Senate Vote Texas Vouchers for School

Parents,

All your work from years of ARD meetings, IEPs, and lawsuits will disappear once your student receiving special education services from public school uses vouchers for private school education. Private schools are not forced to follow the laws protecting your child’s education rights.

Click here to listen to the call from Filis Law Firm’s managing attorney Leona Filis to Pacifica Radio encouraging Texans to call their senators and tell them to vote NO to public school vouchers.

This segment was taken from the 7/24/2017 broadcast found at http://kpft.org/programming/newstalk/open-journal/

The Texas School Voucher proposal passed 19-12 in the state senate. The next step is the Texas House. Please contact your representatives.

Thank You to Dads!

We at the Filis Law Firm want to thank all of the fathers who contribute daily to the betterment of our children’s lives. Our families who have children with special needs are members of a unique group that I am proud to be a member of. This discussion is directed to you.

I was recently confronted with a statement from a client that the mothers in our unique group do all the work associated with caring for our kids with special needs. I found that statement quite exaggerated based on my own observations of many families with a child or children who have a disability, but I felt obligated to explore this generalized statement and tease out some truths. In our society, traditionally, mothers are designated from day one as the instant child care expert. In homes with a child who is disabled, in my experience, out of the two-parent families, it is typically the mother who go to all the doctor visits and read hundreds of books/articles/blogs on their child’s condition and possible treatments, but these circumstances follow what is still the standard practice in most American homes.

Recent studies indicate that even if the mother is employed outside the house, she is still likely to take most of the household chores and child care. An article from CNBC in April 2015[1] revealed the results from a survey by the Working Mother Research Institute where 79% of working mothers are primarily responsible for laundry, cooking, and child care. But, believe me, we want our kids’ dads in our unique community to join in the child care and be on an equal footing. If parents are not equal participants in child care, then look at the circumstances in your household and see if there is a gatekeeper[2] who is (possibly unknowingly) keeping others at bay away from the child.

The common example of a gatekeeper parent is typically the mother in the relationship. Scenarios display that the mother is reluctant to hand over child care responsibilities or becomes critical the father’s efforts. Studies show that the father will learn to participate in child care less, and if the father does participate, he views it as baby-sitting and doing the mother a favor. The studies I read are based in settings of households of typical families, whose households do not include a disabled or medically fragile child. In our unique group, we have children who can truly suffer harm from certain environmental factors/allergens, or can suffer health problems for failure to take medication timely. These health risks are circumstances that are additional to other typical child-rearing issues, all of which can elevate a caregiver’s protective instincts to become reactionary and often blunt. It has been my observation that all of the caregiver parent’s patience is spent on the child. Multiple interactions with the gatekeeper/caregiver parent can be unbearable for an “outsider” and result in pushing away some people, even family members, from the child. Gatekeeper parents can change the circumstances, welcome the other parent to join in and take over certain areas of the child’s life. Gatekeepers will need to completely remove themselves, offer no criticism, and allow the other parent or family member to participate in events with the child, even if the efforts made are far from perfection.

Give others a chance to join in and add value to your child’s daily life.

[1] CNBC, Working moms still take on bulk of household chores, Kelley Holland, April 28, 2015.

[2] Mothers’ Gatekeeping of Father Involvement in Married- and Cohabitating-Couple Families, Catherine Kenney and Ryan Bogle, paa2009.princetonedu/papers/91717.

COPAA alert about Medicaid and Students with Disabilities

As a parent with a child with autism and ADHD, I find myself joining many groups for parents of children with special needs. One such group is COPAA – Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. From time to time, I receive notifications and articles from COPAA discussing pending legislation that could potentially impact my family. Below I am sharing such a notification/alert.

Protecting the Legal and Civil Rights of Students with Disabilities and their Families

(Please feel free to share this alert)

Dear Leona:

The U.S. Senate is currently negotiating a health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. There is support in the Senate to follow the House and reduce federal Medicaid spending by 25 percent by distributing Medicaid funds through a block-grant or a per-capita cap, which would shift costs to states and cut Medicaid by $4 billion each year! COPAA has advocated against these cuts and we need you to act with us.
Medicaid and Students with Disabilities

Medicaid permits payment to schools for certain medically necessary services provided to children under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through an individualized education plan (IEP) or individualized family service plan (IFSP). Schools are eligible to be reimbursed for direct medical services to Medicaid eligible students with an IEP or IFSP. In addition, districts can be reimbursed by Medicaid for providing Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment Benefits (EPSDT), which provides Medicaid eligible children under age 21 with health screening, diagnosis and treatment services such as vision, hearing and more. Many schools and districts rely on Medicaid to provide services and to pay for certain personnel (e.g. school nurse, aides); to purchase and update specialized equipment; and to purchase and/or provide assistive technology and items needed for each child to access the school curriculum alongside their peers

Visit our Medicaid in Schools page to learn more.

