Lee's Summit R-7 School District

New law requires cameras in special education classrooms - TheAutismWorld.Com A new bill was passed Friday that would require school districts across the State of Texas to install cameras inside Special Education classes. “Parents with normal children, they worry about their kids going to school. Parents who have their special angels it’s more of a worry,” said Velma Torres a Parent of a special needs child. Velma Torres is one of many special needs parents that are happy that video cameras will be placed in the special needs classroom. So is Veronica Contreras. Contreras says her son has multiple disabilities and he can’t speak for himself. “There was an incident when he came home with a black eye and nobody could tell me what happened. At least this way we could go back and look what happened, to see how to prevent it from happening again,” said Veronica Contreras. The cameras would have to cover all areas of the classroom except for the bathroom or any p

The empty rhetoric of increasing the rigor of Missouri teachers : News Every teacher education program in Missouri has the goal of preparing the most qualified educators for the classroom. We take pride in producing candidates who are able to leverage their content knowledge into powerful and relevant classroom experiences for schoolchildren. Yet, the amount and kind of content knowledge needed to be an effective educator has always been a contentious issue. On June 16, the Missouri State Board of Education decided to maintain the cut scores for the assessments in the 55 content areas where teachers are licensed, giving the illusion that the state was steadfast in its commitment to increase the “rigor” of teacher candidates entering the profession. With high fail rates, it becomes easy to arrive at one or both of these conclusions: The assessments are more rigorous, so of course, the pass rates will drop; or teacher education programs must not be doing their job in

Eight South Carolina Lawmakers Explain Why They Are Opposed To Removing The Confederate Flag | ThinkProgress Are we surprised that they are all Republicans? The racially motivated shooting that killed nine in Charleston last week has sparked a national debate about the presence of the Confederate flag, which symbolizes racism and hatred to many, at the Capitol grounds. On Monday, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley called for the removal of the flag. She said it was time for the flag to be taken down and put in a museum, and that South Carolinians were welcome to display it on their private property. Only a simple majority vote is needed to remove the flag, contrary to what many media outlets have reported. On Tuesday, Charleston newspaper The Post & Courier asked lawmakers what they think about the Confederate flag. Many said they would vote to remove it and some wouldn’t answer or were undecided, but eight House representatives said they were sure they would vote n

Teacher: Trash Can Meant To Calm Boy With Autism - Disability Scoop A special education teacher in Georgia accused of putting a second-grader with autism in a trash can, comparing his behavior to Oscar the Grouch on “Sesame Street,” says she was trying to calm the child, not hurt him. Mary Katherine Pursley demonstrates how she says she held a student over a trash can. The veteran Cobb County special education teacher is accused of putting a second-grader with autism in a trash can and calling him Oscar the Grouch. She went before a tribunal at the school system headquarters Monday. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS) Mary Katherine Pursley, a teacher at Mt. Bethel Elementary, in Marietta, Ga., said at a tribunal hearing Monday at the Cobb County School District office that the child was screaming and upset at an after-school program and she was attempting to get him to stop by holding him over a trash can to “shake out the grouchy.” “My intention was not t

Greene Valley poised to pay $350,000 to settle suit in alleged battery of autistic boy A settlement of $350,000 has been proposed in a federal lawsuit alleging that an autistic boy who cannot speak was repeatedly assaulted by a teacher at the Greene Valley State School for the Severely Disabled. The lawsuit, filed by the boy's father, alleges teacher Janet Carrie Williams hit and slapped the boy and called him names. It alleges the boy's rights were repeatedly violated and he suffered "bodily harm and emotional distress." The defendants stated, in the settlement agreement, that they deny those allegations. The four-page tentative agreement was filed this week but must still be signed and accepted by a judge. If approved, it would resolve the civil lawsuit against the school, the teacher, Greene Valley director Peggy Robinson, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Missouri Board of Education. Criminal charges are still

