Systemic Problems for Special Education Students

The New York Times reported last week on T.J., a 12-year-old student with an intellectual disability who the school system has left behind.  T.J. still reads at a first-grade level.  He was not properly diagnosed until recently, and was not getting appropriate services for what he needed, according to his mother. 

Unfortunately, T.J.’s story is not unusual.  Of the some 200,000 students with identified disabilities in the NYC system, the department itself admits that about a quarter of those students did not receive the specialized instruction they need just in 2016-2017 school year—and that was a significant improvement from the year before.  The real number of students not receiving necessary services is likely even higher, as the department’s estimate assumes that all students’ IEPs currently mandate the appropriate services—a big assumption—and leaves out students who may need IEPs but have not gotten them.  On top of that, Spectrum News NY1 recently revealed that the Department of Education is months behind on payments to therapists, and as a result, students are not getting the therapy to which they are entitled.

But we want you to know that you are not alone trying to get your child the services they deserve.  If you feel your child is not getting what he or she needs to succeed, equip yourself to speak up.  Take a look at our resources page to get started. 

The Summer Transition: Six Things Parents of students with disabilities Should Consider Doing

Every child is unique, and no two families function the same way.  Parents should consider which of the ideas below (if any) will help them and their children during the transition from one school year to the next.

1. Talk About the Transition

Transition into summer vacation can be exciting, and anxiety-producing, for many students.  Simply talking with your child about their excitement, the end of the school year, and their plans with friends or wants for the summer months can help to greatly reduce any anxiety associated with the change.

Planning a daily schedule and maintaining a routine is key, especially if your child does not attend a structured summer camp or academy.  If possible, make plans with your child's friends or other familiar faces to encourage the building and maintaining of social relationships, and use it as an opportunity to experience new things - maybe go to the Bronx Zoo, the Central Park Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, or the Children's Museum of Manhattan.  If your child slumps into playing video games or watching television or movies for extended periods of time, the transition back to school can be doubly difficult.

2. Understand Your Child's IEP Goals

Before teachers and specialists are out of the building, make sure you have an understanding of your child's IEP goals and how the summer months may impact them.  If you do not, you should consider contacting you child's school - a counselor should be available to walk you through any special considerations, modifications or accommodations that may be pertinent to this time of transition.  It is always helpful to have at least one hard copy of your child's information for reference, if needed, during the summer months.

3. Reach Out to Last Year's and Next Year's Teacher(s)

Communication with your child's teacher(s) can help with transitioning from one school year to the next.  Reach out to your child's current teacher to discuss what has worked well and how to set your child up for success in the coming academic year.  Even a short email can help you to evaluate what techniques and strategies should be maintained in the coming school year to best support your child's academic, social and emotional growth.

It could also be helpful to share your thoughts and concerns with your child's future teacher(s), if you know who they are.  If possible, ask if you and your child could meet their new teacher and visit their classroom.  This may help your child to feel more comfortable with the transition between grade levels, teachers, and/or schools.

4. Prevent the "Summer Slide"

Studies have shown that children, on average, can lose between between 25%-30% of their school-year learning over the summer months.  This is no different for students with special needs.  Summer learning loss can be a serious setback for students who may already be struggling.

If participating in an Extended School Year (ESY) program is an option, take advantage of it!  If your child has the opportunity to attend a summer camp which addresses his or her special needs, consider signing up.  Popular options within New York City are: PreSchool Sensory Summer Camp Program, Tech Kids Unlimited, Camp Green Tree, Theraplay NYC, Big Apple Day Program, Speech Zone, and The Quad Manhattan.

5. Say Thank You

If there was someone who advocated for and helped to support your child in his or her academic, social and emotional growth this year, simply say, “Thank you!”  A “thank you” can go a long way, and modeling how to show thanks is a wonderful lesson for your child to learn before school lets out for summer!

6. Take Time for Yourself

Parenting isn’t easy—especially for parents of children with disabilities.  It’s important for you to relax and recharge.  Find some time this summer to do something for yourself.  Meditate, enjoy the outdoors, or try a new hobby.  Take care of yourself so that you can best take care of your child!

Understanding IEP Classifications

Every child is unique and has unique learning needs.  Individual Education Programs (IEPs) are created to make sure that there is a plan for meeting the unique needs of each child.  But of course, using categories can help educators figure out how to approach each child’s learning needs.

Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a “child with a disability” is defined as a child who falls into one of thirteen categories, and who, because they fall into that category, needs special education or related services.  Those categories include children with intellectual disabilities, hearing impairments, deafness, visual impairments (including blindness), deaf-blindness, speech or language impairments, emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, specific learning disabilities, or multiple disabilities. 

