The provisions are applicable to:

• Adult Day Services
• Day Habilitation
• Day Treatment (Brain Injury Waiver)
• Prevocational Services
• Supported Employment – Group

Parents and Caregivers

The decision to go back to a day program is a personal one and should be made in consideration of the needs and wants of the individual and the family. The following information/tools are being provided to help to ensure that you can easily access information related to the safety and necessity of your decision to return to a day program or not to return to a day program.  Please use the following to make an informed decision about returning to a day program:

• Day Program Re-Entry Checklist
• Considerations for Day Program Return
• The Arc’s in Colorado Person Centered Plan for Re-Entry into Day Programs

The post Day Program Services Expected to Reopen July 20, 2020 appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

An Interview with Catherine Strode

Since 2005, Lloyd Lewis has been overseeing all operational and financial management issues of the arc Thrift Stores in Colorado. He has built a strong reputation on his financial management prowess, turning a business that was burning cash into a solid source of revenue for all of the state’s Arc chapters. However, his latest undertaking is earning him recognition as an advocate, and, as a dad. In the book Why Not Them?, Lloyd delves into how the experience of parenting his son Kennedy has changed not only his life but also his life’s mission.

How has parenting a child with a disability had an impact on you?
The journey with my son Kennedy has changed what I am passionate about and how I view life. He has changed how I interact with others. It is hard to be around individuals with disabilities or Down Syndrome and not be changed. When I first started working here, (arc Thrift Stores) I met with our employees with disabilities. I would walk away thinking who’s really disabled? Every year we have named three adults on staff with disabilities as heroes of the workplace. For me, they represent perfect employees. They hate to miss work; they love and take pride in their job. They have had a big impact on me. They have made me more gentle with people. I have moved in terms of how I relate to people.

As a new parent, were you aware of the journey Kennedy would take you on?
When Kennedy was born, we did not know he had Down Syndrome. He was a beautiful little boy and weighed five-and-a-half pounds. The only thing we noticed was that he didn’t cry. The doctor whisked him from the room and came back about an hour later. He said, “We have no good news to tell you about your son.” I thought maybe he had died. I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, we suspect he has Down Syndrome.” I said, “Tell me about Down Syndrome.” He said, “Well, it’s like mongolism”. I banned him from the room and consulted some nurses who had good information. My reaction was not anger, depression, or worry, I just thought he was a great kid and would always be a great kid. One month after his birth, I was at a personal development seminar where I stood up and said, “My life’s goal is to raise 25 million dollars for Down Syndrome research.”

How has Kennedy influenced your career?
I was on a much different track prior to Kennedy. I had a long financial career. I had in investment banking. I was Chief Financial Officer for a high tech company. I was recruited to the arc Thrift Stores where I thought I could take my business skills and create programs to help my son and others like him. I had always worked with programmers, PhDs, and engineers. Now, I’m working with people in Thrift Stores. They come to us from many different places. For the most part, I don’t know who has a high school diploma and who doesn’t. Very few people on my staff have college degrees. It’s a different environment than my prior career and frankly, it’s more enjoyable. In my last company before Arc, I worked with 30 PhDs, and 30 engineers. They were not the most appreciative and gracious people in life. Now we work with thrift store employees who love the company and the mission.

“I come from a place of not necessarily being the nicest, easy-going guy, but Kennedy makes me a lot nicer. He makes me appreciate more. I get to see the world through his eyes, which are better eyes than mine.”

What inspired the book?
I wanted to create awareness of the value that people with disabilities bring to their families, to the workplace, and to their communities based on my experience at arc Thrift Stores and with my son. Publishing the book was a way of trying to create awareness of the value of inclusion of people with disabilities in everyday life. When I met award winning co-author Corinne Joy Brown, I felt she brought two things to the table: one, she’s a great writer; and two, she really gets people with disabilities. I thought this would be an opportunity to create a book, create awareness, and help enhance the value of people with disabilities.

Who is the targeted market for the book?
There are two targets. In an ideal world, the book would reach more people who do not have the experience of connecting with people with disabilities. I hope to stir their interest to connect and that the connection would result in children/adults with disabilities being included in classrooms, securing competitive employment, and providing appropriate housing. The other group of people I would like to reach are parents of kids with disabilities, particularly, new parents. The book will remind parents that their kids are valuable contributors and they should be proud.

