Week Eleven

Now at age 16, Terrance's relationship with his mother continues to be strained and difficult. Significantly different from other children his age, Terrance is well aware of how he is perceived by other children, and school has proven to be quite challenging for him. Two years ago, Terrance was placed in a specialized day school for children with multiple disabilities after having a particularly bad tantrum at his local public school. A manifestation determination indicated that his behavior was a result of his disability, so off to another placement he went. Since then, he has done slightly better, but his behavior is mostly managed within the behavioral point/level system at the school. 


Another aspect of Terrance's experience in school has been his bi-racial identity. While Terrance has a difficult time understanding why kids sometimes call him all sorts of names, he really doesn't understand why some children call him certain names. Terrance thinks of himself as black; after all, his dad was black. Terrance has support from many of the teachers at his school, and, most of the time, nasty episodes between he and peers are dealt with quickly. Indeed, a stated purpose of the school Terrance attends is the purposeful integration of cross-cultural tolerance into the curriculum. 


At home, Terrance and his mother still struggle. The social worker who had been visiting weekly stopped doing so, and there have been few services provided since Terrance went to his new school. Terrance is physically much larger than his mother, and she thinks she has little influence on him in the home. In fact, he more or less does what he pleases without much consideration for what his mother says or thinks. 




* If a specialized day school is indicated in the IEP, who pays for the placement? What if it is not? What has likely taken place in this scenario?  


* What is a point/level system? Is this common in the type of school that Terrance now attends? 


* From the standpoint of the school and the IEP, what is transition? Describe at least 3 transition goals for Terrance. When would the IEP team have started to consider and include these?


* How is Terrance likely to understand his racial identity given his low level of cognitive functioning?

* What is a manifestation determination meeting? Why does it occur? What are the possible ramifications of the meeting?

* What happens when Terrance turns 18? For which services will he still be eligible? What kind of public assistance can he receive? How will he support himself? Be sure to look into SSI and disability – is he eligible when he turns 18? Is he eligible now, at 16?    

Week Ten

The following installment is courtesy of the Lisa Yoo group:

After working hard to clean herself up, Vasha regained custody of Terrance when he was 10 years old. Once Terrance returned home, things went well between him and Vasha for the first 2 weeks. However, things began to go downhill after that. Because of Vasha’s drinking problem when Terrance was a child, as well as Terrance’s emotional instability, there was never an appropriate attachment formed between the two. This made things difficult once Terrance was under the care of his mother again. The two could not seem to get along or communicate well with one another. The communication difficulties also had to do with the malformations in Terrance’s oral cavity, so in order to try and help the situation, Vasha looked further into the surgery Terrance would need.  Vasha found that the surgery would be covered by insurance so they went ahead and got it done. The surgery was a success and it helped Terrance better communicate with others-including his peers and his mother.

Although the surgery was a success, Terrance’s speech was not appropriate for his age; he needed some help from professionals to learn how to appropriately articulate his speech. Vasha decided to enroll Terrance in speech therapy. She ran into some difficulties when she found that the insurance would not fully cover these services. Because she saw how much Terrance was improving just because he was able to communicate, she wanted him to improve even more and decided to pay out of pocket for the services. She picked up an extra job and was doing everything she could to help her son and improve their relationship. After 3 months, Vasha could no longer afford to pay for Terrance’s therapy and had to pull him out. Terrance grew very upset about this because he enjoyed going to therapy and really liked his therapist. It was at this point that things took a turn for the worst. The whole ride home from Terrance’s last therapy session consisted of crying and screaming horrible things to his mother. They got home and Terrance continued to lash out at his mother; she couldn’t take it anymore and began to yell back. This caused Terrance’s emotions to rise to the point that he grabbed the chair behind him and threw it across the room in Vasha’s direction. The chair ended up hitting Vasha on the forehead leaving a gash. Vasha had to go the hospital where she once again encountered social workers and had to answer their questions.

