Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Education

State Board of Education

Regulations Governing Special Education Programs for Children With Disabilities in Virginia [8 VAC 20 ‑ 80]

Action	Revisions to comply with the “Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004” and its federal implementing regulations.
Stage	Proposed
Comment Period	Ended on 6/30/2008

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6/29/08 3:58 pm

Commenter: Wendy Roundy

Parent Consent must be required before services are terminated!

"The heightened emotional stakes in special Ed must be acknowledged and respected, but parental consent isn't required to take a child out of a vocational program or an advanced math class, and parents need not have the final say in special education"

The above is an exact quote from Mr. Solomon, the editor of the Daily Press, printed on June 16th 2008 about Special Education. The Daily Press is a widely distributed newspaper...and is supposed to be unbiased. This quote was like a bull's eye, drawing me in and causing me to reread your entire article...several times.

In the educational setting, parental consent is required for many things within the education realm, not just special education...fieldtrips, family life/sex Ed, athletics-to name a few. When parents send their children to school, they are not forfeiting their parental rights to be informed and involved in the decisions concerning their children, and they should not be expected to. Children who have special needs require even more parental involvement in ALL areas of their life, as the ONLY consistancy the child can depend on. To remove requirements for parental consent in schools will be an extreme detriment to the child, to do so will be taking away one of safe guards parents depend on today to ensure their children receive a free, appropriate public education.

Every child with disabilities are worlds apart, and each child is different...that is why the Regulations state that the special education is designed to meet the child's "UNIQUE NEEDS" and need to be "appropriate." Just because a child's medical condition, diagnosed by teams of professional medical specialists-meet a particular list of criteria, allowing the child to be labeled with a word (ED, ADD, ADHD, ASPERGERS, OCD, LD, AUTISM, DEAF, BLIND, MUTE, TOURETTE SYNDROME, DYSGRAPHIA-and there are MANY more)-you can line up 50 kids in each category, and each one will be different. Sure, they may fall under the umbrella of a specific disability-but to design their 'individual education plan' (IEP) it must meet their specific unique needs...

AN IEP team is designed to INCLUDE the parent, medical professional, special teaching staff and sometimes the child as well- who are familiar with the child, his/her disability (and in many cases-disabilities), milestones, limitations, home life, educational profile. EACH member is supposed to contribute their observations, hopes & concerns for the child, and to strategize on accommodations that will help compensate for the disability, to bring the child to a more level learning platform as their non-disabled peers. The services are not to help them 'cope or overcome' their 'problem' as you phrased it, but to give them the 'free appropriate public education' they are entitled to by law, just as every other child is entitled to, regardless of cost.

Educational cost is only one form of cost of raising children-and it's true that some costs are higher providing education to disabled children than it may be for non-disabled children. This is also true for other types of specialized education, such as for students identified in the 'Gifted' programs as well. Where is the line drawn? The one's holding the pocketbook is actually holding the pocketbook with local public money in it. The federal government tells the local government 'thou shalt do this' but doesn't provide a financial plan how...so the local government has to make do. I would guess that if a child is receiving services of a 'full time aide,' that the child most likely NEEDS the full time aide-not only for the benefit of the child that is disabled-but ALSO for the rest of the non-disabled children in the classroom, AND the regular Ed teacher. The regulations state that special needs children must be served in the 'least restrictive environment'- when you factor in the number of students the average classroom holds-and add to that the fact that teachers are by law required to adhere to 504 plans AND IEP's for their disabled students (and bear in mind that EACH child's needs are unique, and vary from the others...AND, many of the children's symptoms wax and wan...vary from day to day, week to week...) it's really impossible for the teacher to meet all the duties and demands WITHOUT the extra help costly aides provide.

Parents are already burdened with coming to terms with having a child with special needs, whom they love dearly. When they become suspect that there is something different about there child, there is mixed feelings...denial, fear, grief-and are often times left alone to figure out how to raise them ... trips back and forth to various forms of therapy, multiple medical tests that never end, prescriptions-parents are ALREADY bearing a high cost-emotional, financial, physical. They are also desperately trying to understand what their child's disability/ies are all about, and how to keep their family together, and how to provide for their child. It's not easy for the parents, either...there isn't a long line of people waiting to step in and help...nor is there often a large amount of money readily available to provide...many cases, the parent only has the professionals to turn to for guidance-their pediatricians, medical specialists, and local educators.

So, the burden of financing the education of disabled/special needs children fall onto the general public, just as it does for non-disabled children. But, who gets to say the child is eligible in the 1st place? The 'child study' team has to meet first...then the 'eligibility team' has to meet. Unless the parent requests a 'full evaluation,' it usually takes several years for a child to properly be identified-and many times the child suffers extreme self-esteem issues at an early age. The parent plays an important role in helping the rest of the team become familiar with their child-each piece of the puzzle is important to create the entire picture. If you take away one piece, (the parent's role), it's impossible to view the whole picture. (the child)

With the economy in the condition it's in today, and school systems struggling to stay within budgets just as households are-it's very easy to look the other way and sweep these children under the proverbial rug. Some teachers I've spoken to have stated they were told by their administrators that they can't afford more 504s and IEP's. Some parents I've spoken to have said they were told their child can no longer get 504s at the high school level for certain disabilities...and their children end up declining in grades left to fend for themselves, and some dropped out.

