[Sabrina Freeman]

Hello Chat Board Members:

It’s necessary to address the points Alex Barclay brought up in his recent post; there appears to be some ambiguity that must be addressed.

1. Board Certification

Board Certification is not a bad thing to have. That said, there are many talented Lovaas-type consultants who are not Board certified but are very skilled in saving children. Board certification would make no difference to the quality of programming developed by these highly qualified, talented and coveted (you know who you are) autism treatment practitioners; however, many in the field who have no qualifications or business doing ABA with disabled children would definitely benefit from Board certification since this would help ameliorate at least some of the terrible autism treatment incompetence B.C. is suffering with now.

What we need in British Columbia is not "generic" Board Certification, but a special type of certification that is beyond the scope of this discussion.

2. Fluency

I addressed the topic of Fluency in a recent post but it’s important to revisit and clarify those thoughts.

Parents using the Fluency protocol who would like to discuss issues unique to Fluency, or would like to hire and share therapists who have chosen to do Fluency, need to "get a room" — a Chat Room that is, on the ASBC discussion forum. I'm sure the ASBC will be glad to oblige since their mandate is to support parents in their choice of a variety of treatments. It’s important to emphasize again that this FEAT BC sponsored forum IS NOT a Fluency-ABA discussion board. This membership has come together to discuss topics relevant to science based autism treatment, which at this time is uniquely based in the Lovaas-type behavioral autism treatment protocol. If and when Fluency is considered "best practice" treatment, based on peer reviewed journal articles with compelling data, then the FEAT Board of Directors will include this treatment protocol in its mandate. For now, however, the Fluency protocol is experimental and discussions on Fluency are neither appropriate nor permissible on this board.

I respectfully ask that there be no further discussion on Fluency in the FEAT BC Internet forum. Disregarding this forum rule will regrettably result in termination of posting privilege.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Sabrina Freeman, Ph.D.
Executive Director
FEATBC

[Sabrina Freeman]

Hello Chat Board Members.

It's important and necessary to address several issues raised in the flurry of posts made to our discussion forum today. To save time, I'll address each topic without referring back to the original post from which it originates.

1. "Why is MCFD (Ministry for children's social services) funding Lovaas programs rather than the Ministry of Health (MOHS).

The courts are quite reticent (and rightfully so) to tread on government's prerogative to formulate and execute public policy; rather, where constitutional issues are involved, courts usually hand down a broadly constructed declaration, without micro-managing i.e., specifically ordering how government is supposed to fix a constitutional violation. So, in the Auton case, the BC Supreme Court ordered government to fund what was found to be medically necessary autism treatment, but it stopped short of telling government precisely how to do it and which Ministry should be responsible for funding the treatment (although MOHS was recommended by the judge).

Bureaucracies being the lumbering mass of inertia that they are, meaningful change is a near impossibility. The unfortunate result is that even after five judges have now handed down several landmark autism rulings, nothing has changed. It's as though no court case ever happened. The same incompetent and malevolent civil servants in Victoria (and we know them by name) are STILL there now, fighting for the Liberals instead of the NDP, on the run-up to the final hearing in the Supreme Court of Canada. This begs the question: Democracy … what Democracy? We in fact have a permanent, un-elected and harmful "government of senior bureaucrats" in BC, but most are unaware of this so far.

The Auton ruling strongly recommended that MOHS or Medicare fund medically necessary autism treatment. However, due to what is termed "judicial deference" to government and the elected legislature, BC Supreme Court stopped short of forcing the Ministry of Health to take responsibility for funding autism treatment. Nonetheless, this is EXACTLY where the court wanted responsibility for autism treatment to go – the decision is quite clear on this. So to sum up, it's the combination of judicial deference and stubborn Victoria bureaucrats that still has a social service ministry in charge of our children with all the negative consequences that entails.

2. Lack of Consultants and Consultants being too expensive

If the government fully funded every physician's prescription for the child who requires medically necessary autism treatment, then cost would not be an issue for families. In addition, more qualified consultants would come to B.C. because free markets quickly fill a vacuum.

