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Hi Bart,
I've been reading your screed for years now and
I've come to toss a personal story in your lap
in my Quixotic attempt to raise money for my
developmentally disabled child. Perhaps your
internetconnectedness can help this reach viral
proportions.
Joe.
Subject: Our son, Matthew, is disabled
Our son, Matthew, is severely
developmentally disabled. He is 8, doesn't speak but has over
150 signs at his command. He has great receptive
language but can exhibit aggressive behavior.
He was placed in a special
ed. program at Wailuku Elementary, on Maui, in 2005. We went to regular
monthly meetings and advocated for him,
obtaining needed modifications and support services
in our attempt to educate him and overcome his disabilities.
By March of 2009, his behavioral
interventions exacerbated his behaviors and Matthew ended up being fully
isolated in a room with a half door locked
on the outside and 2 EA's outside. His room was
bare, had a boarded up window, a small desk and two un-upholstered cushions
on the dirty floor.
"Specialists" were considering restraints for
Matthew, we were told we had no choice, and there was talk of "injections
to calm him" The situation was
intolerable, the department inflexible, his behavior
escalated, so we decided to place Matthew in the only private school on
Maui for DD kids, Horizons
Academy, and sued the state for violations in
his IEP (individualized education plan) and reimbursement.
We lost our case. It is obvious that the hearing Officer seems to have purposely avoided the legal questions we raised and ignored the relevant law.
After 3 months at Horizons,
Matthew is integrated with the general population, has a friend, his negative
behaviors have declined by more than 90%
and he is learning, staying on task and moving
in the right direction. (Public testimony by Horizons school staff under
oath), however:
Even though the state education
specialist, Leslie Alexander, stated that private placement would cost
the state less money, the school principal
agreed that Horizons was the best placement for
him (off the record of course), and we had a psych evaluation that agreed
with us, the DOE wants to put him back in isolation.
A May 19, 2009 GAO report
found hundreds of allegations that schoolchildren have been abused, and
some even died, as a result of inappropriate
uses of seclusion and restraint in classrooms.
These abusive practices were used disproportionately on children with disabilities.
Horizons Academy has
never used restraint or seclusion with Matthew
or any of its students and has achieved results the DOE can only dream
of.
While we appeal to the Federal
District Court what is a very strong legal case, the private school, Horizons
Academy, has agreed to cover Matthew's
considerable education expenses. The appeal process
can take up to a year. We feel that the state's plan is to bankrupt Horizons.
While direct donations to Horizons would be great, we are also putting together a publicity campaign in order to:
1) Raise funds for Horizons through individual donations, foundations, grants and the like.
2) Put pressure on the hawaii DOE, through publicity of this case, to settle.
3) Find new clients for Horizons
I am currently putting together a facebook page.
Your help in getting the word
out would be greatly appreciated and have a profound effect on the lives
of developmentally disabled children,
including my own. You may know some people who
would be interested in championing a cause like this one and raising the
much needed funds
to keep Matthew and kids like him from being
abused by the public school system.
The money we need to raise
is substantial. Horizons would spend $80,000 to $100,000 on Matthew's program
but remember, The State education
specialist told us Horizons was CHEAPER than
keeping Matthew at Wailuku Elementary. This sum is attainable and will
keep Matthew out of isolation
until we can win the appeal and force reimbursement
from the state.
Horizons can be reached at: (808) 575-2954. Donations are welcome.
Matthew's case number is DOE-SY0809-100
Joe D'Alessandro
Joe, does Matthew have access to a computer?
I saw an autistic boy on 60 Minutes who was so frustrated that he couldn't
speak but then
he got on the computer and connected with other kinds like him and
he got tons better.
You've got little to lose by trying to get him online.
I wish you luck - I can't imagine what you're going thru.
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