Autism BR

To gag or not gag, that is the question

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:17:32 -0700

The city council of Santa Monica withheld funds from their school district because the city council was uncomfortable with all the non-disclosure agreements that the school district was requiring to settle special education lawsuits. What are non-disclosure agreements (gag orders) and who do they help and who do they harm?

Three experienced special education advocates join me in conversation: Ellie Goldberg, advocate, author and legislative chair of the Massachusetts PTA; Pat Howey, advocate and nationally known special needs presenter at WrightsLaw seminars; and Katy Franklin, advocate and a leading voice towards revising the San Francisco Unified School District’s educational practices towards children with extra needs. They explore the Santa Monica case and discuss actions by other school districts that not only harm the children the school districts are entrusted to teach, but cause all taxpayers to pay more to compensate for their school districts improper education strategies. All this, in light of current special education enrollment at 10–12 % and rising rapidly, due to epidemics of allergies and autism.

As I listened to this show I developed a feeling of unease. I always thought that school district administrative personnel were working with the best interests of educating the child. I now question the validity of that feeling. I think all of us should explore if the administrators in our school districts have lost touch with that goal. This is a difficult issue to visit. We all want to trust. We all want to believe.

To gag or not gag, that is the question.

Sally Colletti- First Shots in a War

Wed, 21 May 2008 10:58:19 -0700

In 1992 during the early days of the autism epidemic, Sally Colletti tried to register her son with autism in kindergarten at her local elementary school in New York. The teachers in the district went on strike, taking a stance against being forced to teach “those” children.

When her son was in the third grade Sally was informed of an action against her son that was so out of bounds that Sally was required to agree to a gag order in order to effect a settlement. It was at that moment that Sally decided that the next day was going to be her son’s first day with home schooling.

This forceful advocate for special need’s children tells me about her journey and what she learned in her two year experiment with home schooling, and then what happened after the home schooling ended and her son returned to public school.

A “drafted” journey, Sally Colletti—her experiment with home schooling.

GoalView

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:31:59 -0700

There are several converging factors that are driving the acquisition of software systems by schools to assist with the development and management of individual education plans. Costs to administer individual educations plans can never be overlooked, and it takes a lot of time to record, file, and manage student information. When the information is stored manually and put in a file cabinet, it is lost from view, no one sees it, no one can analyze it, and no one can see if the services and teaching agreed to in those plans are being carried out in a timely manner. With a computer driven system all information can be viewed at will. All compliance deadlines can be scheduled and not forgotten. With the expansion of individual education plans for all, a good computerized management system becomes mandatory because of high cost of record keeping manually.

Learning Tools International has been marketing a system to keep track of individual education plans, GoalView since 1999. This is an internet-based system. The President of LTI, Cathy Zier joins me to share what GoalView does and what motivates the people behind GoalView. To some school districts, the notion of computer-based management systems for individual education plans is new. Whenever new systems are set up, it creates concern among staff and parents. Cathy demystifies the process and shares what we can get from a system like GoalView.

Tammy Glaser- Home School Coach

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 07:28:34 -0700

When you feel a school systems is not meeting your child’s needs what do you do? Tammy Glaser came to that conclusion and choose to home school her child with autism and later, her typical child. Many of us may view home schooling as an option that is not on the table. Concern with the work load and fear that we won’t do it right puts people off. Tammy Glaser tells Senior Dad Stan Goldberg what it is like to home school, what supports are in place, and how home schooling will not work for everyone, all the while encouraging parents to learn from her journey. Tammy Glaser- Home school coach

Paula Kluth- Everyone is Included

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:57:40 -0800

For some reason the issue of inclusion seems to invoke strong passions. Everyone views it differently. Add in the prescription for a least restrictive environment, and wow that gets everyone really churning. You can just see everyone in the room tighten their backs as they set their positions in stone. Walking blindly into this loaded mine field, Senior Dad Stan Goldberg meets educator Paula Kluth, a fifteen year veteran of special education. Paula has helped schools and school districts transition from exclusion to inclusion. She has held workshops to broaden the understanding of both parents and educators on the benefits of inclusion. The discussion moves through the hot topics and then on to some common ground when discussing the positive benefits of inclusion (it’s not just that it can be less expensive for a school district).

