District files appeal against deaf student

[jag]

Jackie is also a teacher for the deaf so I was appalled when she called the deaf children who go to the deaf school "bad" according to what she heard from others. To me, that shows lack of compassion for those who can't "make" it in the public schools. Like they r beneath the oral sucesses and that is one of the many reasons I dislike this philisophy.

Well she did say that she was repeating what was said to her. Could be true, might not. But, I do get the impression reading posts from people here who have done the oral thing and decided the it wasn't for them that they think they were treated that way. Could she have stated it differently? sure Did she correct her co workers, I really didn't see anything based on her posts I'd say probably not but I could have missed it, but I do condider pretty sad, But that life. But I wasn't there so have no idea what she may or may not have said.

But it actually has nothing to do with my statement saying that our job as a parent (including Jackie) is to get what is appropriate for our child, the I means individual, Jackie may or may not win in the courts, time will tell. It's not up to someone who works for the school system to decide she is wrong in her persuit for the accomodation she requested for her child. What I said has nothing to do with what she may have said regarding other deaf children. Even as a teacher of the deaf/hoh her first and formost job is her children.

I get that from a social worker who had no problems taking the agency she worked for to due process because of their denying certain services to her son with down syndrome, the funny thing is that was when he was an infant, his parents havn't had to put up with much crap since then, they are treated with respect and listened to and serious concideration is given to their requests, and such requests were usually granted. I do think that many parents who's kids are covered under IDEA and ADA really need to educate themselves on what their childs rights are.

 

[rick48]

And I think that thats one of the things we need to keep stressing here for parents who may be reading these posts. Getting an accomdation that some deem to be unreasonable may rest on being able to prove it's appropriate so constant reminders to parents not to use the word best need to be made I think. I'm all for Jackie pushing for CART for her daughter, it sounds like she's using equal access rather then the best accomdation. Will be interesting to see how this plays out through the courts. In the mean time her daughter is getting the service.

Jag,

Agree with you and it is also important that parents prioritize the services/accomodations they are requesting and pick their "fights" accordingly.
Rick

 

[shel90]

shel,

My blood is near the boiling point regarding that comment! My late aunt was a teacher for first grade (hearies) and always referred to them as "dum dums." She once called me "deaf and dumb" to which I replied, "I'm not dumb." Another thing, it is a known practice that teachers get together to choose what kids they want to teach and the ones with less seniority get the kids that no one wants to teach. This is bad and if I had known that at the time, I would have agreed with my mother to send me down to the deaf school and forget the public school in our area. This is shameful.

Now, I haven't been following this thread since the last time I posted, but, correct me if I'm wrong. Is Jackie a good teacher (one of us) or is she here just to create problems for deaf and hoh? No, I am not being facetious.

I cant judge on how good of a teacher she is but I dont agree with her philosophy of oral-only for young deaf babies and when it was apparent after several years that if the children arent picking up on spoken language, switch to signing or TC. That's the biggest reason many deaf/hoh children are language delayed and I dont approve of that kind of practice because I have seen all of my life (35 years) of the damage it did to so many deaf/hoh people, myself included.

 

[shel90]

Well she did say that she was repeating what was said to her. Could be true, might not. But, I do get the impression reading posts from people here who have done the oral thing and decided the it wasn't for them that they think they were treated that way. Could she have stated it differently? sure Did she correct her co workers, I really didn't see anything based on her posts I'd say probably not but I could have missed it, but I do condider pretty sad, But that life. But I wasn't there so have no idea what she may or may not have said.

But it actually has nothing to do with my statement saying that our job as a parent (including Jackie) is to get what is appropriate for our child, the I means individual, Jackie may or may not win in the courts, time will tell. It's not up to someone who works for the school system to decide she is wrong in her persuit for the accomodation she requested for her child. What I said has nothing to do with what she may have said regarding other deaf children. Even as a teacher of the deaf/hoh her first and formost job is her children.

