Carey Advocacy

I highly recommend these trainings! They are so good and so helpful.

Sadly this is not surprising. I do wish it was not fines but I am not sure what the solution is. Does anyone have any thoughts?

LAUSD fined $8 million for staffing violations. Too many students, not enough teachers California fines LAUSD $8.1 million after finding it violated transitional kindergarten requirements over classroom size and staffing amid the grade level’s expansion.

Californian's - Please consider signing this petition. There is a proposal to delay funding that will be a disaster to people with disabilities.

https://p2a.co/oTEAb4Z

"The proposal to delay that investment will have a devastating impact on the lives of Californians with disabilities, their families and the direct support workforce. As one of the largest delays or cuts in the proposed state budget, it sends a message that Californians with disabilities are not a priority to the state."

Open Letter to Governor Newsom from the Developmental Disabilities Community Re: Values & Priorities in State Spending I just signed an Open Letter to urging him to protect needed funding for vital services to Californians w/ disabilities in the 2024-25 budget. It can't wait! Show your support to ensure he will []

Sadly I have lots of clients who struggle with this too.

Why children with disabilities are missing school and losing skills A special education staffing crisis is raging through many U.S. school districts. It's taking a toll on students and families.

Mostly a good article. I related to a lot in it!

CT special ed meetings a 'battlefield,' parents say Parents of students with disabilities spend hours preparing for meetings with school leaders. Still, they say, they're belittled and ignored.

These are free!
https://csun.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArc-CgqDsrGtD2tx8ifPsWx8AOQe3vOccN #/registration

In California the right to audio record is right in the CA Ed Code so this doesn’t really apply to CA but it seems the article mentioned video recording and it might be considered by the Supreme Court. What do you think?

Supreme Court Asked To Consider Whether Parents Can Record IEP Meetings The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to take up a case centering on whether parents have the right to record meetings with their child's school district about special education services.

This is an interesting read! I bet lots of our kids feel this way.

In case anyone’s in the mood for a story…

A Flamingo in a Polar Bear World

A story for all ages about a flamingo who goes to school in the Arctic and has some trouble meeting expectations.

(I’m sharing pieces from new book, Once Upon an Upset—an illustrated collection of stories, insights and reflections to help parent our children while reparenting ourselves. If you’re interested in ordering a signed copy or finding out more info, please visit the link in the comments.💛)

Flannery Flamingo hated school. He hated standing in a single-file line for the drinking fountain because his bill didn’t fit under the faucet.

He hated sitting at his desk because his legs didn’t bend that way. And he hated learning what the teacher taught because none of it seemed to have anything to do with him.

His teacher was very nice, but yet, she didn’t seem to understand what was so obvious to him: that he just couldn’t do all these things he was being asked to do, unless he tried with every fiber of his being.

And even then, trying that hard caused so much discomfort, all he wanted to do was cry or get real mad or go home and sleep or play his favorite games.

As for the other kids at school—he wished he could call them his friends, but he could never think of the right thing to say and nobody ever seemed to say the right thing to him.

Even at recess, it seemed impossible to join in all their fun activities, whether it was stalking seals or digging shallow snow pits for nap time. He was always lagging behind or making a mess of things on accident.

Then one day during football (after being picked last, as usual), he decided he was going to catch the ball once and for all. He wasn’t supposed to fly at school, but when Eddie Bear kicked the football high into the air, Flannery Flamingo couldn’t help himself.

He soared across that field and captured the football securely in his wings. Only, he held on so tight, his bill punctured the ball, and down it fell, deflated.

Everyone was so mad.

The teacher blew her whistle. “Flannery! On the bench. Now!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Flannery cried.
But no one believed him.

The gym teacher wrote a note for Flannery’s mom:

Dear Ms. Flamingo,

It’s one interruption after the next with your son! If Flannery isn’t causing confusion and delay, he defiantly refuses to do a single thing! He needs to work harder if he expects to be part of this community!