3. Is there good, double-blind research showing that parental support is ineffective in helping parents and that supporting parents has a direct negative impact on ABA program

There is a very good between-subject design study out of Manitoba. Jocelyn et. al, demonstrates virtually no treatment benefit in either teaching day care workers about autism or teaching parents about autism. In this study, the children made no significant gains. By the way, these parents were also kept in the dark about Lovaas treatment, but that was considered 'ethical' in Canada by the rent-an-academic Health Technology Assessment office at UBC that testified against the families in Auton.

4. Board Certification: Important or Not?

Most ABA practitioners who are NOT doing Lovaas-ABA use Board Certification as the "be all and end all." These practitioners do not follow Lovaas' protocol which is the basis of the landmark 1987 study in which 47% or children were indistinguishable from their peers, 43% improved greatly, and 10% improved somewhat as compared to two control groups. These practitioners tout Board Certification because they have not been trained in, or are not using, Lovaas' protocol, which was tested in a robust between-subject study design, with 59 subjects — 19 in the experimental group, and 20 in each control group. These often-generic ABA practitioners are basing their experience on the hundreds of single-subject case designs coming out of the field of Applied Behavior Analysis. Some of these practitioners have a great amount of experience in autism. Others do not. They may know little or nothing about autism. Put simply, Board Certification is not a bad thing to have; however, it is not valid to view Board Certification as meaning that a practitioner is a) an expert in working with and programming for children with autism, and b) an expert in the protocol which Lovaas tested and retested numerous times from 1987 onward. Some families do not care whether Lovaas' protocol is followed tightly, loosely or at all. The vast majority of FEATBC parents have a markedly different perspective on this. They want the protocol that is tested, and has created the impressive results that Lovaas and colleagues have reported in peer-reviewed publications.

5. Fluency and Board Certified Behavior Analysts

There are a few parents who have chosen to not to use Lovaas' protocol, which encompasses, among other things, discrete trial training. Rather, these parents have chosen to use fluency, which is, in my opinion, a very young field in autism treatment. I am only aware of three peer-reviewed journal articles in which fluency is used (although that was six months ago and perhaps there has been another article published since). If memory serves, of the three articles, two were single-subject case designs (meaning a study with one child), and one study had a couple more children. These were not between-subject designs with a large number of children per condition. Therefore, the body of science thus far strongly indicates that 'fluency' as an autism treatment protocol is a very young sub-field. This said, science does progress and fluency may come to have meaningful scientific support in the coming years, or it may not. At this point, my opinion is that fluency is experimental. For those running fluency programs, Board Certification may be important. In contrast, for those doing Lovaas-ABA, Board Certification is in no way a prerequisite for securing a good consultant. I personally know five excellent consultants (in B.C. and in the U.S.) who are not Board Certified yet carry outstanding educational credentials and an enviable experience portfolio.

6. Fluency and FEATBC

I would suggest to those parents using fluency that they please contact the Autism Society of B.C. and have the ASBC create a Fluency Room on their Internet Discussion Forum. In this way, parents using fluency will be able to freely discuss the topic. The FEAT BC board is not the appropriate forum to discuss the fluency topic and therefore, neither is the recent thread on the importance of Board Certification.

Thank you.

Sabrina Freeman, Ph.D.
Executive Director
FEATBC

[Sabrina Freeman]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to add some thoughts to the points raised by Anon 9/17.

1. Purported abuse and home-based programs

Unless abuse is documented, it cannot be proven. For allegations to have veracity, a credible witness and law enforcement report would be a starting point. Otherwise, charges are specious and possibly agenda driven.

2. A patronizing attitude toward parents who live in the 'hinterland'

It is patronizing in the extreme to claim that parents outside the Lower Mainland are unable to get access to autism treatment for their children purportedly due to socioeconomic factors or distance from the lower mainland. Their children certainly deserve access to treatment no less than children living in the Lower Mainland. Ironically, it is the very system that Anon 9/17 defends — Gateway, social workers, etc. — that keeps many unfortunate parents in the dark. Instead of educating these parents about science-based treatment, what is served up are generic support services by government-funded agencies. The notion that only those in the Lower Mainland are able to run Lovaas programs is incorrect, elitist and offensive. Class, education and distance are no barriers to a Lovaas program — inadequate public funding is. Consultants can fly all over the province. Proximity to the lower mainland is irrelevant.

