School System's Center Helps Parents of Children With Special Needs

Cathryn Rice was overwhelmed when her child's autism was diagnosed four years ago. She didn't know much about autism, and she knew even less about how to navigate the special education process.

"I was hoping someone could give me a direction," she said.

She contacted the Loudoun school system's Parent Resource Center. There, she found some good listeners, a library full of books about disabilities, and dozens of workshops, some of them geared toward parents of children with autism.

The center, housed in the Douglass Support Facility in Leesburg, received more than 5,300 calls or visits from parents last year. It offered 48 workshops to about 1,500 participants and lent more than 400 videos or books to help parents or other family members learn to live with and help educate a child who has a disability.

Started 18 years ago as part of a state initiative, the Loudoun center aims to help "parents understand in a meaningful way what they can do to support and contribute to a youngster's success," said Allyson Pate, a former special education teacher and the center's only full-time employee.

For the parent of a child with special needs, there's a lot to know, said Lynn Blycher, chairwoman of the district's Special Education Advisory Committee, which reports to the School Board.

"Most parents will tell you when they walk into the process, they have no idea" what they are dealing with, Blycher said. "When you read all the information that's provided to you, it's packed, it's overwhelming, it's really hard to digest," she said.

The center answers calls from parents with various concerns, including some who think their child should be considered for special education, some who have just received a diagnosis and others who are preparing for their first meeting about their child's personal education plan, which maps out what services the student will receive.

Pate, along with a part-time center employee who has children with disabilities, explains how the school system's process works and refers people to community services, including advocacy and disability-specific support groups.

The center's lending library, with its searchable list of titles online, offers books written in plain -- rather than medical -- English and Spanish about a variety of diagnoses and parenting. The library also has a collection geared toward younger readers, with titles such as "Otto Learns About His Medicine: A Story About Medication for Children With ADHD," for attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

For parents trying to explain to their children what it means to have a disability, Pate said, "This can be an icebreaker, can put it in kidspeak."

Although the center specializes in helping families with children who have special needs, it also responds to parental concerns about other issues, such as bullying and the impact of high-stakes tests. Pate said she is trying to reach out to more parents this year and plans to send a workshop schedule home with every Loudoun student next week. To expand services to a growing number of immigrant parents, the center is enhancing translation services this year for the workshops.

One workshop that Rice said she found useful addressed the transition from an early childhood program for students with disabilities to a mainstream elementary class. A panel of five educators walked about 100 parents through some of the changes they could expect.

"These unknowns are a huge anxiety for parents," she said. "If you have a path, it's very helpful."