Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful...

• that the cortisone shot my orthopedist gave me in my elbow 4 weeks ago is still working


• that my oldest son and I finally finished his FAFSA application for his college choices


• that even though there were four accidents on the freeway on my way to work this morning, I still wasn't late


• that I have learned to accept the fact that no matter how concientious I am, an auditor will always be able to find something that doesn't pass muster


• for the snow shower we had yesterday morning. We have yet to have any significant snow this year, and I really miss it.


• that I am not alone in my anger over the way my school district conducts its special education business


• that Ashley's audiology appointment went well this past Monday. The tiny bit of hearing she had in just one ear has deteriorated, but she doesn't seem to care. She signed to the audiologist that 'deaf ok'.


• that Tatiana del Tora got eliminated on American Idol last night - what a basket case that young lady was!


• that even though I missed our snow this year, Spring is just around the corner - I need some sun and warmth


• that tomorrow is Friday and on Saturday we will be visiting elephants at the circus!

Special Exposure Wednesday

Even though Ashley is blind, she produces some amazing art work. And, like any other child, she loves to have that artwork displayed. So, we put up a cord that runs the length of her room and hang her artwork with clothes pins. She loves it, and is quick to point it out for everyone to see!



Make sure to stop by 5 Minutes for Special Needs and see the other great Special Exposure Wednesday shots!

Due Process - Part One

Amazing Grace left a comment on one of my posts last week saying she would like to hear about the due process case I filed against my school district. I learned a lot during the case, and I believe what I learned may help other parents facing similar problems with their school districts. So, I am going to do a series of posts. The first will address what things led up to my filing suit. In the second post I will talk about the actual due process hearing, and in the third, I’ll share what life post-due process has been like.

The posts may be long so I will spread them over three weeks, with the first one being today.

THE PATH TO DUE PROCESS

Ashley started school when she was just 2 ½ years old. I adopted when she was 2 years old and immediately began early intervention services specifically to address her diagnosis of deafblindness. The early intervention staff suggested after 6 months that Ashley was probably ready for school and a more challenging environment. I agreed, and our first IEP meeting was held.

Ashley spent her school years leading up to kindergarten in a preschool class designed specifically for children with hearing impairments. Sign language was used by teachers and students alike, and I believe that was the reason Ashley’s love of sign language blossomed.

Just as Ashley was going into kindergarten, my school district made the decision to take a fully oral approach to hearing impairments. Sign language classes were disbanded and children without cochlear implants were moved to general special education classes. Unfortunately in the general classes, sign language was a rare commodity, and I had to start supplementing Ashley’s school day with home schooling each evening and on the weekends.

About the same time the sign language classes were disbanded, my school district also decided to cut back on ESY (Extended School Year) services. Where once Ashley had gone to school year round – summer and all breaks included – every new IEP brought arguments and reduced services. I saw those reduced services take their toll on Ashley’s progress and my home school efforts had to be increased. That increase was difficult given the fact that I am a single parent and I have to work full time. It was also tough on Ashley to have to concentrate so many hours each day on school work, but it was the only way I could ensure her progress.

Finally, when Ashley was in 4th grade, the school district wanted to suspend all summer and winter and spring break services. I knew I couldn’t make up all that lost time for Ashley, and began talking to an attorney.

The first thing the attorney had me do was to ask the school for an independent evaluation of Ashley. The evaluations done by the school district had been slanted towards the outcome they wanted, i.e. extra services were not needed. It took months – almost half a school year – for the school district to agree, but they finally did. They located a person who had experience in deafblindness and contracted with him to do an evaluation.

Although the evaluator’s skills in the area of deafblindness seemed a little dated to me, he did a pretty good evaluation. His recommendation to the school district – increase sign language skills and provide year-round schooling. The school district then spent the next two months arguing with the evaluator that they had found and hired.

In the meantime, my attorney and I decided we would get our own evaluation. We brought in the most experienced, most published, most well respected expert in deafblindness in the U.S. It cost an outrageous amount, but we felt it was the only way to ensure a fair, good evaluation, and our key to obtaining the services we believed Ashley needed.

Again, the school district scoffed at the expert’s evaluation and recommendations. They dug in their heels, and pronounced that there would be no summer, winter break or spring break services. My only option at that point was to file due process.