3. Parents who are case managers don't need Gateway services

Parents who function as the case managers for their children's Lovaas-type program do not need the "support" of Gateway because their consultants offer all the programming and direction required. If they are unable or unwilling to follow through on their consultant's directions, then it's a near certainty they will not benefit from any Gateway parent education either.

4. The New York Report

The New York Report is not a study; it is a comprehensive review of the state of the science in autism treatment. It took over a year to produce at a cost of several million dollars. It involved dozens of treatment professionals and academics from New York State and beyond who reviewed all the studies on autism diagnosis and treatment and concluded that intensive behavioral treatment constitutes best practice. Anyone who disagrees with this review has a considerable challenge using science to refute it. It is a very well done review that cannot easily be discredited and swept aside (although the government's lawyers and rent-an-academic services from UBC made a best effort during the Auton enquiry).

5. Government Support Services

No one is opposed to government helping families with support services. If the government would like to help parents with respite funding, for example, that's good and necessary in many instances. However, this should be separate and apart from the provision of Medicare funding for necessary autism treatment. Autism treatment insurance is a fundamental right of autistic children, not something that government must do to help a family cope with the onslaught of autism. In addition, if the government were to provide all parents with adequate individualized funding, rather than giving contracts to ineffective, inefficient and bloated service providers, the government would save a lot of money and parents would get a better level of service, whether that goes for respite or day-care.

In closing, I'd like to say there are many energetic and enthusiastic therapists who have compassion for the families and children, but they must not limit their thinking to the government line. Government has not been a good and noble force where children with autism are concerned. Particularly in the arena of this ongoing autism dispute, it's vitally important to question authority.

Moreover, this is not a left-right issue. Although class warfare drives much of BC politics, it most emphatically does not characterize the struggle for universal access to necessary autism treatment. All of us have come together to challenge an unresponsive and entrenched system that has evolved in a VERY bad way for the children it is meant to serve. We are changing that system for the benefit of ALL our children, but this takes a generation of citizens committed to the proposition that authority can be wrong, and that merely because things are the way they are does not mean they are good and valid.

Why are people with special needs ghettoized, stripped of their dignity and their fundamental rights abrogated by government and others? Why is it that parents are so angry and litigious? Why does FEATBC even exist if the system were working so well? The next time a Gateway employer or ministry representative gives information, or spins a court decision a certain way, stand up to them, be a critical thinker and don't allow an army of government communication officers to mold the way you think. It is myopic government thinking and policies that have now led five judges to affirm that the constitutional rights of children with autism have been breached — and continue to knowingly be breached — by the Government of British Columbia.

Some fortitude is necessary to label a wholesale failure for what it is and then act to change a system for the better. Moral clarity is prerequisite in challenging foggy government thinking and narrow contracted service providers' self interest.

Sabrina

[Sabrina Freeman]

Hi all,

This coming July 19th, FEAT is bringing a Behavioral Therapist Workshop to the Island. This is an excellent opportunity for Islanders to benefit from an ABA workshop that's closer to home. I strongly recommend that all interested islanders attend this event since the subsequent island session will likely be several after this upcoming July workshop.

You can download a registration form and workshop flyer from the FEAT server at this address:
https://featbc.org/downloads/abtw.pdf

Please send registration with payment as soon as possible. We regret it is not possible to reserve a spot by phoning FEAT BC. Since space is limited to only 70 people, a seat can only be guaranteed when you mail in the registration form with payment.

We hope to see all you Islanders at the workshop!

Sabrina Freeman, PH.D.
Executive Director,
FEATBC

[Sabrina Freeman]

Hello everyone.

I wanted to post a note to the group about my daughter today because too often, parents of older kids who have reached milestones don’t share with parents of younger kids who are just at the beginning of the journey. I thought I’d share an uplifting moment with all of you since we sometimes work so hard with our children we may not always recognize and appreciate the progress our kids are making — we’re so up close and “in the trenches.”

Our 15-year-old daughter, Miki, just performed her annual piano recital at the Langley Community Music School concert hall; Miki played two George Gershwin pieces. She got up on that stage, bowed, played her music — all memorized (no score) — then bowed again and sat down completely independently. She was solo in every sense of the word.

