–

There is no question that extensive investment should be made in high-functioning children who will eventually either contribute to the community or cause problems. This is sound economically and ethically.

However, we might do well to question our goals with regard to lower-functioning children. I recall hearing a story on NPR awhile back about a family (this story was presented by the father) who had reluctantly put their 13-year-old autistic son in a group home after years of struggle within the family. Sometimes their son was violent, and had to be restrained. Finally they accepted that this was not good for him, as well as not good for them. At first the transition was difficult. But when their son began to return for home visits, they found that he was not only happier, but that he was more sociable and had begun learning his alphabet. The option of a higher quality of life in an institutional setting might be a more enlightened goal than what we have now.

Sincerely,
Natalie Gillihan

Name: John Craig

Subject: special ed

Message: Hi
The moral tragedy here is that there is very little outrage that
there is an epidemic happening! Why are there so many kids on the
spectrum? We have to look at ALL possibilties. Not just gloss over
vaccines and vaccine additives and rely on three foreign studies
which are flawed. Environmental insults of all kinds are not being
taken seriously. In the history of humankind, there never has been a
“genetic epidemic”.
Thanks
John Craig
PS The 1 in 150 # from the CDC I think is for full blown autism.

Name: Marcia

Subject: SPED violations

Message: Please check with the MA Department of Education. Newton’s
audit revealed all sorts of compliance violations, and I’m sure other
communities did as well. It’s not a questions–it’s a fact and it’s
published for public consumption.

Name: Peg Anderson

Subject: Special Ed

Message: I went through this with my son. In 1990 he had problems
adjusting to school. He was diagnosed with ADHD. In order to serve
my sons interests I was the mother from hell. I made sure that I knew
my rights and the law. My son had his own Aid from second through
sixth grade. He had many plans over the years. I had cooperation in
elementary and middle school however in High School the principal say
no need to obey the end plan. I found that they had broken the law and
used that as club to beat them into doing what they should have done.
I am from a very wealthy school system. If I had not been as
aggressive and downright rude my son would not have made it. When
school systems claim that they want to help special needs children my
experience is that they want to help them in a way that is cheap and
convient for them not the child. My son made it through to the othe
side. He is a senior at UMASS Dartmouth and doing very well.

–

I have yet to hear anyone talk about the fact that many of the
conditions that require “special education” have clinical diagnosis and,
therefore are more like having a disease that requires medical care than
simply an extention of the fundamental education model. This does not
mean that they shouldn’t have everything available, but it does suggest
that one way of funding this is to require “health insurance” to cover
these conditions as well. If they really things that can be diagnosed
then we whould a pooled sharing of the societal reponsibility to provide
for these conditions. It isn’t The Solutions but it might help to fund
things without putting all of the burden on the “property tax” as it is
now. There must be a better way to fund these costs in a way that
doesn’t put them in a competition with meeting the basic mission of our
eduction system. This is a false competition that serves noone in the end.

I four eduction system is less and less effective at delivering the core
eduction to the majority of students we will not be competitive in the
world and will have a decline in our quality of life. This will make
much more difficult to provide anything to anyone!

Just my 2 cents….

Thanks,

Scott Samenfeld
Arlington, MA

—

Every society that values human beings intrinsically must make hard
decisions about how to accommodate the wide variance in human ability
and native circumstances. For an isolated tribe in the amazon a
seriously disabled or impaired child might be allowed to die as an
infant since the material wealth and resources of the society simply
can’t support the child’s needs.
Our society is rich beyond the imaginings of previous generations:
we absolutely have the material abundance to provide for the needs of
all the disabled — child and adult. That we choose not to — day after
day — as individuals voting down school budget overrides and
corporately on the part of the great wealth holders of our country — is
more than a shame, it is a crime.

–
—————————————–
David Pfarrer

Name: Sarah Commerford

Subject: special education

Message: As a parent of two children with special needs, and as
professional special education advocate, I can say with certainty that
while the costs of educating children with special needs is indeed
high, the long term strain on the state and federal prison, mental
health and welfare system would be far higher without continued early
intervention and intensive, direct instruction for school aged
children with disabilities.

There are no easy answers, but compromising special education
programming on the premise that it costs too much is short sighted and
can never be an option.

Sarah Commerford, M.Ed.

—

Hi,
Â
My experience is more with moderate special needs rather than severe special needs.  I am a learning disabilities specialist currently in private practice although I have taught in the school setting also. I think a major issue with respect to the population I deal with, is that regular education teachers are very often not prepared by their training and supervision experiences to provide for the students who are included in their classes although many schools mandate inclusion.  I think one thing we all need to think about is overhauling teacher preparation programs.  As my professor at Northwestern University said, there is no such thing as specal education, only good teaching and not so good teaching.
Â
-Kalyani Krishnan

Language and Learning Specialist
Coordinator of Follow-up Evaluations
Institute for Learning and Development