Please post any letters you've sent to legislators, Dept. of Ed, etc. in support of TIPS and the RLTs. The letters posted here can serve as a resource for other parents as they write their own letter. Be sure to send your letter to several key decision makers/influencial people by copying the letter and cc -ing those people in the letter. The more legislators and key people that get letters from parents the better.
Thanks so much!
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11 comments:
I am writing to ask you to re-evaluate the current Department of Education proposal for the reorganization of Tennessee's Early Intervention program (Tennessee Infant Parent Services) for babies with special needs.
The proposal is to close down the TIPS program, leaving all Regional Lead Teachers and administrators without jobs. This group of people are specially train to work with Early Interventionist and children with special needs. The group consists of experts in deaf education, autism, vision, mobility, speech pathology, early childhood special ed., and audiology.
Doing away with the TIPS program and the RLT jobs will overburden the Early Intervention system. The parent advisors are expected to work for another program where service coordinators are already overworked due to large case loads. There will be no ongoing support and no lesson plan reviewing. Adding more case loads to the service coordinators will result in a decline of services Early Interventionists provide. The families will suffer. Tennessee's children will suffer. The school systems will suffer. Teachers will suffer.
The proposal states money 'saved' by doing away with the program will be used on children without disabilities. These children are not at risk in the school system. While children who need attention in the early years will be over looked and not receive the services they need.
Please refuse the Department of Education's proposal and keep the TIPS program intact. Tennessee's children need the program.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
I am writing to request an immediate reevaluation of the Department of Education proposal for the reorganization of Tennessee's Early Intervention program (Tennessee Infant Parent Services) for babies with special needs.
The proposal seeks to close down the TIPS program, eliminating all Regional Lead Teachers and administrators. These specialists are specifically educated and trained to assess and treat young children with special needs, providing a critical first evaluation and intervention. The group consists of experts in a multitude of early childhood specific fields, including but not limited to deaf education, autism, vision, mobility and physical therapy, speech pathology, early childhood special ed., and audiology.
Casually eliminating the TIPS program and the RLT jobs will overburden the Early Intervention system and leave many children and families without the services that they need and deserve. If an early diagnosis is not made in many of these instances, the affected child falls victim to being behind in terms of development, especially since most of these elementary skills form the foundation upon which their entire scholastic education is based. The implications of this decision are much more far reaching than is easily apparent; this decision will affect the children, their families, the children and families with whom they interact, the schools and school systems that they will attend later in life, and the communities in which they will ultimately work and live.
Reallocating funds from these children to serve those in the school system who are no longer considered disabled or at risk is a sorely misled notion. Preventative measures such as those employed by the TIPS specialists are exponentially more effective when compared to the retroactive methods that are being proposed.
Eliminating the committee based review process that ensures the quality of the lesson plans, procedures, and support infrastructure is also far from optimal. In other words, allowing only one person to monitor the quality of service in each district will ensure that a high level of quality ceases to exist and that the level of quality service to children and families will decline.
Please refuse the Department of Education's proposal for change, and keep the TIPS program intact. All of Tennessee's children and families need the program.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Dear Lt. Governor, Senator and Representatives:
I am writing in regards to the proposal to restructure the Early Intervention System that is in place at this time. I am deeply grieved by some of the losses that the system will endure as a result of this proposal.
My daughter received Early Intervention services from about eight months of age up until her third birthday. She has a rare genetic disorder called Achromatopsia. It is a disease of the retina and causes photophobia, nystagmus, complete color blindness and greatly decreased visual acuity. She is considered legally blind and under certain lighting conditions she cannot see at all.
I would have been lost without the quality of services that she received through Tennessee Infant and Parent Services. This part of the proposal deeply concerns me, in particular:
“Abolish Tennessee Infant Parent Services as a State Special School. TIPS School has 35 highly qualified full-time teachers who are early childhood special education experts. Within this group of teachers are experts in deaf education, autism, vision, mobility, speech pathology, early childhood special ed., and audiology. These teachers serve families and they recruit, train, assign and supervise 600 part-time TIPS teachers who make weekly home visits to these families.”
