Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By MARK GUYDISH [email protected]
Sunday, November 14, 2004 Page: 3A
DALLAS TWP. – Two parents are fighting to get their 10-year-old autistic
son mainstreamed into regular classes.
Rita Cheskiewicz said that until this school year, their son A.J. attended
autism classes run by the Luzerne Intermediate Unit. She noted that “in four
years, he went to four different buildings.”
On Aug. 31, with approval of a team that reviews and sets his educational
goals, A.J. got his chance to be with the other kids at Wycallis Elementary.
Cheskiewicz was thrilled.
“He got invited to a regular kid’s party, a party with his peers, for the
first time,” she said. More important, the richer environment of a regular
classroom was, she believed, drawing A.J. from his inner world.
It didn’t last. On his third day in the school, A.J. kicked off his shoes
during recess.
“Three adults intervened,” Cheskiewicz said, contending that was not only
unnecessary for such a small boy, but unwise because it frightened A.J. when
he needed to be calmed and “redirected” to gentler behavior.
After the shoe-kicking, a steady stream of problems followed. School
district reports describe biting, head-butting and other “non-compliant”
behavior. By Oct. 5, on the advice of their pediatrician, Cheskiewicz pulled
A.J. from school and kept him home.
She and her husband, Allan, started fighting for a re-evaluation and home
education services from the district until he could return. The district
wanted to send A.J. back to segregated classes.
On Nov. 8, Daniel Myers, a special education due process hearing officer
who conducts dispute resolution for the state, headed a hearing on A.J.’s case
at the Dallas administration building.
Such hearings are private unless a parent asks for them to be open. Rita
Cheskiewicz invited the Times Leader to sit in. Most of the crowd, including
teachers, administrators and therapists familiar with A.J.’s case, sat in the
conference area while lawyers bargained in a back room. Even Myers spent most
of his time outside the negotiations.
Yet according to the Cheskiewicz’s attorney, Phillip Drumheiser, Myers
controlled the action. Drumheiser said Myers had set the tone from the start
by warning he would not make a ruling in the case without an updated
evaluation of A.J., regardless of any evidence presented.
The Cheskiewiczs were determined to keep A.J. home as per the
pediatrician’s recommendations. The district must legally provide education
services. After nearly 90 minutes of negotiations, the district agreed to
provide 15 hours a week of home education while expediting a re-evaluation of
A.J., avoiding an official hearing by Myers.
For the Cheskiewiczs, it was a hollow victory. “The bottom line,” Allan
Cheskiewicz said, “is that five weeks ago we asked for what we got today.”
District officials declined comment citing confidentiality and deferred to
the attorney, Stephen Jacobson. Jacobson declined to give his name after the
hearing, deferring questions to the school district or to Rita Cheskiewicz and
her attorney.
Drumheiser said the case was typical. School districts are supposed to put
such students in the “least restrictive environment,” but too often
segregate them first, then consider mainstreaming later.
It should, Drumheiser said, work the other way, with inclusion the norm and
segregation a fallback choice.
Rita Cheskiewicz agreed. Raising an autistic child is tough enough, she
said, and she knew getting him mainstreamed into a regular classroom wouldn’t
be easy. But there is profound motivation to get things right and get A.J. to
open up.
“The day he lets you sit and hug and kiss him,” Rita Cheskiewicz said,
“the sun shines.”
Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161.
CUTLINE:
TIMES LEADER STAFF PHOTOS/AIMEE DILGER
Rita Cheskiewicz pushes her 10-year-old autistic son, A.J., on a swing
outside their Dallas home. Such redirection helps keep A.J. calm. Rita is
pushing for services from the Dallas School District, which A.J. attends.
A.J. Cheskiewicz shows amazing balance in a hammock, staying in even when
his mom Rita pushes it fairly high. Though it looks like he’s ready to fall
out, `he never does.’ He’s also a tireless swimmer. Rita believes he could
attend regular classes in the Dallas School District with the right support.