By PETER RUGG
Last week, I reported on how parents
of special education students in the Lee’s Summit School District were ready to picket a state education conference on autism because they were upset that Lee’s Summit’s Director of Special Education, Jerry Keimig, had been selected to give a presentation.I was never able to confirm this, but as near as I can tell, the last time Missouri school administrators heard a presentation on autism was ten years ago. The point of that program? To help them avoid lawsuits filed by parents who are angry about their autistic children’s education.
Back in 1998, the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA) annual law seminar included a section titled “Special Education for Early Childhood Autistic Students -- How to Avoid Parent Demands for LOVAAS/TEACH Methodologies.” (In this case “TEACH” is a typo; it’s supposed to be TEACHH, an acronym for Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children.) That program and LOVAAS (named for the doctor who invented it) are now considered among the best methods for teaching young autistic students. The notes on the pictured copy of the law seminar’s program were written by Kansas City attorney Kim Westhusing, who has represented several parents of autistic children in due process cases against metro school districts.
After a page and a half of running down what LOVAAS and TEACHCH are – and noting that students in early childhood special education programs can have their services 100 percent reimbursed by state funds instead of individual school districts – the document goes into detail about increases in litigation over special education, test cases in which parents won, and how a district can deny education services while avoiding litigation.
Even though this seminar program is ten years old, it is the last time MASA chose to address the issue of special education for autistic students, according to Stephanie Sappenfield, an administrative assistant with the group. She told me there had been no other programs on autism education in the past decade.
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I just received a phone call from the high school stating that Jake is not qualified for the Technical Engineering class that the IEP team suggested that he take. I did not pick this class. The team recommended it and I agreed. It was the only class that Jake was excited about. I would have thought that the team would have investigated it before they recommended it and had Jake enrolled in it.
The counselor called Jake last night and talked to him about it. That was not appropriate. Jake didn't tell me about it and I'm sure he didn't have a clue what was going on. His father received a phone call on his cell phone and called me to say that he got a call from the district and he didn't know what they were talking about. His father travels for his job and I handle these issues.
The counselor wanted me to come up there in the next few days to straighten this out. I don't know what to do. I have a meeting with Jake's team next week. They are the ones that developed his schedule and I don't know how to handle this.
The counselor said they would let Jake stay in the class for a couple of days until we figured out how to fix this mistake that the district made. That is unacceptable. Jake will adjust to this class and then be required to change. He has autism and transition is an issue for him. Jake should not have to pay for the mistakes that the district makes.
Jake has been extremely stressed out for the last week just because school was starting and school causes him great anxiety. He hasn't been able to sleep or concentrate. He has just been pacing around the house. Now we are going to throw this into the mix. It is unfair and I am deeply concerned about how this year is starting.
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