Schafer Autism Report June 18, 2003 (Part 2)

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U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Ranking Member of the HELP Committee, joined together today, after months of negotiations, to introduce legislation to reform and reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The agreement, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2003, balances the protection of the educational rights of children with disabilities while making IDEA work for parents, teachers, school administrators and school districts.

“This is a huge step forward in reforming and making our special education system accountable,” Senator Gregg stated. “This legislation simplifies and streamlines several of the key problematic areas of the current legislation, while ensuring that new means will not create undue burdens on local school districts or taxpayers. We have made significant headway creating a better special education system, and while we acknowledge that there is more work to come and issues that we still need to address, we have come a long way and look forward to moving this legislation through Committee and the Senate in a timely manner.”

The bill gives school districts the flexibility to use IDEA funds to address the most important needs of students in each school, reduces the burden of paperwork for special education teachers, improves conflict resolution, reduces the need for litigation and encourages mediation. The bill also improves discipline by simplifying the procedures used by school districts and improves parental involvement in the education process.

“The bill we are introducing today makes improvements to a program designed to guarantee that all children are able to learn and grow to the fullest of their potential. Our bill gives local schools the flexibility to use IDEA funding in way that make sense for each local school district. We reduce the paperwork burden on teachers so they can focus their time and energy on what they do best, teaching our kids. We provide a bipartisan solution to the often contentious discipline issue by providing protections for children with disabilities while simplifying the rules that school districts can use in discipline cases,” said Senator Gregg.

Bill Summary The 2003 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) reflects a fair balance of protecting the educational rights of children with disabilities while making IDEA work for parents, teachers, school administrators and school districts.

Increasing Accountability and Improving Education Results · Ensuring that States focus on the goal of improving academic results and functional performance rather than meeting the requirements of a burdensome procedural checklist.

· Provides for results from alternate assessments to be incorporated into States’ No Child Left Behind Act accountability systems.

· Provides up to $3 million for a national study of valid and reliable alternate assessment systems and how alternate assessments align with state content standards.

· Provides the Secretary and the States with greater authority and new tools to implement, monitor and enforce the law using performance data.

· Requires States to meet clear benchmarks to ensure all children with special needs receive a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment.

· Directs the Secretary and the States to apply clear appropriate sanctions to address noncompliance with IDEA requirements.

· Provides new opportunities, such as alternative dispute resolution, for parents and schools to address concerns before the need for a due process hearing.

· Clarifies mediation is available at any time and that schools and parents have equal access to the due process system.

· Requires complaints of either the school or parents to be clear and specific before going to a due process hearing.

· Encourages prompt resolution of concerns by establishing a two-year statute of limitations for filing a complaint, and a 90-day limit for filing appeals to a court, unless State law provides for alternative time frames.

· Requires that hearing officers make decisions based upon substantive grounds--not on technical errors that have no effect on the child’s education.

· Prohibits hearing officers from hearing matters in which they have a personal or professional interest that would conflict with their objectivity in the hearing.

· Improves current discipline provisions by simplifying the framework for schools to administer the law, while ensuring the rights and the safety of all children.

· Ensures that the IEP contains positive behavioral interventions and supports for a child whose behavior impedes the child’s learning, or that of others.

· Requires schools to consider whether a child’s behavior was the result of their disability when considering disciplinary action.

Reducing Paperwork · Streamlines State and local requirements to ensure that paperwork focuses on improved educational and functional results for children with disabilities.

· Clarifies that no information is required in an IEP beyond what federal law requires.

· Eliminates the requirement that IEPs must include benchmarks and short-term objectives that generate more paperwork but requires quarterly reports to parents on the child’s progress.

· Reduces the number of times that procedural safeguards notices must be sent out to parents to once per year, unless the parent registers a complaint or requests a copy.

· Ensures that State regulations are consistent with IDEA and that any State-imposed requirements or paperwork reporting are clearly identified to local educational agencies.

· Requires the Secretary to develop model forms, review paperwork requirements and provide Congress with proposals to reduce the paperwork burden on teachers.

Improving Parental Involvement · Provides parents with increased information and access to resources to support parents through dispute resolution and due process.

· Encourages parent and community training information centers (PTIs) to focus on improving parent-school collaboration and early, effective dispute resolution.

· Encourages PTIs to use scientifically based practices and information in assisting parents.

· Allows parents and schools to agree that a student reevaluation is unnecessary, especially when the student is finishing high school.

· Allows a parent to request an initial evaluation of a child for IDEA services.

· Allows parents and schools to agree to make changes to an IEP during the year without having to reconvene an entire IEP meeting, saving time for both parents and schools.

Supporting Teachers · Clarifies that most special education teachers do not have to be certified in every subject they teach but must be certified in special education.

· Extends the timeframe for special education teachers to be highly qualified to the end of the 2006-07 school year.