Please reach out to your Senators today!

Veterans’ Disability Case Howell v. Howell

U.S. Supreme Court Veterans’ Disability Case
Howell v. Howell

The Court’s Opinion published today stems from an Arizona spousal maintenance case involving a disabled Air Force veteran. In the divorce, the Howells’s Decree awarded fifty percent of Mr. Howell’s future retirement pay to Mrs. Howell as community property. Subsequently, Mr. Howell waived a portion of his military retirement pay to receive disability benefits. The waiver reduced Mrs. Howell’s support by $125.00 per month.
Based on a Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act, 10 U.S.C. Section 1408, Congress allows states to treat veterans’ “disposable retired pay” as community property, however, excludes pay that is a result of a waiver. In contrast, the Arizona courts found the divorce decree gave Mrs. Howell a vested interest in the retirement pay and ordered that the designated share be paid, without regard for the disability, arguing that due to the waiver after the division of retirement pay, federal law did not preempt the family court’s reimbursement order. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision and remanded the case.

Mr. Howell will not have to indemnify his former wife for the amount of support she lost due to his waiver of a portion of his retirement pay that enables him to receive disability benefits.

For the entire text of the Opinion, click here.

U.S. House Bill for Students with Visual and Hearing Challenges

Last month the 115th Congress was introduced to H. R 1120 called Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act by Pennsylvania Representative Matthew Cartwright.

Representative Cartwright previously introduced a similar bill in 2015; however, the 2015 bill was not enacted.

H.R.. 1120 focuses on the need to identify children who are deaf-blind, improve early intervention for affected infants and toddlers, and improve services for such children and their families. The proposed legislation would seek to serve children with a disability who is deaf or hard of hearing, with speech. This eligibility language could be more inclusive than states’ definitions of disability.

Click here for the text of H.R. 1120.

Merely More than De Minimis is NOT the Standard – Endrew F. – U.S. Supreme Court Special Education Case

This week, many families with children with special needs celebrated the United States Supreme Court ruling in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (“IDEA”) protects children with disabilities through a mandate that each eligible student receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (“FAPE”), by means of a uniquely tailored individualized education program (“IEP”). In this case, the Court found that student Endrew F. failed to receive an appropriate public education. Special Education and related services are to be provided so that the student may advance appropriately toward attaining the annual goals from the IEP, and when possible, be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum.

The Court noted in its opinion that at age two, Endrew F. was diagnosed with autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder generally marked by impaired social and communication skills, “engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.” With this diagnosis, Endrew F. was eligible to receive special education services. Endrew F.’s parents were dissatisfied with the public school’s inability to provide and IEP different from any of the IEPs for the past few years. With no satisfactory results from the school district, Endrew F.’s parents withdrew him from school and enrolled Endrew in a private school that specializes in educating children with autism, where Endrew excelled.

Endrew F.’s parents sued the school district for failure to provide an appropriate public education for Endrew F. The Supreme Court noted that a IEP is unique for the circumstances of the child for whom it was created. The standard for the student’s educational program must be appropriately ambitious in light of his circumstances, not merely more than de minimis progress from year to year.

Parents and advocates, when you are in attendance at an Admission, Review, and Dismissal meeting (“ARD Meeting”), argue with confidence so that your child to receive an education appropriately ambitious in light of your child’s circumstances.

Estate Planning Seminar March 11th

Good morning! We are getting ready for our joint presentation with Blake Douglas.

Estate Planning – whether you are a college student or grandparent, there are legal documents to assist you and your loved ones in stressful times of need.

Thank you Barbara Pardue for the fabulous Facebook event design.

No automatic alt text available.

https://www.facebook.com/events/794520557363555/

See you at the office building 5600 NW Central Drive – large conference room on the 1st floor at 2 pm.

Purposeful Parenting – It Works in My House

In my spare time, I do occasionally read through Facebook posts that show up on my timeline. A friend (from years past) posted an article about the negative impact of parents using sticker charts to reward their children. My comment was brief.

With whatever you as a parent may use in a new behavior strategy, you must have a plan in place to remove it.”

My mistake was that I was commenting on a post of a mother of typical children. Her response was

“Hmmm, that’s an interesting term, ‘behavior strategy.’ I guess my strategy is just to treat to kids with respect and love.”

