skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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
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.
Posts
