|
888-IDEA-ADA
888-4332-232
About
Us
Services
Resources
Message Board
Advocacy Chat
Regional
Center
Insurance
P.A.L.
Laws
News
Links
Contact Us
Home
A2Z
negotiated a confidential settlement agreement at mediation with
a local school district.
What
is RDI? The RDI™ Program is a parent-based clinical
treatment program designed to address the core deficits of autism
which impact social communication, relationship building, motivation,
critical thinking, abstract language comprehension, problem solving
and executive functioning. Often called the "missing link"
in treating persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders, it is a step-by-step,
growth model based on typical development and over 20 years of
research by world experts in autism. (*from the RDI newsroom.
visit www.connectionscenter.com)
Read
more about RDI:
Here's
where to find out more about this service -
Read
Dr. Gutstein's Books; Solving the Relationship Puzzle
(published by Future Horizons -www.FutureHorizons-autism.com);
Relationship Development Intervention with Children, Adolescents,
and Adults; and Relationship Development Intervention
with Young Children (both published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
-www.jkp.com)
Visit
the RDI website at www.connectionscenter.com
|
More
info...
Please
go to our website to read more about compliance complaints,
including a sample form, recent compliance complaints A2Z
has filed, etc.
A2Z'S
COMPLIANCE INTAKE FORM: for parents participating
in our compliance complaint clinic, please print out the
complaint intake form from our website and bring it with
you. This will provide valuable information for us
to be able to draft your complaint.
|
|
Advocacy
News: October 2004
|
In This Issue:
- A2Z
Announcements
- Case
Summary: WRC ordered to fund a Relationship Development
Assessment!
- Compliance
Complaints When / Why to File
|
|
A2Z
ANNOUNCES ITS NEWEST OUTREACH PROGRAM FOR PARENTS A2Z's
Compliance Clinic
|
| Is
your child entitled to recieve services per his/her IEP
that he/she has not been getting?
Has the district failed to hold an IEP when one was requested?
Has the district taken more than 50 days to conduct assessments?
|
In order to
assist parents with obtaining services in their IEPs, holding
the district to important timelines, and enforcing parent's
rights under the IDEA, A2Z will be providing a 1-day
session of compliance complaint writing free of charge
to parents in a specified geographic area (sorry, we can
only do one area at a time). Our first day of this
new program will be on Sunday, November 7, 2004
in the Alhambra area (covering school districts in Alhambra,
Monterey Park, San Marino, San Gabriel, South Pasadena,
Rosemead, etc. Exact location to be announced on our
website. Parents in local school districts should
bring their recent IEPs, assessment documents, correspondence
within the last year, etc. We also need volunteers
to translate for us, particularly in Mandarin and Cantonese.
Read more below about compliance complaints... Go
to our website to print the compliance intake form to
bring with you... |
|
A2Z
will be at the Resource Fair at the Learning Disabilities
Association Conference in Ontario, California on
Saturday October 16. If you are there, please drop
by our booth and say hello. Go to http://www.ldaca.org/conf2004/
for info about the conference.
|
Claimant
v. Westside Regional Center
Summary:
A2Z represented 9 year old boy with autism against WRC
in a fight for a Relationship Development Assessment (RDA).
The claimant has had significant services since the age of 3,
from both the school district and the regional center.
None of these services have addressed the core deficit, and
the child continues to have difficulties with social interactions,
building relationships, critical thinking, problem solving,
and abstract language comprehension. Recently, he was
dismissed from his social skills class due to disinterested
and disruptive behaviors. Relationship Development Intervention
was sought because it addresses the motivations and "functions"
of building a relationship, not merely skills. The Administrative
Judge ordered the WRC to perform a Relationship Development
Assessment. Read more, including a full copy of the decision,
on our website...
A2Z's
comments:
We were very excited about RDI and Dr. Steven Gutstein's
research when we read about it. This seems to be an unique
intervention designed to get at the very thing that is the core
deficit of autism - the inability to understand how to build
relationships. It is this inability, more than anything
else, that threatens to continue to isolate these kids from
the rest of the world. Casey has had social skills interventions.
He has had recreational therapy. He has had years of speech
therapy specifically in the area of social communication.
