Meanwhile, in the Twilight Zone

I had the strangest experience at my youngest's school the other day.

Apparently they are somewhat new to this whole IPP thing so they thought they would have a Parent Information evening to explain the program planning process and pass some other information on to parents.

Needless to say, I am intimately familiar with IPPs - in fact, much, much more intimately familiar than I would like to be.

So I sat and listened .... blah, blah, woof, woof, yadda, yadda ... on and on it went until these Words of Blasphemy were uttered:

An IPP is a legal document.

Yep, I kid you not. Those very words were spoke.

Words of Blasphemy because, as we all know, the Dept of Education and at least my school board has been swearing up and down for years (for the past  15+ years to my personal knowledge) that

IPPs.

Are.

Not.

Legal.

Documents

After my head stopped spinning, I put up my hand to clarify that I had heard correctly. Apparently, I had.  In fact, one woman sitting in the audience (I'm thinking a parent but perhaps also a teacher from another school?) went so far as to pipe up and affirm that yes, they were indeed legal documents as they were found in the legislation.

"Yes. I know they are mandated in the Education Act," said I. "But I am just very surprised to hear you say that considering that the Dept and our school board have been telling parents for years that they are not legal documents."

Once again, I was assured that they were, in fact, legal documents. Indeed, the Department had so declared.

Feeling all eyes upon me and the need to say something, I responded, "Okay, maybe they've changed their minds or something", (with the sarcasm apparent only to myself).

But, when the headmaster responded that he didn't know why I would have heard such a thing, why it would have been said that they were not legal documents, I couldn't resist. I mean, really, could you have?

"I don't know. Perhaps they were telling parents that because they just didn't want anybody to sue based on them", I quipped.

The look on the headmaster's face?

Priceless.

A Fond Farewell to a Very Good Friend

Shortly after noting that writing has been light here, I stumbled across some very sad news. The man who started me blogging in the first place (known as your "blogfather" in the blogging world) died suddenly and very unexpectedly on March 6th.

I know that fact has nothing to do with either disability or the law, but I share it hoping you will understand when posting likely doesn't pick up any too quickly.

And because it only seems fitting in a way - there were two people, totally unknown to the other, whose actions resulted in the birth of this blawg and Lex was one of them. He got me blogging on The Flight Deck, which gave me a comfort level with the whole idea, so that although at first it sounded a little wacky when Blair suggested I start to blog on these issues, it wasn't out of the realm of the possible. Blogging, yeah, I knew how to do that.

It also goes to show, I suppose, that, like all of us, I have (or at least try to have) a life outside of disability issues, way outside of disability issues. Hopefully, we all have other interests or hobbies. Have them. The time we may get to spend on them, being an altogether different matter.

So as a little peak into the other side of my life ... my interest in flight and my love of reading various thriller books (particularly, at the time, those by Tom Clancy) ultimately led to my attachment to a very special blog written by, of all people, an American naval aviator.

I know ... who would have thought it?

But that man, I tell you, that man could write. And not only could he put you in the cockpit with the young aviator trying to manage his first night traps on a carrier, no matter what he spoke of or about, it almost always felt like he was speaking to you. Directly to you.

He wrote a lot on current events (aka politics), too and although we often didn't see eye to eye (his politics being somewhat to the right of mine), it was always done in such a respectful, logical, reasoned and reasonable matter that you couldn't help but listen and at least try to understand from whence he came.

And he was always open to a different point of view; discussions could become heated at times but he would never allow them to denigrate into anything even remotely resembling those hateful swear-filled debacles that anyone who has spent much time online is all too familiar with. Not in his house.

"Attack the message, if you must, but not the messenger", he would say. And "We're all friends here", he would remind us.  Yes, friends we all were.

After 6+ years I came to know Lex more than a bit, from email correspondence, from reading his blog and from blogging on The Flight Deck.  I came to know how much he loved his family, how much he loved his country. And what kind of man (and officer) he was. And I am very, very sad to see him gone.

Rest in peace, Capt. Carroll "Lex" Lelon, U.S. Navy, Ret'd. And, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything.

I wish you knew my friend. Might I suggest you could do far worse than spending a few minutes reading this.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

So. All that being said, I came across this great article today, via Linked In, and I just had to share it with you.

Many (most, all?) of us are familiar with IPPs, no? And we know that the same documents in the United States are generally referred to as IEPs. Well, have you ever been motivated to write one yourself? Perhaps for your child's school? To, you know, help them meet appropriate outcomes and overcome their challenges?

