Commenter:
Susan Foster SIEFA (Supporting Inclusive Education For All)
Midlothian Public Comment
May 27, 2008
Oppose: Reducing use of Developmental Delay for only preschool children, ages 2 through 5.
Support: Allowing the use of DD for children ages 3 through 9 as provided for in the federal regulation definition.
Support: Each and every recommendation (see attached) of the Virginia Office of Protection and Advocacy (VOPA).
Good evening, Board members. My name is Susan Foster, and I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to voice my opposition to reducing use of Developmental Delay for only preschool children ages 2 through 5. I support the federal definition which allows states to apply the term DD to children ages 3 through 9. This will ensure that many children will avoid until age 10 the stigma and low expectations of the MR or MD label.
Why does it matter if a child in Virginia has a DD label from ages 5 to 8 or 2 to 8 or 3 to 9? Labels are very important in Virginia. In Virginia, special education is driven by labels. Labels drive the level and types of services a child receives. Most significantly, labels are used to route students into segregated, center-based “programs”. For example, children with MD labels are routed to MD programs and children with LD labels are routed to LD programs and so forth. However, this routing based upon labels is in direct violation of currentVirginia regulations which require that a child receives services not based upon a label but upon his/her unique needs. (8 VAC 20-80-64 B.3.) Under IDEA 2004, a child is not required to have a label in order to be considered a child with a disability who needs special education, a fact that schools do not typically share with parents.
Although my twin girls are 9 years old and will not be affected by the new DD reg, I am advocating on behalf of all children in Virginia with intellectual disabilities especially those who have Down syndrome and who have for decades been subjected to low expections and resulting “expectancy effects”, based upon an MR or MD label that is based upon an IQ score. How can a 5 year old child with a Speech Language Impairment be accurately assessed on an IQ test? According to Pearson Education, Inc., publisher of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, because so few people score in the extreme ranges, IQ tests usually cannot accurately measure very low and very high IQs. But the IQ score is used routinely to route very young children into segregated programs, where they are not being given access to good reading and math instruction in the earliest, most critical years of development. It is difficult or impossible for these children to ever catch up. And like the tortoise that beat the hare, many children who have been given MD or MR labels can beat the odds if they are given equal opportunity and equal access to the general education curriculum. This would happen if they are instead given either the DD label or simply designated a student with a disability (SWD).
To illustrate the low expectations that go with labels, I know a little girl with Down Syndrome, now 9 years old, who at age 3 was determined during eligibility to be at a 10% delay. If she did not have Down Syndrome, she would not have been found eligible for special education. But because she has Down Syndrome, she was given a label which has driven her into segregated placements where she has not learned to read and do math. Her mother has had to pay out of pocket for tutors to teach her child to read and do math.
Most people realize that an IQ score does not accurately predict a child’s potential. In fact, half of children achieve above their IQ score and half below! Many children have gifts that are not revealed from an IQ score. “IQ test scores, under optimal test conditions, account for 40% to 50% of current expected achievement. Thus, 50% to 60% of student achievement is related to variables beyond intelligence” [1]The American Psychological Association’s report Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns states that successful learning depends on many characteristics other than intelligence such as memory, persistence, interest in school, and willingness to study. This explains why my Sarah, despite her IQ score, has achieved much due to motivation, hard work, determination, and perseverance.
A disability category label should not result in low expectations but that is the reality in many schools in Virginia. States have a legal mandate through NCLB and IDEA 2004 to improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities. And this means raising expectations. Giving a child an MD or MR label at a young age will not accomplish this, nor can continuing to practice segregation. Outcomes are being improved with inclusive education which gives children access to the general ed curriculum and thus a higher bar. In inclusive schools in Virginia and across the nation, labels are not even used. Teachers do not even know their students’ labels nor do they need to know it. In these schools, development of a child’s IEP is driven by the child’s unique strengths, weaknesses, and needs. This is in compliance with federal and state regulations. In these schools, children are not called the MiMD kids or the MoMD kids; they are called Sarah and Emily and Molly and Jack. They are individuals and members of their classrooms, not a diagnosis. Unfortunately, inclusive schools are the exception in Virginia and not the rule. Keeping the DD label until age 10 would result in more children with disabilities being educated in the regular classroom. I would like to point out too that gifted students are not given their label until 3rd grade.
In conclusion, I urge the Board to adopt the federal guideline of allowing children DD for ages 3 through 9. I believe this would improve educational achievement for children with disabilities in Virginia. With IDEA 2004 specifying that a child is not required to have a label in order to be considered a child with a disability who needs special education, this would be a positive step towards achieving the high expectations that are required by both IDEA 2004 and NCLB.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” - Benjamin Franklin, inventor
