Lee's Summit R-7 School District

Has the district announced their new autism coordinator?  I can't find any information about it.  I want to know who it is and what their track record is.  I don't care about their training.  Missouri demands very little for autism coordinators to be certified.  I want to know their track record and if Lee's Summit will actually let them implement the programs that they know are vital for our children's future.

dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/MTSS-1.pdf 70% of students with IEPs are not proficient in communication arts or math when they graduate (MO MAP data)— Students with IEPs, consistently lag behind non-disabled peers on post secondary outcomes -Not Good Enough Lee's Summit knows they are not doing a good enough job.  The question is what will they do to fix it?

Justice Department Clarifies Service Animal Rules - Disability Scoop The document defines a service animal as a dog that has been “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability” that is directly related to their disability. No certification, licensing, identification or documentation is required. Service animals can accompany people with disabilities in a wide variety of circumstances including at salad bars or other self-service food lines, in ambulances and hospitals and at hotels where they should not be limited to or charged extra for “pet-friendly” rooms, the Justice Department said. Under federal law, businesses looking to assess if a dog is a service animal may only ask if the animal is required due to a disability and what work or task the dog is trained to perform. “Accordingly, entities that have a ‘no pets’ policy generally must modify the policy to allow service animals into their facilities.”

Investigations Target Federal Disability Program - Disability Scoop A program that distributes billions in federal dollars each year to secure work for people with disabilities is accused of failing at its very mission amid allegations of corruption and fraud. The U.S. Department of Justice and at least four inspectors general are investigating the federal government’s AbilityOne program and SourceAmerica, a nonprofit that manages the employment efforts, according to a  CNN  investigation. AbilityOne allocates over $2 billion annually in federal funds toward contracts with various companies. To participate, at least 75 percent of a business’s work must be done by employees who are blind or who have severe disabilities. However, up to half of the companies with such contracts may not be living up to that expectation, employing too few people with disabilities to legally qualify, according to CNN, which cites numerous named and unnamed sources. Moreover, SourceAmerica is accus...

Schools Warned On Speech Services For Kids With Autism - Disability Scoop My son didn't receive any services when he was in middle school.  He had an IEP, but what does that mean when you get no services. Federal education officials are reminding schools not to skimp on needed speech and language services for children with autism. In a  letter  to states, officials from the U.S. Department of Education say they’ve heard that an increasing number of kids on the spectrum may not be receiving services from speech-language pathologists at school. Moreover, such professionals are frequently left out of the evaluation process and are often not present at meetings to determine what services a child should receive under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the department said. “Some IDEA programs may be including applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapists exclusively without including, or considering input from, speech-language pathologists and other professionals...

Lee’s Summit R-VII School District Aquatic Center - Aquatics International Page 1 of 3 They do not use this center for aquatic therapy.  Wouldn't that be a great way to help their disabled students. Find out why aquatic therapy can benefit children with:  • ADHD  • Apraxia  • Asperger syndrome  • Auditory processing difficulties  • Autism Spectrum Disorder  • Cerebral palsy  • Chromosomal abnormalities  • Developmental dyspraxia  • Down Syndrome  • Gross motor delays  • Hemiparesis  • Hemiplegia  • Hodgkins lymphoma  • Hydrocephalus  • Hypotonia  • Issues associated with premature birth  • Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis  • Lack of core strength  • Language disabilities  • Learning disabilities  • Motor planning issues  • Multiple sclerosis  • Muscular dystrophy  • Periventricular leukomalacia  • Pervasive Developmental Disorder  • Rett syndrome  ...

Swim School: Swimming With Autism | The Autism Site Blog We have begged Lee's Summit to use their $12 million aquatic center for this.  It should be in their student's IEPs.  But, they won't do it. 

Justice Department Says Georgia Illegally Segregates Students - Disability Scoop Lee's Summit segregates them to the Miller Center.  The building was too outdated to be used as the Central Office, but it seems to be fine for students.

Brenda Dater's Blog: Author of Parenting without Panic: A Pocket Support Group for Parents of Children and Teens on the Autism Spectrum (Asperger's Syndrome) - Brenda Dater, MPH, MSW Parent  |  Author  |  Speaker Dear Teacher, Last week when we were chatting after school you said you were concerned about my son's writing. You explained that he's having a hard time getting started and his handwriting isn't legible. However, this morning at his annual meeting, you didn't talk about these challenges or suggest changes to his plan. When I glanced in your direction, you quickly looked away. You understand my son's strengths and weaknesses. And I know you care and want to help. Nevertheless, you remained silent on the topic of new difficulties and potential supports or services at the IEP meeting. I left the meeting wondering, what kept you from sharing your professional expertise in a public setting? Silence hurts your students I appreciate t...

Alexithymia and emotional processing in autism - West Palm Beach Autism Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in identifying, describing, and processing one's own feelings, often marked by a lack of understanding of the feelings of others, and difficulty distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal. Alexithymia is not a formal clinical diagnosis and is best conceptualized as a dimensional personality trait that is normally distributed in the general population (with estimates of 10%) and varies in severity from person to person. However, there is evidence to suggest that it is associated with an increased risk for mental health problems. For example, several studies indicate that even in childhood, alexithymia and difficulties in the domain of emotion processing are positively related to internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression . Research indicates that alexithymia overlaps with autism spectrum disorder (ASD...

School charges mom $77,000 to access emails about her son | fox4kc.com GOODRICH, Mich. — A mother said she was given a $77,000 price tag when she tried to get information from her son’s school. She said the school is essentially refusing to honor a request she has every legal right to make. The controversy surrounds emails regarding that woman’s son, who has an intellectual disability, according to WNEM . When this parent of a Goodrich school’s student got the bill she didn’t believe it. Now she’s thought about what they want to charge her and she’s hired an attorney. For $77,000 you can buy some pretty nice stuff like a used convertible Bentley Continental GT, or a used helicopter and flying lessons. According to Sherri Smith, you can also buy access to her son’s school records. “It’s just disgusting they would ask that from parents,” Smith said. “I expected a nominal fee in exchange for some emails.” Smith said she filed a Freedom of Information Act reques...

5 Things I Wish Educators Would Stop Saying to Special Needs Parents | The Mighty Over the past couple of years as a parent advocate, and as a parent of a child who has autism, I’ve attended a number of board meetings, district meetings and school meetings with parents. Heck, I even ran for school board trustee. So I know that trying to make change in the education system feels like searching for a needle in a football field-sized haystack. Parents can be demoralized, and many feel forced out of a system that is supposed to be inclusive of all  children. In the last couple of months, I’ve felt particularly defeated. Meeting after meeting, I hear the same things, and it’s incredibly frustrating. Here are a few things I’ve heard at school meetings so many times, they’ve become like nails on a chalkboard. If you are a school professional (at any level), my hope is that you will consider these things when you communicate with parents of children with e...

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 c...