Maple River Education Coalition PAC (MREdCoPAC) 1402 Concordia Avenue St. Paul, MN 55104 http://www.edaction.org/2003/03Apr08.htm April 8, 2003 Special Ed Alert! Individuals With Disabilities Education Act The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the special education law, is going through full committee markup in the US House TOMORROW April 9th. There are two major concerns with this bill that have their best chance of being corrected in this committee meeting before the bill goes to the House floor. If these problems are not addressed before this bill is passed, we will be under numerous federal mandates in special education, especially regarding labeling and drugging for the next 5 or 6 years: 1) The Child Medication Safety Act has not been changed to prohibit coercion of ALL medications. [Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
This bill (HR 1170), about which we have written before
(http://www.edaction.org/2003/03Mar24.htm), is going to be rolled
into IDEA tomorrow. Although we are pleased that they are
dealing with the issue and Schedule II stimulants are a big part
of the problem, there is a large potential downside.
Prohibiting coercion of just one group of drugs will
create incentive to coerce with any of the others, including
the non-stimulant, non-Schedule II ADD drug Stratera as well
as the SSRI, anti-psychotics, etc. that are not on any DEA
Schedule. People could argue endlessly about which drugs to
include and which to leave out, but the bottom line is that
NO CHILD SHOULD BE FORCED TO TAKE, AND NO PARENT SHOULD BE
THREATENED WITH LOSING THEIR CHILD TO CHILD PROTECTION OR
HAVING THEIR CHILD KICKED OUT OF SCHOOL BECAUSE THEY REFUSE
TO HAVE THEIR CHILD TAKE THESE DRUGS.
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
The issue is not WHICH drug, but that COERCION TO TAKE
ANY MEDICATION should not be happening in schools under IDEA.
2) There is language in IDEA about "pre-referral services" that
will "develop and maintain a coordinated, comprehensive,
educational support system for students in kindergarten through
grade 12 (with a particular emphasis on students in kindergarten
through grade 3) who are not enrolled in special education but
who need additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in
a general education environment."
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
This sounds nice and the intention is to prevent kids from
needing special education by doing prevention, but it will have
terrible unintended consequences. The words "academic,"
"behavioral" and "support" are not defined.
The way that a child will be identified as needing these
services is not defined, there is no discussion of consent, and
the type of services are not defined. Any child that says or
does anything including statement of views that are politically
incorrect could potentially be "pre-labeled" as needing services.
These services may include psychotherapy, counseling, or even
drugging, in essence creating an endless stream of kids for IDEA.
The emphasis on kindergarten through grade three is also a
problem. Accurate diagnosis of behavior issues in young children
is very difficult.
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
The American Psychiatric Association said of Attention
Deficit Disorder, "At present, there is growing evidence that
two valid dimensions of impairing ADHD behaviors can be
identified, but there is no evidence of a natural threshold
between ADHD and "normal" behavior. . . . Thus, there is
little evidence at this time to suggest that there is a natural
boundary for the diagnostic category of ADHD."
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
These are probably the most important legislative
emails or calls you can make this year with regard to coercion
and protecting children from the dangers of the mental health
system in schools. PLEASE do what you can below.
WHAT TO DO:
1) Please send a brief email or call and leave a message for
the two Committee Staff who are working on this legislation.
Thank them and the Committee for working on these issues
of coercion and prevention, but then let them know your
concerns.
Tell them if you are an education or mental health
professional, if you have had any experience with these
situations, or if your child has been the victim of labeling
and drugging. Let them know especially if you have experience
with children being inaccurately labeled at a young age or
drugged with drugs other than Ritalin, Adderall, or dexedrine
for IDEA.
Tell them that the schools, who have a vested interest in
receiving federal funds, should not be involved in the decision
to drug a child, and that, if it does happen, then at least that
decision should be between family and physician.
Remind them that even according to the WHO and the Surgeon
General, the younger the child, the less accurate the diagnosis
(label).
Ask them to change the legislation for Wednesday's meeting
to PROHIBIT COERCION for ANY drug and to either REMOVE the term
"behavioral support" from the section on pre-referral services or
DEFINE IT AND GIVE THE SAME PARENTAL CONSENT AND PROCEDURAL
SAFEGUARDS to those children as to the ones in IDEA.
David Cleary david.cleary@mail.house.gov
Melanie Looney melanie.looney@mail.house.gov
Phone - 202-225-4527
2) CC your email or call to the staff of Congressman Boehner,
the Chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Jeff Dobrozsi jeff.dobrozsi@mail.house.gov
Phone 202-225-6205
3) Email or call as many of the Members of the Committee
listed below as you can, as well as your own Congressman/woman.
Respectfully ask them to ask Mr. Boehner to make the above
changes, or, if they are on the Committee, to offer amendments
on Wednesday to make those changes.
You can find the office numbers and Staff names by going
to http://www.congress.org and click on US Congress on the left
side of the home page, then enter their last name. Click on
staff and look for the education staffer. If you call or fax,
the numbers are at the bottom of that staff page. If you wish
to email, email the education staffer and ask them to make your
views known to the Member. The email address is always
firstname.lastname@mail.house.gov.
*Denotes Co-co-sponsor of the Child Medication Safety Act:
*John A. Boehner, Ohio, Chairman
Republican Members (27) Democrat Members (22)
Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin
(Vice Chairman) George Miller, California
(Ranking Minority Member)
*Cass Ballenger, North Carolina Dale E. Kildee, Michigan
*Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Major R. Owens, New York
Howard "Buck" McKeon, California Donald M. Payne, New Jersey
*Michael N. Castle, Delaware Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey
*Sam Johnson, Texas Lynn C. Woolsey, California
James C. Greenwood, Pennsylvania Rubén Hinojosa, Texas
*Charlie Norwood, Georgia Carolyn McCarthy, New York
Fred Upton, Michigan John F. Tierney, Massachusetts
Vernon J. Ehlers, Michigan Ron Kind, Wisconsin
*Jim DeMint, South Carolina Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio
Johnny Isakson, Georgia David Wu, Oregon
Judy Biggert, Illinois Rush D. Holt, New Jersey
Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania Susan Davis, California
*Patrick J. Tiberi, Ohio Betty McCollum, Minnesota
Ric Keller, Florida Danny Davis, Illinois
Tom Osborne, Nebraska Ed Case, Hawaii
*Joe Wilson, South Carolina Raúl M. Grijalva, Arizona
Thomas Cole, Oklahoma Denise L. Majette, Georgia
Jon C. Porter, Nevada Chris Van Hollen, Maryland
*John Kline, Minnesota Timothy J. Ryan, Ohio
John R.Carter, Texas Timothy H. Bishop, New York
*Marilyn N. Musgrave, Colorado
Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
Phil Gingrey, Georgia
*Max Burns, Georgia
4) Please pass this alert on to others concerned about this issue.
THANK YOU!!!
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