Making sure Harrison Has a Voice and Stake in the IEP Process!

To My First Grade Teacher:

My name is Harrison I am going to be in your class this year and I will be 8 years old in December. I live with my parents David and Gerriann Armstrong.

I love to be outside, monster trucks, construction equipment, rescue vehicles, and sports. I am a season ticket holder for the Spokane SHOCK. I love to swim and take lessons often. When I am overwhelmed I like to ride my scooter to help me put things into perspective year round. When the weather is bad I swing on my therapy swings, especially my platform swing.

I have a dog named Buddy. I live 5 blocks from school. I have a friend named Jared (Ferris is his camp name) who hangs out with me to give mom and dad a break. He may come to school one day a week to help out in our classroom . We just need to decided which day of the week works best for us to have him! He can help with all kinds of things not just working with me! My mom is an approved volunteer and plans to help out often.

I have been in school since I was 3 years old.

I have a diagnosis of Autism that I received when I was 4 years old. My parents have invested a great deal of time, energy, effort and money in helping me to be the person that I am today and the person I will become in the future. I go to private Speech and Occupational Therapy on Wednesday afternoons from 1 PM to 3 PM.

This Past Summer Accomplishments:

• I went to summer day camp by myself for the first time. I swam everyday and played at Mission Park.
• I attended all the Spokane Shock Games except the playoffs- it was too loud. I have an autograph book that my mom made that I asked the players to sign for me.
• My dad and I completed many wood projects at Lowes Build and Grow Clinics. I made a monster truck, race car, a bug box, and a UFO to name a few.
• I attended 13 Spokane Indians Baseball Games. I have an autograph book that I asked the players to sign for me with their baseball cards.
• I spent some time with classmates from last year going to Discovery Park, Splash Pads, and Green Bluff.
• I spent a week at Grandma and Grandpas in the TriCities where I made a pine wood derby car with Grandpa using power tools.
• I had a great summer!

My biggest Accomplishments Last Year:

• I have learned to demonstrate the skill of reading to my teachers this past school year.
• I have attended multiple birthday parties outside of school with my classmates.
• I have walked to school alone with older kids from our neighborhood
• I have play dates with my classmates outside of school without my mom, dad or Andrea being there.
• I learned to dive into the deep end of the swimming pool at the YMCA.
• I spent Spring Break at my grandparents house in the Tri-Cites alone and had a great time riding my scooter with Grandma.

Areas for Improvement:

• Even with my medication, I have a hard time with directions if they are too long or have many steps.
• Penmanship is hard for me. I have a hard time making the letters and words appear appropriately. I know the correct strokes for the letters but they don’t always come out correctly.
• I don’t often color in the lines and drawing is hard too. I can trace well and I try hard to copy pictures or drawings when others work with me.
• I have a hard time waiting, especially in a line, while the rest of my classmates are joining us.
• I have not figured out how to demonstrate the skills required in math yet. Yet I can count and I recognize both large and small numbers in context of the community and money.
• I have a really hard time being first, I like to see what is expected and then follow along. A good example is roll call with a last name of Armstrong I am certain to be first or close to first most of the time.

Some things you should know about my character:

· Anxiety causes me to chew on things. I have rubber bracelets to chew. I will not swallow them or choke on them. Mom wants to work with you on moving to chewing gum instead of pencils, markers, the bracelets, etc. She will work with my team to get something in place.

· I do not compete for attention unless it is my parents or Jared/Ferris’.

· I am a follower and will do things that my classmates ask me to do just as easily as if it came from an adult.

· Without prompting, I will not volunteer to answer questions, even though I know the answer.

· Just because I am not looking at you does not mean that I am not listening to you. I find it hard to look at you and listen to you at the same time.

· I am always listening to things around me. I have a hard time filtering out noise.

· Too much noise makes me nervous and makes it hard to do what is asked of me.

· I do not like to be spoken to loudly or be witness to others being spoken to loudly-it scares me. Mom sternly uses the phrase “Harrison NO!” when she needs me to stop immediately. I will stop.

· I hum or whistle uncontrollably when happy or nervous. It is a self calming response. It is not intended to make you crazy or be disruptive. I can not stop it, please don’t make me try, it just makes it worse.

· I love to be around other children, I do not always understand how to play or join in with them. If you see that I want to play or my classmates want to play with me, please give me the words or cues needed to join in with my peers.