A child ages 3 through 9 could also qualify as “a child with a disability” if they experience developmental delays, including physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development, or adaptive development.

According to the New York City Department of Education’s 2016-2017 Annual Report on Special Education, 39.8% of students with IEPs were classified with a specific learning disability, 30.9% with a speech or language impairment, 8.7% with autism, 8.4% with other health impairment, 5.6% with emotional disturbance, 3.5% with intellectual disability, 1.6% with multiple disabilities, 0.8% with hearing impairment,  0.3% with orthopedic impairment, 0.2% with visual impairment, and 0.1% with traumatic brain injury.  A very small number of students had a deaf-blindness or deafness classification.

That means that in New York City, specific learning disability and speech or language impairments are the most common disabilities, followed by autism and other health impairments.  But these are some confusing categories!  What do they mean?

Formally, a specific learning disability means “a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations.”  Often, students with this classification have dyslexia (which affects reading skills), dysgraphia (which affects writing skills), dyscalculia (which affects math skills), or other troubles with listening, speaking, or reasoning skills.  

The second most common category, speech or language impairment classification, officially means “a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.”  Speech and language impairments are very common among 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds with disabilities.  Some common kinds of speech impairments affect articulation (like a lisp or distortion of a particular sound), fluency (like a stutter), or voice (this could be sounding nasal or raspy, causing pain or endurance issues).  Language expression issues might include trouble with expressing ideas, following directions, or using grammatical patterns or vocabulary.  Students with speech or language impairments may see a speech pathologist to practice speaking, or to learn how to use assistive technology to communicate.

“Other health impairment” can be a confusing classification, since it covers so many different types of disabilities, from ADD to life-threatening diseases.  Officially, it includes students who have “limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that— Is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome.”  Students with this classification might have complex medical issues.  Teachers might need to educate themselves about a child’s condition, and work with others to modify the learning environment to make it both safe and non-restrictive.

The IDEA stipulates that a child is to be designated under only one category.  This can be difficult, as a child might sometimes fall into multiple categories.  Educators will often classify the child according to the disability that affects their learning the most.  There is also a classification for “multiple disabilities” to be used when the combination of different impairments means that the student’s needs cannot be served in programs for only one impairment.  For example, if a child has an intellectual disability and is blind, then a program with students that only have one of those disabilities would not do a good job of accommodating that student’s needs. 

You might be asking now, “how much does all this matter?”  Students are given a classification based on their evaluations.  As a student grows up and their disability changes, it is possible to be reclassified after an evaluation.  But some parents wonder how important that is.  Of course, if a child’s IEP is be tailored to their unique needs, like it’s supposed to be, then the child is getting the education they’re guaranteed!  But a child’s classification can open the door to different services or schools.  We don’t want a student with autism to miss out on services for students with autism because they were mislabeled with an emotional disturbance classification or a speech and language classification.

As parents, educators, and advocates, it’s important to educate ourselves about the IDEA disability classifications.  The more we know, the more we can make sure our students are getting the education they deserve!

Victory At Last For Endrew F.

Last March, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 8-0 decision in the case Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District heightened the standard of education that children with disabilities are entitled to receive.  We know that a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) must be tailored to a child’s unique needs, but that doesn’t tell us how much progress a child should be making in order to call an IEP adequate—an issue the Supreme Court addressed in Endrew F.

The previous standard was that a child needed to receive “some educational benefit.” Prior to Endrew F., this ambiguous language was interpreted differently by different circuit courts for decades.  When the 10th Circuit reviewed Endrew F., it continued its practice of interpreting “some educational benefit” as “merely more than de minimus.”  This meant that a child with disabilities was receiving an adequate education under the Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA) if they made even the smallest amount of progress during a school year.  The Supreme Court determined in Endrew F., however, that an “educational program must be appropriately ambitious in light of [a child’s] circumstances,” calling it “markedly more demanding than the ‘merely more than de minimis’” test.  That was great news!

After the Supreme Court’s decision, the case was sent back down to the trial level—to the District Court in Denver, Colorado.  The District Court was charged with deciding whether Endrew, who has autism, was entitled to reimbursement for his private school tuition.  His parents said he had made very little progress at his public school in Douglas County, but made much more progress at a private school his parents placed him in, with the help of their attorney.  His new school used a Behavioral Interventional Plan that was tailored to Endrew’s needs.

Last week, after more than a decade of struggling, Judge Lewis Babcock ruled that the Douglas County School District is responsible for the private school costs for Endrew.  We’re so happy that Endrew and his parents had this victory, and we hope that the Douglas County School District, and school districts across the nation, learn to prioritize the unique needs of our students, so that all students can have access to a challenging, rewarding education that helps them learn and grow.

Read more about the case here, and click here to learn about the long journey Endrew’s parents went through.