· Designates 100% of state program improvement grants to support preparation and professional development for teachers.

· Authorizes two grant programs for enhanced support and training for special educators and training to support general educators, principals, and administrators.

· Authorizes local educational agencies to use a portion of Part B funds for providing professional development to help teachers deliver scientifically based academic instruction and behavioral interventions in order to help children succeed in school.

· Allows States to use the increased state activities funds to assist in meeting personnel shortages, and provide technical assistance and professional development to teachers.

Increasing Flexibility and Local Control · Authorizes local educational agencies in compliance with IDEA to use up to 8% of the federal funds as local funds and up to 25% once full funding is achieved. This funding will be available for use by local educational agency for local priorities.

· Authorizes states in compliance with IDEA that fund 80% or more of the non-federal cost of special education and related services to use the same amounts of flexibility as local educational agencies to support purposes of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and needs-based student and teacher higher education programs.

· Allows for the development of new approaches to determine whether students have specific learning disabilities by clarifying that schools are not limited to using the IQ-achievement discrepancy model.

· Authorizes local educational agencies to use up to 15% of IDEA funds for support services to help students not yet identified with disabilities but who require additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a general education environment.

· Requires that initial evaluations occur within 60 days of referral unless the state currently has a policy that establishes a timeline for evaluation.

· Maintains early intervention and preschool special education programs for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities.

· Simplifies the rules for transition services--activities that help a student begin planning for life after high school--by requiring that these services and planning begin at age 14.

· Provides an option to develop a 3-year IEP for students ages 18 to 21, to directly focus parents and schools on long-term goals for helping students transition to postsecondary activities.

· Facilitates transition to post-secondary activities by focusing exit evaluations on recommendations to assist the child in meeting post-secondary goals.

· Promotes the involvement of the State vocational rehabilitation system with disabled students while still in secondary school.

Reforming Special Education Finance and Funding · Simplifies funding for grants to States and local educational agencies, state administration, other state-level activities, risk pool funds, and flexibility authority making future years’ funding levels and amounts available more predictable.

· Provides new resources to assist local educational agencies and charter schools that are local educational agencies in addressing the needs of high-need children and unanticipated enrollment by establishing a risk pool fund to assist in meeting those needs.

· Caps the amount for administrative overhead at the fiscal 2003 level while authorizing States to retain an increased portion for other required state-level activities--this amount would also be capped after two years.

· Clarifies that funds re-designated as local pursuant to the flexibility provisions can be used to provide the non-federal match for purposes of applying for federal reimbursement of allowable costs for special education related services under Medicaid.

[Brief Commentary: Anyone who has ran or been a part of a scientific behavioral program knows that without “taking data” such programs can be worse than ineffective; they can result in disastrous mis-training. Setting goals and objectives is “taking data.” If you think special education is little more than expensive babysitting/window dressing now, what till teachers and school districts are held even less [legally] accountable for their work -- which is what this is really all about.

Reducing paperwork is a euphemism for reducing accountability. Reduce paperwork, sure. Eliminate the requirement for any of it is program death and your ASD child is at even greater risk for growing up as a houseplant. What could a so-called quarterly progress report tell a parent if your child ‘s progress is not tracked scientifically? If this “reform” alone flies, the IDEA is history. Disabled children will be seriously screwed out of a chance to progress up from their disabilities through quality educational interventions held to objective standards. This is bipartisan political pedophilia and should be exposed and resisted.

Other opinions on this matter and any others related to autism, submitted here for publication are welcomed. -LS.]

Department of Labor Announces Grant Solicitations Totaling $3.4 Million for Transitioning and Mentoring Youth With Disabilities

U.S. Newswire - Two solicitations to help mentor and successfully transition youth with disabilities to work were published in the June 16, 2003 Federal Register by the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao announced today.

ODEP is making available $3 million to award up to 6 competitive grants in the amount of approximately $500,000,with several main goals: 1) assisting states in assessing youth services; 2) connecting schools and other youth-serving institutions with workplaces and other resources; and,

3) creating a forum for building a system that better meets the transition needs of youth with disabilities and all stakeholders.

Another $450,000 will be available to fund three competitive grants up to $150,000, to organizations that will facilitate delivery of mentoring activities through faith-based and community organizations to promote positive employment and transition outcomes for youth with disabilities. These latter grants are made by ODEP in collaboration with the Department’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

Secretary Chao said, “Increasing employment opportunities for young people with disabilities is an integral part of the employment-related objectives of President Bush’s New Freedom Initiative and our nation’s workforce and economy will be enriched by their participation.”

ODEP’s Assistant Secretary of Labor, Roy Grizzard, whose agency administers the grants, added “These grants will help promote positive employment outcomes for youth with disabilities through effective transition and mentoring programs.”

Applications and eligibility information for each grant is available in the Federal Register notice, which can also be accessed through http://www.dol.gov/odep.

