I have contacted many people, in the Lee's Summit school district, and none of their children are receiving appropriate social skills training for autism.
Social skill is not a “service” but a functional skill necessary for daily living activities. Learn what the IDEA, the federal regulations, and the Commentary say about Present Levels of Functional Performance and IEP goals for functional skills.
Read Pat Howey’s article What You Need to Know About IDEA: Present Levels of Functional Performance and Functional Goals in IEPs.http://www.wrightslaw.com/howey/iep.functional.perf.htm
Your child’s IEP must include a description of her Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance. This means what her strengths and weaknesses are – both in academics and in functional areas like social skills.
If your child has “functional needs” the school must meet these and address these needs with goals in the IEP.
Questions to Ask
Remember, you are part of the IEP team. You have input about your child’s needs and what services may be needed to meet these needs.
Does your daughter have challenges in the social skills area?
Is her weakness in social skills accurately described in the Present Levels?
Does her IEP include goals about how the school will meet these challenges?
Do the goals meet her needs?
Is she making measurable progress toward these goals?
You need to request a meeting of the IEP team to discuss your concerns and to review and revise the IEP.
Is her weakness in social skills accurately described in the Present Levels?
Does her IEP include goals about how the school will meet these challenges?
Do the goals meet her needs?
Is she making measurable progress toward these goals?
You need to request a meeting of the IEP team to discuss your concerns and to review and revise the IEP.
Reorganized School District No.7
301 NE Tudor Road
Lee's Summit, Missouri 64086-5702
Phone: (816) 986-1024 Fax: (816) 986-1160
Jerry L. Keimig
Executive Director of Special Services
December 22, 2008
Ms. Heidi Atkins Lieberman
Assistant Commissioner
Division of Special Education
Missouri Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education
PO Box 480
Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0480
Dear Ms. Lieberman:
This letter is in response to concerns expressed by OSEP regarding Ms. Tucker. Ms. Tucker has responded to staff in our District with a continual barrage of emails and web postings on a variety of topics expressing concerns, sending general information regarding special education issues, and conducting personal attacks on staff. (It was my intention to offer information on the appropriate services for a child with autism. Many of my emails were ignored unless I sent several requesting responses.)
Ms. Tucker continually voices her concerns regarding educational programming for her son. We would agree that he has specific areas that need to be addressed, but despite multiple District attempts to provide direct interventions for her son, she has refused many of these services. We have even developed additional course offerings in response to her concerns, but once in place, she has refused to allow her son to access programming. It appears that Ms. Tucker is more interested in a personal attack on the individuals responsible for providing educational services rather than accessing existing services designed to provide educational benefit for her child. (This is totally inaccurate. I sent a “continual barrage of emails” with research on why these programs were not appropriate. I have been personally attacked by the district and this letter is a perfect example. They did not develop an additional course for my son. They wanted to put him in a class with children that had were emotionally disturbed and then grade him on his social progress. How can they begin to believe that could be appropriate?)
It is the Lee's Summit R-7s School District stance that we have been extremely responsive to the concerns of Ms. Tucker having devoted hundreds of hours to discussion of said concerns and viable solutions. We would welcome an opportunity to present the district view to an independent panel either through a DESE child complaint or a due process hearing. (They want me to go to due process because they think that they can weaken my resolve.)
C: Dr. David McGehee
Social Skills Groups: What Does the Research Tell Us?
Autism Spectrum News
The Promise of Research
Fall 2008, Vol.1, No. 1
Lynda Geller, Ph.D.
Asperger Institute
NYU Child Study Center
Social skills deficits are considered to be one of the critical diagnostic impairments that define autism and Asperger Syndrome, so it perhaps not surprising that both school personnel and clinicians in the community frequently recommend that a child or adolescent on the autism spectrum should be enrolled in social skills groups. The intention of such groups is to improve the development of these skills that often are so compromised. Yet just how much research evidence exists supporting the effectiveness of social kills groups as they are currently being delivered? The goals of this review are to summarize what the research tells us regarding efficacy of group social skills development models and to suggest to families what they should require from those delivering this kind of service.