A special note:

My parents believe in me and my abilities. They subscribe to the models of inclusion set by Temple Grandin and her mother Eustacia Cutler. Mom shares the “Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew” article and books by Ellen Notbohm with all who work with me…please don’t be offended it just explains why she does the things that she does and it has worked for both of us so far.

Rebuilding Together Project Photos

Spokane Public Schools-School Board Speech

I presented this speech on April 14th, 2010. I feel great about my decision to speak on something that is so dear to my heart. Change must happen and it needs to begin somewhere-no better person that me!:

Good Evening,
My name is Gerriann Armstrong, a parent of a child at Whitman Elementary. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. I came this evening for 2 reasons. The first is the April is Autism Awareness Month. My son Harrison was diagnosised with Autism when he was 4 years old. We participated in the Preschool Program with the District and I would rate our experience as successful. The transition to Elementary School was not so much. Without getting into too much detail last year we fought a self contained placement in a Designed Instruction Classroom to the point of costing the district thousands of dollars in legal fees as well as our family. The end result is the most important…we choose not to take special education services from District 81 this past school year and trust what we knew to be true that my son could manage a general education classroom and learn. Whitman is our neighborhood school and they were thrust into the middle of this stand off and I want to recognize the Principal Bev Lund and the General Education Teacher Kari Hammond for the wonderful job of rebuilding a relationship with District 81 that was severely damaged last year. My son still receives no special education services however I have learned to trust the staff at Whitman and believe that they understand where the line of services is drawn. We have shared that we are not leaving the school and that whatever they are able to offer Harrison there is appreciated but that he will always have a seat (yes a desk) in a general education classroom- this way he knows and his classmates know that they all belong together!

Secondly, I am concerned about our districts test scores concerning No Child Left Behind or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act particularly the ones related to children with Special Education Services. According to the District AYP Message in the Annual Report Card 2009 that was sent home the week after spring break a justification was made that because smaller school districts have less students they were able to meet the requirements. Looking the Proficiency Goals for all the grades, the category of Special Education did not pass in a single category or grade level. I ask you why…if a smaller school district with less kids with less money, can do it why cant we? What is different in those districts? It is my belief and one that I think needs to be said is the difference between us and the small school districts that passed…they don’t have segregated self contained classrooms for their children with disabilities (DI classrooms) because they can’t afford them. I am saying we can’t afford them either at the level we are using them.

My son attended a special education Integrated Kindergarten last year…he learned how to do school however the belief was that my son had such low cognitive functioning that he was unable to learn in the general education classroom and that he would be a life skills kid- counting change and riding the bus. Life Skills are my job to teach as a parent I expect the school to provide the academic knowledge that he needs to be successful in employment or higher education. This year my son is working at grade level in many areas. Because of his disability we have areas of work that most other children do not…however we have private therapies that are helping in those areas. My son is learning in the same general education classroom that we were told he was too low in cognitive functioning to make progress there.

In a general education classroom my son is an active part of the class not just a “visitor” who comes to hanging out furthering the indoctrination of the stereotype that people with disabilities are different and therefore must be segregated from the “normal people.” My son needs a little more access to the teacher to understand the assignment but does not need an entirely different assignment or curriculum to learn. Teachers can teach from a cereal box if they need to and all kids can learn. Many parents do not have issues with the general education teachers- many of us have found that they are willing to try anything to make it work however the issues comes from the special education teachers or administrators who are saying without saying the words there is no money to provide the support your child needs and since we have the special education self-contained disabled only classroom down the hall or over at a neighboring school that is where we are sending you because its cheaper for us and you have unrealistic views of your child’s abilities. I am sure that none of you have been told that but there are many families who have been told that…too many who have children with Autism or Aspersers. I am calling for the development of best practices for educating children with Autism in our district. With 1 in 70 boys being affected we need to implement or replicate best practices in our state or if we cant find something that will work for us then we need to be the leaders that our children need and develop them. All our children will benefit!!!

Rebuilding Together-project begins!

