We had a great hour session with Ruth O�Conner, an incredible dyslexia pioneer and champion of children in our area. Every time Ruth has come to Madison Learning Differences support group she has been a great source of information and today was no different. THANK YOU Ruth!
Ruth O�Connor is the mother of a grown dyslexic son. She has a degree in Elementary Education and taught in Alabama schools. She has substituted for eight years in the Huntsville City Schools, mainly in special education.
When Ruth and her family lived in Huntsville she worked for SEAC and then had a private practice as an education advocate. She has been officially retired for several years but that hasn�t stopped her advocacy. She has monitored the development and creation of the Alabama Occupational Diploma. Even though it took FIVE years, through filing complaints through the Office of Civil Rights in Atlanta she has forced the Huntsville City schools to POST and publish the name of their special education 504 coordinator.
Ruth assisted the Huntsville City Schools in writing the Huntsville City Schools Special Education Parent Student Handbook and their 504 Parent Student Resource Guide that is soon to be published. Ruth says her efforts are finally paying off with this year�s implementation of the Huntsville City Schools special education initiatives.
There are some great signs of progress for the Huntsville School system. Ruth told us about:
1. Parent workshops- FREE and open to EVERYONE. You can get the schedule for the parent workshops which run through the summer by going to the Huntsville Schools Special Education website. The workshops are every third Tuesday of the month, even in the summer. Ruth says attend even if the workshop doesn�t apply directly to you, to show the schools that parents will use the resources.
www.hunstvillecityschools.net
1a. The website itself is a great step forward.
2. Parent Resource room- again free and open to anyone. Internet access is available in this room. It is in the Central Office on White Street in Huntsville, off California near Maple Hill Cemetery. The room is open 8:30-2:30
3. For PARENTS IN HSV CITY SCHOOLS only, a parent hotline with a person to answer and document calls. Ruth says this person is excellent and solves problems fast.
4. A special education advisory board for Huntsville City Schools, including attorney Dr. James Irby, that can help solve problems.
Ruth told us that becoming an effective advocate for our child means becoming informed. Find out where the resources are and learn all you can learn about the law. Ruth recommended going to
www.wrightslaw.com and read the material about
�evaluations�
Ruth has filed complaints against the schools with the federal Office of Civil Rights in Atlanta. Every school system has to have a section 504 compliance coordinator and thanks to Ruth fighting for five years, must list this coordinator and contact info so the public can see it. Also the schools must have a printed statement that says the schools don�t discriminate against children with learning disabilities.
Ruth talked about the Alabama Alternate assessment and said there are problems with the terminology used. PROMPT means the student has to be encouraged to accomplish the task and SUPPORT means things like a computer, calculator, and tools to help the student.
Ruth recommends taping meetings like IEP meetings and if the school balks about the recording, suggest that they record the meeting too, or offer to copy your tape for them. People need time to absorb all the information given in IEP meetings.
Ruth told us about a team for kids without IEPs called
BUILDING BASED STUDENT SUPPORT� (No doubt is has an acronym but I didn�t write that down)
On the state level there is something called LRE which means serving the student in the least restrictive environment, which really means inclusion in a regular classroom BEFORE giving services in special education. LRE is the goal. The State Education Department has that goal thanks to Ruth!
A strategy for helping your dyslexic child is NOT TO USE THE WORD DYSLEXIA. The state education department and therefore all the schools won�t use the word dyslexia so you don�t need to use it. When you write requesting an evaluation to determine if your child qualifies for special education services just list the problems of the dyslexia, like letter reversals, number reversals, poor spelling, slow processing, etc. Schools have 60 days to complete an evaluation and 30 days to develop an IEP if the student qualifies for an IEP. If the student doesn�t qualify for IEP they might be able to get a Section 504 for accommodations.
Ruth helped us understand the difference between
ACCOMODATION, giving students tools like computers, spell checkers, electronic dictionaries, and calculators as opposed to MODIFICATION which means a change in the curriculum.