Social skills are critical to successful adult outcome, from having rewarding personal relationships to academic and vocational accomplishment to overall mental health and quality of life. When considering these issues for the individual with an autism spectrum disorder we must be cognizant of the developmental nature of these conditions. Individuals on the autism spectrum have underlying brain differences that affect how they experience the world. In turn, experiences in life have direct consequences on ongoing brain development. So the outcome of any child’s development is the sum total of underlying assets and deficits and the life experiences that continuously shape all of us and directly impact brain development. That is why early intervention is such a powerful tool. It actually shapes brain development during critical periods and individual outcome can be profoundly affected by having or not having these kinds of experiences.
Those of us who work intensively with children with autism continually witness how autism unfolds and how the lack of certain experiences contributes to the ultimate outcome of each one of them. For example, it is not uncommon for parents to tell us that their child has never had a friend. While this is painful in and of itself, the developmental ramifications are significant. Peer interactions are necessary to develop the skills for maintaining conversation, taking perspective, playing appropriately, controlling emotional expression, negotiating conflict, and experiencing intimacy. Without these experiences in childhood, establishing a positive adulthood is very difficult. So, the child with the developmental differences of autism suffers the additional burden of limited experience in critical areas, resulting in what we so often see in young adults as inability to establish relationships or maintain a job and personal independence.
Therefore it is no wonder that so many clinicians and educational professionals try to provide development in the area of social skills. We all know it is critical for successful adulthood. But is what is being typically provided in schools and clinics effective in improving essential social skills?
Very recently, four significant reviews of social skills interventions have been published (White et al., 2007; Rao et al., 2008; Matson et al., 2007; Bellini et al., 2007.) They provide guidelines for assessing social skills groups as they have been implemented and give us important standards for assessing whether critical qualities exist in what is being currently offered.
White, Keonig & Scahill describe their concern with social skills development as being based on findings that social skills deficits do not remit but become more devastating with age as the social milieu becomes more complex; that children in inclusive settings are often more rejected and isolated, yet are not given the skills to succeed; and that social skills deficits contribute to academic and occupational underachievement and later mood and anxiety problems. Given these outcomes, high quality social skills interventions are crucial. Fourteen studies were identified that addressed group intervention for children and adolescents identified as having an autism spectrum disorder (ASD.) All studies had very small sample sizes (ten or less.) Only two studies utilized a manualized approach specifically developed for individuals with an ASD while others used techniques developed for other populations. Others simply described their approaches in greater or lesser detail. Only five studies included a comparison group and none used randomized assignment to treatment group.
None of the studies could be considered an effectiveness study, that is, one that examines the generalizability of gains to other settings. White et al. concluded that the state of research about social skills groups is still in its infancy. However, they identified some promising strategies, based on what was demonstrated in the studies that should be considered in future program development. These include stimulating social motivation, rewarding social initiation, reinforcing appropriate social responding, treating interfering behaviors, and providing opportunities for skill generalization. Their strongest recommendation was that we need to develop and validate manualized social skills curricula to be utilized in schools and community-based groups.
Rao, Beidel & Murray reviewed papers evaluating social skills training programs for youth with Asperger Syndrome or high functioning autism to assess their efficacy and make recommendations for future research directions. They examined ten studies of high functioning children on the autism spectrum as such students are more likely to be in inclusion settings where the social demands are more intense. They found that current research is lacking in the following areas: establishing a common definition of what comprises social skills; conducting research that includes having control groups to compare outcomes and having blind observers to evaluate results; generalizing techniques to other settings; and conducting long term follow-up to determine if an intervention had any effects on eventual outcome. They recommended that future studies utilize manualized treatments specific to particular social deficits (e.g. simple interaction versus relationship development,) that more rigorous research designs be employed to assess effectiveness, and that generalization beyond the office be specifically implemented and measured. As in the previous review, these authors noted that the feasibility of improving social development through group instruction has been demonstrated, but the specific methods need further research.
Matson, Matson & Rivet examined a wide range of social skills interventions for children with ASDs of all functioning levels. In their review of seventy-nine treatment studies, they generated specific recommendations of what is required for the field to move forward toward more validated and specific social skills treatments.