Without these professionals, our children will suffer greatly. My daughter, in particular, not only benefits but NEEDS the services of a Vision Specialist and Orientation and Mobility Specialist. As a parent, I am not qualified to teach the highly specialized skills that my daughter needs to function in her environment. Through the teachers that have impacted my daughter’s life I have learned things about my daughter that would have taken years for me to understand and figure out. To eliminate these positions and decrease funding would be akin to taking away math and reading teachers for typically developing students. The needs that these teachers meet are essential for the proper development of children with special needs. If anything, funding needs to be increased and more positions made available to decrease case loads for those teachers that carry heavy case loads.
The IDEA was enacted to protect the rights of those with disabilities. If this proposal goes through, those rights will be severely jeopardized. Children ages birth to three years are included in IDEA and to take away positions that serve these children is nothing less than unconstitutional.
I urge you to very carefully consider the impact that this proposal will have on young children in need of these services. I sincerely appreciate your time and attention to this matter.
Another Great Parent Letter-
SAVE TIPS-
4/2/07
I am not a political animal. I don’t march, protest, write letters to the editor or have a bumper sticker proclaiming any opinion of any kind on my car. I don’t pick fights. I don’t look over people’s shoulders. I do my job and expect everyone else to do theirs.
But I am the parent of a 12 year-old boy with autism and right now I am hopping mad. Parents just like me, who have newborn or very young children who will be diagnosed today, tomorrow, next month, or next year with problems at least as severe as my child’s, are being threatened with a very unwise proposal from the State Department of Education.
There is a draft plan being considered by our state of Tennessee legislators that threatens to abolish Tennessee Infant Parent Services and place all the responsibility for taking care of newly diagnosed families of very young children with disabilities under the auspices of the Tennessee Early Intervention System. TIPS and TEIS have previously worked well together. TEIS provided service coordination. TIPS provided direct service to families through their network of Regional Lead Teachers and Parent Advisors available in every county of Tennessee. If you take away TIPS this would be like ripping out the part of your brain that governs your limbs. You wouldn’t know which foot to put first.
There has been a year-long study conducted by the Governor’s Office of Children’s Care Coordination to consolidate these two agencies. Nobody ever said we would be getting rid of one and putting more stress on the other. But that is exactly what is being proposed and guess who will be the biggest loser? Vulnerable families, crushed by overwhelming crises with their newborn or very young children, coping with devastating diagnoses and looking for somewhere to turn for advice, a plan, a kind word, and most importantly – good, solid information about programs and services they can access immediately.
That will not happen with this plan. The 35 highly qualified full-time teachers who are early childhood special education experts with TIPS will be gone. Their hundreds of years of aggregate experience in deaf education, autism, vision, mobility, speech pathology, audiology – gone. Their ability to recruit, train, assign and supervise an army of part-time TIPS teachers who make weekly visits to these families – gone. The 600 parent advisors who are currently being mentored and supported by these wonderful teachers – eventually gone.
Imagine how devastating it will be for that family in crisis who has a deathly ill newborn or a young child who has just been diagnosed with a serious condition when they pick up the phone to call TIPS and no-one will be home. Imagine the red tape. Imagine the numerous calls to an automated system. And imagine having to tell your story again and again to the thinly spread, inexperienced, unqualified administrative personnel who will be in charge of your entry into the system if this happens.
And imagine that the person coping with all this has a child screaming in the background, isn’t getting enough sleep, is confused, grief-stricken, and crying out for reassurance and real help from a seasoned professional.
This is going to happen if these changes are passed! Program Quality Assurance will be assigned to one person per district. This means no supervision, no lesson plan review, no ongoing coaching and supporting. Questions about how to handle difficult or even dangerous situations will be ignored or put on hold. Quality service to families will plummet.
Money saved from eliminating the positions of early childhood special educators will be re-channeled to serve 1200 children who are between the ages of 3 and 4 and no longer considered disabled. This robs the families who are coping with the dark early days of a diagnosis to serve families who are out of the woods and who stand a chance of being eligible for regular education. How can that make sense to anyone?