Signed,
Edna Bear

The following day, Flannery decided enough was enough. He just couldn’t take it anymore.

“I just don’t belong here,” he told himself.

And so he told the teacher he was using the restroom, but instead, Flannery opened a hallway window and flew over to the
playground and hid behind the slide. It took the police an hour to find him!

When his mama arrived in a panic, the
principal asked to speak with them both.

“Flannery is having trouble meeting
expectations and doing what he’s told. He is very bright, that’s for sure, but he’s not thriving. And today, this flying out of the building was unacceptable, not to mention extremely dangerous.”

Flannery looked down at his webbed feet. He felt so ashamed. But more than that, he felt sick with worry that he’d disappointed his mom. What if she secretly wouldn’t love him as much anymore?

On the drive home, his mama looked at him through the rearview mirror. “I love you, Flannery. No matter what. Do you know that?”

Flannery started to cry.

“The truth is, honey, none of this is your fault. You’re a flamingo in a polar bear world. I was the same way. But what’s also true is if you want to be successful, you have to push through… think like a polar bear!”

“But I’m not a polar bear, Mama!” Flannery cried.

“Oh, honey. I know you’re not. But if you try hard enough, you can learn how to be just like one.”

“But I want to be me!”

His mother sighed. “You’re right. Of course you want to be you. And I don’t blame you. Because you know what, who you are is wonderful. And I’m proud of you for realizing that. Sometimes I think you’re a lot wiser than I am.”

“Thank you, Mama.”

At his principal’s request, Flannery’s mom brought him to a special counselor to assess his skills, to determine if some extra accommodations might make school less stressful for him.

The woman asked Flannery many questions:

“Do you have difficulty reading books in English class?”

“Well, I can’t read the letters because my bill is too big to get close enough to the pages.”

“Do you have difficulty writing?”

“Well, it’s really difficult to hold the pencil in my wings. My wings are great for flying though. Except I’m not allowed to fly at school.”

The next day at school, Flannery’s mama explained to the teacher all of his new
accommodations:

• A portable heater during class.
• A special shrimp lunch instead of seal blubber, which always hurt his belly.
• A down jacket during recess.
• Audiobooks instead of reading.
• Speech-to-text instead of writing.
And though all of these accommodations did help, they didn’t fix the whole problem.

“Why can’t I just go to a school that’s made for creatures like me?!” he cried one
morning at drop-off.

“I wish you could. So much, honey. But what can I do? I can’t homeschool. I have to work! And I can’t just pack up and move to Florida. My job is here! I’m afraid for now, this is what we’ve got to work with. But… maybe… there’s something else we can do!”

“Did you just have one of your great ideas, Mama?”

“I did indeed!”

Later that day, Flannery’s mom called the teacher to ask if she could attend class as a guest to teach the kids all about flamingos: their strengths and weaknesses, what they like to do and eat, what their homes are like.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” the teacher said.

On the day of the big event, Flannery and his mom turned the classroom into a
tropical paradise! They set up a wading pool with heat lamps and stocked it with enough shrimp so that every bear could learn to fish like a flamingo!

Flannery and his mom were so excited. And when the bears entered the classroom, they couldn’t believe their eyes.

“Wow!”

“This is amazing!”

“It’s like we’re on a different planet!”

But, it didn’t take long before the polar bears began complaining.

“It’s too hot in here!”

“My fur is roasting!”

“I’m gonna pass out! I’m not doing this!”

Then one of the bears started yelling:
“These shrimp are impossible to catch! I scraped my nose on this rock!”

“I hit my head!”

Another bear pulled his neck learning how to preen. “I need the nurse!” he screamed.

Then another bear started yelling that her legs weren’t long enough to wade. “I’m up to my waist in this water! I wanna go home!”

Flannery and his mom felt terrible. They hadn’t meant to cause so much upset.

Flannery’s mom was about to apologize to the teacher when the teacher looked at Flannery with tears in her eyes. “Oh my goodness, Flannery. Is this what you’ve been going through all this time? Trying to act like a polar bear?”