Enhanced school background checks in Missouri speed results, flags new arrests

Struggles seen on new Missouri educator certification exams | State News | columbiamissourian.com KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Missouri education officials are proposing changes after test-takers struggled on new certification exams, particularly those for aspiring math and science teachers. The proposed changes, which will be discussed Tuesday at a Missouri Board of Education meeting, include giving test-takers more time and fewer questions to answer on some of the exams. Fifty-five content tests measure readiness to be everything from classroom teachers to superintendents. On six of them, fewer than half of test-takers passed, newly released data shows. Issues arose after the state switched certification exams in September. Instead of taking a test known as Praxis II, students now must fare well on a more rigorous assessment called the Missouri Content Assessment. Through April 12, more than 7,100 of the

15 Reasons Why Its Hard To Get Along With Special Needs Parents Have you ever wondered why parents of kids with special needs always seem to be so cranky? Or why we tend to make really inappropriate remarks so often? Or why other parents of kids with special needs laugh at those inappropriate remarks like it’s an inside joke? The Life We Live Special needs parenting is a lifestyle.  For many of us, it is not the lifestyle we chose.  And even if we did choose to become a special needs family through adoption, there are still plenty of reasons to be cranky – and then joke about it later. Here are 15 possible reasons to explain the mysterious behaviors of some special needs parents. 1. Already changed the sheets twice before 7am and cleaned excrement from some very creative and almost-inaccessible places. 2. Spouse drank the last cup of coffee in the house.  The rest of the coffee was dumped on the kitchen floor and eaten by an ecstatic child yesterday

Study: Adults with autism often have little opportunity Roughly one in 10 young adults on the autism spectrum apparently has nothing to do all day, and many more have very limited opportunities, according to a new study. They aren't in school, they aren't working and they aren't receiving any job training or government-funded services, said Paul Shattuck, an associate professor at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute at Drexel University in Philadelphia, who helped lead a new study on young adults with autism. "Something is pretty broken," Shattuck said. For years, interest in autism has been growing along with autism rates. The condition now affects one child in 68. Most of the emphasis, though, has been on young children on the autism spectrum. "We've been so focused on that end of the lifespan that it's almost as if we forgot that these children were going to become adults and now we're at this crisis point in the system,"

I wrote this in May 2009.  It is still relevant today. Celebration for all graduates I was a part of three life changing events this week.  The first was my son 16-year-old son dropping out of Lee's Summit High School.  The emotional and psychological damage of going to school wasn't worth the little educational benefit that he was receiving. The second was my twin daughter’s graduating from Lee's Summit High School.  They were average students that had to work very hard to achieve their success.  That was something that we weren't allowed to celebrate at their graduation. The only students that were recognized were those in the top ten percent. The third was the graduation of my nephew from Missouri University of Science and Technology.  He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a bachelor's degree in computer engineering.  He was a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.  He is also a

Unusual Fears and Phobias in Children with Autism - West Palm Beach Autism & Education | Examiner.com Anxiety Disorders are a frequent co-occurring (comorbid) problem for children and youth with ASD . Although prevalence rates vary from 11% to 84%, most studies indicate that approximately one-half of children with ASD meet criteria for at least one anxiety disorder. Of all types of anxiety disorders, specific phobia is the most common, with prevalence estimates ranging from 31% to 64%. In contrast, estimates of phobias in children in the general population range from 5% to 18%. Unusual fears have long been recognized as a feature of autism . In fact, 70 years ago, Leo Kanner wrote in his initial account of autism that “loud noises and moving objects” are “reacted to with horror” and things like “tricycles, swings, elevators, vacuum cleaners, running water, gas burners, mechanical toys, egg beaters, even the wind could on occasions bring about a major panic.” We