Coming in the next week’s installment – THE DUE PROCESS HEARING

Proving

Ashley had an apointment with her audiologist today for a hearing test. It's always seemed a little strange to me that a deaf child had to have a hearing test, but apparently my school district needs to see in black and white numbers and symbols to believe she really can't hear.

The appointment went well. It had been two and a half years since Ashley's last hearing test, but she went right into the booth without hesitation, and never complained when the audiologist put the two little probes into her ears. She then cooperated for about 20 minutes while the test took place.

I knew things weren't good when I could hear the tones (I was in the booth with Ashley) while not having the probes in my ears, yet Ashley couldn't. So it was no surprise when I saw the final audiogram and it revealed that there had been a progressive loss since the last test.

Ashley now has the official numbers to prove she has a profound hearing loss in her right ear and a severe loss in her left. I hope my school district is happy.

While going through the test with Ashley today, I was thinking about last night's Amazing Race show on TV. This season's show has a mother and son team, and the son is deaf. And like Ashley, the son felt he needed to prove something.

The young man and his mother were the first to reach the destination point, which, although I have not watched the show in the past, I could figure out was a good thing. The young man was so excited! When the host asked (in sign language - good job, host!) why winning meant so much to him, the young man said he needed to prove that Deaf were capable people.

So when you are deaf, sometimes you have to prove you really are deaf, and sometimes you have to prove that you are still capable. I just have one question - Why do you have to prove anything to anybody? Needless to say, this whole subject has struck a nerve with me...

Listen To The Voices

What an incredible project! Last summer, the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Disability Connection undertook a project called Voices of Our Region.

From their Voices website…

"Voices of Our Region is an oral documentary capturing the life, love and passion of area residents living with disabilities. Audio interviews with 57 individuals with disabilities of all types across generations and culture comprise Voices of Our Region. The six-hour oral history encourages listeners to learn about both the struggles and triumphs individuals with disabilities have experienced in seeking self-determination and non-discrimination by providing candid, non-scripted stories of the progress made in pursuit of personal goals".

Can you imagine how wondrous it would be if such a project could be undertaken in each of our communities???

Thankful Thursday on Wednesday

Today I am thankful for the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities and their new campaign...

Today, in my state (Virginia), people are making a difference for Virginians with disabilities. Today, is the official launch of the ABLE TO CHOOSE public awareness campaign.

“The ABLE TO CHOOSE campaign invites Virginians to join in making all aspects of community life inclusive and welcoming to people with disabilities,” said Heidi Lawyer, Executive Director of the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities (VBPD).

“The Commonwealth has a promising opportunity to reform its historical focus on large state institutions and fully transition to a true community-based system of support for its citizens with disabilities, said 83% of Virginians in a recent poll funded in part by VBPD as part of the planning for ABLE TO CHOOSE.”

The campaign’s launch will take place at the Virginia General Assembly. Lawmakers, in town for 2 months, were offered coffee at 8am this morning, but they had only one choice – black coffee, no cream, no sugar, and no lattes. This lack of choice was intended as a friendly reminder that everyday options for person with disabilities in Virginia are still limited. The campaign asks legislators and the general public to imagine how they’s feel if they visited a coffee shop or restaurant and were offered few choices. This unimaginable situation, involving something as simple as coffee, represents the reality for many people with disabilities who have limited choiced in more important matters such as where they live and the services that they receive.

Lunch will also be offered to legislators, consisting of a menu with only one choice – item #46 – to represent Virginia’s standing as 46th among all states for community-based services for people with disabilities.

Over the next year, this outreach effort will continue, with Virginians taking part in community events, press coverage, public service announcements, online activity, educational material distribution, and other activities to motivate the community to become more involved in guaranteeing civil rights and equal opportunity.

I’m very excited about this campaign and will share more information about it as the year progresses. In the meantime, please take a moment to view this video:

Special Exposure Wednesday

Mrs. Ortiz? Mrs. Ashley Ortiz? Justin and Ashley Ortiz?

Ashley received her first proposal yesterday at school. One of her classmates, a young man who has been in school with her for several years now and who has always 'taken care' of his girl, Ashley, yesterday took the name cards that they have and put Ashley's first name card with his last name card - Ashley Ortiz!!

I was just trying to figure out how to keep Ashley awake so she could go to the eighth grade dance with Justin, and here he is already proposing!



Make sure to check out all the other great Special Exposure Wednesday shots at 5 Minutes For Special Needs!