I get that from a social worker who had no problems taking the agency she worked for to due process because of their denying certain services to her son with down syndrome, the funny thing is that was when he was an infant, his parents havn't had to put up with much crap since then, they are treated with respect and listened to and serious concideration is given to their requests, and such requests were usually granted. I do think that many parents who's kids are covered under IDEA and ADA really need to educate themselves on what their childs rights are.

Fine if she is repeating what others are saying about deaf children who go to deaf schools then why call them "bad" in that one post without clarification that it was not her wording? That really pissed me off big time cuz that is a personal insult to me since my brother attended the deaf school all his life because he couldnt make it in the public schools. Matter of fact, he is studying for his Master's at a hearing college so Jackie and whoever she works with need to get a good dose of reality about the children who attend the deaf schools and start respecting them too. Just like there are children in the public schools who have academic problems or behavioral problems (Columbine anyone?) just like some kids at the deaf schools too but that doesnt mean all of them are "bad"!!! If u want to excuse her for saying that, fine with me but in my eyes, there is no excuse for that especially coming from an educator of deaf children. People with that view have done a lot of harm to numerous of deaf children by not having faith in them. Of course, the kids pick up on that and give up on learning. Why bother if the public views u as "bad"?

 

[jackiesolorzano]

Dear Friends,
I have been thinking about sharing some thoughts and explaining some things with all of you. At times, I was against the idea of sharing because I know how critical a lot of you have been of me and my way of life. But I have decided to go ahead and share because it will give you more insights and explain some things about me and then you can understand a bit more of why I believe in the things that I believe in.
As I said before, I am a first generation American. I have a younger sister and when we entered school we did not know a single word of English. Both of my parents had a good command of English but they felt that they should each teach us their native language and that the schools would teach us English. It was easier for me to learn English then it was for my sister. She had to repeat kindergarten. My mother was a teacher in Mexico. Although she had some college education she did not graduate. My father finished high school back in Hungary. My parents were very dedicated to us. My parents worked hard and were able to live the American dream. My father before he passed away would sit with us everyday and help us with our homework. He did not work the last 3 years of his life so his sole purpose was taking care of my sister and me. My father passed away when I was 9 years old. It was hard for my mother because she was a single parent in a country where she did not have any family members close by.
I haven’t wanted to admit this to you and I don’t admit it to a lot of people but you have been right, my writing skills are not good. I speak perfect English and almost perfect Spanish but when it comes down to my writing skills, they are not where most people who have a master’s degree are. I have to put a lot of focus on it and even focusing at times it is still very hard. I am so passionate about the topics we talk about here that I have not put the focus I would need to in order for my English to be at the standard it should be at. When I am posting things I am trying to get my thoughts across in a fast manner. Jillo has made fun of me using the wrong word. She is right I do use the wrong word at times. It is hard for me to sometimes think of the right word to say. I have several languages going on in my head. I usually get it right but I have been known to use the wrong word. Most of the time people are patient with me but on this site since I go against what most people think they sort to making fun of my skills. It is OK, if it makes you feel better to make fun of me more power to you. It is not going to change who I am, what I stand for, and what I do for a living.
It seems unfair to me that several people on this site criticize my English skills although I have noticed many other members including educators, their skills are also not where they should be. I wonder why I am being held to a higher standard, is it because I am an educator or an oralist. I strongly believe it is because I do not believe in some of the members’ philosophy. If I believed in your philosophy, I know you would not criticize my grammar skills. The times that you most criticize me is when you are wrong and instead of focusing on the issue you focus on my weak grammar skills. I think over 99% of the time you know what I am trying to say and I am not writing for my supervisors, students’ parents, or college professors so why should I focus and spend so much time on editing when I have seen almost everyone else on this site make grammar errors. Even if my grammar skills were good most of you would find some other reason to criticize me or make fun of me. It just seems unfair to me but maybe it makes you feel better that my grammar skills are not good. Maybe you think that proves your point. I do apologize for my weak grammar skills. I know that at times I get words mix up and what I am trying to say sometimes gets confused or when I use the wrong word it changes the meaning completely.
