MARI FRANKLIN LAW
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When you Disagree, it's time to talk

1/28/2015

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One of the most important things I help my clients do, is to talk about what they need.

When your child lives with issues that affect how they move, think, learn, feel, and act, it can be difficult to know where to start a conversation.

Schools are designed for able-bodied students, and for students with certain known disabilities.  Many disabilities do not "fit" into the design; that is when it is time to discuss accommodations.
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I always assume that everyone is doing the best they can.  The student is trying to be a student.  Parents are trying to be parents, and are feeling stretched into being unlicensed doctors and educators.  Educators are trying to be educators, and they are pulled into a healthcare space to try to figure out what operational and physical changes might be needed to successfully educate your child.

Many misunderstandings arise when student-patients and parents expect others to know more than they do.  As parents, we are pulled into the world of figuring out what the doctors are telling us, trying to understand what that means medically, and using our tenuous understanding to teach the school so that they can make the appropriate accommodations.  

With my background in biochemical sciences, cultural and linguistic analysis, economic research, and the law, I work to bridge the gaps in understanding between professionals with very different training from one another.  Medical recommendations made without the context of the school's operational and legal framework can make reasonable accommodations appear to be unreasonable.  School decisions that appear to be reasonable can sometimes cause harm to the patient.  The student-patient and parents can feel frustrated and poorly served when the medical and educational professionals have trouble sorting out the confusion.  And the professionals may feel frustrated when their best efforts are met with distress and anger from the patient and parents.

Parents are the key to helping everyone work together.  Of understanding which professional is capable of providing what solution, and scheduling and coordinating that help.  The student-patient is the key to progress and success, working productively with each member of the medical and school team.  Conflicts are opportunities for the student-patient to to talk to people with whom he or she disagrees.  It's a valuable life skill that Pete Seeger advocates, and that will help the student-patient successfully manage school, and life beyond. 
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Lawyer as Guardian Angel

1/9/2015

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Rosie (not her real name) is a a vibrant, generous, strong young woman in her Junior year of high school.  She loves school, loves her family, and is the family's resident optimist.  She never complains.  Until she was in unimaginable pain and was having difficulty breathing.  Her mom and pediatrician knew that something was seriously wrong.

Thankfully, an intense ER and ICU encounter led to a diagnosis and a treatment.  It was a pulmonary embolism, a condition that rarely is diagnosed in teenagers; her mom tells me that sometimes the only symptom is a back ache.  The treatment with blood thinners was tolerated well, and will need to continue for a few months; and possibly for the rest of her life.  The cause of this pulmonary embolism is unknown.  It is going to take months to figure it all out.
"Her resilience amazes me and reminds me how blessed I am. "
--Rosie's Mom
In the meantime, Rosie looks great.  She is up and about, back to her old self, and wanting this to just go away.   She is still a High School Junior about to have a very important academic year.  Rosie's mom is, understandably, overwhelmed by the fright of a mysterious serious illness and the newness of the situation.  How do we respect Rosie's need to live life as usual, while at the same time protecting her from some of the risks related to her diagnosis and her treatment?
Staying "on track" with life, while mapping out a new track for health.
I worked with mom to understand what we know medically so far, what we are still trying to understand, and what kind of dangers we know about right now.  I talked mom through her worries, while celebrating all that is wonderful about Rosie.  

We agreed that despite the unknowns presented by the medical stuff, it is absolutely critical that we ensure that the school is prepared to continue Rosie's path through the known process of what comes after high school: adult life and college.  

I drafted a memo that detailed the relevant medical information, the continuing need to seek medical care, the new issues that could arise during the school day, and the importance of building accommodations that would allow Rosie to maintain her place as a high achieving student.
For Rosie, proposed accommodations included:
  • sharing the seriousness of the medical condition, and the need for several more months of potentially disruptive medical tests and monitoring;
  • educating teachers and staff about the social confusion that comes with Rosie looking great, but still having a serious medical condition that continues to baffle the experts;
  • securing a "plan B" for receiving her medications at school if she should somehow forget or be unable to get her medication at home before arriving at school;
  • securing additional passing time and elevator privileges to protect against overexertion and against jostling that could cause unusual (and dangerous) bruising and bleeding;
  • securing support and services that celebrate what has not changed (her identity as a great student) and to help her through what has changed (her inability to take her health for granted).
With a well-documented statement of medical information, accompanied by a list of accommodations designed to minimize disruption to Rosie's school day, the school was able to recognize the practicality of implementing an IEP.  Rosie's mom ran the meeting on her own, and came out of it enthused.  "We have an IEP in place... [t]here was zero pushback."

By enlisting this lawyer to help organize all the overwhelming information, Rosie's mom ran the school meeting like the wonderful mother she is.  All the technical issues of what sort of school response is federally required were clearly documented, and did not require Rosie's mom to fight for her daughter's rights.  With the rights clearly established, Rosie's school was ready to start discussing the best ways to ensure Rosie's continued academic success. 
The administration was AWESOME.  We have an IEP in place... [t]here was zero pushback..."      --Rosie's mom
As parents, we worry.  Maybe the school won't believe that we need the help.  Maybe the school won't be fair about how they help.  Maybe our children will be punished for not being perfect.  These are worries that the school accommodations laws address.  Securing a lawyer to help dissolve these worries by applying your facts to the laws lets you focus on parenting.

And there is a lot of parenting to do when your children are facing medical crises.  Our children worry about whether they will be all right, whether they will have to give up dreams, whether you are going to be able to deal with this medically, emotionally, and financially.  This is on top of the normal teenage worries about friends, grades, acne, college plans, etc.  Especially when your children are "medical puzzles" or "medical mysteries," there is tremendous uncertainty about what will come next. 
"Externally my daughter looks great. 
Physically and psychologically not so much. 
Thank you for helping me navigate that and for understanding all my fears. ...
There is so much more psychological healing that needs to be addressed than physical. 
This is my new crusade."      
--Rosie's mom
That they need us to be their moms and dads is great news.  You know how to do that.

I want to be the lawyer that helps parents get the rest of the world "in line."  Who helps you organize what you know, and create a list of questions that need to be answered by your medical team to reduce uncertainty.  Who helps you present the necessary facts to authorize and obligate your child's school to accommodate their reality.  
Rosie's mom tells me that I am "an angel who does not need wings."  With Rosie's medical crisis, her mom was suddenly a "newbie" in the world of parents who deal with these things.  The fears we experience when our children are critically ill, and when we don't have good medical answers that lead to a cure, can be paralyzing.  But our children need us to show them that life does go on.  Who they are has not changed.  How we do things might have changed, but they are still the beloved child who will do great things in this world.

Who would've thunk a lawyer could help with that?  

To contact me to provide assistance with your situation, or to contact Rosie's mom, please fill in the form below.

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    Mari Franklin is a counselor at law who specializes in helping students secure accommodations at school.

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  • Home
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  • EDS: a teenager's expression of what it's like