Flannery nodded.

Suddenly everyone stopped their complaining. Because for the very first time, they finally understood what Flannery had been going through.

“Wow. I’m so sorry, Flannery,” all the bears said. “We had no idea you’ve been suffering.”

Turned out, Flannery’s mom taught the bears a lesson she hadn’t intentionally meant to teach.

“Let’s all gather together in a circle,” the teacher said, before turning down the heat.
“Now that we’ve gotten a taste of what Flannery’s been dealing with, let’s talk about what we can do differently to make this school work better for him.”

“Well, to be honest,” Flannery said. “I’m just so happy that you even cared to think of such a thing. I really didn’t think you cared. I didn’t think any of you cared.”

“Of course I care,” his teacher said through teary eyes. “I just… really didn’t understand what it was like for you.”

“None of us understood,” the other bears said.

“Hey! I have an idea!” said one of the bears. “How about from now on, you let Flannery fly at school!”

“Yeah! You could use your flying to scout for seals!”

“And we could dig under the ice to find fresh shrimp for your lunches!”

“Those are great ideas,” Flannery said. “But I wish there was also something we could do all together.”

“Like what?”

“Like get to know each other better,” said Flannery. “We could start a brand-new class at school! Just to share with each other, so we get to understand each other!

After all, whether we’re flamingos or bears,
we’re all unique, and I bet we all have different concerns and different ideas about things!”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Flannery!” said his teacher. “How about we devote an hour every day just for sharing!”

And so they did.

They called their new class The Bridges of Understanding. And it quickly became everyone’s new favorite subject.

Every day before recess, they all gathered on the rug and one at a time, shared an upset or a victory or anything in between, and then each student picked one person to listen out loud to what they’d just heard, before taking a turn of their own.

The students learned how to listen-to-understand and communicate-to-be-understood. And everyone got along a whole lot better.
And everyone began caring a lot more about each other, too.

In fact, Flannery’s class turned into a real community.

School still wasn’t perfect for Flannery. There were still many things that didn’t work as well as he wanted them to.

But in the meantime, he was learning how to express which things were working and which things weren’t. And because he had a community that cared enough to listen, he felt connected and understood, and much happier.

-JLK

Join us at the 11th Annual Special Needs Resource Fair. This event is free to attend! Stop by and see us from 11AM to 2PM on April 28th.

Looking for students 12-21 who have or had a 504 plan in school, or who applied and were denied support.

COPAA and Vanderbilt University are collaborating to conduct a research study to understand individual and family experiences accessing protection under Section 504. We need your voice!

What will you do?
Complete a short demographic survey
Participate in a Zoom Interview for 1.-1.5 hours
Check your interview summary for accuracy

Get started now!
Go to https://redcap.vanderbilt.edu/surveys/?s=3FLPTCM48ER4REEY to get started or contact Meghan Burke at [email protected] or by phone at (615-343-1014)

Do you know about CalKids?

All babies born in California from 2022 to now, and into the future until the state ends it, get $1500 deposited into a 529 from the state. Then low income families with students could qualify based on income. To figure out if a student qualifies you need your SSID number from school. Almost all IEPs have this on the face sheet. You can go to the website and click confirm eligibility and it will ask for the SSID and birthdate and let you know if your child is eligible. Pretty sure it is looking at who qualified for free lunches based on income. It can't hurt for everyone to check!

CalKIDS The State of California is proud to announce the launch of the California Kids Investment and Development Savings Program (CalKIDS) program.

Love Undivided!

Meet Seth Besse of Undivided.io - Voyage LA Magazine | LA City Guide Today we’d like to introduce you to Seth Besse. Seth Besse Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started? My personal background is in technology and operations. I have focused on areas charact...

This is cool!

College students with intellectual disabilities would get full scholarships if Oklahoma bills pass College students who have intellectual disabilities may receive full scholarships if lawmakers pass a bill that would give them access to Oklahoma Promise's scholarship fund.

