GAO Report : Widespread Special Needs Abuse in US Schools!
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Monday, May 18, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Idaho charter school for kids with autism on hold
HAYDEN -- The Idaho State Charter Commission has declined to approve a charter school in northern Idaho intended for children with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.
The commission on Thursday asked members on the board of the EPIC Academy to return in May with more information and a better budget plan.
The proposed EPIC Academy in Hayden would be the first of its kind in the Coeur d'Alene area.
Backers hope to open it for the 2010-2011 school year in a house the group has acquired.
Danelle Baumgarten-Pickett, a parent helping to lead the effort, says the commission commended the group on what it was trying to do.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, December 1, 2008
Barbara Olson Center of Hope
Barbara Olson Center of Hope
- 3206 North Central Avenue
- Rockford, Illinois 61101
- Phone: 815-964-9275
- Fax: 815-964-9607
- TDD: 815-964-9388
The Barbara Olson Center of Hope has been providing services to children and adults with developmental disabilities for over 50 years. We provide a variety of vocational, employment, educational, social and habilitative services for teens and adults with developmental disabilities living in Winnebago and Boone Counties and surrounding areas.
Mission Statement
“Increase independence for people with special needs in a safe and positive place."
Related:
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
School Gives Autistic Students Way to Communicate
School Gives Autistic Students Way to Communicate
The Community School Believes Social-Emotional Development Is Key to Healthy Intellectual Growth
By DEBORAH ROBERTS, CATHY BECKER and IMAEYEN IBANGA
Nov. 12, 2008 —
Many autistic students such as 13-year-old Ty Martin find traditional schools are not able to deal with their condition.
For Ty, loud noises were crippling, and his former school couldn't handle his outbursts.
"Everyday moments could be catastrophic to him," said Ty's mother, Judy Martin. "I said, 'There has to be some place for my son. I do not accept that at the age of 9 or 10 that we're just at a dead end. I do not accept that.'"
After years of searching, Martin found the answer to her concerns at the Community School in Decatur, Ga. Founded by Dave Nelson, the specialized school consists of eight male students and 12 faculty members. It has given the handful of boys with varying degrees of autism a way to thrive and improve their communication skills, although it is open to female students, too.
Nelson, who has a 19-year-old autistic son, understands the students' plight. Some battle anger and obsessive behavior.
"These are kids who have struggled so much for meaning and contentment in their lives," said Nelson, who is also a licensed counselor who specializes in working with children. "As a result [the students] actually develop and grow. That's incredibly rewarding."
Student Kenny Busey said the three-year-old Community School is "definitely a better environment than his previous school.
"I would get bullied just about every day, and none of the teachers knew it was happening," the 17-year-old said. "Not even the principal knew."
His mother grew frustrated with the system.
"We were getting no support from the schools. They were all blaming it on him," said Kenny's mother, Lee Busey.
A New Way to Learn
The Community school is designed for students in junior high and high school between the ages of 12 and 18. It allows students to graduate with a GED and, while it's too new to have had any graduates yet, it's expecting to graduate two or three students this year.
The Community School is one of several in the nation that addresses the needs of students using Stanley Greenspan's DIR model. Greenspan, a child psychiatrist who teaches at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., believes a healthy, social-emotional development is key to healthy intellectual development, especially for autistic children. The model emphasizes engaging children and getting them to feel comfortable with intimacy.
In a teaching video from the school, for instance, a withdrawn little boy won't interact with his parents even as they continue calling him. But when his father entices him to interact, allowing his son to feel in charge, the boy suddenly opens up.
It's a simple change enticing the child and meeting him in his world, rather than controlling it. The consequences can be huge, and the Community School offers the same kind of one-on-one instruction.
The educational institution offers teaching built around personal interest rather than fixed-lesson plans.
Now Ty, who turns 14 Nov. 21, is learning history in his own way.
"When we're teaching about the presidents, we're teaching that by starting with talking about bosses that Ty has had a lot of experience with," founder Nelson said. "And that personal meaning gives us an opening to then help him learn that more conventional material."