They suggest:
• Parent training models to improve generalization and to make intervention available for younger children,
• Programs that address interfering behaviors or comorbid disorders (such as severe anxiety,)
• Interventions for children under six years of age whose brains have greater plasticity and who should be developing skills they can practice throughout elementary school,
• Need-specific programs that can differentiate between those who need very basic versus more advanced skill development,
• Consistent use of measurements in existing school and community social skills programs to assess if participants are meeting their specified goals.
Bellini, Peters, Benner & Hope reviewed social skills interventions being delivered in school settings. As social skills development is almost universally stated as a goal for special education students with ASDs, this is a particularly critical area to examine. A meta-analysis of fifty-five single-subject design studies was conducted to formulate some generalizations about treatment effectiveness of programs as they are currently being delivered in schools and to specify what approaches seem to offer the best potential. Bellini et al. reiterate that there is only minimal evidence that social skills training programs are effective for children in general, let alone for those for whom social deficit is the defining attribute.
The most important conclusions of this review were that social skills interventions in schools, as they are being reported in the literature, have low to questionable treatment and generalization effects and moderate maintenance effects. That implies that most treatments were not particularly effective in changing social behavior or affecting any changes that generalize across settings, but that any changes that occurred were somewhat maintained. The studies were then assessed by approach with the general findings that interventions need to be more intensively implemented, that they should occur in context rather than in an office, that the strategy should match the specific skill deficit, and that validated treatments should be implemented by clinicians trained in the specific intervention to insure effectiveness. The findings of this analysis were discouraging and implied that much of what is now being done for students with ASDs in schools may be rather ineffective.
Given the limited research evidence for the effectiveness of group social skills interventions, what are responsible recommendations? For community-based interventions, parents should ask the following questions:
• Is there a manualized, evidence-based curriculum or a well-designed, explicit program with specific goals?
• Do the proposed group members have similar needs that are being addressed specifically?
• Do the target behaviors being addressed make sense for each member?
• Is generalization to real-life settings being designed as an integral part of the program?
As children with ASDs typically lack good generalization skills, it is necessary to provide more specific opportunities for practice in realistic settings. This can be implemented through parent involvement with each session’s lesson, rehearsal and reinforcement homework for members, and prescribed member interaction between sessions. Interventions can also take place in actual life locations. Of importance, as well, is the therapist’s orientation to achieving measurable goals.
Does the group leader
• Assess each member’s needs before inclusion in the group?
• Have plans for assessing effectiveness?
• Consider the family’s specific desires for skill acquisition?
• Assess satisfaction with the service at the conclusion?
In-school services also need to be examined. Families should request that
• Services be very specifically described on the student’s individualized educational plan
• Those delivering the services have knowledge about both social skill development and the specifics of delivering such services to children on the autism spectrum
• Services be of sufficient intensity to be effective
• School personnel are utilizing evidence-base practice
• Interventions are being delivered in authentic locations such as playgrounds, classrooms, and lunchrooms, rather than only professional offices.
Sometimes parents do not feel sufficiently knowledgeable or empowered to request the services their child truly needs to promote the best outcome. It is important for parents to be wise consumers by
• Requesting specific plans and generalization strategies
• Learning how to reinforce social skills through play dates and get togethers
• Helping their child maximize strengths and interests in social settings
• Negotiating with school treatment teams to implement a true social skills program that is individually designed and data-driven.
Meanwhile, professionals who specialize in autism and Asperger Syndrome can help families gain awareness of the current state of knowledge; understand what they as parents can specifically accomplish with their children; and know what critical questions to ask of anyone currently providing social skills intervention in schools or community. Together, parents and professionals should continue to advocate for more treatment-based research on social skills development now.
References
Bellini, S., Peters, J.K., Benner, L., & Hopf, A. (2007) A meta-analysis of school based social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders.
Remedial and Special Education, 28(3), 153-162.
Matson, J.L., Matson, M.L., & Rivet, T.T. (2007) Social-skills treatments for children with autism spectrum disorders. Behavior Modification, 31(5), 682-707.
