Hello Public School System

Ben’s second birthday was just around the corner and it was now time to start our long association with the public school system. Because Ben had been identified as a child with special needs, under the 1986 public law (PL) 99-457 he was now eligible to receive services from the school system. PL 99-457 was an extension of the 1975 PL 94-142, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. The intent of this law was to improve educational opportunities for disabled children and adults aged three through twenty-one. PL 99-457 expanded to include two-year-olds who were identified as “at risk”. PL 94-142 stated that individuals with special needs were to be provided a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment to the maximum extent possible. This meant for the first time children with special needs would be educated in regular classes with “normal” (I hate that word) children unless, because of the severity of the disability, education could not be achieved in this manner. This law was a huge step forward for the disabled community. I can remember when I was a child the special education children were completely separated from the rest of the school population for the entire day, including lunchtime and recess. Because of our misunderstanding of these children it led to a lot of ridicule and downright cruelty. In today’s world children who were once completely isolated from the rest of the world are included in almost all activities available to other children.

The first step was the evaluation to determine if Ben was eligible for placement. Given what I know now about the bureaucracy that is our public school system I’m quite surprised how easy that part of it was. All we really needed to do was provide all of the doctors’ reports that we had collected over the preceding year. It was more than enough to gain Ben’s entry into “the system”.

The next step was the IEP, or Individualized Educational Plan

. This is one of the most important documents in the life of a child with special needs. This plan is a map of what the child’s day will look like from the minute he leaves, until he returns home. Under the law an interdisciplinary team is formed to write the child’s IEP. The team should consist of, but is not restricted to, a representative of the local school district, the child’s teachers and the child’s parents. The law stipulates certain criteria that are to be included in the IEP. There should be a statement of the child’s present level of educational performance; the annual goals, including short term instructional objectives; the specific special education and related services to be provided for the child and the extent to which the child will be able to participate in the regular education program; the projected dates for initiation of services and anticipated duration of services; the appropriate objective criteria and assessment procedures and schedule for determining on at least an annual basis whether the short term instructional objectives are being met. Parents who are preparing for this process need to educate themselves fully about what their rights are. Their voices are the most important and can easily be disregarded if they are not ready to advocate for their child. We ran into many professionals along the way who tried to convince us that they knew much better than we about what was best for our child. I must admit that our first several IEP meetings were quite contentious, because we never quite felt like Ben’s best interest was being served. It was almost as if the school system was overwhelmed with the extra children they were now having to serve and they were coming to the table with a standardized plan which best fit their needs; not Ben’s. Trust me, I understand budgetary constraints, and the burden our government puts on localities. PL 99-457 put many more children into the system at an increased cost. My issue was that the school system officials were not willing to “think outside of the box” when writing these IEP’s. Lower cost solutions could have been reached had they been willing listen to and work with the parents. Our story is a good “for instance”.

Next up; Our First IEP – A Non-Starter.