Where will the profits of the book go?
If the book makes any money, the profits will go into the funding stream of the Arc chapters.

What areas of advocacy do you hope the book will influence?
Multiple areas. Employment: eighty percent of people with disabilities are unemployed. Housing: there is a real need for housing for people with disabilities. Making sure that people with developmental or intellectual disabilities have health support. Most public schools do not do a good job of including children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms. Advocacy is needed across the board in all areas of life.

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

The post Promoting Inclusion with <em>Why Not Them?</em> appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

An Interview with Catherine Strode

The House Education Committee will hear testimony today on a bill to reduce the number of school suspensions and expulsions of young children in Colorado’s public schools. Data presented by the Colorado Children’s Campaign has shown children in minority populations and children with disabilities face disproportionate disciplinary actions, specifically suspensions and expulsions.

The sponsor of House Bill 17-1210, State Representative Susan Lontine, says the ultimate goal of the bill is to close the achievement gap of children in minority populations and explains the bill’s broad community support.

In interviews with Catherine Strode State Representative Lontine explains how the bill can impact educational disparities in Colorado; and the Vice President of Early Childhood Initiatives for the Colorado Children’s Campaign, Bill Jaeger, explains the suspension data.

What data has moved this bill forward?

Bill Jaeger: “In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights came out with a national report on suspension and expulsion in public Pre-K settings. We got data from the Colorado Department of Education. We had nearly 8,000 out of school suspensions for kids Pre-K through third grade across the state last year. That is true in rural communities, urban communities, and in suburbs. When you look at the data, you see: boys, children with disabilities, children of color (particularly boys of color but also girls of color) in a disproportionate fashion receiving out of school suspensions. When we looked district by district, both the use and the disproportionality were consistent. People looked at the data and said, ‘That is a big number and that is a statewide issue.’ Third grade reading performance (disparities) are breaking down these same lines of exclusionary discipline decisions. The same subgroups that are struggling to reach grade level are also the same ones being sent out of the building, at a time when school makes the biggest difference. There are ways to respond to challenging behaviors in this age group without it being a remove from the building response. We want to be one of those states that does not let your background, your zip code, determine the outcome that you’re facing from discipline to school performance.”

What is the role of the Colorado Children’s Campaign in supporting this bill?

“We’re an organization that uses data to drive our policy decisions. We used data to engage with stakeholders. That was our stake in it but it has very much been coalition work. The Colorado Children’s Campaign has been one of seven partners: AdvocacyDenver, the Denver affiliate of the Black Child Development Institute, Clayton Early Learning, Hope Center, Institute of Racial Equity and Excellence, and Padres Y Jovenes Unidos. That core group each came to this issue in different ways and for different issues. Each organization had some perspective. A number of those groups come from the direct service and community engagement side. AdvocacyDenver, who works on behalf of families who have children with disabilities on a day to day basis. Padres Y Jovenes Unidos, who organizes Latino families in southwest Denver, was hearing these stories from their members. Hope Center and Clayton, who are early childhood providers, became very concerned because they serve the demographic of disparate impact. “

What does this bill do?

“Statute now has 11 or 12 reasons why you can suspend or expel a child of any age in the public education system. It looks at the Pre-K through second grade age range and offers a different set of standards for out of school suspension and expulsion. The other thing it does is ensure this age group is included in school district policies when thinking how to institute prevention- oriented strategies. If you have a child who is at risk for suspension or expulsion, we have grant- funded programs in the district. It makes it explicit that is a permit of use. It’s those pieces of developmentally appropriate guidelines to remove a child from a school building, and, ensuring that school districts are thinking about supports they can put into place to mitigate the need to do this.”

Why do you think this bill can impact the achievement gap?

State Representative Susan Lontine: “Children of color and children with disabilities have been disproportionately affected by suspensions, being taken out of the classroom. Those are the very kids we see the achievement gap we have been trying to close in high school. We want to do whatever we can to make sure they stay in the classroom when they’re little, to have a nurturing environment where they get positive behavioral supports from teachers, to learn behaviors that will make them successful as they go through school. As a state, we spend an awful lot of time and money trying to close achievement gaps with our minority population children and children with disabilities when they are in high school. If we can start much younger, get them to a point where they had the roots to develop their social and emotional growth, that would go a long way to closing the achievement gaps. That’s the goal of what we are trying to achieve.”

What kind of support is there for this bill?