This is a shame. Imagine the progress this child could have made with 1 million dollars.

Why One School District Spent $1 Million Fighting a Special-Education Student A California case exemplifies the rising legal disputes pitting school districts against parents seeking assistance for their children under federal law.

This was amazing to read!

Cal-TASH 2024 conference in Sacramento will have great sessions on Inclusive Education - check out the schedule
https://www.caltash.org/schedule/Cal-TASH2024Conference

Speakers like Amy Hanreddy, Kathy Gee, Jean Gonsier-Gerdin, Cindy Collado, Kayla Coburn, Diana Pastora Carson, David German, Kristin Wright, Lindsay Crain, Iris Barker

Registration is open now! If you are on SDP you can easily pay with funding or ask your RC coordinator - it is vendored for RC!
https://www.caltash.org/caltash2024

Registration | Cal-TASH Cal-TASH Annual Conference 2024 A Self-Determined Life Recommended for Ages 2-102. Sacramento , March 1-2, 2024

Reading is always top of mind for me when working with families! It is so important for kids to have solid reading skills!

California needs to do more to ensure teachers can teach kids to read, national study says The Golden State earned a moderate rating from the National Council on Teacher Quality, showing strength in some areas and weakness in others. Only 12 states earned a strong rating.

COPAA and Vanderbilt University are doing research into Section 504. They are looking for parents of students with a 504 plan and students themselves (age 12 and up). They are paying for your time too!

https://redcap.vanderbilt.edu/surveys/?s=3FLPTCM48ER4REEY

Disability Rights California is a great resource!

https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/press-release/california-eliminates-parent-provider-rules-for-minor-in-home-supportive-services?fbclid=IwAR2-3Ia2BVrCHpUM2QBNUiX8oywRRuBYQIFU_WQAaa1NGlBqSLun5d3xBcA_aem_ARXHHizASohjDn_fR-KQ3X3WJyhFUv0A3Rzh284uin2UESTIidXkvGUu6utu3eaLrlE

California Eliminates Parent Provider Rules for Minor In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Recipients | Disability Rights California Press Release Jan 17, 2024 California Eliminates Parent Provider Rules for Minor In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Recipients January 17, 2024 Share: (Sacramento, CA) A huge burden on families with children who need IHSS has been removed as a result of DRC’s advocacy with the state. On December 2...

People with disabilities have so much to offer the world! Mar is a trailblazer!

Mar Galcerán is Spain’s first parliamentarian with Down syndrome Mar Galcerán recently made history in Spain, becoming the country’s first parliamentarian with Down syndrome.

I love data. This is interesting to look over. It really is eye opening the differences by state. I think it really highlights how eligibility is not looked at with any consistency between states.

What federal education data shows about students with disabilities in the U.S. Public K-12 schools in the United States educate about 7.3 million students with disabilities – a number that has grown over the last few decades.

Check out this article from
Chicago! I love that this district is investing in parents.

Parents of special education children need guidance, support Parents need the training to become partners in educating children with special needs, a preschool special education teacher writes.

Are you familiar with Cal-Tash? This years conference is in Sacramento!

TASH's mission statement: TASH advances equity, opportunity and inclusion for people with disabilities, with a focus on those with the most significant support needs, in the areas of education, employment and community living through advocacy, research and practice.

Annual Conference | Cal-TASH CalTASH Conference 2022 Los Angeles Reconnect Reflect Reimagine Building Back Better with Inclusion in Mind Disability Inclusive Education Supported Living Decision-making Employment Early Childhood Special Education TASH

Inclusion is good for the majority of students. Parents know their kids best and I support parents decisions.

I always want parents to have all the information before they make a decision!

Students With Disabilities Deserve Inclusion. It's Also the Best Way to Teach (Opinion) Inclusion doesn't just mean throwing disabled students into general education classrooms without support, writes disability advocate Hannah Grieco.