LITTLE ROCK — A special education expert testified Monday that the education system at the Conway Human Development Center does not conform to federal law.
Susan Thibadeau’s testimony marked the beginning of the third week of trial in the U.S. Department of Justice’s ongoing case against the Conway facility for the developmentally disabled.
The non-jury trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes is expected to last six weeks.
In its January 2009 lawsuit, the Justice Department claimed the state had fallen below federal standards of care and was violating thecivil rights of residents by favoring institutions for developmentally disabled adults and children instead of helping them live and learn in the least-restrictive environment possible.
The state maintains that the residents are well-cared-for. Many parents and guardians of center residents oppose the Justice Department’s lawsuit, fearing it will cause the center to close its doors and leave their loved ones without a safe place to live.
Thibadeau told Justice Department lawyer Laura Coon on Monday that she found numerous flaws in the special education system, which serves about 50 school-aged children, during her two visits to the center last year.
One of her biggest concerns involved the number of hours students spent in special education classrooms during those visits - in most cases just 90 minutes a day, Thibadeau said.
“I felt that was very inadequate,” she said, adding that residents should be getting “intensive” education because they are living in a “very restrictive” environment.
The number of hours has since doubled per day because of a visit to the center by the state Department of Education. Asked by Holmes if that was adequate, Thibadeau said no.
“My concern is that while the time increased, the substance of the [individual education plan and student objectives] did not,” she said.
Among other things Thibadeau found:
Skill level assessments were inadequate, hampering teachers’ ability to set new goals for students to reach.
Individual education plans were not comprehensive, with some listing only two objectives for a student to meet during an entire school year.
Objectives on individual education plans were unclear and provided no way for teachers to determine if goals had been met.
Only 53 percent of the students whose files she reviewed accessed direct speech therapy.
Nineteen of 45 students were not toilet-trained. A special education teacher testified earlier Monday that students who wore adult diapers sometimes had to leave the classroom so they could be changed.
“It appears there was very little effort to toilet train,” Thibadeau testified. “I look at toileting as a basic right.”
To bolster Thibadeau’s testimony and Justice Department claims that students were not being given an appropriate education in the least restrictive setting, the department also called two of the center’s special education teachers as witnesses.
One, Susan Milum, cried as she talked about her recommendation that a student known by the initials L.W. be taught at the Arkansas School for the Deaf.
L.W., Milum said, is hearing impaired but eager to learn. However, the Conway center does not provide him with an interpreter. He is not the only student with a hearing impairment.
Milum said teachers are trying to learn the basic words that L.W. is learning to help out. In 2008 and 2009, she recommended that he be taught at the deaf school.
“[He’s a] very bright boy who would greatly benefit” from being with peers his age and other deaf students, Milum said she wrote in her recommendation. “CHDC is not the least restrictive environment [for him to learn].”
She said he would became frustrated when he could not communicate or understand the world around him.
On cross-examination by the state’s attorney, Thomas York, Milum agreed with him that she had been told that L.W.’s mother had tried to get him into the deaf school but had been turned down because of his behavior.
Milum also talked about another student, Z.S., whom she recommended be sent to public school. His mother did not want him to move to a public school because he’d been unsuccessful at them in the past.
“Do you understand why his mother didn’t want him to go?” York asked.
“Yes, because he’s happy [at Conway] and they’d be fearful public schools would have the same effect,” Milum responded.
Testimony continues today at 9 a.m.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 09/21/2010