My child is not indistinguishable from her peers; however, she has a full life and because of the method pioneered by Lovaas and colleagues, she was able to realize (and is continuing to realize) her full musical potential. We taught her to read music, write and play music using Discrete Trial Training, imitation, various kinds of modeling, as well as many other “tools” in the ABA kit bag. So, for those of you whose children are still at the stage where you may be wondering whether your child will ever toilet-train, just know that we parents of older children have been in EXACTLY the same place and now see our children achieving things we never imagined or could have predicted.

If you would like to have a listen to Miki’s two piano recital pieces, click here for a “virtual” seat at the concert hall:

ftp://skfbooks.com/downloads/Miki_plays_Gershwin.mp3

Sabrina
(Miki’s Mom)

[Sabrina Freeman]

Hello everyone,

I’ve been following the SEA thread closely on the Chat over the past few days and would like to contribute some thoughts.

First, I have to say it’s wonderful to be part of a discussion group with so many eloquent people who are passionate about this cause and willing to take time to share views on such an important topic.

Regarding Anon 5:13 (06/12/03), here we clearly have a prime example of what happens when a grossly inadequate Special Education status quo is challenged and powerful organizations that constitute the special education system perceive an exogenous threat to the stability and continuity of this system. Anon 5:13 speaks to several issues. I’ve roughly broken these down into eight main points and addressed each below.

MYTH 1: We want all your SEA jobs and you to be “booted out!”

FACT: FEAT BC has had a longstanding, open invitation in place for public school SEAs, both through their SEA association (PENBC) and individually, to join this discussion group so as to afford an opportunity to post in the Classifieds area of the board to advertise availability to work as a junior therapist on a Lovaas–ABA team. This is how an SEA can learn to be a therapist, under the direction and guidance of a qualified Lovaas-ABA consultant. In fact, this is likely how Anon 5:13 signed on for a Chat account to be part of THIS discussion. The trouble is many public school SEAs have little incentive — nor desire — to do the work necessary to ‘retool’ for effective in-school support of the child who’s in a Lovaas program.

Some of the issues involved in the education dispute for kids with autism:
1) It takes time to retool and learn the new skills required to effectively support the Lovaas-treated child.
2) Many SEAs have families themselves, need to be home for their own kids and may not be sufficiently flexible for autism treatment shifts.
3) Some SEAs believe that what children with autism receive in school today for their specific health care need is good enough, despite what four BC Superior Court judges have ruled regarding medically necessary autism treatment and government’s obligations regarding this neglected health issue.
4) Other SEAs “will be damned” if parents or a child’s Lovaas Treatment consultant have any meaningful role in producing an IEP that “tells SEAs what to do.”

That said, some SEAs do indeed join home-based treatment teams, stick it out and go on to become excellent therapists and SEAs.

MYTH 2: SEAs are highly educated professionals with 2 years of university caliber training.

FACT: The SEA course is a 2-year, part-time diploma that isn’t even of sufficient quality to be transferable towards a university degree i.e., a BA or BSC. Moreover, the SEA diploma course teaches nothing substantive about autism and certainly nothing meaningful for the specialized work necessary for bona fide behavioural intervention. If an SEA is fortunate, he or she may receive a one-week introduction to autism, but little else. After the course, it is clearly beyond debate that the SEA is NOT sufficiently qualified for front-line support of a child who’s in a Lovaas Treatment program. The system that churns out generic SEAs in this province is hopelessly inadequate for children receiving Lovaas Treatment. Anon 5:13’s ignorance in this respect does not make the fact less valid.

One thing we know the purportedly “respected” union college diploma program does teach SEAs is how to RESTRAIN a child with autism (ironically, this is the ONE skill an SEA never needs for the child who is in a genuine Lovaas-ABA program). Along that line of thinking, school district hiring policies (according to job postings we monitor) very much favour those candidates with an ability to “lift” i.e., euphemism for the physical size and strength necessary to restrain “problem kids”. This “asset” is written into the job posting. Disturbing as it sounds, this IS the reality of BC school district SEA hiring criteria for the child with autism — the honest reflection of the harmful, outmoded special-ed system we’re up against.

