From Devastating Diagnosis to Legal Progress
Having an Autistic Child Forced a Lawyer Mom to Tackle the Scouts, Schools And Government Services 
 
By Susan McRae
Daily Journal Staff Writer

      LOS ANGELES - Casey Reilly plops down on the living room sofa between his mother, attorney N. Jane DuBovy, and Carrie Watts, a child advocate with DuBovy's firm.
      At nearly 12, Casey, sporting a mop of unruly dark blond hair, looks and acts like many other youngsters his age.
      He roughhouses with his two dogs, plays with the cat and is a whiz on the set of drums he keeps in the corner of his bedroom.
      "On the surface, he's a typical kid doing typical things," DuBovy said. "But if you look below the surface, you see something different, something odd."
      Casey has been diagnosed as high-functioning autistic.
      The term "autism" was first applied 56 years ago by Johns Hopkins University psychiatrist Leo Kanner to describe a group of children who were self-absorbed and had severe social, communication and behavioral problems.
      Often diagnosed in early childhood, the complex brain disorder has symptoms and degrees that can vary widely, from agitation to passivity. But one major characteristic, according to the Center for the Study of Autism in Salem, Ore., is an inability to develop and sustain social relationships,
      No one knows this better than Dubovy. She has been fighting since Casey was diagnosed at 3, to make sure he receives all the services and programs to which he is legally entitled.
      Over the years, Dubovy and her husband, Michael Reilly, have challenged the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Western Regional Center, state facilities that provide services and programs for disabled children, forcing them to provide remedial programs directed at overcoming the core deficits of this disability.
      Their latest complaint, filed Aug. 17 in U.S. District Court for the Central District, in Los Angeles, targets the Boy Scouts of America. It is the first time the organization has been sued for allegedly discriminating against a child based on a developmental disability, DuBovy said. C.R. v. Boy Scouts of America Troop 223, CV06-5171.
      The lawsuit accuses the organization of barring Casey from attending a field trip in summer 2005 to Santa Catalina Island, a prerequisite for advancing to the next level in the troop, because of his autism.
      The Scouts have not yet filed a response. However, Scout Executive Ross Harrop, of the Scout's Western Los Angeles County Counsel, said the organization prides itself on its long history of reaching out to and accommodating children with special needs.
      While Harrop has not talked directly to Casey's family, he said there seems to be two very different versions of what occurred. He said the Scouts offered to let Casey attend the camp if his father accompanied him.
      But DuBovy said that, when her husband was unable to go, the troop leaders offered no alternative solution, even though the couple's older son, Tyler Reilly, 16, an Eagle Scout, was willing and available to take his father's place.
      DuBovy said she and her husband wrote the troop this year to try to work out an arrangement for Casey to return but never received a reply.
      For DuBovy, the lawsuit against the Scouts is particularly meaningful because of the organization's focus on developing social relationships. By allegedly excluding Casey from certain activities, the organization is defying its own principles, she said.
      "The Scouts, with its focus on building relationships, provided the root that allowed him to develop friendships," DuBovy said. "When they removed that from him, the root was ripped up, and he lost the continuation of development of relationships."
      Casey, who has been out of the Scouts for a year, is aware of the contents of the lawsuit and said he hopes it will help prevent other children from being discriminated against because of their disabilities.
      DuBovy said she has helped Casey become more aware of his autism as he matures. Fairness, she said, is a concrete concept to him.
      "If something is not fair, it's not right," she said. "Injustice is very absolute. He says he doesn't want this to happen to another kid with autism."
      DuBovy first encountered autism in the mid-1970s, long before she started raising a family. As a Pepperdine University psychology major, she spent time working with autistic children at Camarillo State Hospital.
      What she observed was horrifying and depressing.
      "It looked a lot different back then," DuBovy said. "Kids were nonverbal, and there was the assumption that they were retarded.
      "Kids would disappear into their own world. I watched kids become lost. It was a horrible time."
      DuBovy returned to Pepperdine to study law. Two decades later, she was running a thriving bankruptcy law practice on Los Angeles' Westside, when she learned her youngest son was autistic.
      "I was shocked because it didn't look like I remembered," DuBovy said. "He was affectionate, smiling, verbal."
      But at times, his talk turned to gibberish. And while he didn't have tantrums, his sensory receptors were heightened. Headlights from passing cars at night caused him to scream. He often would awake crying for hours.
      DuBovy had Casey evaluated by a special language therapist, who referred him to UCLA Medical Center. He was diagnosed and referred to an early-childhood intervention program for autistic children.
      In the eight years since, what began as a shocking diagnosis has given DuBovy's life fresh purpose and led to a new calling. In fighting for the rights of her son, she also began championing the rights of others in similar circumstances.
      Last year, she gave up her bankruptcy practice entirely to devote herself to representing children with disabilities, particularly autism.
      "After I realized how important it was, I couldn't not do this," DuBovy said. "I'm doing something really, really important, and the school district has to pay me to kick their ass."
      "Carrie came in and has the same ass-kicking personality and is half my age," she said, turning to Watts on the sofa beside her. "The practice is going crazy."
      Her firm, A2Z Educational Advocates, handles 30 active cases at any given time. The firm's lawyers and advocates conduct seminars, lectures, conferences and provide training for parents and community outreach services.
      Watts, who has worked with DuBovy for the past 3ÂÞ years and personally accompanied Casey during his early years in the Scouts, said the firm often sees parents with children Casey's age.
      "They don't realize they are entitled to receive services from the school," Watts said. "They don't have the resources and don't understand how to fight the system.
      "Fortunately, we can remedy that in some ways. The school district has to comply, but we don't know what that kid could have got through early intervention."
      Ironically, while DuBovy represents other people's children in legal proceedings, she usually farms out Casey's complaints because parents are not entitled to collect legal fees for representing their own children. She explained that, because these cases often take a long time to resolve, she can earn money working for others while supporting her son and helping the cause.
      The Scout's case is being handled by Los Angeles attorneys Barak Lurie and Christopher H. Knauf and the Disability Rights Legal Center.
      Because Casey exhibits a mild form of autism, it isn't as identifiable as the more severe cases, in which children are unaware of their surroundings. In some ways, that makes it more difficult to deal with because Casey's awareness of his disorder leads to depression and anxiety.
      "When something confuses him, he's afraid he's going to say something stupid or embarrassing because he knows other people will react and are scared of him," DuBovy said.
      She said he tells her he hates autism and wishes there were a cure. But she tells him if he were cured she doesn't know what part of his cherished eccentricities she might lose in the process.
      Studies have found that 10 percent of autistic people have savant skills, particularly in music and art.
      Casey is a remarkable drummer and has perfect pitch. He performs in local bands and is comfortable being on stage.
      One of DuBovy's hopes is that she can provide Casey with enough strategies to live in a normal society.
      "It's frightening as a mom," DuBovy said. "I tell him we will get through junior high and high school together.
      "If he can survive adolescence, lots of musicians are quirky and allowed to be quirky, and he could be successful as that."