We've Decided to End Your Child's Speech Therapy
Tuesday April 22, 2008
Today's Washington Post reported that the Virginia Department of Education is seeking to change a rule regarding parental consent to end services such as speech therapy. The state DOE wants to allow schools to suspend special education services without permission from parents. This would naturally affect deaf and hard of hearing children attending mainstream programs in Virginia, because then a cash-strapped school could just simply yank speech therapy or auditory training services from a deaf or hard of hearing student even if the student's parents feel the services are needed. However, the Post does report that there is one key provision that would enable services to continue: "If a parent objects, the service would be maintained until the matter is settled through dispute resolution."
Comments
I’m pretty sure Virginia’s DOE ruling is not consistent with ADA policy. It is a law that parents MUST sign off when school districts change IEP’s and 504’s.
I battled with my son’s school district over this very issue five years ago. A counselor at his school decided to do away with ALL 504’s. I was the only parent who fought it, and I won my son’s 504 rights back based on the fact that the counselor had illegally discontinued the services without my knowledge or permission. I really don’t think Virginia has a leg to stand on if any parent complains.
The problem is parents are often given misinformation about their rights– as I was.
In the end I threatened to file a Civil Rights complaint against the school district. They backed down immediately.
Today my son is attending college and doing well with accommodations. AND– it was important for him to KEEP those accommodations in place way back when, because colleges look at that to determine whether to accommodate prospective new students. What happens in sixth grade DOES follow them down the line. This is something I didn’t learn until my son was in 12th grade, so I’m glad I fought for him when he was younger.
My son was also accommodated during his SAT and AP testing– mainly because his 504 established a “history” of disability. A lot of parents try to get their kids designated as “disabled” at the last minute in high school so their student can qualify for accommodations for college testing. Doesn’t work that way. You need to show the student has been using accommodations all along.
None of my son’s friends whose IEPs and 504s were dropped five years ago went to college.
Worse, this starting to make the deaf community look like the FLDS!
RR, What is the FLDS, please?