handicapped P.S.Lift Van refuses child

[kimeez]

What is the name of your state?
I live in C.t.
I know of a nine year old handicapped child (muscular dystrophy) who takes the "lift van" handicapped public school bus to school with her powerchair.
She broke her leg and is now in a cast up to the top of her thigh, therefore the powerchair needs to have the legs up and out to support her broken leg.
The handicapped bus cant fit her.Luckily she lives a few blocks away and scoots to school .
What can be done? Isnt it a law to accomedate a child to and from their school?
She is denied access to a field trip because the lift van bus can't fit her. She is very upset.

Originally Posted by kimeez

What is the name of your state?
I live in C.t.
I know of a nine year old handicapped child (muscular dystrophy) who takes the "lift van" handicapped public school bus to school with her powerchair.
She broke her leg and is now in a cast up to the top of her thigh, therefore the powerchair needs to have the legs up and out to support her broken leg.
The handicapped bus cant fit her.Luckily she lives a few blocks away and scoots to school .
What can be done? Isnt it a law to accomedate a child to and from their school?
She is denied access to a field trip because the lift van bus can't fit her. She is very upset.

My response:

So, what would you like the school system to do - - build a wider bus?

Oh, please. The kid's broken leg is temporary.

IAAL

[kimeez]

wow what a professional response that is .

Originally Posted by kimeez

wow what a professional response that is .

My response:

And, what a stupid question yours was, Kimeez!

You see, this is why your friend has "parents." They do the work in this instance, not the school system. Let the parents buy a vehicle that will accommodate this "temporary" situation.

IAAL

[notsmartmark]

There are no easy answers in special education. The bottom line is what is on her IEP? If it is on it, she should receive the service. Also, if other students her age and distance from the school receive school provided transportation than it doesn’t matter what’s on her IEP. If other students get a service, she cannot be denied the service because she is disabled.

Transportation, typically, is related service. Related services are required in ordered for students to benefit from their special education. If in order to access her specially designed she needed to be transported, then it would be a related service. By transporting herself, she has demonstrated that it is potentially not a necessary related service.

If she can get herself to school like other children, it should be a priority. Transporting her because she is disabled is just as troubling as not transporting her.

If she was denied access to a field trip and a comparable alternative activity is not available there is a potential problem. Part of the consideration is how long will she be in a cast?

If the district needs to transport, you can ask if there are other buses that can be outfitted to transport; if they can pay the parent’s mileage; if, as we are doing now, transporting the wheelchair by bus and the student by other means. But, there is no limit to securing it, if the related service is needed.

[kimeez]

She's had a cast on for 8 weeks ,has osteoprosis delaying the knitting of the bones and looks like she may be in other type braces after the removal of the cast to help hold the bone in place.Her parents are passive ,"dont want to call problems"and I help advocate for the child because the parents have a difficult time communicating because of their english.Let me not get into how we had to practically FIGHT to allow her back to school after 6 weeks in the cast the school was still stalling the student from coming back!!
The parents are hard working LEGAL immigrents that own their own home but cannot afford a lift van.
The distance she lives makes all students required to take the bus.
thankyou I was about to give up on this site

[Silverplum]

Originally Posted by kimeez

She's had a cast on for 8 weeks ,has osteoprosis delaying the knitting of the bones and looks like she may be in other type braces after the removal of the cast to help hold the bone in place.Her parents are passive ,"dont want to call problems"and I help advocate for the child because the parents have a difficult time communicating because of their english.Let me not get into how we had to practically FIGHT to allow her back to school after 6 weeks in the cast the school was still stalling the student from coming back!!
The parents are hard working LEGAL immigrents that own their own home but cannot afford a lift van.
The distance she lives makes all students required to take the bus.
thankyou I was about to give up on this site

IAAL was right. There is no "WE" here. The child's parents are ENTIRELY responsible for her. Not you. MYOB, for Pete's sake.

Further, if the parents want to get along here, they damn well better learn English.

[averad]

The school should have to air lift her to school via helicopter.

In some areas Lift vans are provided by local transportation for a fee. The parents should look into this temp fix.

[url]http://www.engrish.com[/url]

Imigrants that cant speak english speak engrish.

[xylene]

Depending on the size of the school district, they should have a stretcher capable van/bus.

This is hardly an uncommon situation.

The way a responsible school district handles this is by resource pooling with other districts, or just having a suitable bus.

A few decades ago, I broke my femur. I had to ride my wheelchair "legs out". School vans damn well can accomodate that.