Court Rules Against Special Ed. Parents

AP ^ | 11/14/5 | GINA HOLLAND

[SmithL]

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that parents who demand better special education programs for their children have the burden of proof in the challenges.

Retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the 6-2 court, said that when parents challenge a program they have the burden in an administrative hearing of showing that the program is insufficient. If schools bring a complaint, the burden rests with them, O'Connor wrote.

The ruling is a loss for a Maryland family that contested the special education program designed for their son with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The case required the court to interpret the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, which does not specifically say whether parents or schools have the burden of proof in disputes. The law covers more than 6 million students.

[jamaly]

I happen to be one of those fathers. I really get tired of the "short bus" crack. My son was born with hydro-cephalus, at age eight he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. Because of the hydro-cephalus he does not remember or retain information as easily as others. At age 12 he is doing 3-4th grade work.

He's a great kid. Kind and courageous (two, complete, reconstructive surgeries on both feet to keep him ambulatory--try that if you think you're hardcore). The only problem he has in school is the constant teasing and torment he sustains from so-called "normal" kids. As for the ADHD kids that he shares his special ed class with, some of the worst teasing comes from them.

Of all the crap he has had to go through, what breaks my heart the most is the teasing. That has cut him deeper than any surgeons knife.

I am very sorry for your son's disabilities. It sounds like school is helping him and he is learning.

I have a question for you and I absolutely do not mean to be cruel or insensitive. My question is: what is the point of spending taxpayer funds on a severely handicapped child that will never be able to work or be a productive citizen? (Hopefully your son will be a productive citizen.) I am directing this question to you because you have more insight into this than most of us will ever have.

I know an 18 year old boy with similar disablities as your son, just much more severe. He literally has a vocabular of about 20 words. His speech is so slurred it can only be recognized by family, he can't walk and has the I.Q. of a preschooler. Yet, he has been going to school for 10 or 12 years now, with almost no noticeable improvement. I also know of children with feeding tubes and respirators that are permanent; but, these kids are sent to school every day and exposed to all the germs and illnesses present in all schools. How does this help these severely disabled children and/or our society?

If this question hurts you or offends you in any way I sincerely apologize.

[Skooz]

Thanks for the dripping sarcasm.

It's wasted on me, however. I never said you were "lazy parents" or that your child's problems were "caused by [your] laziness and the school's greed."

All I said was that ADD and ADHD kids routinely get SSI now.
That is a fact.


If you want to know where I got my information, Freepmail me. I'll tell you all you want to know.

[Puddleglum]

Wow. Where do you get your information? My kid has had ADD and other "learning disabilites" for 19 years

Without trying to be offensive, I am just curious if the docs have ever told you what caused/might have caused these problems?

I wonder if ADD is something people are just now noticing, or whether it is "new" (generationally). If new, what's the cause?

[Puddleglum]

Rulings like this take the power away from the parents. These parents protested the program their son was in. The court says that they can not just plain not like it....the court says that the parents have no say in their own child's education plan, unless they get some kind of special ed professional lawyer to prove to the court that the program did not benefit their child! What if they just did not like it? Too bad, the school knows best....government knows best what is best for your child.

Or they could send their kid to a private school of their choosing, or home school. There are other choices available, just not government-funded ones.

[MortMan]

14, 12, and 6. The 2 older ones have been diagnosed. The youngest shows some of the symptoms, but not to the point where we believe we need to seek outside treatment.

[MortMan]

Ritalin was a factor in the therapy - but at the smallest dosage level (and was titrated through clinical testing to balance the benefit against the downside of the stuff). My kids have been off the drug for coming on 3 years now - and my son just got a 90 on his (home school) math test yesterday! I'm VERY proud of my kids! All 3 of them!

[freedumb2003]

Good for you!

And congrads!

[MortMan]

You're up REAL early!

How's Tuesday treating you?

[freedumb2003]

Well, Tuessdays have the advantage of not being Mondays.

Just doing a little pre-work FReeping this morning. You're up with the roosters yourself :)

[MortMan]

I'm making up lost time for Thursday to cover an appointment, although I'm only an hour earlier than usual.

What kind of work? (I haven't perused your about page - forgive me, Sahib!)

[freedumb2003]

Computer consultant -- putting in large scale ERP systems for multi-nationals.

Life on the road...