[FULL ARTICLE AT ABCNEWS.COM]
Related:Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Merrymeeting Center for Child Development (Bath, ME)
Merrymeeting Center for Child Development
- PO Box 34
- Bath, ME 04530
- (207) 443-6200
- Send email
Our MissionMerrymeeting Center for Child Development is committed to ensuring that children with autism, Asperger's syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) have access to education, treatment and care that is objectively and scientifically validated as effective, delivered by professionals with specific minimum methodological competencies.
Interdisciplinary Teams (IDTs)
MCCD understands a disorder as complex as autism requires a comprehensive response not only from special educators, but from the medical and psychological communities as well. MCCD will assist the case manager, special education director and/or parents with assembling an IDT, comprised of individuals who are stakeholders in the child's long-term outcome. The traditional Pupil Evaluation Team is an integral component of the IDT. Meetings required under IDEA (PETs) and Medicaid law are no longer conducted separately. Aside from the efficiencies of holding only one set of meetings to manage the child's education and treatment, the IDT model improves communication, ensured consistency, and prevents duplicate or counter-productive services.
ISP + IEP = A Single Set of Goals and Objectives
Similarly, the IDT develops one set of goals and objectives for the child. Historically, a child's education and treatment plan(s) were developed in isolation from one another, segregated based upon funding streams and/or providers. This not only made coordination and consistency difficult, but information about the full scope of resources utilized in helping the child were nearly impossible to compile. In addition the lack of consolidated information prevented analysis of whether resources were being used as effectively and efficiently as possible.
The IDT develops the goals and objectives for the child based upon the child's needs, without regard to whether they are academic (A) and/or habilitative (T)-treatment. Once defined, the IDT then assesses each goal to determine whether it is academic, treatment or both in nature. The IDT chooses a service mix calculated to help the child achieve the goals and objectives. Consensus determination of academic and/or treatment responsibility for each objective is noted within the individualized plan.
Behavior Analyst Technicians (BATs)
Unit the child has achieved objectives that ensure he can benefit from group instruction, he is paired with a 1:1 BAT on a rotating basis. BATs undergo professional development supported by MCCD until they attain certification by the national Behavior Analyst Certification Board. In addition, BATs are certified as an Ed Tech I, II or III, commensurate with qualifications. BATs receive ongoing supervision from a Master's-level behavior analyst and a PHD-level behavior analyst on staff, and a consulting certified special education director. Also on staff are an occupational therapist, and a CCC-SLP-level speech therapist, both utilizing methods of applied behavior analysis.
Follow the Child
Fondly referred to as "plug and play staff" by MCCD developers, BATs deliver education and treatment in a variety of settings day to day, based entirely on the ebb and flow of a child's ability to succeed as determined by the IDT. MCCD is a what, not a where. It is a dynamic. MCCD has invested in sufficient transportation resources that, while the based of operations is our Bath center, children are not restrictively confined to that location. Academic and treatment goals can be pursued for all or part of the day in the child's sending school, other school site, the community, and the home. This is supported inclusion.
Supported Inclusion
Supported inclusion is defined as sending a child with autism into a regular education program or community setting with typically-developing, age-matched peers, accompanied by a technician trained in applied behavior analysis (a BAT). The BAT helps the child to participate fully in all activities. The decision to include supported inclusion in a child's education and treatment plan should be made by the IDT based upon desired outcome objectives. These might be to generalize social skills learned in a structured one-to-one setting, learn new social skills, generalize academic skills learned in a structured one-to-one setting to group instruction with typically-developing, age-matched peers, learn new academic skills, and to gradually and systematically increase the child's time in regular education and community settings, in preparation for a full transition. (Support staff are gradually faded until the child can succeed in the setting independently.)
MCCD will guide the IDT through the systematic planning, implementation and evaluation of supported inclusion.
Curriculum/Skill Acquisition
Although each child's individualized plan is unique, MCCD assists the IDT with developing plans consisting of measurable performance criteria, based upon empirically validated hierarchies or systematic sequences of instructional objectives. MCCD has selected the IGS Curriculum, version 9.
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