MYTH 3: Therapists are “scab” labour at $8.00 per hour

FACT: The vast majority of therapists who work with our children are very well educated and studying for their undergraduate degrees, or already hold a B.A. degree or are M.A. students working and studying concurrently. Most Lovaas-ABA therapists are high caliber people on their way to being top-tier autism treatment professionals who will likely be the next generation of Lovaas-ABA consultants. Any comparison with past and current crops of public education SEAs is really not a fair contest.

This talented group of young people rightly understands that working as a Lovaas-ABA therapist is a valuable stepping-stone opportunity for a student; they receive considerable autism treatment training as they get paid. In contrast, public school autism education opportunities for SEAs are typically comprised of one-day, two-day or five-day workshops given by people who wouldn’t know bona fide autism treatment if they stepped on it. Home-based treatment teams are the way therapists prepare the way for graduate school; this is valuable experience that is gained with flexible hours. Any Lovaas-ABA therapist who may not wish to continue with academic studies knows the only conceivable reason to waste time and money with the SETA course is simply for a piece of perfunctory parchment that will pave the way to being hired by a school district. Aside from this, they already have more knowledge and capability in medically necessary autism treatment than the entire SEA staff combined.

In terms of student remuneration, every last parent wishes they could pay more, but it’s vitally important to focus in on the following key point in any discussion surrounding pay for a home-based autism treatment team: government historically hasn’t given parents a single penny for autism treatment until the recent history of FEAT BC lobbying efforts and the Auton legal struggles in BC’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. Things are better now for parents; there is partial funding available for some, but most many families still go it alone. This means the need to hire a team of four or five people, plus the services of a qualified consultant. In many respects, the daunting task of putting a treatment team together is not unlike the cost and complexity of running a small business, except that the books are decidedly lopsided — all numbers are exclusively on the EXPENSE side of the ledger. Anon 5:13 surely must know there’s no revenue side to the “business” of saving one’s child from the ravages of autism.

Stated simply, even $8 dollars an hour is a HUGE burden when scaled up to 40 hours a week, 52 weeks per year, plus consulting costs and supplies. Even now, with some government help for a few, most parents still have to come up with approximately $30,000 to $40,000 per year to provide sufficient autism therapy. Clearly most Canadians can’t hope to sacrifice enough to pay for that kind of necessary health care. The student rate, therefore, is all most can afford until such time as the autism treatment dispute with government is finally resolved. Every intelligent therapist understands the catastrophic nature of the health care burden shouldered by the family that has chosen to save their child from this debilitating disorder.

MYTH 4: Parents want to take over the classroom

FACT: Quite the opposite is true. We want teachers to teach in exactly the same way they teach children who do not struggle against autism. That’s why the in-class assistant needs to be up to speed on the specialized knowledge required to make sure the Lovaas-treated child has access to the same educational curriculum as all other children in the class. Without that kind of qualified SEA capability, the autistic child is quite simply blocked from learning. Moreover, without consistency between school and the home program, the child’s progress in the battle against autism – hard won — will quickly be undone in an incompetent classroom. No teacher, even one with exceptional skill and ability, can be expected to successfully teach a class that includes an autistic child who does not have an in-class assistant that is qualified in medically necessary autism treatment. The qualified SEA functions as both an interpreter for the child and also as the treatment professional who ensures that the child can remain in the classroom. Absent this type of qualified health care support in school, the child becomes effectively segregated in his or her own little world, learning nothing and, in the worst case scenario, possibly gets kicked out of the classroom due to entirely preventable aberrant behavior. The next step usually leads to an institutionalized setting at a residential school. In short, an untrained SEA in the classroom is far from innocuous but rather, serves as the gateway to ‘Gateway’ and eventual institutionalization.

MYTH 5: ABA is all about teaching a child to “do tricks like a dog”

FACT: Apart from the obvious fact that the Pavlovian allusion is offensive in the extreme, it could also not possibly be more ignorant about what constitutes the behavioural treatment protocol the U.S. Surgeon General, and other health authorities, put at the top of the list of recommended treatments for children with autism.