Rao, P.A., Beidel, D.C., & Murray, M.J. (2008) Social skills interventions for children with Asperger’s syndrome or high-functioning autism: A review and recommendations. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(2), 353-361.
White, S.W., Keonig, K., & Scahill, L. (2007) Social skills development in children with autism spectrum disorders: A review of the intervention literature.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(10), 1858-1868.
Also this April, I want to encourage everyone to vote for John Plaas - since he was the only one on the school board to question this tax levy and vote no.
Enough is Enough!
Thank you so much for this information. It seems this school district has found it can ask for money over and over again and because the great citizens of this district want the best for their kids, get everything they want. The sad fact is, most of us don't either have the time or have the knowledge to know where to go to dig this information up.
My pet peeve is the fact the taxpayers are also footing the bill to build state of the art athletic complexes with just about everything the pro leagues have. I want our kids to have a good experience at school, but it's snowballed out of control and I am certain has drained money away from areas of much higher importance. Maybe it's time we begin to look at other models used around the world in which these activities have been privatized. I think we would also see these other models do not rely so heavily on overpaid administrators.
I won't be able to vote in the election on the 9th, so I'm voting by absentee ballot. If this is your situation as well, I believe the office in Independence will be open this Saturday as well as during normal business hours during the rest of the week.
John Simonds
Enough is Enough!
I’m disturbed that Jack is foolish enough to think I’m that stupid! Passing this levy is ALL about the timing. But let’s face it, with 2,500 school district employees (and their significant others), some Armageddon scare tactics and a typical low voter turnout in February, the district does have a huge advantage in numbers and they know it. Never mind the fact that it will cost us taxpayers $120,000 for this special election!
If I take the School Board (Jack) at their word and go with the thought process that this decision was made solely for the purpose of gaining 60 days of planning, then I have to question their fiduciary decision to spend $120,000 when they are coming to me with their outstretched tin cup. Couldn’t the administration create two sets of plans – one if the levy passes and one if it doesn’t? If it’s all about planning time, why couldn’t this levy have been on last November’s ballot and given everyone an additional 3 months to plan? It’s not like the district didn’t know it was going to ask for this levy. I heard about it early last year.
Oh, where are the FOOLS (Friend’s out of Lee’s Summit) banners, billboards, signs, mailers, full-page newspaper ads and promotional flyers this time around? The absence of the FOOLS propaganda affirms my position that the powers-that-be thought they could keep this levy low-key and slip it right on by the taxpayer. The small group of FOOLS scratches the back of the district by spending tens of thousands of dollars promoting the “No tax increase” bonds and levy’s and in return the school district rubber stamps the Tax Increment Financing (TIF), Transportation Development Districts (TDD) and the like which help line the pockets of the business owners, but provide little or no school district funds until the TIF bonds are paid off many years down the road. For this election, the best way the FOOLS can help the school district is to keep things on the down-low to help suppress voter turnout. The TDD and TIF discussion is for another day, but it does have a roll in all of this. We are a bedroom community and our 80% residential tax base is way out of whack, so until we get some additional commercial development and business in Lee’s Summit to take on some of that tax burden, it falls on the shoulders of the homeowners.
The school district underestimated the public awareness and now the lskids.org (small, rehashed group of self-designated civic protectors) is scrambling to quell the uprising. I have a feeling you might start seeing some additional “Vote Yes” signs popping up around the city now that the cat is out of the bag. I have children in the district and obviously want the best for them, but I too am appalled at the LS R-7 tactics! So, on the principal that the end doesn’t justify the means, I guess that’s a NO vote for me.
Frank Drebin
Artificial turf and aquatic centers come from bonds vs operating levies so they are different "pockets"? Really??? They both come from my pocket, that is as disingenious as the "no tax increase bond issues".
We pay property taxes to the Metropolitan Community Colleges, they now have an underutilized aquatics center. My pocket is getting tired.
You will cut strings budgets? Fine, I already drive my daughter to competitions, district rehearsals, I buy her competition music, I buy her instruments, I pay for her private lessons...what will you cut? Notwithstanding, I would prefer to pay user fees, then the cost of my daughters' extracurricular activities are not paid by the unemployed/underemployed because, remember, they are losing their homes.