“We tried to do this last year and we got a lot of pushback. We learned from that. We did a large stakeholder process over the interim with teachers, parents, and with our school boards, to figure out why this is happening and what we can do to help with this issue. As a result, we have great support this year. The Colorado Education Association came out and supported this. We’re seeing a lot of support from: advocacy groups for children in minority groups, Children’s Hospital, the American Academy of Pediatrics ( their local affiliate), and early childhood councils and preschool programs.”

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

The post Colorado’s Communities Support Bill To Decrease School Suspensions appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

Protecting Children’s Futures

a Presentation by Betty Lehman of Lehman Disability Planning

March 14, 2017
6-8:00 p.m.
DSST Stapleton High School
2000 Valentia Street

Topics: Disability and Financial Planning and Legal Considerations, ABLE Accounts Update!

Information: Pamela Bisceglia
Pbisceglia@advocacydenver.org
(303) 974-2526

AdvocacyDenver y las Escuelas Públicas de Denver invitan a padres, maestros de educación especial y proveedores comunitarios a

Proteger el Futuro de los Niños

una presentación de Betty Lehman de Lehman Disability Planning

14 de marzo 2017
6-8 p.m.
DSST Stapleton High School
2000 Valentia Street

Temas: La Discapacidad y Planificación Financial y las Consideraciónes Legales, Cuentas de la Ley “ABLE”

información: Bob McGill
bmcgill@advocacydenver.org
(303) 974-2532

The post Coming Events: Protecting Children’s Futures, a Presentation by Betty Lehman of Lehman Disability Planning appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

Click on the flyers below to view them full size.

English version:

Spanish version:

The post Upcoming Guardianship trainings appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

The post New bilingual education laws in DPS appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

“The program provides a special opportunity for families to enjoy their favorite films in a safe and accepting environment. The auditoriums dedicated to the program have their lights up, the sound turned down and audience members are invited to get up and dance, walk, shout or sing!”

Locations

The post Sensory-Friendly Family Film Screenings! appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

In order to enroll in Medicaid waiver programs in Colorado, adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (I/DD) must meet certain criteria in determining their eligibility.  This criterion, determined by the Colorado Division of Disability, is also used to determine the level of support needed by the individual in order for him or her to lead an active, quality life in our Colorado communities.  
    Medicaid waiver programs enrollment for individuals with I/DD in Colorado are in great demand.  Advocates at AdvocacyDenver oftentimes support clients with enrolling in these programs.  Once applied and approved as eligible, clients can anticipate varying wait periods for actual enrollment..  If an individual with I/DD does not apply for enrollment at age 14 –and this can be the case for a plethora of reasons- he or she will end up experiencing a waiting period where access to Medicaid services and supports is limited.  
    During this waiting period, individuals with I/DD oftentimes refer to natural supports such as friends or family to help them participate within their communities.  Community organizations can play a role in helping individuals waiting for Medicaid enrollment too.  AdvocacyDenver has a long track record of supporting such individuals with I/DD in locating safe and affordable housing, access to health care, and accommodations in employment.  Mission Supports, a new non-profit organization in Denver, is also working to specifically alleviate the barriers experienced by those waiting for Medicaid program enrollment.  The organization provides on-going monthly check-ins with adults to identify areas in daily life that they may need support.  It also is working towards providing educational opportunities to improve skills such as money management.  
    While there may not be any imminent decreases in waiting list periods in the near future we, as a community, can continue to be aware of the waiting list for Medicaid disability waiver program and provide our friends, neighbors, and family with support they need while they are waiting.
    

The post The Waiting Period appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees our children a right to a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE).  Certainly the Denver Public Schools (DPS) provides our children with disabilities a free education; the ongoing debate is in relation to how DPS implements the IDEA, what is appropriate and moreover what is the least restrictive environment.  The IDEA provides that:

“To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities will be educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.”

Supplementary aids and services means aids, services, and other supports that are provided in accordance with the child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP).  Supplementary aids and services must be based on the child’s individual needs and could include: supports to address environmental needs, special equipment, additional adult support,  planning time for staff, accommodations in the way subject matter is presented, assignment modifications, test adaptations social interaction support and staff training.  In keeping with the spirit and intent of the IDEA, these supports/services are to be provided in general education classes, other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings to allow the child to be educated with nondisabled peers. 

