School Advocacy
Long Island TSA Youth Ambassador Lee Gochman
The Education and Advocacy Committee is Chaired by Jane Zwilling, Psy.D. The Committee is dedicated to presenting in-service workshops for school staff and faculties and is also available for consultations to school personnel and to parents.
Additionally, the committee has been responding to parents’ requests for information and is helping parents to advocate for their children at IEP and other team meetings at schools.
If any one is interested in being trained to be an advocate and is willing to, or able to present at school districts, please contact us at LongIslandTSA@aol.com or at 516-876-6947.
Please visit the National TSA website Education/Advocacy section for valuable information in regard to preparing to advocate for your youngster.
IEP Highlights
- The appropriate classification for children with TS is OHI - OTHER HEALTH IMPAIRED. It is listed as such in the NYS Education Handbook.
- Do not accept a refusal for classification based on the following reasons:
- Your child does not show a discrepancy between performance and verbal IQ and therefore does not qualify as Learning Disabled.
- Your child does not qualify for services because his disablity does not impact on his academic performance.
- You are NOT seeking a classification of LD, but OHI. All you need for this classification is a diagnosis of TS. If the school has never been in-serviced on TS, they will most likely be unable to observe the impact on performance.
- Always put your request for classification and testing in writing to the school principal or the chairperson of the Special Education Committee. Include a copy of the doctor's diagnosis of TS including the accompanying neurological disorders (ADHD, OCD, etc.) and literature from the Tourette Syndrome Association.
- Always try to bring someone from the association with you to the meeting and remember that you have the right to take the IEP home with you and have it reviewed before signing it.