We are being asked to replace state money with a levy. What happens when the State's economy recovers and more funds are available for the schools? Will we get a roll back of our levy? I suspect not.
I, too, find the timing of this election to be suspect. Yes, I hear the reasons, but sometimes the appearance is overwhelmingly more convincing than the words. Honestly, I feel the District and the levy supporters have been very patronizing of me. I get the impression they just assume I will vote yes because they say it is important. That feeling started with the information meeting where Dr. McGeehee gave a briefing but no questions were taken from the audience. You just told us what you want us to know and our questions are not important.
Not this time, enough is enough.
At this point my major concern is one of trust. How can the District continually refer to one set of bond issues as "no tax" increase, implying somehow they are therefore "free"? They must realize that people think that and are therefore inclined to vote for it. What this really means is that the district is going to incur a debt, which must be paid, and it is going to be paid for with tax dollars. The money will not come out of thin air. For the District to mass market it to the citizens implying there will be no tax effect is simply not genuine, and also begins to make one wonder what other tricks and half truths are being put forth.
Another troubling issue is the whole "two buckets" rigamarole. This is the one where we are told the capital improvements budget is always apparently overflowing with money and they literally have to invent ways to spend it (Such as robotics labs, Astroturf, and incredible glass buildings), but the operating budget is always in the red and in a crisis mode. This again seems to be an invented situation exploited by half-truths and convenient omissions of fact.
Perhaps if the district would let a few of these no tax increase bond issues expire and not simply invent new ways to spend money, the taxpayers of Lees Summit would regain trust that the district is just not on some sort of spending spree with borrowed money.
Perhaps if just a few of these past "no-tax" bond issues had not been brought forth, is it not true that the District could have had some of it's debt retired by now, and then there could have been an option now, when we really need it, to have it brought into the general operating fund?
If some of the OLD DEBT could ever actually get retired and not replaced with NEW DEBT, it seems the District would have some options or at least some clout with the taxpayers. It seems the District would instead like to just have as much money a they can get, and the effect is that we are getting eaten alive with taxes, yet not the slightest amount of remorse or shame from those burdening us.
The other large trust issue is that the amount of marketing that seems to be performed by school employees, using school resources, on school time. Each time an issue comes up, the district bombards us with printed flyers brought home by the kids, robocalls, emails, and sometimes even feature length professional videos displayed during school events. How much money is being spent on the materials for this? How many employees are spending their time doing this instead of educating our children?
The District will explain that this activity is allowed under law, as they are merely stating facts, and not "technically" trying to get you to vote any certain way. Ask yourself, honestly, after seeing anything they have produced or said, are they truly trying to educate you, or are they blatantly trying to manipulate your opinion?
Times are tough--people are literally losing their jobs, losing their homes each day. Many people lucky enough to still have a job have taken 20% or more pay cuts and have lost many of their coworkers to layoffs, and their retirements and 401K's are also obliterated.
It is not fair for the District and employees of the District to lay a guilt trip on the citizens and make them out to be "the bad guys" or not school friendly. How many school bond issues have been defeated in the past 15 years? I cant think of ANY. The citizens of Lees Summit have given so much over the years. No one is asking anyone in the District to go through anything that they themselves, their friends and families themselves have not gone through.
I would urge everyone to vote NO on this tax increase. Throwing more money at the situation is not the answer. We can then get an actual citizens based committee together to explore ALL the options, nothing off the table, and come up with a viable solution.
I'm also frustrated about all the flyers, emails, and phone calls I have gotten from the district on this levy issue. They are clearly using a lot of resources to get their message across.
I am sure that in most of their hearts they believe they are thinking independently and in the best interests of educating students. But if the membership of the CAC is largely made up of current and former employees of the district, their families, friends, or other people with a financial stake in the outcome of a vote, it is a huge problem and needs to be remedied before ANY future recommendations can be taken at face value.
If the District is going to constantly tout that they are merely acting on the advise of a supposedly independent and unbiased CAC, it should be a TRULY INDEPENDENT AND UNBIASED CAC!