I do have the capacity of writing English in the correct form it just takes me a lot longer to get it in that format. I have to first write it, edit it then I have to leave it alone for awhile and go back and edit it. Honestly, it is not worth my time to go through this process because my time is limited and I know you will find some other reason to criticized me. In college, I did very well but my hardest class was college composition. I received my only C in that class and it was the class that I worked the hardest in. I love to read and read all the time so any class that the tests were based on readings, I received A’s. I also did overall well in short essays. It just when there were papers that I had to write it took more effort. For my Master’s project I work on it for 6 months. It was a lot of work but I did get an A on it. As you know there are many state tests that teachers have to take, I have taken them all and passed them on the first time. I know of many teachers that struggle with these tests but they are still amazing, caring, and wonderful teachers. We are all humans and make mistakes.
I know how you are thinking and you might just say that a teacher shouldn’t be teaching if they have my type of grammar skills. The only reason you are thinking this is because I am an oral teacher of the deaf, if I was a signing teacher and believed in your philosophy you wouldn’t be saying this. When I am writing a report or an IEP, my emotions are not as involved as they are when I am posting something on all deaf. When my emotions and beliefs are involved my grammars skills suffer even more. And if you truly are concern about my grammar skills don’t worry I teach preschool so I am not teaching grammar skills. I personally would never put myself in a position of teaching English/grammar skills to students because I know that is not my strength and I am not doing a service to those students. I have also always told my supervisors that my grammar skills are weak. My grammar skills have never been an issued in securing a contract. Since I do speak Spanish fluently my supervisor love having me on staff, being able to speak Spanish is such an amazing skill to have in southern California.
I have also been criticized about saying that someone needs to be in the home that speaks English if a child is to get an implant and they reside in the United States. From personal experience, I know how hard it is to learn English later on in life. I know you have your research papers but you can find a research paper to support almost any point of view. What I am talking about is personal experience both from a standpoint of learning English as a 2nd language and from raising 2 implanted oral deaf teenagers. Someone needs to be at home supporting the child with the language being taught at school. I was lucky my parents both spoke fluent English so when we came home with homework they were able to help us. And even with this help it was still very hard. How do you think a child with an implant is going to succeed with oral language if there is no one in the home to help support the child? Also this is where most of you have no personal experience in those beginning years of getting implant. Yes, you have your research papers but do you have the personal experience to know what needs to be in place in the beginning when the child is just implanted. I am not saying someone has to be fluent, I am just saying someone has to be willing to learn English with that child who has an implant. Yes, children with an implant can acquire language naturally but they have to have direct instruction also. It is a combination of things. I can understand where Jillo has to deal with college age kids that haven’t had much success with the implant or Shel, who has to deal with the kids that transfer from other programs, it is hard for them. The difference is I get to work with children as soon as they get implanted. I know what needs to be in place if a child is to have as much success as possible with the implant.
I have also been criticized for not exposing my children to the Deaf culture, more. I honestly could care less if you think I need to do more. We do what we feel comfortable with. We are not doing this to please anyone. Honestly, people like Jillo are the reasons why I am careful to what type of people in the Deaf culture I expose my children. I do what feels comfortable to me and my children.
What I ask of you instead of focusing on my bad grammar skills focus on what I am saying. I can assure you that I will try to focus more on my grammar but at times mistakes will happen especially when you are criticizing me or when I do not have the time to edit.
I also owe a big apology to Tousi. I was embarrassed. I did not want to admit my weakness because so many of you had already criticized me so much. I do think it was wrong and weak of Tousi to wait until he/she thought I was off the site to make the comments about my grammar skills. I am sorry to Tousi and to all of you for saying it was an experiment. It was not. It was me trying to hide my weakness.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

"Puttin your money where your mouth is' does not necessarily have to mean real money you know. In this case we're talking time and stress dealing with the due process. BTW there is a list of lawyers that do work pro bono or for little charge somewhere on the net. Can't remember where maybe connected to the WRitghts law site. These are lawyers who do education law and they are in quite a few states.

Ahh interpet vs translate in a setting where learning isn't goiing on. OK then we can go with your defintion.

