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lynedd about her boy, and my niece, and the difference having advocacy can make. I'd had a long chat with my niece on the bus the other day and found that she'd been diagnopsed with some processing disorders and learning disabilities, and that had been a rather large reason for her dropping out of school without even getting her grade 9.It strikes me how wrong this is. Here's a kid who has had problems her whole life through, who we just assumed to be difficult and psychologically in need of support. Well, that aside, she also needs some other support in her learning. She said how she'd been given extra time to do tests, and while it wasn't enough time, she did much better on her tests. Even so, she'd said that she just couldn't process things in class at the speed of others, and it was too distracting, etc, so she'd quit. She was just going to fail anyway, but maybe she could get her equivalancy (GED) or attend night school where it would be easier.
I was so upset. There wasn't anyone who advocated for this child. I didn't know she'd been assessed for these things. I couldn't offer advice. I suspect it was while she was with FC&S, but even so, they obviously didn't advocate fully as no plan was put into place attending to all her needs. Her mother, who she is now living with, isn't in any position to advocate for her daughter (even if she is the best damn manipulator I've ever known in my life), so this kid accepted the diagnosis, the failure, and left school.
I want to know why there aren't any third party agencies mandated to help with this. Acgencies with no other agenda than to make certain you know and understand your rights. When the ex took his car into the median on the 401, it wasn't a couple days later the Insurance advocate was at our door and sat down to explain all of the ex's rights with regards to claims, medical, etc. That was that man's job. A portion of all insurance monies goes to pay these folks who aren't affiliated with the insurance companies other than to make sure that the victims know their rights.
Well, hell, kids are a damn sight more important than that. And most parents not only don't understand what rights they have, but don't want to rock the boat (because my kid has to go to that school for four more years, see that teacher, write that exam, walk down those halls..). It is just plain wrong.
/rant
feel free to comment
Comments
There have been, in the past, people who have been paid to act as a disabled persons advocate while they are seeking employment. That isn't so much a warm fuzzy 'know your rights' thing as it is a governmental effort to 'get someone off social assistance' thing. And it's not particularly well funded, and you still probably have to ask/make a case for needing one.
It does come down to individual advocacy in many cases. I know that mental illnesses are probably the number one "cause" of people not getting/being the advocate that they need to be. Yes, I do consider depression a mental illness. But the government as a whole does not take mental illnesses as seriously as physical disabilities, probably not even as seriously as learning disabilities.
Will we see more assistance in this area from the government to the social service/medical field? I doubt it. It would be incredibly costly to train and employ a whole battery of people to handle the need. Anything beyond a "these are your rights" ten minute speech to students and parents would involve crazy amounts of man hours in terms of intake, evaluation, followup, accountability (did absolutely every person who needed it get the service?)
We might be more successful lobbying for an hour or two of "these are your rights and this is how to advocate for yourself" speeches when kids are diagnosed thorough the school system, as that is currently something that has some funding behind it.
And speaking on behalf of mental illness, that is probably the group with the single largest inability to advocate for themselves beyond children. If you don't think clearly, you can't clearly state what you need; nor can you clearly understand what you need and/or are entitled to, etc.
I'm not disagreeing with you, and I'm not saying the system works for everyone. No system ever does. But the system does work for many people.
Komissar is totally right. When the individual is to young to self advocate, the parent MUST step in. There is no other support and it is not feasible for there to be a third party support, financially or logistically. I would add to the list of persons needing family to advocate for them as those with mental illnesses.
I appreciate the desire to have some third party step in, but the reality is that the expectation of the government is that the third party will be the persons family or surrogate family.
I had no idea I'd needed a letter of some kind to give to the principal for Sparrow to get an IEP, and that without an IEP, it didn't matter how much I told those people about his sensory integration dysfunction - they weren't going to do a blessed thing.
Would have been nice if they could say 'Here, call this number, get an appointment, tell them what you've told us, and they'll put you on the right track of things to do to help your kid.'
The onus is on the parent to put any requests for support in writing if they want help for their child. A good paper trail is key to getting the support you want for your child.
