Challenging an identification or placement decision One family’s story Our family has recently survived a Special Education Tribunal hearing regarding our eldest son. I say survived because it was a physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting journey for all of us. So, I decided to write this story in the hope of saving another family from some of the grief that we went through. There is no need for me to get into the nitty-gritty details of my son Cameron’s case, but I will summarize it briefly, just so that you can understand what transpired. We first noticed Cameron’s giftedness when he was under two. Strangers started noticing about a year later. I read everything I could get my hands on about child "geniuses" (I wasn’t even familiar with the word gifted then), so that I could best stimulate Cameron’s mind. When Cameron was 15 months old, his younger brother was born, and when he was just over 4, his younger sister was born. Cameron started kindergarten at the usual age of 4. When I consulted the teacher about the fact that he was already a fluent reader and had some mathematical ability I was told that there were no "academic" subjects taught in kindergarten but that once he was in Grade 3 he could have enrichment. When he reached Grade 3, I asked for psychological assessment with a view to identification. By this point, both of his younger siblings had recently been identified as gifted. He had the assessment and his full-scale WISC-III score was 2 points below the identification threshold. My husband and I were told that he couldn’t be identified and that was that. We were never told that we had a right to appeal. A couple of years later, while reading the highlights of Regulation 181/98, I realised that we did, in fact, have the right to appeal IPRC decisions. After a great deal of thought, my husband and I decided to challenge the school boards determination that Cameron is not gifted. We knew that we would be met with opposition, and that we might have to go all the way to the Tribunal level, but we believed so strongly in Cameron’s abilities and we were so tired of watching them slowly erode that we decided that we must take action for our son’s sake. It took 9 ½ months of letter writing for Cameron to be assessed, another 2 ½ months for the IPRC to be arranged, a further 9 months for an appeal hearing to be held and 5 more months until the Special Education Tribunal was held– a phenomenal 26 months in all! I am unsure as to how long it will take to have the decision, but it is probably in the area of 2 months. This whole ordeal has been an eye-opening experience for me and I do not regret for one moment having done it, even if the outcome is not in Cameron’s favour. I have the immense satisfaction that comes from knowing that you have done everything you could for your child, and for the hundreds of other children who stand to benefit from improved access to programs and services. Now I am going to touch on what we did right and wrong in this process. I want to preface this by saying that these are my personal opinions. They are not the official position of ABC in any way. Also, a great deal of the advice that I will give presumes that you will be met with opposition, lack of cooperation or even outright hostility. This will, of course, not be true in every situation, indeed I hope that most parents will not have to deal with that kind of behaviour. First, we were wise to put our initial request in writing, and to write to the superintendent when that request was not answered. If your process goes to Tribunal level, it is extremely important to have a paper trail to show how you tried to resolve the matter. I did everything by e-mail, which has the added advantage of having the date and time stamped at the top. When the superintendent did not respond to us either, we should have contacted our District office of the Ministry of Education right away for their assistance. I did not know about that resource until much later in the process. Once the results of the assessment were completed, we should have immediately asked for the date of the IPRC to be set, instead of expecting that the principal would follow through with this himself. When we decided to go to Tribunal we should have asked a friend with some knowledge of education (a retired teacher would be ideal if you happen to know one, but other professional would work as well) to represent us, and indicated his/her name directly on the letter of appeal with a note that we would expect to have the name of the Board’s representative within the 2 week time limit set out in the regulations. We also made the mistake of talking back and forth on the phone (see earlier rule– always have written proof) over who the chair of the appeal should be. When it became obvious that we were having a hard time to decide, say, after a couple of weeks, we should have asked that the Ministry of Education and Training choose the Appeal Board chair for us. Prior to the Appeal gather your own information, as well as information retained by the Board. By this I mean everything in your child’s OSR, in his/her psychological file and in any other type of file that may be kept pertaining to your child. Contact your SEAC representative if you have one, or the chair of SEAC so that you can see the minutes of the SEAC meetings and find out what has been going on "behind the scenes" with regards to gifted programs and services. Also, read the