CA Due Process: Students Prevail Less Than 20% of the Time

In The Politics of Autism, I write about litigation under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. School districts prevail in most due-process hearings.  Here are some reasons:

School districts have built-in expert witnesses in the form of teachers and staff.  They also have full access to all relevant information about a proposed placement, and often deny parents access to those programs in advance of hearings. When parents’ experts can observe children in class, districts can limit their observations.   More important, parents have to foot the bill for their experts because of a 2006 Supreme Court decision that IDEA does not authorize reimbursement of witness fees. “While authorizing the award of reasonable attorney's fees, the Act contains detailed provisions that are designed to ensure that such awards are indeed reasonable,” Justice Alito wrote for the majority. “The absence of any comparable provisions relating to expert fees strongly suggests that recovery of expert fees is not authorized.” It goes without saying that this decision disadvantages all parents, and especially those with modest incomes. 

California OAH ( Office Of Administrative Hearing ) Special Education statistics https://www.californiaspecialedlaw.com/due-process-hearing-decision-statistics/ 
Percent of cases when student prevailed :

Year 2017 : 18 %
Year 2016 : 12 %
Year 2015 : 13 %
Year 2014 : 15 %
Year 2013 : 11 %
Year 2012 : 14 %
Year 2011 : 14 %
Year 2010 : 10 %
Year 2009 : 15 %

"Brain Balance"

In The Politics of Autism, I write:

The conventional wisdom is that any kind of treatment is likely to be less effective as the child gets older, so parents of autistic children usually believe that they are working against the clock. They will not be satisfied with the ambiguities surrounding ABA, nor will they want to wait for some future research finding that might slightly increase its effectiveness. They want results now. Because there are no scientifically-validated drugs for the core symptoms of autism, they look outside the boundaries of mainstream medicine and FDA approval. Studies have found that anywhere from 28 to 54 percent of autistic children receive “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), and these numbers probably understate CAM usage.

Chris Benderev at NPR:

Although Brain Balance isn't the only purveyor of alternative approaches for developmental disorders in the U.S., the scale of the enterprise sets it apart. The company's approach is still relatively new and not widely known, meaning many experts in the field of childhood development have not vetted its effectiveness.

Brain Balance says its nonmedical and drug-free program helps children who struggle with ADHD, autism spectrum disorders and learning and processing disorders. The company says it addresses a child's challenges with a combination of physical exercises, nutritional guidance and academic training.

An NPR investigation of Brain Balance reveals a company whose promises have resonated with parents averse to medication. But Brain Balance also appears to have overstated the scientific evidence in its messaging to families, who can easily spend over $10,000 in six months, a common length of enrollment.

...
 Yet a dozen experts in autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, dyslexia and childhood psychiatry interviewed by NPR all identified flaws in Brain Balance's approach.

They said the company's idea of imbalanced hemispheres was too simplistic and built upon the popular, discredited myth of the logical left brain and the intuitive right brain.

"It doesn't make sense," says Mark Mahone, a pediatric neuropsychologist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. "In virtually every activity that one does ... both hemispheres of the brain are very, very active. ... It's not as simple as just being a left- or a right-hemisphere problem. Nothing is that simple."

 As for the three-pronged Brain Balance regimen, experts NPR spoke with said there is no solid evidence suggesting gluten, dairy or sugar consumption affects ADHD, autism or dyslexia. And although physical exercise may have modest impacts on inattention and tutoring can help in school, these interventions can be found elsewhere for much less money. No expert suggested either as a front-line remedy for ADHD or autism.

The Autism Services Market

 The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of autism service providers.

Ronit Molko at Forbes:

Autism services has already been an attractive industry for investors, particularly those looking to make a positive social impact. For such investors, the industry provides a very favorable opportunity for financial gains with the added benefit of empowering a growing segment of the population in need of support.

In the past five years, the market has become increasingly consolidated. As private equity eyes the increase in demand along with a more favorable climate for funding and reimbursement, we can expect to see even more consolidation in the future. As investors build national platforms by acquiring providers, these new national platforms are competing for dominance, and making it more difficult for privately owned companies to compete.

A benefit of this new landscape is that competition can raise the bar of service for any market. However, in healthcare especially, consolidation often stymies competition. By buying up a significant share of the market, larger players are able to effectively increase their bargaining power with insurers and suppliers. This gives them an outsized advantage over their competitors. That kind of market dominance prevents real competition and thus fails to improve quality. This is also why research shows that consolidation in healthcare typically leads to higher prices.

Waiting in Kansas

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and  Medicaid services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Celia Llopis-Jensen reports at The Kansas News Service:

[B]ehavior analysts in Kansas can’t keep up with demand. A big reason, they say, is the state’s privatized Medicaid program, KanCare. Reimbursements are too slow — and too low.

One well-established mental health center recently decided to add ABA therapy to its services, but for now, at least, won’t be accepting Medicaid for that program.

