Spring enters, stage right

I think it might have to do with this being a horribly snowy and long winter, but the first day of spring yesterday was just glorious. It was a pretty normal Saturday - hockey practice, a math tournament for middle school student (MSS) with a celebratory dinner for a job well done. A walk to the stream in the park behind our house. Normal stuff, but somehow it all seemed wonderful.

The hockey rink didn't feel so cold. msk scored two goals in a drill with an actual goalie. I think he's got pretty decent puck control. I'm not sure about how he'll do when people try to take the puck from him, but maybe that's next season's skill to learn. I think I saw him picking up his left foot while he was skating, even though nobody said anything to him. Add on the good spirit amongst parents for spring and the upcoming tournament and new uniforms and progress made. It was a wonderful practice.

Then as I sat through the last round of the math tournament I was blown away by how sharp these kids are. Maybe America's schools are failing kids in terms of STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math), but for at least 160 Maryland middle schoolers there's a lot of real math knowledge being passed on. Maybe MSS didn't get a trophy, but the team was uniformly strong, ranking at #9. I eventually gave up on trying to solve the problems and just enjoyed myself.

There was enough time for a park visit with msk before dinner so off we went with the dog happily sniffing the path that we haven't been on for months. The wild flowers were greening up nicely with the first blooming celandines glistening yellow. I was happy to soak up some sun while msk enjoyed playing in the stream, first walking on stones, but eventually getting soaked in the icy water. We went home for a warm shower.

A quick stop on the way home from the math tournament had garnered grilling meat with MSS picking her favorites after doing so well. That lead to a wonderful dinner, the first on the deck this year. Thee smell of charcoal and the sound of neighbor kids playing in the background topped it off.

The first day of spring. No complaints.

Including msk

As we start looking for a new school for msk one of the big things we'll be looking for is an inclusive setting. When I was a student in Baltimore City Schools in the bad old days they were just trying to come to terms with the idea of educating kids who's skin color were different in the same schools. While I don't want to imply that that problem is solved it seems trivial compared to the idea of educating special needs student along with general education students. While you do here some of the same biggoted statement like "I don't want my kids to be educated in the same room with those kind of kids." or "Trying to educate those kind of kids is a waste of money, they just can't learn." On the whole there are more compasionate arguements against including special needs kids in a regular education setting. "The smaller classroom and specialized training will give them a better education." or "The regular ed students will harrass them."

What is come down to, though, is a legal right to be educated in the least restrictive restrictive setting that is appropriate for them. Msk has been successful in an LRE A setting for the last two years. He has been less successful in an LRE F setting previously and before that in an LRE C setting.

First, here's some vocabulary to help explain what all these levels mean:

• LRE level A -out of general education classroom < 21%
• LRE level B -out of general education classroom 21% - 60% of the day
• LRE level C -out of general education classroom >60% of the day
• LRE level F&G -separate public and private schools

When we decided it was time to move msk to a less restrictive setting than level F there was an arguement that maybe we should step him down gradually to find the least restrictive setting that was appropriate for him. I'm not sure we would have made the big jump if the school that worked out for us had a level B or C setting capability. They weren't a big enough school to handle full time special ed placements. Our level F setting made it clear that we could come back if it didn't work out and so we took the plunge. Looking back, I don't think msk would have been successful in a gradual step down process. Constant changes aren't good for him and it's clear that his general ed peeers have really helped his progress. A level A setting (with lots of supports) is where he's been successful, so that's his right. I'm not saying every school can support him so he can succeed in a level A setting, but we will be trying our hardest to find a school where that will happen.

So, besides being a legal right, why do I think that inclusion is the way to educate special need students?

• The first and most obvious reason is that we no longer live in a society where people are instiutionalized. Eventually, to whatever level they can, these students will need to live in society and they need to be working on that skill as early as they can.


• General ed students need to learn that there are lots of different people, some with some pretty major problems, but that we're all humans and we can live together


• When teachers learn to differentiate education for one child they learn that it's not thaat hard to do and that many students without IEPs can benefit from a tailored lesson


• A lot of learning in schools is peer to peer. A diversity of peers makes for the richest learning environment

I know different kids have different needs, but I think many special needs students are in more restrictive settings than is really required. The biggest driver is that all parties need to want inclusion to work. It's that desire for working with msk and seeing him as adding to their school that I'll be looking for in meetings with schools.

By request - the Consent Decree is over

I've never had a request for a post before. So here goes - my feeling on the end of the Vaughn G Consent Decree.

