The survey activates the promotion of education for children with disabilities in Michigan

In 2015, Michigan Lt. Governor Brian Calley hosted listening sessions across the state to determine how Michigan schools were doing in educating children with disabilities. Special education parents, teachers, administrators, and advocates shared the barriers they saw preventing these children from achieving school success.

In response, Gov. Rick Snyder appointed a special education reform task force tasked with improving Michigan’s special education system. Calley he wrote in his report to the State Board of Education“The five main issues highlighted in the attached report address special education rulemaking, scope and quality of services, restraint and seclusion practices, dispute resolution, and parenting resources.”

In 2023, Michigan Lawyers and Advocates Coalition (MiPAAC) continued with a statewide survey of parents of children with disabilities, the Survey of Special Education Experience (SEE).. The results showed that not much had changed.
Heather Eckner
“When we launched our special education survey last year in 2023, eight years had passed and nothing had changed,” says Heather Eckner, Autism Alliance of Michigan (AAoM) state director of education. “The final report of the Task Force on Special Education Reform issued recommendations for system changes and improvements. However, what we have heard from families is that nothing has improved.”

AAoM is the backbone organization of MIPAAC, a grassroots, statewide coalition advocating for disability education. The SEE survey provides AAoM with an opportunity to build and advance a common policy advocacy agenda.

“The Special Education Experience (SEE) survey represents the collective voice of our core constituents, which are families,” says Eckner. “We aim to enhance the lived experience of parents and students with disabilities to address chronic challenges in Michigan’s special education system. We will share knowledge to promote increased opportunities and improved outcomes for children with disabilities across the state.”

The very comprehensive survey had over 300 questions and received over 200 open-ended responses.

“Maximum, the survey could take up to 45 minutes, which shows the level of commitment,” says Eckner. “We had nearly 900 responses statewide, which is truly an exceptional completion rate for such a large survey. Additionally, 58% of survey respondents identified a link to autism.”
SEE survey results.
Barriers that rose to the top of the list included: Lack of school funding related to students with disabilities; limited access to education for students with disabilities alongside their non-disabled peers; challenges with properly identifying and determining eligibility to qualify children with disabilities for special education services and supports; challenges related to family involvement of both parents and students with disabilities; achieving the fundamental objectives of literacy; and excessive use of exclusionary discipline such as restraint and seclusion.

“One of the findings of that 2015 task force was the use of seclusion and restraint,” Eckner says. “A state law has been enacted, but we continue to see a lack of enforcement with very little change in seclusion and restraint episodes.”

Because school staff do not always have the appropriate training or support to properly respond to disruptive behaviors with proactive restorative practices or de-escalation techniques, these behaviors can escalate very quickly.

“These crisis responses are used as a default behavioral mechanism, which is not at all what it’s intended to be,” says Eckner. “Children with disabilities should be proactively supported for the manifestations of their disability. This really vicious cycle that starts to affect mental health and well-being.”

One report released September 8, 2015, Calley called on the state to improve the quality of services provided to special education students; make the process of amending special education rules more transparent; creating a better dispute resolution system to avoid costly lawsuits; and provide more support services for parents. Families with children with disabilities are still waiting for these improvements.”

“I myself am the parent of two disabled children with autism,” says Eckner. “I think an important result of going public with the survey results is that it helps communicate to parents and students with disabilities that they are not alone in their experiences.”

Families with newly diagnosed autistic children who connect with AAoM through it The MiNavigator program they often share that they feel very isolated.

“You are not alone. What you experience is real,” says Eckner. “We’re here to validate your experience. We seek to amplify your voice and lift it up for positive change. We are here in solidarity with you.”
SEE survey results.
A brilliant IDEA

Governed by federal law, the special education system is supported by The Law on the Education of Persons with Disabilities (IDEA). One of the core principles of IDEA is that parents must have meaningful participation in the process of identifying children with disabilities and developing their individual education programs (IEPs).

“Federal law emphasizes parental involvement on behalf of their child. In both 2015 and 2023, a good number of parents did not feel that they were involved much, or only occasionally,” says Eckner. “We have allowed ourselves to have this chronic apathy when it comes to children with some of the greatest needs. We don’t expect more from these kids. This is a basic barrier.”

The AAoM recognizes that most teachers do their best and are committed to providing inclusive and high-quality opportunities for students with disabilities. However, without adequate resources, funding and training, the challenges parents shared in the survey will continue; inadequate or denied services such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, social skills, peer intervention, applied behavior analysis, and paraprofessional support.

“We asked parents, ‘Are you spending money on out-of-pocket services that you think your child needs and they’re not going to school?’ Families spend thousands of dollars out of pocket annually for the services they want their children to have in their public schools,” says Eckner.

Parents reported that school staff have low expectations and believe that people with disabilities should not be in the same places as other people. Parents of children with autism indicated that school staff are not adequately trained and supported to understand autism.
“It’s this overall feeling of the system being inaccessible, difficult to understand, difficult to navigate, or overwhelming,” says Eckner. “Parents often feel guilty about things their child experiences as challenges. They ask for support, but then they get blamed.”
SEE survey results.
Fix the damn schools

Michigan’s failure to provide educational opportunities for children with disabilities has had disastrous results. Only 58% of students with disabilities earn a regular high school diploma on time – one of the worst rates in the nation.

“It interrupts their opportunities in life, their trajectory of success,” Eckner says. “The primary intent and purpose of the federal law is to ensure that children with identifiable disabilities receive the specialized services and supports they need to prepare them for further education, employment and independent living. Education is a basic social determinant of health and connects to economic mobility, which also connects to health and well-being.”

AAoM Pillar of Education leads initiatives that address systemic barriers to education, focuses on student-centered advocacy, and educates families on related topics – working toward his goal of making Michigan a top 10 state in preparing students with autism for the most independent lives possible , through an accessible environment, high quality and inclusive education.

“Education is the path to prosperity in Michigan,” Eckner concludes. “There is a lot of cross-sectoral focus on finding ways to grow the population and the workforce. Governor Whitmer’s Growing Michigan Together Council address this. But in Michigan, we’re ignoring 20 percent or more of our population right now. How do we exclude a significant subset of our population but say we’re trying to build this prosperous pathway?”

Estelle Slootmaker spends most of her working days as a solutions journalist and book editor. He also writes poetry and has two books of his own. You can contact her at (email protected).

Classroom photos by Artstel via Pexels.com. Main photo by RDNE via PExels.com. All other photos and images courtesy of AAoM.

Autism Alliance of Michigan was founded with the vision that people with autism will lead lives that reach their highest potential. We lead efforts to raise expectations and expand opportunities for people affected by autism throughout life.