Paula Kluth- Everyone is Included

Katy Franklin- Censored Then Harassed

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:30:29 -0800

When a parent like Katy Franklin, who has a child with autism, donates time to aid other parents, it is a gift.
Time is at a premium in her life. She is helping other parents navigate the special needs program of the San Francisco Unified School District. Katy is a member of the Community Advisory Committee on Special Needs of the San Francisco Unified School District School Board. The Committee sends out a newsletter twice a year from the committee to the parents of extra needs children in the district, that is distributed by the San Francisco Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA).
One issue was sent out, and then the difficulties began.
When given the second newsletter in July 2007, the SELPA manager David Wax assured the Committee that it would be translated into two languages. This took until January 2008 but came back without any translation. A further delay was caused when the Committee was told there were “issues” with the ‘frequently asked questions’ section of the newsletter.
Katy had included the questions the Committee members are continually asked by parents in an effort to increase the knowledge of the parents. It became an issue for SELPA because these questions and answers educated the parents on their rights in getting an equitable education for their child.

At that point, SELPA and David Wax sent a letter from a law office telling the committee that they were not allowing pages two and three to be sent out (including the question/answer section). This is a case of a government agency censoring, without authority over the Committee, but it gets worse.

Under the guise of investigating a complaint of Katy’s, SELPA sent a lawyer to Katy’s son’s school to investigate his homework and all communication between Katy and her child’s teacher.

It gives you goose bumps.

You can download the newsletter and the letter from the law office and see for yourself what SELPA doesn’t want parents to know.

After you listen to the interview that Senior Dad Stan Goldberg has with Katy Franklin please listen to the closing segment as Katy perhaps provided us with the clue for us to tease out an answer as to why some autism numbers in the SFUSD appear so out of proportion.

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JoAnn Collins- Are you being lied to?

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:03:43 -0800

Do school districts lie to parents of extra needs children? Joann Collins thinks so. An extra needs advocate for over 15 years and a mother of two grown children with extra needs she has written a book about it. "Disability Deception: Lies Disability Educators Tell and How Parents Can Beat Them at Their Own Game". JoAnn Talks to Senior Dad Stan Goldberg about the book and how parents can be effective when working with schools and school districts. They talk about the shocking Autism numbers in the San Francisco schools where 1 in 48 Caucasian children are diagnosed with autism. JoAnn’s view of the current extra needs landscape will open your eyes. Warning to parents of typical children: you will be shocked to hear what your school district (country-wide) is doing in this emerging civil rights issue.

Autism and the Holidays

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:41:36 -0800

“Home for the holidays?” Or, “let’s get this party started?” The holidays can be a stressful time for families under the best of circumstances. For your child with autism, they can be particularly difficult. Familiar routines are out the window and unfamiliar – and sometimes unfair – expectations arise at every turn.

Listen in and hear how to empower your child with autism during this bustling time. Internationally known award-winning author and columnist Ellen Notbohm (Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew) and San Francisco special needs activist Katy Franklin join “Senior Dad” Stan Goldberg in the Autism Briefing Room, explaining how the holidays effect their children with autism and their friends and families. Hear tips what to do before and during holiday parties and strategies for graceful departure. What to do about gifts and gift lists, and how to handle the lure of those attractive TV commercials? Ellen and Katy share some of their experiences with their children and what works for them. Some of the lessons we learn apply to teaching and handling all children as well as helping us begin to understand the challenges of a family with a child with autism.

Lenny Schafer- A Mench

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:24:23 -0800

Lenny Schafer is a Mench. (Mench is a Yiddish term which means “stand up guy”.) Lenny edits an autism newsletter that is read by over 20,000 people. But that is not why I call him a mench. In 1989 Lenny’s world was falling apart. His thriving high tech business lay in ruins because of an earthquake, his marriage was falling apart, and then his son was diagnosed with autism. Professionals told Lenny there was no hope and the boy should be locked away in an institution and forgotten. Unlike 85% of the husbands whose child is diagnosed with autism, Lenny did not cut and run. He fought his wife for custody of their son and won. Lenny has devoted himself to his son ever since.