internal correspondence between Board supervisory personnel regarding your son/daughter’s case. It will probably be necessary to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act for this material to be shared with you but do it– it is definitely worth the trouble. Every Board has a Freedom of Information officer, call the Board office and find out who it is. Remember that the FOI request can take up to a month to be answered so make it more than a month before your hearing. If there is a refusal to photocopy these documents for you insist that you be allowed to visit the site and see them with your own eyes, making notes of documents you feel will help your case. Bring someone you trust as a witness to what has occurred. At the Appeal, be sure to bring all documents with you, including any that came from the school (don’t expect the Board to do that voluntarily). Also, if possible, bring statements from people who actually know and have taught or dealt with your child. Remain calm and focus on the facts, don’t allow any accusations to rile you and don’t make any accusations that you can’t back up with documentation. Prior to the Tribunal hearing gather any more data that you couldn’t before the Appeal. It is possible for the Tribunal chair to issue a summons for persons or documents that are central to the case. In our case, 2 people were subpoenaed and were required to show their documents before the case began. Do not feel that you are being "mean" or "heavy-handed" by insisting that persons or documents are there– you are simply making sure that the Tribunal has the chance to see and hear from all sources the facts of your situation. Next, choose your witnesses. You will want to have at least one expert from the area from which your appeal arises (i.e. education, psychology, neurology etc.). In our case we had an educational psychologist, so we killed two birds with one stone, so to speak. You may be able to find such experts at your nearest university or within a neighbouring school board. Be sure to have a few witnesses who know your child personally, this is where family and friends can come in (especially when they say "How can I help?"). Your child’s teachers and principal should be asked if you are still on good terms with them. I say this because people tend to feel threatened and become defensive when you are challenging a decision that they have helped to make. They may already be testifying as witnesses for the school board, but that does not bar you from asking them to be your witnesses also. One witness in our case was for both sides– he was simply asked different questions by each side. Ask your SEAC representative and school board trustee to appear on your child’s behalf. Of course at least one parent will be testifying. In our case, it was my husband because I was presenting the case. I did not put myself on the stand because I did not want to give the Board the opportunity to upset or confuse me. As in the case of the Appeal hearing, it is so important to stay calm and focussed at all times. Now, you will want to prepare your case. Don’t worry too much if you don’t have many witnesses, it is better to have a few people that really know their stuff than lots of people who have a very superficial knowledge of the facts. Gather research data to submit as written documents, the internet is a fantastic source of these, particularly ERIC, Hoagie’s and GERRIC websites. Prepare your questions to your witnesses making sure you don’t put words in their mouths. I advise that you do not have a lawyer present your case, that you present it yourself with advice from a lawyer as to how to word your questions. Others would disagree with this piece of advice, but my point of view is that a parent knows the most about the child and the sequence of events thus far, and it is impossible to transmit to your lawyer the complete contents of your brain. Next, put all your documents in a binder grouped either by date or by subject area and make your 6 copies. I was praised by the court reporter and Tribunal chair for my meticulous attention to organization and still sometimes I had trouble to find this or that in my binder. Prepare your opening statement which is going to be very similar to the letter of appeal that you sent to the Tribunal, and make a draft version of your closing statement. These statements can be as long as you like within reason (If the Tribunal members are falling asleep you have gone on too long). Once you have your case completely prepared, hopefully a week before the Tribunal, try not to constantly revise things. I found that piece of advice impossible to follow but if you can put you case aside for a few days, you will be more calm. Also, try to get enough sleep and to eat well in the days leading up to the Tribunal (more impossible advice). On the big day, take a deep breath, exhale, and picture your son or daughter in your mind, remembering that you are doing this for their sake, and that for better or worse, your child will remember in the future that you were willing to go the extra mile for them, and that is a lesson in life that no school could ever teach them. Michele Alexis Note: I would be more than happy to speak personally to any parents who are in the midst of this process, or are contemplating embarking upon it. It would be my small way to pay back the many kind people who offered advice or assistance to me, and refused absolutely to accept any form of payment