I knew in my heart she absolutely needed! I have graduated not only as my daughters first teacher but now I was my daughters BEST ADVOCATE! At the time I didn't know I would go on to teach n release many other parents to learn the ropes of what to expect at an IEP and how to help parents be their Child's best advocate for life! Thank you Broward County Schools for making me the advocate I am today! I tell people that I attend the 'University of Broward' for my Advocacy skills! Broward County is the 6th largest school district in the nation!

The Early Intervention program for 3 years had no problem providing my daughter with LOTS of OT-PT-ST to help her 'develope', yet her DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL provided me with the biggest fight for her to receive just ONE HALF HOUR of any therapy! It took me close to 6 MONTHS of going to yet another IEP "team" meeting to discuss her need for therapies and whatever else she needed at the time! My husband would attend some of those meetings with me, but in the end, this was 'my mom job' as he needed to continue to work and make the money for our family to be able to pay our bills, so as a mom, this was my new job, to make sure my daughter was being provided with what she needed to be successful in school and ultimately in life!


My daughter is now in the 4th grade and doing beautifully. Over the years I receive phone calls regularly from parents that are also raising children with Down syndrome and other unique learning challenges, but mostly families with Down syndrome contact me needing help with school issues, IEP's and inclusion. Many parents are going thru the same thing as I did back so many years ago...when my daugher was new to the Part B program, starting at 3 years old, when they get to start attending 'school'...and usually it's a DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL or sometimes they attend a 3-5 year old program that is in a classroom at the neighborhood elementary school. I thought my daughter was too young, too little, and so not ready for the big campus.


The stories....oh my goodness the stories I have heard...each phone call paints the same picture....different family, different Child, different school, same type of story! I could write a book just on the different 'things' I have heard parents tell me of their experiences having their Child attend a DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL. Some are good stories...others are not good stories.

If we as parents are trusting those at these IEP "team" meetings to the care of our most precious Children, why are parents voices not being heard at these IEP meetings for what they know their Child needs and why our Children are not being provided with the most basic supports and therapies that they hopefully had been provided with during their Early Intervention years? Parents need to be provided with trainings on what to expect at an IEP meeting and other things pertaining to raising a Child with Special Needs. Many times parents go into these important IEP meetings not realizing just how important 'the decisions' that are being made and written into those IEP documents. The DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOLS should be providing parents with so many resources and trainings and helping them get connected with disability specific support groups, anything that will help empower parents to help advocate for their Child to receive the supports and services their Child needs. Are these schools connecting parents with the other parents and helping them find local disability specific support and advocacy groups? Are they providing parent trainings to help parents understand 'the next step'? I hope so, but bet not...over the 11 years I have been 'in the business' of helping families....not one referral has ever come from a 'developmental preschool'....that tells me something.....resources are not always being provided to the families that need help.


DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOLS ~ some are absolutely fantastic and do a great job, while others seem to be a 'closed door society' that keep the parents shut off from being an active and involved parent volunteer in their Childs school. UCP had an open door policy and I was able to volunteer everyday, I got to know the daily routine and the other teachers and all the wonderful therapist, the friendships with the other mom's and interacting and getting to know the other Children and taking pictures of the fun activities! It was a wonderful time for me as a mom, it was a fun learning time for my daughter! My daughter had a great time at UCP, she had teachers that really cared about her growing 'developmentally', the teachers and therapist really did a nice job at UCP for my precious little girl! (THANK YOU!)


I hope that no matter which DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL your Child attends that it's a good experience and your Child grows in leaps and bounds. I know there are lots of 'stressors' for parents when they have to attend one of 'those IEP meetings'....believe me...that is where I started my journey of learning to be my daughters BEST advocate. The short time she spent at UCP was a wonderful time that I will always cherish the memories and the fun we both had and the pictures her teacher made of her there will always flood me with the love I had for her teacher for doing all she did, to help my daughter be successful. My daughters 'school foundation' started at a really wonderful DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL and then she went off to her neighborhood Elementary school at 4 years old. It was called: the PLACE Program (Preschool Learning and Classroom Experience. Today it maybe called something else and each county has their own name for their 3-5 year old ESE program.) she attended that for 2 years because her birthday falls after September 1st and was 5 years old for just 1 month once she finally did start Kindergarten. She has been at that same school ever since!


If you would like to share your story of your experiences of your Child attending a DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOL, I would love to post them here to share with others. Either email me at: nancy.harris@dsadvocate.com or post your story as a comment to this posting.

Dust off last years IEP.....

School is about to start up soon....too soon for some, not soon enough for others! Time to get your WISH LIST updated on the things you want to make sure GO RIGHT for your Child this coming school year!

Close your eyes and start typing out what you know your Child can and should be able to do in a year from now....with help from teachers and school of course! This is my annual ritual I do for my daughter, I ponder on what my hopes and dreams are for her to be able to accomplish in a school year. I take from those and try to get them inserted as her new updated IEP goals for the coming year.

Creating 'the plan'....the plan of action so that what did or did not happen last year doesn't happen all over again if it wasn't the right things. A new school year is before us, a clean slate to start on. Who will her teacher be, still don't know, how will it be now that her school will be doing the new 'departmentalizing' of all 3rd to 5th graders, all changing classes every hour just like in middle school. How is this going to work out for my little girl that could possibly have 'transition problems'....but then again...maybe she will do just fine. How will all the different teachers accommodate her in each of their classrooms? So many concerns for a little girl that already has a hard enough time 'keeping up' let alone needing to change gears with a different teacher every hour! How will each of the teachers teach her? Will she be in the back of each of the classrooms with her aide doing all the 'teaching'? That is not what inclusion is suppose to look like. I so hope all of the teachers embrace my little girl and her unique learning style and will allow for good collaboration between all of us involved.

So get out those IEPs and look them over, cross out with a big black marker the goals that are not ACADEMICALLY strong enough to help your Child learn how to READ and do MATH and all the other academically sound standards that you know your Child should and could be able to do a year from now. Get back to basics and make sure your Childs IEP goals TEACH ACADEMICS this year!

Collabortion and communication is the key to a successful school year for sure! Looking forward to a new school year and leaving last years behind.....!

Schools try to make progress while addressing special-needs students

The Gainesville school system is appealing the analyses of two special-needs students who were evaluated by the alternate assessment, Macken said. If the state Department of Education grants just one of the appeals, Gainesville Middle will be granted AYP status in the second determination to be made this fall.

Kathy Culver, Hall’s special education director, said she’s hopeful the state will adopt a third assessment for students with mild disabilities. She said the test is on the horizon and would more closely match the intellectual capability of that "2 percent group."
"We all want to be measured on what’s appropriate for us," she said.

*click link below to read full article:
Schools try to make progress while addressing special-needs students