Check out Gregory Branch's article entitled "If Schools Could Have IEPs..." and don't forget to read the additional "outcomes" set out in the comments. I needed a chuckle today. Perhaps you do too.

Did You Know?

Sorry I am a bit late getting this out (public school having started two days ago) but I do have a wee bit of an excuse - having just spent the last week or so trying to get Tuition Support funding to get my youngest daughter into Landmark East, I'm a little on the fried side.

Wish me luck, please ... although the school has agreed to take her and she started on Wednesday with the rest of them,we still don't know if the funding will work out!

But on to what I am here to talk about ... in the process of trying to crack the doors of a private school for learning disabilities, I happened to learn a couple of things I thought some of you might find interesting.

So here goes ....

• Unlike the former system of a student having to be on an IPP before they could access tuition support funding, the program now calls for them to be on an IPP, to have been on an IPP or to be "working towards an IPP"; and
  
• For a parent considering appealing an IPP, the regulations use to provide that only "outcomes" or "placement" could be appealed. BUT NOW IT'S POSSIBLE FOR A PARENT TO APPEAL THE FACT THAT A CHILD DOES NOT HAVE AN IPP ... in other words, that the school refuses to put the child on an IPP. [For those wondering, this is based on a change to s. 53(3) of the Ministerial Regulations made under the Education Act]

Two rather big developments I would say. 

With regard to the first, remember that it doesn't have to be an academic IPP. It could just as easily be a social IPP that the student is "working towards".

And with regard to the latter, I have spoken with many parents over the years whose children were refused IPPs and who were effectively left with no recourse other than the possibility of a costly law suit. Not so any more.

As a final thought, if one were inclined to put these changes together- if a parent was anxious to access one of the private schools for a student without an IPP, there are now two possible routes around that obstacle - convene a meeting of your child's program planning team and see if they are willing to work towards an IPP (social or academic) for the child or, if the school is uncooperative in that regard, appeal the school's refusal to provide an IPP. 

I'm not suggesing for one minute that going through that latter appeal process would be either an easy or fun experience (it generally being recoginzed that you are almost guaranteed to lose any such appeal at the school board level) but it does potentially open a door that, up until now, didn't even exist.

And that has to be a good thing, right?

Practical Applications - Exempting Your Child from Core French

It's one thing to discuss the big picture of how things should work in the world of special education. It can often be quite another thing to attempt to navigate through that maze on the ground.

I received a question last week asking about how to obtain an exemption from core French for a special needs child in Nova Scotia.

We have requested on several occasions that our son be exempted from French at school because of his disability (PDD-NOS/NLD). We have been told that the school is unable to exempt any student from French and that he will have to continue to take it even though there is no reasonable expectation that he will learn to use it. The school has offered an IPP (although it was never put in place, he currently draws pictures in French class) but we wanted him removed from French so that he could use those classes for organization and catch up (or maybe even some tutorial). We have been told there is no way around this although there are other children in the school who have been exempted from French. What is your take on this?

I ran into this last year with my oldest daughter. Ironically, she has always enjoyed French but I knew the time would come when it would be way over her head. Frankly, I was surprised that it took until Grade 8 before that occurred.

Also, somewhat ironically, although I had questioned the school about the possibility of a French exemption when she started Middle School, the thought never even entered my mind the night I wrote a note in the communication book complaining about the French homework she had brought home. Homework which involved translating whole sentences and which was way beyond her ability. Imagine my surprise to get a note home the next day saying that 'they' understood completely and would be applying for a French exemption for my daughter.

For those not so lucky, let's take a look at how the process of obtaining an exemption should works. Although, first, I should point out that "Core French" is only mandatory from Grades 4 through 9; after that it becomes an elective and the problem is effectively solved.

Much like we discussed in a previous post which set out the relationship between legislation, regulations and policy, the policies of any particular school must be in line with those of their school board. Which, in turn, must be in line with the Department of Education's policies in the relevant area.

As a parent being refused some accommodation, service or plan for your child, you will want want to follow this hierarchy from the top down in order to gather the information you need to make a sound argument. Meaning that first you would look to the Education Act to see if your situation is covered there. Whether or not it is, you would continue through a search of the both the Ministerial and Governor in Council Regulations made under the Act. Then you would continue to search the relevant Department of Education policies and finally your own school board policies.

READ MORE

A Time Out For The Use of "Time Out Rooms" in our Schools

Update: Care to know how many "time out" rooms your school board has?