If in fact the child is missing stuff despite doing well then overkill is a good way to begin getting all children the accomodations they need. Jackie may in fact lose in court, but she at least willing to try. Why should we not support her when she's willing to go through the process to get accomodations for her child which will in the end help all kids doing well. To say the schools are right and she's wrong is to except that only average is good. To except that is to say that everyone should be the same, that one should never try to change the status quo. Why not? If parents had not tried to change things you'd still be talking about total segregation between disabled children and their peers.

So good luck to Jackie.

Thank you Jag. You know my daughter is not meeting her full potential. Her IQ is a bit more then 2 standard deviations above the norm. She did receive A's and B's on her report card because she spents 2 to 6 hours on homework and school work a day and because of what we do at home for her. With her IQ being so high, school shouldn't be as hard as it is for her.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

Because her grades are good she should continue to struggle understanding what's going on when someone speaks softly. OOoKKKK.

The thing about seating arrangements is there are always those kids you can't understand unless they sit right next to you. In Hs kids don't really like to have seating arrangements and many of the teachers don't either. At least that was my experience.



I didn't say they don't know how to get accomodations, I'm saying if they can't get what is appropriate for their child and they really think it is appropriate rather then complain they should begin using the system established to get the accomodation that is appropriate for their child, or quit complaining. Usually things turn around when you begin to ask for things like rejection in writing. But if you know that something would help the child are you willing like Jackie to try to change the status quo by filing due process? Are your friends?

I live in a small school district, I knew all the kids in sped. My youngest was the only one in the school for a couple years with significant delays who was mostly contained and only mainstreamed in the classes like art, music etc, but all breaks and play time were with her peers and she wasn't treated like ar 'retard', even tho she is mentally retarded. I will agree that the staff was more of a problem with her. But the point is my daugter who's hoh/deaf would have still been treated like she was regardless. And alot of it was her attitude.





There are welfare queens. I don't come here to discuss my opinion of people like the young mom with 2 kids who was taking classes to be a photographer (easy classes btw) who was given money for day care so she could attend school, who never showed up for school because she was tired or whatever and who somehow while not having any money and needing my tax money to go to school and pay her rent has the money to go to FL and take her kids to disney during the school year when she's supposed to be attending classes. While my kids attend classes they had to work to pay for? Nope this isn't the place for that discussion. BTW, studies done have shown that the kids of the moms who went to work actually are doing better then those who's moms are still on welfare 10 yrs after the 'reform' that was to get them off their butts and into the workforce.

Oh and Harvard is sooooo overrated, but if someone wants to overpay to get Smashie into Harvard let them, it's their money. But in a public school if you can get better accomodations or are willing to go for it, good luck I hope you win and change things for those coming behind you. My youngest would have had to go to a school about 20 miles from her rather then in her home district if people had not been willing to fight the status quo. <let me add this, we have a neighbor who's severely disabled daughter was my 29 yo's age, so we're talking early 80's, they decided that the school in the county seat wasn't the correct place for her when she could travel 20 mile instead of 35 or so to the larger city who's school system had been taking kids like her for years. In the end they won their transfer out of this county but I believe they ended up paying for transportation at first. That to had to be changed and has changed. Without parents running into the obsticles and getting changes things will stay the same>



Yes there are some accomodations that seem excessive (like the hiring of a nurse for one child) but in the end the kid needs to go somewhere and his parents were willing to fight to keep him with his peers where he would have gone if he hadn't had medical problems. If Jackie can win her due process then things can begin to gradually change for kids who do better but could still use some accomodation.

You are so right Jag, when our case is final and I know it will be in our favor, it will help all the other deaf kids in our SELPA. Actually, I just met with our attorney and he said that the school district asked for a settlement meeting, so I guessing that they are going to give in, then this will help all the other deaf kids behind us oral and signing.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

Well as jillo said missing stuff is one of the downsides of being oral only. Jackie is simply one of those typical AG Bell types who talk until they are blue in the face about there being freedom in listening and talking, and then they start whining about the downsides. (eg there's nothing like a 'terp for oral kids. Boohoo hoo!)
I think that its overkill financially. I mean Jackie's daughter could do just as well if they changed the seating arrangements and then did the hackysack thing. That would be just as good. .......and I totally agree with jillo. I think CART/Cprint is awesome..........but it should only be used when there is an OBVIOUS need for it, and so it doesn't take away from someone else.
Someone else might have to stick with PECS instead of using a Dynamo board b/c Jackie's daughter doesn't get everything in the classroom.

