StopCPS/save an autistic child!
Donation protected
My name is Natalie Klekovic. I'm the Mom of three fabulous girls, Natasha, Misha and Katarena: 
My middle child, Natasha, at left, was diagnosed with autism at two years of age, and has made great progress since. However...three years ago, she began displaying extreme behaviors in school.
This behavior only manifested in school, and only until she could go home. We were stumped. We wrote behavioral intervention plans. We revised and revised her IEP'S. We consulted specialists in Functional Behavior analysis. We gave her a reward for every day she made it through a day at school. Eventually we had to change it to every morning, since she was unable to go a full day anymore. She was exhausted. She cried herself sick everyday at school, and my other two children could hear her screaming, even from their classrooms. I reassured them that Natasha's teachers had it under control, and to attend to their studies as best they can.
I had been accepted in our state LEND(Leadership Education in Developmental Disabilities), a think tank of specialists, doctors, psychiatrists, behaviorists, parents, special ed teachers, nurses, developmental psychologists, speech therapists, vocational therapists, and college professors. One of our talks was by Glenn Dunlap, a world famous behaviorist and author who told us that "BEHAVIOR IS COMMUNICATION".
That made me wonder what Natasha was trying to communicate to us. Did she hate her school? Were the demands too stringent? Did she feel threatened or unsafe?
We received an answer that almost broke us. Her Principal witnessed her teacher's aide striking Natasha repeatedly in the face. The police were called. We pressed charges. We sued the school district, at a cost of $2,500 in lawyer's fees, that we are still trying to pay back. We received top notch services for Natasha and a change of schools, but no monetary settlement. It took her about six months at her new school to make progress in stopping her terrified meltdowns. We started her on anti-anxiety meds. She began seeing a psychiatrist, as did her sisters, who were traumatized, having flashbacks of all of her screaming, and what she must have been suffering for a whole year, while they did nothing, at my advice.
Things got better. She loved school. Then she moved to a new middle school.
Things went well, at first. She started a regular math class. She was in a mainstream drama and math class.
She was so excited to be a big girl!
Then I went to the hospital for two weeks. Natasha reverted to her old behaviors. Instead of finding out her history, one of her teachers, adminstration or behavior specialists filed a report with Child Protective Services against us. They suspected sexual abuse. They interviewed all of our children without permission or the input of her parents; Michael and I, (who are now considered suspected sexual predators). 
When CPS came to my house to interview me the next day, I gave them all of our court documents and evidence of school abuse.
Bobbie from CPS advised us that since Natasha couldn't answer their verbal interrogation coherently, they would need to perform an invasive medical examination. No sedation would be used.
Hell NO.
I will not allow them to retraumatize her, just because she has communication difficulties. The definition of autism is to have significant Behavioral, Social and COMMUNICATION difficulties. Does that give a strange doctor the right to cause her trauma that could last for years? We've only recently been able to navigate a doctor's visit, but she still asks about shots. After two years of teaching her that her body is hers and hers alone - not to be touched by anyone except her- what kind of damage will this do to her psyche, already so fragile because of an abusive authority figure?
We need your help to mount a legal defense of Natasha. We need to hire a lawyer and an autism specialist, who might help CPS get answers from Natasha, through pictures, sign language, Picture Exchange Systems, or a communication device that speaks what she types.
We are facing exactly what most families of autistic individuals fear. We are facing losing our child, and maybe our other two, simply because Natasha is behaving like an autist. Because she can't explain what she has experienced. If we lose her to an institution, I don't know how we will go on. She is the best of us, and the heart of our whole family. All children are miracles, but Natasha makes us better parents, makes her sisters more patient and determined.
I know we all ask how to change the system, but you can help one child right now. You can't save every child, but you can save Natasha from being ripped from her loving family. You can keep her from unnecessary violation at the hands of CPS. Please help her. I beg you.
My middle child, Natasha, at left, was diagnosed with autism at two years of age, and has made great progress since. However...three years ago, she began displaying extreme behaviors in school.
This behavior only manifested in school, and only until she could go home. We were stumped. We wrote behavioral intervention plans. We revised and revised her IEP'S. We consulted specialists in Functional Behavior analysis. We gave her a reward for every day she made it through a day at school. Eventually we had to change it to every morning, since she was unable to go a full day anymore. She was exhausted. She cried herself sick everyday at school, and my other two children could hear her screaming, even from their classrooms. I reassured them that Natasha's teachers had it under control, and to attend to their studies as best they can.
I had been accepted in our state LEND(Leadership Education in Developmental Disabilities), a think tank of specialists, doctors, psychiatrists, behaviorists, parents, special ed teachers, nurses, developmental psychologists, speech therapists, vocational therapists, and college professors. One of our talks was by Glenn Dunlap, a world famous behaviorist and author who told us that "BEHAVIOR IS COMMUNICATION".
That made me wonder what Natasha was trying to communicate to us. Did she hate her school? Were the demands too stringent? Did she feel threatened or unsafe?
We received an answer that almost broke us. Her Principal witnessed her teacher's aide striking Natasha repeatedly in the face. The police were called. We pressed charges. We sued the school district, at a cost of $2,500 in lawyer's fees, that we are still trying to pay back. We received top notch services for Natasha and a change of schools, but no monetary settlement. It took her about six months at her new school to make progress in stopping her terrified meltdowns. We started her on anti-anxiety meds. She began seeing a psychiatrist, as did her sisters, who were traumatized, having flashbacks of all of her screaming, and what she must have been suffering for a whole year, while they did nothing, at my advice.
Things got better. She loved school. Then she moved to a new middle school.
Things went well, at first. She started a regular math class. She was in a mainstream drama and math class.
She was so excited to be a big girl!
Then I went to the hospital for two weeks. Natasha reverted to her old behaviors. Instead of finding out her history, one of her teachers, adminstration or behavior specialists filed a report with Child Protective Services against us. They suspected sexual abuse. They interviewed all of our children without permission or the input of her parents; Michael and I, (who are now considered suspected sexual predators). When CPS came to my house to interview me the next day, I gave them all of our court documents and evidence of school abuse. Bobbie from CPS advised us that since Natasha couldn't answer their verbal interrogation coherently, they would need to perform an invasive medical examination. No sedation would be used.
Hell NO.
I will not allow them to retraumatize her, just because she has communication difficulties. The definition of autism is to have significant Behavioral, Social and COMMUNICATION difficulties. Does that give a strange doctor the right to cause her trauma that could last for years? We've only recently been able to navigate a doctor's visit, but she still asks about shots. After two years of teaching her that her body is hers and hers alone - not to be touched by anyone except her- what kind of damage will this do to her psyche, already so fragile because of an abusive authority figure?We need your help to mount a legal defense of Natasha. We need to hire a lawyer and an autism specialist, who might help CPS get answers from Natasha, through pictures, sign language, Picture Exchange Systems, or a communication device that speaks what she types.
We are facing exactly what most families of autistic individuals fear. We are facing losing our child, and maybe our other two, simply because Natasha is behaving like an autist. Because she can't explain what she has experienced. If we lose her to an institution, I don't know how we will go on. She is the best of us, and the heart of our whole family. All children are miracles, but Natasha makes us better parents, makes her sisters more patient and determined.
I know we all ask how to change the system, but you can help one child right now. You can't save every child, but you can save Natasha from being ripped from her loving family. You can keep her from unnecessary violation at the hands of CPS. Please help her. I beg you.Organizer
Natalie Ebert Klekovic
Organizer
Arden, NV