Lee's Summit R-7 School District

To the Moms of Children With Autism Who Came Before Me | The Mighty For the mothers with me now and for those who come after me, we must continue to advocate, educate and be heard, especially for the mothers who came before us. We are the voices of the past, the present and the future, so make yourselves heard. Read more:  http://themighty.com/2015/10/to-the-moms-of-children-with-autism-who-came-before-me/#ixzz3oZMSTZpq

Autism, PDD-NOS In more severe cases of  autism , a child may undergo an IQ test to see if there is an  intellectual disability  (also called mental retardation) present. IQ tests are imperfect tools to begin with, and the problems raised by autism can complicate an accurate assessment. The following tips are provided by Gary J. Heffner, MA for parents of a child facing an IQ test... As with most articles on my autism home page, this page started with a question from a parent: "My child was just tested and they say he has autism and mental retardation. Is he mentally retarded?" To me the added  diagnosis  is the equivalent of kicking someone when they're already down on the ground. Let me try to answer this question. I used to assess the intelligence of children and adults when I worked as a behavior specialist for the Army, a private center for persons with developmental disabilities, a state mental health program, and a state hospital. Here's what I know abo...

Special Ed Teacher Pleads to Battering Student - KSAL.com A southeast Kansas special education teacher has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery involving a 15-year-old boy who has cerebral palsy, is blind and confined to a wheelchair. The Pittsburg Morning Sun reports Matthew Ward DeMoss was sentenced Thursday to three months in jail for the January 15th incident in Pittsburg. The sentence was suspended and DeMoss was placed on unsupervised probation for a year and ordered to write a letter of apology to the victim. The boy’s mother says DeMoss grabbed her son by the nose and screamed at the child, who could not defend himself. DeMoss was allowed to resign his position with SEK Interlocal 637 after he was charged earlier this year. The Kansas Department of Education says DeMoss still holds a valid teaching certificate in the state.

Special needs disability parenting BLOOM: It's hard to tell when special-needs parents are 'drowning' In 2010, our darkest times as a family, I began to use the analogy of a swimming pool to describe the difficult parts of our adoption and disability journey. I hope the analogy will strike a chord with other people who struggle to care for another family member, young or old. When my husband and I decided to pursue adoption, we never expected it to be easy. However, there was no way to know how very hard it would be, until we’d experienced it ourselves. Throughout the adoption process we were told again and again that to bring an older child into our home from the foster care system would be a huge leap of faith. I now picture the adoption process as a huge leap into a swimming pool. In the adoption classes everyone stands around the pool. During the home study process and disclosure you get your feet wet. If you want to adopt after that, you better be willing to j...

Blog | Special Ed Justice | Connecticut Special Education Lawyer “The Control Freak” This can be a teacher, therapist, service provider, or an administrator, really anyone who completely over-reacts whenever their opinions, responsibilities, recommendations, or expertise are questioned or challenged. Sadly, The Control Freaks of the special education world are largely responsible for the number of disputes between parents and school districts. These are the people who really, truly believe that they have learned everything they need to know about their area of expertise. Therefore, if a parent implies, or states outright, that their child’s special education needs perhaps cannot be properly evaluated or met by this person, they cannot handle it. One of the biggest problems I see when I am brought into a dispute by a parent is that some educators simply cannot allow themselves to admit that they made a mistake or don’t know everything about a particular child or disability. Good profe...

Feds: School Resource Officers Must Be Mindful Of ADA - Disability Scoop The U.S. Department of Justice is weighing in on the responsibilities of law enforcement officers stationed at schools when they interact with children who have disabilities. The federal agency filed a  statement of interest  late last week in a  lawsuit  charging that Kenton County Deputy Sheriff Kevin Sumner handcuffed an 8-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl while working as a school resource officer in Covington, Ky. In three incidents involving the children, Sumner is accused of handcuffing the children around their biceps for 15 to 30 minutes at a time while the kids cried and struggled. The restraint was allegedly used as punishment for behavior relating to the children’s disabilities, the lawsuit states, and neither child was arrested or charged with a crime. The Justice Department said it is not taking a side in the case, which was filed in August, but submitted the statement of intere...