Let me tell you as a parent who has grappled with a very serious diagnosis. When you hear the words that tell you that your child is going to struggle with something very, very difficult for the rest of his or her life, you panic. You feel helpless and depressed. You may even consider suicide (and then what will your child cost the state?). Immediate contact with a knowledgeable, kind, reassuring person is a godsend. Access to immediate solutions, therapy, a plan, or even a “step one” can make all the difference in the child’s ultimate outcome and the degree of future burden he or she will create for the system. Everyone knows that early intervention is the key to later success. You don’t get that with an automated phone system, miles of red tape, or an uncomprehending voice on the phone who hands you off again and again to person after person.
I vote for the face-to-face miracles the TIPS School is known for. They served 3,750 families in our state just last year. Their track record is filled with grateful families who have been given the courage and means to tackle their children’s challenges and lessen the load on the system down the line. I know. I have spoken to groups of parents who are recipients of TIPS services and I hear again and again how TIPS went the extra mile, gave support at a critical juncture, listened, reacted, dug into their own pocket to make something happen.
Get rid of them and the problems will multiply immediately and we will all hear more than just screaming in the background. We will have some dire situations hitting the paper with alarming frequency and we will wonder – what were we thinking?
Please don’t abolish TIPS School. Find a way to keep these valuable people doing the essential jobs they are doing.
Mary Donnet Johnson
Publisher, Speaker, Writer, Parent of a Child with Autism
Another Great Letter....
Jamie Kilpatrick
OECPDSE
710 James Robertson Pkwy
Nashville, TN 37243
March 28, 2007
Dear Jamie,
As a past member of the State ICC during its first ten years, current chairwoman of our Upper Cumberland ICC, parent and grandparent of 7 special needs children, and retired special education teacher, I have some questions regarding the information I’ve gotten on Reform of Tennessee’s Early Intervention System. It appears that this task force evidently did a great deal of very hard work, and I thank them for that. I’d like to know who served on this task force, especially who actually actively represented the Upper Cumberland District – most specifically which of our families have been involved. The excellent “guiding principles” proposed for the program reforms are, of course, the same principles which always have guided the early intervention systems as, rightfully, required by federal and state mandates – principles which we in the Upper Cumberland have put into practice since the beginning with great success to benefit the families we work with.
Thank you for encouraging us to submit questions to be addressed at “regional public forums” – which I assume will be held in all nine regions. We seem to be very short of time regarding these changes, and I have concerns that our families not be left out of this process. How will these meetings be publicized? How will you assure good family representation at these meetings? Will transportation costs to families be covered? What about families who do not have transportation? Will child care be provided appropriate to the needs of our babies and their siblings, so their parents can attend?
Why do I not see FAMILIES anywhere on the “draft model state & district TEIS organizational structure” chart? Remember, families are full partners in our early intervention system.
My main question is exactly what is the plan for transitioning to the new system and how will this plan affect our rural families in the Upper Cumberland? How will these changes take place without disrupting services to families? Will the specific needs of rural communities be considered, or will we just be subjected to the same template as the cities? Is consideration given to the long distances that need to be covered in rural counties when assigning case load allowances and tasks? Do you adjust for distance and accessibility to therapists when setting overall policies? Do you consider how thinly stretched our resources are in rural counties? Will the teams going into the homes to do evaluations be culturally sensitive to our rural families? How much personal contact will supervisors have with families and their direct service workers, so they will know these babies and their families as more than just names on paper?
I have a great fear that with increasing reliance on computer technology, our early intervention system will lose its humanity, that the warmth of personal interactions and cooperation which is the cornerstone of our program’s success will be gone. It’s critical to have a supervisor who can be personally familiar with each family, who can appreciate the gains and successes we share via our reports and can provide useful feedback, who can give professional support in problem-solving when necessary. Who will perform these functions under the new plan once our lead teachers are gone? Why did this time study that was done not have an accurate system to show the work the lead teachers really do? (Personally, I can’t help but find this very disrespectful to professionals who have worked extremely hard and are gifted in their field.) A data base may be efficient as a remote recording device, but it lacks the benefits of personal interchange and caring. Where will direct service providers get the professional support that is another vital part of our system? How will direct service providers get training? Who will be available to do trouble-shooting, find needed information, and make recommendations? Where will resource materials, toys, and information are housed so the service providers can access them? How has input from field workers/direct service providers who presently are working in the system been considered in drawing up this overall plan? Finally, how many of our Upper Cumberland families have been actively involved and their input actually considered?
Because of the vast diversity of cultures across our state, we original ICC members made the decision to have the program administered through each district, because people from each district know their populations and how to best consider their needs. How will this new “one size fits all” plan accommodate the diversity of cultures that we have across our state?
Is it true that the TEIS offices will be pulled out of the universities? If so, what are the reasons? Were the university programs evaluated on individual bases? Were the advantages of the university setting considered, or only the problems? Our UCEIS was able to better serve our families by forming partnerships with other colleges in the university: the school of engineering go a grant enabling students to make adaptive equipment for our TEIS children, we’re had students from all the colleges do practicum work with us, TEIS folks have lectured in many different classes, and we have a good team relationship with everyone from the president through faculty and students to maintenance staff. The university sponsors an angel tree project every Christmas for our families, and last year they gave over 400 gifts to our families. And even more significantly, the families in our district have more trust in workers who come out of the university than they do in state agency workers who, rightly or wrongly, they often see as people who want to take away their children.
Our Upper Cumberland TEIS/TIPS program is a model of teamwork which has worked very well to the advantage of our families. It would be a shame to see this changed to a model that is only business friendly.
Thanks for your consideration. I’m looking forward to your responses at our Upper Cumberland public forum. If possible, please try to schedule us after April 17 which is our LICC meeting date. Actually, as LICC chairwoman, I set the agenda, and we’d really appreciate if possibly you or someone from your office could come to that meeting to engage in a dialogue with us around this matter. Please let me know – I can be reached by telephone at 615-536-5287, or you could contact Filomena Palmer at the UC-TEIC office.
Sincerely yours,
Merril Harris
cc: Charlotte Bryson, Kathy Daniels, Mary Rolando, Tom Catron, Filomena Palmer, Dean Ritchie, Don Thompson, Gov. Phil Bredesen, Sen. Charlotte Burks, Sen. Mae Beavers, State ICC, Lana Seivers, Tim Webb, Joseph Fisher, Linda Hartbarger
Dear Jamie,
I understand there is a recommendation to reform TEIS by the Governor's Office on Children's Care Coordination(GOCCC). The recommendation at hand to abolish TIPS school would very negatively impact Early Intervention in our great state.
I am writing to ask for your support in rejecting this recommendation in the name of progress or reform. I have a 4 year old daughter, Lydia, who received services through TEIS/TIPS. Lydia has a diagnosis of Down syndrome and as you may know this presents several 'learning hurdles'. The support, education, and resources we received through TIPS was of immeasurable value to Lydia. Our Parent Advisor and RLT, Janet Caldwell, provided knowledgeable, experienced, and hands-on care for my daughter. Lydia is a verbal, smart and capable young learner today and I have the greatest expectations for her future. The benefit she received through Early Intervention in general and TIPS in specific, contributed tremendously to her current development.
I want to thank you for your efforts to save TIPS school. This recommendation to abolish TIPS and the removal of highly qualified teaching personnel will only weaken our state education program in ways that I fear will be irreparable. It would be a step backward on the long road to success in our state's education system.
My daughter no longer needs TEIS, but I know of many other young children who have disabilities who do. Please think of them and of Lydia's success story when you discuss this recommendation and when you vote.
With Kindest Regards,
Another great parent letter to the Commissioner of Education
Dear Lana,
I understand there is a recommendation to reform TEIS by the Governor's Office on Children's Care Coordination (GOCCC). The recommendation at hand to aboish TIPS school would very negatively impact Early Intervention and Education in our great state.
I am writing to ask for your support in rejecting this recommendation in the name of progress or reform. I have a 4 year old daughter, Lydia, who received services through TEIS/TIPS. Lydia has a diagnosis of Down syndrome and as you may know this presents several 'learning hurdles'. The support, education, and resources we received through TIPS was of immeasurable value to Lydia. Our Parent Advisor and RLT, Janet Caldwell, provided knowledgeable, experienced, and hands-on care for my daughter. Lydia is a verbal, smart and capable young learner today and I have the greatest expectations for her future. The benefit she received through Early Intevention in general and TIPS in specific, contributed tremendously to her current development.