Who should get the final say in when it's ok to terminate services? It's hard to say WHO should-when one side is the one footing the bill, and the other side is the one with the need. As a parent, of course you listen to your heart-you know your child best. Yet, parents are not educators (per say)-I should say parents are not 'highly qualified' educators, though they certainly are the 1st educators their child is exposed to! The teachers are the professionals who have learned techniques to teach all students, though not all teachers are special education teachers, so are not trained or experts on certain disabilities and ways to teach children with them.

Often times, children who are found eligible for special education services are given accommodations designed to meet their unique needs-and these children are brought to the same educational platform as the others...they do well-learn skills, meet goals, master subjects-just like the other children. Then, after 3 years, the special education team decides the child's' disability is no longer impacting their education, and the team overrules the parent and the child is removed from services. The child goes on, and regresses...grades decline, self esteem declines-it's a tragedy. Children with special needs receive services because they NEED them to have a chance to succeed like other children without special needs. Taking away the services because they work, is like giving a child with a broken leg a set of crutches who gets around fine like everyone else, passes the tests, etc.; then taking away the crutches because the team no longer sees an academic disadvantage. Parents should have a right to participate in both the beginning process of eligibility, the middle & ongoing process of developing the accommodations and individual educational plans, and the decision of when the child no longer requires the services.

See, when a child loses much needed services (often because the system no longer wants to pay for them), and a parent disagrees...there is a process of appeal, called "due process." Usually takes place after a state complaint is filed. The problem with this is that the school system employs their very costly special education attorney to represent the school, and the parents are unable to afford legal representation, especially legal help in the field of special education; and more money is spent then. Seems to me that this is a big problem that is widespread and more light needs to be shed on it.

If you take away parental consent, and a parent disagrees with the termination of services the school imparts-sure, they have the right to file due process...but, due process is not FREE...it comes at a high financial cost-both for the school system, and for the parent. Unfortunately, most parents lack the funds to hire professional legal assistance, and Special Education Attorneys are not easy to find or pay for. Placing parents into this situation does not seem fair-and seems to contridict the intent of the law of FAPE.

Medical professionals who treat these children with special needs are viewed by educators as simply someone with an 'opinion' that they will consider. Parents are exhausted and often just give up-they take their child to a medical professional for help and are advised what to do, then the school system refuses to implement suggested strategies..There is something wrong with the system-it's damaged beyond repair and needs a complete overhaul. The bottom line should always be what is most appropriate for the child. The 3 groups of interested parties should each participate-the medical professionals, the educators, and the parents. If parents and schools can't agree on what the child needs to receive a free appropriate public education-why can't an impartial, unbiased qualified panel be available to decide-one that isn't a financial burden to the parents?

The article written by the editor seemed to slant in favor of the school system and didn't seem to represent the voice of the parent or child. Parents are truely the only consistant team member that stays with the child from year to year--I'd like to see more stories on this subject-interview real people, living real lives who know first hand what it is really like. The public after all has a right to know, since they are the ones paying for the public education.

My own child was diagnosed in the 3rd grade with multiple neurological disabilities...Tourette Syndrome, ADD, ADHD, OCD and parts of Aspergers. Yet, he also has an extremely high IQ...so because he was 'expected to know better' he was termed a "behavioral problem' and was not granted special services until he began the 6th grade. He thrived on the IEP he was given during Middle school, maintained an average of 3.5 gpa...at the end of the 3 years, a re-evaluation was done to determine whether or not he was still eligible for continued services when he went to the high school. The IEP TEam determined that since he did so well with the accomodations they provided him, that his disability did not affect him academically, so they terminated services for him. This was against our wishes, but we did not know our rights at the time. We were told that he would fair better in the high school without being a child in special education...and that he'd not be able to graduate with a regular diploma if he was receiving special education services. The change was a disaster-our son began receiving D's and F's for the 1st time in his life, and the school administration didnt seem to care...they basically thought our son was not trying hard enough. Each time we tried to get him the services back, we were thrown into circles-a parents nightmare. We ended up having to move him at the beginning of his senior year to another county and enroll him in a different high school and the 1st thing they did was place him on an IEP again, but by then, the damage to our son was already too deep...his self-esteem, his trust in teachers, his time had run out. We struggle to this day with trying to teach him executive functioning skills and to transist him on his own into independent living to no avail.

Children like my son deserve the right to be protected by school systems trying to pass the buck and save a dollar...PLEASE do NOT allow parental consent to be taken away from the parents!

Thank you for your time,

Wendy Roundy

Gloucester, VA

CommentID: 1654