And by the by, you will be happy to know (or not) that as it turns out that Windsor-school-storage-room-turned-time-out-room is not a part of any student's IPP at the school.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The story of the 8-year-old boy placed in a "time out" room by the Annapolis Valley Regional School Board (AVRSB) raises more questions than it answers.

Or, perhaps, less questions, than issues.

At least, Dylan Gale's mother apparently knew that he could be placed in such a room, even if she had a different understanding of what type of room it might me. As in a classroom as opposed to a storage closet. So, what's next? The janitor's closet, perhaps?

Forgive my cynicism, but I have heard more than a few stories about so-called "time out" rooms over the past few years. And the fact that the Nova Scotia Department of Education tells us that they have guidelines in place, "adopted by the Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training from a New Brunswick document", somehow fails to warm my heart.

The only document I could find online is entitled "Time Out Guidelines For New Brunswick Schools", dated November, 2002. I suspect this, or one very similar, is the document referred to in the Chronicle Herald.

So-called "physical considerations" for the use of such rooms include:

􀂉 Having prior approval of the Facilities Branch Manager of the Department of Education
􀂉 Meeting Fire Marshall standards (consult the Assistant Fire Marshall in your geographic region)
􀂉 Not being locked from either the outside or the inside Be supervised at all times
􀂉 Not containing items or fixtures that may be harmful to students
􀂉 Being well ventilated, clean and well lit
􀂉 Being conducive to self quieting behaviours and not overly stimulating or busy
􀂉 Allowing students to exit should there be an emergency
􀂉 Providing the means by which adults can monitor the student, both visually and auditorily, at all times.

But here's thing. It's one thing to say that such rooms must be "supervised at all times, well-ventilated, clean and well-lit", for example. It's another to hear horror stories as to how such rooms are, at least on occasion, being used. Both from around the Province and elsewhere.

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The IPP Appeal Process

"It's all knowing what to start with. If you start in the right place and follow all the steps, you will get to the right end."
~ Elizabeth Moon, The Speed of Dark, 2003



UPDATE:  Due to recent changes, a parent is now able to appeal the fact that the school has refused to provide their child with an IPP




Technically speaking, the IPP is the Individual Program Plan which sets out certain educational goals for the student, the means by which the goals are to be achieved or measured and the roles of teachers and other specialists or assistants.

But from a parent's point of view it is often the place where the rubber hits the road - if your child cannot meet grade level outcomes it is the program that he or she will follow. It lays out how and what the school will teach your child. In a sense, its your child's lifeline, from where he is now to where you hope and pray he will some day be. It is for that reason that the IPP appeal process is so important - what happens if you, as a parent, do not agree with what the school proposes to teach your child, where they propose to teach him or the methods that they propose to use? How do you get your say?

From a parental perspective its very important to know what steps you have to follow in order to initiate an appeal of your child' s IPP, how much time both the school board and Minister have to respond and set up an appeal hearing, what your rights are at such hearings and to be aware of potential pitfalls and hazards along the way.


SCHOOL BOARD APPEAL PROCESS
IPPs are to be designed and continuously modified to keep pace with the student=s development through the course of his education by the Program Planning Team. This team includes the student's teachers, educational and other specialists and the parents or guardians of the child. Therefore,as the parent or guardian of a special needs child, you are, by law, a member of your child's Program Planning Team.You are, by law, not only to be afforded the "opportunity to participate in the development of an IPP for your child"[Education Act, s.25 (2)] but also to have access to a procedure to appeal that document if you disagree with it.

The Education Act and Regulations, read together, provide that "the parent may make a request in writing to the Minister of Education asking the Minister to establish a Board of Appeal to provide a ruling on an existing or proposed IPP" where "the parent does not agree with the IPP that has been developed for the child; and the disagreement can not be resolved by a School Board appeal process."

Obviously this presupposes a school board appeal process. Policy 1.8 of the Special Education Policy Manual from the Department of Education mandates that Aeach school board shall develop and maintain "written policy and procedures to ensure that programming and services are designed for students with special needs". This policy is to include, among other things, "an appeal policy established by the board within the parameters of the provincial policy" .

In other words, each school board in this province is obligated to develop a written appeal policy which includes the appeal procedures to be followed in a case where the parent of guardian of a child with an IPP does not agree with the child's proposed or existing IPP. At the present time, it is unclear whether all of the school boards have complied with this directive or not.

The school board appeal policy must fit within the parameters of the provincial appeal policy.