“The state of Kansas’ hourly reimbursement rate doesn’t even cover the time and costs,” said a spokeswoman for the Family Service and Guidance Center in Topeka. “The KanCare rate pays about 50 percent.”

Even the process of getting credentials from KanCare’s three contractors can take months for each therapist. In the meantime, applicants for those jobs sometimes disappear.

“We have about 75 employees in our agency at any one time,” said Katrina Ostmeyer, associate executive director at Integrated Behavioral Technologies. “Ideally, if we’re fully staffed, we should have about 120.”

IBT, which serves large parts of Kansas, currently serves about 60 children. It has about 150 on its waitlist for behavior analysis. Most are enrolled in KanCare, which insures children based on family income and level of need.

It can take a long time for slots to open up because therapy for a single child can take multiple years.

ADA and Disability Facts

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the civil rights of people with autism and other disabilities.

From the Census Bureau:

Download FFF: Anniversary of Americans With Disabilities Act: July 26, 2018 [PDF - <1 .0="" a="" mb="">

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodations, commercial facilities, telecommunications, and state and local government services.

This Facts for Features provides a demographic snapshot of the U.S. population with a disability and examines various services available to them. The statistics come from various Census Bureau censuses and surveys, covering different periods of time...

40.7 million or 12.8%
Total civilian noninstitutionalized population with a disability in the United States.
Source:
2016 American Community Survey

20.1%
The percentage of the civilian noninstitutionalized population in West Virginia in 2016 with a disability — among the highest rates in the nation. Utah, at 9.9 percent, had the lowest rate.
Source:
Source: 2016 American Community Survey

7.5 million
Total civilian noninstitutionalized population ages 18 to 64 employed with a disability.
Source:
2016 American Community Survey

$22,047
Median earnings in the past 12 months (in 2016 inflation adjusted dollars) of the civilian noninstitutionalized population age 16 and over with earnings and a disability.
Source:
2016 American Community Survey

More on Disability

• Employment Status by Disability Status and Type
• Selected Economic Characteristics for the Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population by Disability Status

More Stats

See a detailed profile on the population with a disability from the 2016 American Community Survey. Statistics include:###

"Fake News," Autism, and Europe

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the need for more study of the issue in other countries.

Mickey Keenan and Karola Dillenburger have an article at Societies titled "How ‘Fake News’ Affects Autism Policy."  The abstract:

 Since autism was first recognised, prevalence has increased rapidly. The growing economic as well as social cost to families and society can only be mitigated by effective interventions and supports. It is, therefore, not surprising that there is much heated debate and most governments have developed public policies to address the management of autism. This paper describes how well-known ‘propaganda’ techniques, that have become prevalent in the helping professions have been used to influence autism policies by spreading ‘fake news’ about the scientific discipline of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). Over the past 40–50 years, meaningful evidence has accrued showing that interventions based on ABA can help people with autism reach their potential. In view of this, nearly all of North America has laws to mandate that ABA-based interventions are available through their health care systems. In contrast, across Europe there are no such laws. In fact, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body guiding health and social policy in the UK, concluded that it could not find any evidence to support ABA, and therefore could not recommend it. This paper addresses the reasons for these diametrically opposed perspectives.

Higher Education: Student Perceptions

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the growing number of college students on the spectrum.

At The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Grace L. Francis Jodi Duke, Frederick J. Brigham, and Kelsie Demetro have an article titled: "Student Perceptions of College-Readiness, College Services and Supports, and Family Involvement in College: An Exploratory Study." The abstract:

Although increasing numbers of students with disabilities are attending college, they graduate at lower rates compared to students without disabilities. In order to understand how to effectively prepare students with disabilities and provide meaningful support to college students with disabilities, we investigated the experiences of students registered with the disability service office at a public university located in the eastern region of the U.S. to learn about (a) the degree to which they felt prepared to enter college, (b) the disability-related services they received in college, (c) their perspectives of services received, (d) suggestions for improving services, and (e) their perspectives family involvement in college. We report mixed-methods findings from participants and provide implications for policy and practice.

From the article:

Students registered with the DSO at a public university in the eastern region of the U.S. were surveyed about their preparation for college, their experiences and perspectives of services received, and perceptions of family involvement in college. Participants’ sense of preparedness for college ranged from feeling very prepared (25%) to very unprepared (10%). They cited specific transition skills such as timemanagement, note taking, and writing as having positive impact on their academic preparedness for college. However, participants noted that they would have benefited from more explicit instruction in executive functioning, as well as study and literacy skills prior to college. Participants also reported that they would have benefited from specific instruction on the logistics of college life prior to high school graduation, including how to select and register for courses, communicate appropriately with professors, budget money, and navigate the college environment. These needs support previous findings by Cai and Richdale (2016), suggesting that Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams should support high school students in identifying their personal strengths, needs, as well as available resources to access in college.

Cai, R. Y., & Richdale, A. L. (2016). Educational experiences and needs of higher education students with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(31), 31–41.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar