[nagdu] Teacher's allergy disrupts plans for autistic girl, service dog - The Athens Messenger: News

Tue Aug 27 02:28:49 UTC 2013

Visit www.cci.org.   (Canine Companions for Independence.) 

Best,

Michael Hingson

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Janice Toothman
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 06:49 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Teacher's allergy disrupts plans for autistic girl,
service dog - The Athens Messenger: News

Hi Michael,
What is CCI? Can you tell me more about what they do? Thanks.
Janice
On 8/26/2013 5:38 PM, Michael Hingson wrote:
> Given that the child is autistic in fact the dog may well have been 
> trained by an organization like CCI.  Many times the dog does act as a 
> calming factor while the dog is actually commanded by someone else like
the mother.
> This is not an unusual situation, but the dog is, by any definition, a 
> service animal.  I have been to CCI and heard lectures on how animals 
> are trained to work with autistic children.
>
>
> Best,
>
>
> Michael Hingson
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ann Edie
> Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 02:33 PM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Teacher's allergy disrupts plans for autistic 
> girl, service dog - The Athens Messenger: News
>
> Other interesting aspects of this case:
>
> The mother plans to attend school daily with her daughter.--This 
> indicates to me, as does the age of the child, that the partnership 
> between the girl and the dog is not that of a person with a disability 
> working independently with a service animal.  It seems more that the 
> parent handles the dog and the presence of the dog has a calming 
> effect on the child or something like that.  The dog may or may not be 
> trained to perform specific tasks to mitigate the child's disability.  
> It might be more of a "social dog" as I have heard them referred to, 
> something to encourage interaction with peers and others in the 
> environment.  Or it may be that the dog does specific things to help 
> the child regain control when she is feeling overwhelmed or upset, or 
> keeps her on route when she is going somewhere.  But I doubt that this 
> young a child is being allowed to go anywhere alone.  If the mother 
> weren't there to handle the dog, the district would probably have to 
> hire a
> 1:1 aide to handle the dog, and that person would have to be trained 
> in how to manage the dog.  This is an expense that most districts 
> could not justify educationally, I believe.
>
> In my experience the school may have more of an issue with the mother 
> wanting to attend school with her child than with the dog.  Today's 
> confidentiality regulations make it very hard to have parents as well 
> as other members of the public in classrooms where they would have 
> access to protected information about other children.  Nowadays 
> everyone in the school building, including volunteers, must be 
> fingerprinted and background checked, and they wouldn't be allowed 
> there on a regular basis unless they were employees of the district, 
> only on specific parent visiting days or other special events, at least in
the schools I have worked with.
>
> As I said, this is a very interesting case, and we'll see how it shakes
out.
>
> Ann
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ann Edie
> Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 1:51 PM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Teacher's allergy disrupts plans for autistic 
> girl, service dog - The Athens Messenger: News
>
> Perhaps the family never let the school know that the girl would be 
> accompanied by the dog, just presuming that the school would have to 
> accept the dog under the provisions of the ADA, although the law as it 
> applies to students attending public schools is not completely 
> straightforward, as far as I know.  It's different for a student 
> (child) than it would be, for example, for a teacher with a disability 
> who uses a service animal or even a parent visitor to the building who 
> uses a service animal.  It will be interesting to follow this case and see
how it progresses.
>
> Ann
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of minh ha
> Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 9:43 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Teacher's allergy disrupts plans for autistic 
> girl, service dog - The Athens Messenger: News
>
> I agree with Julie. Something smells super fishy. ... Didn't the 
> article say that the teacher wasn't even there on the first day and 
> that somebody else told the family that she was allergic to dogs?
>
> Minh
>
> On 8/26/13, Julie J. <julielj at neb.rr.com> wrote:
>> The thing I'm confused about is how the teacher didn't know the girl 
>> was going to be accompanied by her service dog.  I'm convinced there 
>> had to be IEP meetings.  I'm pretty sure the classroom teacher 
>> attends these.  I'm also pretty sure that the topic of the dog would 
>> have come up.  Couldn't the
>>
>> teacher have mentioned the allergy so arrangements could have been 
>> worked out in advance?  Waiting until the first day of school to 
>> figure this out seems like a plan for failure.
>>
>> Or maybe that was the plan all along?
>>
>> Julie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Marsha Drenth
>> Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 11:28 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Teacher's allergy disrupts plans for autistic 
>> girl,service dog - The Athens Messenger: News
>>
>> I'd like for one of the legal minds to comment on this. Whose rights 
>> have to
>>
>> be  observed here? personally my opinion is that the teacher, needs 
>> then to
>>
>> move schools, not eh child. Again that is my opinion. I am curious...
>>
>> Marsha drenth
>> Sent with my IPhone
>>
>> On Aug 25, 2013, at 8:54 AM, "Ginger Kutsch" <GingerKutsch at yahoo.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Teacher's allergy disrupts plans for autistic girl, service dog - 
>>> The Athens
>>> Messenger: News
>>>
>>> Athens Messenger
>>>
>>> Source:
>>>
>>> http://www.athensohiotoday.com/news/teacher-s-allergy-disrupts-plans