We do have all the standard accommdations such as setting closest to the teacher making sure her better hearing ear is towards the teachers. But come on a hackysack, in a classroom.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

Oh, yes, jackie, keep fighting the good fight, becasue the whole world reveolves around your and rick's children. Other deaf children don't matter. The two of you are egocentrism, ignorance, and selfishness personafied.

You are so wrong. The first words that came out of my mouth when we heard the verdict was that now all the other deaf kids in our SELPA can get CART. But since you really do not know who I am and what I stand for you are just making judgement.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

I have always admitted that there are a few exceptions to the many. However, I have admitted nothing in reference to jackie's daughter, and have always qualified any reference to jackie's daughter's academic achievement withthe phrase, "as so claimed by her mother".

Why in the world would I want to incorporate the oral only method into my cousel and advise to my students, their parents, or other educators. It does harm to deaf students. The deaf students entrusted to me are receiving ALL of the services they need to succeed simply becasue I do not reccommend the limiting oral philosophy for them.

How is it that you know that jackie's daughter has not achieved the full level of her potential? Got a crystal ball in your pocket along with your stun gun?

I know that my daughter has not achieved her full potential. Her IQ is 2 standard deviations above the norm. She works really hard for her grades. What average student spends 2 to 6 hours a day on school work everyday. On most of her state tests, she falls in the below average range. These are clear signs she is not reaching her full potential.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

Geeze, would you please quit instructing me about how other people interact with deaf/hoh people, I know about the WHat? thing I don't need you to tell me thank you very much.

Jackie is requesting what she feels is APPROPRIATE for her daughter. And no matter how she has expressed herself here my guess is her lawyer is agruing appropriate, not better.

Jag you are right, I am arguing for what is appropriate. I have never said that CART is better and what I have said is that it is appropriate or that it is what my daughter needs to access the curriulum. Yes, our attorney has a much better way with words then I do.

Parents even Jackie need to remember that. It's not up to us to decide she's asking for to much, Jackie is responsible for her children and she is willing to work to get what she feels they need.

Yes, I agree completely. I know my children better then anyone else. I know their learning styles. I know how they learn and what they need in place for them to learn.

Unfortunately I can see her losing her case because of the wording of some of her posts here. I wish her luck, but sometimes it's better to let things go rather then ruin your case.

I don't think we are going to lose. The school district just asked for a settlement hearing. The good thing is that it is not my wording in the court papers, our attorney handles all the paper work.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

The professionals in education do tend to forget what the I in IEP stands for don't they?

Yes, they always forget what the "I" stand for. And as a parent to 2 children with special needs that is my main focus.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

One thing, a parents first and most important job is to raise their child, they are not going to have concern for every other child out there. They may offer emotional support and give a parent ideas of what worked for them that they may want to try, but it is NOT my job, Ricks job or even Jackie's job to ignore the rights and needs of our child because of how it 'may' impact someone else's. Think that's hard and selfish, I for one really don't care.

Right on. I will do whatever it takes for my children. If what I do helps other children then that's wonderful but if it doesn't then my conscience is clear because my number one responsibility is my children.
I am also very lucky because I work for a different county then where my children go to school, so I know that what I do for my children does not affect my students. I have always been very open to my supervisiors and have explained what type of parent I am.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

And that,jag, is exactly the point we have been trying to make. She even said her lawyer told her the same thing...

Get your story straight. Our attorney told me to stop teaching my children. He did not tell me to stop talking about how great my daughter is doing in school.

that you can't go into due process or an appeal telling everyone how great your daughter is performing, and then expect the school system to shell out the big bucks for CART (and it is a very expensive accoomodation). The schools and the courts consider appropriate as being that which allow a child to function at a reasonable level.