Lenny believes that dirty vaccines caused his son’s autism. He has strong views on the ethics of some of our public intuitions and lawmakers, and fights to change the system through public advocacy and education in this country, which he dearly loves. I chat with Lenny about his journey, the autism issues of the day and his desire to make things better for all children who have autism, regardless of how they acquired it. Heart, soul, and compassion. A mench.

The Two Advocates

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 09:23:04 -0700

If I had to select two people to represent extra needs children I could do no better then Pat Howey and Ellie Goldberg. Both are nationally known. Each has been an advocate for children with special needs for over 20 years. Pat speaks at Wrightslaw presentations, training parents to be effective advocates. Ellie has a dynamic consulting practice specializing in children with chronic health conditions and healthy schools and is a board member of the Massachusetts PTA and its Legislative chair. Today we first look at what has changed in the last 20 years and then we discuss what the situation is today and what parents face in schools. The last segment of the chat gets "very political" and we face head-on some of the public health issues, what all parents need to know, and what we can all do to effect change. Pat Howey and Ellie Goldberg leading the charge for equity and justice

John Gilmore- Autism United

Mon, 8 Oct 2007 10:49:27 -0700

John Gilmore is one of the architects of Autism United, the collaboration of several New York-area autism organizations. They recently held a fundraising walk on Long Island to fund a joint project. John tells us how it all started and how the walk came together. Cathy Moriarty is their national spokesperson and John tells us about Katie Wright’s help during the walk. Stan shares his impressions of the “Jenny on Larry King” and explains his “losing the dream syndrome”. Stan and John discuss autism organization collaborations and mergers of the future.

Franklin and Fields- ABA and FloorTime coming together?

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 08:39:41 -0700

There is a nationwide shortage of FloorTime practitioners. Some ABA practitioners are now offering FloorTime as well. As every child with autism is different, so to is the treatment of each child. Now these practitioners have two strategies to choose from to treat a child. Katie Wright told me she uses FloorTime with her son. What is FloorTime? With the discussion of autism on such mainstream media as Larry King and Oprah it is time to explain all treatments. Two parents who use FloorTime discuss it. Katy Franklin of San Francisco and Mike Fields of Atlanta. They explain what FloorTime is and then discuss the situation with finding practitioners in different parts on the country and the combining of ABA and FloorTime at the practitioner level.

Meet Katie Wright the Person

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:43:11 -0700

If there are royalty in the world of Autism, Katie Wright would be in that royal family. Her parents are the founders of Autism Speaks. Katie serves on the board of two other Autism related foundations, but it is the commitment to her child that elevates her to royal status. In our open candid conversation we talk about both her children and find out how Christian (her child with autism) is doing now, what happened to her child and why she thinks it happened. We get a good sense of who Katie Wright is and what she stands for. She shares her view of where autism assistance to families needs to go in the future.

Diane Kennedy – A Thoughtful Person

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:11:13 -0700

Diane Kennedy and her writing partner Rebecca Banks wrote “ The ADHD-Autism Connection” with a forward by Temple Grandin. Kennedy and Banks are planning a new book and Lorna Wing has committed to write the forward. Diane has three children with either ADHD or autism. Her husband was diagnosed with autism the same day as their youngest son was. We talk about her children and her husband and discuss the future of autism organizations and autism education. We look into the future and Diane shares her views.

Katy Franklin and Alison Davis- Working with your children

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:14:55 -0700

You may have heard my earlier interviews with Katy Franklin and Alison Davis. Both are parents with children with autism, Katy (1), Alison (3) and they discuss how they work with their children from the time they were diagnosed with autism through today. What they tried with their children, what worked and what didn’t. Down to earth and open to new ideas. These moms allow you to understand their journey. If you or someone you know is about to make a similar journey this is one show is a ‘must hear’.

Nancy O'Mara- Colin adds joy to her life

Wed, 5 Sep 2007 12:31:07 -0700

Nancy O’Mara is a mother of four children. Her youngest, Colin was born prematurely and was diagnosed first with Cerebral Palsy. Later he was diagnosed with Autism. One condition demands a lot from parents, but with two conditions the time and energy levels required make a quantum jump. Through it all Nancy and her husband have been there for Colin and their other children. Now as they help Colin plan his life, Nancy looks back and shares with us what it was like before the Internet brought information on demand.

