Where Special Needs Families Care and Share Together
Special kids show off athletic skills - and just have a great time!
Rudy and Jessica do such a great job with the Special Olympics School Games!
If you have a child who is not involved in Special Olympics, the school games are a great way to introduce them to SO. The High School Games will be in the spring.
For more info, check this out!
The Special Needs Network will hold their General Meeting on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at the Marian Medical Center Extended Care Facility’s Conference room. There will be a potluck at 6:00 pm.
Brendan Gard, the Manager of California Psych Care will be the guest speaker at 7:00. He will give an overview of behavior therapy and services available. For more information on California Psych Care, please visit their website.
For more information on the potluck and to RSVP, please call Joanne Cargill at 937-2465 by September 27th.
Just When I Thought I was Finished
Matthew completed his time at Righettil last year and went through Graduation Ceremonies but the 2 year Hill House Transition Program is a Special Education program primarily administered by the High School District. So what this means is that we are still dealing with IEP’s. I’ve written about my feelings and opinions on this before but since it’s Back to School Time, I would like to sum up what I have learned over the past 15 years. I hope it will help you have productive and positive IEP Meetings.
We had our second-to-last IEP meeting this morning with Tod, the High School District Transition Instructor, Kristen from Work, Inc. who administers the overnight program, Penny, the Special Ed Coordinator, an administrator from the High School that Matthew no longer attends but is still considered his “home” school. Oh yea, and we have the Tri-Counties Coordinator to-be-named-later because our old one retired back in July and Tri-Counties hasn’t bothered to contact us to let us know.
There were times when I was frustrated with the rules and regulations and times when I didn’t feel like anyone was really listening. And there were times when I felt nurtured and cared for as much as Matthew did. When I look back on all the forms, reports, tests, agencies, departments, coordinators, teachers, aides, therapists, agendas, budgets, districts, laws, guidelines and personalities involved in Matthew’s education, it’s a wonder anything was accomplished at all. But through it all, no matter what the issue, at the end of the day we are all just human beings trying to do our best.
We all come to the table with our own personalities, agendas, and experiences. And the best way to get what your child needs is to be Fair, Firm, and Friendly.
Let’s start with Fair.
Resources are limited. Whether it’s money, people, or supplies, there is only so much to go around. Your child isn’t the only one your IEP Team is working with. And we all want everything for our kids and we want it now. Let’s get real.
Which leads to Firm.
Educate yourself on the rules and regulations. Yes, there are other kids who need speech therapy and only so many Speech Therapists to go around. If you truly feel that your child needs more than the IEP team is offering, know how to stand your ground and get it. Assertively, not aggressively.
Which leads to Friendly.
I can’t tell you how many times I hear parents say things like, “Oh, time to go fight with the IEP Team again”, or “I’m battling with the IEP Team to get more resources for my child.” Everyone on the IEP Team is a human being and that old saying, “you get more with honey than vinegar” is true. Treat your Team with respect. Play nice. And you just might find them a lot more willing to listen to you and to work with you to get what your child really needs. Which leads us back to Fair…
Food for Thought
The most important gift you can give your child is to let them be happy. And they might not define happy the way you do.
More Resources:
Area Board 10 of the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities
SELPA (Special Education Local Plan Area)
Please feel free to post any questions you have in the comments section or contact me privately via the Contact page. If I don’t know the answers I will do my best to find them.
I was so excited to hear this – VTC Enterprises was named Citizen of the Year by the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce.
How appropriate. VTC Enterprises (formerly Vocational Training Center) is all about our community. No, not just the disabled community but our entire community. Their programs and services make Santa Maria a better place to live for everyone.
VTC actually creates businesses to employ Developmentally Disabled. They have a catering division, printing services, landscape maintenance and more. And I can personally recommend their services.
Well done and well deserved – Congratulations!
To find out more about VTC please visit their site or their Facebook page.
And please comment on this post if you have any questions or there is any information you would like me to find for you. You can also email me directly via the Contact Us Page.
Thanks,
Sandy
SEL what? Yea, I know. That’s what I said about 15 years ago.
SELPA stands for Special Education Local Plan Area and this is the link for the one here in Santa Barbara County:
When Matthew was 3 we were advised to enroll him in a Special Ed Pre-school program that was administered by the county. Matthew had just been diagnosed with Autism and his Father, Steve, and I were still shell-shocked.Throughout the process I heard acronyms like SELPA but they didn’t really mean that much to me. I listened to our Service Providers as though they knew everything and had all the answers. We latched onto them as though they were our Salvation and Matthew’s Saviors.
And at the time we didn’t really have much choice. There wasn’t the proliferation of information on the Internet that we have today. We could, of course, get information from the SELPA office (an hour away from us). We could call or write.
But we trusted. We trusted the experts to guide us. And they did. And they did a good job considering…
Considering that they have limited budgets, limited staff and huge caseloads.
I really thought they were giving us complete information when we would meet with them. I really thought that when I asked a question of them that I got all of the information available. The truth is that I got all of the information that they could give me and rarely is that the same thing.
There are a lot of factors involved and I don’t believe anyone ever maliciously kept information or resources from us. But they have their agenda, their point of view, their own perceptions and we have ours. Often they are not in sync.
I remember the first time I was referred to the SELPA website. Matthew was already in Junior High. I had a question on busing and was told to check out the Parent Handbook and the Procedural Handbook.
I felt like I was drowning in carefully worded legalese. All I wanted was help in dealing with a schedule change and I couldn’t get any cooperation from the Transportation Office.
Why couldn’t I just ask someone? Well I could but then you run into the pervasive attitude that if they only tell you a little bit of information you will give up and go away and they won’t have to spend their resources (that my taxes pay for) on my child.
I learned that while there is all that legalese to sort through, I needed to do it. Because the people that I thought I could trust to help me, couldn’t or wouldn’t always be completely forthcoming with the information we needed.
Again, I don’t ever think it was malicious. But it happened. And in hindsight I wish I had been more proactive. I wish I had read the publications on the SELPA site and learned more about the entire Special Ed system and IEP process through my own initiative. I believe I would have been able to ask more intelligent questions and get a deeper level of information.
My point? If your child is school age please don’t assume that you will be told everything you need to know or everything that might be available to you and your child. Dig in, read, explore, share and when you ask a question, ask it of several people. Re-word it and ask it again until you are sure you are getting the information you need.
Be proactive not reactive. Be fair, firm and friendly. But most of all be fair – for your child.