I want to thank you for your efforts to save TIPS school. This recommendation to abolish TIPS and the removal of highly qualified teaching personnel will only weaken our state education program in ways that I fear will be irreparable. It would be a step backward on the long road to success in our state's education system.
My daughter no longer needs TEIS, but I know of many other young children who have disabilities who do. Please think of them and of Lydia's success story when you discuss this recommendation and when you vote.
With kindest regards,
Angela Morin
Knoxville TN
Letters that can easily vary to send to others.
Dear Representative:
We have all lived long enough to know why good programs *deliver.* Tn Infant Parent Services (TIPS) has been in place, working, and delivering early intervention services for the past 27 years. TIPS is solid and strong, because of it's core program, how it is administered and who is staffing it. TIPS is also the only program that includes specialists in the Deaf and hard of hearing and vision.
...And it is about to lose it's funding!.. Please tell the Dept. of Education not to cut this program and it's lead teachers. It is said this *reorgainzation* of early intervention will not hurt services to famlies. Losing TIPS will hurt families and early intervention will so regret the loss. We, your constituents, want you to act NOW to keep TIPS in the budget and funded. PLEASE contact Lana Seivers, Dept.of Education and find a way to reorganize and keep TIPS. I know this is possible!
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for as we all know, it is our most *at risk* population, disabled babies and their families, who will be hurt.
You are greatly appreciated for your work! Sincerely,
-----
TO: The Tn Infant Parent Services (TIPS) program is in serious danger of losing it's funding. This program has been delivering excellent services for all disabled babies in TN for the past 27 years.TIPS is solid and strong and *delivers* because of it's base; how it's administered and who is running it. Honestly, I believe the reorganization of early intervention by excluding TIPS with it's staff, will hurt families. I cannot tell you the difference my training has meant to me as a Parent Advisor in the quality of my work. I thought the best place to say this was to you, especially the Special Schools Committee. Please hear from us, your constituents, that we want to keep the TIPS Program in the budget and funded. Early Intervention will so regret the loss of TIPS if we do not act now. Those hurt most will be, of course, our at risk babies and their families. Training and good supervision is crucial, and in the long run, worth every penny. PLEASE consider reorganizing without reducing the wisdom of this 27 year old program that is working well and in place. It is important to note it has the only vision and hard of hearing specialists that are needed in early intervention programs. Would you please tell all the State Department of Education members as well as the Finance ways and Means Committee that we need their help on this today? Your work is greatly appreciated!
Thank you and sincerely,
Another Support Letter from a Parent and the Correspondence From the Department of Education......Interesting!
Thanks Lana, and now since I am graduating college I can spend more time with my two autism children, my daughter is almost five and starting to repeat real words for the first time since she quit talking at 1 1/2 years of age. We are all so excited and will make sure to never stop having her speak. I was afraid that maybe you would lose a few good people in the TIPS program by cutting their jobs, and we need those people. Their jobs may be cut but they do more than sit behind a desk. Some supervisors go out and work with children and meet the children in their counties for the TIPS program and that is a much needed one on one relationship for all TIPS children. Some body must match up the workers with the children so good service can be provided. Not all workers will be right for just any child. We had the right worker and we needed her with out knowing it. Hillary Keith is a savior. Thanks for taking the time to write us and I will keep you informed.
Sincerely,
Ginger
----- Original Message -----
From: Education Comments
To: gingerandcharles .
Cc: Jamie Kilpatrick ; Joe Fisher
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 4:03 PM
Subject: Re: for Lana Seivers
Dear Ms. Wilson:
Thank you for your e-mail regarding the TIPS program.
First, let me assure you that the Department of Education has no intention of discontinuing the TIPS program. Services through the early childhood program will continue without interruption. In fact, funding for this program as well as the Tennessee Early Intervention System (TEIS) program has not been reduced. However, based upon the recommendations resulting from a comprehensive study, both of these programs will be restructured to ensure more efficiency to the children and families across the state.
As the mother of a son with disabilities (now 30 years old), I know first hand the importance of working closely with families and the tremendous value of providing direct services to these children. It is the intent of the Department to make sure every child is served with no change in the direct services provided to the child or family. This is important to me both as Commissioner of Education and as a mother.
Please know that I am very proud of the progress children have made in the TIPS Program and that I want to see this progress continue. We firmly believe that early intervention is the key to a successful transition into public school.