ODEP is the nation’s first Assistant Secretary-led office that specifically addresses policies that impact employment of people with disabilities. It acts as a catalyst to stimulate new ideas about employment through research and development, policy analysis, grant awards, technical assistance, and the promotion of effective business practices.

In view of a new study which shows that autism cases in California have nearly doubled over the past four years to more than 20,000, autismconnect (www.autismconnect.org) is running an exciting live discussion forum on the debate over the possible causes for this apparently dramatic increase on July 2, 2003, at 5pm GMT (9am in California, 12 noon in New York).

Please take this opportunity to put any questions live to Rick Rollens, one of the best-known autism advocates in the United States. Rollens resigned as Secretary of the US Senate in 1996 in order to dedicate his time to pursuing effective treatments for his autistic son, Russell. He believes that Russell’s condition was caused by a vaccine and is also convinced that there is an “exploding autism epidemic” in California.

rubella) jab -and the study by Dr Mark Geier in Bethesda, Maryland, in April which found that children who had received vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative called thimerosal were more than twice as likely to develop autism than children who did not – make this autismconnect discussion forum an extremely timely event and a valuable chance for you all to enjoy a free and frank exchange of views.

In my latest Adam’s Week column, “There’s good news – and then there’s SARS,” I take a look at two uplifting recent cases. The first is the remarkable success of 12-year-old Hillary Brenner in Florida, who was diagnosed autistic at the age of four but was also born with a huge tumour which has led to many operations. Amazingly, she is now fully mainstreamed. The other encouraging case involves Barry Manilow, the famous crooner. Without realising it, he has persuaded a five-year-old autistic boy, Steven Conover, to start talking in sentences in California.

In the interests of journalistic balance, I do also examine a couple of troubling pieces of news over the past week. The first featured one of my

heroes: Tian Huiping, the mother of an autistic child who set up the Stars and Rain Education Institute for Autism outside Beijing - it’s mainland China’s only privately run autism school - ten years ago. The school now faces serious financial problems after a volunteer teacher fell seriously ill with SARS - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - in late April, and the parents of all 50 pupils ignored Tian’s impassioned pleas to stay put and withdrew their children. The other disturbing development over the past seven days which is discuss in my column is the news that a British judge has ordered two girls to be given the triple MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine, against their mothers’ wishes.

which now has an online community of over 29,000 people around the World. A newsletter (which is now every 2 weeks) keeps people coming back.

AutismConnect has a links section in which we profile over 1400 web sites, providing a description of each site. We are now starting the task of checking that this text is accurate, and I would like to ask you to check your entry below. By the way – this is not a sales gimmick – AutismConnect is free, and will remain free, both to those sites we link to and more

more web development work which will make the site more accessible (text only, no frames), as we know the use of Flash has put some people off.

Free daily covering news on autism related issues. Clips from other sources as well as providing their own - so you do not have to subscribe to the lot, although we hope you won’t leave AutismConnect!! ##################################

If you would like any changes to the existing text, please e-mail me back and I will update the site. Likewise, if you do not want us to change the description, please drop me a mail and I will make a note to leave it as

EDITOR’S RESPONSE: Hello John. Please, you need not change a word of it. That such a fine publication/portal as AutismConnect would pick us out of 1400 websites and express concern that we might walk off with your readers is most flattering. But I assure you that as thorough as the Schafer Autism Newsletter might be at informing the autism community about autism, we barely scratch the surface at raising overall public awareness; there is plenty work for all of us.

ADDITIONAL NOTE TO OUR READERS who may have forsaken “the lot” of autism websites since subscribing here, we urge you to return to AutismConnect to scout out the offerings. If any of those 1400 websites are worth mentioning, let us know and we will share the wealth with our readers. And you can ignore our website, too; it’s mainly for subscribing on new readers.

One comment on the suggestion for parents to order a simple test for titers, vaccination. In my state, Iowa, even if you show sufficient titers, the law still requires immunization except in the case of MMR.

Therefore, even if you are aware of this test, it does little good to request your physician to draw for it. Your child ends up with an unnecessary invasive procedure and you likely get stuck with the bill.

EDITOR’S RESPONSE: The low risk of an invasive titers blood test, from blood often drawn concurrently for other blood tests and therefore in such cases posing no additional risk, may be considered unnecessary by some, but for parents who suspect their child may be vulnerable, the additional knowledge will help them make an informed choice whether or not to put the health of their child ahead of the expediencies of the law. Leaving the state or even civil disobedience may be the best decision to make for families with a history of immune disorders or autism.

The US Supreme Court just ruled that the government may not arbitrarily force accused defendants with medication in order make the accused more psychologically stable to expedite the judicial process. It would seem logical that children who as children rarely reach such criminal status, would be afforded at least the same protections against forced prophylactic invasions of their completely innocent little bodies by the state. -LS.]

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