It’s important to stress that effectively treating a child’s autism so he or she can attain all the life skills required for independence can hardly be labeled a dog trick. In the same vein, the autism treatment knowledge therapists acquire about the theory, practice and nuances of bona fide Lovaas-ABA, is a valuable asset gained from working on a home-based team. Therapists are the front line troops in a very difficult, complex endeavour of saving children.

Why is it that when typically developing children amass skills, it is fine to be proud of them; however, when a child with autism builds through difficult developmental stages manually and ‘brick by brick,’ through intensive one-on-one work, that this is somehow illegitimate? The end result is an unquestionably desirable outcome of overcoming autism related hurdles toward the achievement of crucial developmental milestones. Why is a child with autism not treated with dignity and respect for having amassed self-help, pre-academic and academic skills, social and play skills, imitation and joint attention skills via the intervention of a Lovaas-ABA therapist, rather than naturalistically (which they simply can never do on their own)? And, why do apparently more than a few who work in the public education system insist on stigmatizing these children by calling their hard won skills “tricks?” The answer is disturbingly straightforward: ignorance — a total lack of knowledge regarding what constitutes Lovaas-ABA. Sadly, the knowledge vacuum in BC public schools seems to be filled only with hearsay harvested from insecurity, fear and suspicion.

MYTH 6: Children with autism do not regress, “blah, blah, blah,” with untrained people

FACT: Children who have had the benefit of Lovaas-ABA but are as yet not indistinguishable from their peers, regrettably do regress when their SEA is untrained in this specialized treatment protocol; this is no longer a matter for debate. It is well documented from data taken by many therapy teams. In addition, academic literature shows how special education has a long history of harming children with autism. These children may not lose ALL their skills but behaviourally they often regress to the point of being deemed “out of control,” at which point SEAs or others at school typically invoke government workplace safety clauses to force removal of the child from school. How can this be … simply because SEAs do not have the inclination or a requirement to retool? Of course this defense, and the system of neglect it hopes to protect, are harmful holdovers from an obsolete special needs era – anachronisms that simply will not stand under the rigour of any impartial enquiry.

MYTH 7: FEAT-BC is a large organization backed by big bucks “Corporate America,” has a huge staff pulling down six-digit salaries at the gleaming Langley Towers Plaza.

FACT: FEAT-BC has no paid professionals and membership is free. The organization receives no funding from any government or corporate sources. There are no outside funding sources for the operations of this self-help group. In other words, we’re talking 100% volunteer perspiration and a crew that runs on close to no money but truckloads of heart, dedication and a deep commitment to see that justice is done for children with autism. Understandably, this fact could be very disturbing and difficult for some to comprehend (Read: the legions of under-qualified SEAs, overpaid AND under-qualified government bureaucrats in the children’s ministry, and the overpaid and perplexingly overrated constitutional lawyers in the A/G’s office) but nevertheless, the fact stands.
I should mention that FEAT BC actually IS big in two ways: ideas and we have truth on our side. The truth, of course, is that every child with autism has a right to public funding for medically necessary autism treatment, regardless of ability to pay, and that necessary health service must not be blocked from the publicly funded classroom.

MYTH 8: Lovaas-ABA therapists in home-based programs could possibly be miscreants who may “put other children at risk.”

FACT: Oh, please… we all know better. In order to work with a school district the prospective employee must go through a police background check as standard procedure. Moreover, we parents are the case managers for our children’s home-based programs. That means we’re supervising therapy sessions and are not likely to have “sex offenders” working under our very noses and in our homes providing therapy … for non-verbal children. It’s best to dispense with this odious myth and not dignify it further.

I hope this discussion sheds more light on what underlies the deep, ongoing dispute with public education in this province. I’m sure we’ll all be hearing a lot more about this important topic in the weeks and months to come.

Sabrina Freeman, Ph.D.
Executive Director, FEAT BC
(A 100% volunteer, non-profit organization)

[Sabrina Freeman]

RE: upcoming autism court case

As many of you know, the upcoming court case for autism treatment —
Anderson et al. vs. the BC Government (which is really an extension of Auton et al. vs. the BC Government) — is tentatively slated
for June 17th 2003. Here is detailed information for all those who would like
to watch the proceedings.