If you have additional questions or concerns, please call Jamie Kilpatrick, Director of Early Childhood for the Division of Special Education, or Joseph Fisher, Assistant Commissioner for the Division of Special Education at (615) 741-2851.
Sincerely,
Lana C. Seivers
Commissioner
LCS/jf
>>> 3/21/2007 2:00 PM March 21, 2007
Dear Lana C Seivers:
How can you say that Tennessee is the top eighth in the nation for pre-school education when they are hurting the program TIPS that is for birth to 3 years for poor families and needy and disabled children. You are cutting out some of the TIPS Regional Lead Teachers and Advisors who are also Parent advisors and go to each home and see who is best suited for that family, as well as assist in IEP meetings , Therapy and also visiting children weekly that they see as Parent advisors, They do not just sit in an office, they go out into the field and assist and work. I heard their jobs are being cut and they have no jobs any longer. Maybe some administrators did nothing but mine saved our lives and helped us like no other organization did. We were involved with Chads, Headstart, TIPS, and therapist. TIPS is a much needed program for people who can not travel or who would not travel and burden themselves with having to invest time to go some where's for help for their child.
Pre-schools in Tennessee are not set up for disabled children I know because I have two children in Pre-school and they are autism These people do not know all the things that my TIPS advisor who came into my home every week for a year did. My TIPS advisor was Hillary Keith, and she taught us about sensory issues, programs, organizations for disabled children. Out of all of the programs she was the one that did the most out side of privately paid care.
We need people like Hillary to travel the counties and not be stuck inside an office and never go out of it. A supervisor to assist in helping the children and knowing them on a first hand basis. Tennessee needs some help in making a pre-school class room work. Take money from the Lottery and invest in keeping the traveling TIPS Lead Teachers so they can see first hand the work that TIPS is doing and the progress. Parents could co-pay to have their children in pre-school if they are not disabled children like mine are. My children need the extra help and The Federal and State Laws for disabled children are supposed to be giving to them. You need to give more to the disabled children and stop depriving children birth to three years of age. Normal children are advanced and can make it, disabled and poor un-seen children are not advanced and they need extra help.
You should see some of the things that I see in class rooms and you must be only looking at the schools that have money, our school is a poor county and we need funding. TIPS was what helped us more than the school system.
Cut the programs in the state that people can live without like, Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge they made the mess, let them pay to clean it up. The ARTS; I love art but what good is it when people are dumb as door nails in Tennessee because you cut the TIPS people who make a difference. Cut the others in TIPS that don't see the children every week and make a difference in Tennessee . Hillary Keith came into our lives for a little over a year and she saved us on every level and my son advanced enough to go to Pre-school where we have a lacking of understanding and they need the TIPS advisor Hillary Keith in there to travel state wide teaching others how to care for disabled children. She knew what all of my paid Therapists knew. She is not noticed in her abilities and job performance. Maybe some Regional people did not go out and work but Hillary assisted us on visits to Specialists, IEP meetings, and gave us Resources that no one we were involved with did. Cutting out Her job position is a shame and a crime to all disabled and poor children state wide, as a matter of fact she should be a leader to help train a new way of organization for the TIPS program to be ran state wide and she works hands on and in the floor one on one with my child. She is a valuable tool that Tennessee needs in making the TIPS program work. We would have never done it with out her.
Your testing on the progress forms needs to be changed to show how much my son did change with in a year. I pay over $700.00 a month per child to see therapist and Hillary did what they did and knew all that they knew, Hillary and her job is an over looked ASSET that Tennessee needs and should emulate and she is the direction and the future that the TIPS program should go. She makes sure that she knows all of her families and suits them to the people that can better suit their needs. She works hard and gets on the floor and sees children on a weekly basis. She works hard for her families to help her assigned children while managing several counties. She does not just sit behind a desk collecting dust. Cut the jobs of those who are collecting dust and keep the most needed assets for the TIPS Program of the State of Tennessee . Leave the good people involved with TIPS ALONE! WE NEED THEM! I never realized how much that I did not know until Hillary showed up and taught me and directed me in a way so that I can take care of my disabled children for the rest of their lives Also she gave a single mother encouragement and moral support which is priceless and much needed. She is easy to work with and I have never had any problems with her. She told me options of help and I chose what plan to use.
