Our 3 year olds...what are the PROFESSIONALS thinking??

I can tell it's a week before school starts! I received several phone calls just yesterday! ALL the calls were about the same exact thing...parents being TOLD (without it yet ever being discussed in any IEP meeting!!!) ...that their little one with Down syndrome HAS just one PLACEMENT OPTION and can ONLY attend a Disability only Developmental Preschool instead of the neighborhood elementary school that is nearest to the parents home!

What is wrong with people??! I just don't get those few professionals that speak up the most at these initial eligibility and PLACEMENT meetings! The oh so prejudgemental professionals read their wonderfully word-smithed initial evaluation reports and the parents are hearing these professional 'reports' for the very first time with lots of emotions and concern. Most of the time it's these new parents to the whole ESE 'ballgame'...that really don't have a clue what is happening! Hopefully they have taken another family member, friend or better yet an experienced advocate with them.

The professional PLACEMENT TEAMS seem to think that it is only their professional opinions that matter the most when making the PLACEMENT decisions about a 3 year old youngsters FUTURE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS!! What about what the PARENTS THINK IS BEST FOR THEIR OWN CHILD???  How can anyone really know what classroom set up is really going to be BEST, especially for a little guy just turning 3 years old? THERE IS NO DATA TO SUPPORT that a little 3 year old  absolutely needs a more restrictive classroom with fewer student to teacher ratio. WHAT IS THE NATIONAL TREND AND WHAT DOES THE NATIONAL RESEARCH SAY? WHAT DO DISABILITY SPECIFIC NATIONAL EXPERTS RECOMMEND AS BEST PRACTICES?

Our PROFESSIONAL PLACEMENT TEAMS in Broward want parents to believe that it is only the PROFESSIONALS that KNOW WHAT IS BEST for their Child!!  Please....give me a break!!  From what I am being told by several parents, now that have recently taken their little ones to be evaluated... that those professionals have only met, seen and worked with their Child for maybe 10 - 15 minutes total!!!  Of course if asked they will tell everyone they took a WHOLE HALF HOUR with the Child and now they KNOW BEST for that young child!  NOT!!!  (WOW a whole 10 to sometimes maybe
30  minutes...maybe.....to do an individualized evaluation for Speech, Occupational and Physical Therapy.)

The professionals not ever thinking to consider contacting and COLLABORATING with the private family therapist these little ones have been seeing for years! The private Speech, Occupational or Physical Therapist that has been working with the little one for over 3 years and actually KNOWS the Child really well!! Yes professional Part B therapist that do evaluations on youngsters with developmental delays are professionals, but when they start only listening to themselves and not ever taking into consideration what the parents concerns and what they as the Child parents feel will be BEST. It is the PARENTS THAT ARE THE REAL EXPERTS here at this point when it comes to where they would like to have their child educated and which school and why. I'm a firm believer that it's the parents that know THEIR CHILD THE BEST.

When there are IEP TEAMS of 8 plus professionals sitting around a conference table and pretty much all of the school system side of  INITIAL PLACEMENT TEAMS have a predetermined mind set on where and how a certain child with a particular or certain kind of disability should go to school...and not one of those people speak up and SUGGEST that maybe it would be ok and fine to have this little one  attend the neighborhood school that is just a few blocks away from their parents home that actually has the 3-5 year old "disability" program (PreK ESE Programs) designed just for little kiddo's that need a little extra help in their development.

I find it very sad that NOT ONE of those professionals thought the PreK ESE classroom MIGHT be a good placement for many of our 3 year old students with DOWN SYNDROME?? First of all when they don't even provide and discuss out in the open all the classroom and program options available...that seems then like it is a systematic decision that all students with a certain type of disability, like Down syndrome for example are only to be suggested to attend certain classrooms or certain types of placement decisions are already PREDETERMINED before ever meeting with the family! THIS IS DISCRIMINATION AT ITS FINEST and yes it is happening still today....but today it's not so much about race as it is about DISABILITIES today, and it is also about certain kinds of disabilities....Plain and simple it's about DISCRIMINATION AND IT NEEDS TO STOP!!

When IEP teams pre-determine placement before the actual meeting this is when their professional opinions and their PERSONAL FEELINGS to what they think is BEST for that child or how they usually do it...their feelings and their opinions don't mean a hill-o-beans! When there isn't and hasn't been professional collaboration going with the Child's private therapists and/or the
parents and there never was....they lose their creditability as the professionals they should be respected for! Personally they loose the repect they deserve as professionals...women usually...because they don't BELIEVE IN OUR CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME!! It is obvious by the well rehearsed same ol comments they provide to parent after parent after parent.

Why is it that placement after placement of our young Children with Down syndrome between the ages of 3 to 5 years old are more likely than not....to be  recommended placement in one of several Broward County School PROVIDER DEVELOPMENTAL PRESCHOOLS? These schools are not usually near to the Childs home and most times requires a long bus ride to attend them as well. Why are these little ones being PUSHED TO ONLY BE ABLE TO ATTEND ARC, ANN STORK, UCP or Broward Children's Center? Why are these Children not being offered the PreK ESE classrooms that are at our neighborhood schools? Someone please give me the data that supports the placement at a developmental preschool only as the best placement option always for so many Children with Down syndrome especially!

OUR LITTLE CUTIES WITH DOWN SYNDROME NEED SO MUCH CLASSROOM SUPPORT ABSOLUTELY AND LOTS OF POSITIVE PRAISE AND ENCOURAGEMENT, ESE SUPPORTS AND SERVICES! 

What I heard today during the initial evaluation and placement IEP "TEAM" MEETING for a particular cutie cute and oh so yummy sweet and delicious little boy....was that this team of Broward Public Schools Initial Placement Professionals INSISTED (almost dictated!) that he attend the very developmental preschool the parents had just pulled him out from just 2 months previous! THEY SAW THINGS THEY DID NOT LIKE AND DID NOT FEEL THIS PLACE WAS DOING WHAT THEY REALLY SHOULD BE DOING FOR THEIR SON, SO THEY PULLED HIM FROM THAT SCHOOL NEVER TO HAVE HIM GO THERE EVER AGAIN! So....tell me....why would parents want their little boy to go back to a place they knew to NOT BE THE BEST PLACEMENT OPTION for him?

I am sadden that we have so much PREJUDGEMENT AND PRE-DETERMINED PLACEMENT DECISIONS without parents having any say so in what they think might be best for their Child...so much of this is happening in our Broward school district! Our youngest and most vulnerable of students are being discriminated against and it needs to stop and quick! A STATE COMPLAINT MIGHT BE THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE OUR DISTRICT WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE WITH THIS ON GOING SITUATION THAT HAPPENS TO CHILD AFTER CHILD AFTER CHILD WITH NOT JUST DOWN SYNDROME BUT OTHER DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS!

If you or someone you know has had a similar situation happen to you at your Child's Initial 3 year old placement TRANSITION IEP, please write me an email telling me your story. I want to help make a positive change and I need your help! 

Email me your story: AngelKids4me@gmail.com