Exchange
A quarterly newsletter of Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service, Inc. (MPAS)
Summer 2011
Inside This Edition
Working to Change Systems
Behavioral disability survey results Phone app senses when you fall
Michigan family takes stand against bullying
Ask the advocate
Coordinated/uncoordinated auto insurance
MPAS polling place accessibility report, annual report and questionnaire on priorities are here
VA benefits – have you signed up yet?
From the executive director
Forensic status – what does this mean
Self-advocacy basics
MPAS applauds introduction of background check bills
Summer events
Gardens in state facilities provide activity therapy
Partnership for health and disability
Zucchini muffin recipe
Working to Change Systems: Improving the Outcomes for Students with Disability-Related Challenging Behaviors
by Kris, Advocate
Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service (MPAS) has long-term experience in working with students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) and their parents. In the last six months of 2009-2010, MPAS received over 1,500 requests for help related to education. MPAS has done work related to students whose disability-related behaviors have put them at risk of out-of-school placement for a number of years. Through this work, MPAS has identified students with disability-related challenging behavior as being at high risk of unfavorable outcomes when their needs are not appropriately addressed through the use of special education services and supports.
Students with disability-related challenging behaviors graduate at a rate significantly lower than other students, including students with other disabilities. These students are more likely to drop out of school. They are more likely to be placed in segregated settings at a younger age. They are more likely to be subject to disciplinary removals from instruction, setting the stage for a cycle of removal leading to academic deficits, leading to more misbehavior, leading to further removal from instruction. They are frequently subjected to punitive behavior measures, which are not effective in teaching or reinforcing more appropriate behavior. For some of these students, years of failure to receive appropriate supports and services in school ends in a referral to the juvenile or adult corrections system.
MPAS has previously focused on providing individual representation, working with students at the crisis point of removal from school. Direct representation often resulted in improved outcomes for individual students, however, have often been temporary and confined to the individual student, with little or no positive impact on the circumstances of other similar students.
Over the course of doing this work MPAS has concluded:
¨ The dismal graduation rate of students with challenging behavior is directly related to schools’ use of disciplinary removals as the default response to challenging behavior.
¨ The failure to adequately identify and appropriately support students with disability-related challenging behavior has usually been ongoing for years prior to actual removal from school.
¨ Push out from school is a systemic problem requiring a systemic solution.
¨ Earlier and broader intervention is necessary to ensure that these students are identified and served appropriately.
During the summer of 2010, MPAS began planning for a change in our education work plan to address push out in a systemic fashion. In October of 2010, MPAS began implementing the new work plan. The work plan is designed to utilize a multi-pronged approach and is aimed to change the way schools understand and address difficult behavior. Our work will focus on ensuring that schools identify students with challenging disability-related behavior early and then support them adequately. Our methods will change focus from representation and negotiation at individual IEP meetings to utilizing formal processes to bring about systemic improvements. The administrative complaint process offers one way to address these issues. Individual and systemic complaints will be used to address problems with special education including noncompliant procedures, use of incorrect standards for decision making, and decisions not supported by data.
We have begun to collect, compile and analyze data from individual callers. We are utilizing an every-caller screening tool designed to help us identify students with challenging disability-related behavior who are not yet in crisis. We will be tracking data related to specific issues, problems and school districts. We may periodically issue public reports. Data will drive our decisions regarding where our efforts will be focused. Updates on data collected from parents will be reported in every issue of Exchange, beginning with this issue.
Based on the every-caller screening tool, we have begun requesting and reviewing select school records. Records reviews are being completed, with administrative complaints filed by MPAS where legal deficiencies are found. When complaint findings are inadequate, MPAS may challenge the findings through a variety of legal mechanisms, including due process complaints, State Court challenges to inadequate administrative findings, class action complaints, U.S. Office for Civil Rights complaints, and federal court actions.
Our plan also includes a number of other coordinated efforts designed to ensure that parents, school staff, and other professionals working with children have access to information on special education, especially information that relates to appropriate behavior supports. We intend to focus public attention not only on the needs of children with challenging behavior, but also on how providing children with adequate support in school benefits the entire community.
In order to make our new advocacy initiative most effective, we are calling on our community partners to be involved—to help us be in contact with parents, foster parents or guardians of children with challenging behavior related to disability. We are utilizing a variety of strategies to increase our calls. The poster featured in the Winter Issue of Exchange will be widely distributed to agencies and organizations likely to have connections to students with disability-related challenging behavior. We hope to have many individuals in the community who will direct parents and guardians to call us for information and assistance when children begin to struggle in school because of disability-related behaviors.
As a result of this initiative, MPAS anticipates we will be able to demonstrate that improved outcomes for students—in higher academic performance, in better attendance, in improved graduation rates, in reduced suspension/expulsion and drop out rates—are attainable. Those improved outcomes translate into economic, social, and safety benefits for the entire community.
Behavioral Disability Survey Results
by Kris, Advocate
MPAS began surveying parents of children with disabilities in November 2010 through our information and referral service. We asked parents if their children were having problems related to behavior, including problems that could suggest future behavior challenges such as academic struggles, retention, or multiple absences. As of this writing we have received over 340 responses to these questions:
¨ Has your child had any behavior problems in school? Parents answered 77% (248) yes – see Column 1 above.
¨ Has your child had bad grades or reports for a year or more? Parents answered 56% (190) yes – see Column 2 above.
¨ Has your child been absent 10 or more days in a year? Parents answered 41% (138) yes – see Column 3 above.