FYI the IEP will help but what you need to request is an IPRC (Identification Placement Review). Here are some links that might be helpful.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/el
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/el
I can speak for my board & also speak the law.
A child who has learning disabilties that are identified must have an IEP (individual learning plan) done every year - NO exceptions or your board loses their funding. These plans include the short terma nd long term goals of the student and the action plan for attaining. These plans are made in consultation with the student and their teachers. Students with IEPs are also invited with their parents or guardians to attend an IPRC which is a yearly meeting with guidance, social worker, CYW, spec ed and one of a VP or P. The purpose of the meeting is to review the current circumstances and IEP to ensure it is meeting the students needs. These are all law
The remaining here I can only say is board specific BUT some structure similar to this at play in all school boards. All highschools have a full time child youth worker. All students can receive counselling and access to social services through this person. People needing more specialized care can be referred to the Social Worker and/or the Child Psychologist who are in the school on a weekly or biweekly basis.
As for learning support studnets who have IEPs are allowed unlimited access to the resource room containing at least one spec. ed teacher and computers and lots of help, big tables and quiet space. I know the old high school near where you used to live (Hanlon and College) has a similar process as I volunteered there.
Your niece is not unique and I have seen children like her fail and succeed indpendent of parent participation. Children who want it will get it and graduate and make you smile and cry at grad because you know the only people there to be proud of them is the teaching staff - but we are there.
On the same hand we are but a school. We were initially designed to educate - bestow unto people the knowledge contained in the texts. This knowledge is prescriptive and has rigid timelines thanks to government curriculum and standardized tests. This makes parenting a secondary concern, when there are 27-30 in a class you can't hold 26 back for 1. Not nice but an unfortunate reality.
Your niece may have fallen into the category of student who is passed through elementary school becasue you cannot fail and found herself lost in high school. This is not uncommon - students are able to catch up which is the reason we offer programs at different levels.
Something for her to consider now is probably not adult ed as it will not allow her the success that a girl as young as she is has could have. ie she is not 17 and pregnant - she has more options.
Option one - return to school but choose the highschool to go to one with large poppulation allowing for greater numbers of assistance/programs.
Option two - consider "Career Paths" a new program that gives students on the job training but in school. ie our school has a Hospitality program. Students learn how to work in a restaurant - our school actually has a small restaurant that hosts business meetings for the local community, cateres teacher events and serves lunch once a week. The students learn all the skills both front and back of house. They do not generally recieve a highs chool diploma but they get a Certificate of Education. Career paths are skills oriented hands on knowledge gathering programs (hospitality, cosmetology, construction, auto) similar to old Vocational programs.
Option three - Adult Ed. or high school part time with Co-op based in OYAP program (will need to get at least some high school credits) OYAP allows you to gather apprenticeship hours while in high school.
Lastly night school is not easier - it is the same amount of information crammed into less hours for much longer periods of time (classes are 3.5-4hrs) and would not be beneficial to someone with her needs.
As an educator (and one who is training in special education), I can tell you there are resources and there are teachers who are willing to help. But it will never take away the necessity to do work and, especially, homework. That requires a good home environment.
For a student with processing difficulties, we are looking at setting up a consistent program between school and home for the completion of work. That's the mandate.
She should get back into school; that's where the help is.
That parents feel stymied by the authoritarian face of school--lets face it, that's our society in general. If it's about business or consumerism, of course there is advocacy. But you still need to know your rights, anyway. And FC&S would advocate for her, but first, she has to make a stand. That's a high and difficult thing for a kid to do. Especially one who doesn't sound that self-confident.
She should get back into school, her mother should make an appointment to speak with the Resource Teacher and to see her daughter's IEP (Individual Education Plan). If there isn't one, that means she hasn't been identified fully by the board or the school. Her mother would then have to demand that her daughter have an IPRC - all she has to do at that point is write a letter to the principal, outlining her concerns and demand (politely) that her daugther have an IPRC (Identification, Placement and Review Committee). If her daughter has an IPRC, then she needs to tell the school that she wants the IEP reviewed (the R in IPRC). Her daughter should make a list of concerns she has about her difficulties in class and present them for her review.
