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.

[bboop]

Go Irish, indeed! (Aren't they looking FINE this year?) Interesting your report re schools/ learning disabilities. The kids I know -- who grew up alongside my son -- the ADHD ones came from incredibly chaotic families. That the school district should have to provide a one-on-one 'attendant' for these kids sickens me. Should be the same across the board. Besides which the kids are being propagandized. yuck!

[bboop]

WHAT?? They receive SSI payments for being wiggley? WHAT????

[half-cajun]

FYI, although your personal experience may show that the ADHD kids came from chaotic households, I can affirm to you that that is certainly not universal. Sometimes these so-called "short bus" kids, as a previous poster so quaintly put it, are from regular hard working families who deal with an incredibly difficult situation. Most of the posters on this site who have no one-on-one experience with these kids may want to stop with the generalizations.

[OKIEDOC]

The Ghost of FReepers Past wrote: Do you ever watch The Nanny on television? IMO that's the sort of transformation most ADHD kids need. I'm not saying it is never legit; I'm just saying that I doubt it is most of the time. In one week the nanny can transform an ADHD household into an orderly one with nothing more than proper discipline. Maybe Dare to Discipline should be given to every parent in the U.S. Spend my tax dollars on it. Give out Spanish editions. Books on tape. Whatever it takes.

REPLY:

Discipline in America went the way of good manners and civilized social interaction when we did away with the draft. We are one of the few civilized countries where a child has no real obligation to his or her country. This shows up on just about every cable news broadcast where children are involved. The little protester running up and down the street demeaning their own country or the animals who inhabit San Francisco, NAMBLA, ACLU and Most of the Democrat party.

I wished it was as easy as bringing in a Nanny and making everything all OK. However, most of the people I know do not have the funds or resources to adequately deal with a true ADHD diagnosed child. Mental disorders are not always the easiest to diagnose.

I am somewhat disappointed with many of the comments from FReepers who are spouting off about things they obviously do not have a clue about. Some of them even sound like they need to switch over to the party of Dean, Reid, Pelosie, Turbin and Kennedy.

When I went to school back in the 50's and 60's there was no ADHD diagnosis or special education. The teachers dealt with my ADHD by whipping my ass everyday. I probably spent half the school year sitting out in the hall enjoying the benefits of being ridiculed for being the class joker.
So I know from whence these children are coming and it ain't all fun for the child. LifeSavers just don't seem to do the trick for kids with ADHD or Autism.

However, with that said I am a firm believer in discipline. Raising happy well adjusted and well-behaved children is a job in it's self. I marvel when I see children in public who are extremely behaved. There is a difference between children who have no real direction at home and those with ADHD.

[aliquando]

Preaching to the choir brother, preaching to the choir.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

I think everything you said is very reasonable and intelligent. Your beautiful little child is probably just normal in the range of her specific personality type. I think you are wise to look for discipline adivce first. Some kids are more challenging, and sometimes it is just a matter of trying out different techniques and being firm but loving. Do not yield to her control no matter what, but stay calm and sweet. That whole eye contact thing is big, plus talking slowly and being very specific and very consistent. Three is very young. You have lots of time.

[half-cajun]

I'm with you. As the parent of a child with severe ADHD, I cannot even describe the difficulties we have, DESPITE the discipline we impose in our home, (regardless of what many of the posters here today think). Some days I don't know how we're going to make it through school. Frankly, I knew I shouldn't have even clicked on this thread. I knew what I was going to read. I used to be one of those people who thought it didn't even exist and that it was basically a discipline problem or a way for teachers to maintain control of little boys. But when you have a 3 year old who can't even concentrate long enough to learn his colors no matter how many times you go over it, you realize that there's a problem.

[derllak]

I know one of these moms. She's actually my sister in law. She taught her daughter (who has no disability other than being a lazy, overweight couch potato) how to work the system to get her deadbeat pay. So sad when your only goal in life is to sit around and watch tv on someone elses dime. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I did this. I would feel so ashamed!

[Skooz]

Too true, known in the welfare community as 'crazy money', Mothers encourage their children to act out. No obligation on the parent to even use the money for their child.

"Crazy checks" have been all the vogue since 1992. Since that time, billions have been given to "slow learners," etc., as well as those kids suffering from maladies like "oppositional defiant disorder."

[TC Rider]

Ditto here with my ex-wife's sister. A classic welfare queen. Drug addled, drawn to men who beat her and two worthless boys, now grown, who have now both been in the gray-bar hotel. What a way to go through life.

Believe it or not, her first hubby, now dead, was the 'man with no face' featured on Rippleys, Larry King, Maury and South Park. (and yes, he beat her too!)

More here

[moog]

ADHD is a disability now?