In case you forgot the law also says that my daughter has the right to equal access.

The key word is is reasonable, because it is also stated inthe ADA that accommodations will be reasonable and appropriate. And the school system is under no mandate whatsoever to provide any service simply because a parent says it is appropriate. They can even refuse to provide a terp for a child that comes from a signing environment if they can produce the "experts" that will say the child has sufficient oral skills to function without sign. They can also provide alternative services other than those which the parent has requested if they can support their argument that the same goal will be realized. When however, we have attempted to point all of this out to jackie, in an attempt to forewarn her of what she was up agianst, we were accused of picking on her, and of being biased agianst CI children and children who didn't sign. She turned what started out as a reasonable discussion of the issues, and disregarded the advise and experience of everyone who has tried to inform her, and engaged in emotional tirades and contradictory claims regarding her expertise. And I can guarantee you, if she attempts the same sort of tactics in court, she will loose the case based on her own behavior and attitudes.

Don't worry about my emotional tirades in court. I can handle myself in a court situation but thank you for your concern. I don't value your expertise because you are not an expert in oral education.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

Int he mainstream, it means simply providing services in addition to those provided for the hearing students. It does not mean that a parent can simply believe that an accommodation will be helpful and get it written into the IEP.

It is not just what I believe will be helpful. It is what my daughter needs to get access to the curriulum. I have several research articles that we presented in our due process case plus we had several expert witnesses tesified in our case, this is why we won at the due process level.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

My 17 yrs of experience have basically shown that the I does not mean individual to most professional staff. An IEP written under part 504 is more about accomodation if I'm remembering correctly, but having had nieces and nephews who qualified under that part, here at least it uses the same form. I don't think that I've said just any accomodation a parent thinks would be helpful will get put into an IEP. I have said that parents have to go into those meetings with the information showing why such an accomodation is APPROPRIATE for their child. After that is discussed and if the school is saying no, then the parent needs to request a copy of the ...oh gee can't remember the name of the document the school 'should' fill out when refusing a service. but such a document would have why it was requested and why the school is refusing. ex. a child with autism would do much better in a certain enviroment using techniques not provided in the school he attends. The school refuses based on the fact that they already serve kids with autism. If the parents have shown why the program is appropriate during the meeting and request the schools refusal in writing (ahh, it's called prior written notice) then when doing due process the parents have documentation as to why the school refused. No one said it was fair, but any sped lawyer and advocate will tell you that you do NOT argue best, you argue APPROPRIATE.

I would assume that there is some documentation in this case that caused the due process to go toward the accomodation, if it holds up in court remains to be seen. I do wish her luck.

Oh and Jillio can you give me information on this CART thing. My 23 yo (hoh) is going back to school, some of her classes are going to be challenging (anatomy & chem) this sounds like a good option if she can get it. But she might get better results if she's more informed. Links would be fine. thanks.

Jag if you google Aaron Steinfield and CART you find several links. Dr Steinfield did his doctoral thesis on CART in the classroom. He really is a wealth of information. If I remember correctly he is a professor in Michigan.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

Exactly. And where this discussion of appropriate accommodations, when just this point was made in an attempt tp advise this parent by supplying just that information in an effort to assist in obtaining services, it was twisted into an anti-CI stance rather than an attempt to assist. CI is not and has never been, as issue in this case. Yet when this advise was offered, accusations abounded that we were simply anti-CI and pro ASL only. Emotion distorted the true issue. What a parent needs to do to increase their chances of winning not only at the due process level, but within the court system is the issue. And even jackie admitted that her attorney had made the same statements to her that I had made.

My attorney never said what you said. He said that I should not pre-teach my children this summer to let the school do it's job. Maybe you didn't understand me because you didn't want to or maybe I didn't explain it correctly.