>>> -
>>> for-aut
>>> istic-girl-service-dog/article_5b4859e2-a4b1-568a-adb8-acc649e08556.
>>> h
>>> tml
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Shyanna Gretz, 6, of The Plains, is seen with her new service dog 
>>> Spring last month. After attending her first day of school at 
>>> Morrison-Gordon Elementary
>>>
>>> on Monday, the school informed Shyanna's family that their autistic 
>>> daughter and service dog would have to transfer schools as 
>>> Morrison's
>>> K-3 special education
>>>
>>> teacher is severely allergic to dog dander.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> By Sara Brumfield Messenger staff journalist
>>>
>>> As Shyanna Gretz, an autistic 6-year-old from The Plains, and her 
>>> new service dog Spring attended their first day of first grade at 
>>> Morrison-Gordon Elementary
>>>
>>> on Monday, her family was hoping for a smooth transition into Athens 
>>> City Schools. But a special education teacher's severe allergy to 
>>> dog dander has caused
>>>
>>> a hiccup in the family's schooling plan.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The Messenger has written several stories about the Gretz family and 
>>> their journey to get a service dog for Shyanna, who has had a 
>>> history of extreme mood
>>>
>>> fluctuations and wandering off. After two years of fundraising and 
>>> waiting, the family welcomed a 1-year-old black Labrador retriever, 
>>> Spring, into their
>>>
>>> lives last month.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Since Spring's arrival, Shyanna's mother Charla told The Messenger 
>>> that her daughter's moods have been more in line with her peers and 
>>> that family outings
>>>
>>> that were once impossible are now achievable.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Shyanna attended kindergarten at Beacon School on West Union Street 
>>> last year. Beacon, operated by the Athens County Board of 
>>> Developmental Disabilities,
>>>
>>> is a school designed to serve students with special needs in all 
>>> five of the county's public school districts.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> According to Charla, it was determined that Shyanna should be 
>>> integrated into the Athens City School District this year and the 
>>> family made plans for Shyanna
>>>
>>> to attend Morrison-Gordon Elementary, which is located next to 
>>> Beacon School.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> However, at the end of the day on Monday, Charla (who plans to 
>>> attend school with Shyanna on a daily basis) was told that her 
>>> daughter would have to transfer
>>>
>>> to a different elementary school because the K-3 Individualized 
>>> Education Plan teacher at Morrison is severely allergic to dog dander.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Athens City Schools Supt. Carl Martin told The Messenger on Friday 
>>> that only two of the district's four elementary schools have 
>>> programs for autistic students
>>>
>>> - Morrison-Gordon and East Elementary. He said that Morrison has two 
>>> teachers for the program - one who serves grades K-3 and another 
>>> serving grades 4-6
>>>
>>> - and East has one teacher. The district's middle and high schools 
>>> also have such programs.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> He said it's not uncommon for special needs students to begin their 
>>> education at Beacon School and then move into the public school system.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "We have a fair amount of autistic kids in the district," Martin said.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> While switching elementary schools may seem like a simple enough 
>>> solution, Charla said her daughter doesn't cope well with change or 
>>> riding the school
>>>
>>> bus. She told The Messenger that the bus ride to East Elementary 
>>> would be longer and that the change in surroundings could be a 
>>> setback for Shyanna.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Martin emphasized that East Elementary is only five miles from the 
>>> Gretz's home in The Plains and the bus ride wouldn't be much 
>>> different than it is
>>>
>>> to
>>>
>>> Morrison-Gordon.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> According to Martin, he was unaware that the Morrison-Gordon K-3 
>>> special education teacher was allergic to dogs until Monday 
>>> afternoon. Charla said the
>>>
>>> teacher was out sick on Monday, but the school told her that Shyanna 
>>> and Spring could not return to Morrison because of the teacher's
allergy.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> When asked if returning to Beacon would be an option for Shyanna, 
>>> Martin said that would have to be worked out between the family and 
>>> Beacon School.
>>> He
>>>
>>> said that it's not uncommon for students to return to Beacon after 
>>> they've tried public schools.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The Gretz' youngest child, Conner, attends pre-school at Beacon.
>>> Charla said her son has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
>>> (ADHD) and oppositional
>>>
>>> defiant disorder (ODD).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Charla said she will meet with members of the Athens City School 
>>> District
>>>
>>> on
>>> Sept. 3 regarding their options for Shyanna's schooling. Martin said 
>>> the district
>>>
>>> had hoped to meet with the family sooner, but the family's schedule 
>>> didn't allow for that.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "The dog is not the issue," Martin said. "The issue is where can I 
>>> serve this child in a program that works for everyone. East is a 
>>> wonderful school in
>>>
>>> a wonderful building."
>>>
>>> sbrumfield at athensmessenger.com
>>>
>>> ; Twitter @SaraBmessenger.
>>>
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>
> --
> "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty 
> recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
> but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on 
> their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence
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