Discussing Autism

Every parent should know their IEP rights. The Hynes family does and it has served them well. They have gone public about the Naperville School District 203 in Illinois and how the Special Education Department attempted to blackmail them into accepting a less than adequate education plan for their son. How in the world could a school district do this? By withholding an essential communication tool for their son.

Killian Hynes, a 6 year old Autistic boy living in Naperville, Illinois, uses an assisted technology device called the Tango. Priced at almost 7,000, the Tango is an integral part of Killian’s IEP, as it helps him communicate by combining language hierarchy, icons, and easy access pop-ups. It also includes a built in camera and voice morphing. According to Killian’s parents father, Kevin, this is the only way Killian has ever been able to communicate.

So why did the Naperville Schools withhold this device from the Hynes family? Simply put, they did not want to pay for the instruction that went with it. The interesting part here is that Killian’s private speech therapist had initially loaned him the device. However, once he progressed the IEP team agreed to provide him one for school.

The details:
1. Killian’s school placement for the past year was at the Summit School Early Learning Center in Elgin. The latest dispute in the ongoing war (the same war most of us know all too well) involved summer placement. Summit was the right place at the right time, but Killian had progressed far enough that a change was in order lest Killian’s progress stagnate.

2. Killian’s parents found a better program for him; one that would provide him the instruction he needed with the Tango. They also made an offer to pay the difference between the public and the private school, something they did not have to according to IDEA. The IEP team agreed with this.

“IDEA isn’t supposed to be about how much it costs. It’s about if it’s appropriate for the kid, he gets it,” Hynes said. “Still, I understand everybody has a budget, and we’re willing to work within that.”

3. Due Process hearing scheduled because the school district does not agree with the IEP.

4. Here is where it gets interesting. No one is certain why the school district did not agree with the IEP but District 203 Superintendent Alan Leis said the district believes it can provide appropriate instruction for Killian within the school system.

“We weren’t opposed to the technology at all,” he said. “We just wanted it integrated into a longer-term solution.”

According to the Suburban Chicago News, “special education and students’ rights attorney Laura Sinars, District 203’s legal counsel, indicated the only way District 203 would provide the device would be if the Hyneses agreed to send Killian to one of two programs the district preferred. District 203 either wanted to continue sending him to Summit for the summer, or enroll him in a District 203 program, which Killian’s IEP team already had deemed an inappropriate fit for his needs, Kevin said.”

5. The case was sent to state court instead of the usual Due Process hearing in a federal court because the school district did not oblige and provide Killian a Free and Appropriate Public Education. The state court sent it back to the County Circuit Court to be handled through IDEA. However, before it could be sent back to the federal courts, the District filed to dismiss the case because the family had not followed the proper Due Process proceedings.

Judge Shadur, who heard the case June 27 only because District 203 sought to have it dismissed, said he’d seldom been as troubled by a complaint.

“The undisputed picture here is regrettably one of the defendants holding, I guess, a 6-year-old autistic boy hostage, depriving him of what is without dispute really a promised Tango communication device, something that everyone agrees - even the professionals agree - is essential to his effective functioning,” Shadur said. “And to hold that back as what has to be viewed, I regret to say, as blackmail for his parents, seeking to compel them to accept a program that the defendant’s own professionals have found not to be in his best interest.”

Judge Shadur said the situation was “nothing short of appalling.”

“And I regret that the delay, the nondelivery, appears to be as inflicting serious damage on the boy’s progress in dealing with his extremely serious developmental difficulties,” he said.

Shadur denied District 203’s request to dismiss the case, and sent it back to DuPage County Circuit Court for trial June 29.

He also ordered the District to hand over the Tango.

6. In the DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Bonnie Wheaton felt the same as Shardur.

“I think Judge Shadur’s statement that this 6-year-old boy is being held hostage is absolutely four square and right on,” Wheaton said. “And I cannot, for the life of me, understand why the district would withhold this communicative device, which has evidently been proved to be a mechanism by which this autistic boy can communicate, merely because his parents have a dispute with the district over the remainder of his IEP.”

Wheaton ruled that District 203 was to immediately provide Killian with the Tango.

Just as Shadur had done.

7. Gag me? Allegedly, the Hynses could have have had the Tango even before the June 29th court date if they had signed a gag order.

According to the Suburban Chicago News the settlement proposal from Naperville School District 203 states: “You must agree never to disclose, publicize, publish, indicate or in any other manner communicate the comments made today by Milton Shadur or reference in any way today’s court appearance, the litigation you initiated against the district in court, the case name or number or the terms of the parties’ agreement to or with any other person or entity.”

Kevin Hynes told the paper he that he wants people to know what the district is doing. I still want the Tribune to cover it.

Autism Series: School
8 Steps to a Better IEP
Managing the IEP
How to Manage your Autistic Child’s IEP

Disclaimer: All information on this article is taken from Tim Waldorf’s article Judge: Dist. 203 ‘blackmailed’ parents and Wade Rankin.

Word Press, Technorati, Naperville School District 203, Autism, Wade Rankin, Suburban Chicago News, Tim Waldorf, Killian Hynes, IDEA, IEP, Tango, Summit School, Elgin, Carol Stream, Judge Wheaton, Judge Shadur, Chicago Tribune, Gag order, blackmail, Tags