¨ Has your child ever been held back a grade? Parents answered 23% (79) yes – see Column 4 above.
¨ Has your child been sent to the office 10 or more times in a school year? Parents answered 42% (144) yes – see Column 5 above.
¨ Have you been called to pick up your child from school or asked to keep your child home from school because of behavior problems? Parents answered 48% (164) yes – see Column 6 above.
The survey is not intended to produce scientifically valid data, but is designed as an informal measure of the scope of current or possible future behavior issues facing students with disabilities in Michigan.
Phone Application Senses When you fall
CRADAR is a man-down application that runs on any Android phone. CRADAR senses when you fall, waits 3–120 seconds (whatever you set it for), and if it doesn’t see you move at least eight feet, sends a text message to one of your contacts telling them you might be hurt. This gives your contact a chance to call you to see if you’re okay.
In the text message is a link to Google Maps with your GPS coordinates. If the contact does not get an answer, they know exactly where you are, and the GPS coordinates so other people can find you.
Michigan Family Takes Stand Against Bullying – all the way to the White House
CUTLINE: Ian with Senator Carl Levin
CUTLINE: Ian with Congressman Tim Walberg
Parents should not turn the other cheek when it comes to their children being bullied. As parents, it’s our job to protect them in any way we can.
I know from experience because I’m a frustrated mother whose child with multiple disabilities was bullied. This was especially difficult to handle because I had no idea where to turn. The verbal bullying started for my son, Ian, when he was in the fifth grade at Homer Middle School. As he got older, the verbal bullying escalated to physical bullying. On one occasion he was dumped from his wheelchair, which he was temporarily using following surgery to correct his legs, and pushed to the ground by two students. One student then stepped on the shunt tubing in his stomach, which could have caused death, while another student pinned him on the floor with a chair. Following this incident, Ian's father called the principal for two weeks but never got a response from him or anyone at the school regarding the incident.
As a store manager, I deal with the public daily and have a customer who told me to call Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service (MPAS). We did, and the agency was a great help. Staff contacted the school and held another individualized education program meeting which got the ball rolling on getting accommodations for Ian and addressing the bullying issue.
We gave Ian's MPAS attorney permission to submit Ian's case to their national organization National Disability Rights Network (NDRN). We had no idea that the request was actually going to the White House for possible inclusion in the White House Conference on Bullying held in Washington D.C. As a result, Ian was invited to the White House to talk with other individuals who had experienced bullying and also had the opportunity to hear President Obama talk on bullying.
It was a great surprise to our family that standing up for what was right could go this far. We then were faced with wondering how we were going to make the trip happen for Ian financially. Another miracle happened. We talked with Ian's attorney and explained our situation. A few days later, we were told that MPAS was going to pay not just for Ian to attend the summit in Washington D.C. but the entire family to attend. I could not believe this was happening; this was a true miracle for us.
While in Washington D.C., the National Disability Rights Network helped us get around. Prior to us arriving in Washington D.C., MPAS made arrangements for us to meet with Congressman Tim Walberg and Senator Carl Levin to tell them the story. This was very overwhelming but exciting by the same token.
We were able to express our concerns with them both and talk to them about changes we think need to be made. Ian got pictures with Congressman Tim Walberg and with Senator Carl Levin, an experience he will never forget. He is still talking about meeting them and having his picture taken with them both. After the meeting our cell phones were ringing from all kinds of newspapers and we even got a call from NBC TV wanting to do a live interview with Ian. With help from NDRN, they got us to the studio for the live interview and it was amazing. The Capitol building can really be seen from the windows of the studio; it is not a picture.
As a family, we do not know how to thank MPAS or NDRN for all they have done for us and that they are doing to this date. This experience will never be forgotten and if you ever get a change to go to Washington D.C., my advice is that you go and see how really beautiful it is and how helpful all the people are. This has been a life changing experience for our family. Ian has now switched schools and is doing very well. His grades have improved and he looks forward to going to school again. So I just want to say thank you again for all of your help.
Thanks again,
Melissa and Tadd Porter
Ask the Advocate
by Crystal, Attorney
Q: What can I do if my child is being bullied at school?
A: Bullying and disability harassment are serious problems in schools. Their effects hinder learning and leave lifelong scars on the victims. The rising number of suicides and statistics relating to the effects of bullying has prompted the federal government and state legislatures to take a second look at what used to be viewed as simply “kids being kids.”
Once you learn that your child is being bullied or harassed at school, there are several steps you can take to address the incidents and reduce or eliminate future occurrences.
First, gather as much information as you can about the events: names of students, where the harassment took place and the type of harassment (i.e. name calling, cyber bulling, physical violence, etc.) should be documented in writing. It is also important to indicate whether the harassment involves race, color, national origin, sex, or disability. This information should be forwarded to the school principal and the 504 coordinator in the form of a written complaint. Schools are only responsible for investigating and addressing incidents they know about or should reasonably have known about. While verbal complaints should also be investigated, keeping a copy of written complaints will be helpful if the school denies knowing about the incidents.
Second, make sure your child knows who to go to when there’s a problem. Schools should have a system for reporting complaints and students should be aware of that system. Be sure to communicate with your child’s teachers. Many students keep silent to avoid the stigma attached to “snitching.” A vigilant teacher can be particularly helpful with students who are reluctant to come forward and report the abuse. Parents should follow up with their child to identify any lingering effects from the victimization. Some students may need counseling long after the bullying takes place.