1) Court dates and times: June 17th and 18th

2) The proceedings will take place in the Supreme Court section of the
Vancouver Law Courts. The address is: 800
Smithe St., Vancouver. Parking is available underground.

3) The court is in session from 10:00 am to 12:30 PM and 2:00 PM to 4:00
PM. Everyone should arrive by 9:45 am to
allow enough time to settle in — it is very important that everyone is
seated and quiet by precisely 10:00 am when the
Judge enters.

4) For those of you attending the proceedings, there are a few important
court rules we need to keep in mind:

– tape recorders, cell phones and pagers are not permitted in the
courtroom.
– jeans are not permitted in the courtroom
– no comments, moans or groans are permitted. The judge may ask a person
to leave the courtroom for these reasons.
The lawyers for the crown may say things that you may vehemently disagree with.
However, it’s very important for everyone in
the courtroom to stay calm and in control.

5) The lawyers representing the parents have informed me that they will
not be available for questions during the breaks
or during lunch since they will be working on the case during this time.
The lawyers have instructed the steering committee
to take all questions anyone has regarding the case — we will make sure
they receive the questions after proceedings
conclude that day.

Children with autism receiving Lovaas Treatment are once again about to have their
day in the Supreme Court of BC. I am sure many
of you are looking forward to these legal proceedings and I very much
look forward to seeing you in the courtroom!

Sabrina

[Sabrina Freeman]

RE: upcoming autism court case

As many of you know, the upcoming court case for autism treatment —
Anderson et al. vs. the BC Government (which is really an extension of Auton et al. vs. the BC Government) — is tentatively slated
for June 17th 2003. Here is detailed information for all those who would like
to watch the proceedings.

1) Court dates and times: June 17th and 18th

2) The proceedings will take place in the Supreme Court section of the
Vancouver Law Courts. The address is: 800
Smithe St., Vancouver. Parking is available underground.

3) The court is in session from 10:00 am to 12:30 PM and 2:00 PM to 4:00
PM. Everyone should arrive by 9:45 am to
allow enough time to settle in — it is very important that everyone is
seated and quiet by precisely 10:00 am when the
Judge enters.

4) For those of you attending the proceedings, there are a few important
court rules we need to keep in mind:

– tape recorders, cell phones and pagers are not permitted in the
courtroom.
– jeans are not permitted in the courtroom
– no comments, moans or groans are permitted. The judge may ask a person
to leave the courtroom for these reasons.
The lawyers for the crown may say things that you may vehemently disagree with.
However, it’s very important for everyone in
the courtroom to stay calm and in control.

5) The lawyers representing the parents have informed me that they will
not be available for questions during the breaks
or during lunch since they will be working on the case during this time.
The lawyers have instructed the steering committee
to take all questions anyone has regarding the case — we will make sure
they receive the questions after proceedings
conclude that day.

Children with autism receiving Lovaas Treatment are once again about to have their
day in the Supreme Court of BC. I am sure many
of you are looking forward to these legal proceedings and I very much
look forward to seeing you in the courtroom!

Sabrina

[Sabrina Freeman]

Hello everyone.

I’ve been following with interest the thread in recent days on the special education assistant topic; I’d like to add some thoughts.

First, I want to sincerely thank the anonymous SEA for contributing to this group and for bringing up the topic of public special education and the province-wide autism controversy surrounding it. These discussions present a very good opportunity to talk about the special education structure as it relates to ABA and the issues that are at the heart of the long running conflict between the school system and parents of children with autism who are in medically necessary, home-based treatment programs.

Before I discuss the flawed public education structure for children with autism and the systemic conflicts it spawns, it’s important to recognize the tremendous stability of the organizational culture we are facing in the public school system. In the case of the current discussion on this board, we have an EA who has been newly hired and is employed by a system that has quickly resocialized him or her to think the way THEY do i.e., that parents are somehow the problem in the autism controversy at school, rather than the system itself. This speaks to the power of education’s influence over the way ‘inductees’ in special education think and perceive the world, in particular about the legitimate concerns of parents of children with autism regarding the harmful, systemic autism discrimination that characterizes the BC special education system.

