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Dealing With Schools... Know Your Right... And... Protect Your Child! In order to know how to deal with schools, a parent had to know his/her rights and those of the child with special needs. The following link provided helpful information regarding IEPs... what should be in them... and the school's responsibilities in meeting the document requirements. http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/iep_guidance.html When schools want you to drug your child... what are your options? This link provides some information on state laws in terms of what can or can not be done by someone in your school. http://www.ablechild.org/ The simple fact is that children, in my opinion, too often, may be seen as "an additional source of funds" for schools finding themselves facing ever increasing challenges and budget cuts. The reality of the situation was that by labeling or drugging a child, schools received additional funds. So many parents today seemed to be placed in a position of having to "fight the school system" when it came to the labeling or drugging of a child. Schools were supposed to be there to help. Yet, too often, they now believed to know what was in the best interest of the child more than that child's parent - a claim I, personally, seriously doubted. Schoolteachers were not "therapists" or "psychiatrists" or "doctors" and parents had to remember that. Too many tragedies were resulting from schools pressuring parents into doing things they felt were not in the best interest of their child... and then, when things got worse... it was parents who were left to pick up the even more shattered pieces of their lives! "Labels" and "Prescriptions" Bring "Additional Funds" To Schools! Are Children The "New Revenue Source"?/ADHD -Ritalin Tragedies (http://www.ritalindeath.com/homepage.htm) Are Your Kids On Drugs Like Prozac, Xanax, Luvox or Ritalin? You May Want To Look At This!!! (http://www.breggin.com/prozac) This entire issue of "schools advising whether or not children should be placed on drugs or labeled" was, in my opinion, a horrible conflict of interest. In the case of my own nephew, I had raised this issue in my books. The school had funds that were originally supposed to be "velcroed" to my nephew who had PDD. Andrew's mother, my sister-in-law, Christine, had many a time sat in class to "shadow" Andrew and help him further while in school. Soon, she noticed Andrew's aide was being spread to more and more children. When she raised her concerns with the school board, and stated that the way the laws were, the funds had been "velcroed" to Andrew and as such, she insisted that he have his aide. The school did not appreciate being told "what to do" and the following year, the funds for Andrew were no longer "velcroed" to Andrew but rather to "the school program". As such, the school could decide how to best use money that had originally been intended for "this particular child" and as a result of that, Andrew lost "his aide". My sister-in-law therefore removed her son and chose to school him at home because in school, he was being left behind - miserably! Now, "the school" that really did not care about my nephew's progress while he was there felt it needed to "check in on his progress" while he was homeschooled - because - after all - they had lost funds now since Andrew was removed from the school system. My sister-in-law had chosen to homeschool her "normal daughter" as well. During a recent visit by the school representative, very little attention was given to Andrew's progress - at all. The school truly did not care about this child in the opinion of his mother. But, they certainly did care about those "special funds" and as such, felt the need to constantly be "visiting" my sister-in-law to "check on Andrew's progress". Funny how that concern had not been there when he was in the school system in the first place! There was an organization devoted to protecting the rights of homeschooling parents... and devoted to helping parents know their rights when it came to this issue. The Home School Legal Defense Association (http://hslda.org/Default.asp?bhjs=1&bhqs=1)! The issue of vaccinations for schools was also another hotly debated issue now... and again, it was important that parents know their rights... http://www.vaccinationnews.com/StateInformation/state_information.htm In Memory Of Children - Lost To Vaccinations - These Are Just A Few Of There Stories... Unfortunately, There Are Many, Many More! http://www.vaccinationnews.com/Scandals/Feb_22_02/examples_of_resistance.htm |
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