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.