Now, I know this person. I am not going to infer that by her comment she meant that I do not treat my kid with respect and love. My parenting is purposeful or else my child with Autism can run off, get hurt, or worse. One example of a parenting strategy I have used in the past is rewarding my son with stickers.

Years ago, my son rejected food due to tactile issues.

This was especially difficult for me as I come from a family who owned Greek restaurants.

Acropolis

Food was quite important in my childhood. As a new mother, having a child who would not eat anything other than watered-down rice cereal was devastating and caused me much fear and anxiety. The main fear was that his overall health could be affected.

An Autism consultant offered a solution – a reward system with a visible chart to indicate when my son ate a new food item. The sticker charts were a success in encouraging my son to eat one new food item a week. This strategy took months; however, it worked for us. Currently we don’t use sticker charts for introducing foods and thankfully my son will eat most foods.

In my house, there are strategies and planning sessions to set and accomplish goals for my son. No apologies for my version of purposeful parenting.

Backyard fun

Repeal of the Affordable Care Act

Many families with children with special needs received benefits in health care coverage due to several provisions of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”).

Such provisions include:

Allowing adult children, up to the age of twenty-six, to be included in their parents’ health insurance policies;
Prohibiting health insurance companies from imposing a waiting period for coverage of a pre-existing condition;
Having a cap on out-of-pocket medical costs each year;
Prohibiting employer plans from including lifetime limits to coverage; and
Expanding Medicaid eligibility based on income to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level in states that chose to implement the expansion. Applicants who qualify for Medicaid benefits based on this expansion could start receiving benefits while waiting for eligibility based on a disability.

What are the changes taking place now? The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 allows for the expedited consideration of mandatory spending legislation. Recently, the U. S. Senate voted to approve a budget blueprint, by way of a reconciliation bill, to allow the removal of significant components of the ACA, without the interference of a filibuster. The U. S. House of Representative voted to approve a budget blueprint as well. A repeal to reform Medicaid is supported by many in congress.

To date a comprehensive reform bill has not been provided for review. President-elect Donald Trump has expressed approval for a couple of aspects of the ACA, such as the inability of insurer to deny coverage for people with pre-existing health conditions and allowing children to stay on their parents’ insurance policies longer. President-elect Trump’s ultimate goal is to repeal the ACA and replace it with a plan essentially simultaneously. Trump proposes his plan will provide “insurance for everybody” and that pharmaceutical companies are “politically protected but not anymore.”

Unfortunately, one cannot predict whether the two ACA mandates approved by Trump will ultimately be a part of TrumpCare. House Republicans have a Better Way plan that promises to protect patients with pre-existing conditions and allow dependents up to age twenty-six to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans.

Parents of children with special needs have valid concerns if the ACA is repealed. Will their children, especially those over eighteen years old, with pre-existing medical conditions have private health insurance? If not, will Medicaid be an option and if so, how long is the wait for eligibility for benefits?

It is IEP Season

Getting prepared for your next ARD meeting can be challenging.

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions pertaining to IEPs and ARDs that I have received the last couple of weeks.

Can parents request information of teachers’ and paraprofessionals’ qualifications?

Changes per the TEA beginning with the 2016-2017 school year – the schools and teachers only need to meet the state requirements for certification. Paraprofessionals must still meet the highly qualified requirements under No Child Left Behind for the 2016-2017 school year.

Once at the ARD meeting, can I postpone?

You can request more time or disagree and ask to recess and reconvene within ten school days. Review and if you agree, sign the IEP by the deadline. You can ask for a Facilitated IEP. If both parents and school agree, a trained person assists in getting people to reach an agreement. If the ARD committee cannot reach a mutual agreement, parents are allowed to write your own statement of disagreement.

What if I do not agree to the content of the Evaluation or Reevaluation Report?

Request the evaluation report in advance of the ARD. Request clarification if the evaluation report is vague. If parents do not agree with the results of the school’s evaluation or reevaluation, parents may request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE). The school has the option of (1) paying for the IEE or (2) requesting a due process hearing to prove the appropriateness of the evaluation.

How do we request a paraprofessional?

Structure your request for a dedicated paraprofessional by answering Who, When and Why for your child’s needs.

Who – Paraprofessionals in Texas public schools this school year must meet the federal definition. Do not allow “aide” to be used as a substitute for the “paraprofessional” in the IEP. When – Throughout the entire school day, specific classes or times of day, or only transitions. Why – Behavior management, activities of daily living, social skills, instructional support.

Feel free to send me more Special Education questions at leona@filislaw.com.