He knows the "how," but still doesn't get the why.
That's why we sought an RDA, and why we think Casey will benefit
from RDI. Read more on
our website...
Words
from Dr. Gutstein's book:
"Remove our emotional bonds with family, colleagues
and friends and few of us would want to go on living.
On a personal level we cherish relationships, but, as a society,
we sometimes do not appreciate their precious and fragile nature...
Some people believe that persons in the Autism Spectrum do not
need friends, allies and lovers...but people with Asperger Syndrome,
Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Autism and Non-Verbal Learning
Disabilities (NLD) are human beings. One thing we all
agree on is that the desire and need for emotion-based relationships
is universal to the human species. We cannot deprive them
of our most fundamental reason for being." From
"Relationship Development
Intervention with Children, Adolescents, and Adults."
| Recent Settlements |
Pending Cases |
| A2Z has settled several
Due Process cases recently, including cases involving the
following:
Student is 9 year old, diagnosed
with autism. District denied eligibility.
Settlement includes eligibility and full program of services,
including an aide with training, plus further evaluations.
Student was in 5th grade at
time. He has been eligible for several years under
SLD, and recently diagnosed as dyslexic. No progress
made under IEPs. Settlement includes NPS placement,
Lindamood Bell services, Educational Therapy, new assessments
in some areas, and reimbursements.
Student in 1st grade with Asperger's.
Issues included services and procedural violations.
Settlement includes 1:1 aide for unstructured times, additional
classroom support, supervision, and other services.
|
Student v. Walnut Valley
Unified School District - involving 3 year old with autism.
Placement and services in dispute.
Student v. Alhambra City Elementary
School District - student has autism; LRE placement, services,
and procedural violations are involved.
Student v. LAUSD - involving high
school student with SLD. Past implementation issues,
procedural violations, goals and objectives, services,
compensatory education, accommodations, are all involved.
Student v. Walnut Valley Unified
School District - involving 5 year old with autism. Services
and procedural violations are at issue.
|
| Other Recent Decisions |
More... |
| A2Z prevailed on a stay
put motion involving a student with Bi Polar disorder.
Student had been in NPS placement prior, which was no longer
appropriate, and came back to home school for ESY.
District argued that NPS was the stay put. Read
more about stay put issues: www.a2zedad.com/Stay_put.html
A2Z filed a complaint in the Federal
District Court in the Central District of California to
appeal a Due Process decision finding a student not eligible
as SLD. On Summary Judgment, the Federal District
Court ordered a remand, finding that the Hearing Officer
had applied erroneous analysis to the issue. The
case is now pending for Due Process.
|
View more case updates
and pending cases online at www.a2zedad.com.
Our cases are now organized by
district and SELPA on the "news" page.
Please check it out and feel free to send us comments
on the user-friendliness of the site.
|
|
Special
Education Topic: COMPLIANCE COMPLAINTS
|
What is
a compliance complaint?
- An allegation filed with the California Department
of Education (CDE) claiming that the school district
(the LEA) has violated a part of special education law
or procedure.
What does a compliance
complaint address?
- failure to follow timelines (for holding an IEP meeting,
giving an assessment plan, conducting assessments, providing
records, etc)
- failure to implement the IEP
- failure to inform parents of an IEP meeting
- failure to have required IEP members present
- failure to implement a due process order or settlement
agreement
- failure to include required IEP content
- other procedural failures
When should a compliance
complaint be filed?
- A compliance complaint must be filed within one year
of the alleged violation
- Should be filed as soon as the violation occurs /
is known to the parent
What are the remedies available?
- CDE issues investigative findings and requied corrective
actions to bring the district "back into compliance"
- Most commonly, district has to do whatever it is that
they did not do (hold an IEP, conduct an assessment,
etc)
- Can include compensatory education if there was a
loss of educational benefit.
- Sometimes includes some kind of plan of correction
- such as staff training or monitoring
|
LET
US ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS. Call 888 IDEA-ADA (888-4332-232),
or email us at inquiry@a2zedad.com
for more information.
To
be removed from our mailing list, send the following
message to dania@a2zedad.com
unsubscribe advocacy1
copyright
© 2003 A2Z Educational Adcocates. All rights reserved.
|