That's the short of it.
There's also the Ontario Ombudsman
The other reason there is little advocacy a child wants to leave school is because families don't want agencies poking around. F&CS would be the agency to come and check that out....
It's a no-win situation.
...but what about parents who won't/can't advocate for their child, for any number of reasons? Language barriers, health issues in the parent(s), etc - there are so many reasons that the parents may not advocate for their kids, or advocate ineffectively. The question then is, where does the child turn?
Technically, the kids should be able to go to the guidance office or special ed teacher for help, but we got stymied by the woman in that position when N was in grade 8. She sat on everything we requested until my mother, who was a teacher, called the board over this woman's head. ...but even then, it wasn't until N was out of that school that things really began moving for him.
No easy answers, that's for certain. The kids who get help usually are the ones who's parents step up to bat. If the parents aren't willing, there's little more that can be done. >:
Your niece should look into the adult education programs: she can ask to be identified and receive an IPRC in that system too. The board has an obligation. Since she knows what her problems tend to be, she'd find that the teachers in the adult ed stream are very used to working with students with her level of difficulties.
There's always hope. At least, that's what I use to get by, day-to-day.
She can't be the only one in this situation, though, and thats so sad. Its like saying 'okay, we think X percentage of the population dropping out is perfectly fine because then they're not our problem' -- but they are. they dont get as good jobs in a lot of situations, and a number have to be in situations where they are too disabled to work without some form of intervention and education, and it sounds like they don't get that either. Just makes me really feel disillusioned with the whole system.
Nope, I dont have solutions either. Nor any specific group I'd like to blame, just a generalized feeling that there is something wrong with this.
The others are correct the amount of help a child gets really rides on how effectively the parent is able to advocate and follow through.
I feel really bad for this kid; she's not stupid, but she's accepting less because she believes its better for her and to try otherwise is just too hard.
makes me sad, y/k?
The onus for advocacy falls squarely on the parents whether or not they are able to do it effectively. The system is not set up to support the kids who don't have some one in their corner.
At this point in time based on her age she would be expected to advocate for herself despite the fact that no one has taught her how. If in her journey she still wants assistance with advocacy the LD chapter here has a couple of trained advocates who could help.
One of tidbit that doesn't get relayed is that LD issues don't go away when a person reaches adulthood so the learning and coping strategies still need to be taught. There are some work assistance programs for youth with LD that your neice would be eligible for as well. Change now is just launching a new program she might be eligible for while she learns.
It sounds like she is facing so many challenges. I wish her well.
I don't know enough (read: anything) about your nieces situation. So don't take these comments as pertaining to that... but as a general rule I think parents have to be the ones to stand up for their kids. Advocating for your child is practically the definition of parenting and if someone is unable to do that (for whatever reason) then the child isn't being looked after and maybe that child needs to be looked after by someone else.
It isn't realistic to believe that a child (especially a very young one) will be able to advocate for themselves or even know that they need an advocate. That's why we're here.
I'm a socialist so I'm all for big government and large social programs but I think access to those programs needs to be initiated by the parent otherwise government becomes the defacto parent. To have the State monitor as closely as it would need to in order to catch every instance of possible 'actionable' conduct makes me uncomfortable in the extreme.
I don't think the excuse "i dont want to rock the boat" is an acceptable stance for a parent. Thats our jobs. Rock it till it sinks if we have to. Whatever we need to do in order for our child's needs to be met.
With a lot of people having access to the internet, knowing your rights is just a web-search away.
I'm going to post my rant in my own lj, as I know some who wont want to hear it, and I don't think it's further sidetrack this thread who's initial round-about purpose was to get Lia's cousin the help she needs.
See, thats the problem. That wasn't the purpose of this post. (And it's my niece). This post was about the fact that the system is failing, and I believe it is failing because people do not know their rights.
My niece was in Family and Children's Services protective custody at the time and by her accounting she didn't get all the help that she needed to stay in school and succeed to her potential. That tells me that something is wrong.
Do I have a solution? No. Do I expect one? No. Would I like one? Yes.