And, had some of the strategies recommended by those who are responsible for making sure that the ADA is enforced, as well as responsible for following ADA guidelines in the provision of accommodations, been used in the IEP meeting, there is a better than average chance that resoting to due process would never have been necessary. Unfortunately, parents too often approach the request for service from an emotional standpoint and argue on the basis of fairness, citing only the added effort necessary by them in ensuring that their child succeeds academically. They shoot themselves in their own foot, and then refuse to understand how they have contributed to the denial of their request.

What I know is that my daughter will have CART for the Fall Semester. I also know that the appeal process takes on average 1 to 3 years by then more then likely my daughter would be in college. I also know that the district just asked for a settlement hearing and I know that the only thing we will settle for is CART, so unless they are willing to settle it is mute point for us.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

Well she did say that she was repeating what was said to her. Could be true, might not. But, I do get the impression reading posts from people here who have done the oral thing and decided the it wasn't for them that they think they were treated that way. Could she have stated it differently? sure Did she correct her co workers, I really didn't see anything based on her posts I'd say probably not but I could have missed it, but I do condider pretty sad, But that life. But I wasn't there so have no idea what she may or may not have said.

But it actually has nothing to do with my statement saying that our job as a parent (including Jackie) is to get what is appropriate for our child, the I means individual, Jackie may or may not win in the courts, time will tell. It's not up to someone who works for the school system to decide she is wrong in her persuit for the accomodation she requested for her child. What I said has nothing to do with what she may have said regarding other deaf children. Even as a teacher of the deaf/hoh her first and formost job is her children.

I get that from a social worker who had no problems taking the agency she worked for to due process because of their denying certain services to her son with down syndrome, the funny thing is that was when he was an infant, his parents havn't had to put up with much crap since then, they are treated with respect and listened to and serious concideration is given to their requests, and such requests were usually granted. I do think that many parents who's kids are covered under IDEA and ADA really need to educate themselves on what their childs rights are.

I am so sorry I shouldn't have used the word "bad", I have personally never used that word. I was just repeating what was said to me. I did tell my co-workers that they should use a different word.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

Fine if she is repeating what others are saying about deaf children who go to deaf schools then why call them "bad" in that one post without clarification that it was not her wording?

I am so sorry I should have clarified that it is not me who uses that word. I have never used that word to refer to any type of child, but I have heard it used by some educators and parents.

That really pissed me off big time cuz that is a personal insult to me since my brother attended the deaf school all his life because he couldnt make it in the public schools. Matter of fact, he is studying for his Master's at a hearing college so Jackie and whoever she works with need to get a good dose of reality about the children who attend the deaf schools and start respecting them too.

In my current school district, I have not heard them use this word, it was used in the school district I use to work for. In my current school district they do send kids to the deaf school because there isn't any other options in the area that I work in.

Just like there are children in the public schools who have academic problems or behavioral problems (Columbine anyone?) just like some kids at the deaf schools too but that doesnt mean all of them are "bad"!!! If u want to excuse her for saying that, fine with me but in my eyes, there is no excuse for that especially coming from an educator of deaf children. People with that view have done a lot of harm to numerous of deaf children by not having faith in them. Of course, the kids pick up on that and give up on learning. Why bother if the public views u as "bad"?

It is not my view, it is the view of some people but it was my fault for repeating the word. I am really sorry.

 

[pek1]

It is not my view, it is the view of some people but it was my fault for repeating the word. I am really sorry.

OKAY! ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!! As I mentioned to shel, I haven't been following this entire thread like the most of you, of which I highly doubt you people have been following it, either.

If I was a moderator, I already know who I'd censor and ban for a few days right now and you know what else? I am tired of having to read jackie saying how sorry she is to all of you.

Jackie, for my own comment to shel about you, I apologize for that. I now understand where you're coming from. For the attacks you've been receiving by people who should know better all educators have differences of opinions and it is fairly obvious to me that no one is respecting each other. This is one of the reasons that I didn't go into special education because I would have to deal with people while teaching that think they know it all and all I should do is bow down and kiss their butt. Well, I don't care what the union contract says, but that's not part of it!

As for the attorney part, I'm going to be one in a few years. I wonder if this situation and others in schools across the country are going to come down to teachers suing each other, claiming their method is better and the other teacher better change or else?