Denver Public Schools asserts that they are in compliance with federal law:

“Department of Special Education is committed to providing an educational experience based upon the individual needs of each child as prescribed and defined by the federal Individual with Disabilities Improvement and the state Exceptional Children’s Education Act.  The Department provides specialized instruction for students to minimize the impact of their disability through a continuum of services, ranging from services provided in the general education classroom to fully contained classroom settings.”

AdvocacyDenver asserts that there is a disconnect between what the District outlines in written statements and the actual day-to-day practice of the District and schools.  Significant areas of ongoing concern in relation to DPS include, but aren’t limited, to the following:

1. The standard practice to assign students with cognitive disabilities to center programs;. 
2. The standard practice to limit the level of support/services (one-size-fits-all) for children with mild/moderate disabilities enrolled in charter, contract, redesigned, turnaround and/or neighborhood schools;
3. The standard practice to provide school principals with the authority to determine whether to accept or refuse a student with a disability for enrollment.

DPS Practice Number 1: Standard assignment of students with cognitive disabilities to center programs. 

The district does not exhaust building level interventions or less restrictive educational settings. The IDEA asserts that special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of our children from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.  Parents report that in most cases the school staff are reluctant to try anything outside the norm to accommodate a student with a cognitive disability.  In fact, outside the IEP process, school staff will typically tell the parent, exactly what services they can/will provide and the setting in which the services will be provided (e.g. I pull kids out for resource).  In some cases school staff will say they would love to have the student attend the school but district special education administration will not provide them with the resources (e.g. paraprofessional staff) to support the student in the general education setting.  In this instance school staff is telling the absolute truth.  DPS Student Services Program Managers have been carefully coached to categorically deny paraprofessional support and to phrase it in such a way as to not be in blatant violation of IDEA.  In addition, it would appear that DPS has crafted a standard and IDEA compliant rationale statement to be included on the IEP of every student who receives services outside the general education setting:

“In order to meet (child’s name) needs in the areas of (name areas, e.g. behavior, math), (child’s name) requires services outside the general classroom as described in his/her IEP.”

Furthermore, many center program students have few if any opportunities to participate in academic, non-academic or school related activities with typical peers.  If the short yellow bus transports the student to and from school and the school offers any before or after school activities (e.g. clubs), be assured that the center program student will not be afforded an opportunity to participate in such activities because the District does not offer center program students with before/after school activity transportation.  Some children never see the light of day outside of a segregated school setting.  In fact, too often inclusive opportunities are limited to eating your lunch in close proximity to nondisabled students because of the mandatory assignment to sit at the lunch table with the center program paraprofessional and other center program students. Both the district and schools offer different excuses. The District asserts that because of school autonomy they can make recommendations about best practices/LRE, but have no authority over school staff or principals.  School staff says that the district doesn’t provide enough paraprofessional support staff, or, general education teachers aren’t receptive to including children with more significant disabilities.  There is a certain amount of truth to what each side is saying.  The district is not terribly generous with resources and sometimes general education teachers do not welcome children with more significant needs.  In some instances, special education teachers do not share the value that all children should have an opportunity to participate in activities with typical peers.  Student Services leadership is correct in stating that each DPS school has a certain amount of autonomy.  The school principal sets the tone for the building and this leader can either encourage segregated programming (separate, “but equal”) or lead a model where different abilities are celebrated and all children are woven into the tapestry of the school community.

DPS Standard Practice Number 2: The practice to limit the level of support/services (one-size-fits-all) for children with mild/moderate disabilities enrolled in charter, contract, magnet, redesigned, turnaround and/or neighborhood schools.

IDEA requires that the school district provide a continuum of services and that decisions be based on the individual needs of the child.   The DPS Board of Education has policies (see policy IHBA and IHBA-R Children or Youth with Educational Disabilities) and the Department of Special Education has adopted procedures that comply with federal law.  DPS policy IHBA states:

“Denver Public Schools believes that inclusive school communities are those in which all students are valued members of the educational environment and all students have access to, and participate in, opportunities within the school and community at large, based on their strengths, talents and individual needs.”