[Diva Betsy Ross]

If the fact that I point out that the school system has ,for many years, manipulated the definition of "disabled" to mean children who don't like school or who are bored by their teachers- in order to get extra funding from the states- means that I am "void of compassion" then you have a very interesting definition of compassion. I have seen those exact children forced to be on life altering drugs because of parent's issues and because the school doesn't want to deal with high energy children AND they make money off of them. I have spent my work life working with people with varying issues. DO you think it is more compassionate to bleed the tax payer and manipulate children and parents into believing something that isn't true??? If standing up for parents and children is what you consider void of compassion then I don't think the two of us see eye to eye on much at all.

Of course there are a small percentage of children who have ADD or ADHD. Some of them may have CAPS- some of them may be explosive children ( i have one of those) some of them may be (and I believe are ) gifted. some of them may be being poisoned by metal levels which cause them illness. Some of it may be food allergies.... There are plenty of other reason children have difficulty on school.

Does the prospect of getting more money--a “bounty”--for each extra special education student persuade some educators to identify more children as disabled? Apparently so, according to a new study from the Manhattan Institute, which finds states with “bounty” systems for special education have significantly higher growth rates for special education enrollment than states with no such incentives

MORE ON BOUNTY FUNDING

[tuckrdout]

No, share your knowledge publically. You stated that ADD kids can get SSI...I want to know where my kid can get it. You obviously know. Why keep the info private?

[Skooz]

Visit your local Social Security office and ask for it.

If you meet the income and resource limits, your child may have also hit the jackpot.

[tuckrdout]

Well, with out being offensive, why are you commenting on a disorder that you are obviously ignorant on? Why would you be on a thread when you can not actually add to the conversation beyond critisize?

No, this disorder is not new. It is very old. Did you know that Diabetes use to be deadly, until research led to early diagnosis and treatment? We have made great strides in medicine and education.

After my son was diagnosed my mother told us that she has always struggled with this problem. She was held back in school and had a difficult time. She was happy that my son got the help that she was not able to get.

Teachers and medical personel did not know what they were dealing with years ago. These kids most commonly quit school early; were treated as lazy behavior problems. They were punished and ridiculed when they only needed help. They dropped out and were unable to get good jobs because of their lack of education. My mother has been a store clerk for 50 years.

[tuckrdout]

So you work at Social Security? Where do you get this information? Why would you know this when I, a parent of such a child has this disorder and never recieved the information from anyone but someone trying to cast dispersions on a message board?

[moog]

Good for your school. In all my years I have never found many schools who tried to pad the Special Ed class. I was told that schools here in California don't get an extra penny from Uncle Sam for Special Education.

In the 10 years I've taught, in the schools with which I've been associated, I haven't seen one try to inflate its numbers. It's been a long time since I've referred one myself. I've forgotten how to do it to be honest.

[moog]

Backing up Moog here -- I also teach special education, for middle schoolers. If I even were to think about suggesting a diagonisis of ADHD or medication, I could and would be rightfully fired. When a child acts up and shows signs of attentional issues, I describe the problem in an objective, observable fashion. If the parent brings up the possibility of ADHD, we suggest they bring the problem to a family physician. We never, ever make a suggestion of a diagnosis or treatment.

You have exactly described the conditions here. But the teacher bashers here (not sure about other areas) will tell you the exact opposite even though, like I said, there has yet to be such a case other than the one where the teacher was dealt with.

It probably is different in other areas. I am only talking about my own. Many parents here, if they do medicate their kids, do it because of how their kids act at HOME or in social settings like church, not because of some dumb reccommendation by a schoolteacher.

Every situation is different so I'm not even going to try to judge those. Kudos to those parents who are able to successfully deal with the things. I am certainly glad there are SO MANY GOOD parents here.

[Puddleglum]

Well, with out being offensive, why are you commenting on a disorder that you are obviously ignorant on? Why would you be on a thread when you can not actually add to the conversation beyond critisize?

I asked a question in hopes to get an answer. You might want to be less reflexively aggressive. If not, you might end up proving a genetic/behavioral link between disruptive children and their parents.

[moog]

I am sorry if this sounds blunt- it is not mean to hurt your feelings. BUT if you work for a public school, unless you are the superintendent, it is not your decision to make whether you go after the numbers or not.

Not sure what you're trying to get at here and it does not hurt my feelings a bit, because in essence my statements seemingly agreed with yours. Things are not done in regards to numbers here at all which is what I was pointing out. Things are done on a case by case basis with and only with the involvement of and the final decision being made by the parents. I'll even go further and say that it is not even the superintendent's job to go after special education numbers.