Apparently so.

[bboop]

I think what we have is a huge continuum of -- kids who have real problems (I know some personally) to kids who are wiggley and the teachers overreact.

This SCOTUS ruling, however, I think is wonderful. That taxpayers should have to fund each and every special ed anything is beyond what's reasonable. There is tremendous graft and corruption in the schools today (I am a teacher) and way too much money given away and spent irresponsibly on 'special' this and 'extra-curricular' that.

In my district, someone SUED because they dared to rent instruments for $40 a year!! HellO.

[OKIEDOC]

Redbob wrote:
For a change, let's have a little "empathy" for the other 98 or 99% of the kids who are normal but who have to put up NIH the undisciplined monsters in their classes - and who, often enough, are part of a "group punishment" arising from the actions of the "ADD" kid.

How do you explain to an 8-year-old who thinks it's unfair that the whole class has to do without recess for a week because little Bradley was acting up?

REPLY:

Who says I don't have empathy (rhetorically) for the other 98% (your numbers) who have to deal with an ADD or ADHD child.

What would you suppose we do with those children that have true behavior problems caused by a physical illness as opposed to those caused by parental neglect of duty.

Can't put them into Special Ed because many posters are saying thats a waste of money.

Or we could just let them grow up maladjusted and see how many problems the so called 98% have to deal with then.

Not a good idea.

This is not a problem common to just the United States.

It is one that is finally being dealt with in many South American countries.

I don't know any good teachers who punish the whole class for the misbehavior of one child.

That old tactic is supposed to put peer pressure on the child and has been proved to fail every time with the ADHD inflicted child.

Little Bradly has problems and evidently the teacher is not dealing very well with those problems.

If that is happening in your local schools then you have a legit gripe that needs to be taken to the school principal.

You are obviously a well educated person.

Have you gotten involved with your local schools by mentoring children or volunteering.

Having just a PTA membership doesn't qualify, a person has to get physically involved.

Among other things, I go on Friday mornings and read to the children at the local elementary school.

Best of Luck

[moog]

I agree wholeheartedly that at least 50% of all *behaviorally diagnosed* cases of AD/HD (those promulgated by teachers, etc.) are wrong. Oh - and the correct therapy (read: learning how to apply one's own ability to filter out distraction) has eliminated the need for even minimal pharmaceutical intervention at all in my kids.

As a teacher, I would have to agree that at least some of them are "mis" diagnosed. I never have reccommended treatment for any of my students, figuring that is between a parent and doctor. Actually, NO teacher in my school has since it is not allowed. There was one dumb teacher in my area years ago who tried to do such and she was dealt with.

That didn't stop the teacher bashers though, during the last legislative session, from saying that all of us teachers in the area were drugging the kids (without one example).

[half-cajun]

I don't have a problem with the court's ruling either, and my father was a teacher (a great one, he taught Geometry and Advanced Math to me at my high school and wrote the geometry book), and my sister is a teacher. The problem that I do have is that some of the posters on this thread don't know what they are talking about. They are painting with a wide brush (excuse the cliche) and some of what they are saying is extremely hurtful to some of us who battle every day with ADHD and are worried about the future of their children.

[OKIEDOC]

What a great attitude towards MS.

Thanks for your comments regarding your child.

My sons child has been diagnosed twice, first with epilepsy, second with Autism.

Both diagnosis by pediatric neurologists.

Were now seeking a third diagnosis to confirm one or the other or both.

As Neil Cavuto of Fox fame says, the disability is much bigger for the person who has that affliction.

[MortMan]

I worked with one of the leading researchers in the field who used a clinical (measured) diagnosis that proved that about half of all behavioral (based on observation) diagnoses are wrong.

I have dealt with some teachers/admins who demanded drug therapy - but backed off pretty quick when asked for the medical license.

You sound like you've got a pretty good head on your shoulders. As a parent who has been through the wringer, I can only recommend that you continue to monitor behaviors, report patterns to parents, and recommend evaluation when necessary.

Take care.

[OKIEDOC]

I believe there is a little more to the diagnosis of ADHD than just acting out.

Your hysterical and somewhat funny comments meet the criteria of those that might be spoken by a true Howard Dean Democrat.

[derllak]

Sad that people make choices like this for themselves. I don't understand it. Don't they want better or are they just so apathetic that they don't care. Maybe you and I have the same sis in law! One of hers is in the gray bar hotel too. The only one of her three that made it against the odds is the one who joined the Navy. I have a lot of respect for that kid!

[Giant Conservative]

Most are just lazy parents and teachers who do no know how to deal

With regards to the teachers, it is far beyond laziness: the pedagogies they are instructed to implement are actively counterproductive and inevitably result in the behavior patterns labeled ADD.