Blog For Down Syndrome

FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION - In order to comply with the federal mandate (Public Law 102-119, known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B (34 CFR Parts 300 and 301 and Appendix C) that all disabled children receive a free appropriate public education, a school district must provide special education and related services at no cost to the child or her/his parents.

I read with interest recently a fairly in-depth article in the San Francisco Chronicle a story titled, “Extra-Special Education at Public Expense”. Parents of children with Down Syndrome will certainly identify with the issues surrounding a “free and appropriate public education”. The articles author outlines some examples of what appears to be excess. They certainly sound excessive but with two sides to every story I will reserve my complete judgement. I do fear that articles like this will provide fodder for those groups and individuals who have no interest in a strong special education program and will use the talking points to illustrate their position. Lets face it. As parents of children with disabilities we have all been exposed to parents and professionals who would be satisfied to see the old days of “special class” where children with disabilities were warehoused in a couple classrooms and kept segragated from the school population. I have personally encountered parents of normal and gifted children who believe fiscal resources “wasted” on special education would be better spent on programs and facilities for their normal and so called gifted child.

My son with Down Syndrome and Autism attends a private day school in his community that meets his needs extremely well. His tuition is funded through his school district. We experienced two years of the public school districts idea of “free and appropriate” and it fell short of meeting our sons needs. The schools idea of providing our son an education left him with no measureable progress, two years after entering the program. When he went to the private school he was unable to attend to any task over 30 seconds. Today this child is able to travel from class to his individual therapy appointments in other parts of the building semi-independently, interact with classmates and participate in group activities. When the school district can demonstrate to me that they have teachers who have a sincere interest and comittment to including all children in their classrooms, that the facilities and resources are equal to what the “normal” children receive, that adequate supports including additional classroom aides and teaching assistance are present than I’ll begin to consider the local school facilities again. My biggest fear for my son is whether the public education system can protect my son from physical abuse and emotoional abuse. I’m not looking for the best education money can buy… just the most appropriate for him.

I don’t want to paint with a broad brush. We have friends and know about wonderful success stories of school districts and families who have worked together to provide wonderful educational and training programs in their local school districts. The disabled student benefits, the other students benefit and the community benefits. We need more of these WIN-WIN-WIN situations for our children.

Some Links of Interest:
The Education Law Center
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/edlite-FAPE504.html

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/fape.index.htm