Like all parents, Arti Nayyar wants the best possible public education for her kids. Unlike most parents, however, she finds herself embroiled in a battle to obtain it. A veterinarian who runs her own private practice, Arti is the proud mother of two children. Her son Kabir, now six, was diagnosed with autism when he was three. With no prior knowledge about the condition, Arti felt overwhelmed and lost with the diagnoses, unsure how to find the proper resources for Kabir’s education.
She met Jodie Howard at a seminar on inclusion and Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for special needs children. In her presentation, Jodie shared her experiences in pursuit of her own son’s rights to an appropriate education. Jodie’s son Bren is autistic too.
For Arti, meeting Jodie confirmed the need to learn all she could about navigating this puzzling new world. Sadly, the first thing most parents learn is that the behavioral, social, and education issues of children within the autistic spectrum often become fodder for battle.
Upon witnessing the damaging effects of excluding children whose progress is dependent upon inclusion among their peers, parents find that the very programs created to assist their children can sometimes become their undoing. The path to attaining what is best for special needs kids necessitates arming oneself with knowledge about the legal right of each and every child to a free and appropriate education, and a fair chance to reach their full potential.
For Jodie that meant becoming an attorney herself. Her determination to obtain support and equity for her son led her to become the valedictorian of her graduating law class, and to create the BREN clinic, named after her son, on the campus of San Joaquin College of Law.
Jodie’s mission as Director of the BREN clinic and the volunteers and law students who help staff it, is to provide the knowledge and assistance that can help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities obtain the education, community services, and related support they need to reach their full potential.
Arti says she took the BREN training program (33 hours of comprehensive advocacy training spread over 11 class sessions) for parents and caregivers – twice - because it was so full of information. It was only after learning the terminology, the procedures, and the limitations of school districts to fully serve special needs children, did she know how to go about defending her son’s rights.
It is unfortunate that most families learn they must fight for the kinds of opportunities general education inclusion offers in public schools. While it is not the intention of school districts to become adversaries of children with special needs, most parents straddling the worlds of autism and general education (Gen Ed) are forced to take aim against slights that seem to occur routinely.
With assistance from the BREN clinic, Arti was able to get a knowledgeable and legal review of her son’s IEP. Armed with the knowledge of how to request what she felt was the best course of education for her son, Arti was able to get the school to agree to let Kabir participate in Gen Ed as a kindergartner.
“Children at that age are naturally inclusive, and forgiving,” she said. “When you go into a classroom of the younger children, you won’t find judgement or cruelty. Just understanding and acceptance, which is what special needs kids, need most.”
If an autistic child is struggling in a Gen Ed class that is too challenging, the answer is often to place him in the autism class. If the autism class is not challenging enough for him, he will flounder. If his best option is to be placed in a general education grade below where the school thinks he should go, a battle ensues where factors like budget, resources, regulations, and bias often rear their ugly heads.
In the classes set up for those children who need separate instruction, like an autism classroom, the range of ability level is quite diverse. Arti says her son was too advanced for that sort of setting, even without having attended in-person kindergarten due to COVID. Even with that chunk of schooling missing, she says he was close to being at 1st grade level when the schools opened again, but she wanted him to begin, like all kids do, with kindergarten. The school district didn’t agree. The frustration he is experiencing from being placed above his grade level is what Arti says brings out the negative behavior. Arti says he has none of those issues when he is not being challenged in an unfairly difficult situation, so she continues to fight, with the BREN clinic’s guidance, for what is best for Kabir.