Sincerely a mother of two autism children of Tennessee ,
Ginger Wilson
Parent Letter. Same letter was sent to other Legislators too.
April 1, 2007
Senator Jamie Woodson
309 War Memorial Building
Nashville, TN 37243-0206
Dear Senator Woodson,
Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us to discuss the proposed reorganization of the TIPS School (Tennessee Infant Parent Services). I really appreciate the time that you took to listen to our concerns and gather information to understand the problem at hand. I don’t typically write letters to legislators and have never met with a legislator before. But, I strongly believe that the current proposal to reduce the TIPS school will have a very negative impact on young children and their families.
Our son, Jack, was diagnosed with torticollis when he was around 3 months old. This is a tightening of the neck muscle that causes the head to tilt and leads to facial asymmetry, misshapen head, developmental delays, and perceptual problems. He also had severe gastrointestinal reflux. Both of these things caused him to have significant developmental delays in 3-4 areas. The services through TIPS and physical therapy have significantly improved his condition in just 6 months. In fact, after 6 months of services he is now ready to be released from early intervention services and will continue only with physical therapy until he begins walking.
We are grateful for the direct services provided to our family by our TIPS Parent Advisor (“PA”). Our PA, Lisa Compton, is also a Regional Lead Teacher who provides direct services to families like ours while also serving as a resource for other PA’s who work on a part-time basis. Her wealth of ideas have allowed us to assist our son’s development. She has been a wonderful resource and support. Her expertise and knowledge have been a key to his success and our success in working with him. She is able to come into our home and give us ideas to help him in his daily routine. TIPS has been extremely valuable to our son’s development and our family as a whole.
We were highly disappointed to learn about the proposed restructuring of the TIPS School. As parents, we are highly concerned about the State of Tennessee’s reorganization of the TN’s Early Intervention System and the dismantling of the TIPS School. The possible termination of TIPS Schools Special Schools Teachers (also called Regional Lead Teachers- RLTs) such as Lisa Compton will have a profound negative impact on the services that are delivered to birth to 3 children with special needs and their families.
TIPS Regional Lead Teachers directly serve families. They also recruit, train, assign, supervise, & mentor 600 part-time teachers/ parent advisors who make weekly home visits to our families. Without these TIPS RLTs, services would decline in the following ways:
· Less time and quality supervision of Parent Advisors. In the Knoxville area, this means that 1 person would supervise 138 part time teachers who served 740 families last year. There is no way that this 1 supervisor can provide the kind of services, resources, & supervision that the current RLTs do.
· Reviews of child/ family lesson plans will significantly diminish
· One-to-one training/mentoring will cease- critical issues for all new providers
· Matching the parent advisor skills and t raining with child and family needs will cease
· Lack of supervision & mentorship will likely result in greater turnover and difficulty retaining high quality parent advisors.
Another concern is that the state is considering the TIPS School Special Schools teachers to be administrative. This is NOT so. They provide DIRECT services to families, mentoring, supervision, guidance, resources, & training for the part-time teachers (Parent Advisors).
The current TIPS RLTs are highly qualified specialists in areas such as deaf education, vision, speech pathology, blindness, reading and early literacy, school social work, early childhood special education, and supervision. Five of the teachers are nationally recognized experts and have trained early childhood special education teachers in 21 states. Fifteen are state trainers for curriculum materials, which pass the strict standards set by federal law (IDEA 2004). Thirty-six of the 38 teachers have Master’s Degrees or higher. They have an average of 22 years of teaching experience. Why would we want to lose these highly experienced and qualified educators that have so much to add to the delivery of quality services for our young children? “Watering down” the services for our young children with special needs would be a travesty. Tennessee doesn’t have the strongest record at 41st (2005-2006.) in the country in education. Shouldn’t we maintain a proven program with qualified experienced teachers?
PLEASE do not let our state lose TIPS as it exists today. Losing TIPS Regional Lead Teachers and the proposed change would be a major setback for education and specifically special education and early intervention in our state.
Thank you for your efforts to address the negative parts of this proposal to help Tennessee’s young children with special needs.
Sincerely,
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