Mary McFarland- Divorce Extra Needs Style

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 08:30:30 -0700

The divorce rate among parents with children with extra needs is reported to be 85% within the first five years of diagnosis. Mary McFarland nationally know Oakland California based Psychotherapist discusses these startling figures. We explore the possible reasons for this and actions that couples can take to reduce the chances of divorce. Although this show focuses on parents with extra needs children it can apply to all parents.

Mel Levine- A Different Way to Learn

Thu, 9 Aug 2007 17:15:07 -0700

Mel Levine didn’t do well in elementary or grade school. He had a sense of humor and made his classmates laugh. When his classmates came to his house to play he told his mother to tell them he wasn’t home. He would rather play with his animals and play in his own mind. His older brother got into Harvard and had Mel visit him on weekends. These visits excited Mel’s mind and he became an A student from then on. Mel’s brother found the way in to help Mel learn. Mel graduated first in his class at Brown, became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, went to Harvard Medical School and is now the Director of the University of North Carolina Center for the Study of Development and Learning. Mel is one of the leading figures in the world in the study of the different ways that people learn. Mel doesn’t believe that one way or 5 ways or 10 ways fits all. There is a way to reach every child we just have to follow the clues. Mel spurns labels like “Autism”, “Bipolar”, “ADHD” and likes to visualize the child as they will be at 24. Mel founded the All Kinds of Minds Institute and has changed the way we view learning, all because a kind older brother took the time to find the way in. We learn who Mel is and what he thinks of the world around him.

Alison Davis- Mother of three with Autism

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:05:40 -0700

Alison Davis and her husband have 3 boys with Autism. In the eight years since the first child was diagnosed her family has grown stronger. Alison has learned how to be an effective advocate for her boys. She spends a large amount of time looking for new ways to help her boys. She shares her knowledge with many people through email and continues to speak out for action against this raging epidemic. Alison Davis a voice from the front lines.

Steve Rosenbaum- A Lawyer on your side

Mon, 2 Jul 2007 09:45:20 -0700

Steve Rosenbaum is a lawyer whose practice specializes in representing children whose parents have not been able to attain the educational assistance the parents feel their child should have from a school system. His non-profit law office is Protection & Advocacy, Inc, Oakland California, specializes in the educational rights of students with disabilities and institutionalized persons. He has served as a trainer for the COPAA (Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates). Steve talks about how to deal with school districts and the steps along the way from IEP to lawsuit.

Shawna DeNofa- Parent of a child with Autism

Tue, 15 May 2007 12:20:05 -0700

Meet Shawna DeNofa, during her eighth month of pregnancy she found out that her first child had autism. It lead to the most trying year of her life. Adjusting to a new world she and her husband learn to adjust and adjust and adjust. Now, several years later she helps strangers become new friends (other parents who have children with autism) by answering questions on a autism listserv. Shawna is on constant lookout for any information that might benefit her son. Shawna’s strength and devotion to her family makes Shawna someone you are proud to know.

Ellen Notbohm- Writer and Autism Blogger

Tue, 1 May 2007 10:36:24 -0700

Ellen Notbohm has a child with Autism. Today at least 1 in 150 children have been diagnosed with Autism. Hear what she did to help her child and how the family became closer and how her son is doing at 13.

Katy Franklin - Coping with nature and the schools

Mon, 2 Apr 2007 10:30:43 -0700

Katy Franklin has a child with Autism. Faced with finding schools she learned quickly that the system's quick answer was always no. She resists the system that rejects her child while finding new ways to help him grow with his condition.

Heather McCracken- Friend to Friend Network

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:48:39 -0800

Heather McCracken is the mother of a child with autism. Rather then just watch what the system did with her son she created Friend 2 Friend Social Network. It is a place for children with and without autism can play together as equals. Heather found a better way and tells us how to also.

Pamela Wolfberg- Educator

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 08:43:23 -0800

Pamela Wolfberg forward thinking educator at San Francisco State University lets us see her vision of future education and how we plan for the rising rate of Autism

Pat Howey- Advocate

Tue, 9 Jan 2007 07:56:14 -0800

"The quality of education a child with a disability receives is directly related to the advocacy skills of the parent". Say's Pat Howey a parent whose child's illness turned her into an advocate for children with extra needs. Pat tells us how to become advocates for our children.