I've spent six + years as a parent of a Special Ed student in City Schools. I can say without hesitation that services and organization have gotten better in those years. If the point of the Vaughn G Consent Decree was punishment for being disorganized and removal of the Consent Decree is a reward for no longer losing track of services and students, I can agree with the current turn of events.

As a parent of a special needs student, I have slightly higher standards. I'm shooting for a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). When that's happening for every special needs student in City Schools I think some sort of victory can be declared.

Who can honestly say that all students in City Schools have an "appropriate" education? I think violence in the school makes it impossible for anyone to have an appropriate education, much less special needs kids who are the most likely to be harassed in school (there's a good government bulletin on the subject here). And when schools are lacking the supplies and staff that they need to educate their students, is it possible to get an "appropriate" education? I know that these things aren't true for all schools or students in City Schools, but I think that for special needs students, especially those without strong advocates, violence, lack of resources and lack of trained staff is more the rule than the exception.

Without properly trained staff it's impossible to put a student in the Least Restrictive Environment that he/she is able to be successful in. School staff needs the time and training to adapt an environment. Supports need to be designed and purchased. This can't happen in a school that is chronically under-funded. When special needs students are put into the general population all of the teachers, staff and students need training to understand these students. It's understandable for an over-burdened teacher to resent this new demand on their workload, but what student can be successful when their teacher resents their presence? If their fellow students don't understand the special needs student the environment will naturally turn hostile and who can learn in that setting? In these cases the special needs student is being cheated of an education. In the end, if the student has someone standing up for them, inclusion is deemed as a failure and a more restrictive environment is where they end up.

So while I applaud the hard work that has moved City Schools this far, I'm not ready to declare victory.

So tired of it all

Two and a half weeks since my last post and that one was fairly angry and frustrated. The truth is, that after eleven years of mainly being a cheerleader for City Schools, I'm tired. I find myself unexpectedly trying to find a middle school placement for a kid with a very significant level of autism. I'm not finding a lot to be cheery about. We're just about finished with a middle school that could never make a place for msk. A school where we've spent five years of trying to feel like we were welcome, as opposed to "out-of-zoners." At this point, I've given up and don't plan on participating in meetings about budgets or fundraising. The high school seems to have turned into Payton Place - way too much politics going on and sadly I'm talking about grown-ups, not kids.

So - the next month or so will be about meeting with special educators and trying to get them to be honest about how willing they are to work to make a place for msk. Something that is his legal right and that I know is far from a given. Honestly, I'm not feeling too hopeful.

I know that I have no choice but to buck-up and smile and do what needs to be done. On this rainy, grey Sunday, I'd just rather go back to bed.

Middle school situation

Here's my take on middle schools in Baltimore:

The majority of standalone middle schools are places of violence with little learning going on. If you are a bright kid who can blend into the culture of the school (i.e. you are the right race, you talk the right way, you wear the right clothes etc) you can make it out of some of these schools intact and having learned what you need to learn to be successful in high school.

Alternately there are middle schools with entrance requirements where most of the kids come out prepared for high school, but these are only an option for kids who test well and with a limited number of seats there will be kids who are bright enough who will be turned away.

There are charter schools who have varying levels of success at bucking the trend of middle schools, but these typically have lotteries with a 1 in 10 chance of acceptance. When that's not the case these charters are either having safety or academic problems that are in line with the neighborhood middle schools.

Add into this mix a kid who takes the Alt-MSA, who needs acceptance from his peers to grow behaviorally, who is never going to look or act like a "normal" kid, and who needs teachers who are willing to modify his work to accommodate his disability. A kid who in situations of chaos can wander and really has no survival skills if he gets lost.

This is why I plead for a continuation of elementary school.

A three minute speech

Changes (for some amount of anonymity) shown in italics

I would like to address the board about expanding the unnamed charter school to x grade. Our son msk would be attending x grade at the unnamed charter school if this expansion were allowed.

My husband and I are supportive parents of 3 City School students. For the last 11.5 years we have always been involved parents – my husband is on a school’s SFC, we are PTA members and we always participate in fundraisers.

Prior to msk entering school he was diagnosed as being autistic. Even though many people urged us to move to the county we were committed to City Schools. My husband and I are City School graduates; our elder children were doing well; but mainly we stayed because we believe in the economic & cultural diversity that City Schools provide.

Msk's initial City School experience was with a school that was supposed to be inclusive (it had a “Together at 5” program) - but clearly msk wasn’t valued. He was often off task, he was frustrated, and his teachers resented the extra work he represented and saw no plus side to him being there. We worried a lot about msk in this setting.

In the summer we attended a PAL program for only a few days – this was clearly the wrong setting for msk with lower functioning children his developed new problem behaviors and there was no academic work at his level.

