The reason is that people on the reservations are not always aware of their rights. We have heard too many stories from parents who paid for their child's own evaluation or from students who did not receive the therapy that they needed and was identified on their IEP.
Reasons we heard were,
"The school said we have jobs and can afford to pay for it." or
"The school district said we are a small district and can't afford a speech pathologist."
These kinds of stories make us angry and are the reason we offer the types of training we do. People on reservations are entitled to the same types of services richer, non-Indian people get. Federal laws say every child is entitled to a free, appropriate public education. Yet, we see these rights honored more in some areas than others.
In many cases, we believe, the difference is not due to outright racism (although Erich and I differ in our beliefs in how great extent racism plays a role), but rather, because not everyone is equally educated on the topic of special education rights. That applies to both staff and the students and families they serve.
We are working to change that, with the much-appreciated help of a grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, called a Research Utilization Award. Their funding allows us to travel around the country to different tribal events and to reservations for on-site training on what the law guarantees people with disabilities and their families.
Erich is at Fort Berthold and Trenton Indian Service Area this week. Next week we are in Savannah. Then, we go our separate directions. He will be giving workshops in Fort Berthold, Trenton , Turtle Mountain and Sisseton over the next few months. I am heading down to San Diego in October for the National Even Start Association conference.
Is it all worth it? Does it make a difference? I think it does. It is like we say on our home page, no one you meet ever says, "Gee, if I had my life to live over I would not have wasted so much time getting an education."
Much of my philosophy of life (such as it is) can be summed up in the Starfish Story. If you haven't heard it, it goes something like this:
A man saw a young boy walking along a beach where thousands of starfish were stranded. He was picking the starfish up and throwing them far out to sea, to keep them from drying up and dying on the beach. The older man told the boy that he was wasting his efforts, that there were miles of beach and he could not possibly make a difference. As the boy threw yet another starfish out to sea he answered calmly,
"It made a difference to that one."
Erich quotes that serenity prayer sometimes, about changing the things you can and accepting the things you can't. It's really pretty much the same philosophy, making a difference where you can. I am not so good on the accepting things I can't change part yet. I'm still working on that.
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