Yet parents and advocates report that rather than defining services according to the individual needs of the child, school IEP teams frequently craft the IEP according to building level resources or preferred practice.  It is not uncommon for the staff at one school to say “we pull kids out and serve them in the resource room” and for the staff at a different school to say “we don’t offer any pull-out, all kids are served in the general classroom” and so on.  School staff will frequently say that the district does not provide them with the resources to facilitate a basic continuum of services (consultation, direct services in the general education classroom, direct services outside the general education classroom).  Furthermore, there are disparities between the areas/skills an IEP team will target for a student to work on (e.g. social skills/social development).  The IEP team at one school will assert that services need only be designed to facilitate the students progress/access to academic programming, while the IEP team at another school will define specific goals in relation to social development and identify the school psychologist/social worker as the provider.  Again, school staff will confide that such decisions are contingent on the amount of time a mental health specialist (psychologist/social worker) is assigned to the school; moreover, the individual provider’s level of comfort and training in facilitating mental health services for students with differing disabilities.

DPS special education leadership point to the different department procedures as evidence of compliance but also confirm parent and advocate observations are correct and again, assert disparities are largely a result of school autonomy.  School principals are given ultimate authority to determine staffing (e.g. Do I want to purchase 4 hours or 20 hours of psychological/social work services a week.) as well as programming decisions.  The school principal establishes the culture of the school and is in a key position to welcome all learners and promote a model that allows for instruction and services based on individual needs.  Unfortunately an increasing number of parents and advocates report (and some educators confide) that DPS gives preference to a breed of school principals who deliberately, or at time naively encourage a single model for servicing students with disabilities. 

DPS Standard Practice Number 3: The practice to provide school principals with the authority to determine whether to accept or refuse to enroll a student with a disability.

Colorado law regarding school choice allows each school district to adopt policies and procedures in relation to choice for resident and non-resident students.  DPS Board of Education policies JC Pupil Assignment and JC-R All Schools – Pupil Assignment Procedures (Revised June 30, 2010) appropriately discuss schools of choice, transfer and assignment procedures. 

The issue at hand is the way in which Board policy is being interpreted and implemented.  First, it is important to state that DPS’s school model is a moving target.  It would appear that within the next few years the district will have eliminated neighborhood schools and instead families will “apply” to have their child enroll at the contract, charter, magnet, special program, turnaround or redesigned school down the street, or across the city.  The District does not provide a common application and enrollment process for all of the different school models, except, the Schools of Choice Office has posted two brochures on their web, one discussing procedures for nondisabled students; the second titled “Traditional Choice Application Students with Disabilities.”   It is here where the District states: “approval for enrollment of a student with a disability is on the condition that the services outlined in the student’s plan (IEP or Section 504 plan) can be delivered in the school,” and that the principal and the special education teacher (for whom the principal conducts employee appraisals of the school staff) who make this determination.  Board of Education policy appropriately does not provide school principals the authority to arbitrarily refuse students with disabilities.  However, the fact that students with disabilities are clearly underrepresented in the District’s Charter and magnet schools is likely a direct result of blatantly discriminatory department procedures and the way in which those procedures are applied. 

Equally worrisome,, an increasing number of parents report (and some educators confide) that if a child does not perform at an expected level (academically or behaviorally) some school principals will counsel parents to withdraw their child from the school.  It is important to remember that contract, charter, magnet, special program, turnaround, redesigned and neighborhood schools are all public schools and as such, have an obligation to serve students with disabilities.  Albeit, they do not have to provide a full continuum, but it is expected they will provide basic supports according to the individual needs of the student.

Accordingly,

It shall be the priority for AdvocacyDenver (Agency and educational advocates) staff (educational advocates) to support DPS parents whose children are:

• systematically placed in a center program; or,
• not appropriately being served because the IEP team has failed to consider the type and location of services according to the individual needs of the child; or
• denied enrollment or are encouraged to withdraw enrollment from a DPS contract, charter, magnet, special program, turnaround, redesigned and/or neighborhood school.

Educational advocates will request copies of educational records, in addition to any and all documentation from all members of school staff and District administrators (e.g. emails, data collection, notes) that discuss IEP, program location, school assignment and/or enrollment decisions.

Educational advocates will exhaust school and administrative remedies to resolve issues.  When appropriate, an educational advocate will discuss and encourage families to file formal complaints with the appropriate state or federal agency.  Agency leadership and legal counsel will determine when and if class action litigation would be appropriate.

Agency leadership and staff will continue to discuss and work with DPS Student Services, other district leadership, DPS Board of Education, and other state and federal agencies to reach resolution regarding systemic concerns.

Please click here for your copy of this position statement.

The post Inclusion in the School System appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.