Terrance’s bad behavior caused Vasha to turn back to alcohol even after being clean for 5 years. Although he was no longer going to live with her after her report to the social worker, she still couldn’t handle the stress and pain he had caused her. Terrance was placed in an emotional and behavioral facility an hour away from Vasha’s home; he was 10 ½ years old when placed in this state funded facility. When he arrived at the facility, numerous tests and evaluations were done. The doctors found that Terrance suffers from multiple disabilities. He was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, which helps to explain many of the outbursts that Terrance had. After a hearing screening, it was also found that Terrance suffered from some hearing difficulties that contributed to communication difficulties. It was found that his right ear did not develop properly while in the womb due to Vasha drinking while pregnant. The emotional and behavioral facility provided Terrance with the appropriate therapy and services needed for him to get better.

 Although Terrance still had difficulty forming positive relationships with the other kids in the facility, he was able to develop a healthy relationship with his mother. The hospital had family therapy sessions in which Vasha and Terrance attended to work through their problems. Aside from the therapy session, Vasha visited Terrance weekly to see how he was doing. He continued to make significant progress and after 17 months, Terrance was released from the facility and able to go home. While Terrance was in the hospital working on improving himself, Vasha also returned to classes to forever give up alcohol, allowing Terrance to remain in her custody. While at home, Terrance and Vasha currently receive weekly consultation from a social worker just to make sure that everything is going smoothly. Terrance is attending the public school in his district. With the diagnosis received when at the hospital, he is able to receive services under IDEA at school. Although Terrance’s FSIQ continues to remain at 65, which is significantly below the requirements for normal intelligence, he continues to make progress in his learning as well as his ability to form positive healthy relationships. 

Week Nine

Terrance has spent the last few years with his grandmother, and things have not gone well for him during that time. Now a 7 year-old, Terrance is quickly getting bigger and stronger - making his tantrums even more difficult to handle. Terrance attends public school, and his teachers work with him daily to help him to manage his social and emotional responses. Terrance is a child identified with multiple disabilities. His FSIQ is 65 with performance and verbal areas being roughly equal. His speech continues to become somewhat more discernible with time, but those working with him in that area have indicated that he will require surgery to attempt to correct the physiological obstacles to clearer speech. Still, the biggest concern is Terrance's explosive temper that seems to come out of nowhere. Given his differing physical appearance, it is hard for him to make friends, and this fact seems to have created a situation where he will attempt to push other kids away before they can reject him. This sometimes leads to physical altercations, and several parents have contacted the school out of concern for the safety of their own children. School administrators wonder if this school is the best placement option for Terrance, but recent budget cuts have left precious little for sending children like Terrance to specialized schools. Still, the school may be one more incident away from having to explore the issue in greater depth.

Vasha went into treatment during this time, and she has moved back to the area. She gets to see Terrance several times a week, and she is in contact with the Department of Social Services to determine how she can regain custody of Terrance so the two can live together. Vasha has managed to hold down a job at a local convenience store and has saved up a small amount of money. She seems to have dealt with her addiction and has been clean for over two years.  

* What alternatives are there that might meet Terrance's educational needs? What considerations might a school make before recommending that a change of placement be made? What document needs to be amended in order to change his placement to something more restrictive? 

* How is it that Vasha still has contact with Terrance even though she was responsible for his FASD? Why was he not removed at birth given the severity of his condition? Should DSS require some kind of "parental fitness" evaluation of Vasha if she is to regain custody? How is this done? 

* What does it mean that Terrance has a full-scale IQ of 65? What implications does this have for his treatment in general? 

* Write 2-3 goals one might find in Terrance's current IEP. Under each goal, include at least 3 objectives. 

DECISION POINT ::: Is there a change in Terrance's placement? In other words, does he stay at his current school or go to a more restrictive environment? If so, where (simply indicate the type of placement)?

  

Week Eight

Spring Break

Week Seven

Individual assignment