Eventually we moved to a non-public placement that cost the city money, but worse (from our perspective) - msk was away from “typical” kids. This meant his behavior stagnated and academically he made very little progress in two years.

The unnamed charter school offered a unique setting where we felt msk would be safe and valued and we made an unprecedented move from a LRE Level F school to a Level A school. We did this because the unnamed charter school had a special educator as principal who wanted msk to be there and because differentiated education was seen as standard practice. In this setting msk has made great progress – behaviorally, academically and he’s just very happy at this school. This is the only setting since pre-school where we can say this.

If the application for a x grade is denied I don’t know where to consider sending msk next year. Honestly, I’ve been worried about this transistion since msk first entered the unnamed charter school . I see no alternative to pursuing a non-public placement again. I would love to hear what school the board recommends we pursue for msk next year. We’re looking for a school that:
- Has teachers and administrators who value special need students
- Would not put msk in a isolated special ed classroom
- Would provide differentiated instructional material
- Would include msk in all school related activities
- Would provide the one-on-one aide he needs and not use the paraprofessional for other purposes than his education
- Would not tolerate bullying or exclusion towards msk from his classmates

I think these are all fair requirements for a Free and Appropriate Public Education in the Least Restrictive setting that is his right by law. Is there another City School that could provide these things for msk?

Anonymity

After nearly two years, I'm starting to feel limited by staying anonymous, but I'm not ready to give it up at this point. As a parent of a special needs student I know that even if you've currently got the nicest, most cooperative relationship, new years, new schools, new teachers can bring difficulties. Difficulties for special needs students often involve lawyers and lawyers mean being very, very careful what you say.

Let me clarify to the extent I can - msk is currently at a school where he's doing very well and we are happy.

So, City School activities continue but, at the moment, I'm not sure about sharing.

Another week down

Well, I haven't been doing so well with the resolution to post more often. Sorry. It's related to some insane deadlines at work that I would tell you about, but I'm afraid there would be casualties from people dropping dead out of boredom from reading my blog. I want to be clear, I don't find my job boring, but after 25 years of doing this, I have found that just about everybody else finds the work life of an engineer very boring to listen to. So, surf ice it to say that work has been very busy lately and I barely have time to read my favorite blogs, much less do any posting.

My weight/exercise/health resolution has been going better, and I've got to say it seems like a more important resolution. On to specifics. Copying my goals from last week's post:

1. Drink coffee black - Third week in, still 100% compliance
2. Weigh in everyday - Third week in, still 100% compliance, logging in to iPod & Nutrisum
3. Pick low fat when grocery shopping (lean meats, less cream/cheese based dishes) - Still100% compliance meals are much healthier
4. 30min exercise at work every day - not quite 100% with all this stinking snow and the days I worked from home. Strangely it's very hard to take breaks from work when I'm working at home. Might be related to the 3 kids home from school because of the snow.
5. Follow the Wii Active 30 day challenge - Another bit of a slippage although I have been getting some exercise from shoveling snow off the deck. Next week I'll do better.
6. Track and work on the following 5 points - tracking every day
   a. Three servings of whole grains - a little hard, 90%
   b. Five servings of vegetables and fruits - every day 100%
   c.Five glasses of water - every day 100%
   d. No snacks within 2 or 3 hours of bed - hardest, about 75%
   e. Breakfast within 2 hours of waking up - every day 100%

And the results... well, we're talking about a lifestyle change. That will take more than 3 weeks.

SNOW!!!

Pretty hard to believe that this is Baltimore. We've made a minor excursion into the backyard to give the dog a little bit of a walkway and to blow off some steam. I've got to think that trudging through two feet plus of snow is a good aerobic exercise.

Week #2 resolutions

1. Drink coffee black - Second week in, still 100% compliance
2. Weigh in everyday - Second week in, still 100% compliance, purchased 2 iPod apps to help keep track Lose it! and Weightbot. Being a geek, apps are great motivators for me
3. Pick low fat when grocery shopping (lean meats, less cream/cheese based dishes) - Still100% compliance meals are much healthier
4. Walk more often - still 100% lunch time walks at work except one day where I used the elliptical machine, so I'll rename this 30min exercise at work every day
5. Follow the Wii Active 30 day challenge - I've skipped 2 days, but plan on making them up over this snowed in weekend.

My new goal is to start tracking my diet with Nutrisum, a program that my company provides. It seems simple enough - you can get up to 5 points a day with a goal of 30 points per week. The points are:

1. Three servings of whole grains
2. Five servings of vegetables and fruits
3. Five glasses of water
4. No snacks within 2 or 3 hours of bed
5. Breakfast within 2 hours of waking up