The alacrity of this resocialization process frankly takes my breath away — and I’m all too familiar with the harmful dynamic of intransigent government bureaucrats and wholly self-interested unions doing what is their mandate: putting the rights of workers first.

For new parents who have a need to know and for all well-meaning SEA's who may be either misinformed or misled, here's a thumbnail sketch of the exceedingly dysfunctional structure we face in special education.

The school district is comprised of three groups:
1) Board of Trustees (elected officials)
2) Administration (career bureaucrats, technically hired by the Trustees)
3) ‘Partners’ (a friendly euphemism for unions i.e. the folks that represent – and fight for — the SEA’s … against YOU in any dispute)

Make no mistake; the people who really call the shots in your school district (99% of the time) are the unions: BCTF (the teachers’ union) and CUPE (the support workers/janitors’ union), and there are others.

The School District Administration has a difficult job. They need to keep the unions happy, otherwise they have nasty labour trouble; however, they also have to keep the Board of Trustees happy. Walking that fine line, school administration bureaucrats often use the threat of union ‘trouble’ to make sure the Board of Trustees does what is expedient to keep labour harmony. This is typically operationalized by doing all possible to squash ABA related complaints – as quickly as possible. During this last election, the union even infiltrated many Boards of Trustees to a greater extent than before. Today, many Boards are actually union strongholds (democracy under special interest attack?).

If you are a parent of a child with autism, why should you care about all this? Well, if you have a problem with an untrained and/or lazy, dangerous EA or SEA, your ultimate recourse will be to hire lawyers and pursue a complaint under Section 11 of the B.C. School Act. Using this procedure, you will go in front of the Board of Trustees (who are the de facto judges in the complaint) to plead your case. The school district administration will then do all possible to convince the “judges” that they cannot get rid of the SEA because the union will, in the vernacular, “go nuts.” So, this kangaroo court known as the Section Eleven complaint process will never actually adjudicate properly because either the Board is too scared of the union or the union has stacked i.e. infiltrated the Board. In addition, in the unlikely event the Board of Trustees is good and decent, they do not have the expertise to sit in judgment where a Charter challenge is at issue. The autism controversy in health and education is intertwined with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

And after the parent invariably loses the Section 11 hearing as a matter of preordained School District necessity, then the matter is closed. There is no mechanism in the B.C. School Act that allows the complaint to move forward to be heard before a REAL judge in the B.C. Supreme Court. It’s worthwhile to emphasize that since I entered the B.C. Autism Wars in 1995, I have never heard of a child with autism winning a Section 11 complaint hearing — ever. Not even once. Regrettably this has been the case even when world-class lawyers (the best in the biz) have represented the child. In short, there is no legitimate due process for children with autism in the school system. The complaint mechanism is hopelessly flawed and can fairly be characterized as a 'Kangaroo Court' designed to prop up a morally bankrupt special education system.

Unless an EA physically assaults your child or does some other criminal act, you cannot get in front of a real judge, even if your child is in danger! So, for anyone who thinks that there is a way to work with the system, please think about this:

– The special education system only cares about job security and union seniority
– There is no legitimate complaint process (feel free to speak to me after your failed Section 11 complaint)

Truth is that the schools are breaching our children’s Section 15(1) Charter Rights each and every day, and children with autism have absolutely no formal rights, regardless of how “nice” and “friendly” the parents are to ‘powers that be’ in the system.

To ‘Anon EA,’ if I can leave you with only one thought to ponder in all of this: please don’t blame the victim in this ugly autism war — the onus isn’t on the victim to play nice.

Sabrina
(Miki’s Mom)

[Sabrina Freeman]

Hello Everyone.

This note is for those interested in attending the upcoming Autism Behavioural Therapist Workshop at S.F.U.

We've been getting a fair number of calls regarding the workshop so I wanted to mention that mailing a registration form with payment is the only way to secure a spot for this opportunity. Please send in your registration early and space availability will not be an issue.

For payment, please send the registration with cheque only. We cannot process Visa or MasterCard. To download a flyer and registration form, please click here:
https://featbc.org/downloads/abtw.pdf

Thank you.

[Author]

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