About 30 local residents attended a workshop on special education rights and responsibilities hosted by the Autism Parent Club of San Benito County Oct. 25 at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital’s Great Room.
The group coordinated to have Anne M. Zachary, the CEO of KPS4Parents, Inc., talk to local parents through a variety of topics such as referrals for services; assessments; developing present levels of performance/baselines; developing appropriate and measurable goals; determining services and placement; and implementing individual education plans with fidelity. Jawantey Morris, a local advocate, also spoke at the workshop.
Zachary donated her time, with the group fundraising to cover her travel expenses. Attendees to the workshop included members of the parent club, school administrators and others.
Liv Johns, a member of the Autism Parent Club, helped to coordinate the workshop.
Marcella Harris, who has been involved with the parent group for more than 10 years, said it is not exclusive to families dealing with autism but is open to anyone dealing with a family member with special needs. She also stressed that it is open to those adults with special needs or family members of adults with special needs. Harris said the club evolves to what the participants want in terms of the workshops they offer.
“It is a volunteer support group so they can decide what they want to do,” Harris said. “They can choose to be more social or focus on awareness or fundraising.”
Parents pay $5 per meeting or sign up for an annual membership of Parents Helping Parents for $50, with no fee charged at meetings.
One of the suggestions from Zachary for the local community is that when a family prepares for an IEP meeting – to have a roundtable discussion with other parents. Harris said sometimes when parents meet with school administrators and teachers, they can be the ones who know the least about it.
“The schools know the process,” Harris said. “But parents get a stack of papers. It was suggested it would be a good idea for Hollister.”
Harris said the idea is that when a family is preparing for the IEP process for the first time, they could talk with other parents to set goals of how to work with the school. Harris said it would benefit everyone if the parents and schools can work together to get the students with special needs the services they need.
“Anytime the plan works out without paying extra money from the community on lawyers it works so much more successfully,” Harris said.
Johns said she thought the parents who attended the workshop felt “more enlightened and empowered.”
“They left with this kind of hope,” Johns said. “There were many questions. We only allowed 30 minutes, but it went over time.”
Harris and Johns said they are hoping to offer more workshops in the future, starting with one in November on nutrition, with the time and location still to be determined.
For more information on the Autism Parents Club of San Benito County, which is open to families of children or adults with special needs of any type, call Marcella Harris at 637-3071 or Liv Johns at 637-0762, or visit www.php.com.