On Friday April 16th, 2010 the first stages of the minor home repairs started. The concrete slab that was in very poor condition has been removed and a retaining wall has been installed to help with keeping the yard and its dirt in its spots off the concrete. Harrison came home from a birthday party after school on Friday and immediately asked: "Who took our concrete and why did they bring us dirt? " The next statment was "Lets get my monster trucks so that we can go mud truck racing! " It was a fun weekend of playing with the clean dirt. Dave and I loved seeing him play in the dirt and are looking forward to the vegetable garden raised beds so that Harrison can have a place to dig and play while growing salad veggies! THANK YOU!

Autism Fundraiser

Autisum Fundraiser/Artist Polly Powel

1:00 - 3:00

$25.00 / person
This painting will be for all the autistic children participating.

Artist Polly Powel will take the children step by step and with the help of the volunteers from the O.T. department and all the parents, the children will have a painting they will be pround of.

Sign up today for the cause! Call for more information (208) 651-2110

Lets Go Fly A Kite

Easter weekend came and went...it was nice to have all of us home and nothing pressing but downtime. Harrison enjoyed the Easter Bunny's visit and love the Monster Trucks and the new kite he got!

A Monster Size Dream Comes True!

It seems like when good things come they come all at once or maybe it is just that we are finally in a good place to enjoy the milestones that we are reaching everyday. It seems like I am seeing progress daily in Harrison and his abilities. I wonder if it is just because he is more confident in himself or because I am more confident in his abilities. I know that hearing the words "Harrison is so smart" at his conference has eased our minds so much about school that we are enjoying the everyday things more! Here is a video that Dave shot showing just how much fun we had at the Checkered Flag Productions Event in Wenatchee, WA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIM4evcS-WM

Huge Thank you to Rebuilding Together

What a suprise when a neighbor came over wtih a copy of an email that was sent to her by her employer Providence Health Care asking them to help support the Program Rebuilding Together Spokane that shared our story...

Rebuilding Together is a Non-Profit that helps veterans with minor home repair. In December while giving away some surplus pull-ups (yeah-no more pullups- we finally made it to potty trained) on Craigs list I ran across a posting for this agency that was looking for veterans in our neighborhood to help with minor home repair. I called and spoke with Cody who I am sure was suprised when I wanted to know the income guidelines for the program. He wanted to know about us. We made application and met with staff of the non-profit right before Christmas. We were hopeful but did not expect anything. The week of my birthday in January we were notified that Rebuilding Together had chosen our family to assist and not only with the painting and fixing the handrails leading into the house that our home owners insurance wants done but they were going to try to get us a new heating system and hot water heater. We were overjoyed!

The work day is scheduled for April 24th! We are so excited and so blessed! THANK YOU!

A good Conference

It was so nice to go to a school conference and get a one page sheets outlining Harrisons strengths and areas for improvement.

The strengths can not all be explained by maturing but some can and any of the areas for improvement were directly related to Autism. He is reading at grade level which is a huge accomplishment.

We are planning on working with the school to make a difference in writing which continues to be a HUGE issue. We are interested in if anyone has information on assistive technology that works for writing/fine motor academics we dont even know where to start looking...

Have a great day!

An Amazing Adventure

Have you ever felt like your life is just happening all around you? I have for a long time and it finally seems that we are on the right track. The school year has progressed very well. Harrison is still currently unserviced by Spokane Public Schools because we refused services last spring. He has learned to read. We are still struggling with writing and performance on demand issues however it is much easier to see what he is learning and how you can help with the "hard" stuff when you are allowed to be part of the process.

Harrison has new friends who hang out with us often. Because we are in our neighborhood school we have met many of our neighbors and they have embraced Harrison like one of their own. He has been invited to multiple birthday parties and play dates (We have had the play dates here-I know if need to let him go out too). Many of Harrisons classmates live within a 3 block area so it is nice to know that we will see them this summer while out riding bikes and our scooter.

Harrisons love of Monster Trucks is even more strong than it was last year. He love to see the trucks on SPEED. We have attended Monster Jam in Feburary and then a CheckerFlag Productions Event in Pasco in March. My vote is to got to the Checkered Flag Productions Events as they are really what Monster Truck and Off Road Racing is all about...It really is an awesome show...in a week or so I will share what we were able to do because of them! Lets Just say that Checkered Flag Productions is making a huge dream come true for Harrison!

On a positive note: I will be working with Families Together for People with Disabilities to provide trainings on Transitions into Adulthood and a workshop that is designed to assist family with elementary age children make positive choices in education planning and life planning. Be looking for those soon here in the Spokane Area!