Simple Things - Smiles and Laughs

My happy boy is laughing and eating again!!

Heard today that my two month long fight with the county and with the state for excusing Andrew from the state mandated Alt-MSA testing was accepted. Andrew will not be subjected to answering questions he cannot comprehend over and over again all in front of a camera which satisfies a silly state requirement. One of my letters is below, and a recently published article....

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display_Comments.htm?section=a1&storyID=127649#postComments



TO:
Assistant State Superintendent Division of Special Education/Early Intervention Services

I would like to bring to your attention difficulties that I am having with a recent IEP decision made regarding my son and my request for his excusal for Alt-MSA testing. My purpose of writing this letter is to share with you how students who are severely cognitively impaired and their families are dealing with State Alt-MSA testing rules and guidelines which I do not find fair and appropriate. I believe these guidelines are not in the best interests of these particular students.
My son Andrew is 12 and attends Rock Creek School in Frederick County. He has multiple disabilities, including cerebral palsy affecting his entire body, cortical visual impairment, daily seizures, non-verbal, and severe cognitive impairment. He has many, many issues and is medically fragile. I am very happy with the staff and the program in place at Rock Creek School. My son has been a student there for seven years. We are involved parents and want to make sure our son who cannot communicate is educated and cared for properly. At this stage of Andrew’s life, we merely seek the simple things, his health and his happiness. Overall, Rock Creek provides a stimulating, educational, social and therapeutic environment for my son to take part in. It came to my attention a few years ago that Andrew was at an age where he would be put through months and months of testing to fulfill the mandated State Alt-MSA testing requirement. I have watched disheartened over the years as my son’s IEP has changed to accommodate this testing and not the appropriate education that he is entitled to.
It came to my attention at the end of June that a new checklist and process had been put in place to excuse students like my son who are so severely impaired from taking part in the Alt-MSA testing. In July I requested more information from our school’s Principal regarding this process. She forwarded the checklist and part of the manual to me for review. After review and knowing my son meets the criteria, I contacted our Principal to start the process. We set an IEP meeting for the first week of September to go over the excusal checklist. The meeting consisted of nine team members, only two people (one being me) even knew Andrew and his current abilities. It seemed clear to me that the team agreed that Andrew met the checklist for excusal, but previous assessments (from seven years earlier) show Andrew more capable than he is. Even since Andrew’s early days receiving Infants and Toddlers services reports were written with “fluff” that show Andrew in a way which clearly wasn’t matching to his level and his abilities. At this meeting I asked for reports which would now accurately reflect Andrew and his abilities. I was told, “We were out of time and what would the new reports show anyways”. Well, after my persistence we all did agree for new psychological and educational assessments. These were done quickly and do now accurately reflect Andrew and his abilities.
I was called to another IEP meeting in mid-September where I assumed the State criteria were met. I was even told on the phone that Andrew’s paperwork would be submitted to the State (hand carried to the county level, and then faxed to the state level - all to meet the State’s deadline of the next day). Well, once again after an hour’s time of reviewing current assessments and checklist items, I was told by county officials that Andrew did not meet the criteria because his previous IEP progress reports did show Andrew making progress towards his Alt-MSA goals. These reports are not accurate.
Apparently, the current accurate assessments, note from Andrew’s pediatrician, and even the team in agreement over Andrew’s abilities were not enough to submit this request to the state. How is it that even though Andrew is severely cognitively impaired (that of a six month old or less as noted by the team), his disability affects use of his arms and hands to hit a switch, his actual intentions on activating switches are unclear, discussion of Andrew’s severe daily seizures and mind altering medicines that interrupt his brain constantly, and even causing regression does not meet the state’s excusal checklist? How is that possible? Also, the State has presented this new checklist in recent months, but IEP teams are only allowed two months to gather data to submit for the excusal. Why the deadline of September 16th?
All I wish for my son, as stated earlier was for his health and happiness. I do not want him subject to the torture of months and months of videotaping and questioning in which he is not capable of comprehending at all. This is disrespectful to Andrew and to us as his parents. I am flabbergasted that past progress reports, assessments, and IEPS are being written to reflect the school and the school’s performance, and not written for my son and what he needs now.
I am extremely frustrated with this complicated process. I have contacted County officials who are aware of my concerns and are working on the county level to ensure Andrew’s IEP will finally reflect him and what he needs. Officials also indicated that the County has to follow guidelines as put forth by the State or they will be sanctioned. We have passed the September 16th deadline and the team would not submit my son’s excusal request to the State for their review. I do though look forward to hearing from someone at the State level who can offer an explanation as to how we can make this a better process for parents like me who are trying to do what is right for their children who are severely, cognitively impaired.