Survey Finds Most With Special Needs 'Striving To Work' - Disability Scoop A new, national survey finds that the majority of people with disabilities want to be employed, but they often encounter barriers to work. Overall, nearly 43 percent of individuals surveyed said they were currently working. Another 25 percent said they’d been previously employed and a handful of people said they hadn’t worked but were looking for a job. Collectively, those behind the research said the figures show that nearly 69 percent of those with disabilities are “striving to work.” The findings come from a telephone poll of more than 3,000 adults with disabilities across the country conducted by the University of New Hampshire for the Kessler Foundation, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that focuses on neurological disabilities. For the survey, pollsters random-dialed over 117,000 landline and cellphone numbers across the country between October 2014 and April 2015 to reach househo

Paper Trails: Your Word Against Theirs – Not a Good Position! | The Wrightslaw Way This is a lesson I learned the hard way.  Never, I repeat, never call anyone.  Email them.  Phone calls never exist and what you were told was never said.  Write a letter of understanding after every meeting.  Their notes will be abbreviated and they never tell the truth later.  You must never trust anyone to be honest or to have your child's best interest at heart.  You are the only one that will advocate for your child.  If you don't fight for them no one else will.  The school district will never give your child the services that they are entitled to unless you educate yourself and fight for them.

ADHD symptoms common and problematic in children with autism - West Palm Beach Autism & Education | Examiner.com One of the most frequently discussed issues related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the co-occurrence (comorbidity) of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ). Comorbidity refers to the presence of more than one diagnosis occurring in an individual at the same time. Although there continues to a debate about ADHD comorbidity in ASD, research, practice and theoretical models suggest that comorbidity between these disorders is relevant and occurs frequently. Moreover, a significant change in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5; APA, 2013) is the removal of the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) hierarchical rules prohibiting the concurrent diagnosis of ASD and ADHD. When the criteria for both ASD and ADHD are met, both may be diagnosed. A study published in the journal Pediatrics evaluated the frequency of c

“Voices of Autism” Anthology Shares Real-Life Accounts of 40 Patients and Caregivers - Autism - MedHelp -- [Sherri Tucker, LOCAL AUTHOR, PUBLISHES STORY IN ANTHOLOGY]-- [Lee’s Summit-May 9, 2008] – Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability in the U.S.  As more is learned about the disorder, more resources for patients and caregivers are being developed.  1 in 121 children in Missouri are diagnosed with autism. One of these resources is a new anthology, Voices of Autism: The Healing Companion: Stories for Courage, Comfort and Strength, which chronicles the stories of more than 40 families living with autism including [Sherri Tucker, Lee’s Summit, MO]. Each contributor shares a poignant, heartfelt and often inspiring true account of experiences with autism spectrum disorders, from the frustration of an autistic teenager unable to speak, yet knowing he is being left out of conversations in “The Price of Talk,” to the sadness and fear of a mother as her

Oklahoma City district experiencing turnover in principals - Houston Chronicle OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Around half of the principals at the 11 high schools in the Oklahoma City district are retiring, resigning or taking another job with the district, and the leader of a teacher union said he hasn't seen that many vacancies at one time during his more than decade-long tenure. "I think they're seeing that there are too many challenges in this district and not the support that they think they need to address those challenges," said Ed Allen , president of the union that represents the district's 2,700 teachers. The turnover follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for possible civil rights violations regarding disciplinary actions against students, The Oklahoman ( http://bit.ly/1KGHcvs ) reported. Superintendent Rob Neu recently released a report that showed the district suspends minority students at a much higher rate than the

Our school district is once again spreading false information to its citizens in hopes that you will contact your legislators and have them vote no on a bill that is essential to kids with special needs.  Anyone that has a child with special needs knows that they need to pass this bill.  Lee's Summit has consistently left our children behind and we need legislation to ensure that does not continue.  They are also listing who voted on the bill so that you will think that they are not voting in the right way.  You need to congratulate these legislators for voting for our children and standing up to the bullying of the school district. Shame on the House for not passing this bill. Here is part of the mass email. Dear Friend of Lee's Summit R-7 Schools,   On behalf of Lee's Summit R-7 schools and students, thank you for subscribing to "R-7 Advocacy," for staying informed and for contacting your legislators. Today's issue includes voting records on